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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOURApril 3, 2013Lindsay GottliebNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Lindsay Gottlieb and we'll start off with an opening statement. COACH GOTTLIEB: I'm thrilled to be on a call like this. I have a group of young women in our locker room that I absolutely knew that they were capable of playing at an elite level and had the ability to make a Final Four, and yet this is still better than any of our wildest dreams. We're enjoying every moment. I'm excited about going to New Orleans and having a larger audience and the national media experience. These Cal Bears, they're special young women who have come together and become a pretty darned good basketball team. So we're focused on winning two games and at the same time want to enjoy the experience. Looking forward to the whole thing, and happy to answer any questions you have. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Was there a moment this year that you thought this team had the ability to get to the Final Four? I mean, even in the beginning of the year, you spoke that you thought this would be a very good team. But I wonder if there were points or a certain point during the year where you really thought this was possible. COACH GOTTLIEB: I think if I had to point to one moment, it was beating Stanford. Everything we did with our scheduling and our mentality and our team meetings this year were to prepare us for what I called kind of being elite and having a shot at being at a Final Four. When we lost at Duke earlier in the year, I said this is the type of game we scheduled on purpose so we can win against a top 5, 6 team when we need to. But there's a difference in feeling like you can do it and believing you can do it and absolutely knowing you can, and I think winning at Maples the kids can look at each other and say we know we can do this. I think that was the biggest moment of saying we belong in this company and we have to keep getting it done. Q. Two questions for you. Just about the fact that this matchup is between two teams, I think a lot of people maybe didn't necessarily think we were going to be there. You guys were a No. 2 seed but you hadn't been there before. And Louisville having to get through both Baylor and Tennessee. Talking to Jeff Walz last night, he said this is so good for women's basketball to have these unexpected teams. I wonder if you could talk about that and then specifically maybe talk about the fact that your team has been so dominant on the boards, that that's been such a big factor for you guys, and how do you explain why you have such a good rebounding bunch. COACH GOTTLIEB: I'll take the first one first. Cal‑Louisville is sort of the undercard in this Final Four. There's no question UConn and Notre Dame are the heavy hitters in terms of name recognition and having been here before. But I think it sets up pretty well that you have two exciting teams with coaches who are obviously passionate and care about women's basketball and believe in their teams, and I think it's a neat matchup for the country to see there's no question that maybe people didn't have Louisville in their bracket ahead of time, but that they're arguably the hottest team in the country having beaten Baylor and Tennessee in two amazing performances. And I think we're also a team that people don't know a ton about, but we're exciting to watch. So I agree it's good for women's basketball. It just puts different players in programs on the national radar, and I think it speaks that there is a growing depth of talent across the country. So really, really excited for the matchup and happy for Jeff and his team and we're just excited to be there. In terms of our rebounding, we have a group of kids that are so aggressive and relentless on the boards. People ask me do we do rebounding drills, and we really don't. I can't take credit for their natural abilities. What I can say I've tried to do is empower them to embrace that as a huge strength of ours, that it matters. We talk about it before every game. I don't say, Let's go rebound; I say, Rebound like only Cal can. Dominate the boards. It's more we believe in its importance and I encourage them to do what they do. But it's a group that collectively really is aggressive and relentless and works hard on the boards. And we have a number of kids who go to the boards. We can't just focus on one‑‑ boxing on one player. Q. Can you just talk a little bit about‑‑ take me through Tierra Rogers' place with this team and how she relates to her teammates and how her teammates relate to her, because I know she stayed on the roster, she stayed on scholarship. I know she's still with you guys a fair amount from a day‑to‑day basis. But what's been kind of Tierra's role? COACH GOTTLIEB: For those who don't know, Tierra Rogers was a tremendous high school player in San Francisco. Her father was tragically murdered at halftime of one of her games when she was a junior. She then struggled with maybe giving up basketball, but stuck with it, came to Cal, and beginning of her freshman year collapsed at a workout and was diagnosed with a genetic heart disease that would keep her from ever playing basketball again. She has a pacemaker. There were struggles that came with that in terms of do I continue to do this, do I stay at Cal. And Joanne Boyle was right by her side from the beginning, said, You're going to have a scholarship for as long as you need to graduate and we're going to be your family still. And I just took over from that point with the same mentality as Joanne. One of my first calls when I got the job was to say, Tierra, you're still with us. She's a huge part of the team. What I've said before is there's not a player in California women's basketball history who has had as much history on a program that's without putting on a jersey or scoring a point. She's a friend to our players. She's a mentor. She is a source of inspiration. She's just normal around them. Just her teammate. But I think they all see her as a symbol of you take advantage of