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WBB FF Presser - Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong & Geno Auriemma · Coaches Corner

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, and welcome to the NCAA Women's Final four
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: pre Championship press conference. Joining us today on the stage
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: are the Yukon Huskies, winners of the Fort Worth one Regional.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: At this time, we will take questions for our student athletes.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: We're gonna start with Howard way over if you can
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: raise your hand higher, Howard.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Thank There you go, Howard McDonald the nine sports question, Sarah,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry over here, Sarah Azy. Good to see you both.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Question about the defensive adjustments you need to make. I'm
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: just wondering how much what last year's South Carolina team
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: brought is relevant, if anything, when there's so many changes
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: and what are there from last year that you are
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: able to implement defensively for what it is you're doing
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: against them?
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, they are. They're a very big team.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: I think they definitely have us beat in size, So
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: being able to dig out in the post and make
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the rotations when the skips so like does that make sense? Sorry,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: like when they kick it out the rotatings on? That
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: pretty much what I'm trying to say.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: Just what did I start to do?
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think this is a new South Carolina
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: team We're playing a new Yukon team playing them, so
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: I think obviously the experience playing them last year, playing
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: in the final.
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: Four last year is helpful.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: But again, this is a new team that we're scouting
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: and a new team that's playing against them.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: We're gonna move to our left front row, Jonathan, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: then we'll move our way over.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Jonathan tanne Wall from the Philadelphia inquired, Good morning everybody. Okay,
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: this one's for you, and it follows on that is
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: is it different to play South Carolina in an NCAA
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: tournament when you haven't played them in the regular season?
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: And is it different to play them in a final
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: four game instead of a national championship game?
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: Thank you? No, I mean we're still playing to win.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: We're still going to play our hardest scout the same,
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: treat the game like it's the biggest one we've played
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: all year, and it is. But yeah, I think you know,
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: we respect this team a lot. We've got to really
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: focus on our scout, focus on what we need to
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: take care of. But I think we treat it the
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: same as we would any other game.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: We're going to stay to the front.
• 2:32
  Speaker 7: Annie Costable, Front Office Sports Ezy. This one's for you.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: The w n B A c BA kept the age
• 2:38
  Speaker 7: the same for for players entering the draft. I'm just
• 2:41
  Speaker 7: curious when you think about your own development, if you
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: think that age could move up to allow players to
• 2:51
  Speaker 7: enter the draft earlier, or if you think you know
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: where it's at is a solid place.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think where it's at is a solid place.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: With nil and the way college basketball is now, I
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: don't really see the incentive to leave early as much
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: as it was before in the past. But I mean
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: it's worked this far. I think they're doing a great job.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: We're gonna go to the back row. We're staying on
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: our left hand side.
• 3:20
  Speaker 8: Sarah or Magavenoni CD inside her for Sarah. Last year,
• 3:24
  Speaker 8: you guys had four days between the lead date in
• 3:27
  Speaker 8: Spokane before you flew all the aycross country for the
• 3:29
  Speaker 8: final four in Tampa. How important was it this year
• 3:32
  Speaker 8: to have that extra day of rest in between this
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: last round and this upcoming game.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I definitely helped, just being able to
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: get settled in early. But I end the day we
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: gotta come ready to play it on my week, doesn't
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: matter how many days to get. Just trying to be ready.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay on left, David, if you could raise
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: your hand, we can get the microphone.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Tea.
• 3:52
  Speaker 9: Hey, David Bryant with the Associated Press. This for both players. Obviously,
• 3:55
  Speaker 9: you guys undefeated this season and have played in a
• 3:58
  Speaker 9: lot of lopsided games, and that could change this week.
• 4:01
  Speaker 9: And obviously with the quality of the competition, how do
• 4:03
  Speaker 9: you stay prepared mentally physically for the clutch moments that
• 4:08
  Speaker 9: might come, you know, down late, close games late? How
• 4:12
  Speaker 9: do you can you simulate it in practice or is
• 4:14
  Speaker 9: it just something you have to do it when you
• 4:16
  Speaker 9: get there?
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Can we start with Sarah say, our coaches do a
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: good job of putting us in those positions in practice,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: and I think as a team we're all locked in
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: no matter if it's a blow. I don't know, if
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: it's a close game, I'm gonna say together through it. Also,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: we're all focused.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly what Sarah said.
