NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - FLORIDA GULF COAST VS WASHINGTON STATE

March 17, 2023

Kamie Ethridge

Charlisse Leger-Walker

Ula Motuga

Bella Murekatete

Finneran Pavilion

Washington State Cougars

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. For each of you, what's the last week been like? Has it kind of settled in? Have you celebrated much, or is there a quick switch back to business?

CHARLISSE LEGER-WALKER: Yeah, I think it's been pretty much a whirlwind of a week. Obviously coming off a big high, winning the Pac-12 championships, obviously celebrated that for what it was.

But leading up to this tournament, we all had to kind of switch mindsets a little bit and start to lock in a lot more on what we're here to do, and obviously that's get some wins at this tournament.

And so that's pretty much been our focus for the last couple days.

Q. Ula, you've been here the longest, seeing the development of this program, and if you're talking to an outsider, maybe what they've seen on paper throughout the history of the program and how it's transformed, what would you say to an outsider when explaining how this program has transformed across five years?

ULA MOTUGA: Yeah, I think to an outsider I would say that that this I guess five-year journey that the coaches have been on, obviously that I have been on, has been truly transformational.

I think we came into this institution and into a program where winning wasn't really a thing at WSU, and women's basketball, specifically, they weren't as successful as the other schools. But we went from nine wins my freshman year to in my senior -- super senior year, winning the Pac-12 championship and the best conference in the country.

So it's huge. I think it just speaks to who Coach is as a leader, as a head coach, and obviously who her assistants are as people and what they've been able to do in terms of recruiting.

You look at these two, and their growth especially is a testament to their hard work and just what Coach is about and who she is. And I think this program is truly on an upwards drive, and I think you can see that through our results in the past. And we're looking forward to another run here in Philadelphia.

Q. For any of you, how much are you leaning on the experience of having been here before? And then kind of a second part for that question is how much are you trying to kind of take the same mindset from the Pac-12 tournament and apply it to this one, make a run in this one too?

CHARLISSE LEGER-WALKER: Yeah, I think we are definitely leaning on that experience a little bit, obviously being here the last two years, a lot of us know what it's like to come into these games. Obviously there's going to be a lot of nerves, and especially for our younger ones, everything is so new to them and they're taking in everything at the moment and just trying to battle through a lot of different little things that may be causing those nerves.

So I think for them we have to be really solid in our foundation and what we want to go into the -- or take the mindset that we want to take into this game.

Definitely want to play how we ended that tournament at the Pac-12. I think we were all kind of in our stride at that point and connected and playing as a team. And so I think we want to take all the good things that we performed on the court in that tournament, take it into these first games.

But, again, we had a lot of things to work on, and it wasn't -- we never played a perfect game, and I don't think you really can. Because obviously there's a lot of things we can still improve on and want to focus on going into this first game.

Q. Obviously you want to win tomorrow, but the program has never won a tournament game. How much do you think of that and what would it mean to you to kind of be the team to knock that 0 out of the win -- out of the column, I guess?

BELLA MUREKATETE: I guess I get to talk. It means a lot. And as something we all know and everybody knows, especially all the players, we all know how hard it is to win in a tournament. And, yeah, just another challenge and just got to stick on the scout and know what we're here to do and, again, lean on our experienced players and just us being a team.

Q. I'm wondering about your -- could you unpack your development as coming from Genesis Prep obviously and then small-school Idaho program to -- what do you think the biggest key was to your development maybe in the past two years or something really important that you learned about yourself recently to kind of emerge as the player you've become?

BELLA MUREKATETE: Yeah. There's no really secret key to it except just expecting to be coachable and having a really, really good coaching staff that really believes in you. Because the whole big thing was just how big Coach Ethridge and Laurie really believed in me and showed me the type of player I could be. And I just believed in that and just went to work and put the work in.

Q. President Biden picked you guys to win in the bracket. I don't know if you saw that yesterday. To win your first game, at least. Did you see that or know that?

ULA MOTUGA: We did see that. President Biden, man.

Q. What did you think about the president picking?

ULA MOTUGA: Is he an alumni? Is that what it is?

Q. Well, he's from Delaware, Villanova to win --

ULA MOTUGA: Yeah, I saw the caption was something along the lines of "And in this house, Villanova always wins." So, I mean, got to respect it.

