NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 3 SEMIFINAL - TENNESSEE VS VIRGINIA TECH

March 24, 2023

Kenny Brooks

Georgia Amoore

Elizabeth Kitley

Taylor Soule

Climate Pledge Arena

Virginia Tech Hokies

Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. We'll get started with an opening statement from coach and then open it up to some questions.

KENNY BROOKS: Obviously, we're thrilled to be here. I think we deserved to be here. The kids have done a tremendous job all year long, been extremely resilient and just really inventing themselves and reinventing themselves when they had to.

But it's one of the most enjoyable seasons that I've ever had just because of the kids' ability to adapt. They work hard, they play hard, very professional in what they do. So good road to get here, tough road to get here. We've been playing extremely well as of late. It's been a lot of fun watching them grow, and hopefully we'll be able to continue it.

We know we have an extremely tough opponent in Tennessee, which we are somewhat familiar with after playing them early December. It's kind of crazy because we played them more than we played some of the ACC teams in our league in the last year. But it's been great for us, great preparation, but we're looking forward to tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Raise your hand if you have a question.

Q. I want to ask you, being a Virginia guy, right, you're born in Virginia, you played at JMU, you've coached JMU, VMI, now Virginia Tech. What would it mean to you to get this program to its first Elite 8 ever and how much would it mean to the state and just your background?

KENNY BROOKS: I mean, a lot. I am a Virginia guy. It's kind of crazy, I almost have 30 years in the Virginia retirement system just because everywhere I've worked it's been within a two-hour radius. I've never been afraid to venture away, but it just seems like everything that was happening to me and for me was right in this area in the commonwealth.

So, very proud. I grew up watching teams -- players from the Valley, Ralph Sampson is a good friend of mine, Dell Curry is a good friend of mine, both of them are Valley guys who represented two of the state programs in Virginia. I always had pride for schools in Virginia, and I've been very fortunate to have opportunities in the state. But also I take that very personal and I want to bring a lot of good things to the programs I represent. I've been fortunate enough to be able to do that. Just the way that it's happened, but it's a really cool story and really something I'm very prideful of.

Q. Along those lines, you've talked many times before, but the stage gets bigger now. I believe you're the second Black male coach to reach the Sweet 16 since the field expanded to 64. How big is that for you and for just the future of potentially Black male coaches in the NCAA tournament?

KENNY BROOKS: Huge. Obviously, it's a topic that I don't shy away from. I do know that when I was trying to make a name for myself, there wasn't very many people that were doing it or advocating for people that looked like me. In this profession, I think that we belong. I think that there's a place for Black males to come in and be a positive influence.

Being the only Black male Power 5 head coach, I think that responsibility falls on my shoulders some and I accept it. A couple years ago I wouldn't have. I think with all the social injustices that happened a couple years ago, my responsibilities were to my players to teach them about racism, Black kids, White kids. During that time, I really opened myself up. I had to become vulnerable to them to share my experiences and the things that happened to me. Along the way, I figured and I found out that I do have a responsibility for my profession. So many people look up to me and they will ask me, they will say, Hey, you're doing a great job. Hope you keep continuing to do it because it can open up doors for people like me.

I embrace that. I embrace that, the way we run our program, giving advice, talking about this on this platform that I have. I don't shy away from it because I do think that Black males are good for this profession. If Elizabeth Kitley comes up here and Georgia Amoore comes up here and you ask them am I good for them, they will say yes.

And I equate it to all families, all families, they have mother's who are tremendous representation, leaders, mentors, but so are the father's. That's what I am. I'm more like father figure to these kids and they can come to me and they talk to me about anything. I'm a girl dad, and I've often said that I don't know if being a father of three daughters has made me a pretty good women's basketball coach or being a women's basketball coach has made me a pretty good father of three daughters. But either way, it goes hand in hand, and essentially you just want good people.

So everything that I am doing, yes, I'm doing it for myself, for my program, for our university, but I'm also doing it for people who look like me because there are a lot of great male Black coaches who deserve an opportunity and if people can look at me and see what I've done and that inspires them to give another Black male an opportunity, then my job is well done.

Q. Even though the Sweet 16 stage is new to your players, does it help fact that the opponent is a familiar one? And as far as the opponent, you won 59-56 in December. What do you want to bottle defensively from that game? And I think you won even though Liz and Georgia had five baskets combined. Where does the offensive improvement have to come from?