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: You can simulate as much as you can in practice,
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: which the coaches have done for us all year long.
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: But at the end of the day, the habits that
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: we've built all year long in practicing games will definitely
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: help keep us that. I'll keep us calm, keep us together,
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: this weekend, we go.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Tiwn right handside. If you can raise your hand, we
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: can get the microphone to you.
• 4:56
  Speaker 10: Conor memory with an easy to say. There's questions for asy.
• 5:00
  Speaker 10: A lot of younger girls look up to you, and
• 5:03
  Speaker 10: when they think of you, coumb wins basketball that is
• 5:05
  Speaker 10: like their dream goal to play for. So my question
• 5:08
  Speaker 10: for you is what would you tell younger girls to
• 5:10
  Speaker 10: work on when it comes to like basketball or just
• 5:12
  Speaker 10: like as a person overall, to have more confidence in
• 5:15
  Speaker 10: their game and just as a person overall.
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say we'll put work in outside of
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: team practices, but then play a lot of one on
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: one just play the game.
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: I feel like a lot of times.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: People are so focused on workouts and like specific moves
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: and drills instead of just playing free play and pick
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: up playing one on one and.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: Working on your game and your skills.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: So being able to develop that, learning how to read
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: what your defenders giving you and build your one on
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: one game is really key.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna shift to our right hand side. We're going
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to go second row, and then we'll come back up
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to the front.
• 5:49
  Speaker 11: How the ruin to us say today?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Watching you guys play all.
• 5:53
  Speaker 11: Season, it seems like you really enjoy playing with each
• 5:55
  Speaker 11: other and kind of want to talk about how this team,
• 6:00
  Speaker 11: how you're so close with each other, and how you
• 6:01
  Speaker 11: don't worry about stat lines, you only worry about winning.
• 6:05
  Speaker 11: Tell me kind of what it's been like to play
• 6:07
  Speaker 11: with this group and how much fun you guys seem
• 6:09
  Speaker 11: to have together.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Can we start easy?
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this is a super special group where, like you said,
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: our number one prior to our main goal is the
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: team over individual stats, individual performances, which is a really
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: special just mindset to have, especially in this day and age.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: I feel like it's rare to find a program like
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: this so every single game, it just makes everything so
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: much more fun when you're playing for a bigger purpose
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: than yourself.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, pretty much what you said. I think
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: we all enjoy being around each other and we're genuinely
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: happy for everyone's success and we just want the team
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: to do well.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Going to stay to the front our right hand side.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: If you can raise your hand, we'll get the microphone
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to you.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Miss.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: So we made a poster. We're trying to see if
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you guys could guess who the two are. It's like
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: on the team now. Yeah, I'm gonna say as one
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: of them, it's two of them, but as yeah, right,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I don't know who the other person is.
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: I think it's Sarah Williams.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Is it her?
• 7:15
  Speaker 12: No?
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: Like whose hair is that?
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: It's not my hair.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Brown boho, I don't know. Like huh and k Asy
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: and Cake?
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: We look good?
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Oh I thought it was huh. Okay, okay, I can
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: see it now.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, we're gonna take our next question from the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: middle the back. Yes, if you can't.
• 7:53
  Speaker 13: Tell you with the athletic both for both of you,
• 7:55
  Speaker 13: Sarah and As, I'm curious when you guys got block
• 7:59
  Speaker 13: on k Her versatility seems to stand out. Just what
• 8:03
  Speaker 13: immediately impressed you about the things she can do on
• 8:06
  Speaker 13: the floor.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Personality, her confidence. I think from the first practice she
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: was doing what she did back in Italy or back
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: in Ecuador playing pro, she just looked like she didn't
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: look like a freshman. She likes she's been here before
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: and she was playing her game.
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: I would agree with that.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Her confidence and her aggressiveness, and also what's up to
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: me all season is just how she takes care of
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: herself and her body, the way she goes about her recovery,
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: her preimpost practice activation and stuff.
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: I think it's really impressive.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: We're going to shift to it back to our right
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: hand side.
