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Quotes: Duke 67, Georgia Tech 55
3/6/2010 6:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
#1 Seeded Duke Quotes
Amy Yakola: “I am pleased to welcome to the desk Joanne P. McCallie and student athletes Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas and Joy Cheek.”
Joanne P. McCallie: “It was a great game and it was physical, and athletic, and quick out there. I'm proud of our team's effort defensively and offensively and the way we attacked the basket to get to the line and forcing turnovers. Everybody did something very important out there. I thought Shay Selby gave us some great moves off the bench. And she had a lot of composure and Jasmine, Joy, and Karima were very, very steady and always attacking, always looking for each other, doing everything for each other on the floor. That was a great basketball game.”
Coach, what were you able to do in terms of controlling the game in the last 5 or 6 minutes you were not able to do in the first 30 or 45.
Joanne P. McCallie: “I think with the players the execution and the effort and rebounding picked up tremendously, in that time our defensive intensity picked up and there were great plays, steals and deflections. And I think the team brought it up another notch in intensity and immediacy to what we were doing. And fighting each other on the floor. There were some great looks. Jas was penetrating a lot and fighting people, and rolling out a screen. There was a period of time when they were on both ends of the floor the team was really dictating together. We'd like to do that for 40 minutes.”
To Jas what picked up your individual game offensively?
Jasmine Thomas: “I think I was more aggressive in the second half overall. You have to take what the defense gives you, and I had one on me all game. And playing off the screen and knowing I had to get the ball off the teammate, and I think that is what I did in the last ten minutes not looking to score, but looking to set my teammates up.”
Coach, Allison Vernerey seemed kind of overwhelmed by maybe the first three games of the tournament. And with the game very much on the line she comes in at the second half and Shay she gets deflects on an entry pass and blocks a shot and gets a defensive rebound and scores. Where does that come from and does that significantly change the getting up to speed in tournament play?
Joanne P. McCallie: “I can't say, Allison is not here. I think she got mad. I think Alli got mad and when Alli gets mad that is an interesting Alli. She was yelling. She was very, very aggressive. You are right, she made beautiful stops and plays at critical times. I love to see that. It's all a learning process. I think she got mad and focused and she fed off her teammates. And it was a good feeling for Alli to get that off the floor.”
Jas, this is going to be your third appearance in the ACC championship game. What have you learned from your previous two that you think will apply this time that will help you win a lot?
Jasmine Thomas: “I mean, I guess I have to say controlling the game. I think especially with last year we were right in the game, but we didn't make the key stops we needed to make, or we didn't hit the shots we needed to hit or control the tempo. I think coming into tomorrow no matter who we play what we have to do is control the game and come out ready to play.”
Joy, could you talk a little bit about the last ten minutes as well. It seemed like you were able to find that extra gear against Georgia Tech today.
Joy Cheek: “I think that is what the tournament is about. You are going to have tough games all the way through and it's expected. You have to make stops and you have to make scores. We were able to do that. We attack more often at the free throw lines and we capitalized on it and we get to the free throw line. We knew it was going to be a close game and it was close down to the end and we needed to make them stop, and we really made a point to each other to do that.”
Karima, I think the last four minutes yesterday set up turnovers against Maryland. You forced turnovers and steals and I think it was five straight possessions today. What is the common bond in those two games, and specifically denying the post in the last 5 or 6 minutes of the game.
Karima Christmas: “I think Maryland and Georgia Tech have been mostly focused on their post game so we have been trying to get the post and stuff and steal and being in front. And I know down the stretch we were trying to get stopped from the post, and No. 22 [Alex Montgomery] got out and I knew we were going into the bigs.”
Can you speak to when Karima starts guarding people the way she was today, what does that make -- I guess what does that do for your team and can you just kind of describe how she is sometimes in practice.
