|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2007Jody ConradtTiffany JacksonKatrina RobinsonOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA THE MODERATOR: The Longhorns have now joined us at the podium. Coach, congratulations on the 900th win in your career. COACH CONRADT: Thank you. MODERATOR: And if you would make some comments about tonight's game and then anything else you'd like to make comments about. COACH CONRADT: First of all, I have the seniors on this team with me. I thought it's their team, it's their wish to extend this season, and I thought they had their team ready to play tonight. I thought we were really terrific in the first half. We controlled the tempo. We pushed the basketball and we really made a statement about how we can play. Second half, we sputtered around a bit. It hurts us, obviously, when Carla Cortijo gets fouled. We have no options at the point except for Tiffany to move up there. And she does a good job with that. But we're really trying to keep some kind of offensive flow going when that happened. I thought Katrina -- and I wanted her to be here because I thought she made a difference in the game tonight. I thought when she came in, Riddle had a lot more difficulty scoring and our team is about defense. I don't think there's any question about that. We have to be really good defensively to win, because we have offensive limitations, which I think are pretty obvious. But when we push the basketball, shoot lay ups, shoot 60.5%, then we've had a really good night. The last thing on my mind is 900 wins. I didn't even remember it, because with this team, you have to think about the next possession. That's all you can focus on. Q. Jody, you said yesterday, "We need to win. That's what we need to do to take care of our post-season." Is it still just tell your team, we need to win, keep winning, or do you feel good? COACH CONRADT: I think that's obvious. I'm not going to feel comfortable about anything in the post-season. I don't think we can control anything. It's been the same story for quite some time now. We pulled out all stops, so I think we have the only three people in the state of Oklahoma who are willing to be our hostess and we're Texas, and they showed up. And today they did their part. They took us to practice at a church. So we're doing everything we can to extend our season, and hopefully some of it will work. Q. This is to the coach and Tiffany. How good is it to have support when you look up and see your teammates getting double doubles for at least four or five out there with you? TIFFANY JACKSON: I think it's huge. There's several people on our team that have that capability. It's something that we can expect that can happen every night. It's just a matter if we go out and do it. So it's really exciting to know, and I think it's good as far as the trust factor, I think everybody can trust everybody now, and that's huge. Q. Coach, you may not have been thinking about 900 wins, but how nice is it to get it and also get it behind you? COACH CONRADT: Well, again, you know, I thought for a while, when we were having so much trouble and people kept reminding me of it, I thought, well, everybody is going to try to get 900. I don't know how many people are going to try to get 899. That might have been more unique. But obviously this was a big win, because it extended our season, because we keep playing. And regardless of what this team has gone through, some ups and some downs, they've been a really good group to try to stay focused. Every day they come to practice the same way. They work hard. They try to do what the coaches ask them to do. And they need to have some success to be rewarded for what they have gone through this season. Q. Katrina and Tiffany, can you talk about your play on Riddle, because I know for a while she had like 16 points, and then you all basically shut her down to what she eventually had. COACH CONRADT: That's when Katrina went to guard her. You're exactly right. Q. Katrina, can you talk about that. KATRINA ROBINSON: When I went into the game, I made sure I played my principles. And Riddle is left-handed. I play on her right shoulder because she would come right to me. If she got the ball -- I was trying to make it where she didn't get it, but if she did get it, I made sure I played on her right shoulder and tried to play good defense. Q. Jody, could you elaborate on the church thing? COACH CONRADT: Well, because the game started at noon today, everybody had 20 minutes on this floor. We needed longer than that, so our hostess had told us last night that there was a very nice gym that was relatively new at a church and it was an Episcopal church. I think you call the ministers there father, too. He showed up. It was something that you sort of look at it and say, okay, maybe there is an omen here. Maybe there is something that will help us out. I couldn't get back there. We didn't leave bread crumbs or anything. But it was across town and we had a very nice preparation with a little more time than we would have gotten had we come. Q. Also could you elaborate on your pregame speech. Your team seemed very focused and relaxed. COACH CONRADT: I don't think that I said anything profane or profound. I think it was about this is win or go home. And we talked about everybody here is going to be playing one and done. So ours started a little bit earlier than everyone else's, and I haven't had to say a lot about that to this team. I think they're smart and they understand that we have to win. Q. Coach, just your thoughts on Oklahoma tomorrow. COACH CONRADT: You didn't let me enjoy this one very much, right? (Laughter). COACH CONRADT: We know Oklahoma very well. Obviously this will be our third time to play them. One time we had success and one time we didn't. They're really good. I think they're a challenge and it starts with Courtney Paris. No question she's a unique player in our game now. And we have to do an excellent job of making it difficult for her in terms of second-chance opportunities in terms of getting where she wants to get on the floor. And at the same time we have to guard their perimeter people. What makes any team good is that they have a strong inside-out game, and they do. And I think it's been well documented that they've made some lineup changes. And when they did, their perimeter game became a lot more potent, and we know that it will be a challenge for us. We are concerned about our ability to recover but it is what it is and I believe this team will give their all-out effort to try to keep playing. Q. Tiffany, scoring, rebounding, running the point, directing traffic out there, doing it all. How important is it for you to do it all right now and what does your last go-around bring? TIFFANY JACKSON: I think we feel an acute sense of urgency, especially me being a senior and it's my last go around. After the Kansas, I think it was, I told my team I was committed to doing whatever they needed me to do regardless of what it was, and that's what I just tried to step up into. Q. Coach, Brittainey scored double digits in the last three games. How has she progressed at the end of the season? COACH CONRADT: I have some gray hair and a lot of these have Brittainey Raven's name on them. She's the little girl with the curl. Remember that one? When she's good, she's really, really good. When she's bad, she's not so good. I just don't know what she's going to do. If I could explain it, I would definitely tell you. But I know when she takes off, something is going to happen. I just don't know which way it's going. But I think she's as explosive a player, as quick a player, has incredible speed. It's just we don't know how it's all going to turn out. But tonight it turned out, particularly in the first half, really well. Q. Jody, I think you've called Tiffany the most versatile player you've ever had. Can you just talk about having her, her ability to move to the point and your confidence, I guess, in extending the season with a player like her? COACH CONRADT: I don't want to slight anybody else in this program because I've had a lot of really, really good players. I have to say it might be 1-A and 1-B with her and Andrea Lloyd because Andrea was capable of doing the same kind of thing. But that was a long time ago. And today we're talking about Tiffany. Tiffany is incredibly intelligent. Basketball IQ is very high. I've talked about that. So when you are handling the ball, which she has the ability to do, it's about making decisions, and it's about getting everybody else involved and making them better. And Tiffany does that. And she really is our only option when Carla is not on the floor right now. It's hard to take her away from the bucket. It's hard to take her out of the paint because of her rebounding and her ability to draw the double team and create things offensively. But if you don't get the ball down the court and get it in position to run an offense, it's not going to be good. And Tiffany has the ability to do that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach, ladies. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|