NCAA Women's Regional
Semifinals and Finals:
Bridgeport
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Geno Auriemma
Kia Nurse
Gabby Williams
Katie Lou Samuelson
Napheesa Collier
Saniya Chong
Connecticut
GENO AURIEMMA: It's cold. Other than that, you
know, we're in a game that we want to be in, obviously.
It's a game that everybody wants to be in. It's the last
step, really, to where every kid wants to be. Every kid
wants to be in the Final Four. It's what they talk about
when they go to college, playing in the Final Four.
So the day before the game and then all day tomorrow
is probably the most stressful time. The actual game
itself is fun to play in. I know the players are excited
about it, and it's good that we're playing a team that
we've not played and don't know that much about. So
there's a little bit of a difference preparing for them than
it would be, say, if it was Maryland or somebody else
that we had played already during the year. So that
should be fun the next couple days. We're looking
forward to it.
Q. For any of the players, what have you seen
about Oregon that's impressed you on film or
watching them yesterday at all?
SANIYA CHONG: Well, looking at them, we know they
have some pretty good guards, and they definitely can
get into the lane. And when they're coming off ball
screens, they're pretty good in kick-outs, so we're
pretty aware of that, and we're going to stop that.
NAPHEESA COLLIER: Like Saniya said, they have
some really good guards and some tall posts, so we're
going to try to keep them off the line and keep the ball
away from the big guys.
KIA NURSE: Yeah, they pretty much covered it, but
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obviously focusing on great team defense tomorrow
and understanding that they have a lot of pieces that
they can use, and for us it's not going to be an
individual performance on defense as it usually is, it's
going to be a team thing, focus and emphasis.
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: Yeah, like Kia said,
focusing mainly on defense tomorrow. They have a
couple bigs and really good guards that we need to
stop.
GABBY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think everyone pretty much
covered everything. We've got to stop dribble
penetration, make sure we have good perimeter
defense, and just make their big guys run.
Q. Katie Lou, two-part question: Do you have your
phone with you? Are you watching Karlie right
now? And could you explain how your relationship
with your sisters has helped you get to this point?
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: Well, I'm trying to get back
as quickly as possible to watch Karlie play. It's
definitely been a great experience being able to watch
her succeed so much in this tournament, and she's
motivated me so much throughout my life, and I'm
really proud to be her sister.
Q. Kia, Coach said that it was nice to play
somebody new that you haven't played before. You
guys have the same sort of feeling that you've
played Maryland, played other teams that are still
alive, but this is a team you haven't played ever?
KIA NURSE: Yeah, absolutely. It's fun to be in a
situation where it's kind of out of the usual. It's a team
that they've had a great run so far. There's a reason
that they're here, that they've been successful with their
multidimensional pieces. And I think for us coming up
today and tomorrow, being prepared as much as we
can, understanding that we have to be great and better
at things that we didn't do well in the last game and
trying to fix those for this next one.
Q. Kia, you played a pretty key role as a freshman
in a National Championship run. Can you just
address how impressed you are watch these
Oregon freshmen, how composed they are, how
they're handling the high-pressure stakes?
KIA NURSE: I mean, your first NCAA Tournament is
never an easy thing, and I think they're doing a great
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job handling, not only the stakes and the high pressure
in every single game, but also the distractions and
everything else that comes along with it. Obviously
they've done a great job for their team. They've been a
big piece of what they do, and it'll be a great defensive
match-up tomorrow.
Q. I'm curious just how much interest or how much
you watched Sabrina play in high school. Sounded
like you maybe saw a couple of games in northern
California.
GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah. She's one of those kids that
was good for a long time. You know, she was on
everybody's radar as a young player. It didn't just
happen as a high school senior or junior. You know,
there's a lot of things about her game that are just
really fun to watch. I did get a chance to see her play a
lot in high school, both during the summer and a
couple times in California. And it's not really a surprise
what she's doing because she has the kind of a game
that is a little bit older than she is, which is not usual.
You know, usually kids play right about their age. She
plays a little bit older because her game is not
necessarily based on how fast she is or her ability to -it's not like -- it's a complete difference than Jordin
Canada, let's say. She just has her own unique style,
the way she plays, and it's fun to watch, and it's
effective, and it's exactly what this team needs for
them.
Q. Yesterday you said you weren't really surprised
about what Oregon is doing; what was it about
Kelly Graves and that marriage with Oregon
women's basketball that you thought would make
them kind of a rising power?
