Barbara Turner Quotations

We're more concerned about ourselves and how we prepare to play in the game. If we come in with the right mindset, know what we want to do in the game, then I think we'll be fine.

When we came in as freshmen, we thought we were going to start every game together. It's fitting. It closes out our careers really well here at Connecticut.

Usually in the tournament, it's about what team is hot, and (West Virginia is) really hot right now. We have to treat it as if we were playing Rutgers, who was the No. 1 seed; we know that. And that's what we're going to try to focus on tonight and get ready for tomorrow.

Throughout the game we tried to concentrate on keeping our composure. We knew they had a run in them, they are a great offensive team. It was just a matter of us not making mistakes we made before.

We want to come out and knock the team out right away and not think they have a chance to win the game. He was saying that was something that we struggled with against West Virginia, that we let them stay in the game and they gained more and more confidence as the game went along.

Many people may use the excuse that we're small, but rebounding is effort. It has nothing to do with your size. It's how badly you want the ball. From that aspect, that's the only thing we didn't do right.

Many people will use the excuse that we are small, but rebounding is effort. It is how much you want the ball and has nothing to do with how big you are.

She?s one of the better post players in the country. I think she?s underrated. I don?t think a lot of people talk about her enough.

She so dominating. When she's not out there, you want to work harder to get better for when she comes back.

She's definitely the right kind of kid to handle that pressure. She has the confidence; she has the swagger. She has everything and she's been playing really well. She has the momentum right now, so I'm more than confident that she's going to be capable of helping carry us through this NCAA tournament. I have no questions about it.

She has her mind in the right place right now. She just understands what she needs to do to help our team. She understands that she's going to have to defend the best post player. She's going to have to grit and get rebounds and just throw her body all over the place. I don't know too many people in her position that would be willing to do that.

She had that confidence that when she caught it, she was going to knock it in. I think our ball movement in the second half got her a lot of open looks. And tonight she had the hot hand, which pretty much carried us through the second half.

She left it all out there. I'm really proud of her for that. I'm proud of our group, for the way we went out and played.

She just had that confidence that when she caught it, she was going to knock it in. Tonight, she had that hot hand, and it pretty much carried us through the second half.

Me and Ann just came in and said the obvious things. We have to take more pride in boxing out. We have to take more pride in knowing who we are guarding and rotating on defense. We have to know what we are doing out there, and in that first half we didn't look like it at all.

Obviously, we need her a lot. Obviously, if we had her the other night we would have won. That's just the reality of it. There's no other way to say. Obviously, we need her a lot.

Obviously, we feel better going into the postseason. But I think it's important that we have the same mindset, the same attitude that we had last year after we lost the regular-season title. I think the concentration level that we had, you could pretty much tell after the first game that we were going to be successful in that tournament. It had that feeling to it. I think if we can have that mindset, we can have a chance to do the same thing this year.

Never in my basketball career have I had the opportunity that I just had with the ball in my hands, with the game on the line and to be able to make the shot. There is no better feeling in the world.

Obviously, it's a decision that Coach made and it's something that she's just going to have to continue to have to work through. If she's able to overcome this and show her talents and show what she's capable of and prove herself, then that's going to say a lot about her. And I think she will.

Obviously that's what we set out to do after we lost the regular season. That's what has carried us through this. We just have to have the same thing going into tomorrow.

Obviously, that's something that has been in the back of our minds. There is no resentment toward Diana at all. She was an unbelievable pioneer in women's basketball. We also want to leave our legacy with a successful career. It wouldn't end any better way than us being in Boston at the Final Four and winning the national championship.

Obviously that is what you want to do here, because Connecticut has a great tradition and a great history over the last 15 years. You are defending that every day when you step out on the practice court or step out there for a game. We all try to work toward getting it back and defending it. That is what we try to do.

I was talking to Ann (Strother) on the bench in the second half, and we were just really happy with her finally being able to come out and just play the way we know Nicole can play. She was real poised, knocking in shots, making the right passes, and defensively she was solid.

If we get to the Final Four (April 2-4 in Boston), we will have concluded our four-year stretch very well.

Basically the same thing that coach told me all the time, tired is a state of mind. If you allow yourself to become tired, your mind becomes tired and you don't focus as much as you need to.

I had it in the back of my mind before it started to do everything in my power to contain her.

I don't think we understood that last year, but this year we've gotten better at understanding that we need to pull the next generation along. Next year, they're not going to have any seniors. They have to be ready to do the same things we're doing. Then they'll understand why we're always on them. When it's their turn, they'll be ready.

