They're going to be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament. They're built for the long haul. |
They're solid everywhere. No one is going to say they're great at anything, but they're good at every phase of the game. They have a system that works. |
This is an amazing place with amazing fans. For them to do what they did tonight, there's no way I can repay that. |
This team has to put everything we've got into Wednesday. The game ends, and you somehow flush it win or lose, and turn around and put it all into Oklahoma State (on Saturday). I don't know how we'll handle success or lack thereof over a 16-game haul. |
This time of year, the aesthetics of the game don't really matter to me. We won the game a number of times, we lost the game a number of times. We made the plays when we had to. |
This was as good of a team effort as we've had in a long time. I'm very proud of them. This is not going to go down in history as an earth-shaking, dramatic top 10 win for Iowa State women's basketball, but I don't think you can tell the kids that and I don't think you can tell the coaches that. It was special. |
Tiffany Jackson is a great, great player but if you would have said in the last 10 minutes who was the all-conference player, I think it was Brittany Wilkins. |
To the players' credit, they didn't panic. That's not about coaching or game planning. It's about the people you have. We'll build off of this. |
Turnovers were the biggest factor in the game. We're not a great ball-handling team. |
We always want to do what is best for our fans, and I know a number of them want to see the national championship game. I hope this allows them to come support us in our Big 12 opener against an outstanding Oklahoma team and also see the football game. |
We challenged Heather pretty hard in practice the other day, and to her credit she stepped in and made some huge shots. |
We felt that was the way we had to play them. That's how we got back in the game at Kansas, playing a switching man, and that made them believe this is a good way to play. |
We got a little Irish luck early. |
We guarded hard enough in the first half to be in the game. The kids sensed that Britt was hot and we kept giving her the ball. And we just kept guarding like crazy. |
We had a great meeting, and she just wants to be closer to home and feels she could be a better fit somewhere else. I appreciate what she did in her time here and how she handled herself while at Iowa State. |