Joy Cheek: “Karima is a great defender she has last athleticism. So you have to be confident when she guards the person with the ball, away from the ball. Because she can do a lot of things, she can block shots and she can really frustrate. And so it's very, very good for us to have a player like that on our team. And she gets everybody else going. When you see how hard she is working you want to have a pay off what she did. So it gets us started.”
Coach and Joy, could you address this. Thirty one straight wins against the team, it's almost unthinkable. When you take the floor against that team is there that added confidence right off the bat, or is there the pressure -- how much of that is really brought to the top?
Joy Cheek: “I didn't know it was a 31-win game. I wasn't here for 31. I don't think there was any pressure. You want to go out and beat them. There would have been if we lost those 31 games. You want to go out there and win. That is the only thing; they were in the way of us getting into the finals of the ACC Tournament and that is all we thought about. It's nice to add another one to the streak. But I didn't know that and I couldn't think about that either.”
Ardossi was a dominate player and how big of a priority and how were you able to accomplish that?
Joanne P. McCallie: “It was a high priority. She is an excellent player. She plays physically and she got 8 rebounds with her 8 points and still got 3 assists. So she is always working. The whole team, Joy had a lot to do with that because they matched up with her player for player. It's a team effort and the guards tried to dig in and help as well. I thought later in the game that when she caught the ball at certain places on the way to the top, they did a great job on her, and kept her from turning the corner using her right hand and dribbling right. And then she became more of a passer to 45 [Sasha Goodlett]. She connected on one or two of those at 45 [Goodlett], but for the most part she was neutralized and looking to score, and she was great player and an excellent team offensive effort on her part.”
Coach, this is the situation the last two years and someone else got the celebration. What would it mean to you and the program to hang an ACC banner?
Joanne P. McCallie: “This team has worked so hard. We love the opportunity. We have been there before. We have had fantastic games and we love Greensboro, in general. At the same time my mind is on rebounding a little bit and getting better as a team and allowing that to be our focus. To go after closing out the tournament and being aggressive there. At this point of the year we are picky about things and we have to do things right. What I'm saying is I really would like to rebound and have something that catapults us into success. And bring the balloons our way.”
A couple of questions, first of all you had a couple of upsets during the tournament and a lot of close games. And I was wondering Coach and also Jasmine, if you could talk about the power of the conference. And have you been finalists the past couple of years I wonder what it's like the night of a loss and whether you think a win tomorrow will perhaps compensate for losing the last two championship games if you win the final tomorrow.
Jasmine Thomas: “In the conference we see that all season long. I mean, we were in the top team but we took a loss out of Boston College and out of UNC and anyone can win or lose on any given night and just coming into the championship game you just have to be focused on who wants it more. That at the end of the day who wanted it more.”
Joanne P. McCallie: “Well it's a new year. You know, it's great, we show great consistency in getting to the final which is outstanding because you have to get there. To me it's a new year and in terms of last year and the year before those teams did a great job and to me it's a new year and it's a new team and I can't wait. I'm excited. I'm excited to be playing. We could be practicing, but we are playing for a championship. I think playing is a lot better.”
Does that mean you want it? You want it more this year than -- I mean it's nice to say you are rebounding and I wonder how much you want this championship.
Joanne P. McCallie: “I think words can't express that, I think only actions can.”
#4 Seeded Georgia Tech Quotes
Amy Yakola: “I would like to welcome to the desk Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph, and student athletes Sasha Goodlett and Alex Montgomery. And Coach, when you are ready.”
MaChelle Joseph: “First of all, I just want to say how proud I am of our team and our effort. I thought we did some things defensively that caused Duke some problems. We were able to take Jasmine Thomas a little bit out of her game. She is a tremendous talent and great scorer and great leader. And I thought we were able to disrupt her offensive flow a little bit. We obviously we feel as though we are right there knocking on the door. We feel we are one player away from being a top ten team. We have to have one more score. And I think we saw today the player Alex Montgomery, you know, that is the Alex Montgomery we have known for the last two years. She has battled back from her knee injury and obviously today was one of the best games I have ever seen her play at Georgia Tech. I'm pleased with her overall effort. I thought that, you know, for a young team we only have three upperclassmen and one senior I thought that we were very poised and composed throughout the first three games and I was pleased with how we played this afternoon.”