• 8:39
  Speaker 14: This is a question I'm such Schwartzburgh Cronkain News. This
• 8:43
  Speaker 14: is a question for both y'all getting the chance to
• 8:46
  Speaker 14: play under a coach like Gino who has such a
• 8:49
  Speaker 14: long history and so many achievements. What is that like
• 8:53
  Speaker 14: for y'all and what are some things that he's taught
• 8:55
  Speaker 14: y'all that y'all hope to take into the next stages
• 9:00
  Speaker 14: of your life.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And we can start with Sarah. I would say to
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the mand a lot out of yourself. He has very
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: high expectations for all of his players and he demands
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: a lot. So just going into.
• 9:12
  Speaker 15: Speak into the microphone please so everybody can hear all
• 9:14
  Speaker 15: these things you're saying about me. Please speak into the microphone.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Just be very demanding of yourself and expect a lot
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: out of yourself. Yall can hear me like I can
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: hear myself. No, they can hear me myself.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's definitely a privilege to be able to play
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: for him, and I feel like every single day there's
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: it's something new that he's teaching us some new just
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: bars wisdom.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: That's that's being all right.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: Like, I don't know. He's taught me so much. I
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: don't I'm gonna take a lot with me.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Take a nice question from the front. You can raise
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: your hand and can get the microphone.
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: Team.
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: Hi.
• 10:02
  Speaker 16: This question is for both of you, Natalie Esquire NBC Sports.
• 10:06
  Speaker 16: You both have experience obviously coming into a final four.
• 10:11
  Speaker 16: Do you still ever get nervous or feel any jitters
• 10:13
  Speaker 16: or is it just business as usual for both of you?
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: If we can start with.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Sarah, I definitely do get nervous. I think it comes
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: from excitement, but I don't know. Just back it up
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: with like, I know how confident my team, everyone is
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: on the team, and how hard we've worked all year,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: all season to be here individually and as a team.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: So it just as soon as the ball tips off,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: it just goes away immediately.
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree with her.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: That's definitely nerves. Definitely excitement nerves, But as soon as
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: the ball is up then those nerves are kind of gone.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: It's just ready to play.
• 10:45
  Speaker 17: I want to stay to our right, Ellie Op, goodbye Sports.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Who's sixty asy.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: So we are in Diana Tarossi's city at the end
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: of the day. What conversations have you both had with
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: her and what would it mean to have success in
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: her city?
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: Oh right, sorry, yeah, I mean obviously would mean a
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: lot to have success in her city. I mean, she
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: is one of the greatest to ever play the game
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: of basketball, So to play here is amazing. I mean
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: to we're on we're staying on Anatiassi Way or something,
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: which is really cool.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: So just.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: Being here is amazing. To have success here, it would
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: be amazing. And I think just being able to look
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: up to her growing up, to watch her play, to
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: learn from her, to see her pave the way and
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: make all this possible now for us, Yeah, would be incredible.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: We can go to the second row on the right
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: hand side.
• 11:50
  Speaker 18: Lindsay Gibbs with CBS Sports, Azy, You've had such a
• 11:55
  Speaker 18: big journey throughout your career here at Yukon, and of course,
• 11:58
  Speaker 18: reality is any game. You know it's coming to an
• 12:00
  Speaker 18: end this weekend at some point. What do you want
• 12:03
  Speaker 18: and what do you think your legacy is that Yukon.
• 12:06
  Speaker 18: What do you want people to think of your legacy
• 12:08
  Speaker 18: as and Sarah. What does it meant to play with as?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Let's start start with Sarah first, you'ress.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Playing with As has been great, just very different than
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: last year. I think this year we've gotten a lot
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: closer on and off the court. I've gotten I've just
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: learned a lot from her, like from taking care of
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: your body, like nutrition. She eats all that healthy stuff
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: and that. But I think, I don't know, I'm really
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: gonna miss playing with her. No one's gonna be able
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: to come up a handoff and she like she will,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: so I'm going to miss that.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I feel like I've been kind of in denial
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: thinking about how this is my last weekend, Like I know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: but I'm not haven't really accepted that yet. So I'm
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: really trying to just enjoy every single moment. Like someone
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: said earlier, it's her last Maybe I said it was
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: her last time, you said it, it was the last time
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: being roommates, our last trip, just all that kind of
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: stuff in it. I'm trying not to think about that,
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: but I don't. I mean, I feel like this program
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: has left such an impact on me. I can't even
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: begin to like, I don't know, I don't know.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: I have no idea.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take our last question, Sidney, if you can
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: raise your.