GENO AURIEMMA: Well, a couple things. I don't know
every sport at Oregon. I'm not that familiar with every
single one of their sports. But it seems to me that most
of their sports are pretty good, and they're pretty good
nationally. I remember seeing their baseball team play
our baseball team in the NCAA Tournament, and I
thought -- the only thing they need is the right person.
It's not like somebody has got to go in there and
reinvent something. It's already there. It's a great
place, great facilities, and they have a national brand
that they didn't used to have, say, 15 years ago, 20
years ago. They were maybe more of a West Coast
team. Now they seem to be a national team.
I used to tell my friends that you knew Oregon had
arrived -- it had nothing to do with anything big. But
their football program just captured a lot of people's
imagination back in the day, you know, and that's kind
of how it all made sense to the East Coast people,
because of how quickly they became significant in
football, which seems to be what everybody drives
everything on these days.
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I remember reading in the paper, it was really funny,
Terrelle Pryor, when he was coming out of high school
was like the No. 1 football recruit in America. And we
recruit a lot of kids from western Pennsylvania, and I
grew up in Philadelphia. So when I read who his final
schools were, it was exactly who you would think:
Penn State, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, and Oregon. I'm
like, you've got to be kidding me. That's when you say,
all right, it's a little bit different than it was 25 years ago.
So all they needed was just the right person, and his
success at Gonzaga, I mean, they didn't have to look
far, and they got the right guy. They got the right
coach.
Like anything else, you know, when you've got the right
person at the top and you get the support of the
university, this is what happens, and it should happen
more places.
Q. We seem to talk about it every year, but
attendance this year at the Regionals, except for
this place, has been pretty pathetic. I think 3,000
people were down in Oklahoma City and then
Lexington and 4,500 out west, and probably going
to be a lot worse tomorrow night. Any thoughts on
what they can potentially do to make these
Regionals, get people to show up to them as
opposed to this year where it just wasn't very
good?
GENO AURIEMMA: I don't know. That's a good
question that seems to be popping up a lot more. I
don't know what exactly the answer is to be honest with
you. Women's basketball is kind of unique, you know?
Like, I think the biggest mistake that women's
basketball has made over the years is trying to be like
men's basketball, and at some point they're going to
realize they're not. And once they realize they're not,
then women's basketball can start working on what's
best for women's basketball.
You know, the whole idea of, early on even, the huge
arenas, the big places, the crazy starting times. It's like
everything they did was, well, if the men can do it, we
can do it. Well, no you can't, so stop pretending you
can. It's like a reminder all the time. Women's
basketball fans are not basketball fans, they're fans of
their team for the most part, and then you've got some
places where they're really women's basketball fans.
And you know, until people start betting a lot of money
on women's basketball, that's just the way it's going to
be.
So we have a unique situation that needs to be
handled. I'm not saying I know what all the answers
are, but there's certain places in America that there's a
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lot of really good women's basketball fans, and there's
a lot of places that it's not. So to put Regionals in
those places doesn't make any sense.
However, I don't blame necessarily the NCAA and the
committees because a lot of places don't want to host
the Regionals. So you might end up having a situation
like they have in all the other sports, where you're
going to end up going and playing more home sites,
unfortunately. But that's the reality.
Q. As far as Katie Lou goes, where has she kind of
grown the most since she got to UConn, and is
there any particular challenge with a West Coast
kid and anything you have to focus on when they
make the trip out east?
GENO AURIEMMA: How much time do you have?
Q. As long as you have. I have a flight back at 8:00
tonight.
GENO AURIEMMA: It still won't be enough time.
Yeah, it presents a unique challenge when you get
somebody that has to travel that far to go to school,
number one, and that would be no matter what.
Number two, I guess kids grow up differently out there.
There's just a different mindset, a different attitude, a
different mentality. And that's not like across the board
100 percent, because Diana Taurasi's personality was
completely different than Lou's, and Lou is different
than Kaleena Lewis, and Kaleena Lewis was different
than Charde Houston or Wilnette Crockett.
So we've had a bunch of kids from California, and
they've all been a little bit different on their own, but
there's this, hey, don't worry about it, everything will be
fine. It doesn't fly real well in my world, hey, don't worry
about it, everything will be fine.
So one of the biggest challenges is that you have to try
to convince them that everything is important, every
little thing is important. And a lot of times with Lou, she
wants to decide what's important, and I've said this
before: The worst thing that can happen to a kid is
when they make a lot of shots at an early age, and Lou
did that, Diana did that, Kaleena did that. And when
they get here, there's a lot of things that they don't
necessarily think are important in the game of
basketball, and it's a struggle in the beginning. And
then once they realize it, then it just (snaps fingers).
