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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 5, 2008

TAMPA, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: We have LSU head coach Van Chancellor as well as student-athletes Quianna Chaney, Erica White and Sylvia Fowles.
Coach, we're going to take an opening statement from you when you're ready, questions for the student-athletes only, and then following those we'll resume questions for you.
COACH CHANCELLOR: It's been an amazing deal for me. I'm amazed that a team that's been to five Final Fours in a row has very little respect for its team.
I get here, I turn on the television and I see you outside the lines with ESPN and I see a guy saying it's going to be -- welcome to Monday's press conference between Pat Summitt and Geno. Like LSU's not playing. I pick up today's paper and I see where a coach says it's going to be a great game between LSU and -- between Tennessee and Connecticut Tuesday.
So I hope all of you enjoy the game. But our team's pretty good. Our team has done some pretty nice things and I'm proud of them for what they've accomplished. They beat a fine Oklahoma State basketball team and a great North Carolina team.
And so we're excited to be here. I just think this team deserves a little more respect than what it's getting.
Fire away at these players.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Any of the players, it's being billed as the Sylvia versus Candace matchup. When you played them both times this year, the first game it was Quianna, Erica stepped up, scored 41 points combined. Second game in the NCAA finals you only scored 27. How important is it going to be for the other players besides Sylvia to step up and score on tomorrow night?
QUIANNA CHANEY: I think it's going to be very important. We don't want Sylvia carrying the load by herself. I can say it's very important for everybody else to step up and give us some help.
ERICA WHITE: I agree with Quianna. It's important for us to step up. In our program we never key in on one certain matchup. We're not looking at it as Sylvia Fowles versus Parker. It's LSU versus Tennessee. We'll go out, compete as a team and win as a team.
SYLVIA FOWLES: It will be extremely important. And I don't think that comes down to a problem. My teammates have stepped up throughout the whole season when I wasn't getting shots or things weren't going my way. So I'm pretty sure they will step up when time needs it.

Q. Sylvia, LSU has a very unusual advantage of knowing that one of their opponents' stars is injured, which is something most teams go to great length to prevent going into games like this. How do you think the knowledge that Candace is injured and what the nature of her injury is will affect the game?
SYLVIA FOWLES: I don't know how badly she's hurt or what hurts her at this point. But I'm pretty sure she's going to come out. She's going to be fired and be motivated and she's going to play her game. We're looking at it as if she's 100 percent and she's going to play well that's how we are taking things.

Q. Could you just talk about the experience that you now have coming into this weekend and if you're able to draw on experience from the past three years?
ERICA WHITE: Well, I definitely will say our experience is a factor, both good and bad. Coach is talking about this. We faced elimination many times throughout this NCAA tournament and every year we've been able to fight and get to this point.
And at the same time we've gotten here and kind of had a let-down, but I don't necessarily see that happening this year because we're still a very hungry team and our goal wasn't just to get to the Final Four again. Our goal was to win a national championship. So we're still not satisfied. It gives us a lot of motivation and hunger.
SYLVIA FOWLES: It has been different, but we have prepared ourselves in a different way this year. And it has been great having Coach Chancellor on our side, letting us see the big picture. In previous years we always had something to play for or play against. This year we've just been free. So I'll say it's been different coming into the tournament this year.
QUIANNA CHANEY: I have to agree with both of these ladies. We have a new coach, we just have new things this year.

Q. Erica, to elaborate on that idea that you had so many things happen over a four-year period: A coach with cancer and another coach who was asked to leave, interim coach and then a new coach. How hard has it been to go through that and how great is the stability then this season?
ERICA WHITE: The stability has been great. But looking at all those things we've gone through, that's really just -- that's how life is. Everyone goes through different things. And I think what made us unique was that us being so young, we just knew that in order to make it we were going to need to stick together. So we're just a very resilient group.
But Coach Gunter leaving, Hurricane Katrina, Coach Chatman leaving, Coach Starkey being the head coach for a short period of time, then Coach Van in here. It's a lot of different things, but that's how life is. You're going to go through things and you just have to be able to adapt, and I think that's what my teammates and I have been able to do.

Q. Quianna, Coach Chancellor was teasing you about defense after you guys beat North Carolina. But he's been very complimentary about you as a shooter and how important it is for you to be able to shoot well and it seems like your confidence has gained a lot this season. Can you talk about how he's helped with that and how confident you are now as a shooter?
QUIANNA CHANEY: When he first took the job he kept telling me I'm going to be the best shooter in the SEC, the country, the world, and it made me feel good. He would come in say I'm the best shooter. And so I start acting like I'm the best shooter. That's how I end up getting the confidence, give me the ball I'm going to shoot it.

