NCAA Women's Regional
Semifinals and Finals:
Bridgeport
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Kelly Graves
Mallory McGwire
Ruthy Hebard
Sabrina Ionescu
Maite Cazorla
Lexi Bando
Oregon
KELLY GRAVES: Good morning, everyone. Yesterday
was a great day in the University of Oregon sports
history, not only this team moving on to our first Elite 8,
but our men last night going to their first Final Four
since 1939. I think a couple of their players
commented to us that we helped inspire them, and now
hopefully we can use the inspiration that they have
given us to carry us tomorrow.
But my coach used to always say when I was in school,
he said, you know, if what you did yesterday looks
good to you today, then you haven't done much today.
So we're excited to move on. Our team earned this
right to be able to have a chance to play UConn.
Really proud of our effort for the entire tournament, and
certainly yesterday. I think this group has shown a real
resilience, and we look forward to tomorrow.
Q. Sabrina, I'm guessing you guys watched the
game last night, the men's game. What was it like?
Where did you guys watch it? Just seeing the
men's program get to their first Final Four in 75
years, Coach said it gives you guys a little
inspiration, but what does it mean to you guys?
SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, well, we watched it, some
of us together, some of us individually. It was pretty
late, so we laid in bed and watched it. But it's
awesome to see what they're accomplishing. They
work hard day in and day out. We're with them all the
time in the training room, and it's just really awesome
to see. Dana is doing a great job with them, and they
work hard just like we work hard, and they're definitely
inspiring us to try and work just as hard as they are
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and try and accomplish what they are.
Q. You guys are playing some of your best defense
of the year. What's your kind of defensive
mentality at this time of year? Has it changed at all
since January?
MALLORY MCGWIRE: Not really, we just have to
make them hit shots, difficult shots. That's all we can
do. If they make it, then that's good for them, but we
just have to make them difficult.
Q. Your entire lives, UConn women's basketball
has been a powerhouse. I'm sure you all grew up
probably watching a lot of their games. What's it
like for you guys to play this team? Is it special, or
do you try and view it as just another step in what
you're trying to accomplish?
LEXI BANDO: Yeah, what an exciting opportunity. You
know, for any athlete or competitor, this is what you live
for. You want to play at the biggest stage against the
best team. Tomorrow can't come soon enough.
SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, we're excited for this
opportunity, especially as a young group. I think it's
going to test us in many ways, and I think we're just
excited to see where we stand and get a shot at
playing against the No. 1 team in the country.
Q. In your view, besides the fact that they have
great players, what makes them so successful and
dominate year in and year out?
SABRINA IONESCU: Well, their culture. You know,
they recruit great kids and kids that want to compete
and kids that want to win. They don't really have any
knuckleheads on their team. So I mean, they have
great culture, great kids, and Geno is one of a kind, so
I think that definitely helps them in achieving what they
have achieved thus far and what they're going to
achieve in the future.
Q. Ruthy and Mallory, can you talk about in a
Napheesa Collier, what kind of a challenge she
presents for you guys, and what is it that you see
in her that makes her such a great player inside-out
and how are you going to combat that?
RUTHY HEBARD: Yeah, she's a great player. I think
we're blessed to be able to play against great post
players, outside players all year long. So I think we're
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just going to focus on making shots difficult and playing
great defense.
MAITE CAZORLA: Going off what Ruthy said, she is
kind of an all-around player, so she can play outside
and inside, but being able to -- like having the height
advantage is going to be really helpful for us tomorrow,
but being able to make her hit those shots from the
high post is going to be probably key tomorrow.
Q. Mallory, when Gabby Williams committed to
UConn, her dad suggested to Geno that they
recruit another kid from that part of the country.
Run me through your experience with Gabby and
the Williams family, any good stories you may have
from your time playing against them or meeting
them.
MALLORY MCGWIRE: I played against Gabby my
freshman and sophomore year in high school, and
every year we did play them, it was an honor because
it's Gabby, and she was the best, one of the most
decorated players to come out of northern Nevada.
She's an awesome basketball player. She's just a
competitor, and their family is a great family.
We were friends off the court, too, as well, but just
being able to see her success is amazing, and from
such a small town to be on this big of a stage is
amazing for her.