KENNY BROOKS: I think my director of operations went out and he measured the court and it was still 94 feet, the rim was still 10 feet high. It's still a basketball game. I know the stage is set, and I know that there's a lot more hoopla surrounding the game, but the one thing about this group is they're extremely professional, they know how to handle their business, the way that they prepare for any opportunities and playing on bigger stages.

Like you said. We played at Tennessee in a hostile environment and came away with a really good win. A lot of the ACC opponents that we played in front of their crowds, tremendous crowds, prepared us for moments like this.

As far as the familiarity with the opponent, like I mentioned before, this will be the third time we played them in the last 14 months. So there is some familiarity. It's not too much familiarity you want to continue to get used to because they're a very talented group. They were top 5 this year pre-season for a reason. They have top-5 talent. I don't know who on that team is not a McDonald's All-American.

But the fact that we have played against them and we do understand the speed, we do understand the strength, I think that that goes well for us because it does -- we don't have to go out there and wonder how fast they are or wonder how strong they are.

And as for the actual game that we played them, we were very fortunate to come away with a win. As you mentioned before, Liz and Georgia did not play well. But it kind of shows you that we're not a one- or a two-person team. Kayana Traylor played exceptionally well that game. Cayla King hit some big shots. D'asia Gregg was good for us. We didn't play a perfect game, but we won.

So we know that they know that we're a good team, so we're not going to sneak up on 'em and surprise them because we haven't been here before. They know that we're a good basketball team, we know that they're a good basketball team, and everything else you just want to rely on what happens tomorrow.

Q. What stands out to you right now about how good Tennessee is defensively? What's making them really good on that end of the floor? And specifically, Rickea Jackson, what makes her such a tough guard for everybody in the country?

KENNY BROOKS: Well, I mean, if you go back to my press conference after we played them, I know they were going through some struggles, and I said it, they're a tremendous basketball team. Kellie does a tremendous job with her group. They are going to figure it out.

Fortunate for us, we played 'em at a time where they hadn't figured it out, but also we were trying to figure ourselves out. We were coming off of a key injury and trying to reinvent ourselves. But that's what happens when you start to build a team. In this day and age with the transfer portal that toothpaste is out of the tube and you can't put it back in and we're all going to have to learn how to evolve with the transfer portal.

With that, you don't just plug and play kids just because they transfer and they average 18 points a game at such-and-such. You're not just going to bring 'em in and they're going to be right 18 points a game in the beginning. So we both had to figure ourselves out. They are extremely talented on both ends. Your question, the defensive end, they're long. They're long. They're athletic. If you do beat 'em, they can make up for it with the athleticism that they have, and their length.

We played them in December and we were just watching the film and there were times when they had -- maybe they're point guard was 5'7", but everybody else was like 6'4", and it causes problems not only when they're guarding you, but when the shot goes up. I think we played them last time and they out-rebounded us by 15, but we still won the basketball game.

We're going to have to do a tremendous job on that end because they are so long. Not only are they long, but they're physical and they're strong, so we're going to have to make sure we lock in and focus on that end.

And then Rickea Jackson, you know, she's a top WNBA prospect, whenever she decides to come out, for a reason. She's extremely talented. She's a guard in a power forward's body, so she's a tough matchup. She's skilled, she can score in a variety of ways, and she's tough, and she's actually experienced. So she's played in the SEC. If I'm not mistaken, this is her fourth year, and so she's experienced. That's one of the things that COVID has given everyone is that you're playing against teams with fourth- and fifth-year kids. We're almost like mini WNBA teams with the experience that we have. So every team's really, really smart, and she's no exception.

Q. Kenny, obviously you guys are going to be favored in this because you're the top seed, but Tennessee is one of the programs that really built women's basketball. How big of a win would this be at this stage? And do your kids get that, like, did they grow up watching Tennessee like probably a lot of people in this room did?

KENNY BROOKS: We're favored by who? Because if you listen to the analysts, nobody's favoring us. Heck, they gave us Andraya Carter, who is a Tennessee grad. She's doing the game. And Rebecca Lobo is lurking around. She's a UConn grad. So, no one's picking us. No one's picking us. It's fine. And that's fine because our kids read stuff and I'm very proud of our kids because they are a basketball junkies, all right? They do watch.