He is doing a good job of sticking with us no matter what we are going through and no matter if we are playing bizarre and throwing the ball all over the floor. He is there to let us know we are going to win this game.

Here, it's more that you have everybody supporting you. Everybody's going to be there. Your teammates, your coaches, your academic advisers, everybody is doing things to help you, and when you get at the professional level you have to do everything to help yourself.

He just felt like it was our time to do that and that's the way we acted the last minute and a half. We didn't have any timeouts, any time to set up anything, so that was all on us.

I would say (it's a must-win). You don't ever want to put a game in that situation, but realistically we need to come out with a big victory in order to keep ourselves in that elite class with the top teams in the country. So far we've looked really bad and then we came close. Now it's time to jump over that hump and get a win.

I think it had to be a little frustrating for them. But you have to give us some credit, too. We did a good job on defense, especially down the stretch. It was a tough shooting night for both of us. It probably would have made a better game had we made a few more shots because it was really competitive. It just came down to who made the plays when they needed to make them. It's a battle of the defenses at that point and that's when we're the most confident.

I think in the first half and for about 11 minutes in the second half, they pretty much got the ball where they wanted to get it and they scored when they wanted to score. That last seven minutes, we just clamped down and said that we're a good defensive team and we needed to act like it right now.

I think it's gone to us having some success and knowing we can get a lot of things done to everybody wanting to do it right away instead of just letting things go in the flow like it was when we were doing well. I think that's just the biggest thing right now ? we're so in a hurry to do things that it's not turning out well.

I think we lost focus. I think that's the biggest thing. Any time where you go through a stretch where you're getting every shot you want to get, you're making every play, you're getting rebounds on the defensive end ... you're going to have moments where you're going to struggle. I think we let those moments carry over a little bit too long, especially in the second half after that 18-point lead.

I think we learned that when it comes down to it, if we can make big shots offensively we?re going to put ourselves in a position to win because we?re going to get things done defensively. I think that?s the biggest thing we can take from this tournament ? and I think that?s the best part about this tournament ? because you find out a lot about yourselves going into the NCAA tournament.

I think a lot of people questioned what position I would play in this league. With some reason, they should have. But considering the way I played in the combine and how much I showed those guys, I was comfortable and relaxed at the perimeter position. I think that gave them some confidence to give me the opportunity to get picked in the first round.

I think it's real important (to win the championship) because we haven't had a year in our career where we've won both. So I think that's something that we've talked about also as being part of being a part of our legacy to be able to say that we won both regular season and tournament championships. So that's something we also have in the back of our minds going into (tonight) and hopefully we can carry that attitude onto the floor.

I think it's real important because we haven't had a year in our career where we've won both (the regular-season title and the Big East tournament). We've always won one or the other. So I think that's something that we've talked about also as being part of being apart of our legacy to be able to say that we won both regular season and tournament championships.

I think that shows a lot about us and a lot about our character because we easily could have just let this go just like we did the other night. But we didn't. The two 3s by Ann and Mel were the back-breakers and that's what Coach is looking for. He's looking for who's going to have the guts to step up and take those shots. And those two guys did it and that was the best thing that we could have taken out of this game.

It is just a matter of putting points on the board. That is something we have been really, really working on the last three days. I think we have gotten a lot better at it already. I am not saying we are the Chicago Bulls or anything, but we have gotten a lot better over the last couple days. It is still a work in progress.

It is an honor. I guess they recognized what I have been trying to do to help the team. Over the last couple of games, it just so happens that I have been in a rhythm offensively. I have been able to get a lot done, but it has just been in the flow. It hasn't been out of the ordinary.

Our guards did a good job of moving the ball up the floor in transition, and I just tried to focus on running the break every time. I noticed that helps us out a lot when we get out in transition. That?s when we?re at our best, so it?s just something that (assistant coach Chris Dailey) told me to focus on a lot, I tried to do it every single possession down the court.

Over a long stretch, I would have to admit this is the best I've played. It definitely has to do with my mindset. I really want it bad.

Renee had her head screwed on straight these last couple of games and I think that's really important going into the NCAA tournament. I know as a freshman, I started to hit my peak going into the NCAA tournament and it gave me a great amount of confidence going into it. Hopefully she can keep this momentum. We're really going to need her down there on Monday to have her composure like she's been having these last few games.

Our offense just clicked. We ran everything that he wanted us to run, set every screen he wanted us to set and got every open shot we wanted to get.