Q. Sabrina, hearing your answer before reminded
me of your coach, and his laid-back attitude with
the exciting opportunity and the knucklehead
comment. He uses that word, also. Talk about the
relationship you have in one year with the big guy
sitting on the end of the stage there.
KELLY GRAVES: Good-looking, big guy.
SABRINA IONESCU: Well, I know as a freshman, I've
definitely gotten to know him well during our recruiting
process. He was always there. I think he maybe
missed one or two of my AAU games my whole junior
year, and I think the same with all of us. He was
always there at all of our games. We just grew like a
really good relationship with him off the court, not
necessarily on the court. And I definitely think that that
helps us as people, and outside of the basketball court.
But I don't know, that comment, he definitely likes the
whole knucklehead thing. I've heard it a few times.
KELLY GRAVES: It's better than what my coach used
to call me. We can't say it out here.
Q. Lexi, as a shooter, what kind of defensive
challenges or what kind of challenges does UConn
pose on defense to someone who likes to shoot
the three ball?
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LEXI BANDO: Yeah, they're a great defensive team, so
it's going to be a big test for us, for everyone, and you
know, I have great guards that push the ball and find
me in transition. You know, I'm not too worried, and
then you have our posts that draw so much attention.
Q. Sabrina, I was wondering, you guys talked the
other day about you went to Spain for a preseason
trip and that helped you guys all get to know each
other better. Can you just talk about that trip and
how you guys got to know each other better and
how it brought the freshmen together?
SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, well -- how long did we go,
12 days? We were there for 12 days, and just being
out of the country for 12 days with a group of girls that
you're just starting to get to know already builds a great
relationship. Things are obviously different outside of
America. We couldn't walk places alone. We had to
stay as a group in an unfamiliar territory. So I think just
all being together, we visited, like, museums and
churches and cathedrals. And I think just being able to
be together for 12 days in a foreign country was
something that I think all of us definitely, like, look up
to. This happens once every four years, so I think we
were really excited that it happened this year with so
many new people. We all got to know each other really
well.
Q. Mallory, can you talk about playing against
Gabby, her athleticism and how difficult it is to play
somebody like that who can be so quick but has
the ability to play against a taller kid?
MALLORY MCGWIRE: Well, I mean, the last time I
played her was my sophomore year. But being able to
watch her, she's so versatile, and it's just amazing
because she can play down low, but she also has the
outside game, being able to drive from the high post
and things like that, but she's also an amazing
rebounder. She can jump out of the gym. She's just
an overall amazing athlete.
Q. Lexi, seems like you haven't been at Oregon that
long, but you're kind of the elder statesman
already. When you heard about this recruiting
class coming to Oregon, I'm sure you even hosted
some of them and knew them a little bit. When did
you realize that the future could be now this year
when they're all true freshmen instead of a couple
years from now?
LEXI BANDO: Well, first off, I was so excited for this
class to come in. There was so much hype around
them, and the hype was real. You know, incredible
players, incredible people off the court, and it's just a
blessing to be able to play with them. You know, I don't
think people thought we were going to get to this stage
this early, but you know, these freshmen have led us
here, and it's been an incredible journey.
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Q. You would be the first double-digit seed to make
the women's Final Four. I realize you've got to play
the game first, but if you do that, is that a
necessary step in the evolution of women's college
basketball?
And then my second question would be about the
Pac-12; you've had Cheryl Miller's era, you had
Stanford winning championships. But now it looks
like the Pac-12 is doing what the SEC did years ago
where they're realizing en masse that we can really
do well in women's basketball. We've got tons of
resources and beautiful campuses, so why don't
we make a push; is that what's going on, or is it
just individual?
KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, well, there was a lot in that
question. The first part, in terms of the Final Four, you
know, we're playing this for us. I think that's what we're
looking forward to. I don't know if that's going to make
a statement in a bigger picture of things. But was it
necessarily a goal of ours when we set out on this
season's journey? It's in front of us now, so it's
obviously something we're thinking about. You know,
the Pac-12 for many years -- and I watched it from a
short distance when I was at Gonzaga -- was Stanford
and then everybody else, several teams pretty good
and some not so good, and I think what's happened,
everybody has just gotten better. There are no gimmes
anymore. 1 through 12, a lot of programs are stepping
up, with Oregon State and Washington in last year's
Final Four just shows how the conference has evolved.