But, no, yeah, I think it's cool to see a bunch of different people or public figures, I guess, tuning in. And it just shows the support that they have for women's basketball especially. And I think it's awesome that more people are buying into creating a bracket. I think A'ja Wilson had one, Barack obviously always does one. He had us going in extra games, so thank you, Barack Obama.

But, no, it's awesome. The support is truly amazing. It's good for our game and good for the sport.

Q. How did the whole Shania Twain thing start? Who picked the song? Who picked the song, and how did it become an anthem?

ULA MOTUGA: We -- I know we say this every time, but we truly are a team of karaoke. Every -- the bus ride, you can always -- no doubt someone's got a speaker going, and then other people will sing along. Some can sing, some cannot. But it's fun. It's something that brings us together, and we enjoy karaoke a lot.

And then the Shania thing, it just happened before a game. I think I played it, and everyone was like, oh, this is a pretty cool song. And then suddenly the coaches bought into it. And then it just became a trend where before a game, right before Coach E comes in, Bella would start the song, and then we just start singing. Don't know the words yet, but...

Q. (Off microphone?)

ULA MOTUGA: We will be going on stage. She doesn't know it yet, but yes.

Q. What have you seen from Florida Gulf Coast? And looks like they take a lot of threes. How do you think you match up with them as far as your defense?

CHARLISSE LEGER-WALKER: Yeah, they're a great team. We've been watching a lot of their film over the past week. I think they're kind of used to being in these situations. They win their conference a lot, and obviously they've been here the past couple of years.

They're used to being that 12th seed and having to play against the 5 seed. So I think they're really well experienced in that area.

And watching film obviously, they're more of a run-and-gun team. They love to give up a lot of threes in transition and get to the rim if you're stuck in long closeouts and things like that.

So I think for us, we have to really focus on being -- playing a lot of team defense and making sure we're finding people in transition, not letting them have really open easy looks from the three and just get down and guard one-on-one.

I think going into the game, a lot of the -- we do have to focus on what we can control as well, especially on the offensive end. They're going to score and we -- it's inevitable that people make mistakes on defense, and I think we can't get too caught up in that and really just go out and control what we can on the offensive end as well and make sure we're putting points on the board too.

So right now obviously still training and getting -- we're finding a few things on what we want to go out -- obviously won't give away our game plan at all, but, yeah, just right now really trying to lock in and focus as a team on what we want to do.

Q. Is this the first time you guys have ever been East? And if so, how are you adjusting? Because it's only 8 o'clock back in your home right now.

ULA MOTUGA: Yeah, I think this is probably the first time in Coach E's era that we've been up here, though, up in Philly. We've been to the East Coast before, obviously.

But, no, it's been a hard adjustment. I think some of us didn't sleep the night -- last night, the night before till about 4:00 a.m. So the travel has been tough.

But adjusting is something that we'll have to get used to. And I think we have a good game time tomorrow compared to last year. We were playing at 11 a.m. in North Carolina last year, which was 8 a.m. our time. So that was a bit of a struggle. But, no, we're better prepared this time around.

Q. For Ula and Charlisse, just wondering if you can talk through what have you seen through Bella's development kind of step by step into the player she's become today?

ULA MOTUGA: Man, I think if the walls of Boler and Beasley [phonetic] could talk, they would tell you Bella now has come a lot further than what Bella was when she was a freshman. I think freshman Bell was still very new to basketball, but she was so wide-eyed and ready to learn and had a determination to get better.

And I think that's why she's who she is now was that she has a work ethic that is probably top tier. She was in early mornings with Laurie. About an hour before everyone else gets on the court, Bell's down there sweating with Laurie and getting her work and reps in. And I think that's why obviously you see what she is now, the fruits of her labor, is that she's just gotten better and she continues to get better.

I think Coach E's ability to hold her accountable is also what helps her in practice. I think whenever Bella reverts to -- forgets how good she is or what she needs to be doing to remain effective, Coach is really good at getting on her.

And I think that's with every other player in our gym as well. But I think who Bella is now is a testament to all her hard work and dedication to the program and to herself.

THE MODERATOR: Washington State, we thank you.

