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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 30, 2011Tara VanDerveerTHE MODERATOR: Good afternoon to all and welcome to today's Women's Final Four head coaches' teleconference. With us today for our second call of the afternoon is Tara VanDerveer, head coach at Stanford. Stanford is making its 10th overall and fourth consecutive Women's Final Four appearance here in Indianapolis this coming weekend. At this time to kick things off I'd like to invite the Vice President of the NCAA Women's Basketball Sue Donohoe for some opening comments. SUE DONOHOE: Thank you for joining us. I know a busy day for you as you're all making preparations to make your way to the midwest and to Indianapolis. On behalf of the NCAA and the Division I Women's Basketball Committee, Tara, we commend you for a great season, a great tournament thus far, and we can't wait for you all to get to our home city. For the media that are joining us today, certainly we're pleased that you're joining us. We hope it gives you a good opportunity to visit with Tara and ask all those questions that you certainly want to ask. So without any further adieu, I'm going to turn it back to Rick. We'll get started. COACH VANDERVEER: First of all, we are thrilled to be coming to Indianapolis tomorrow and to participate in the Women's Final Four. It never gets old. You know, we work very hard. Our team has had a great tournament so far, and we just want to continue to play well and improve. Really have an opportunity to have a shot at winning a National Championship. Q. Congratulations on returning to the Final Four. In reading a lot about this tournament, and I think it's sort of almost a little conventional wisdom that people are tabbing your team as the favorite to win. That's not a role that you traditionally have played when you've gotten to the Final Four. I just wanted to get your thoughts on whether you buy that, how you think about that? But in terms of this is the one year in a long time where people would tab maybe Stanford as the team to beat as opposed to UCONN in year's past as the team to beat. COACH VANDERVEER: I think that when you get to the Final Four you're on level playing field. I don't know that there is such a thing as a favorite. A lot of it has to do with your match-ups, obviously, people being healthy, just how the games are called. I don't see anyone necessarily being a favorite. I think it is to our advantage that this team and a lot of the players have been to the Final Four before. But I would just -- I think that's just about it for us. We know we have to play well. We know that every team that is there has the potential to win it. Q. I wonder how much through the season or perhaps now have you referenced last year's Final Four as a framework for what you're going to be doing now? Have you just left that behind or are some lessons carried over, some links from last year? COACH VANDERVEER: I think that there's almost the excitement. We remember the excitement of going there in the last couple of years. Some of these players have been a couple of times, but also the pain. So there are two mixed emotions going on with our team. What I sensed with this particular team is excitement, enthusiasm. It's a thrill to be going. You look at great teams. Teams that have beaten us that are not going, but at the same time there is kind of a business woman's approach to it. In all seriousness saying, hey, for our seniors this is it. Let's really focus and give it our best shot. Q. I wanted to on behalf of the committee congratulate you and the Stanford program. We made you a No. 1 seed, and you did what you were supposed to do, so we're grateful for that. COACH VANDERVEER: Thank you very much. We had great competition. It was an extremely well-run tournament up in Spokane. I know we disappointed the locals, but they have a great program and great player in Vandersloot and others, and we're fortunate and thankful to be going to Indianapolis. Q. Well, I think that Spokane crowd was a real basketball crowd, and I think you showed them how the bar could be set high. I wish you well, safe travels and I look forward to your competition in the next few days in Indianapolis. COACH VANDERVEER: Thank you. Q. You referenced this in your first answer, but if you could elaborate on what the experience means in a Final Four for a team especially going against a team in A&M that's making its first appearance in the Final Four, kind of a unique experience to them? You guys are used to it. Your players were there last year. Is there an advantage to that? COACH VANDERVEER: Well, I wish they just gave you points right up on the board, but obviously that's not the case. Gary's been there, and he'll share the wisdom that he has with his team. But I think that there's maybe a certain amount of more calmness, that's all I would say having gone back. People know a little bit more what to expect. It's still very exciting. But I hope that it helps our team kind of weather some of the storm that's we know are coming from playing Texas A&M. Q. Kind of along the lines of what did you learn last night when you were watching Texas A&M? And you talk about match-ups being the key once you get this far. Where do you think their strengths are and where do you think your challenges are going to be? COACH VANDERVEER: Well, to beat Baylor in that situation having lost to them three times and coming out, I thought Texas A&M played a great game. I think there are different preparations that you do for Texas A&M versus the preparation that you would be doing for Baylor. In some ways, Texas A&M give you more traditional not having someone 6'8" in there, but obviously a talented post player with Adams. But both teams, I think, are very intense both offensively and defensively. But I think Texas A&M really played with just great intensity, and that's what we expect to see in our game. Basically kind of a carbon copy of what they did against Baylor. They're very athletic. They disrupt offense very well. They have a lot of different weapons. Q. You started breaking down Texas A&M a little bit. And I wanted to ask you specifically about Danielle Adams who is a really interesting player in terms of her height. She's kind of hard to match up with, because she has the agility and athleticism, sometimes of almost a big guard, even though she sort of can be a front court player. It's just a really interesting player who has a pretty good shot when it's on. If you could, break down her game and what kind of challenges she possesses? COACH VANDERVEER: As far as I know she was a leading scorer in the Big 12. A great conference, she's a great player. She's so versatile. What I notice in watching her play is just she has excellence basketball sense. She has great hands. She has great feet, very strong post player, but also faces up threes. So she's a really tough match-up and we'll have to play very well against her. Q. Maybe one more, and maybe this wasn't the case. But did you sense at all from your team that they expected Baylor to be there as opposed to Texas A&M? And forget about scouting, but did you sense that the kids had to do any kind of mind shift, because I think most people thought obviously Baylor having beaten them three times this season