Q. What have you all been doing to stay relaxed this weekend? Is that a focus? I know Coach Chancellor stresses the importance of having fun. He's called you all the most serious-minded team I think that he's seen before. Can you elaborate a little bit on what kind of mental focus there has been this weekend?
SYLVIA FOWLES: Mental focus? It's there. Our mental focus is there and we're ready to play. But outside of that, Coach Van has seen a different team since he first got here. Yes, he said we're the up tightest team he's ever seen, but I think yesterday we showed him a little side that he's never seen before which was always there but we never acted that way around him. Our mental focus has always been there and it's been there since we entered the tournament.

Q. Can you elaborate what you showed him yesterday?
SYLVIA FOWLES: Showed him a little dance moves and stuff like that.

Q. Did you teach him a few pointers?
QUIANNA CHANEY: Nah.
COACH CHANCELLOR: You're not supposed to tell everything that goes on down there. (Laughter).

Q. Erica, can you talk about the other two senior starters that aren't on the podium with you, Ashley and RaShonta and how they've been role players and doing what they needed to do during all these Final Four runs for all of you guys?
ERICA WHITE: I think Ashley does a tremendous job for us because she's so smart. She's an undersized post player, but every game we usually stick her on the best post player on the other team and she always holds her own. And I think that's because she's so smart.
RaShonta is an excellent defender, and so we're one of the best defenses in the country, but that's definitely because she's on the floor as much as she is. And I think that all five starters play a certain role. But for years we've all accepted it and played together. I think that's why we all play so well together and have been able to have so much success and get to the Final Fours.
So Ashley and RaShonta are huge for us, as well as our bench who may not play a lot but they do a great job of encouraging us. I don't want to leave them out.

Q. Sylvia, can you talk a little bit more about competing against the likes of Candace Parker. Obviously even this morning you guys are both up for the Wade Trophy. It went to Stanford's fine player. Talk about being very familiar with Candace Parker over the years and competing on and off the court.
SYLVIA FOWLES: First and foremost, I think we're both blessed with tremendous talent. But going up against her, she only make you better. I'm pretty sure it's the same way for me. But just to have to challenge her on the floor make you step the game up somewhat. You just have to go at her and do all the things that you're capable of doing. On the defensive end you've got to do everything that's possible to slow her down.
So it will be a great challenge.

Q. Sylvia, a male player with your combination of size and ability probably would have been gone after a year. Certainly at most after two years. How is the experience of staying and playing your entire college career helped you develop not only as an athlete but also as an individual?
SYLVIA FOWLES: It's helped me just because academic-wise, just staying in school, getting as much education as possible, and then all the stuff that we went through, it made me a better player and made me stronger. And with that going through all that stuff that we went through, I think it helped me grow for the real world once I leave college.

Q. Sylvia and Erica, you're both Florida natives. Can you tell us about the cheering sections you'll have in the arena tomorrow and who is coming, any family coming up?
ERICA WHITE: You know, playing the Final Four here is great that it's so close to home. But it's also just a little bit of a burden. Everyone is calling you and texting you saying, I only need about four tickets, I just need four tickets. And in actuality I only got eight. I ended up with eight tickets. I have my mother and all my sisters coming and a couple of uncles. That was the best I could do.
So the section will be pretty small. But I just told the rest of my family to go catch a sports bar or something.
SYLVIA FOWLES: For me, it will be great. It will feel good to come back home, your last year. And to let people see what you've been doing over the past four years at college while you were away from home. It feels good to see where it actually started from.
And I have my mom, my brothers, uncles and cousins coming up so I have a little fan club.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Van, each one of these teams has a really great player. You've got Moore, Fowles, Wiggins, Parker. Can you recall a Final Four with so many outstanding players on each team?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I was thinking about that the other day. I think this is the greatest star power we've had in our game. I think if you went out and asked the average fan to name four players, they could name all four players. And I think that's great for our game. It's truly outstanding. And I think it's very good for the Final Four. You're going to see some players do some exceptional things in this tournament.

Q. Van, since you have now operated at the top level, Olympic-wise, NBA-wise, and now here, can you compare your experience here now that you finally got here with your first WNBAs and your Olympics?
COACH CHANCELLOR: Well, first of all, this has been like a kid at Christmastime, Mel, for me, to finally make it to a Final Four with a great group of kids to beat a great North Carolina team.
The WNBA experiences were great but they were different. And the Olympic goal is just unbelievable when you coach that team. But for me right now it can't get any better than this. To have this opportunity, to finally arrive here as a coach. But to arrive here with players you truly, really like.
Sometimes you coach players that you can't wait until the season gets over with. This has been a special, special year, and I've really enjoyed every minute. So that makes that moment special.