There's not a time that there is a Big Monday or games are going on that I don't text our kids and I'm saying, Are you watching this game? And they're like, Yes. They will text me, Did you see that move? I'm like, Yes.

So I am very proud that they are basketball junkies. But they just became basketball junkies. So they know the history, they do. They know the history of Tennessee, and they understand that what it would mean, but I don't think that they walk out there -- and especially with us being able to play Tennessee for the last couple years, they don't walk out there in awe. And that's one of the things that have made them special and that's one of the things that has taken us to being one of the upper echelon teams in the ACC is that we don't walk out there and say, oh, this is whoever. They have seven McDonald's All-Americans. We shouldn't win this game. We've gotten past that. We've gotten past that to the point where we feel like we expect to win. So if we go out and we play well, we win.

Now on the flip side, they have been reading a lot and they're very prideful for our university. They do know the magnitude of what a win would do for our program. If you listen to Liz or Georgia or Cayla King, who's been with me since the inception of us trying to turn this program around, I want it so bad for them, but they want it so bad for me. We won an ACC championship, and they're like, I'm so happy for you. And I'm like, What do you mean happy for me?

But generally speaking, we're just happy for each other. So they're very aware of what a win of this magnitude would do for our program.

Q. When you think back about this group, and I know you've talked about how special they have been, how you thought they could be very special, has there been anything, either what they have been able to do basketball-wise on the court or just how they have stuck together, been great chemistry-wise off the court, that's really surprise you, anything just from this run or is this just what you thought they could always do?

KENNY BROOKS: No, I knew their capabilities. I watch, like Elizabeth, when she watched NC State win, they won three ACC championships in a row. I could see the fire building in her, because she's extremely close with Elissa Cunane and she wanted to get to this point really, really bad. Really, really bad. So her work ethic really showed, because she wanted to get to this point and win, win, win. And a program like ours, when you continue and you are trying to knock down the giants and you're trying to get to the top, you're going to have adversity along the way. And the way that these kids handle adversity it strengthens them. It doesn't take them down where they're going to go backwards before they can go forward again. That amazes me. The ability for them to stay the course and regardless of what anybody says, regardless of what happens outside our program, regardless what happens inside our program, they kept their focus and understood what the prize was. And I think that's what you're going to have because no program is perfect. No program is perfect. And how you can handle adversity I think is the biggest thing. That's what I've been most proud of. This group and the way they have handled their selves throughout this whole year. And I still pinch myself. We're 29-4, 29-4 coming through one of the toughest leagues in the country. And we've had our share of adversity and they have done a tremendous job and just staying together.

Q. You just came out of practice. What was the energy and what were the feelings of the players being in Climate Pledge Arena? You mentioned many WNBA. This is where the Seattle Storm play. How are the feelings coming on to the courts for practice and then more of an on the serious less feely side of things, what was a take away that you had from this morning's practice?

KENNY BROOKS: Well they're in the Storm's locker room right now, so being held up waiting for you guys come talk to them, they're okay. They're okay. It's pretty nice in there. But, you know what, if we had to play the game yesterday, or if we had to play the game today, I think we would have won, because of the way that they're locked in, their shooting, they're understanding it. But the game is tomorrow, we understand that. But they're taking it all in. And I've had a little thing all year long about stopping and smelling the roses. And they went out to Seattle yesterday and went to the market and they kind of been doing some stuff, but they're ready. They're ready, they're understanding it, they're very appreciative of being at this moment. But I don't think the moment is too big for 'em. They're looking to embrace this moment and embrace being where they are, taking it all in. And I think this is something that, regardless of what happens, will fuel us to continue to want to continue to get back to situations like this. So very proud and very happy with where their mindset is right now.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much for your time and for your words. We'll be back with the student-athletes in just a moment.

(Pause.)

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. For any of you, even though this is your first Sweet 16, because of that, does it help the fact that, even though the stage is new to you, that the opponent is very familiar, one that you've beaten in December? And then looking back at that game, I think you guys won, even though -- I think Liz only had three baskets, Georgia only had two baskets, and I think you only took like four shots and made a couple, what has the offensive maybe improved for each of you to come this time around?

