March 14, 2011
2011 Bracket 
| Ticket Information | 
Balcomb | Tuomi, Clarke, Smith Reaction to Announcement | NCAA Tournament Central
Head coach Melanie Balcomb
On playing in Cincinnati…
“I like being close to home. We went to Albuquerque a couple times and being close to home where our friends and family can go is always good for our program.”
How much do you know about Louisville?
“Not a lot. I watched a little bit of their game. Shoni Schimmel is a really great player who went there. I’ve been watching as much basketball, and little pieces of everybody as I could once we were done.”
Surprised by the seeding?
“No, I had seen everywhere from seven to ten. Would I rather be on the seven end? You know I would rather have a 7-10 than an 8-9 (matchup) but I really had no idea. I had seen everything, and was figuring that anything was possible.”
On looking to a possible rematch with Xavier…
“Obviously you have to win your first game first and that’s all we’re going to focus on. We had a good win there and then a tough loss there so I’m sure they’ll be remembering that.”
Surprised you didn’t get the west coast?
“We’ve been sent west a lot, and then a lot of our friends and fans haven’t been able to come to the game, so I liked that last year in Cincinnati a lot of people could travel. We felt the support of our fans and our families.”
First thought after seeing Vanderbilt in the bracket…
“I think the fact that it was 7-10 rather than 8-9. Everybody builds up that 8-9 game, but really it’s just about match ups. I don’t know anything about Louisville, I’ll be studying that as soon as we leave here today.”
On making a run in the bracket…
“I feel good about this team because of our resilience. We’ve been really resilient. We’ve had a lot of injuries. We’re the youngest team I’ve ever had, and then plus injuries and illness during the tournament. We’ve had it all. We’ll be at full strength for the NCAA tournament and that’s what I’m looking forward to – actually having my deck stacked for the first time.
On possible loss of momentum with the past two weeks off…
“We deal with that every year. This year, a lot of our players, instead of being hurt were sick. That’s helped a lot of them to start to feel better. We’ve been having the flu and virus, and 10 days of sickness with a lot of our players who had it and really had a tough time in the SEC Tournament with it.”
Hannah Tuomi
First thought after seeing the bracket…
“I was really excited. We’ve been to Cincinnati last year and we’re excited that we’re going to be in the tournament again. I’m really honored to be in the tournament four years in a row. It says a lot about this program and the history about it and what we’ve done. As soon as I saw our name pop up I was excited.
“The program here is great and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
On playing in Cincinnati again…
“Out west, it’s a long trip. Being in Cincinnati again it’s close to home and it’s a decent trip for people to drive and watch us play. We have some people from the area and some alums there, so hopefully they’ll come out for the game as well.”
On momentum going into the NCAA Tournament…
“We’ve been playing really well. I think we still have some big games left in us. We still have to hit our peak here at the end of the season. People play their best ball in March. It’s go big or go home.”
On talking to the freshmen about not looking ahead to Xavier…
“When it comes down to the end of the season and the SEC Tournament, it’s really about focusing on the first game before you can get to the next game. You have to win the first game before you can go on to the next, so obviously we’re focusing on Louisville first before whoever we would play next.”
On if there were any surprises in the bracket…
“Yes and no. Obviously with the selection committee there’s always going to be some surprises or disagreements or agreements. It’s always really enjoyable to see where everything falls and who they chose to match up where.”
“I think it’s going to be a really interesting bracket, I’m just excited to see how it all plays out.”
On feelings before the bracket is announced…
“I think it’s nervous in general. You never know, it’s never a guarantee. It’s nervous to see where you’re going to be. It’s nervous and exciting at the same time.”
Tiffany Clarke
Thoughts on the matchup…
“I’m really excited to go back to Cincinnati again and a potential game against the team we lost to last year.”
“It’s hard not to look ahead, because they are the team that beat us last year, but we have to take it one game at a time and focus on Louisville first.”
On seeding…
“To us it doesn’t matter, it’s just about playing the game right now and doing what we have to do to win.”
On making a run in the tournament…
“I think we’re able to make a good run, beat Louisville, beat Xavier. If we play as well as we can play and as well as we’ve been playing, we have the potential to make a really good run.”
Gabby Smith
On going back home for the game…
“I’m excited. I think for the players who were on the team last year, we’ve all played there before so it should be comfortable.”
On the team’s momentum going into the tournament…
“I think that we’ve had our ups and downs, obviously, but I think our last game against Kentucky was definitely a down, but I think that we can only go up from here. We’re going to work really hard all week and good things are going to happen.”
On the team’s health…
“Everyone’s been kind of sick recently, but as far as bodily injury, we’re getting a lot better. We’ll be fine.”