Yeah, I think all recruits should look to come west. It's
beautiful out there. We're laid back, like Doug likes to
say, about some of our coaches. And you know, it's
just a wonderful conference, great coaches, great
players, awesome places to visit when you're on the
road. You know, I just think it's a conference that will
continue to get better and better. I truly do.
Q. Did you think three years ago that you'd be this
quickly getting to a chance to get to the Final Four
as a group, especially the group you brought in
this year, that it would be this quick a turnaround
for this program?
KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, well, I'm a typical coach. I
don't look that far ahead. I like to look at the next day.
But I mean, maybe not in our third year, but we
certainly expected to be a good program. I mean,
there's no doubt about it, and the way we've recruited
and my staff, they deserve so much credit. They've
been phenomenal. Great recruiters, great teachers,
and great people, and I think that's kind of very much
helped us get to this spot today.
Gonzaga. I had a great thing going there. We could
have always been competitive, won championships,
been a threat to get to the second weekend of the
tournament, but I think at Oregon, we have the
resources, the brand, the administration, the support.
Everything that we have there will help enable us to get
to the lofty goals.
I mean, you look at the University athletic department,
and we're pretty competitive in every single sport that
we offer, and that's pretty neat. Our kids get to rub
shoulders with some of the nation's elite athletes and
world's elite athletes, and that's special. I saw that,
and I have Oregon ties. My family has Oregon ties,
and I just thought it was a no-brainer to me, and I'm
really excited.
To put a timeline on it, coaches can't do that. That's
tough. That's tough to think that we can get to this spot
and have a chance to get to a Final Four in our third
year with so many young kids. But it's here now, so
we're going to seize upon the opportunity.
Q. Today you got more resources around than
existed in different ways than before. For example,
I'd say that it was not long ago that here in the Pac12 the scores were in the paper in the morning,
when they ran scores. Now you've got the Pac-12
Network and everybody can just get on their
computers. How much of a help is that to you
when you're recruiting?
KELLY GRAVES: Oh, I think the Pac-12 Network is
huge. Now, I know we play those 8:00 games
sometimes; I know you're in bed already. So I don't
know how many people on the East Coast are
watching. But I think it's been huge. It's been critical.
I think it's allowed those players on the West Coast the
opportunity to stay home. They don't have to go to the
East Coast or the South to get the attention nationally
that they had before. So it's just opened up a lot more
doors, and I think you are seeing players on the West
Coast stay on the West Coast to play.
So yeah, I think it's great. I've always felt that getting
on TV is one of the most important things you can do
for a program, and certainly it's helped our conference.
Q. What kind of a performance will it take for you
guys or anyone to beat UConn this year?
KELLY GRAVES: Well, it's going to take our absolute
best. There's no doubt about it, and we've got to play
for 40 minutes. You know, watching them play and
what Coach Auriemma has done is incredible. It truly
is. I think they've set a standard that is good for our
sport.
But yeah, I mean, the honest truth is that's why I left
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You know, I hear people say all the time, oh, their
dominance isn't good for the sport. Really? I think it's
great for the sport. It makes us all accountable. We
need to get better. We've got to improve our game.
At the same time, they're tough to watch because you
know, now we've got to play them. But they are a lot of
fun to watch. They play the game the right way. They
share the ball. They play hard. They play very smart.
They never beat themselves. They play together, and
then what they do is they play for 40 minutes, and if
you let down even for a minute, they can spur a 10-0
run and you're buried, and that's what they do.
People can play with them for a time, but can they play
with them for 40 minutes? And that's the challenge we
have ahead of us. We've got to play a 40-minute
game. Things are going to go wrong. We've got to lift
our heads up and fight through it and continue to fight,
and this team has shown that kind of resilience. I'm
not going to sit here and just say we're happy to be
here. We are happy to be here, but I have a really
good basketball team, and I have a basketball team
who believes in themselves and in each other, and so
we're excited for the opportunity.
Q. Geno Auriemma was one of the coaches that
was quoted in your press release when you were
hired at Oregon, had nice things to say about you.