• 13:16
  Speaker 19: Hand Sidney Henderson USA Today kind of piggybacking off that
• 13:23
  Speaker 19: question for easy At the Biggest media Day, you said
• 13:26
  Speaker 19: every stage of the season was gonna be bittersweet for
• 13:28
  Speaker 19: you because it would be your last doing that. Does
• 13:30
  Speaker 19: this moment feel bittersweet to you? And what has this
• 13:32
  Speaker 19: team meant to.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: You throughout the season, Yeah, it definitely does.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: I feel like everything, Like I said then, everything has
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: been bittersweet, the last of everything, but it's been so
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: incredible this year and this team. I mean, every time
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: I've been on has meant the world to me, but
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: this team, being my last one i'm on, has meant everything.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: And just how close you've been, how this year's gone,
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: going through the ups and downs, everything with this team,
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: I mean, these are my sisters forever. I know, even
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: when I leave, I'm gonna be rooting for them, coming
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: back visiting them. So even though this is my last
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: weekend with them, last time playing with them, I know
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: that this isn't the end of our relationship.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time today, ladies, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: best of luck tomorrow.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: As we begin questions for coach, We'll go Doug Howard
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and then we'll move our way over. We can get
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: the microphone up here to the front place.
• 14:35
  Speaker 20: Morning, Coach Doug Farmberg.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: The AP.
• 14:36
  Speaker 20: I got two part question.
• 14:38
  Speaker 11: The first one.
• 14:38
  Speaker 20: First part is the transfer portal. The teams that are
• 14:41
  Speaker 20: in the final four of editions this past year or two,
• 14:43
  Speaker 20: they've helped them through the transfer portal. Is that helped
• 14:47
  Speaker 20: linking the gap between the haves and have nots in
• 14:49
  Speaker 20: some way? I mean, mid majors had a terrible year
• 14:51
  Speaker 20: in the tournament and the four best teams are playing
• 14:54
  Speaker 20: now and they all had impactful transfers. Second part is,
• 14:57
  Speaker 20: I know you discussed the format of the two regionals,
• 14:59
  Speaker 20: but it's five years since the mess of COVID and
• 15:03
  Speaker 20: the being the same spot in the weight room and
• 15:05
  Speaker 20: the shape the light that was shined on inequity. Do
• 15:08
  Speaker 20: you see the game minus the regional issue being better
• 15:13
  Speaker 20: than it was five years ago for women's basketball as
• 15:14
  Speaker 20: compared to the men.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: The equity part of.
• 15:16
  Speaker 15: It, Yeah, the portal and the revenue chare I think
• 15:29
  Speaker 15: that was the death of the mid majors, the death
• 15:36
  Speaker 15: of high school players coming to play college basketball as
• 15:41
  Speaker 15: It's never been harder for a high school kid to
• 15:47
  Speaker 15: have the same opportunities that an existing college player already has.
• 15:53
  Speaker 15: When your choices go get a high school senior or
• 15:56
  Speaker 15: go get a college sophomore for your team. A lot
• 16:01
  Speaker 15: of coaches are deciding that getting a college sophomore is
• 16:04
  Speaker 15: way better, and the place where they usually go to
• 16:06
  Speaker 15: get them is a mid major. So you're going to
• 16:12
  Speaker 15: see less and less of those mid majors competing in
• 16:18
  Speaker 15: the NC Tournament. There is a way that they can
• 16:25
  Speaker 15: fix that, just giving more opportunities to the mid majors
• 16:28
  Speaker 15: so that those kids that are playing at those schools
• 16:31
  Speaker 15: feel like they have a path to at least play
• 16:34
  Speaker 15: in the Nancy Tournament. Okay, and if you would eliminate
• 16:39
  Speaker 15: all those teams that have a losing record in their
• 16:41
  Speaker 15: league and say, listen, if you have a losing record
• 16:44
  Speaker 15: in your league, you don't deserve to play for a
• 16:46
  Speaker 15: national championship, and give more opportunities to those mid majors,
• 16:50
  Speaker 15: you know, just like the discussion between Miami of Ohio
• 16:53
  Speaker 15: and Auburn, Like, in what world are you discussing that? Right?