every day. You play hard and for each other every day. You might have things happen to you in life that you can't control, but you find a way to turn that around and make it positive. So it's a pretty special story. She's on track to graduate. She's with us all the time. And I think we all appreciate the courage it takes to do that because there were times at which the sight of a basketball court I think made her really sad. She's been very open that it's not easy all the time. She goes through moments of depression and things like that. But she's all for this team. And she said to me at a practice earlier in the year, just sitting and she was on the side and she said: Coach, this team is special. And I said I know, T. And we didn't really have to say much more. She's a huge part of everything and glad that more people will be able to hear her story through this run. Q. Mini scouting report on Louisville and your strengths and weaknesses as opposed to areas where you think they'll give you the most trouble? COACH GOTTLIEB: I think obviously they've been scoring and shooting the basketball at a ridiculously high rate these last couple of games. I think they like to get out in transition. Tremendous guard play led by Shoni, but her sister Jude is playing really well, and Bria Smith's a terrific player. I think that their offense starts from these kind of disruptive defenses that they play. They mix it up a lot from zone to man to kind of what we would call junk defenses, triangle and two, things like that. So they're very balanced. They're very uptempo and they try to make you make mistakes. In terms of how we match up, I think it's going to be a fast‑paced game. I think both teams want to get up and down. Like with everybody, we try to take advantage of our depth and athleticism inside and push the pace with our guard play, Brittany and Layshia. I think it's going to be a really fun matchup, and we'll have to make sure we're ready to handle their pressure and multiple defenses. Q. I'd like to ask you, do you think that with reaching this level you're going to have to shoot a little better than you have earlier in the tournament? I'm referring to how you started off against the last game shooting 1 for 18. Is that worrisome to you? COACH GOTTLIEB: Well, I don't think it's in any coach's game plan to start 1 for 18. I think every coach feels better when the ball's going in the basket. So, yeah, I do think we want to get high‑percentage shots and we want to knock them down. And at the same time I think how we are all year is we say if the shot doesn't go in, we need to get the offensive board or we need to be moving the ball to make sure we get the best available shot. I think what I tell our players is not, hey, we have to make more shots. I talk about where we're attacking from, are we getting the right looks, are we focusing when we finish, that kind of thing. But absolutely we understand. I thought it was key in the Georgia game that when we were shooting so poorly, we continued to get stops. I mean, we easily could have been down 15, but we were down 6 because we were getting stops. We talk about defense being in attack mode on offense. And when we're knocking down shots, we're obviously better all the way around. Q.  How key will Layshia's offense be in slowing down Louisville's offense, basically giving you guys a chance to get back up on defense and presenting them from being in that transition mode? And also have you ever played‑‑ had a game in New Orleans either as a player or as a coach? COACH GOTTLIEB: First off, I think if we're scoring collectively, that helps to slow down their transition. So I think you make a great point that half of slowing down a good transition team is making baskets. And especially not turning the ball over on live ball turnovers. So in terms of us wanting to score efficiently. That offense starts with Layshia. She's a terrific guard. I think she's an All‑American guard who has risen on the biggest stages. So we pride ourselves on being a balanced team. We certainly spread the ball around. But I think Layshia getting off to a good start, Layshia knocking down shots will help us collectively and will show down the transition, as will all of our baskets. New Orleans, I have not played there that I can recall as a player or coach. We played at LSU when I was an assistant at the University of Richmond. But that's the closest to New Orleans I've gotten. But I did attend the Final Four as a coach when it was in New Orleans. What was that? Maybe eight years ago or so? Q. Curious about your thoughts on being the sort of outsider and that the other three teams from the Big East‑‑ I think you're familiar with at least that region of the country and probably familiar with the conference. Do you like the idea that you're playing teams that you don't see all year unlike the other ‑‑ at least two of the other ones? COACH GOTTLIEB: Yeah, I think it's really cool to be the West Coast representative. The number of text messages and tweets I've gotten from coaching friends, not only in the Pac‑12 but across the West Coast, I think there's an additional sense of pride in that. We have ‑‑ everyone on our roster, except for one woman who's from Israel, everyone's from the state of California. It's kind of cool to be like, hey‑‑ it's a great chance to represent for our state, for the West Coast. I think it's added fun to it. I do think it's exciting to be playing teams that don't see us on a regular basis, and everyone's going to watch film on each other and coaches are going to do their homework. But I think it's different when you're live. I talked to our players in motivating them about, hey, let's be better than they ever thought we could be on film, live. Interesting dynamic. I grew up on the East Coast. I'm so respectful of the Big East and the quality of basketball that goes on. But particularly of these three teams. But I think it is a neat dynamic to be the outsiders, to be the West Coast kids, and we're going to do the best to represent ourselves but also this side of the country. Q. Geno said sarcastically he was congratulating the presidents