TCU Preps for Dayton, Meets NCAA Media
3/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 19, 2010
TCU, having arrived in Knoxville, Tenn., for Saturday's NCAA Tournament First Round matchup, held its final full-scale workout Friday at Thompson-Boling Arena. Head coach Jeff Mittie and players also met with the media contingent covering the tournament.
Below is a transcript of Friday's media conference featuring Mittie, seniors TK LaFleur and Eboni Mangum and junior Helena Sverrisdottir.
Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening Statement:
"It should be a good first round meeting as most 8/9 matchups are. Dayton is a very balanced team. They play a lot of people. People ask who they remind us of in conference. The Atlantic 10 and Mountain West compare very well. Most teams in that non-BCS group are no different. I'm impressed with (Dayton coach) Jim's (Jabir) group. They played quite a schedule. Hopefully, we'll have a great basketball game."
On Dayton making its inaugural appearance in the NCAA Tournament while TCU is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the past 10 years)
"That can be overrated. How the team prepared coming in is the important thing. A team can be nervous about playing in the tournament for the first time and not play well. On the other hand, they could play great. The important thing is the makeup of the team."
On preparing for the NCAA Tournament:
"As a coach, you have to focus on the task at hand. We have great respect for Dayton. This year's team is different from last year's team. Fun is playing well. The last two games, we have not played well. We have had competitive practices, but we have not been as healthy the last three weeks of the season, and we had to rest them. There was slippage in terms of physical play. After our four-overtime game (a 105-96 win at Utah on Feb. 10), we had to rest, rest, rest. We're ready to go now. We had a good week of preparation. We had a good look. We'll see how they react."
On bouncing back after 69-57 loss to Utah in semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Championship:
"It was hard to simulate in practice. We were not reacting well. The shots we were getting were bad shots. We've had better practices, and we can see it coming. We didn't play or shoot very well. When you shoot 29 percent, you're not shooting very well."
On his reaction to seeing on the Selection Show that TCU would be coming to Knoxville:
"The player were excited, but when do you ever have a player who is not excited. This is not a sightseeing tour for us. I'm glad our players had a great experience at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. I was in meetings. We've played at Tennessee twice before. This is not new to them. We're excited to be playing at a place that appreciates women's basketball. It's a great venue. It will be a challenge to play a very good Dayton team and to have the possibility of facing a Tennessee team that is playing very well. This is a great venue for the NCAA Tournament. Our players are respectful of the history of the game, and there's a lot of history here."
Senior Guard TK LaFleur
What do you take from the experience of playing in the tournament last year despite the outcome not being what you may have wanted?:
"We're a lot more prepared this year. We've been focusing in practice on being more competitive and playing a lot harder than we have been. I think that's definitely something that will show tomorrow in the game. We also, as a collective group, now have NCAA experience. Last year, we had some players who had it with various other teams and we had some people who didn't have any experience at all in the NCAA. So I think that experience will be drawn upon."
What were your thoughts when you saw the bracket come out and saw you were coming to Knoxville considering what women's basketball means to this town?:
"For me personally, I grew up as a little kid watching Tennessee games so I was really excited to be able to come out here and play on their home court and be able to experience and play at a place that's known for women's basketball. I'm just really excited for the opportunity and the chance to come out, play on the floor, be in this atmosphere and be in a great place where we can go to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, something I've never done before. It was a really good experience. I was really happy with our draw and am excited about it."
What did you see at the Hall of Fame that will stick with you?:
"I just enjoyed being in there, in a place where they appreciate women's basketball so much and they dedicated a whole building to it. Every so often they change out the jerseys for the Final Four teams. They change out what jerseys hang up when you walk around. I think just being in the atmosphere where there are so many great women athletes that are represented and supported, it's just a great feeling."
Should every women's team get the chance to come to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame at least once during four years in school?:
"I think it would be something that would definitely be appreciated. It's very memorable and representative of where the sport has started and where it will continue to go. If people's jerseys are hanging up there, I'm sure they'll be excited. 'Oh, wow, my jersey is hanging up in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.' That would be really nice for them to see as a player just to go back and have a memorable time. I think a lot of women's basketball teams would enjoy it."
Senior Guard Eboni Mangum
What has your coach been stressing to the team before you begin the tournament?:
"The No. 1 thing for us is to be more competitive. In our past few practices, coach has emphasized on us not being competitive against each other and not having fun anymore. So that's what we've been working on the past couple of days, just having fun in practice and not just going to practice to be there - basically just get back into that groove like we were during the season."
What do you take from the experience of playing in the tournament last year despite the outcome not being what you may have wanted?:
"Last year we didn't play our game. So that's what we have really focused on this year. If we play our game, then we should be successful."
Junior Guard/Forward Helena Sverrisdottir
What do you take from the experience of playing in the tournament last year despite the outcome not being what you may have wanted?:
"I think we can take some things from it. Of course, it wasn't a good experience for us, but getting into the atmosphere so we know what we're going into this year. We don't want the same thing to happen to us this year. We know what we need to do to accomplish that tomorrow. I think we're prepared and we know what we have to do."
Does getting here after the layover following the conference tournament help get the excitement going?:
"For sure. We had a really good morning. We went to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame this morning as a team and had a lot of fun in there. We saw the history behind our sport, so I think that was definitely good. Just watching March Madness on TV and seeing all these upsets and big games, we're ready to get on the floor and play basketball."
What did you see at the Hall of Fame that will stick with you?:
"The outfits they wore. It was definitely a great experience. Just going back to 1890 when they were wearing those long skirts and played with like three different teams where you were only on offense or on defense, it was something fun to see how people change. There's a lot of cool stuff in there."
Players Mentioned
