NCAA SELECTION SHOW Tennessee Player Quotes March 16, 2009 Head Coach Pat Summitt: On Being a Five Seed: I felt like we could go east or west. The fact that we re in the west region was not a great surprise because I thought with our seeding they could put us wherever they wanted to put us. Right now, we ll get more information on Ball State and go back to the gym tomorrow and try to get better. We ll put together a game plan on how we want to defend them and attack the rim. It s a team that I haven t seen play, but we do have a lot of tape. I ll be up late tonight watching tape and up early in morning watching. On going to Bowling Green, Kentucky: The Head family is going to be very excited, they re only a little over an hour away. We do have a lot of fans in Nashville and throughout the area and I think that ll be great. I definitely think they ll be there for us. I knew either Chattanooga or Bowling Green would be the two best spots for us in terms of having our fans there and really having people behind us. On the familiarity of the other teams in the region: That s a long way off. Right now, I can t get past Ball State with this young team. It s like I always say, every moment is a teaching moment. We have to have great preparation and I ve got an awesome staff. I have so much confidence in what they bring to the scouting reports. I think for our team, this was good for them, being out here for the selection show and see the whole bracket unfold and understand Tennessee s place in history. Reaction to being a five seed and were you surprised: No, I predicted a six (seed) at first. Then I said, No, they have to give us a five seed. I didn t expect to get a four seed and I wasn t surprised when the seed came up. Do you think the excitement level is up for the team, now knowing who they will be playing? I think they re excited because, finally, we see the selection show and you re part of it. I think it was good for them tonight to be such a part of it because of our history and the expectations of Tennessee. I think they understand now that it s all about business. What is your message to the team now as you head to Bowling Green? It s a 40 minute game and they need to focus every day. I don t want to have to motivate anyone. I think they got enough of that tonight on the screen. I think they have to understand that this is all about taking care of business one game at a time, one possession at a time and the level of intensity that it takes to win in this situation. Any initial thoughts on how the SEC was treated? Awesome. Seven schools in is amazing. We were talking about, just our coaches among ourselves, and I said that I thought we would get at least six and potentially seven schools in. It s great to see Georgia to get in at the end. Reaction to them seeing themselves sitting back and getting yelled at. Now they know what we get to see. (laughing) I don t yell at you guys, c mon. No, it s just who I am. It s who I am and fortunately a lot of players like the intensity and they want to get better. That s why they choose to come here because they want to win championships and that s what this program is all about. The relief of knowing who you ll be playing and figuring out a game plan: You re always anticipating this day and that s why I like to cook. I was in the kitchen all day. I went in for practice and that was it. I was home and that s my safe haven in there. It is a day in which I can get very nervous. I worked out, went to practice, got in the kitchen, took a nap and was ready to go. Is this where Alex Fuller becomes more of an asset? Well, it s why I wanted to point out her leadership. Alex, I know, her knees are about bad as coaches knees, but it s amazing how hard she goes and doesn t give in to the pressure that she s feeling every day. She is all about the team. I think, in terms of great leaders, she is one of the absolute best I ve had in my coaching career; I d put her in the top five.