• 16:59
  Speaker 15: So that's that's a big that's a big problem, and
• 17:02
  Speaker 15: the amount of money that people are offering kids. So
• 17:06
  Speaker 15: the revenue sharing is twenty point five and it's going
• 17:09
  Speaker 15: up this year. But you know at the schools it's
• 17:15
  Speaker 15: twenty two, twenty three, twenty four just for just for
• 17:18
  Speaker 15: the basketball team, so it's probably another forty for the
• 17:21
  Speaker 15: football team. So there goes that twenty two point five.
• 17:24
  Speaker 13: Right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 15: So yeah, salary caps and all that stuff would would help.
• 17:30
  Speaker 15: As far as where the game is, uh, you know,
• 17:35
  Speaker 15: it's crazy. I remember seeing that weight room thing and
• 17:41
  Speaker 15: everybody made such a big deal of it. Okay, this
• 17:44
  Speaker 15: is my twenty fifth final four. Not once has any
• 17:48
  Speaker 15: of my players Yes, hey, coach, can I go to
• 17:50
  Speaker 15: lift weights? It is It was the biggest embarrassment of
• 17:54
  Speaker 15: all time that that caused the uproar that it did,
• 17:58
  Speaker 15: and then the NCAAA grambling around going, oh my god,
• 18:01
  Speaker 15: we have to we have to be equal to the men.
• 18:08
  Speaker 15: When there are things like the regionals that are important, right,
• 18:12
  Speaker 15: They're things like the regionals that are important. So I
• 18:17
  Speaker 15: think the game has grown so much since the pandemic.
• 18:25
  Speaker 15: I think we have a moment here right now that
• 18:28
  Speaker 15: we captured that moment and spread the game to more
• 18:32
  Speaker 15: places in the country. We can really take advantage of it.
• 18:39
  Speaker 15: I think schools more schools. I was thinking about this recently.
• 18:47
  Speaker 15: They said that it's the first time since the same
• 18:51
  Speaker 15: schools are back to back, and the last time we
• 18:53
  Speaker 15: were in it it was US Tennessee, Stanford and Georgia.
• 19:00
  Speaker 15: Think about that, US Tennessee, Stanford and Georgia. How many
• 19:06
  Speaker 15: Final four is is those other three schools made in
• 19:09
  Speaker 15: the last fifteen years. So the game has changed so
• 19:14
  Speaker 15: much because so many more schools now have an opportunity
• 19:18
  Speaker 15: to get here. That doesn't mean they're going to get here,
• 19:21
  Speaker 15: but they have an opportunity to get here. So the
• 19:24
  Speaker 15: game's in a really, really good place. People are watching
• 19:28
  Speaker 15: tremendous interest. It's our job now to put a really
• 19:35
  Speaker 15: good product on the court.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Let's say to the back, we're gonna go here and
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: then come back.
• 19:41
  Speaker 17: Up to you.
• 19:41
  Speaker 13: Howard Hey, you know carantee you with the athletic Sarah
• 19:44
  Speaker 13: and Asy both talked about how confident Blanca is and
• 19:47
  Speaker 13: how she came in with that confidence. I'm curious as
• 19:49
  Speaker 13: you can kind of speak to her mindset and how
• 19:52
  Speaker 13: maybe that's impressed you for her being too young, and
• 19:54
  Speaker 13: how maybe that's rubbed off on everybody else.
• 19:58
  Speaker 15: Yeah, well don't. I don't want everything that she does
• 20:01
  Speaker 15: to roboll on anybody. To be honest with you, she's
• 20:07
  Speaker 15: My head hurts every day I practice because there's nothing
• 20:13
  Speaker 15: that Blanca thinks she can't do. So she tries to
• 20:16
  Speaker 15: do every single thing that you can think of. And
• 20:19
  Speaker 15: you can imagine how that goes right most days. But
• 20:23
  Speaker 15: they were right. Her level of confidence in herself, her
• 20:27
  Speaker 15: belief in herself, and maybe that stems from you know,
• 20:33
  Speaker 15: you're thirteen years old and living in Ecuador, and how
• 20:38
  Speaker 15: many kids from Ecuador aspired to play in the WNBA
• 20:41
  Speaker 15: and then moves halfway across the world to Italy, and
• 20:46
  Speaker 15: so she's now phased by Okay, I'm at Yukon. This
• 20:49
  Speaker 15: is a really big deal, you know. So her belief
• 20:54
  Speaker 15: in herself, I think is one of the things that
• 20:59
  Speaker 15: separates her. I think a lot of kids today they
• 21:02
  Speaker 15: don't necessarily have that belief. They don't necessarily have that
• 21:04
  Speaker 15: level of confidence. They walk around like they do, but
• 21:08
  Speaker 15: they really don't. Hers is real, and I think it's infectious.