ULA MOTUGA: Thank you. Go Cougs.

BELLA MUREKATETE: Go Cougs.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement about being here at Villanova and the first round tomorrow.

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Really excited to be here. Want to thank Villanova and their staff. It's been great so far. It looks like they're obviously putting on a great show and we're happy to be here.

And congratulations to all four teams that are here. Exciting for all the teams and programs, and it's a big statement that you make the tournament.

And clearly we're one of those people. We're excited to be here. We came a long way to be here. And obviously we're excited to play.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Kamie, when you say a long way, when you took Washington, who were like one of the basement teams in America, so what will drove you that way? You probably could have picked a million places with your whole history?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Yeah. Well, first off, you know, just got my start late in my career. I took the long path. So many coaches get jobs way early in their career. So I'm real grateful for taking a little bit longer. I feel like I was really prepared and got my first job at Northern Colorado for four years and loved that experience.

Washington State came open and, quite honestly, you know, Texas education, you know, I don't even know where the state of Washington probably was at the time. And the Pacific Northwest was pretty new to me.

But what drew me was sitting in a meeting, in a room with Pat Chun, the AD, obviously knowing Kirk Schulz, who was the president, is the president at the time and is there now and their commitment to trying to make women's basketball relevant.

And had a pathway. We did it in four years at Northern Colorado. Wanted the challenge of playing at a little bit higher level, having to recreate a little bit longer athlete and, again, just compete against the best athletes in the country.

And the Pac-12 was really -- I mean, it is to me the best league in the country, top to bottom. The coaches that are there, the tradition-rich programs of winning.

But honestly the thing that drew me to Washington State were the people in the room that said: This is our vision, and we'll give you the time and the space to make us relevant in women's basketball.

And they have done that. We've gotten really fortunate to bring in some really great players.

Q. Kind of on that, on paper, the transformation of the program is pretty stunning, to look at the history of it. If you were to explain to an outsider, just kind of a brief explanation of what happened, what turned, what would you say?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Well, again, I mean, when you're asked a lot of questions about your program and even now having not won a first round game, I do make sure everybody understands we've only been to four of these since '82. So the track record, we haven't been to very many.

And clearly, you know, the explanation would be I think things are possible. I would tell you that. Like we were the bottom of the barrel in the Pac. It's a hard place to recruit to. It's a hard job.

And it doesn't matter. If you get the right people and the right fit, you get players that want to be great, that are willing to commit to being great, 365 days a year. Got to get maybe a little bit lucky through hard work on getting some special and unique players.

But I think the way we did it was it didn't have to be fast. We built a culture. We got great character people in our program. They were the foundation piece. And then we built a little bit more talent on top of them now for five years in a row.

And now when we bring players in, it's really a player-led culture. I don't have to be the behavior cop anymore, the seniors and the upperclassmen kind of have everybody in line and teach the young ones how to be and how to train and how to sound like a championship team.

Q. Seeing Charlisse get an honorable mention, the All-American nod, I know you said she was pretty much a star when she got here, but obviously seeing her improve her game and kind of grow as a person from year to year and what has she become at this point in her career?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Right. Well, she's just so much more than an offensive player. I think she's one of the best defensive players I've been around as well. But her mind and her commitment to the game and her IQ and her feel and then just her leadership abilities within the team.

You know, she's different than her sister. Her sister was a lot more bite, and Charlisse is much more -- not in a bad way, Krystal would be mad if I say it, but much more likable as a -- she's not going to rub too many people wrong. Which I don't know that that's good or bad, you need a little bit of everything, I think.

But what I really appreciate about Charlisse and what you have to understand about international, she goes back and plays five on five. She's done much more five on five. And she's on the national team. She's rarely really just -- a lot of Americans, they spend all their time shooting threes or being in the gym and just doing individual things. She's never really had those things. She's much more of a team player.

And so we got our hands on her last summer that we were able to just to go: These are the things we want you to work on. And getting in the gym with her one-on-one or just a small group, and it really improved I think her footwork, kind of her ability to get the ball to the right spot every single time she shoots it.

And I think her work ethic obviously is off the charts. She showed up every day and just is solid as she can possibly be.

