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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: CHICAGOMarch 29, 2019Kellie HarperBrice CalipAlexa WillardDanielle GitzenChicago, Illinois KELLIE HARPER: Well, we're excited to be here. There's no doubt. I've had a lot of folks send me messages and say, Enjoy the moment, and you just don't have to worry about that because we are going to do it. We're going to enjoy every part of this. We're going to come over here and we're going to compete and we're going to play hard and let what happens happen, and just enjoy this ride. Q. Coach, as you look at Stanford, what kind of challenges do they present your team with, and what worries you most? KELLIE HARPER: Well, Stanford is really good, first of all. Their size, their ability to pass, read the defense, cut, see the floor, rebound. And then just their length defensively. I think all that can give you problems. I mean, just watching them. They're a fun team to watch. I would assume that translates into not a fun team to play. (Laughter). Q. Do you feel like you guys have the same confidence you guys have been able to have the last few games? KELLIE HARPER: You know, when we go out there on the court, I think we'll find out where our confidence level is. But we've done nothing different, so I would have no reason to believe our team would step out on the court with a different mindset and a different attitude. We've just been playing with a lot of confidence, like I said earlier, enjoying the moment, enjoying playing basketball together, and hopefully that's where we'll be. Q. You've talked about how the locker room was how you guys -- the locker room after the Gonzaga game you just had the feeling that your team was going to turn it around. Have you thought back to that when you guys were 1 and 7 and how special that locker room was after that? KELLIE HARPER: I think where we're at now has given me opportunity to reflect back on the season, period, and we have talked a lot about that Gonzaga game being a turning point for us. The locker room after the game, it wasn't mad, it wasn't sad, but it was just a determined group of young women that knew they could do it. And I think that's when we really turned the corner and made a strong push. It gave us a lot of confidence. I don't know that I've ever been a part of a loss that gave us so much confidence in my coaching career, so that was something really special and unique. But yeah, you know, we've reflected back on the season quite a bit here recently. Q. Just wanted to talk about these last three weeks, what have they meant to you and the program as you represent Missouri State and something that you've set out to do when you got this job some years ago? KELLIE HARPER: The last three weeks have been nothing short of amazing. It's been so much fun. It's been very gratifying. It's been an opportunity for us to just be proud, you know, be proud of what we've been able to do at Missouri State. I think probably more than anything, I have enjoyed watching our team and watching our players just go through all these moments, and to see them with the biggest smiles on their faces and just loving life and loving each other and loving basketball. It's just been very rewarding as a coach to see all of their hard work and all of their beliefs pay off in a big way. Q. I'm sorry about the awkwardness of this next question, but I'm sure you knew this was coming. What has the University of Tennessee meant to your development and what does it mean to be mentioned in connection with that opening? KELLIE HARPER: Well, the first part of that, being a former player for the University of Tennessee is something very special. Having the opportunities that I had at Tennessee were amazing and loved all my time there. Obviously having the opportunity to play for Pat Summitt was incredibly special, very unique, and I'm one of a really small special group that had an opportunity to do that. You know, I know every year there's going to be speculation. This is the world we live. This time every year people start talking about job changes, and names get thrown out there. But the way I've looked at this, this moment right now, I just don't think my team deserves that. They have done something so special, and there's so much excitement about our program, that's where I want to keep the attention. Q. You get those moments before every game with your kids that you guys are just standing out there. How much does it mean to you to spend those moments with them and just to have -- and your whole family, just being able to do all this together? KELLIE HARPER: You know, it's really special to be able to share this with our family. Kiley is not quite big enough yet, but Jackson is, and he feels like these players are his sisters. He really does. They're having impactful moments on his life, and I'm so happy that we have the kind of players we have, the character that they have, that he gets to be around those type people. You know, for me before big games, he's there. It just brings some normalcy to life, you know, in the crazy world that we live in. And it really puts things in perspective for you. But I have loved, loved sharing all these moments with our children and with Jon and my mom. It's just been a very close, close group. Q. When you talk to people or when you talk to the girls, they're always talking the family culture, the family culture about your team and what you've been able to do. How much have you kind of -- how much have you noticed that? How hard was it to build a family culture around a program? KELLIE HARPER: Well, I think a lot of teams feel like it's a family. I think close teams feel that way. We're very unique in that my husband is on staff, so building a family atmosphere is probably not as hard for us since we're already married and we work together. All we have to do is sprinkle in the kids on the back of the bus and it's a family affair, you know. It's really unique, but I think it's been good for our team to be able to see us in a different light, you know, to -- and then it's been great for our family for sure. Q. The message recently has been that your best is good enough. Does that message get tougher for them to believe as every opponent is higher ranked and bigger and better? KELLIE HARPER: Well, you know, this is just a unique group. This is a special group. They're going to go out and give it their best, and that's all we're asking. And that is good enough. It really is. I think that you're right, that's been our message, and I don't think there's any reason for us to change our message now. Q. Danielle, can you just kind of talk