Sasha, yesterday it was Maryland-Duke made seven steals in the last five minutes, and they did a lot of same today. What, if anything, different in their defensive approach that kept denying you in particular the last few minutes. Did Duke do anything defensively in the last minutes in denying you the ball?
Sasha Goodlett: “The last couple of minutes of the game I give Duke a lot of credit. They came out with tough defensive plays. And I was talking about going at them, and trying to score and I feel like towards the end, they start full fronting a little more, which allowed me to push up the lane and try to pin. So, basically pulling for it towards the end of the game.”
MaChelle, you had to burn your last time out with 4:30 left in the game. Tell me about why that happened and how much you needed that?
MaChelle Joseph: “It was interesting because I had to use my timeout leading up to that media timeout just to calm us down. They changed their defense a little bit so I was trying to get us settled down and talk about it. They went to the full court press and we needed to make adjustments on how we were breaking that press. And that is one of the things, you know, with the a young team you come into the game and you say this is what is going to happen in the last five minutes. Because that is what they did to us the game before. And I had to burn those timeouts to get out of the situation because they were making that run and it was a nine-point game and I felt like at that point we needed that offensive possession. And I knew it was the last time out. It wasn't a situation where I didn't know, I knew. But I still felt like if we don't get a timeout and they scored and we are in double figures. We needed that possession and I thought we could score, and we were going to get a media time out. And I felt like I needed to take at that point the young team and try to settle them down. And try to settle them down and talk about our press offense and how we needed to attack it down the stretch.”
Alex, can you describe how they seemed to follow the ball to the sidelines and do a pretty good job of trapping. Can you describe what it's like to try to work your way out of a trap?
Alex Montgomery: “Duke they are a good defensive team, regular defensive team. And when they trap it's hard to get out. You have to get the ball to the court really quick and just throw it over the defense. They trap very well.”
Amy Yakola: “I am pleased to welcome to the desk Joanne P. McCallie and student athletes Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas and Joy Cheek.”
Joanne P. McCallie: “It was a great game and it was physical, and athletic, and quick out there. I'm proud of our team's effort defensively and offensively and the way we attacked the basket to get to the line and forcing turnovers. Everybody did something very important out there. I thought Shay Selby gave us some great moves off the bench. And she had a lot of composure and Jasmine, Joy, and Karima were very, very steady and always attacking, always looking for each other, doing everything for each other on the floor. That was a great basketball game.”
Coach, what were you able to do in terms of controlling the game in the last 5 or 6 minutes you were not able to do in the first 30 or 45.
Joanne P. McCallie: “I think with the players the execution and the effort and rebounding picked up tremendously, in that time our defensive intensity picked up and there were great plays, steals and deflections. And I think the team brought it up another notch in intensity and immediacy to what we were doing. And fighting each other on the floor. There were some great looks. Jas was penetrating a lot and fighting people, and rolling out a screen. There was a period of time when they were on both ends of the floor the team was really dictating together. We'd like to do that for 40 minutes.”
To Jas what picked up your individual game offensively?
Jasmine Thomas: “I think I was more aggressive in the second half overall. You have to take what the defense gives you, and I had one on me all game. And playing off the screen and knowing I had to get the ball off the teammate, and I think that is what I did in the last ten minutes not looking to score, but looking to set my teammates up.”
Coach, Allison Vernerey seemed kind of overwhelmed by maybe the first three games of the tournament. And with the game very much on the line she comes in at the second half and Shay she gets deflects on an entry pass and blocks a shot and gets a defensive rebound and scores. Where does that come from and does that significantly change the getting up to speed in tournament play?