Q. Someone mentioned earlier that -- well, Pat Summitt actually mentioned that it took her teams I believe seven Final Fours to get a national title. You guys have been to five in a row. You obviously split the two meetings between the teams this year. I was wondering if you can just talk about do you find irony in that, that you have to get over Tennessee in the Final Four now to get over that hump?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I thought this was ironic that everybody said the SEC was down this year, but I didn't agree with them. I think you measure the strength of a conference by how many teams is in the Final Four and how many teams are in the final eight. And then I look up and LSU's trying to win their first game at the Final Four, and you gotta beat Tennessee to do it, that's pretty ironic, in my mind.
I didn't sleep a wink Monday night because we qualified for the Final Four. And I slept very little Tuesday night because I thought I was going to have to play Pat Summitt.

Q. When a team has not been to the Final Four and the coach has, the coach can kind of let them know what to expect. But this is a unique situation where they've been and you haven't. Have they told you what to expect?
COACH CHANCELLOR: Bob Starkey has told me what to do. I tried to coach this team just like we were playing Tennessee in Knoxville. I've not tried to make a big deal that we're at the Final Four. We're just playing a game.
I think I have enough experience in other situations. I don't think my experience at the Final Four will be a factor whatsoever. I'm more worried about getting our players to relax and really play. We're trying to get them to relax and play as good as they're capable of playing. I don't think LSU's played its best games in Final Fours in the past.

Q. I look at all four teams in this Final Four and I see the front courts are excellent. I mean, the post players in this Final Four are really, really good. Do you see rebounding and just overall post play as the key to any team winning in this Final Four?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I think you've hit up on the key. The team that rebounds the best probably wins the national championship. But not many shots that you miss when Parker shoots and Wiggins shoots or Maya Moore shoots or fouls for that matter.
I think it comes down to making shots. But there's a lot of good power players. But there's also a lot of good guards.

Q. Van, I'm sure you watched the A&M-Tennessee game and saw Tennessee struggling without Candace Parker. As a coach do you ever think about, like, if you would have to play without Fowles for an extended period of time, how you would handle that situation?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I never thought about that because I didn't want to go over there to that bridge that comes in on I-10 and jump off of it, if you want to know the truth. If I would have thought that very much, I would have been driving over in the car. Somebody said, What if she would have graduated and come out early? I told them it wouldn't have been my problem. Judy Southard could not have hired me. That's not a big deal. I'm not going to think about that because I want to be able to sleep tonight, eat a little bite.
I did think this, I did think the coaching staff at Tennessee did a marvelous job to lose a player before the game is one thing, to lose a player during the game and to be able to adjust. And that's what separates Pat from a lot of coaches, great job of being down five and Parker in the locker room and finding a way to win.
Of course, let's understand something. Pat deserves a lot of credit, but they don't recruit anything but All-Americans at Tennessee, so the other players are pretty nice too. They've got pretty good players to fall back on when Parker gets hurt.
I could have told you Amy from our student newspaper is always going to be -- when you think there's a last question, she has a knack at that. The last time she used the wrong end of the microphone. I'll tell you that. (Laughter).

Q. Pat Summitt was asked earlier today if she expects LSU to throw any intentionally hard screens on Parker or what she expects the nature of the game to be like. She said: Maybe I'm not naive, but I don't expect to see any intentional hard screens. How do you react knowing a lot of people are going to be looking closely at the type of screens that LSU will be running on Parker?
COACH CHANCELLOR: We're not mentioning that, that's not the way I coach. I don't want to win a championship by hurting a athlete. I'd rather lose. I don't believe in that. That's not our coaching style. That's not the way LSU will ever play. We'll play a good hard game and we'll play it to the end.

Q. You said during the season that you got thrown a wrinkle here, wrinkle there, that the team hasn't seen. In this situation, there probably isn't much the other hasn't seen. You can't change much at this point to surprise them. What will it take to win for both teams?
COACH CHANCELLOR: We won't change anything. We would not dare think about changing anything, not at this stage of the game. You run what you run and try to work it. I don't think there's any doubt. Tennessee has built a national reputation of being over a period of years -- I said this when I worked for TV, the best offensive rebounding team to ever play the women's game. I think you have to keep Tennessee off the offensive boards. If you don't, you can't beat them.

Q. Since the players brought it up earlier, tell us about the yacht last night and what went on. I heard there was some dancing going on?
COACH CHANCELLOR: Amy, everything I've done is try to help our team relax and have fun. I've been wearing shades around the lobby. I don't normally wear sun shades and all different kinds of things. I was just -- anything -- I want them to come here and enjoy it and get all this pressure off their back. That's my job as their coach. Let them enjoy it. When the game gets here, let's play. Let's get serious and let's play.
All this worrying and listening to how many times we failed here is not healthy for us. I told them what went on before I got to LSU does not count. That's how I see it.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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