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BYU vs. Colorado State Post-Game Quotes 2006 MWC Women's Basketball Championship Quarterfinal #3
March 8, 2006
BYU
Question: Ambrosia, you came out and scored I think 12 points in about eight minutes and change in that second half. Was that just a case of you deciding I'm done kidding around, this has got to stop? Ambrosia Anderson: There's came when I kick it in gear, and say you know what, I can't stop getting bumped around, shooting up hope shots. Just take confidently, just playing my game. Because it's that in between game that gets me all the time where, do I want to shoot the three, do I want to take it all the way? I just got to make up my mind and go wholeheartedly. And that's the difference right there.
Coach Jeff Judkins: She just listened to me, that's what it really was (laughter). Ambrosia Anderson: Sure, sure. He said keep moving let it come. I did.
Question: Dani, after seeing what happened to New Mexico earlier today, did that have your team maybe focused a little more coming in or was this a factor for you? Dani Kubik: No, it was a big factor. We just got beat I think by 28 points or something like that. And you don't want to come out in this game and, you know, get drilled, you know. It was a big impact on our team. We knew we needed a re group, get it together and play strong in this game. So this was a big game for us.
Question: Talk about the difference in what you did tonight or versus what happened in Fort Collins when they really put a scare in you guys? Ambrosia Anderson: Personally or as a team?
Question: You pick. Ambrosia Anderson: As a team, I think we trust each other more, we worked the ball around more, got into the post. Motion is nothing without our five, so we get them in there and we do our perimeter stuff and it's so hard to guard. And we just realize that, and things start falling. Individually, just the same thing. Just play how you practice. And sometimes when the lights go on in my head, you know, I think differently and try to do it all. But you really just got to play like how you practice every day, day in and day out. It's so much easier. Dani Kubik: Another thing I think was our defense because the last time we played them, they had a lot more open shots, and I think that we did really good on our defense tonight. Melinda did a great job. But we just made sure they didn't have open shots. That was our big focus this time, was to make sure they didn't have those open shots.
Question: Ambrosia, you mentioned the lights going on. Did you have a lot of family and friends here and did that add to or take away from any pressure? Ambrosia Anderson: Not a whole lot. Just a couple people, like four or five people came. That's just something I struggle with the whole year. Games are always slightly different for me. But, I mean, it takes me a couple minutes to get out of it. And it's something I have to work on. But, yeah, it was a good atmosphere. It's always nice playing in Denver, growing up here, playing high school here. Coach Jeff Judkins: Your high school team is in the semis. Ambrosia Anderson: Uh huh.
Question: Jeff, you guys forced 25 turnovers, and CSU has been kind of a turnover prone team as the season has gone on. Was this a big focus, to try to turn the ball over on them today? Coach Jeff Judkins: I think every coach likes turnovers because a lot of times turnovers, after turning the ball over, you can make baskets or get easy baskets. I don't think we tried to force turnovers. I think what we try to do is defensively take them out of what they were trying to do. They run a triangle offense. In Fort Collins, we had a real difficult time giving them too many open shots on handoffs, on pin downs. So tonight we really tried just to get through those. We didn't worry so much about the post like we've done in the past. And I thought Johnson, Mallary, and Jennie Keele did a great job not giving them a lot of easy, easy baskets. Now when you do that, you got to worry about Dennett. And Kubik is the best defending center in our league, and she is physical and tough. I thought she did a real good job of guarding Dennett one on one on the post. When you can do that, you can put more pressure and that's what causes turnovers.
Question: Jeff, you talked about how much you were worried about this ball game considering what happened to New Mexico and seeing them go out in the first round. How much did this game worry you? Coach Jeff Judkins: It worried me because a lot of time when you come in a number one seeded team, you don't really focus yourself. You think you've had a great season, and you come in here not ready to play. All of a sudden, a team like CSU comes in, plays with a lot of energy and excitement. They can beat you. I've been in this 18 years, and I have gone home a couple times the first round with having a very good team. That was something I really emphasized the last two days with my team, is, you know, we got to come out ready to play, we got to come out with being aggressive defensively. We got to come out and take care of the ball and really improve and get better so that we can get better as a team. And I've told everybody we have four stages. This is number four. Number four is post season and tournament. And, you know, we've done well in the first three; we've got to do well in the last stage for us to have a really successful season.