of the Big East for breaking up the greatest basketball conference that's ever existed. What are your thoughts on that comment? COACH GOTTLIEB: I think it's obviously very timely that all of this conference realignment stuff going on, particularly sort of the demise of the old Big East is happening right at the time when there's so many positive things happening. I believe two of the men's team are from the Big East. And three of the women's teams. So I think it's Geno being Geno, making a timely funny quip, but I think it's just the way it is right now with conference alignment, realignment. And it's unfortunate, just because growing up on the East Coast I would watch those games and the rivalries. My first coaching job was at Syracuse. But obviously for this weekend we're focused on just trying to take care of our business and being the best version of Cal that we can, and if that shed some light on the West Coast, that's just an additional bonus. Q. Two additional questions. The first is I know Joanne Boyle is one of them, but can you sort of talk about your coaching mentors and how you took things from them to develop your own head coaching philosophy? And then, second, Cal has had a lot of success recently with other women's athletics, swimming and volleyball, softball. How much is there sort of a contagious sense when you have that success in women's athletics, maybe the athletes being friends with other teams that maybe helped your team? COACH GOTTLIEB: Great questions. First, in terms of I would say my influences on how I coach and how I approach life, there's no question it was my parents. My mom passed away when I was in college, but my dad is coming down to New Orleans. And I think what they did is say: Do what you're passionate about. I think there was a feeling in our household that whatever you take on you should do it at a really high level, but no pressure to do anything in particular. I think a lot has been written of the family of lawyers and was there pressure to do that. They just really instilled in us this idea of be really good at what you do, but if you choose something that you love, you're more likely to be good at it. In coaching, absolutely Joanne Boyle hired me as a 24‑year‑old. I needed a note to rent a car when I went out recruiting because I wasn't 25. And it was her first head coaching job. She'd been a long‑time assistant at Duke. Took the Richmond job. Brought me along‑‑ I had been at Syracuse and New Hampshire ‑‑ and said, Let's do this together. I think there's a lot of different ways to be successful in coaching, but for me that was the best path because it was as close as you could be to running your own program without it. She kind of let me in on all the decisions in how you run a program. So I can't be more appreciative to her of everything that I learned and also just the ability to form my own philosophies and be the coach that I am. I read a ton, from political things to philosophical things to coaching books. And I watch‑‑ I watch press conferences. I watch how people respond to their players. I can tell you moments when I've paused the TV and rewound it and said, Look at how that coach kind of interacted with their player. And in doing that, I take it all in and learn from people. But I feel strongly that you need to be true to yourself and take pieces of people and be your own personality. I don't think I'd be very good if I was trying to be somebody else. So it's like I read, watch, and listen and try and help that form what I think is right for me. The second question about women's athletics at Cal, we have an unbelievable athletic department. Our athletic director, Sandy Barbour, she supports all the sports, but I think in particular empowers women to believe that it's really important here and it's not just words, it's actions. She really wanted women's basketball to be good in addition to the other sports. And I completely feel like there's a camaraderie. I'll give you one quick example. Teri McKeever is our women's swimming coach. She was the Olympic coach this past summer, the first ever female coach of the United States Swimming Team. My office sits right over the pool, so I can listen to her from outside. Well, she came to me right before they were going to Nationals about two weeks ago and said: Would you speak to my team. I speak a lot in front of people. I don't get nervous. I was sweating bullets to talk to these swimmers, these people with Olympic medals in that room. I said: You want me to talk to your team? So I gave them a signed basketball, they sent me pictures from Nationals of their girls with signs up of things I've said to them. And they send me e‑mails saying: Good luck. I'm close with some of the softball players through Twitter and stuff, interact with them. So it's a great environment here, and I think our athletes see other successful female athletes. And I think people respect that we're different in terms of our personality and style but that we all are representative of Cal and do things at a high level. Q. I was wondering if there was anything wrong with Gennifer Brandon in your game against Georgia. You took her out most of the second half in overtime. You're leaving a lot of rebounds on the sidelines by doing that. What was your thinking in that? COACH GOTTLIEB: I don't know how many rebounds we left because Reshanda Gray got eight offensive rebounds in that game. Gen had a tough one, struggled to get going early, was all over the boards, got good looks and missed some early and never got in a rhythm. She's fine, but because of our depth in the post, you know, I'd certainly‑‑ you ride with your top players, but didn't see her getting into a rhythm. So we gave some minutes to Reshanda who, by the way, would be starting on almost every other team in the country. So we didn't feel it was a negative thing. I talked to Gen after and I said, Hey, shake it off. Your teammates had your back in this one. We're going to the Final Four, and I have no doubt when you step on the floor on Sunday you're going to be the best version of Gen we've ever seen. I'm not worried about her. I'm thankful we had depth in the post. Talia had a tremendous second half also. And we'll get Gen going in New Orleans. Q. Wonder if you had any scouting reports with Sandy on where to eat in New Orleans and all the great haunts here. COACH GOTTLIEB: I got a nice congratulatory text from Lisa Stockton, the Tulane coach, and I said, Thank you. And she wrote back, and she said, Sandy has to be your official tour guide. I said, We've already given her that job. Haven't talked to her directly about that.  