March 22, 2010
CINCINNATI — Head coach Melanie Balcomb and several members of the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team met with the media Monday afternoon prior to Tuesday’s NCAA Second Round matchup with Xavier.
LISTEN TO VANDERBILT’S PRESS CONFERENCE
VANDERBILT PRACTICE QUOTES
Head coach Melanie Balcomb
On Hannah Tuomi’s recovery
It was both mental and physical, you could see her favoring her leg and I knew it wasn’t as strong, and she has extremely strong legs, a very powerful player, that’s how she gets her success, so it’s about her strength and power. So, to lose some of that, I’m sure she lost her confidence. And, not having the ability to play for a long time, it was a long rehab and a long time where she was off the court, and that was tough. Just watching her down the stretch, we’ve become a better team because we have her presence inside. Her face has changed, I usually can tell in their [the team’s] face, their confidence and calmness- she’s smiling a lot more. She was very frustrated a lot during the season with her inability to do the things that she was doing before. She is a fearless player who was playing with some fear.
On Hannah Tuomi’s success with her size disadvantage:
She has great footwork, she works very hard before the catch, and it’s hard work. It’s a mentality to outwork people and get mentally where you don’t think you are going to get stopped. She goes up against bigger kids every night and it doesn’t affect her mentally, she has that same confidence level because she knows what to do against those kids and has been successful against them. Sometimes for a smaller player, it’s not as hard to go against somebody the same size, I know a lot of big post players don’t like those little guards, and you saw that, we switched a lot and had our little kids on DePaul’s big kids and they struggled with that at the block. I think sometimes if you can move taller players and move them to get by them and under them, you can be successful, but you have to be willing to work really hard. And that’s what Hannah does, she’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached. You have to do the work ahead of time.
On Coaching in the Cintas against Xavier
It’s been eight years, and yesterday once the game started, I didn’t feel any differently than just coaching Vanderbilt at an away site on an away court with a crowd. It has been a long time and I don’t know any of the players I’m coaching against. It’s not like these are the players I brought in or I coached, they’re all gone. A lot of my former players are in the stands, and are here. The people, Father Graham, and everything- seeing all the people that work here again; and yes, it’s about the people, not the place, and I said that when I was here, it was a great place and I have great memories. But they are just memories. I have established a rapport at Vanderbilt that’s the same and I’m excited for these players to have their friends and family here, I know it will be a small section compared to the big section, but I’m proud of what Xavier has been able to do here. And I’m proud to see the crowd that they have here, and to see a crowd like that at a women’s game and to have been a part of the start of that.
On strategy against Amber Harris
I guess you’ll have to come to the game and see.
On playing as an underdog
I love it. This is perfect for me as a coach, I’m not like a lot of coaches, I like to be an underdog, on somebody else’s floor and with a big crowd. As you start recruiting kids and coaching kids, they do reflect their coach, and for us this is a fun situation and all the pressure’s off. When you play at home, you’re supposed to win, and we do that a lot at Vanderbilt, we’re supposed to win all of our home games, and we win most of them, but that’s a lot of pressure. Senior night, we had our worst game of the year, it was a lot of pressure for four seniors on their last home game because we’ve never lost that before. So to be able to go on someone else’s court, I mean the best game we played all year was at Tennessee and that to me is one of the neatest things about sports.
On the Xavier players:
We just watched film on them. They’re big, which would remind us a little of Tennessee; big inside and their guards are also big. We have to prepare our defense for that and be ready for their inside presence.
On recovery:
It definitely took a while because even after the injury and after the surgery, it was difficult to get the strength back, and definitely the confidence. An injury like that is detrimental to your confidence, so towards the end of the season, I would say, personally I got back to being more confident as a player.
On missing last year’s tournament:
It was pretty difficult. I was trying to cheer on my teammates, but it was hard because you’re not there. So it was hard.