Question: Jeff, can you talk about the opening five minutes or so, the second half, kind of an ugly first half. You guys really took control right there. Coach Jeff Judkins: I think what happened is we came out a little bit flat and then we ran a little streak, and then Brosia got tired, and I had to start subbing a little bit, and my subs didn't come in and give us the energy they usually give the first half. And we kind of play back and forth. I knew this. This team is a good second half team. Partly that they focus themselves and they know what they're doing and then we make adjustments. Brosia, like she said earlier, she had open shots where she usually doesn't get those early. She had to adjust tonight. What I told her to do was just go out and play and let it come. You know, you're kind of hunting for your shot. Just let it come and move. And I thought she did a lot better job the second half. I also think our advantage is Colorado State had to play a hard game yesterday. They got a little bit tired and they couldn't bring the intensity they brought earlier. That's the advantage of not having to play that game where you don't have being tired or whatever. But I think also playing them so closely in Fort Collins was a good motivating factor for us. We knew that if we don't come ready to play, they can stay with us. I thought tonight we did a lot better job. Our zone defense was very effective. I thought we were very active in it. And when we're active like that, we're tough to score on sometimes.
Question: Coach, Ambrosia was talking about with kind of getting her head, is it that you'd rather have her shoot off a pass in the flow, or can she hit these open threes off the dribble when she decides? Coach Jeff Judkins: She can do it all. But what Brosia has improved so much, people don't realize, is that she's not how do you say this not get into bad habits that she had. She is letting the offense and her teammates help her through those situations. Last year she had moments where she was brilliant and then moments where she started trying to do too much. This year she's really let it come, and I think that's maturity, but I think it's been four years of me pounding her for a long time trying to help her. Ambrosia respects me for a lot of reasons, but one reason is I was in her position as a player myself. I know what you have to do to score points, and what you have to do as a team. She's done a great job. The Mexico came when she jumped up for rebound and came down and she's grabbing her knee, I thought Poor Bro, not for the team but she's worked so hard to get to this level. She is a great player. She's made me a great coach because of her play out there. She's fun to watch. She's a team player. And, you know, she did some good things defensively tonight that you don't see, deflecting passes, active hands, and whatever. But she is a great player and I've been very fortunate to be able to coach her.
Colorado State
Question: Sara, can you talk about the difference between this game and Fort Collins, what BYU did to you defensively and tonight? Sara Hunter: Really there was no difference. They stayed tight. It was just a matter of, you know, first half, I was kind of feeling it and second half got a little cold. But, I mean, I think we all came out and played hard both games really. We didn't get a lot of, you know, balls to fall our way or calls, so it happens.
Question: Vanessa, if you could try to step back and look at this year, there were obviously some games where you guys were right there and then certain games that did not shake out right. Could you put your fingers on a couple of the reasons why there was just some inconsistency in how things played out this year? Vanessa Espinoza: Oh that's a tough question.
Question: Sorry. Vanessa Espinoza: You know at times we played really hard, at times we would have lapses. I don't know really know what it was. I thought we came together as a team very well each game. We improved every game. We just couldn't put the finishing touch on things, whether it was defensive stops, you know, rebounding or whatever. But I felt like this team improved every game, and I'm very proud of this team.
Question: For either of the players. As Jen said, you didn't feel like you maybe played the greatest first 20 minutes, but nonetheless you were down by 3 coming out of the locker room. Did things kind of snowball there in the first 6 minutes of the second half? Sara Hunter: The worst thing was just our turnovers. They came off really hot right at the beginning, and we didn't respond well. So, I think when you get down like that, it's hard to pick yourself back up. That was our biggest fault I think. Vanessa Espinoza: We couldn't get stops. They were on a run. I think that was the biggest thing. Defensively we couldn't get a stop.
Question: Vanessa, Coach Judkins talked to you quite a bit after the game. Was that kind of a thing where that's your last game and he's respecting you for your years? Vanessa Espinoza: You know, we don't really know each other, just from playing against each other. He was asking me about my dad. His dad passed away last year. And he just said, thoughts and prayers are with you, and just congratulating the team and myself on our year. Just very nice.