What can you do to take some of the pressure off the team? I think there are some things to take a little of the pressure off of them. I ll meet with each individually and tell them what s expected. At the same time, tell them that for once in a long time, we re not the top-dog, we re the underdog, and they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by laying it all on the line. TENNESSEE SENIOR FORWARD ALEX FULLER (On Tennessee s NCAA Tournament draw): I think we are all really happy. We didn t know what to expect coming in, but we are really happy with a five seed. We have to focus on Ball State. They will be our main concentration this week. (On helping prepare the freshmen for the NCAA Tournament): Just listening to them during the selection show, they were really excited. We have to get them focused and make sure that they know we have to take it one game at a time. (On earning a No. 5 seed): The committee bases its decision on our performance. I don t know that anybody knew what to expect going into the selection show, so we are very pleased with a five seed. Every team has to win six games to get a national championship. We have to play the cards that we are dealt. (On her feelings about the team going into tournament play): I have a good feeling. I feel like we turned a corner during the SEC Tournament. Although we didn t win, we made strides in becoming the team we know we can be. TENNESSEE SOPHOMORE GUARD/FORWARD ANGIE BJORKLUND (On the team s offensive struggles): You never know. We were hoping to get a five or six seed and that s what happened. I m really excited about our draw and the opportunity to play and be in the tournament. It s definitely one game at a time. We can t look ahead, because you never know what can happen. (On helping prepare the freshmen for the NCAA Tournament): I ve been through it, so we just have to get our freshmen ready mentally and help them understand what to expect because it s a whole new level of play. I think this past week of practice has been great preparation and I think we will continue that and be ready to go this weekend. TENNESSEE FRESHMAN FORWARD AMBER GRAY (On preparing for her first NCAA Tournament): We just have to go in and give it our best. We just have to take it one game at a time. Ball State is up first, so we just have to get in the gym starting tomorrow and get ready for them. Now it s one-and-done. We have no time to make mistakes. We have to bounce back from everything, because if you lose a game, you are out of it. Our mindset is to just get it done. We have to. (On what she has learned during the regular season that will help her in the NCAA Tournament): Just to leave it all on the floor. Coach is always talking to me about my effort and playing with heart and passion. You really have to leave your heart out on the floor and do everything you can to help your team to win, especially in the tournament. TENNESSEE FRESHMAN GUARD ALICIA MANNING (On preparing for her first NCAA Tournament):
I m just happy to be in the tournament. A lot of teams don t get this opportunity, so I m not going to take it for granted. I like the position we have been put in. The mindset is one-and-done. If we lose one more time, our season is over and we want to play as long as we can. (On what she has learned during the regular season that will help her in the NCAA Tournament): Just to never take a possession off. You never know when it is going to be your last game, so you really have to leave it all out on the floor. I never really grasped that until I saw Vicki Baugh come back and tear her ACL again. Knowing someone and being close to someone who has that happen to them, it s heartbreaking. TENNESSEE FRESHMAN GUARD BRIANA BASS (On the team s excitement while watching the selection): We just came in here and wanted to have a good time. I m ready to go out and play. I m just ready to go out. I m anxious. (On playing Ball State): Ball State s from Indiana, but I don t think I know anyone from that team. (On what she s thinking going into her first tournament): I m just ready to get this show on the road. I m ready for us to go out there and make our mark and leave everything on the court. (On whether the team is ready to play its best basketball): We re really prepared. We ve had really good preparation. We ve watched some games, we ve been really focused on what we need to do and keying in on everything. I just think that we ve been preparing and we re ready to go out there and show what we can do. I ve learned that talking to my teammates and asking questions, every little thing matters. Every second counts and we just have to go out there and give it our all. TENNESSEE FRESHMAN GUARD SHEKINNA STRICKLEN (On getting the tournament underway): I m ready to start working for Ball State. I know we ve been practicing against each other so we re really ready to play other people. (On Tennessee s draw): I think we re all happy with our side of the bracket and we feel confident that we can go through it. (On Coach Summitt s comments about players lacking motivation): I was paying attention. I was really listening. We were all paying attention. It was the first time we all got quiet. We really wanted to hear what she had to say. I think learning to have intensity and to play hard on every possession. We just have to play hard every minute for 40 minutes. We have to play a 40-minute game. (On what she s thinking going into the NCAA Tournament): I m really anxious. I want to get ready for Ball State and get out and play them for the first game. TENNESSEE FRESHMAN FORWARD GLORY JOHNSON (On her first NCAA Tournament): I m very excited to play Ball State. We re confident going into it just because we know what we have to do to win. We have a different approach towards the game now.
