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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOURApril 7, 2014Ariel BrakerJewell LoydKayla McBrideMuffet McGrawTaya ReimerNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Joining us now from Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw and student‑athletes Taya Reimer, Lindsay Allen, Kayla McBride Jewell Loyd, and Ariel Braker. Q. Kayla, now that it's here, what does it mean to be playing in this game tomorrow night for the championship in this historic battle of unbeaten teams? KAYLA MCBRIDE: Yeah, we're excited. It's been a long season. So to be playing in the final game, I know as a senior it's a great opportunity for us and this team. We've been through a lot this year. We're just excited to be able to play on the biggest stage. Q. Taya, can you talk a little bit about the challenge inside, the difference between playing without Natalie against Maryland and now having to play without Natalie against Connecticut? TAYA REIMER: It's been a challenge. She's been our leader all year and obviously one of our best players in general and obviously a great presence for us inside. But we're going to work as hard as we can, be physical with them down low. And we did a pretty good job against Maryland, and we're going to try to keep that up tomorrow. Q. Kayla, could you just talk about what does the rivalry with UConn mean to you over the years? And if there's any two undefeated teams that should be playing for a National Championship, does it seem fitting that UConn and Notre Dame are those two teams? KAYLA MCBRIDE: We always have a great game. I think it's great for basketball in general. I think the fan base increases a lot during this game. Yeah, we have history. Especially the last couple of years we had some great games. It's definitely exciting. I know we're excited. Two great programs going at it. So I can't wait. Q. Kayla, how nice is it for you to be here at this stage after what you've gone through in your career? KAYLA MCBRIDE: Oh, wow, it's kind of surreal that this is going to be my last game in a uniform. This program has meant so much to me over the years. This season is something special, being undefeated and with this team. It's definitely a little different than my past years. To be in the National Championship game and to be able to play for Coach McGraw and with these girls, it means more than you know. Q. Ariel, having played Connecticut so many times in the past, what kind of advantage is that for you? ARIEL BRAKER: I think it's a little bit of an advantage, except this year, I mean, we haven't played them at all. So you kind of have to X out those past games, especially because we're a different team and they're a different team. So I think at the same time it's kind of an advantage but not really, just because we're a different team than we were the past years that we played them. Q. Kayla, what specifically is different about playing UConn, whether it's the intensity, whether it's schemes, compared to every other team that you play or have played? KAYLA MCBRIDE: I think there's an intensity factor. I think a lot of people go in playing UConn, they see their jerseys and they've already lost the game. I don't think we're like that. I think we have a certain swag to us, and I think it's like that with any team. And I don't know, I think we already don't like each other, so that adds to it, too. But it's just a good game, and we get up for these types of games. We know it's going to be competitive. We know it's going to go down to the wire. We know it's going to be intense, and that's something that we like to do and go against. Q. Question for you, Coach. I know you said you were confident in your team's ability to bounce back even without Natalie, and it really seemed like they didn't skip a beat. Seeing that as a coach, what was that like and how confident are you in this next game? COACH MCGRAW: I don't think I've ever been prouder of my team than I was in that game last night, to see everybody, every single person who went in the game stepped up to help us win, whether it showed up on the stat sheet or not. This is a team that's completely united. We have now more of a cause. We're playing for Natalie. We want to win this for her. We want to win it for the seniors. This group has tremendous chemistry. And it's been a really great ride this year. Q. Jewell, after playing those four intense games last year against UConn, was there anything in the ACC, was there any rivalry, any game that rivalled the emotion of what Notre Dame went through last year in all those games against Connecticut? JEWELL LLOYD: I think we had some really good games against Duke. This team, we play with a lot of passion, so whenever we step on the court, we bring in that fire and we bring in emotion on the court. It doesn't matter who we are playing; we play together and we play hard. Q. Taya, could you talk about maybe you getting a little bit of a crash course in playing UConn the last couple of days. Obviously you've never played them before, but what have you found this rivalry means to some of your teammates? TAYA REIMER: Well, obviously just before I even got here, watching the games and being at some of the games, I'm definitely very aware of the rivalry. But the past few days, I mean, we were focused on Maryland and we weren't looking ahead to playing either UConn or Stanford. But I'm very aware of the rivalry, and now that that's who our opponent is going to be, I mean, obviously I'm aware of it and definitely ready to play. I know it's going to be a battle. Q. Coach, what has Lindsay Allen's contribution been during this run and also just fitting into your back court that you have? COACH MCGRAW: I think she's playing with the poise of a veteran. Her assist to turnover ratio has been 5 to 1. It's phenomenal, playing with such poise and such maturity way beyond her years. She's getting the ball to people. She's doing so many great things, both ends of the floor. I'm just