• 21:13
  Speaker 21: You know, Howard, if you agree your ham Howard met
• 21:20
  Speaker 21: Donald the nine sports paid to CG know two, If
• 21:23
  Speaker 21: I could first just comparing to last year and having
• 21:28
  Speaker 21: the new pieces of the South Carolina has to nihilats
• 21:31
  Speaker 21: and certainly among them, but not the only one.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I'm just wondering how defensively things changed for them as
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: you prepare for them today, and then just kind of
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: build off of what you were saying about Blanca. Yes,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: of course her first year, but she has played more
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: minutes obviously in each successive NCAAA game. And I just
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: wondering you to take me through what your process is
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: to learn to trust freshmen who haven't been in this
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: spot yet. How do you determine when and how you
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: do it?
• 22:05
  Speaker 15: Obviously, this is a different South Carolina team than the
• 22:09
  Speaker 15: one we played last year. Our two wins against them
• 22:14
  Speaker 15: last year don't really mean anything going into tomorrow. The
• 22:18
  Speaker 15: way that game was played, you know, has no bearing
• 22:24
  Speaker 15: on tomorrow. They've added, they have added some really key pieces.
• 22:31
  Speaker 15: I think there were much better team than they were
• 22:33
  Speaker 15: last year. Really hard to prepare for. They've they've shot
• 22:41
  Speaker 15: the ball exceptionally well this year, and you know, they've
• 22:46
  Speaker 15: added the size that it's hard to match up with.
• 22:54
  Speaker 15: So defensively we have our challenges with them. The other
• 23:08
  Speaker 15: part of your question about yours. Oh, trust my freshman.
• 23:18
  Speaker 15: I don't. I don't. I just crossed my fingers, closed
• 23:23
  Speaker 15: my eyes and put them out there. But we've had
• 23:25
  Speaker 15: a history of freshmen playing really well in the NC Tournament.
• 23:28
  Speaker 15: I was just talking to the people out there about
• 23:30
  Speaker 15: that when n Keisha Sales was a freshman in nineteen
• 23:33
  Speaker 15: ninety five and she was coming off the bench and
• 23:36
  Speaker 15: Jim Mrizadi was on the bench with three foulsand in
• 23:39
  Speaker 15: the first half, and I said, Keisha, you're gonna have
• 23:42
  Speaker 15: to bring the ball up, and you know, only Keisha could.
• 23:44
  Speaker 15: I ain't no point guard, yo, I'm not playing that
• 23:46
  Speaker 15: position like well you're playing it today, you know. So
• 23:52
  Speaker 15: there's some freshmen that, you know, whatever position you put
• 23:56
  Speaker 15: them in, they have it. They have it. They have
• 24:00
  Speaker 15: it mentally, they have it emotionally. You know, the moment's
• 24:05
  Speaker 15: not going to be too big for them. And then
• 24:08
  Speaker 15: you just got to hope that that they can do
• 24:12
  Speaker 15: what you think they can do.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: We're shifting to our right hand side. If you could
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: raise your hands and quen get to excuse me our
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: left hand side.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Hi.
• 24:19
  Speaker 22: Matti Kenny with the New York Post when Easy was
• 24:21
  Speaker 22: talking about just her kind of being in denial and
• 24:24
  Speaker 22: kind of recapping all her emotions and stuff. It looked
• 24:26
  Speaker 22: like I was just curious, like what was going through
• 24:29
  Speaker 22: your head? If that if if her talking about like
• 24:32
  Speaker 22: this being her last hurrah like meant anything or means
• 24:36
  Speaker 22: anything to you, I guess we might have.
