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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITYMarch 19, 2015Suriya McGuireKatie MeierAdrienne MotleyIOWA CITY, IOWA COACH MEIER: We are thrilled to be here. We returned to Iowa City and we are thrilled to be in the tournament first of all and we had some nervous days there, and wither in a mind‑set we are very, very grateful but when you give Miami an opportunity, we are going to take it and we have been opportunistic all season. So we are in a great mind‑set, great game, and our kids are excited, but hungry, and we want to prove something here. I'm always very, very happy; I think this is one of the classiest athletic departments and institutions in the country. They run such a great tournament. When we saw Iowa City again, people said, oh, no, we are like, no, it's awesome there. Great crowds, great support and special environment. We are happy to be here and have a heck of a matchup in Washington. I think this is one of the more exciting first day games in the whole tournament, Miami versus Washington. Good scoring from the backcourts on both teams and the physicality and tempo. So I think a lot of TV sets should tune into this game. Q. What's the challenge you face on the backcourt with Davis and Plum, what's the challenge they present? COACH MEIER: To be honest, I remember watching one of their games and hearing that Davis was their all‑time leading scorer. She's great, 2,000 points. Kelsey Plum and I are very familiar with each other. We did USA Basketball together and spent some time with Luana (ph); I believe her mother is the one that brought me hair dye on the last day of the World Championships because my hair grayed out a little bit trying to get that Gold Medal. Katie Plum came by the hotel and gave us hair dye. Pretty familiar with Kelsey and her ability, but yeah, their backcourt is phenomenal. Mike does a great job of giving them space and room I think we have very similar offensive philosophies. THE MODERATOR: Can you comment on the experience of participating in the NCAA Tournament? SURIYA McGUIRE: It's a great experience for me. I know it's what I really wanted for my last year, playing with Coach, this is my third time being in the NCAA Tournament, and like she said, it's just an opportunity we are ready to take on and I'm just excited to play tomorrow. ADRIENNE MOTLEY: I agree with Suriya. It's just a great first experience for me and something I definitely want to look forward to and keep going to it in the previous seasons. Just play our hearts out, because a lot of teams don't get this opportunity. So just focus on living in the moment. Q. Would you like to comment specifically on the two young women? COACH MEIER: I love them, and it's really obvious what they mean. Suriya's journey here and having this reward being her journey is phenomenal. But I think we are in the mind‑set of continuing to play and continuing this journey and having a very, very forward, positive mind‑set. But when you coach and you have successful teams, and I've been blessed the last couple years at Miami to be able to be in this tournament four of the five; but each year isn't about me. It's about this particular group and their particular journey and their rewards. And these two to my right absolutely deserve this. You'll see how hard they play. You'll see that we don't hold back on emotion in our program, and that's fine. We are going to show you who we are. We are going to give you our hearts. We are going to fight and claw and do whatever needs to be done. We are going to celebrate, and we'll do whatever it takes, so these two will bring that out in me and I think I bring that out in them. THE MODERATOR: As a University of Iowa staff member, I appreciate your nice comments. But is there any particular advantage having been in Carver‑Hawkeye Arena so recently? COACH MEIER: I think so, the crowd‑‑ it's a real positive crowd, too. We've played some in environments this year in the ACC, but the Iowa City folk are awesome people. They are real positive. And so they cheer, they know basketball like crazy. You hear some comments, I remember scouting the game before, and being like, my God, these fans are smart. Like they were saying high‑level kind of things. I thought, wow, they know what they are doing here. It's fun. And listen, as serious as this is and how much of a business it's becoming and everything else, there's pure joy in our program and I think there's joy here in Iowa City so we are happy it matched up again. Q. Does Washington remind you of anybody, comparable to anybody in conference play that you've seen? COACH MEIER: In a way, a little bit Virginia I thought presented a lot of the same‑‑ we just recently have played them. The backcourt talent of Notre Dame we have matched up with, too. But when we are watching film on each other and I'm sure Mike is saying the same thing, we run a lot of the same stuff. We have a lot of the same concepts, so in guarding and not having the scout team because we had to leave on Tuesday and everything else, okay; we had to play against each other. It's pretty familiar. ADRIENNE MOTLEY: I have to as far as Virginia, just having two big guards, and their post players that can shoot the three, too. So pretty much everybody on the floor is vulnerable just like Virginia, you have to bring your P's and Q's. SURIYA McGUIRE: Like Adrienne said, their guards remind me a lot of Virginia's guards, their ability to take anybody one‑on‑one is very much the same. Their posts are very diverse. They can shoot and they can post up, but to have the ability to pass the ball ‑‑ as a guard; so I can just say that Virginia is very tough. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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