How close are you with Geno and how has that
relationship developed throughout the years?
KELLY GRAVES: Obviously I admire him a lot. We've
had a chance to spend a little bit of time together.
We're not calling each other every week to check up,
but we have a friendly relationship, and I think there's
mutual admiration. I really appreciated the things he
said when I was first hired at Oregon. You know, he
has a close Nike relationship, just like we do at the
University. And the things he said yesterday, that
means a lot to me. And I share the same admiration of
him. I think he's -- listen, I'm going to go out and say, I
think he's the best coach in basketball, male, female,
men's basketball, women's basketball. He's just
absolutely phenomenal, what he does, and how he
motivates and coaches, and it's going to be an honor to
play tomorrow, and that being said, I hope I kick his
butt.
they're playing, they just play basketball. Does that
help you that there doesn't seem to be that awe
factor?
KELLY GRAVES: Well, I hope so. And to answer your
first question, I have never played UConn, and I hope -I mean, if they had that issue, they would have maybe
shown that against Duke. That's a pretty big brand.
Maryland, another big brand, and they haven't shown
those kind of in-awe feelings or behaviors. Hopefully
that's not the case tomorrow. I can't answer that
because we haven't played them. But I have a way of
keeping our kids focused and grounded, so I think
we're just going to be worried about ourselves and how
we perform, and if it's good enough tomorrow, it's good
enough. If it's not, it's not. But hopefully they're not
just looking at that jersey on the opponent.
Q. When you get a win like you had yesterday, the
first thing you hear up here is right now we're
going to enjoy this one tonight and then we'll get
ready. It's UConn. How long did enjoy this tonight
last?
KELLY GRAVES: Until I called my wife and talked to
her, and we had some fun words. And then after that,
it was watching tape. That's not always pleasant, you
know, when you're sitting there trying to figure out how
the heck you can stop those guys. But for players, I
always tell them enjoy it tonight because we don't show
them any film or talk to them until the next morning
anyway. But as coaches, your work begins as soon as
the work just ended. That's just the nature of the
business. They've got several months to rest and pat
ourselves on the back and things like that once this
tournament is over.
But I'm really looking forward to testing ourselves
against the very best.
Q. As you were assembling this recruiting class
going to their AAU tournaments and whatnot, did
you have a sense each piece that you added that
this was becoming something really special?
KELLY GRAVES: I did. I did. You know, our first year
there was tough. We went 13-17, and the one thing
that kept us going was we were on the recruiting trail, it
seemed endlessly. My family actually stayed in
Spokane. My middle son was a senior at Gonzaga
Prep in Spokane, so they actually stayed there the
entire year, and I see that as a blessing because I
didn't have any -- there was no guilt. There was no
guilt, like Honey, how come you're not home tonight? I
was able to go on the road and spend a lot of time
recruiting. Same with my staff.
Q. To follow up on that, have you played UConn
before at any point in your career at Gonzaga,
Oregon? Also, a lot of teams when they play them
for the first time, there's that mystique, see the
jersey, see the UConn, and you're already down 100. You said they don't really seem to care who
And we knew what we were able to get on the
recruiting trail, and with each "yes," each commitment,
it kind of reenergized us and kept us going through
what was a tough year. I hadn't had many losing
seasons as a coach, and that's how we kind of base
our happiness, unfortunately, is on the won-loss record.
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But with each success on the recruiting trail, it kind of
gave us more momentum and confidence, and it really
kind of got us through that year.
But with each commitment, seriously, we were starting
to go, wow, this is something special, this is something
special. And we had a great recruiting year, and that
was just -- the cherry on top was Sabrina. We waited a
long time for that commitment, but she kind of solidified
everything. She was that Alpha that you need to kind
of put it all together. So it was quite a journey that first
year.
Q. What was Oregon's pitch to you? Did they feel
like women's basketball was a sport that hadn't
measured up to, say, more recently, football or
track and field in a long time? Did they think, this
is a sport that's emerging, we've got a lot of
resources we can put into it, and then what made
you finally decide, all right, I'm taking this job?
KELLY GRAVES: Well, Lisa Peterson, our associate
athletic director back there, was a great salesperson.