(On what the team learned from the SEC Tournament): It was good to get our first experience of a one-and-done situation. If you lose a game, you re out which is the same in the NCAA Tournament. Now we know what we have to do going into the tournament and knowing that we can t lose. We have no choice but to win. (On staying close to Knoxville for the first round): We re very excited. No matter what, though, our fans are so supportive that even if we go to Berkeley, I feel confident that they will be there. Our fans are very supportive and we appreciate that. I ve learned how important communication and chemistry are. Our team always has to be on the same page. When we are on the same page, we do better. When we communicate we succeed. We just need to communicate and always talk it up with the team. If something s going wrong we just need to talk to each other. FRESHMAN ALYSSIA BREWER On How She Feels As She Prepares To Play In Her First NCAA Tournament It s definitely exciting, especially just going in there (gathering with the team at Coach Summitt s pool house recreation room) and watching. It s a first-time experience, and I can t wait to do it for the next three years. On Whether She Sees NCAA Tournament Time As The Third Season Within A Season Oh, yeah, definitely, it s been a tale of three parts of our season. We beat some high quality teams at the beginning of the year, but then we kind of went down a little. Then, we started to bring it back up in the SEC Tournament, and we showed a lot of progress and began to put it all together. If we do that in the NCAA Tournament, we re going to be one heck of a team. What Do You Bring To The Table For The NCAA Tournament I think if I just play like I did in the SEC Tournament, then I will help the team out a lot. I know my role on this team, and that s just to help as much as I can. I think all of us can make a good contribution to the team during the NCAA Tournament. REDSHIRT FRESHMAN KELLEY CAIN On Playing In Her First NCAA Tournament After Watching From The Sidelines While Recovering From Surgery In 2008 This year is completely different for me, since last year I just watched. This year I actually get to participate, and I m just pumped. On Whether She Was Excited To Be Playing Somewhere Close Where UT Fans Can More Easily Attend Oh, definitely for the fans, since our fans are so dedicated to traveling with us. It s close to home, so a lot of them may get to come. On Her Expectations For Herself During The Tournament I feel like my role is to be an anchor inside. Pat said it, and my teammates have told me, that s what they want me to do. I m taking it to heart, and I m going to be that and do it for them. I ll definitely get on the boards and just do anything I can to make life on the court easier for my teammates. SOPHOMORE SYDNEY SMALLBONE On How Much Perspective It Adds, Having Played In The NCAA Tournament Before I think just going through it last year - seeing what it takes, the preparation for each game and taking it one game at a time - that s something we need to make sure we tell our freshmen and our newcomers. It is very important to do that, because without playing the game you have that night, you can t advance. Just the overall preparation, focusing on that one game, is very important. On What Has Transpired To Get This Team Ready For The NCAA Tournament I thought that at the SEC Tournament, we showed what we can do when we beat Florida. I think we learned a lot from that and our Auburn game in the tournament. At our practices, we ve been able to build from that, and we re looking forward to playing in the NCAA Tournament.
On What Playing In Bowling Green (Ky.) And Being Within Driving Distance For Fans Means It showed in the SEC Tournament. We were in Arkansas, and we still had a whole bunch of fans there. Just being at this site means a lot to us, because our fans get to watch us play, and we get to play for them. ASSISTANT COACH DAEDRA CHARLES-FURLOW On Her Memories Of Going Through Bowling Green En Route To The 1989 NCAA Title You know what, that was a very good memory. We had a very good basketball cast, with Bridgette Gordon, Sheila Frost, Melissa McCray and Dena Head. I remember we had to play Long Beach State to secure our trip to the Final Four in Tacoma. I remember it was a very, very hard game, and it just brings back chills. I remember when we won - because my grandmother had passed my freshman year, which I didn t play - just falling down and dedicating that game to her and getting to the Final Four. The game, though, was a real dogfight. On Playing At A Site Where Our Fans Can More Easily Travel We have the best fans in the nation. I tell people there are Lady Vol fans everywhere. Even with the economy being the way that it is, this trip is still affordable where they can drive up. Even if they have to go two or three to a car to get to the game, it s going to be really huge and it will really help our kids. It s just good to have people in the stands cheering for you, and I know it s going to be great.