Joanne P. McCallie: “I can't say, Allison is not here. I think she got mad. I think Alli got mad and when Alli gets mad that is an interesting Alli. She was yelling. She was very, very aggressive. You are right, she made beautiful stops and plays at critical times. I love to see that. It's all a learning process. I think she got mad and focused and she fed off her teammates. And it was a good feeling for Alli to get that off the floor.”
Jas, this is going to be your third appearance in the ACC championship game. What have you learned from your previous two that you think will apply this time that will help you win a lot?
Jasmine Thomas: “I mean, I guess I have to say controlling the game. I think especially with last year we were right in the game, but we didn't make the key stops we needed to make, or we didn't hit the shots we needed to hit or control the tempo. I think coming into tomorrow no matter who we play what we have to do is control the game and come out ready to play.”
Joy, could you talk a little bit about the last ten minutes as well. It seemed like you were able to find that extra gear against Georgia Tech today.
Joy Cheek: “I think that is what the tournament is about. You are going to have tough games all the way through and it's expected. You have to make stops and you have to make scores. We were able to do that. We attack more often at the free throw lines and we capitalized on it and we get to the free throw line. We knew it was going to be a close game and it was close down to the end and we needed to make them stop, and we really made a point to each other to do that.”
Karima, I think the last four minutes yesterday set up turnovers against Maryland. You forced turnovers and steals and I think it was five straight possessions today. What is the common bond in those two games, and specifically denying the post in the last 5 or 6 minutes of the game.
Karima Christmas: “I think Maryland and Georgia Tech have been mostly focused on their post game so we have been trying to get the post and stuff and steal and being in front. And I know down the stretch we were trying to get stopped from the post, and No. 22 [Alex Montgomery] got out and I knew we were going into the bigs.”
Can you speak to when Karima starts guarding people the way she was today, what does that make -- I guess what does that do for your team and can you just kind of describe how she is sometimes in practice.
Joy Cheek: “Karima is a great defender she has last athleticism. So you have to be confident when she guards the person with the ball, away from the ball. Because she can do a lot of things, she can block shots and she can really frustrate. And so it's very, very good for us to have a player like that on our team. And she gets everybody else going. When you see how hard she is working you want to have a pay off what she did. So it gets us started.”
Coach and Joy, could you address this. Thirty one straight wins against the team, it's almost unthinkable. When you take the floor against that team is there that added confidence right off the bat, or is there the pressure -- how much of that is really brought to the top?
Joy Cheek: “I didn't know it was a 31-win game. I wasn't here for 31. I don't think there was any pressure. You want to go out and beat them. There would have been if we lost those 31 games. You want to go out there and win. That is the only thing; they were in the way of us getting into the finals of the ACC Tournament and that is all we thought about. It's nice to add another one to the streak. But I didn't know that and I couldn't think about that either.”
Ardossi was a dominate player and how big of a priority and how were you able to accomplish that?
Joanne P. McCallie: “It was a high priority. She is an excellent player. She plays physically and she got 8 rebounds with her 8 points and still got 3 assists. So she is always working. The whole team, Joy had a lot to do with that because they matched up with her player for player. It's a team effort and the guards tried to dig in and help as well. I thought later in the game that when she caught the ball at certain places on the way to the top, they did a great job on her, and kept her from turning the corner using her right hand and dribbling right. And then she became more of a passer to 45 [Sasha Goodlett]. She connected on one or two of those at 45 [Goodlett], but for the most part she was neutralized and looking to score, and she was great player and an excellent team offensive effort on her part.”
Coach, this is the situation the last two years and someone else got the celebration. What would it mean to you and the program to hang an ACC banner?
Joanne P. McCallie: “This team has worked so hard. We love the opportunity. We have been there before. We have had fantastic games and we love Greensboro, in general. At the same time my mind is on rebounding a little bit and getting better as a team and allowing that to be our focus. To go after closing out the tournament and being aggressive there. At this point of the year we are picky about things and we have to do things right. What I'm saying is I really would like to rebound and have something that catapults us into success. And bring the balloons our way.”