ELIZABETH KITLEY: I think we know that we definitely didn't play very well that game. We tried to celebrate that win, but most importantly, we tried to learn from it because we knew that we could have done a lot of things a lot better. So I think in this game, we've looked back on that and we know what we need to do better, and I think we've also just gotten a lot better as a team since then.

We play with a lot more confidence and I think a lot more intensity than we were at that time. If we just come out how we have been the last 12 or whatever games where we've been playing really, really well, I think that we'll just be a lot better as a whole.

Q. I want to ask you, last year, you guys lost in the first round to Florida Gulf Coast. Just to be where you are now, how much has that been a fueling point for you and just how much does the chance to take Virginia Tech to their first ever Elite 8 push you guys as extra motivation going into tomorrow's game?

TAYLOR SOULE: I was not a part of the team last year, so I'm going to pass it off to these wonderful ladies over here.

GEORGIA AMOORE: I would say the Florida Gulf Coast game, obviously -- I mean, they're a good team, I'm not going to deny that, a really good team, really well coached. But I think just that game, it was -- I don't know if it was like a lack of aggression or a lack of confidence or whatever we had, but it just wasn't really like us in a sense that we just didn't come out firing.

Every game in the tournament is really important. You have to play with such high intensity, and anything can happen. Obviously, we got upset, and I think -- it's been heavy on my mind since, but it's not really necessarily a deterrent, more of a motivator.

Q. Taylor, you entered the transfer portal and had a success story coming to Virginia Tech. There's a thousand kids in the portal or there will be soon enough. What would you suggest or what would you give advice -- what advice would you give to one of them that's looking to transfer now that worked for you?

TAYLOR SOULE: I would say keep the -- the people around you, keep it small. Sometimes I think you want to ask your friends, Where should I go? What should I do? But at the end of the day, it's you and your new family that you're going to be a part of, and you have to do what's best for yourself. So whatever reason you have for leaving a school, you just have to go with your gut, you got to go with your heart. I got lucky to find a place where I don't just have great teammates, but I'm surrounded by great people every day. So I really just got that because I went with my gut.

Q. Georgia and Liz, I think I read that your guys' goal was to reach the Sweet 16 and win the ACC championship coming it into the season. Well, you've done that both now, so when did you change the goals now and what is the new goal for this team?

ELIZABETH KITLEY: I think we, after -- or maybe like towards the end of the conference play, we knew that we had the ability to go farther than the Sweet 16. I think that we had just been playing so well we didn't feel like anyone could come in our way. But still, we were taking it game by game. Once we got to the ACC championship, I was still saying, I want to get to the Sweet 16, because that was something that I had never done before.

But now that we are here, obviously, our goal is to win the next game and the game after that. But we're still just taking it game by game. So right now, our team goal is just to beat Tennessee tomorrow.

GEORGIA AMOORE: I think also a big motive that we've been saying is that we didn't come this far just to come this far. Why not try our hardest, heart out, yeah.

Q. Elizabeth, you have a COVID year, right?

ELIZABETH KITLEY: Yeah.

Q. Have you made a decision yet?

ELIZABETH KITLEY: No. I'm going to wait until after the season.

Q. Georgia, 19 threes the last time out. Is it hard to take 19 threes in a game?

GEORGIA AMOORE: (Laughing.) Look, I wish I could have made a little more at the rate that I took them, but honestly, the way that South Dakota State was playing defense it wasn't really a hand up in my face, so I was like, I mean, why not. To be honest, I do not remember taking all 19 of them. So I guess it's probably not that hard to. (Laughing.)

TAYLOR SOULE: As her teammate, I feel like we passed her the ball pretty frequently expecting and kind of needing her to take the three. So, yeah, I think to some people they might think that 19 threes out of a player is a bit much, but the way that our offense runs, if she's not taking them, we're kind of in trouble. So, Georgia, keep shooting.

Q. You just came from your practice being out on the stadium, being in Climate Pledge Arena where the Seattle Storm play. Were you working on threes or what were some of your core focuses? And then, what's this energy like coming off of your practice now?

GEORGIA AMOORE: Yeah, we began regular shooting, get some mid-range, some threes, getting rhythm. Then we did some transition things, get our wind under us, and then went through scout on Tennessee.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: We just got a lot of shots up at the start just trying to get used to the rims and the arena and everything. But we did normal stuff that we do in practice.