Some of them were bizarre. A lot of them in the first half, they weren't even putting pressure on us. It was just us making mental mistakes. So we definitely have to try to avoid those, especially on the road against good teams because those could hurt us down the stretch.

I think Renee is going to be the leader of this team. I think she could be the next person that everybody's talking about as the big name for Connecticut. I think her future is very bright. She's going to lead this team and they're going to be very good next year.

It doesn't feel like it's Senior Night. I guess it will probably hit me around 7 o'clock. Of course, we will have emotions before the game. It will be sad. But we have to make sure we don't have those same sad emotions and crying after the game because we lost. We want to go out with a win.

I think I can lean more toward basketball. But, obviously, I'm going to go ahead and finish the one class because it would just be stupid if I didn't.

I think this whole road trip has pretty much built character on our team. It?s brought us close together. It let us know that given tough situations, we know what we need to do in order to win. We know how to win, whereas before I don?t know if we would have been able to do that.

I'm so excited to come to Seattle and play on a championship contender. I know the expectations will be very high and I can't wait to get there and get to work.

I'm so excited to come to Seattle and play on a championship contender.

That was the turning point. We struggled a little bit offensively, but the main thing was that we started to stop them defensively. That last seven minutes we just clamped down and said that we're a good defensive team and we need to act like it.

That was the turning point of the game. We didn't give up a basket and we didn't foul them and put them on the free throw line. I think that right there pretty much closed the game out.

That whole Connecticut thing is tough. It's a tough situation. We're off the radar. Like nobody's really talking about us, but they are. So no matter what, Connecticut's always going to come out of somebody's mouth whether it's negative, positive. It's been tougher this year than any year for me. It's something that we've done a really good job of fighting through, and I think that's why we are in the position we're in right now.

That's the shot that you have to make, and that's the shot that you have to have the guts to take. For her to do that, that just gave us confidence for the rest of the game.

That's what I knew when I was being recruited. Just her impact on women's basketball ... it's something you will always have to appreciate, even though you weren't a part of it.

I was out there competing just as hard as I could, working without my legs. I tried to go until I couldn't go any more.

I wasn't concerned about my career at the end of the game. I was concerned about trying to help my team win. My career never crossed my mind until the final buzzer rang. I guess we just have to accept it and look back and see all the great things that happened this season. I am sure it will take a little while to do that, but when we do, we will be able to look back and smile at the end.

Wherever we're at, we're at. At this time of year, we just need to focus on what we need to do to prepare ourselves for this tournament. That's what we've done best the past three days. Just focus on ourselves.

We have to take care of the ball better. I think in spurts we did a poor job of taking care of the basketball and they weren't even pressuring us. Sometimes we just play so fast that we make mistakes that we don't mean to make. I think we need to limit the amount of times that we do that because they have some great players on offense and they're going to get things done. We have to be just as efficient on offense as they are.

You always want your team to play well no matter what you do. I have put together some good games, but I still don't think it's enough, because I haven't been able to pull my team along as much as I would have liked to.

We have a Hall of Fame coach so I guess that goes along with it. Thirty wins in 11 out of 13 years ... those are Hall of Fame numbers.

We've had games where we've been close (to being complete). We've had games where we've not been anywhere near on the same planet. But it's just a matter of us really, really concentrating. And when we do we look so good. We can have six possessions in a row where we look like the best team in the country. And then we'll go through these stretches where it's like, 'Man, what are we doing out there?' And that's what it felt like (Wednesday).

We can't let this completely devastate us. It hurts. Don't get me wrong. But we have to accept it for what it is and move forward from it. And I'm sure Coach is going to make adjustments. He was real adamant about that. He was real adamant about saying that he was going to change some things that happened in this game to prepare us for when we play them again.

We needed it; we talked about it. Obviously we don't feel like we won a national championship, but to be able to beat a top-five team, finally, and to get over that hump is a really good feeling.

We need to win this game to put ourselves in first place, alone. I think that?s the most important thing that we need to get out of this game, not that we have anything to prove or anything like that. We just need to put ourselves in position to be in first place.

We know (Virginia Tech), but we don't. We have played against them in the past, but they have changed a lot. They have a new coach and they run a new offense. We have changed a lot, too.

We were in the situation where we had this game won. And we let it slip away.

To me, they are pushing us into a program that first of all we don't fully understand, and second of all those that do understand, don't want to accept.

We were all depressed, we just wanted to go home.

We want to be remembered as a class that came in and lived up to expectations. We had a lot of expectations coming in. I guess we were one of the top classes in the nation when we came in and we just want to leave that way.

