March 19, 2011
VU Tournament Preview | Vanderbilt Game Notes 
| 2011 Bracket | 
Cincinnati Trivia
Smith homecoming, take two | Blogging from Cincy
Vanderbilt NCAA Press Conference
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On Playing In Cincinnati Again:
“No I figured I wouldn’t be back here just because they don’t usually send you to the same place back to back years but again as you can see a lot of things were determined by geography, but they kept us and Louisville close.”
On Being Back at Cintas:
“I thought, you know, its familiar, I thought we played really well here last year, I thought of my players first how their family and their friends and our fans could come see us and get here. I think that’s always good for our program.”
On Playing Louisville:
“They have some really good guard play as well as Monique Reid who is very versatile, can play guard and post, I just I think they are a lot like and similar to a lot of the SEC teams, they have that athleticism and strength, and it’s a different matchup for us but similar they are very different from us but similar to teams that we play in the SEC.”
On Monique Reid:
“As far as a 3-4 she is really not like a lot of our players that we see maybe, Victoria Dunlap, just her versatility, being able to face up, play with her back to the basket; put it on the floor and physically imposing. I think on the boards especially. She is a great rebounder as well.”
Team Balance:
“Probably a little of both, my philosophy is that everybody on offense has to be a player and it’s hard to guard 5 people if they are all a threat, I think I have players that are unselfish and want to share the basketball and have bought into the philosophy that making an extra pass gets us a better shot and its shot selection and shooting percentage is important to our success.”
NCAA Selection Process:
“It’s good for the game of women’s basketball. In March you want your players to play in an environment where there is a good fan base and is loud and fun and exciting. That’s what we’re going to get instead of sending us to Albuquerque where we’ve been sent twice. You don’t get that if you don’t play the home team, I just think that overall what we experienced here last year in front of 10 thousand people, and Louisville draws a lot, hopefully I expect a lot of our fans and friends and family to come as well. You’ll see a great March environment, and this is March Madness, and I want our kids to have fun and want them to play in the best environment they can play in, in March. They deserve it, they’ve earned it, that’s why they’re here.”
Jence Rhoads
On playing in Cincinnati again and being familiar with gym:
“Yea, I think so, it’s always nice to play on a court for a second time. Of course we are playing a different team now but we liked being here last year. We liked this gym and being in Cincinnati.”
On how you lost last year and having to play here again:
“A loss like that is always hard to get over but it’s just one of those things that happened and we are happy to be back here and get a second chance to play here against Louisville and then whoever wins the other game, but like I said, it was a hard loss but we are ready to be back in the NCAA tournament and hopefully end better than it did last year.”
Hannah Tuomi
On Louisville:
” I would say their style of play. I think their style is a lot different. They’re all drivers, they all can shoot, they all can play. It will just be really interesting how we match up with them and how we defend each other so I’m just excited to see how it turns out.”
On staying in touch with Tia Gibbs:
“Obviously off and on with the whole facebook and Twitter generation here. That always helps you keep in touch with whoever it might be, long distance, whatever age, so of course, in that area, yes.”
On playing against Tia:
It will just be fun. I played with her, I played against her, I got to know her for a year, but it goes back to the same thing in high school or AAU ball. You play with someone on an AAU team and then you go against each other in the regular high school season so it’s kind of like that I guess.
Louisville NCAA Press Conference
Louisville’s comments on Vanderbilt
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
On playing Vanderbilt:
“They are a very unselfish basketball team. They play inside out, and they have the ability to shoot the basketball from behind the 3-point line and as well as go into the post players. If you look at their stats, we are pretty much identical. If you look at our best 3-point shooter, and their best 3-point shooter, the percentage is about the same. Our post players average the same amount of points as their post players. It’s a game but when you get into the post season it’s about who can execute, who can take care of the basketball, it’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be fun, and we will see how it goes tomorrow.”
Tia Gibbs
On playing your former team:
“I’m really close to my old roommate and some of the players and the team. We were joking before the selection show that we might get to play each other and we do get to play each so we are all excited about it.”
On playing Vanderbilt:
“They are a hard working team, no matter if they are up 20 or down 20, they are a very smart team, we just have to match their intensity and play hard with them.”