We've been talking about some other important things. But there's no question that this team is excited. Our players have been talking about beignets for weeks now. And I don't know if you saw the television interview, but LaChina Robinson asked, Layshia, what are you most excited for, and Layshia screamed: Beignets. I think we have to make a team stop at Cafe du Monde for sure. Q. Wonder if you could talk about the intriguing matchups. COACH GOTTLIEB: I think it's going to be some really fun guard play. People say almost cliche that the guard play is the most important thing in March and April, and obviously Shoni is one of the most dynamic, fun‑to‑watch players in our game. Jude has played great. Bria Smith. And I think we have some guards that people are going to fall in love with when they see them. Like I mentioned about Layshia, people asked me about the difference between us this year from last year. Last year I thought we were really good, but this year we're kind of at this next level. And there's no question that Layshia had an All‑American season to get us there. The kid is dynamic. She's got the best mid range in the country. She can get to the rim and shoot the 3 as well. When the country sees Brittany Boyd and the pace she plays, she's really fun, she's good for basketball. She's flashy. She's tough. Quick with the ball. She's a great passer. I think you have her on the court at the same time with Shoni and there's going to be a lot of pictures taken. And Afure Jemerigbe has been playing great for us. She made some huge plays in the win over Georgia. And we bring a kid named Eliza Pierre off the bench who on‑ball defenses ‑‑ she makes it an art form. I think the matchups are going to be really fun. I think the team that gets out in transition more and is able to exploit that is going to have an advantage. So obviously we want to try and slow them down and take away open looks, and I'm sure Jeff will be saying the same about us. Q. Being a part of the first other than Stanford to get to the Final Four, what does it mean to the program right now? COACH GOTTLIEB: I think it's beyond words. I think that this is something that I knew these players were capable of and we've kind of all dreamed about. But the reality is better than that. There's a lot of good basketball on the West Coast, and Stanford has kind of carried the banner for so long and consistency of excellence is amazing. But I think it's good to have another team and different faces and different style of play out there. When I took the job at Cal, I was very vocal about I loved this place, but I'm not just happy to be here. I think the time is right in women's basketball for there to be another team in the mix of the elite, especially one on the West Coast that's not named Stanford. And I thought the things were in place at Cal to do that. And the fact that it has happened and hopefully we can continue to make it happen, it's huge. Q. Talk about the contribution of Layshia to get these wins this season. COACH GOTTLIEB: I don't know if there's a player that does more for their team. And we're very balanced and we pride ourselves on that balance and versatility. But this young woman has taken on a lot and come through in every moment. And sometimes that's hitting the big shot, but sometimes it's just having the ball in her hands and making a good decision. Sometimes it's a defensive stop. I can go back to the preseason when we were in that locker room at Notre Dame last year and we lost a tough game to a No. 1 seed and we had everyone coming back, and I said, I want to be good next year not simply because we don't lose anybody but because everyone in this room is even better than they were. And Layshia's the hardest worker we've been around. But in addition to doing her own thing, she brought Brittany Boyd under her wing and said, Hey, we're going to work out today. We're going to get you to a whole other level. I think that type of leadership, not just with Brittany but the whole team, has carried through. We have a number of terrific personalities on the team and a fun‑loving group. But Layshia has been the quiet, steady leader who has helped to take us to another level. Q. You were talking earlier about watching other coaches and how they go about things, how they interact with their players. I'm curious kind of watching Jeff in that sense, what stands out to you about his style, fairly unique kind of full‑throated guy? COACH GOTTLIEB: Totally. Jeff and I used to talk when I was an assistant at Richmond and he was an assistant at Maryland. We would talk about scheduling, phone calls, and things like that. So he's been someone I've been friendly with for years. It's really fun to see him do his thing. When another kind of sort of same‑generation young coach gets a coaching job, you watch to see how they handle everything. He seamlessly transitioned from being sort of the right‑hand man at Maryland to running his own program. You can tell he's comfortable doing it his way. People have joked that he's the mad scientist with game plans. And I think the main thing you can say about him is he gets his players to believe in him and believe in what they're doing. You get the feeling if he said, Hey, our game plan is going to be we're going to fly in from the moon and run around in circles, they would do it for him. And that speaks a lot to his personality and what he gets out of his players. So just excited for him and the way that he does things, and hopefully it will be a great matchup on Sunday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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