• 24:39
  Speaker 15: We may have discussed this at some point, But I
• 24:42
  Speaker 15: think the the hardest part, UH is being a senior
• 24:49
  Speaker 15: at Connecticut and knowing what that means and what the
• 24:53
  Speaker 15: expectation for you is and carrying that around with you.
• 24:57
  Speaker 15: This is my last time, h You know, so many
• 25:00
  Speaker 15: of our players have ended their careers cutting down that's
• 25:05
  Speaker 15: at on the National Championship Game, and you desperately want
• 25:08
  Speaker 15: to be one of those people, you know. And if
• 25:12
  Speaker 15: we win tomorrow, and if we win Sunday, a Zy
• 25:17
  Speaker 15: will be crowned, you know, one of the greatest of
• 25:22
  Speaker 15: all time. We don't win tomorrow and we don't even
• 25:26
  Speaker 15: get a chance to play on Sunday, She's going to
• 25:31
  Speaker 15: feel like she was, that this was a disappointing year
• 25:34
  Speaker 15: for her. So I try to make it that it's November,
• 25:43
  Speaker 15: don't think about January. Hey, it's January, don't think about March.
• 25:49
  Speaker 15: Let's just let's just enjoy what we've got right now.
• 25:53
  Speaker 15: And once we won, once we beat Notre Dame to
• 25:57
  Speaker 15: get here, to me Asy's job was done. What happens
• 26:04
  Speaker 15: here the next game, that's all just bonus because getting
• 26:12
  Speaker 15: here is the hard part. Now, you know, we'll talk
• 26:17
  Speaker 15: about on hopefully on Monday. That's when it hits down
• 26:24
  Speaker 15: really hard.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So go to our right. You've raised your hand in purple.
• 26:30
  Speaker 23: Hey, coach, it's ayah Abdean for the ninety four fifty.
• 26:33
  Speaker 23: So how how honor how special is it to play
• 26:37
  Speaker 23: in the city where Diana Chuazi has built her legacy
• 26:40
  Speaker 23: in the city of Phoenix for the last twenty years
• 26:43
  Speaker 23: and made a name for herself as well.
• 26:46
  Speaker 15: Uh yeah, I had dinner with d last night and
• 27:04
  Speaker 15: in typical de fashion, Yeah, she's the story. We practiced
• 27:13
  Speaker 15: her facility and yesterday her logo on the court right
• 27:27
  Speaker 15: like they said it. And so I can't in my
• 27:33
  Speaker 15: mind the greatest basketball player to ever play college basketball
• 27:38
  Speaker 15: and maybe the greatest MWNBA player of all time, So
• 27:43
  Speaker 15: to be here, I know it means a lot to her,
• 27:47
  Speaker 15: and I know it means a lot to our players.
• 27:52
  Speaker 15: So yeah, you don't often get a chance to do that.
• 27:57
  Speaker 12: You know, y a right hand side excuse me, left
• 28:02
  Speaker 12: hand side, Hey, Gina over here, Yeah, anti cospable front
• 28:07
  Speaker 12: office sports, the same kind of question I asked of easy,
• 28:10
  Speaker 12: but taking the incentives out of it.
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: More from a developmental standpoint, do you think the wor
• 28:18
  Speaker 7: or the women's players are are ready to leave college early?
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: From a developmental standpoint, do you see that being the
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: future of the women's game And what would it do
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: to the women's game if that rule around entering the
• 28:30
  Speaker 7: WNBA did change.
• 28:34
  Speaker 15: I think it would be a really bad rule. I'm
• 28:38
  Speaker 15: not saying they need to stay four years. You know,
• 28:46
  Speaker 15: I've coached players that after their freshman year they would
• 28:49
  Speaker 15: be you know, they would be able to handle it.
• 28:53
  Speaker 15: I do think women's basketball would suffer in that you
• 28:59
  Speaker 15: wouldn't get the recognition around the country that Aisy Fudd
• 29:08
  Speaker 15: has if you're in college one year. Okay, if Sarah
• 29:14
  Speaker 15: would have left after last year, right, you wouldn't have
• 29:18
  Speaker 15: that continued watching her grow and she would go to
• 29:22
  Speaker 15: the WNBA. Great for her, great opportunity for her, but
• 29:28
  Speaker 15: a bad opportunity for because you're not going to replace
• 29:32
  Speaker 15: her with somebody equal. So the game of women's basketball
• 29:37
  Speaker 15: would be diminished. I think if those kids were one
• 29:42
  Speaker 15: and done, you know, maybe a baseball situation, you know,
• 29:47
  Speaker 15: where you either go right out of high school, which
• 29:51
  Speaker 15: very very few if any of them, would be ready
• 29:54
  Speaker 15: to do that, or it's you know, a three year
• 30:00
  Speaker 15: a year commitment, you know, like baseball has. You know,
• 30:05
  Speaker 15: I think that's and I think the way football does it.
