Gail Goestenkors Quotations

When you turn the ball over, they're going to make you pay for it. Let me put it that way. Against some teams you can get away with turning the ball over 23 times. Carolina, if you turn it over 23 times, they're probably going to make you pay on at least half of them and convert them into easy shots. We just didn't make good decisions with the basketball.

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.

Years ago, players were willing to come in and sit on the bench for one or two years and work their way into the lineup. And now so many players come in and they want to start right away. They definitely want to make an impact right away. When you have 15 available scholarships it's not possible to have 15 players playing major minutes right away.

Throughout the game, we had a lot of hustle plays, no matter what the score was. We got on the floor all night long, and that's what need to do.

We knew win or lose, it was just one game. It doesn't change anything. It was an opportunity to find out how good we were. Today, we were pretty good.

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.

We've watched enough tapes of them to recognize they are scrappy.

We've been in this environment several times. Now we use it to our advantage. We fed off the crowd, and the crowd fed off us.

She's so unassuming, she doesn't need to be a star.

She understands when we need to push and when we need to pull back and set up our offense and who needs the ball in which situation. She's changed our look tremendously on both ends of the floor.

She takes such pride in her defense, and I could see the frustration on her face. I told her she was going to be fine, and she was. She changed the game for us. She was the difference.

She was very efficient with her minutes. She played 19 minutes and had 20 points. Part of it, I think, is that she is able to stay fresh.

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.

She's one of the most dynamic players in the country. She's that team's heart and soul.

She's just such a mentally and physically tough kid. I think especially this time of year, that's what you need.

She competes very hard. There's an aggressiveness about her that, beyond her passing and scoring ability, is something you just can't teach.

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.

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.

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.

Obviously we've been on the road. We read the papers. But when you come back from winning a regional and a trip to the Final Four, and the headline is not actually about your team, it's about another team, it makes it a little tough.

Monique showed why she's the best player in the ACC and one of the best players in the nation. She's a big-time player.

Monique showed why she's the best player in the ACC and one of, if not the best player in the nation. When it comes crunch time and we need her, she's a gamer and she wants the ball in her hands.

Now you're forced to be ready to play every night.

I didn't want them to just grow as basketball players. I wanted them to grow as people as well.

I don't feel that strain or stress or pressure (of being a No. 1 seed). I feel more relaxed this year than I have any other year, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the makeup of this team.

I don't know, we may see them again, we may not see them again. If nothing else it has help to prepare us for any other team that we may see who is extremely athletic and likes to press.

I feel good about where we are right now and about who plays well together, ... We're still in the process of learning who we are, but we have a much better feel for it now than when we started.

Give Virginia Tech a lot of credit. I thought they played really hard, strong and physical. We knew they never give up. They showed a lot of character.

This was one of our best defensive efforts, really of the year.

We took two real quick shots in a row, and on both occasions they came down and scored. They took the wind out of our sails a little bit.

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.

I was just a little worried about fatigue and playing this 11 a.m. game. I was really proud of the team. I thought it took us a little while to get going, but once we hit our stride, I thought we had a nice inside-outside game going.

I wouldn't say it's an easy fix. I think it's a mentality. Once again, I feel like we have to become mentally tougher.

It can be good or bad. Sometimes you're emotionally drained because you had such a feeling of euphoria coming off a big win. But sometimes it gives you more energy or more confidence.

I think it's much more difficult to keep players happy nowadays. We live in what I call a fast-food society, where we all want immediate gratification. We want what we want and we want it now.

I thoroughly enjoy watching them play. We have a tough test on our hands, one I'm looking forward to playing.

I thought they played an excellent game. I know they've been struggling with their rebounding, and I think they took it out on us today.

I thought we came out a little slow. We didn't have the focus that we normally have.

I think we ran out of gas with just eight players. We need to use depth to our advantage.

I think we were very anxious to play. I can attribute some of that to the turnovers that we had, which is unacceptable. We understand we can't allow that to happen any more.

I think we're very comfortable with (the rotation) now and I think our players are becoming much more efficient. (Currie) was just very efficient with her minutes and I think part of it is because she's able to stay fresh. And I think we wear people down that way as well.

I think we've gotten back to playing the way we want to play, and that's hard, aggressive defense.

I think both teams take pride in their defense.

I think being able to get to the Final Four four times is pretty nice. I feel very good about it. I know our team is going to be successful throughout my career so I don't feel the pressure of trying to win another game or win two more games. I know that we can.

I think it was their pressure. And that's not just your point guard, it was all of us. They're extremely aggressive and very physical, and I don't think we responded to their physical play very well.

I think it was good for us mentally. We haven't blown a team out in a while, and I think it was good for our confidence.

I think it was good for us mentally. We haven't blown a team out in a while. ... Confidence is sometimes such a fleeting thing. Honestly, this game was probably better for us mentally than physically other than to get the rust off.

I think it's quality depth. A lot of teams have a lot of players, but our bench is productive, probably as productive as any team in the country.

I think this is the most beautiful ugly win we've had in the history of our program.

I think we all need to do a better job of bidding to have sites. Carolina was fortunate to have a home site last year, as was Maryland. I think every year, year in and year out, we need to be bidding.