There's no doubt about it. It was an easy sell, quite
frankly. I loved Gonzaga. I absolutely loved it. My
family and I would have been happy to stay there
forever.
But I think professionally, every coach wants to be
challenged a little bit, and I knew going to the Pac-12
would be a challenge that I was ready for. We'd won
10 straight championships, and one of the things Lisa
told me was, well, good luck winning your 11th, like is
this what you really want? So there were some
coaching colleagues that I relied on and talked to, and
they all encouraged me to take that next step. You
know, and my wife is born and raised in Portland. All
her family lives in Portland. We have a vacation home
about an hour and a half from Eugene that's our
favorite spot on earth. It was seven hours from
Spokane, but an hour and a half from Eugene so we
were down in the area a lot. I have a lot of friends that
live in the area. It was the only place I would have ever
left for. Like I said, I loved Gonzaga. And how great
was yesterday, for a Gonzaga/Duck fan to have two
teams go to the Final Four?
You know, and the pitch they made and the -- I'm trying
to say the support that I knew we were going to get
sold me on it. Like I said, I'm happy to be there. I'm
happy to be a Duck, and privileged to be the coach
there.
Q. You never told me what their pitch was.
KELLY GRAVES: Well, their pitch was to come home a
little bit. We want to be a National Championship
program. I mean, they threw all that, and it matched,
because that's what I want, too. Not that you can't get
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there from Gonzaga, and the men are obviously
showing that. However, it's different in the men's game
than it is the women's game. The last so-called midmajor to go to the Final Four on the women's side was
2001 with Jackie Stiles, one of the preeminent players
in the history of our game, and that's a long time ago.
So it's a lot more difficult on the women's side to get
there, and professionally I wanted that challenge to do
it, and I think Oregon offered me that.
Q. How could you watch film yesterday when
Gonzaga's men and the Oregon men were playing
for a chance to go to the Final Four? That's your
two schools? How could you sit there and watch
film when history could be made right there? And
we talked the other day about Oregon basketball
versus Oregon football and putting basketball on
the map a little bit more. You guys have the big
tournament next year, the Phil Knight thing for the
mean and the women, which was really going to be
the showcase, like, wow, Oregon basketball, all
these teams coming here to play for Phil Knight.
But now with the men in the Final Four and you
guys a step away from the Final Four, that national
picture is coming a little bit earlier than that I would
think.
KELLY GRAVES: Pretty cool. I mean, it's pretty cool.
To answer the first part of your question, business
before pleasure, all right. Business before pleasure.
And you see these bags under the eyes? You can do
both. You can watch and enjoy the games on TV and
then watch your next opponent, too. You know, sleep is
overrated, quite frankly.
And then I have a great staff, who, they are on this
thing, big-time. But yeah, I think we've been known as
a track and field school and a football school. I think
it's really special.
You know, to me what's really, really cool is I go
through a lot of our -- on Facebook, I get so many
messages and texts and tweets and all that kind of
stuff, like everybody does, but some of our past alums,
who I never coached, have changed their Facebook
profiles, pictures, to them in their Duck uniform. And
they've reached out, some of our great players -- and
there is a history, a tradition at the University of Oregon
of good basketball, winning basketball, championship
basketball. It's neat to see them kind of reconnect and
be proud of their program and reach out, and I think
that's something that Oregon has been waiting for.
And now we just hope to follow the lead of our men.
They just keep one-upping us. For crying out loud.
But good for Dana and good for his guys.
Q. I first met you when Gonzaga wasn't Gonzaga
yet and you took a trip across the country to play
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St. Joseph's and then you were going home. I
think I remember the motivation for that.
KELLY GRAVES: We were really good. We were on
the ascent, I guess I can say that. And somebody told
me, a very wise person, told me you need to play on
the East Coast so people can see how good you guys
really are, so we started doing that. That trip was one
of the first ones we took to the East Coast, and we
tried to get back at least to the Midwest, sometimes to
the South, and then the East Coast a lot, so people
could see how good Gonzaga was. I remember that
trip. We got them that morning. I think it was kids' day,
too. Yeah, it was loud. Yeah, that was a fun trip, a
really fun trip.
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