Question: Just going into next year, obviously losing three seniors. There's some leaderships voids to fill in obviously. How do you view this year personally from your standpoint? And then looking ahead to next year, what are you expecting? Sara Hunter: I know looking on paper, everyone thinks this year was a failure. The three seniors brought so much heart to this team. It was such a pleasure to play with them, and just to learn from Vanessa. She plays every game like it's her last. And you know, every Melissa and Lindsay are the same way. Like you said, it's going to definitely be, you know, a spot that's hard to fill. But I think we have a good class coming in. And, you know, we're just hoping to keep building. I think every year is just going to get better here. And coach said in the locker room, it starts with what these three seniors did this year. I'm so sad. We'll miss you. But we're excited.
Question: Jen, the fact that you guys had some foul trouble issues starting that second half, I'm just wondering was it difficult to come out and maybe defend as hard and be as aggressive as you had to be against a team like because everybody knows the bench is short and it causes so much foul trouble causes so much trouble. I was wondering if you thought that kind of set things into a negative direction? Coach Jen Warden: Yes (laughter). That is difficult. I think in two phases that's difficult for our team. One, obviously your best players have to be thinking about their personal foul trouble because they have to be playing. Second, you don't want to think about what might happen if those players can't play anymore. It's no secret that depth has been an issue for us, and you never want a player to feel like they can't make a play because they've got to stay in a game. You're going to start to unravel at that point. And when you've got two starters, Lindsay and Molly, that obviously have to be thinking that way already in the first half, that doesn't mean good things.
Question: Could you talk about the impact of Ambrosia Anderson for them and what they did to Sara to not let happen what happened in Fort Collins? Coach Jen Warden: Ambrosia is a terrific player, and I really respect Coach Judkins' way with her. It's almost an N BA style of coaching that he has with her because not every shot is the most she's a terrific player, but she has a lot of freedom. And because she has that freedom, she's become the player that she is. Ambrosia wouldn't be nearly as effective if she clearly had to understand what's right and what's wrong for 40 minutes. She just plays the game. It comes to her. She feels it. And there's so much momentum that comes out of her play I think because of that. And honestly, from her coming from where she was as a junior to where she is as a senior, I think in large part the credit belongs to Coach Judkins and his ability to give her so much freedom and confidence. That's really what's made her the player that she is. Sara Hunter, we saw a lot more zone tonight. The zone we saw was an extremely physical zone we were knocked off our tracks on our penetration. And when you're knocked off your tracks on penetration, rarely do you have to draw two defenders, and you have your teammate open. And I think the physicality of their zone and the size of their zone left it a little more difficult than it was in Fort Collins to free Sara up on screening situations. I thought that was a good coaching move by Jeff again, and their ability to stay with that while we had a you know, it's really ironic because that zone essentially opened our middle, and it wasn't necessarily the most high octane offense that we had in the middle of the court at the time. But it silenced Vanessa, it silenced Sara, and silenced Molly. And those players off of quick hits were the ones that really gave us momentum in the first half.
Question: When you look back three or four years from now, when you look back at the season, what are you going to think about? How are you going to assess the season, your first one? Coach Jen Warden: That's a great question. And the first thing that pops into my head is what I told the players in the locker room. We will be a top 25 program. And it started with this year and it started with these seniors. And everything that this program does is going to find its roots with LT and with Diesel and with Vanessa. I know those seniors came into a program that was highly ranked and, you know, dissipated through their years, but I want them to feel that they're going to be part of something again that's going to rise up in the conference and rise up in this part of the country as something they're going to be extremely proud of because as a team we're extremely proud of them.
Question: With that in mind, going into next year, I know this team in its first year obviously instituting a new system and a lot of new things to learn was looking to kind of try and improve after each game. Going into next year, what do you feel like this team needs to accomplish to get to that goal of eventually being again a top 25 program? Coach Jen Warden: You know, I think the whole thing is recruiting and development. And when you look at what Utah as done and what BYU has done and what New Mexico has done, it's recruiting and development. It's ironic that we played BYU because they're a very good example of a lot of things. He coaches an extremely physical game and he recruits extremely physical players. And it takes about three or four years for your personal style to be reflected in the players that are recruited into the program and to build from that. Every time I see one of the top 25 teams in the conference, and the way they move offensively and the way they screen and the way they defend, I look at them and say that's a player that's been doing the same thing for three years. I think in our case it's a Catch 22 in the ESPN world, you want everything right away, and you want to go from a franchise program to the Super Bowl in the first year. But in the college world, it takes recruitment, it takes development, it takes patience, it takes a lot of love. And we're going to cultivate this program and I think this year was the first part of it. |
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