about the family atmosphere around the team, just being around them all the time? DANIELLE GITZEN: Yeah, I think it's kind of inevitable just because we are basically around each other 24/7, but having a family atmosphere is definitely an amazing feeling. When I stepped foot on the Missouri State campus, I instantly felt like I have known these girls my whole life. So that was a huge reason I went to Missouri State. So from the coaches to every one of my teammates it's like a family. We get to be around Jackson and Kiley, so that's definitely really nice. And then, I don't know, we can like bicker every once in a while, but at the end of the day we love each other and we know we have each other's backs, so it's definitely a good feeling to have. Q. You've been here for four years, so you've been here four out of Jackson's five years. How much have you seen him grow since being here? DANIELLE GITZEN: Yeah, when I first came down to Missouri State on one of my visits, I remember I was sitting in the back of Kellie and Jon's car, and he was a baby. He was just staring at me, giving me like the stink face. I was like, What is going on? This kid is like not even one year old and he already doesn't like me. But now he's definitely grown up, and it's just fun being around him and seeing him as he's getting older and learning. And yeah, it's fun to watch him grow up. Q. Brice, Kellie has talked a couple times about the locker room after the Gonzaga game and how she just walked in there and felt like you guys were ready to turn things around. What do you remember from that locker room, and can you just kind of put us in there? BRICE CALIP: I just remember that it was such a close game, and we personally thought we lost the game on our own mistakes. They played very well, played their game, as well, and I just think everybody knew at that moment that we have something good here. We can achieve so many things after postseason, and here we are. Q. Brice, you're kind of the hoops junkie on the team. How do you get over playing a name team now as opposed to some of the Valley schools you've been playing? BRICE CALIP: I think it's a huge accomplishment for our program, and just knowing that we're playing the best of the best at this point, and just knowing we're not going to change our game plan and they're going to come at us hard because they've been here, and we're going to come right back at them. Q. Alexa, why is it you've been able to step up your game in the postseason now? ALEXA WILLARD: I just think it's really just having trust in my teammates and in my coaches. They've always told me even when I'm not playing good that they have my back and to keep shooting, and I just think a lot of that comes from knowing that if they have confidence in me, then I should, too, and I think we just all kind of rely on each other. Q. As the saying goes, Sweet 16 and never been dancing on this floor. How does that work with the psyche being the Cinderella team? ALEXA WILLARD: I'd say just -- I mean, I think we're just going to go out here, and I know it's a big -- it's a really big goal for us to be in the Sweet 16, but I think at the end of the day, we're just going out there and having fun. We're treating it like we're going dancing. We don't really care about whoever we're playing, we're just going to focus on ourselves and just to make sure at the end of the day we're going to be proud of what we did out there and just be proud of ourselves. DANIELLE GITZEN: Yeah, I mean, personally I wouldn't mind having nice glass slippers. I think Brice might want a glass Jordan. But other than that, kind of like what Alexa said, people can say what they want, media can say what they want, but we're kind of just focused on ourselves and what we can do, what we can bring to the court, and just playing Lady Bear basketball. BRICE CALIP: Also repeating that, yeah, a Jordan would be nice. But just knowing that we made it here, just proving everyone wrong one game at a time, that's how we're taking it. Whether we get to the next round or not, we're just going to play our game, play hard and just be focused. Q. What are Kellie's strengths as a coach, and how much has her guidance helped you guys in this run to this point? ALEXA WILLARD: I'd say one of her strengths is that she always has us really prepared. I think I can walk out there confident knowing that I know all I need to know about the team we're playing, and just she -- everybody on the staff complements each other nicely. And also I think she always has confidence, and I think we feed off that, knowing that if she's confident, we should be confident, too. DANIELLE GITZEN: Going along with what Alexa said, I think our coaching staff does a nice job complementing each other, and their preparation is great for us, and they all this confidence in what we can do and our abilities. I think it's also nice having Kellie who played at such a high level, she's been in our shoes, and so we kind of can take that and use that to, I guess, our advantage. And if we have questions, if we need advice, she kind of -- she can help us out in that aspect and give us -- she knows the perspective of like a student-athlete, and so that's definitely a strength I think she has, as well. BRICE CALIP: Everyone on our coaching staff has either played or coached in the NCAA Tournament, so I think that's a big advantage for us. And for them to give us their knowledge that they know on both perspectives, on coaching and playing, so I think that's really good for us and will give us some momentum. Q. For any of you guys, have you kind of embraced that Cinderella role? DANIELLE GITZEN: I mean, yeah, I guess. Growing up, I mean, I watched March Madness, NCAA Tournament, and I'd say I always root for the underdog. I think it's fun to root for the underdog. But I mean, yeah, it's kind of fun. It's fun to go in and, yes, we believe in ourselves and we believe that we can win and we can do it, but then showing other people like, hey, watch out for Missouri State because they can hang with the best. It's definitely fun surprising people. ALEXA WILLARD: Yeah, I just have to piggyback off of what she said. I think it's cool for us to go in there with a chip on our shoulder like we know what we're made of and it's time to show other people, too. BRICE CALIP: Honestly this whole thing hasn't even really hit me yet. It will tomorrow definitely, but I just think -- I mean, we're no underdog. We've played the best of the best in non-conference, have lost by a few points, so I think we belong here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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