so happy for her. And she's exceeded all of our expectations this year. Q. Kayla, you mentioned the intense rivalry with UConn and I guess the feelings that both teams share, but what part of you as you're watching them play Stanford was secretly hoping that they would be there at the end so you could face them? KAYLA MCBRIDE: I think Stanford and UConn are both great teams. I wasn't looking for either one of them. I know I was going to the National Championship and that's the only thing that mattered to me. Q. Geno last night was talking about how you and UConn have both separated yourselves. And one of the things he mentioned was passing for both teams. Do you see that as well in terms of your team in particular? And what makes you two teams good passing teams? COACH MCGRAW: I think we recruit to our Princeton offense. We want players, especially post players, that are really good passers. On the guard side, we like unselfish players. So I think we have those as well. Our assist to turnover ratio is among the best in the country because we look for each other. We don't care who scores; we just want to win. So we're always willing to make that extra pass. I think that can separate you from other teams. Our efficiency, I think, in passing has been really good, too. So our posts, really we work a lot on our passing, and that was something that Natalie Achonwa was in particular really good at. Q. Muffet, two things. One, they're a very physical team. How important is it that you get some foul calls down low? And, secondly, when Kiah Stokes was in the game, it gives them that big, big lineup. What extra challenge does that put on you? COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, I think it's amazing. They committed the fewest fouls in the nation. So they can be a really physical team and yet not manage to foul. So we don't really worry about the refs, how they're going to call the game. We're going to react accordingly. That's not a huge issue for us. But they have such great size. Kiah Stokes is playing really well this year. Gives them nice lift off the bench. They have the big lineup that they play frequently with the three big posts, and that creates a lot of matchup problems for us. Q. Kayla, did you get the sense as the year was going on that the nation was waiting for this game?  I mean, you're still preoccupied in trying to win the ACC and everything, but in Connecticut, the reverberation was pretty strong and we're waiting for this. Did Notre Dame feel the same way, or did you sense it? KAYLA MCBRIDE: Yeah, I feel like it was something that was always being talked about. Like as a team we always talk about the noise surrounding everything else. And that was a big thing is the UConn/Notre Dame matchup and all that. But I just think this team has a certain mental toughness to them. And I think we've just been able to take it one game at a time, and now we're here and now we're focusing on UConn. Q. Muffet, could you talk about the ruthlessness with which Kayla plays? And where do you see your advantages in this game tomorrow? COACH MCGRAW: I'm not sure that's a word that I would ever ascribe to Kayla. She is like an assassin. I think that she's willing to throw the dagger. She wants to give you the knockout punch. She's going to compete and battle on every single possession. I think it's what makes her great, and it's been fun to watch her enjoying playing the game and she plays with such passion. I think our guard play has been spectacular all year long, and we gotta make shots in the game tomorrow. That's going to be key. Q. Coach, as you look at the matchups with Connecticut, is there any area that jumps out at you? Can you take advantage of your transition, or is it something else? COACH MCGRAW: I think Stewart's a real matchup problem for us. She's somebody that's hard to guard because of her inside/outside ability. Their size creates some matchup problems for us. They have a great transition game. They really like to get out there to that long outlet and get down the floor in a hurry. So transition defense will be a big factor too. Q. Is beating UConn sweeter than beating another opponent? COACH MCGRAW: Not having beaten them this year, I can say it was fun going through the ACC and beating a lot of teams we beat this year. Last year we were able to beat them three times, and that was fun. Would have liked to have won the last one, though. Q. Muffet, do you think tomorrow night's going to be a historic night for women's college basketball? You've been in the game so long, coached so many great games. Do you sense the moment in terms of what this is going to mean for the game and the history of the game? COACH MCGRAW: I think it's a historic moment right now because we've never had two undefeated teams head into the National Championship. So I definitely think we've made history already. Q. Muffet, can you compare the vibe? The last couple of years you play UConn seems like every other week before the NCAA Tournament; this year you haven't played them once in the year. Is there a different feel to it because there's been so much time between these games? COACH MCGRAW: No, I don't think so. I think we still have that same rivalry. We were focused on the ACC this year. And it was a nice distraction to not have to watch Connecticut all year. So I think now that it's here I think we've got a pretty short memory for last year. Q. Muffet, I don't know if better team is the exact correct word, but you're certainly an undefeated team since Skylar left. How are you‑‑ maybe you are better without her. And how are you sort of different or compensated for not having her? Can you sort of explain how that worked this year. COACH MCGRAW: I think we're different because of our balance. I think we have more people that are doing more things instead of relying on one person to handle the ball 90 percent of the time. Now we share the ball in different ways. So I think we're harder to guard, because you don't know who is going to be on the attack when we outlet to so many different people that you have to prepare for. I think our post game is so much better with the addition of Taya Reimer. I think that our bench has played extremely well with Madison Cable and Michaela Mabrey really giving us great minutes all year long. I think we're a much deeper team, and I think we're the type of team we can sub one person out and still have a pretty good balance on the floor. Q. Muffet, next December6th you guys renew your non‑conference association in South Bend with UConn in the Jimmy V game. Do you want Connecticut to be a staple on your non‑conference schedule? COACH MCGRAW: Unlike football, we don't schedule 10 years out. We just try to do the next year. And so we were happy that we were able to get them back on the schedule for next year. I think we have a two‑year deal right now home and away. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. At this time we're going to let our student‑athletes head up to their breakout areas. We'll continue with questions for Coach McGraw. Q. Coach, what kind of advantage is it that you have? Your players have played Connecticut so many times in the past. And then how different are they this year from what they've seen? COACH MCGRAW: I think there's a familiarity. And I think that always helps, because sometimes when you play a team for the first time like we did so many times this year, you really can't get enough off the film to see them in person and see what they're actually like. So I think we have that that we can at least fall back on while we're watching the film. They're very different this year. I think they're just bigger, they're stronger, they're in the post more. Jefferson, I think, has kind of come into that role that they hoped she would come into last year. And Hartley's playing better. So I think they have six really good players that they're playing right now. And there's just a lot of matchup problems out there. Q. Coach, can you talk about becoming a program that's a perennial in the Final Four and now you guys have done it for a long stretch here as opposed to a program that's trying to get to that level or has gone there and then has that stretch where they don't go? What does it take to‑‑ is it a superstar player that gets you there? Is it a combination of things to become that type of program? COACH MCGRAW: It's really hard. I think the challenge of staying there is as hard as it was getting here. I think we've looked and found the difference in the players. We've got WNBA players graduating every year. We've got first round draft picks that are playing‑‑ that are going every year. So I think when you have that kind of talent, that's what it takes. I think it's the recruiting. Niele Ivey does a great job for us in the recruiting end as well as all the rest of our coaches. But you have to have the great players in order to sustain it. Q. Muffet, is it fair to say you might miss Natalie more acutely against UConn because of their size? COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, I think so. We're not using it as an excuse, though. I mean, we're going to play with the players that we have and hope that they give the great effort they gave us last night. Q. I'll pose the question to you that I posed to Kayla. When you're watching a semifinal between UConn and Stanford, what part of you really wanted to see UConn pull through so that you could have this historic matchup in the final? COACH MCGRAW: I think it was kind of inevitable, wasn't it? I think you guys probably had that one on your calendars probably by February1st.  I think the whole country was so distracted with that and enamored with the matchup that it's kind of nice to be in that moment. Because we really tried to block it all out and I thought did a really good job of that during the year. But now it's great to have the two best teams in the country playing each other for a National Championship. Q. You guys might be the only team in the country who walks out on the floor with them and is not intimidated. How important is that kind of confidence in a game like this? COACH MCGRAW: I think it's huge. I think that's what it takes to beat a good team. I think you saw that with Tennessee over the years, just you play the name on their jersey instead of playing the game; you're intimidated before you start.  And I think that that that's an attitude that we're bringing into the game, one of confidence. Q. Breanna Stewart, you mentioned her before. How do you kind of try to stop her and how much has she improved since you last saw her last year? COACH MCGRAW: She was pretty darned good last year. MVP of the Final Four. I don't know that you can stop her. I don't think you can. I think she's just a great player who‑‑ she can score in so many different ways. She has so many more ways she can beat you at different times during the game. So I think we have to hope that she doesn't go off for her career high, but as far as stopping her I'm not sure that's possible. Q. Coach, people always look back on that Magic‑Bird final in'79 as a, quote/unquote, tipping point, even though we didn't have that term then but we look at it now that way. Is it fair to say that women's basketball could have a similar tipping point with two iconic‑type teams or two players? Is that something you could see happening and could this game possibly be that? COACH MCGRAW: Well, I think this game is going to give a lot more attention to the women's game. I think the fans like the rivalry. I think the media likes the rivalry. In some ways I think it would be great for women's basketball if we got some new teams in the Final Four. But I think in order to showcase the best in women's basketball, I think this is it. Q. Another one on Stewart. Because it is, like you said, impossible to stop her, do you have to put different people on her throughout the game because it may be so demoralizing to try to stop her for an entire game? COACH MCGRAW: I think that you have to try different things for