I think that was the probably the most beautiful ugly win we've ever had in the history of our program. It was not pretty by any means. It was a war out there. It was a battle. They made us work and we did the same to them, as well.

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.

I think sometimes, when we hit our buckets and get some stops defensively, all of the sudden you look up and you're up by 10. We can be kind of methodical. When something's working for us, we keep going to it.

Our focus around practices have been the best of the season for two weeks straight. It's been kind of nice.

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.

Our bench is pretty productive. We have quality depth. I feel our bench is as productive as any in the country.

Other than Cameron it has been our second favorite place to play. The fans do such a tremendous job. It's a wonderful atmosphere - one we always cherish.

Players want to win championships. They want to win conference championships, they want to win a tournament championship. .. Players want to be able to cut down nets -- it doesn't matter what the nets are, they want to cut down nets.

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.

I think Ivory really stretches out defenses. She takes over five 3-pointers a game. Lindsey takes a little over one. I think that's probably the biggest difference is that Ivory looks for that 3-point shot and forces the defenses to really stretch when she does that.

I thought it would go down to the wire, so I guess that's what I was most surprised about. We were able to wear them down a little bit. Every game we go into we think our bench is going to be a difference.

I think this was probably really good for us. They say almost every tournament, there's always one game where you don't play well and you've got to find a way to win. Hopefully this was our one game.

That was the most beautiful ugly win we've ever had. We're just elated to be going back to the Final Four.

That was probably the most beautiful ugly win we've had in the history of our program. Connecticut did a fantastic job. It was a war out there. They made us work for everything.

That was not a good situation for us. Lindsey runs the show for us.

That was a really good start for us. Now we know it gets much more difficult from here on out. We'll prepare for that. ... We're not kidding ourselves; we know that's not going to happen again.

I would love to have Alana for the rest of my life. I think I was just very fortunate to have her for four years. When you have someone that special to get to spend four years with, while helping them learn and grow, it is special. It was her time to go and it's someone else's time to shine. I don't think it's one person in particular but maybe just this team in general.

Most definitely. They run it every game, and since they had success against us at the end of the game, we'll probably see it a little sooner in this game.

We haven't talked about being undefeated. We can't really worry about the big picture now. We're so focused on the next game at hand.

We really tried to get a game with Michigan State. We wanted to have a home-and-away (series), but the dates would just not work. Hopefully we'll get a home-and-away scheduled later on because I really want to get back to Michigan and bring my team with me.

We really started to get after them. Once we became more aggressive and intense, that's when we started to score more points.

We have spurts of greatness. The way we started the second half is the way I'd like to see us play for 40 minutes.

Those are two very emotional games for us, big rivals for us.

We were in the locker room and we turned the TV off. It didn't really matter to us who won. They're both excellent teams. We have lost to both of them the last time out.

We were a little over anxious to play. We shot the ball well when we got shots off, but to turn it over 31 times, I don't think I've ever seen that from this team. I'm disappointed by that.

We're excited to still be playing. This was one of our best defensive efforts of the year and I can't say enough about the effort they put forth.

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.

We knew we had to lock down in the second half, and we really did. I thought that was the difference.

We were really trying to get a game with Michigan State this year. Both schools worked really hard to make this happen. Both schools wanted a home-and-home. The dates just didn't work out. I'm happy to be playing Michigan State. I wish it was in the state of Michigan.

We just weren't playing with the effort, the intensity, the desire, the passion that I think we're known for and that we've come to expect from our basketball team.

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.

When she's blocking shots, I think it's extremely intimidating to the opponent, and it also changes shots and that gets the transition game going. She gets the ball out quickly.

We wanted to attack the baseline. They were in a 2-3 or 3-2. A lot of the time they were in the 3-2 and we knew the baseline was open. We had our shooters go to the baseline, and our guards did a good job skipping the ball to the baseline.

We wanted to attack the baseline, because when they run a 3-2 zone, we know the baseline and high post are the weaknesses of that zone. And our guards did a good job of penetrating.

We've had the best conference, but until you back it up, win a national championship, it's all talk. Now, we've shown people.

This team has always played together well. They've always been unselfish. It starts with the senior leadership. They could take 20 shots a game but they don't, and they make sure everyone gets involved.

This was by far the most physical game, and you can't just turn it on in one game.

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.

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 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.

We don't run many plays for her at all, which is different than we had in the past. But the grand scheme was to make everybody feel important. So her minutes have gone down, her shots have gone down, her productivity per minute has gone up.

We just see it as three games. It's it's own entity. That's our only focus.

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.

We were ready to play from the word 'go'. I was very pleased with our start. I was a little anxious to see how we'd come out and if we'd be a little off our rhythm, and we weren't. We were ready.

We certainly needed her. She set the tone for us.

We feel like we have a really deep team. Every game everybody that can play usually gets an opportunity to play. I think we came ready mentally and physically to and getting out to that quick lead (17-2) kind of set the tone.

We like to play an up-tempo game. It's an exciting brand of basketball, and our players enjoy playing it.

Everyone wants parity. They want what?s best for women?s basketball. But everyone still wants what?s best for their program.