Quotes Following The 2010 NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Show
Mar 15, 2010 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2010
HEAD COACH Lisa Stockton
Opening statement
"First of all we are excited to be in the tournament and very excited to finally know who our opponent is. I think now we can get to work and try to survive and advance."
Any if she was surprised at the bracket as a whole
"I didn't see a lot of the bracket. There was a lot going on once your name comes up. It is probably the first time we've ever been the first bracket coming up. There are so many good teams it is just so difficult where we would be and who we would play."
On Tulane earning a No. 12 seed
"I certainly think we've had a great season. Whether we are better than a 12? I would think so. At this point everybody is playing well going into the tournament and we just need to be ready to play. Georgia is a great opponent out of the SEC with a lot of tradition. We've got to be ready to play. One of the good things about the bracket is there is not a home team in that bracket. That is one thing we were hoping for is to not play on someone's home floor. If anything that is the greatest positive out of it."
On the layoff and waiting for the selection after your last game
"In the past we've always played the week before so we had to sit at least seven days. This is nice to only have three or four. But it is nice to have the anticipation and all the guess work over. I've been ask so many time where we were going I just had no idea."
On getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since rebuilding after Katrina
"It feels great. This is our third championship since Katrina, but getting to this level, getting to the NCAA for me personally, I feel Katrina is behind us. This is the step we had to make to make sure there is no looking back and that we could put that part of our lives behind us."
On the Green Wave starters
"The exciting thing about our team is that we have such great chemistry and such great teamwork. It's been fun to see these kids work together and it has been an exciting style of basketball. If you see us play it is a very exciting style."
On tournament preparation
"We've won 10 of our last 11. We've got something going. One thing we talked about at practice was the difference in the NCAA tournament and the regular season is the intensity level. It rises because everyone is fighting to survive. One thing I feel great about this team is that this team plays hard every game. That is something that won't overwhelm them. I've had teams that have been overwhelmed by that intensity. We are going to get after it. We are going to see what we need to do to compete and defeat Georgia and we are going to do that the way we've been doing it."
On Georgia
"I've seen them on TV. I wished I would have paid more attention when I watched them. I was at Georgia Tech for four years when Andy Landers was there and we certainly have a lot of experience playing each other. (Georgia) is a great program with great tradition. The great thing about the NCAA tournament is that you get to play teams with that kind of tradition like Georgia and SEC basketball. The nice thing about being in Louisiana is we play the SEC. We are used to that style of play so that won't be something that is new to us. We are going to have to be ready to play our best game against Georgia."
On if the team draws anything from its overtime loss to LSU back on Nov. 25
"I think so. That is a game that we hate got away. We felt like we had our chances. Even though that was early that was a big point in our season. They were ranked seventh in the country at that time and losing to them in overtime, we knew that we were in that group and we could compete with them. We can have a shot to beat them and that gave us a lot of confidence to go forward even though it was a loss. We went forward pretty well. We did a good job in non-conference and by the time we got to Texas Tech and South Florida and some of those better teams on our schedule our team approached them with a different mentality."
On her experiences in the Green Wave's previous nine NCAA Tournament appearances
"Each tournament has been a different experience. When I look back on a lot of tournaments we've been in, we've been at those home sites and that was a very different experience than we have now. It is so important to have some momentum going into this tournament. When I look at the teams that were successful in the NCAA Tournament they were on a roll and had a lot of confidence. That is one thing that I can say with this team in comparison with those teams that were successful. This team does have that."
SENIOR GUARD Chassity Brown
On what it means to her for the team to be in the NCAA Tournament
"I don't think it has really hit me yet that we are in the NCAA Tournament. It will probably hit once we are done playing and everything is over."
On the difference between this year and your freshman year
"I didn't really play that much, but we had a great season that year. Obviously we wanted to make it to the NCAA Tournament and we didn't make it in. It is much different now because we won the tournament and we knew we were going. We were just waiting to see who we played."
JUNIOR FORWARD Tiffany Aidoo
On how Tulane will prepare for Georgia
"We won't do anything differently to prepare for the Georgia game. All we can do is go out and play hard and play like we've always played. That's how we got to where we are now."
On the obstacles Tulane had to overcome throughout the 2009-10 season
"The biggest challenges have been the injuries that we faced the entire season. People had to come out and play different positions and people have stepped up. This team is a balanced team and that really helped us a lot. We don't really have one go-to player and that really hurts our opponents as well because it is hard for them to stop."
JUNIOR FORARD Danielle Nunn
On her previous NCAA Tournament experience as a freshman at TCU
"As a freshman it was a little overwhelming. We played on UConn's home court. You have to play like it is your very last game because you never know what is going to happen. I like the position we are in with the 12 seed. The 12 seed with the five is usually the upset. Anyone can come out on any given day and beat their opponent. That is why you have to go into the game respecting everybody and just out there and play really, really hard."
