NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR - RICHMOND VS NEBRASKA

March 18, 2026

Aaron Roussell

Maggie Doogan

Rachel Ullstrom

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Richmond Spiders

Media Conference

Nebraska 75, Richmond 56

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Richmond Spiders. We have with us head Coach Aaron Roussell and student-athletes Maggie Doogan and Rachel Ullstrom. Coach, the floor is yours.

AARON ROUSSELL: Yeah, I think we probably talked with some of you guys and talked with the players. It's a really explosive offense. It's a really explosive teams. One of the best offenses in the country.

We knew we were going to have to score a little bit. I didn't think we played poorly the entire first half defensively, but we made some mistakes, and seemingly they made us pay for a lot of those.

They made some shots there. I thought we got quality shots at least for the first 15. Really the first 20 minutes. The last five minutes of the first half we were able to get to the free-throw line. I liked the looks that we were getting. They knocked some down, and we didn't.

So goes basketball. Especially in 2026, right? You look at the 3-point line, you get outscored. For us, you get outscored by 21 points at the arc, sometimes you take a look at the margin. That does say a lot.

Tough one for us. It felt really at halftime too, I really felt we kind of clawed our way. We hadn't made shots, and we were still there. Then, you know, those first four minutes changed the game quite a bit.

Unfortunate for tonight. Obviously disappointing. You're going to look back and wish already playing it back as a coach, wish you had done some things differently, and that's probably everybody in that locker room.

But that was tonight. I think the story, to be honest with you, is what this program has done over the last three-plus years, four years, the transformation that this program has seen with a lot of people, right? My staff being a part of this for a long time. A lot of players that have come in here over the last few years.

You got two right next to me right now. Hall of Fame players, great players, don't get me wrong. You never rank anything, but I can't imagine there's a whole lot of coaches that can talk about the ride that they've had that we have with these two, right, and their whole class. College basketball has changed a lot. I just can't imagine there's a lot of coaches out there that can share the ride that they had with kids like these two.

Awesome experiences. Amazing relationships. Great stories. We've been through a lot, and everybody goes through a lot over four years, but college basketball has changed in 2026.

For these two people, these two guys, to still be up here going to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, still getting to sit next to them and call them their college basketball coach and to have that experience for four years, that's a different ride than anybody I've ever coached, right? You are never going to rank anything, but it's a different ride. Very, very grateful for these two, and I think that's what I'm still taking away from tonight.

The loss was hard. I forgot what it was like to coach a game without these two. That's a six months from now problem, but very grateful to be able to coach these guys for their four years.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Rachel or Maggie.

Q. Maggie, a lot was made in the offseason about options to leave. You decided to stay. If you could reflect on that perhaps now that it's over, if are you glad you did?

MAGGIE DOOGAN: Don't make me cry on the first question. That's ridiculous. I think I've called my mom a bunch of times and told her how glad I was that I stayed multiple times throughout the year.

This time last year was tough in the terms of making that decision. I think ultimately deep down in my heart I knew I always wanted to stay, but I mean, obviously when hundreds of thousands of dollars are being thrown in your face, it's tough to ignore, but you know, it wasn't about the money for me. It wasn't about trying to play in the ACC or the SEC or the Big Ten or whatever. It was staying where I felt comfortable and I felt that I trusted my coaches, and I wanted to play with my best friends one more year. Thankfully she also joined me to stay.

But, yeah, I wouldn't change it for the world. It was 100% the right decision.

Q. For either one of you, just to kind of reflect on the game a little bit, what do you think kind of maybe went wrong in the third quarter that you were doing so well in the first half that maybe you weren't able to in the third?

MAGGIE DOOGAN: I mean, kind of like Coach said, I think they started hitting from three, and we obviously weren't hitting from three. I just think they started taking better quality shots than we were taking. I think they were pushing the ball. I think they upped their pressure defensively.

You know, we were trying to get to the paint. We were trying to spread our offense out, but ultimately, we weren't taking the best shots, and they were taking the best shots within their offense in whatever they could get.

I think they just -- I mean, it seemed like they wanted it more. I don't think that they wanted it more in kind of, like, the heart sense of the game. Yeah, I just think they started playing -- they played more collectively than we did in that third quarter.