that Baylor would be back? I want to get a sense from you with your group did your players expect Baylor as opposed to anyone else? COACH VANDERVEER: When we came back Monday night, we came back really late. I haven't seen our team at all or talked to any of our players since I saw them Monday night. They had a day off yesterday. We got back to school. We're on the quarter system. And I'm assuming most of them watched the game. But as far as our coaches go, it was no surprise. We know they are both great teams, and they're both Final Four caliber teams. I was watching them during the game equally as much as a could. And I had on my laptop at the same time watching the game before. Watching both teams and scouting both teams. So I felt it was a little bit of a coin toss. I think it was a particularly tough situation for Baylor having beaten them three times, and we were in the same bracket with UCLA. I know it would have been very tough for us to do that with a great team like UCLA. Q. Even in a small way is there a sense of relief that you are not going to have to try to figure out how to defend Brittney Griner, because she was so unique? And does A&M resemble any team that you face this year with their personnel and how they approach things? COACH VANDERVEER: I think in answer to the first question, I think that you pretty much -- we know Baylor's been out there, and I felt all along that they would be in our bracket. Wasn't like we were waiting to work against players that are 6'8" or whatever. There was a young man that was actually in our band that we called Brittney and was one of our practice guys. So we've been working against. I think his real name's Andrew, but I called him Brittney one time and everyone looked at me funny. So I think every team has someone that you know is out there. And the fact that we had played against Rolle from North Carolina and other players that are that size. But A&M, any team that beats another team, be careful what you wish for. I went into the game saying I'm going to be prepared for both. And whoever comes out, we know that on that night they were the better team, and we've got to be ready for them. As far as the second part of the question, I think playing against Tennessee, the pressure defense that A&M plays, playing against in our conference, Arizona State, that's probably the most similar to what they do. But I will say that they do it better. Q. With the pressure defense you mean? COACH VANDERVEER: Right, pressure defense, and the aggressiveness, and their athleticism, and they have a lot of offensive weapons. So it's not just we're going to climb up on you and be aggressive defensively. We've got offensive weapons too. So they're similar in style to teams that we've played. For our team it's something that we work on every day just because we know that's something that we'll run up against. So that's the advantage, in some ways, of having the male practice players. They get you ready for that. Q. Wanted your impression of A&M's back court? As you look at them back there, what was your initial impression? What struck you about them? COACH VANDERVEER: Oh, I watched that game as I was watching the other game on my laptop. I watched all their games. They have a great back court. They really disrupt you with their aggressiveness. I've been following them all year long, and they've had a great season. Colson is terrific. I think their defense, White, I think their whole perimeter just really creates a lot of problems for people because they're so aggressive. But they're not just effective on the defensive end, they're effective on the offensive end too. Both Carter and Colson, the two of them together, but I throw in White into that mix too. You have to be able to handle the ball, take care of the ball, and make good decisions with it, and that will be a real challenge for our team. Q. As someone who has been in the game for a while and has coached All-Americans -- COACH VANDERVEER: Are you calling me old? Q. I'm not calling you old. You're young at heart. We're all getting old. COACH VANDERVEER: Thank you. Q. You're someone that's coached a lot of All-Americans. Including All-Americans on your roster. I wonder if you can put Maya Moore in some kind of historical perspective? There are going to be articles written in the next couple of days, no matter what UCONN does. Making the argument that she's maybe the best player in the history of the women's college game. And there is a lot of evidence that one could make that argument. I just wonder where you see her in terms of historical perspectives with some of the great players in the game? COACH VANDERVEER: I definitely think she is one of the greatest college female players. I think she has great talent. But part of what makes her great is also the system that she plays in. I credit Geno for that, and the players that she's played with. I think she's always going to be a very good team, good player. I think it's partly what she does, but also the environment that she's in and the team that she plays on. When I look at a player like -- to me one of the best players I've ever seen is Cheryl Miller. She just on any team she's going to be a standout. Maya Moore on any team would be a standout. But I think she's even more effective because of the system that she's in. Q. At the risk of bringing an end to this conference call. I have to bring up kind of a shared history that you have with Gary Blair. Even talked about it last night, and he said he's glad he's no longer part of a trivia question from his time in 1998 at Arkansas. Taking a low seeded team to the Final Four. And talked about the weird way that unfolded. Obviously you talk about that several times, can you talk about kind of the weird situation that you had with Arkansas? Now you guys are the 1 seed, and strange things happen. Also the way you and your program rebounded from that experience? COACH VANDERVEER: I would love to have someone set the record straight on it. Obviously, we're the only one in the men's or women's bracket that have lost to a 16. I would just tell you that first of all I don't think Harvard was a true 16, but they had a WNBA All-Star in Alison Feaster. For our team we were seeded on a Sunday before we knew that we had two ACL injuries to our two best players. I would argue that if that happened to any 1 seed in today's game, if you took out Tiffany Hayes and Maya Moore off of UConn they might be losing in the first round also as we did. It was a really -- it was really a very, very tough situation because the other players on the team did not even want to play. They were so afraid when we had the ACL to Kristin Folkl and Vanessa Nygaard. They were not excited about playing. It was a really disastrous week for our program. What that has taught me is once we get into the tournament is that we really limit the contact that we do and almost hardly do any contact at all. So Gary Blair did come here. They went on, and I think they ended up beating Duke. Honestly, I didn't even go to the tournament. It was over in Oakland. I didn't go to see it. But I would like to remember is when Gary Blair brought his Arkansas team here to Stanford. Remind them of that one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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