sure. I don't think you'll have one person for 40 minutes that's able to stay in the game and guard her that long. I think we're going to have to try a couple of different plans. Q. Muffet, I just wanted to talk a little bit about your execution offensively and Taya's role in that. It seemed like as a freshman some people expected she might be a little bit discombobulated with all the moving parts and pieces of your offense. But could you speak how she assimilated to this offense and how she grasped it so readily? COACH MCGRAW: She's a really smart basketball player with a really high basketball IQ, so that part is easy. I think what we encouraged her to do is follow her instincts because they're always right on point. She thinks, oh, that would be a great idea to cut to the basket right now, and sometimes she would stop herself early in the season, not sure if that's what we wanted in the offense. I think gradually she got to understand that the offense revolves around creativity and freedom of movement. I think she's perfect for the Princeton offense because she can pass, she can shoot, she can handle the ball. So she really, I think, felt very comfortable in the offense pretty early in the season. Q. Muffet, you sort of answered it, but this is sort of the perfect storm. You guys have played every year since the last 20 years. First time you're not playing so there could be two undefeated teams. What does it mean that didn't play first time ever in the season and now you're playing for the biggest prize and what it could do for women's basketball down the road? COACH MCGRAW: I think it's something that everybody looked forward to all year long because we didn't play during the regular season. I think everybody was hoping that we would end up here. I think it's great. I think it's great for the game. I think it's great that we are both undefeated coming into it. And it should be just a great matchup for women's basketball. Q. Muffet, for a long time at the top of women's basketball the coaching duality with Pat and Geno and how different they were, you and Geno both being sully people, maybe more alike. Could you talk about that, because people sometimes do look at this as a head coach versus head coach, how you guys are alike and different, both personality‑wise and then also philosophy‑wise in basketball? COACH MCGRAW: I think we're very different. I think basketball‑wise, maybe philosophically we have some things in common. Sharing those Philly roots is a commonality in our personalities. I think we both like to play the same kind of game. I think they're running a lot of the Princeton offense now. They're running a lot of the same kind of things. So I think that type of game I think appeals to both of us. I think we both take pride in our defense as well as our offense, and we're probably sort of perfectionists in that we want the team to be great on every given day. I'm a little bit more of an introvert. He's quite the extrovert. Q. Muffet, you said how the fans like the rivalry, the media likes the rivalry. How do you feel about it? Do you enjoy there's this rivalry between the two teams? COACH MCGRAW: I do. I do. I love the rivalry. I think it's the one that gets your competitive juices flowing. I think it's something that you look forward to. I mean, you want to be coaching for this kind of game and this kind of moment. Q. You mentioned your coaching staff and you've got Beth, obviously was a head coach for a long time; Niele, who I think a lot of people think could easily be a head coach; and Angie; and Carol obviously has been with you a long time. How has that helped? Because Coach Auriemma has a similar continuity in staff. How big of a deal is that in terms of recruiting and philosophy? COACH MCGRAW: I think it's a huge deal. It's definitely the reason that we've been successful as the staff. They do all of the work, really. They do all the scouting. They do so many things off the court with the team. They get the players ready, the individual workouts. I'm so blessed to have the staff that I have. Two head coaches. We've got tons of years of experience on our staff, and then you have somebody like Niele who is the brightest young star in the game. And we just have great chemistry. We have fun together. We work hard together. But the loyalty and the trust that we have, I think, is critical because in a game situation, in those moments in the game where things are tense, you gotta be able to trust the people you're with. And I think that's a big reason that we've been able to be successful. Q. Coach, you mentioned the excitement of the rivalry between you guys and UConn and looking forward to the game tomorrow night. But what would be your final message to your team heading into a game of this magnitude? COACH MCGRAW: I think the same it's been all year: This is what we've been working for. We got ourselves to this point. We've been here before. And we just want to go out and play our game, but we want to have fun when we're doing it. We want to be relaxed. The pressure is on them. We have to come out, feel loose and play our game. Q. Coach, Geno says that the shots don't come off the fingers the same in January and February as they do in March, except for with Kayla McBride here in the Elite Eight and the Final Four. Do you agree with that, and why do you think she's so unaffected by the lights? COACH MCGRAW: You know, I don't agree with that. I think‑‑ I agree with the Kayla part. I think she's the kind of player that enjoys the big stage and the competitiveness of it. She enjoys going head to head with good players. And I think she just has that passion and she has fun while she's playing. And I think that's the biggest key for her. When you see her smiling, then you know she's going to be on her game. Q. Coach, one thing that I think is sort of different about these programs, and you've alluded to it before, you have been an underdog, in fact a big underdog in the NCAA Tournament. You've won as an 11 seed, upset teams on