Like, I think from my experience, California basketball
players -- and Lou especially, is a good example -they're like Italian car drivers in Italy. Like red lights,
stop signs, whatever; they're just a suggestion. You
don't necessarily have to do it. So Lou, get your hands
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up on defense when a guy is a good three-point
shooter like the Korver kid. It's not like she's going to
do it, but it's a suggestion. She might do it, she might
not. And it pisses me off, don't get me wrong, but
that's life.
Q. Historically your program doesn't lose to
unranked teams. You don't have a history of
upsets. How do you keep your team focused on
the next game and keep them from not looking
ahead?
GENO AURIEMMA: By being pissy every day, and it's
not healthy. You have to get the right kind of kids
generally speaking. I find myself saying that a lot,
generally speaking, because it's almost impossible
anymore to categorize something as exactly this. But
when you start with the right players that, one, want to
be on a great team or they wouldn't come here; two,
they want to be really good because they sense that if
they come to Connecticut, they have a chance to be
something really special if they work at it. So once
they decide to make that commitment and they're
willing to give up a little bit of their ego for it, then you
can appeal to them about what it takes to get better
and how much you have to improve every minute of
every day, and how you have to prove every game that
you're as good as you think you are.
So going out and going through the motions and losing
to somebody that has no business beating you, that
makes you like everybody else, so why did you come
here? I find myself saying that -- Chloe, how many
times do I say that, right? She's new to our program. I
must say that every day. If you want to be like
everybody else, why did you come here? So we're
trying to be different. We're trying to do things that are
hard to do, that are not the norm. So if you're just
going to go out and half-ass through something, then
why did you come here? And then after a while, they
get tired of hearing that and they don't want to hear it
anymore.
But I don't think it's anything other than we appeal to
them, and we won't put up with it if they don't. And
generally, we have enough good players that I can
teach them a lesson and bench their butts. This year
they got me, though. I can't do it, I've got to play them,
whether they put their hand up on defense or not. I've
got to play them. But that's changing in a couple
months.
Q. Both Oregon and Connecticut have strong Nike
ties and you guys are going out to play there in
Eugene next year, albeit not against the Ducks. Is
there some kind of Nike family thing going where
you guys are all part of the same -GENO AURIEMMA: Well, we're acquaintances with
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Nike, yeah. Oregon is related to Nike. It's a big
difference. They're part of the close-knit family. We're
an acquaintance, although a strong one. We do like to
think of it as family, when we all get together as
coaches, all the Nike coaches, and that's where we
kind of establish a certain bond, a certain familiarity
with each other. You know, that's kind of -- even before
Kelly got involved in USA Basketball, that was kind of
my first really getting to know Kelly, at all those Nike
trips. And you do get to interact with other coaches,
and some you do get to be friends with, and you do get
to follow their careers and all that.
And Nike always has been very, very adamant about
we are all part of a family thing, and that's how it's
handled. That's how it's run. That's how it's gotten to
be where it is. That's why they are who they are,
because of the way they treat people and the way we
treat each other. You know? I don't know, maybe
there's an extra pair of sneakers in Kelly's room last
night for beating an Under Armour school. There is a
little bit of competition there, I know.
Q. Geno, you've every year seemed to say that this
game tomorrow night, somebody has to step up,
some player usually carries you to the Final Four.
Do you have any idea tomorrow night who may be
the one to step up and be that player?
GENO AURIEMMA: No. If you'd have asked me last
year, it would be easy for the most part. I've got three
guys to pick from, for the most par, and one you knew
for the most part. But I don't know, this year it's been
kind of different. I mean, it's like Napheesa has been
pretty constant, Lou has been pretty constant, Kia has
been amazing this tournament. And then Gabby is just
-- some games she's the complete difference-maker, in
spite of all the other players. And then yesterday it was
Saniya.
I really don't know. I wish I could tell you, yeah, these
two guys are. But I'm watching Notre Dame play
Stanford, and the kid from Notre Dame has 21 in the
first half. You want somebody to step up and do that.
You want somebody tomorrow to go, yeah, I got this.
Whether it's on our team or their team, it's probably
going to happen. But as to who it's going to be, I don't
know. I don't know. Hopefully it's not just one.
Hopefully it's a couple of them.
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