Lady Frogs meet with the media in Hartford
3/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 17, 2007
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening Statement:
"Just like everybody else this time of year, we are just happy to be playing another day. Obviously with the weather we are just happy to be here in terms of getting here. We got in here about 2:00 PM yesterday and we were able to get to the hotel and all those things. I know the weather has caused some things, especially in this region coming in at the time that we did. We know we have a good opponent in Ole Miss so I think it will be a good matchup."
Can you talk about the backcourt matchup of the guards and how you plan to focus on Senior Guard Armintie Price?
"I think it is a good matchup with the guards, (Armintie) Price is outstanding, so I think the one thing you have to do is limit touches. You have to make sure that she can't get to the rim, which is easier said than done. We will use a variety of players on her, I don't think it will be just one for us. One thing I have been impressed with is our point guard play, as well as with Prices. I think one of the interesting match-ups is going to be (Ashley) Awkward versus (Helen) Roden and (Moneka) Knight, that is going to be an outstanding one-on-one battle between those guys. Obviously Price is one of their best defenders so I think she will match-up with Adrienne Ross. Adrienne Ross and Ashley Davis have had excellent years, especially Davis shooting the three. I think it will be an interesting match-up, but one thing about this is that neither team is just built on those guards, but have other players that will step up in this game."
Did you guys prepare to come up early because of the weather situation?
"We see it a lot in the Mountain West Conference, this year has been one of those years where the travel has been interesting to say the least. We've had the first dust storm in Texas in 20 years that kept us in the airport for six hours, so we were fortunate yesterday. We had the charter flight yesterday and planned on leaving at 10:00 AM and we left at that time. The landing was a little icier than I liked, but other than that our travel has been pretty good."
Can you talk about the toughness of the bracket and the potential of playing Maryland and Tennessee?
"As they say in Texas, this isn't our first rodeo, we've been to seven straight, but we try not to focus on the whole bracket, I think it is the toughest bracket, but we see it as a four-team tournament. Our focus is on Ole Miss. I would agree that this bracket is tough, a month ago the top four seeds were considered Final Four picks but things happen and things change. We'll focus on our side of the bracket, but we know the Dayton bracket is the toughest. We will focus on the four teams that are on our side and hopefully we will be fortunate to beat Ole Miss and have a second round game."
Senior Guard Ashley Davis
Was this the first time most of you have seen snow?
"It was one of the first times we have really seen it this bad. It was getting into our shoes when we were trying to go to dinner last night. Being in the Mountain West, we see snow pretty much all the time so it wasn't anything new. It was coming down pretty hard here and we were surprised about that."
Where was the team and what was the team's reaction when you saw that you were going to the NCAA Tournament?
"We were all in the conference room, which is like a team meeting room. We obviously weren't sure if we were going to make it or not. When we saw our name come up everybody was jumping around and we were all excited. It was just really cool."
What do you think the team needs to do to come away with a win against Ole Miss?
"We know they're a great team and very athletic. It's going to be a great matchup. We have really good players on our team and they have really good players on their team. We're just looking forward to going out there, playing our game, and hopefully coming away with a victory."
Junior Guard Adrianne Ross
On the matchup against Ole Miss guard Armintie Price:
"I'm not going to focus too much on it being a matchup. I'm more focused on TCU vs. Ole Miss, rather than Armintie Price. Coach Mittie said we're going to have a variety of players on her so I'm going to rely on the team. When it is my turn to defend her, I'm going to do my part and try to stop her. Coach said it's easier said than done because we watched her on film. She is a great player and I'm going to focus on relying on the team and playing team defense."
On the possibility of playing Maryland:
"We played them our first game of the season so it would be kind of different to see where we are at now and how much we have grown this season. It would be awesome. You always want to play the best to be the best and we don't want any easy routes. It would be great if it happened, but we're not just looking for the happiness of being there, but getting into the game and playing a good game against them."
How were you feeling when the Selection Show was winding down and TCU hadn't been mentioned yet?
"When I first started watching, I was really hyper and keeping the hope, but when it was winding down, I was starting to get nervous. When I saw we were going, it felt like I received the Holy Spirit. I didn't remember who we were playing or where we were going, but I was just really, really excited."