TAYLOR SOULE: And the energy is through the roof.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: Yeah, it is. We're feeling good, yeah.

Q. Coach made it sound like he's heard or that y'all have heard that maybe you guys aren't favored in this game or people are underestimating you. Is that the sort of thing that motivates you guys or do you try to just tune out the outside noise? How do you balance that?

GEORGIA AMOORE: I would say we've done a pretty good job at having a balance. Obviously, everyone's always going to have something to say no matter what you do. Good or bad, everyone's going to have an opinion. But I think we've done a good job at using some for motivation and then blocking out unnecessary ones too.

TAYLOR SOULE: Yeah. Yeah.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: We definitely see it, but it's, like we talk about it amongst ourselves in a motivating manner and like, if anything, it just fuels us. So we're good.

Q. How are you guys handling being on the big stage of the Sweet 16 and in this arena for the first time and does it help the fact that you're playing a team that you just beat in December?

TAYLOR SOULE: What was the first part of that question again?

Q. This is the first time any of you have played on the big stage in the Sweet 16. How is the team handling this?

TAYLOR SOULE: I think everyone is handling it pretty well considering the fact that this is our first time. I think part of it is trying to sit back, be present in the moment and kind of soak in how far we've come. Individual successes, team successes. I think a lot of people dream to be where we are and so we're doing that. But also, again, still being focused on realizing that this is a job and a business trip.

I think, yes, it can be nice that we played Tennessee earlier in the year. But like Liz and Georgia mentioned earlier, just like them, we're a different team than we were back in December. So we got to play hard, we can't think, oh, we did this last game, it's going to be similar to this one. Every game's different. So we just got to prepare tonight for tomorrow and go out and just play hard.

Q. Obviously you played this Tennessee team, but what does Tennessee mean to you, given the history, even if it's maybe before you were necessarily watching basketball?

TAYLOR SOULE: I think Tennessee basketball means success and dominance. But on our end that's the culture that we're trying to build. We're trying to build dominance. We're trying to build confidence. We're trying to build a program that when people say Virginia Tech it's not, oh, they're the underdog or they shouldn't be a 1 seed. It's, no, they should be here, they deserve to be here, and you should be scared to play 'em.

Q. What's the buzz like on campus? The other three schools here have been to Sweet 16 many times before. This is your guys' first time since '99. The other part is, are you rooting for the other ACC teams? Miami already won today, Louisville's playing tonight. Is there ACC pride along with Virginia Tech pride?

GEORGIA AMOORE: Yeah. I mean, first of all, the buzz on campus is absolutely incredible. So many messages, so many times I've been stopped on the way to class. In class my professors have given us good luck and all of that. But Miami's a good team. Like we said that, what, yesterday -- I mean, not yesterday, when they made the Sweet 16. I said, they're going to beat Villanova. Miami's a dangerous team. We've had to face them two times this year and they're a very hard team to play against. Even Louisville. We played them in the championship game twice. Great team. So obviously rooting for the ACC, very, very skilled and talented teams.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: Yeah.

TAYLOR SOULE: Yeah.

Q. Coach said that you guys were hanging out in the Storm locker room and loving it, thought it was really cool. I wonder if you could tell us what you liked about it and were you sitting at particular players' lockers or are you trying to channel particular Storm players, current or former, tonight or tomorrow?

GEORGIA AMOORE: I did message Ezi on Instagram I said, Hey, where's your seat, because I want to sit in it. So I'm sitting in it. But, yeah, it's a really cool thrill moment. Even walking out on to the court for shoot around and seeing Lauren Jackson's jersey hung up, like that's an incredible moment, especially as an Australian obviously growing up watching her.

TAYLOR SOULE: It was pretty cool.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: It was really cool, yeah. You wave your hand and the door opens. That's when I knew it was going to be fun.

TAYLOR SOULE: Put it in your notes.

Q. Curious for any of you if you noticed anything about the basketball that's being used during the tournament and how it maybe differs from the different ones that you use during the regular season.

TAYLOR SOULE: I have not. But a good similarity is that it's a woman's ball and I can not complain about that.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: It's a brighter orange.

GEORGIA AMOORE: It is a brighter orange.

ELIZABETH KITLEY: It feels good.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.