We shoot for it and I kind of think it just happens. We don?t even look at winning streaks or anything like that. We just look at game by game and the next thing you know we look up and there?s another 30-win season. It?s kind of weird.

We learned that when we're in the huddle, we really have to pay attention to detail and make sure that we understand exactly what we're trying to do. I think that's the most important thing. At the beginning of the half, we didn't run the right offense every possession. In a game like this, all that stuff matters.

This road trip built a lot of character. It let us know that given tough situations we know what we need to do in order to win. We know how to win. Whereas before I don't know if we would have been able to do that. We probably would have panicked a little bit, played too fast and probably fell apart when they made their run. So the fact that we were able to do it was just a good ending to this trip.

We knew that they were a good team, I don?t think we underestimated them at all. It was just a fight. We?re not going to win every game by 30, and tonight was a great example of that. This game just lets us know that Monday, we?re going into a battle, and we?re going to have to be ready to fight and make all the plays that we need in order to win.

We knew it would be tough. There's no better feeling in the world than to be able to win a championship.

We're not into moral victories. Almost isn't enough. We would have loved to win this game. It's very unfortunate that we weren't able to. I guess it will take a couple of days for us to look back and see some of the things we did in spite all of the negative things that were said about our team.

We think the police should have some type of reprimand for shooting an unarmed mental person. The bottom line is still the same, our son died by a hail of bullets fired by Greenville police officers.

We just have to move forward. It does hurt really bad though.

When she came in the locker room, that was the first time I've ever seen her show a lot of emotion. She was very, very emotional. She was just more responsive than she's been before. And she understood that a lot of the responsibility was on her. So you could tell that it hurt her and it really, really bothered her that we didn't win that game.

We've been on the road throughout my career with sell-out crowds against really good teams. When you're in a situation like that, you have to know how to help your team win.

We see it a lot better. Over the past couple of days, that's been the focus. I think we've gotten better at it already. Not that we're the Chicago Bulls, but we've gotten a lot better since the Big East tournament. Everyone is contributing more, whether it's a hard cut or the right screen, it's a collection of everything.

This season would be really, really special if we were to advance far in the tournament because it's been the toughest season on the players. A lot of these younger guys are experiencing stuff they've never experienced before with all of the pressure and all of the talk about us not being able to play together in the Connecticut basketball sense. It would be very, very gratifying to go far in the tournament. I think that's something that we're trying to feed off of and we're trying to use that to help us play.

Ups and downs, positives and negatives, wouldn't trade it for the world.

This week is all about mental toughness. Whichever team is more mentally tough in three games over three days is going to be the winner. That is really the biggest thing we have been focusing on.

This week is all about mental toughness. If we can eliminate those stretches where we go five or six minutes without a field goal, we'll be in position to win. At times, we're really explosive. It's just a matter of concentrating on doing the little things.

This team is one of the top teams in the league already. The younger players can just come in and fill a role and raise the level to where it needs to be to get back to being a championship team.

This was very close. I'm sure the fans kind of felt like it was Connecticut basketball all over again. And there's no better feeling in the world to be able to get one game like that.

We knew how tough they were at home, we know how good of a team they were. We knew that we were going to have to respond to big runs by those guys because they do a good job of putting points on the board.

We knew how tough they were at home, we knew how good of a team they were. We knew we were going to have to respond. It seemed like every time we needed to make a play or make a shot or get a defensive stop, we were able to do it.

We knew coming in this season that we had a lot of different people who could score a lot of points. It was just a matter of getting into an offensive rhythm and getting people in positions where they're effective.

We kind of have a routine going and it's actually worked out pretty well for us.

We just knew that everything clicked right. We knew that we got the right shots and we did everything we wanted to do in our offense. Any time you have that feeling, there really is no need to look at the box score.

You have to give Coach credit because he trusted her in that situation. I think that gave her confidence, and she has built on that. She?s been practicing really well.

We just lost our composure. I give them credit. They played hard, but mostly it was us playing too fast. We went on a run at the beginning, but then they started to press and we lost our minds.

Very rarely, since I've been at Connecticut, have we had somebody that we expected to be good just go off on us and get 30. We've done a good job of that. That's us taking pride in not letting someone go out and dominate us.

Very rarely since I have been at Connecticut have we had someone who we expected to be good go off on us and get 30 points. For the most part the person that is supposed to get a lot of points, usually doesn't get it against us. I think that is just taking pride in not allowing somebody to just go out and dominate us.

We didn't make plays prior to that for us to win the game, so that's what it all comes down to. It doesn't come down to the last play.