• 30:08
  Speaker 15: You know, you're not going to stand to college freshman
• 30:10
  Speaker 15: or college sophomore to play against grown men that will
• 30:13
  Speaker 15: break you in half, you know. So I do think
• 30:17
  Speaker 15: there's there's there's benefits for them to grow. And now
• 30:22
  Speaker 15: that the money they're making, you got pros wanting to
• 30:25
  Speaker 15: come back to college. So I think the way it
• 30:30
  Speaker 15: is now, if there was going to tweak it, I
• 30:31
  Speaker 15: would I would like the the baseball model.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Coach, we just went a minute over our time, so
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: you are now free to go. We want to thank
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: you for that time.
• 30:43
  Speaker 15: One more question.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Okay, there we go, coach.
• 30:54
  Speaker 17: Thanks got it was in the Republic, Kevin Durant said
• 30:56
  Speaker 17: a couple of nights ago. When the Rockets on are
• 30:59
  Speaker 17: the Houston comments Cynthia Cooper, Cheryl Swoops, and Tina Thompson
• 31:04
  Speaker 17: at halftime against Nicks that he feels bad for the
• 31:08
  Speaker 17: Connecticut fan base. The Son have been so supportive of
• 31:13
  Speaker 17: the Son and that they're coming back to Houston, but
• 31:15
  Speaker 17: they at least they got Yukon basketball. How does it
• 31:18
  Speaker 17: feel to hear that from Kevin being that you've built
• 31:21
  Speaker 17: this brand from your first nineteen ninety one final four.
• 31:25
  Speaker 15: Yeah, that is you know, that is the heck of
• 31:29
  Speaker 15: a compliment from KD. And it is unfortunate, you know
• 31:41
  Speaker 15: that we were talking about it's viewed upon as a
• 31:45
  Speaker 15: mid major, the Connecticut Son or in a mid major.
• 31:49
  Speaker 15: They're they're a mid major compared to Chicago, Houston, LA,
• 31:54
  Speaker 15: New York. So it was just a matter of time
• 31:59
  Speaker 15: maybe until that happened. And it's unfortunate because they had
• 32:03
  Speaker 15: developed a tremendous fan base and it wasn't you know,
• 32:09
  Speaker 15: the Yukon fan base all of a sudden became Connecticut Sun.
• 32:11
  Speaker 15: They grew their own fan base. But I think that's
• 32:19
  Speaker 15: one of the advantages that we have up in Connecticut
• 32:22
  Speaker 15: that Yukon Basketball men's and women's are pro franchises. So
• 32:30
  Speaker 15: we don't have a WNBA team, we don't have an
• 32:32
  Speaker 15: NBA team, we don't have a Major League baseball team,
• 32:35
  Speaker 15: we don't have an NFL team, we don't have an
• 32:38
  Speaker 15: NHL team, but we have Yukon basketball. And maybe that's
• 32:43
  Speaker 15: why this is the sixth time that our men and
• 32:46
  Speaker 15: women have been in the Final four at the same time.
• 32:49
  Speaker 15: Because we are a pro franchise, you know, We've always
• 32:53
  Speaker 15: been a pro franchise, and maybe that gives us a
• 32:57
  Speaker 15: little bit of an edge, you know, and how our
• 33:00
  Speaker 15: players are treated. And I think Kevin saw that firsthand,
• 33:05
  Speaker 15: you know, while I was coaching the Olympic team and
• 33:07
  Speaker 15: all a lot of my players were on the Olympic team,
• 33:10
  Speaker 15: and he was around them obviously a lot. So I mean,
• 33:16
  Speaker 15: coming from him, I think that means means an awful lot.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you everybody, Thank you coaching, Best of luck tomorrow,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: thank you, h no problem, thank you. See you tomorrow.