their home court. Can you talk about that mentality? It seems like you've maintained that mentality even when you've become more of an overdog; you still have that underdog kind of feistiness. COACH MCGRAW: I do. I think I've just always loved the underdog. It's really only been the past couple of years when people ask me who do I want to win the men's tournament, I want Wichita State to win, I want these top seeds to win now. I think that's the role I've grown up with. I think we've always had that role coming in. It was Tennessee, it was Connecticut. We just took that role and we enjoyed it and we worked hard at it and we got some wins early on, and I think that kind of fed into it. And we don't talk about people don't respect us, don't know our name. We just care about the people in our locker room. That's the only people whose opinion that really matters. Q. You speak to the intensity of the rivalry and how it's kind of welcomed by both sides. But Saturday when you accepted Coach of the Year‑‑ congratulations, by the way‑‑ and Breanna Stewart was there for Player of the Year, both teams were assembled in that room, could you sense the palpable tension in the room? Was there like a stick of dynamite that was getting ready to go off there? COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, I think there was definitely tension in the room. I think for us we wanted Kayla McBride to win the Player of the Year award. So I think it was a little bit of that. And certainly the rivalry has gone a little away from the civility it was when we were in the league together. Q.  Muffet, when you were first recruiting Lindsay, what caught your eye about her that made her special, and was it as much about her being a winner as her physical ability, too? COACH MCGRAW: It was a lot of things. Of course for us she was a great student. That was big for us. But her IQ, important for the point guard. I'm really, really tough on point guards. I always have a really short list because I just‑‑ there's a lot of people that I don't want to coach. So she was somebody that caught my eye initially because of her intelligence, her decision‑making on the floor. She did not turn the ball over. That was just probably the first thing I recognized. She was a good defender. She got the ball to the right people. She threw it ahead. She had that kind of steady demeanor that I think is important. And she was such a team player and a winner. Q. Muffet, you've always had really good support at Notre Dame from the fan base and such. Has this run this past couple of years, this year with the undefeated season, moved the needle at all or gotten more attention on campus, anything of that nature? Obviously Notre Dame is a huge football school. What you've done in the last four years, and the last 20 years there have been pretty special? COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, you know, it has been. I think everybody on campus is here, our president was here. He's been here through all of our games. And he is somebody that we really are blessed to have on us. The Board of Trustees, those guys are always around. I think on campus, Brian Kelly‑‑ probably the first voicemail I got after we beat Baylor was from Brian Kelly. Mike Brey. We really do feel like we have the support of everybody on campus, all the other teams. I think there's great camaraderie among the players on other teams. And it is, it's great to walk around campus, know that everybody's talking about you. Q. What do you think it would take to bring the civility back to the rivalry? COACH MCGRAW: I think we're past that point. Q. Is there‑‑ you talked about the level of recruit that you need to get, but there's also I would think a personality type. And I'm wondering if you could talk about that, the type of kid, not just her ability, but the type of kid that you look for recruiting‑wise to be able to compete at this level. COACH MCGRAW: You know, there's a lot of good players out there. Some of them are really good students. So our pool gets a little bit‑‑ makes it a little bit smaller. But I think for me, I don't offer scholarships to kids that I've never spoken to or have spoken to only once. I know a lot of coaches see a player, they think she's good, they offer a scholarship when they're in eighth, ninth, tenth grade. We did it with Skylar, but she's the only one. But I like to get to know a player, because I want to know about the relationship we're going to have; I like to see the relationship with their parents, because that's the relationship I'm going to have with them. When they come on campus, I want to make sure they're somebody that fits in and wants to be a team player and not somebody that's all about themselves. So I think the unselfish part is really, really important to me and how they get along with the team. And after they visit the campus, I always ask the players: What did you think? How did you think she would fit in? And it's great with all the friendships they make early because they have a really good feel for that. And somebody like Brianna Turner, Kathryn Westbeld and Mychal Johnson, they knew a lot of our other players, a lot of them know Taya. That's been a big draw because we love her personality. If they fit in, she's going to let us know about that. Q. Coach, I know Jonathan is here supporting you. He's meant a lot to your program. What makes him a good coach and what do you see him being able to take to the GW program? COACH MCGRAW: I think they did a great job with them this year. He has Megan Duffy on his staff, one of our former point guards. He's so full of passion. I think his energy level is extremely high. He knows the game and knows the scouting reports and very thorough and organized and has good relationships with his players. I think he knows how important that is. So I expect him to do really well there. THE MODERATOR: Any more questions for Coach McGraw? Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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