A couple of questions, first of all you had a couple of upsets during the tournament and a lot of close games. And I was wondering Coach and also Jasmine, if you could talk about the power of the conference. And have you been finalists the past couple of years I wonder what it's like the night of a loss and whether you think a win tomorrow will perhaps compensate for losing the last two championship games if you win the final tomorrow.
Jasmine Thomas: “In the conference we see that all season long. I mean, we were in the top team but we took a loss out of Boston College and out of UNC and anyone can win or lose on any given night and just coming into the championship game you just have to be focused on who wants it more. That at the end of the day who wanted it more.”
Joanne P. McCallie: “Well it's a new year. You know, it's great, we show great consistency in getting to the final which is outstanding because you have to get there. To me it's a new year and in terms of last year and the year before those teams did a great job and to me it's a new year and it's a new team and I can't wait. I'm excited. I'm excited to be playing. We could be practicing, but we are playing for a championship. I think playing is a lot better.”
Does that mean you want it? You want it more this year than -- I mean it's nice to say you are rebounding and I wonder how much you want this championship.
Joanne P. McCallie: “I think words can't express that, I think only actions can.”
#4 Seeded Georgia Tech Quotes
Amy Yakola: “I would like to welcome to the desk Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph, and student athletes Sasha Goodlett and Alex Montgomery. And Coach, when you are ready.”
MaChelle Joseph: “First of all, I just want to say how proud I am of our team and our effort. I thought we did some things defensively that caused Duke some problems. We were able to take Jasmine Thomas a little bit out of her game. She is a tremendous talent and great scorer and great leader. And I thought we were able to disrupt her offensive flow a little bit. We obviously we feel as though we are right there knocking on the door. We feel we are one player away from being a top ten team. We have to have one more score. And I think we saw today the player Alex Montgomery, you know, that is the Alex Montgomery we have known for the last two years. She has battled back from her knee injury and obviously today was one of the best games I have ever seen her play at Georgia Tech. I'm pleased with her overall effort. I thought that, you know, for a young team we only have three upperclassmen and one senior I thought that we were very poised and composed throughout the first three games and I was pleased with how we played this afternoon.”
Sasha, yesterday it was Maryland-Duke made seven steals in the last five minutes, and they did a lot of same today. What, if anything, different in their defensive approach that kept denying you in particular the last few minutes. Did Duke do anything defensively in the last minutes in denying you the ball?
Sasha Goodlett: “The last couple of minutes of the game I give Duke a lot of credit. They came out with tough defensive plays. And I was talking about going at them, and trying to score and I feel like towards the end, they start full fronting a little more, which allowed me to push up the lane and try to pin. So, basically pulling for it towards the end of the game.”
MaChelle, you had to burn your last time out with 4:30 left in the game. Tell me about why that happened and how much you needed that?
MaChelle Joseph: “It was interesting because I had to use my timeout leading up to that media timeout just to calm us down. They changed their defense a little bit so I was trying to get us settled down and talk about it. They went to the full court press and we needed to make adjustments on how we were breaking that press. And that is one of the things, you know, with the a young team you come into the game and you say this is what is going to happen in the last five minutes. Because that is what they did to us the game before. And I had to burn those timeouts to get out of the situation because they were making that run and it was a nine-point game and I felt like at that point we needed that offensive possession. And I knew it was the last time out. It wasn't a situation where I didn't know, I knew. But I still felt like if we don't get a timeout and they scored and we are in double figures. We needed that possession and I thought we could score, and we were going to get a media time out. And I felt like I needed to take at that point the young team and try to settle them down. And try to settle them down and talk about our press offense and how we needed to attack it down the stretch.”
Alex, can you describe how they seemed to follow the ball to the sidelines and do a pretty good job of trapping. Can you describe what it's like to try to work your way out of a trap?
Alex Montgomery: “Duke they are a good defensive team, regular defensive team. And when they trap it's hard to get out. You have to get the ball to the court really quick and just throw it over the defense. They trap very well.”
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