On playing Tennessee three times:
I would say so. Tennessee did prepare us, they have big players. Any team that we have played has prepared us for this point. I think that’s what the whole season, pre-season, is all about, just to prepared you for whatever team you’re going to face in the tournament.
On any pre-game rituals:
No not really, I like to keep it the same for pretty much all of the games. Nothing out of the ordinary, just get ready, get your shoes on, stretch, everything, you know the normal.
On the tough environment:
We had a lot of people at our Notre Dame game and our Tennessee game, so that will prepare us for the atmosphere we saw yesterday. Xavier had a ton of fans there yesterday when we were watching. It is fun to play in front of a crowd like that.
On team chemistry:
I think that our team has always been very close, on the court, off the court hanging out a lot. We love each other and we care so much about each other and we know we’re there for each other whenever they’re down and they’re hurt and we’re going to support each other no matter what. I think that’s what we’ve done throughout this whole season with all the diversity that we’ve gone through. We’ve been there, and that has just made us stronger, and it has made us stronger.
On history with Xavier players:
I played with them a couple of years with an Indiana AAU team. Just good friends, played with them for two solid summers. I just kept up with them throughout college career, nothing serious, just good friends. Its kinda cool to see teammates you played with in high school have such outstanding college careers. I have teammates that I played with in high school AAU and that are doing really well wherever they are. It’s cool to see them living their dream and it’s cool to see how well we match up with them.
On Amber Harris’ game:
She’s definitely a unique player because she’s so tall but she plays like a guard. She has the handle like a point guard and the mentality of a point guard in a bigger body. I’ve seen her dunk several times in AAU and she was probably the first girl that actually could throw an alley-oop pass to and dunk. It was pretty cool. She’s had a good solid college career and I’m happy for her with the things she’s done here at Xavier.
On the tough environment
It’s fun being an underdog. You have nothing to lose, you’re not expected to win. To silence a crowd of the magnitude that they’re going to bring tomorrow is going to be fun. Being able to upset someone, there’s no pressure. You go out and play fearless and have fun. Play like we know how to play.
XAVIER PRACTICE QUOTES
Head Coach Kevin McGuff
On Tyeasha Moss
She has a sprain but she should be good to go tomorrow, she’s a tough kid, and it looked worse than it actually was.
<>On Vanderbilt over DePaul
Melanie is a terrific coach, she has had time there to recruit the type of players that are successful in her system, that execute really well in the offensive game. They can really cause some match-up problems and I think that’s what got DePaul in the end.
<>On the long break from last game
It’s so long, and it’s such an exciting time of year, and to have to wait that long to play a game is really, really hard. We had a combination of we took some time off to get some rest, we also tried to get better at the things that we do. We played on Monday the 7th or 8th, and we didn’t play again until yesterday. It is a long time and it’s hard, but you have to get through that first game and survive it and move on from there.
<>On getting geeked (excited) before the game
I think we’re at our best with this group when we have a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. And that may lead to an over-the-back call, a charge or a turnover because we are too aggressive in transition, and I can live with that. I think the more energy we play with and the harder we play, the better things are going to happen to us. I would much rather have to bring them down, from an energy level standpoint, than to have to do something to bring them up. For us to get excited before the game is going to be a good thing for us.
<>On playing close games
I think it has helped harden us, and with this time of year and the quality of competition that we’re going to be playing. Like Vanderbilt, tomorrow night, I would expect a very close game; a very tough game; a very competitive game; and hopefully our experience in close games will be a great thing.
<>On Hannah Tuomi
She’s a great competitor, she plays really hard. It’s not enjoyable when you’re trying to put your team in the best position to win tomorrow night, but I’ve enjoyed watching Vanderbilt. I like the intensity that they play with and the toughness that they play with, and she’s a great example of that. She plays so hard around the basket, and it’s kind of a cliché, but she plays much bigger than she is because of her effort and intensity.