But I think what you saw is just her numbers got better because she really just worked on her individual game over the summer. And we've got to mix that. She's going to go back and be on the national team again. But we obviously want her to continue to grow her individual game and get her as pro ready as we possibly can.

Q. Jumping off that, the pro game, 30 percent of players drafted to the WNBA are only making the team, there's no more Russia as an opportunity. Do you see the pro opportunities for women changing or shrinking, and are you concerned, or do you feel, you know, things are fine? How do you feel about the state of professional basketball for women?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Yeah, I mean, I'm probably the worst one to ask about that. But hopefully the league, the WNBA will expand in the next couple years, and obviously that's not a lot of jobs, but it is almost impossible to make a team now. They just don't retire that fast, as many as they're coming out. And the league is so good and so, so solid you have to be so good.

I think if you get Charlisse in a camp, regardless of what her draft choice would be, she's going to impress people and make a team. But she's got to do that, you know, in the coming years.

But I think, you know, if you're willing to go places, the leagues are still out there. It's just a matter of if you get picky and only want certain things and if you only want a certain amount of money or things like that, I think you're going to be limited.

But I think there's opportunities out there for players to go and experience professional basketball, and the better you do it at whatever league you're at, you're going to have a chance to go to bigger and more well-paying jobs.

Q. In that vein, how have you seen the NIL deals? Has it affected your team and program much, and have you seen it impact, in ways you like or don't like, women's basketball?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Yeah, we're really not affected too much so far. I mean, it's going to be a big issue for us going forward. We have a lot of internationals, and you have to -- they can't completely make money while they're in the States here, they have to be at home to make the money. And so you have to be a little bit creative in ways to get money to them.

So it's still a work in progress for us. But we've got to be in that game somewhat, and we certainly need just like everybody at Washington State, the programs are really -- we're going to have to understand NIL, and we're going to have to, like I said, get in that game.

Q. Can your team sing? And if so, who do you want leading the charge when Shania Twain starts playing in the locker room?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Well, I want Shania to lead the song. And we'll be a great backup for her. And we definitely want the music and not a capella because they're not shy about singing. And you'll hear all different tunes I think and loudness.

But I don't know that I would say it's great. But it's been a blast to watch them enjoy the whole process of that. But Shania. Shania is our lead singer. Auntie. Like Ula calls her Auntie Shania.

Q. Could you describe the team's mindset and how they approach the Pac-12 tournament and how much you're trying to kind of emulate that approach coming into this tournament?

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Yeah, I mean, I think the good thing for us is we haven't had to change too much. We were actually playing pretty good basketball all Pac-12 season. And we had some slipups and lost nine games in our league, four of those when Charlisse wasn't with us, and getting her back into the swing of the games, you know, we slipped up a few games that we probably had won.

But that's the nature of our league. Those four we lost were all home games. So you wonder what if, if we had had Charlisse. So sometimes I think our record of 10 losses is a little deceiving. But we've been -- we were in every game other than the Stanford game. Stanford kind of blew us away. Every other game we had the ability to win or lose.

And it really -- we were playing very well. We beat UCLA on the last swing. Had a 19-point lead against USC and somehow lost that. And then went into the tournament, but we were playing good basketball.

We didn't play great against Cal, I don't think, but we -- first round you scrape by, you do whatever you can to succeed. And I think we played one of our best games of the year against Utah.

And obviously I think the most impressive thing that our team did was you play a game at 6 o'clock at night and you have another game the next day at 6:00 and then you have another game the next day at 6:00, and you have a success of, you know, beating Cal, now all of a sudden, oh, yeah, you get to play Utah with no practice. And then you beat Utah, and you get back to the hotel at 9 o'clock at night and you're on a sky-high, you know, feel, and somehow you got to come back down and manage and scout and play Colorado the next day.

So that turnaround, it was just so impressive of how our team could compartmentalize and stay in the moment and enjoy that process and then turn around and lock in and be great in a film session, scout, and get themselves mentally and physically ready to play a big game the next night.

So that's -- but that's who they've been. They've been -- we've been great on the road all year. So it's not like we have to come in here and go how do we fix ourselves and be a good road team. We've kind of proven we don't have to change our spots too much. We are who we are, and we got to show up and be really solid tomorrow night.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

KAMIE ETHRIDGE: Thank you. Thanks, everybody.