Gail Goestenkors Great Quotations

Mo has always been the tough one on the team and she leads by example with her toughness, but this year she's become a much better communicator with her teammates because she knows we're young and she needs to be very positive with them as well. All of the players have remarked that she's become a great leader for us. She really wanted to become a great leader and now she has the freedom to lead a little bit more than she felt she had in the past.

Early on, we were the aggressor, and I thought we did a great job. But I thought as the game wore on they became a little more comfortable.

We've felt like we've had a great conference for the last two years. It may be the best conference in the country from top to bottom. But until you can back it up and get teams to the Final Four and win the national championship, it's all talk.

Crystal would make a great play, and I would be on the sidelines cheering, 'Yea, Crystal,' and then I would be going, 'Oh, my God,' because I knew I had to play against her for three more years.

I think we're going to have work a lot harder for it. It's going to require us making the very most of all our abilities, because there are so many great teams coming back almost intact. So we'll be different. To me, that's very exciting because we're going to have to be different offensively, different defensively.

It was an exciting game. It was a great game. But it was just one game.

Obviously, we've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. I'm not quite sure why we're turning the ball over more now. I don't think we're seeing any greater pressure than we're seeing all year long. I just think we're not as focused as we need to be and not making great decisions with the basketball.

It's always difficult to beat a team three times. It's extremely difficult to beat a great team three times.

It's the little things (that will decide the game). When you get to this stage, every team is a great team. You're not going to make changes at this point in time, so you have to do the little things very, very well. It's the box-outs, the screens. It's the attack mindset on both ends of the floor. It's the little things that make the big difference.

It's their athleticism. They do a great job with their traps, and you don't see it every day, so it's hard to prepare for. They're the most athletic team in the country, and it's difficult to prepare for that.

That's the great thing about the women's game. The players are very approachable. They haven't been tainted by stardom. They just come to play.

That's the great thing about our team. We have tremendous depth. It depends on the day who is playing well for us.

Overall, I was really pleased and I thought it was a great team effort. Everybody coming off the bench played really well for us and that's important.

It's like playing in the NCAA Tournament. It forces your players to adapt to the time, the distance, the arena and the crowd. It's a great experience.

I'm not quite sure why we're turning the ball over more now. We're not seeing any greater pressure than we've seen all year long. I think we're not quite as focused as we need to be, and we're not making great decisions with the basketball.

You've got to laugh at yourself, or laugh at your team. There's pressure on any team, but you have to make as many great memories as you can along the way.

Parity is a great thing for the sport, but I think we?re still 5-10 years away from reaching the same level. There are more upsets, but only in the early rounds, if you consider those upsets. There?s still a lot we have to do to get to a desirable level, and there are so many things to consider. It?s happening a little bit now, but you?re not going to see everything change all in one tournament.

The chemistry was incredible. It was a great learning experience for me and my staff. (The team) was eager to please, they worked hard. There were no egos.

When we played there a couple of years ago, I was really impressed with their fans because I felt like they were knowledgeable but not out of control. It didn't feel intimidating to me. It just felt like a great basketball game with good, appreciative fans. It was a different feeling than some places you go to.

We knew it was going to be a battle. It was a great team effort. Five players in double figures, and everybody who came off the bench contributed something to win the game.

We knew it was going to be a battle. It was a great team effort.

We knew we were coming up against a strong team with a great tradition. I'm extremely pleased with our effort, especially with our defense in the second half, which I felt was the difference.

At that point, I felt that Maryland was shooting lights out. They were playing great basketball. So I felt like - I was hoping - they wouldn't be able to shoot that way for the entire game. We just needed to crank our defense up a notch.

They're extremely athletic and they do a great job with their traps and presses. They are extremely aggressive and they get out in transition better than anybody in the country. And they are really well balanced. You can't just shut down one person.

She has a great way about her that makes everyone feel comfortable. She has gone about things the right way; she hasn't stepped on anybody's toes. She calls Dawn Staley 'Big D' and calls herself 'Little D.' She fits in perfectly.

They do a great job with their traps. I know we'll be a lot better (in the future) for this game.

They do a great job with their presses, their traps. They're extremely aggressive. They get out in transition probably better than anybody in the country, and they're really well-balanced.

She was much more aggressive with the basketball, and it paid off for her and for us. She still passed up three or four shots that I wish she would have taken. But it's a great start for her, and I hope she can build on that.

She's one of those kids who's good on the ball, and she's really good off the ball, too. She's willing to take a charge, and she does a lot of the little things that go into making a great defensive player.

We just lost to two great teams ... but I think people are looking at our record thinking we're on a downslide. Because Maryland is such a great team, I don't think it should affect our seeding.

It was gradual. They hit shots and continued to gain more confidence. Our defense in the second half was not as good as it was in the first half, and they hit great shots.

I'm not sure if the crowd affected my team. I love a great crowd and so does our team, and I think they really helped Connecticut more than hurt us.

The fact that they are playing with great freedom -- they seem to have a chip on their shoulder while they've been here, talking about respect. I don't think that anyone now could possibly not respect them. It would be interesting to see if they can still say that because, in my mind, they've beaten the No. 1 team (North Carolina) in the country twice so I see them right now as the No. 1 team in the country.

It was a great team effort. That's what I told the team in the locker room -- five players in double figures, and everybody who came off the bench contributed in some way, shape or form. I think this was just a tremendous team effort on our part.

We don't run many plays for her, which is different than in the past. But the grand scheme was to make everybody feel important so that, if and when she had an off night in a big game, her teammates would feel comfortable and confident that we were still going to win because they knew they could score as well. She's been the consummate leader for us in that she's been willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

It was the most ugly win in the history of our program. We felt the pressure a bit. But we did what was necessary . . . We showed great character to finish the job.

They're similar to us in that usually if you take away the outside game, you win. Or if you take away the inside game, you win. But with them and with us, we have great balance and an inside-outside attack.

This was a really good game for us to play. Obviously we like to score in transition, and Auburn did a great job just walking the ball up the court and slowing down the tempo.

When you think about it, we ended the game basically with our starting five from last year. So that's a great luxury to have. That just shows the depth of the team, the experience of the team.