<>On Amber and Ta’Shia’s toughness
That’s our style of play, it’s important for us to be really physical around the basket and that’s going to be important tomorrow night because Vanderbilt plays really hard and they’re really aggressive, and they’re a great rebounding team because they play so hard. We’re going to have to play physically defensively; we’re going to have to be really physical on the boards; we’re going to have to be physical trying to get position on offense around the basket to get good shots.
<>On the who needs to step up tomorrow
It will have to be a collective effort. I thought everybody played hard, everybody was together as a team. We didn’t necessarily play our best at certain times, but the fact that we continued to play hard and stay together is what ultimately won out. And that’s what I’m looking for tomorrow, we’re going to do it together. We’ve come this far playing that style and that way, and that’s what’s going to carry us through.
Ta’shia Phillips
On Vanderbilt players:
They’re a good team. They’re more about running offense rather than the team we played last night in East Tennessee, which was more of a run-and-gun type. So, we’ll be better set to play our defense for tomorrow night.
<>On Vanderbilt’s first round game:
It’s called March Madness for a reason. It’s about who wants it more in the end and I think Vanderbilt wanted it more than DePaul did. Like Amber said, the defense picked up and shots were going in. It’s about heart in the end.
<>On expectations of the home team:
We don’t feel that at all. We come out because we’re a good team and we trust in each other and trust in our game. We’re just ready to have fun and win games. It’s not about pressure, it’s not about winning games. It’s the expectations that we have for ourselves, that the coaching staff has for us. It’s not really about the expectations that anyone else, because at the end of the day it’s about us winning games. And it’s not about the expectations of what other people have because they’re not the ones playing.
<>On how the two play together:
We don’t look at it as us two, we just know everybody has to come out and play well and do their part so we can go in there knowing we have to play hard and everyone else is ready to play hard. It’s about the collectiveness; it’s not about the two of us. It’s not like we look at each other and say `hey you got to go, I got to go.’ It’s `everybody’s got to go.’
<>On help from teammates:
Honestly I don’t think you can pick just one or two. It’s really that deep. As coach said from the eight or nine of us that go out on the court, it goes all the way down the bench. I know at times we may not have the energy but players on the bench like Megan [Askew] or Mo [Maureen Hester], that gives us fuel and energy. You don’t have one or two, it’s every last one of us.
<>On how the men’s and women’s teams follow each other:
I know we just flip back and forth. We watch their games, they watch ours. And we try to keep up with who’s winning this way or whatever is happening. It is a joke between the two teams, like who does what. Like yesterday, Love scored a bucket and we were like `okay, we see you’ and Jordan goes out and gets as many points as he does, which makes no sense how someone can do so much. We have fun between the two teams, trying to make sure each team wins. We keep up with stats, and when we can’t get to the tv, everyone is checking their phones for stats. We keep up with each other fairly well.
Amber Harris
On Vanderbilt players:
I think they’re more of a fundamental team, a pretty good team. Nothing we haven’t played against this year.
<>On Vanderbilt’s first round game:
I don’t think DePaul was hitting shots down the stretch. Vanderbilt’s defense did pick up at the end, and I don’t think DePaul knew how to score against their defense.
<>On how difficult it was missing last year’s tournament:
Like Ta’Shia said, it’s March Madness and everyone wants to win. Last year I wanted to get out there and play but I couldn’t, so I had to wait my time.
<>On playing with Merideth Marsh:
She was great, she was a great guard. She knew how to get us open and read the floor. She’s a great passer and a great shooter too. She’s great; she was fun to play with.
<>On getting shot blocked:
I don’t like getting my shot blocked. It really pumps me up, gets me going. It shouldn’t happen [chuckles].
<>On interaction with the men’s team:
Jordan [Crawford], when we were playing Temple and I hit this fade away shot, he was like `you always ask where I do my stuff at. Where do you do that at?’ I interact with a couple of the players because they always ask `how you do that?’ and I ask `how you do that?’.