Q. For either one of you. Coach talked about how special this ride has been on the past couple of years. I guess when you just reflect back on three NCAA Tournaments, beating Georgia Tech last year, everything that this program has accomplished, how will you best kind of remember your time here?

RACHEL ULLSTRUM: I think coming in here our freshman year, the program wasn't very established, and I think we left here, and we established this program.

Yeah, our team right now, the underclassmen, they're going to have the fight in them and be back for next year. I'm just proud of our team and proud of what we were able to do with our four years here, and hopefully it continues to grow.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you both for your time. Questions for Coach.

Q. Much was made of them potentially leaving during the offseason, and obviously successful coaches have options as well. I wonder if you might reflect on that, what's in the crystal ball for you?

AARON ROUSSELL: I think I'm a really lucky coach, and I think that starts with a lot of people that are still in this room. The administration and the resources and just the support that's been shown to me, to my family. Like, Richmond has been an amazing home.

Like Maggie said, you can find reasons. People are motivated by different reasons and different things to go elsewhere and grass is greener and bigger this and bigger that. Probably just not how I'm wired.

I think I'm very grateful to work for a boss that I've worked with for two institutions and kind of the only guy I know that's been in charge. His staff has been great to me. The university has been great to me. I say this all the time. Man, we've got the world's best president. Love who I work for. Love who I work with.

At this time last year there was conversations with -- more with these guys. Not conversations elsewhere. It was more with these guys. I wanted to be their college basketball coach. There were a lot of players in that room that want to be their college basketball coach. If people haven't realized it yet, Richmond is a pretty amazing place.

So when people think that it makes sense other places -- and you saw this, man. There ain't a lot of people that are passing up what these guys were passing up. It's a really special place. The crowd support, the fan support, the things that outsiders think that coaches that have success want, we have at Richmond.

Very grateful that the people have established that. Very grateful for the fan support that we have. The Robins Center is an awesome place to be watching a college basketball game. I think we do it better than a lot of places that so-called are bigger. We've done it well. We've had great kids, and I know it's going to continue that way.

Q. Aaron, I have to figure that at some point if you haven't already, you've probably heard from some WNBA head coaches about Maggie or you will. If you gave an elevator pitch, what would you tell them?

AARON ROUSSELL: I have already told them. Your crystal ball is right. Obviously it's crazy to think about. There's an agent process that will happen for her, but I keep joking for her that my time split as an agent here for the last few months talking about her.

I think it's easy to talk about her, right? The film, what you even saw tonight, and she'll sit here and beat herself up. She'll probably watch film before I will, because I don't know that I really wanted to watch this film quite yet. She'll beat herself up for a few things.

I think she was trying to make some plays tonight. The kid is a baller, man. The kid is 6'2", can score inside and out. All the things that we wanted her five years ago. I remember telling our staff all the time, this kid is going to be so much better. She's really good right now. She understand the game, the IQ. She's a fit for our system. She's really good, but this kid is only going to get better.

I think I've probably left just about every conversation I've had with seemingly every WNBA franchise of, Yep, you're right, yep, you're right, yep, she is that, but guess what, in thee years that kid is going to be in the gym probably more than anybody else. She's going to consume the game of basketball more than anybody else.

So I think she can make an impact right away. What I'm really excited about is what Maggie Doogan is going to be on the professional stage in this country at that level over the next two to five and beyond.

I know how special she is. I know how amazing the experience was to coach her, and the ones that I'm close with, I'm kind of on the side. Hey, after all the evaluation stuff, you're going to love coaching this kid. You're going to love having her in the locker room. She's going to make everybody else better. She's going to make the program and the franchise better just like she has here at Richmond.

I want to thank everybody. I know it's later, and you have four days ahead of you here, but just a great and well-run operation here. It always is from the northbound NCAA. Also, want to thank the A-10. The A-10 has been tremendous support for us. They've done things well, and I know it's a different future right now, but we're really excited with what the A-10 has.

Wish we could have shown out better for the league and for the mid-majors, to be honest with you. That was a rough stretch right there, but there's some really good basketball in the A-10, and there's some really good basketball at this level. Thank you, guys.