University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes from the NCAA Pregame Press Conferences
March 15, 2002 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2002
Pregame Press Conferences
2002 NCAA Tournament First Round
Midwest Region
Chapel Hill, N.C.
No. 4 seed North Carolina
Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
"We are happy to be in the tournament and happy to be hosting, but we're not satisfied. I think the thing about our team most of all is that we have improved quite a bit as we have moved along this season. We have a lot of young players, five freshmen, Nikki [Teasley] is our only senior and we have progressively improved over the weeks that we have played.
"We are still very hungry and want to keep playing a lot of good basketball. This is a great group and Nikki has done a great job as our senior, leading our team along with the captains. It has been a lot of fun coaching this team this year, one of my most favorite teams to coach. We are just hoping that we can play well and keep playing some good basketball."
Sophomore Candace Sutton:
"I think that everybody is excited. We're just ready to play tomorrow. We have practiced hard the last couple of days and we?re just ready to go out and play."
Senior Nikki Teasley
"As Coach Hatchell said, we are still rising, we are still hungry, we are still peaking. I'm ready to play. It is my last year, and there is no other way to go out but to win an NCAA championship."
Junior Coretta Brown
"It has been awhile since we have played. I think we're just anxious to get back on the court."
(On the key to the game) "I think it starts with defense. I put the pressure on myself. I'm on the ball, so I look at it as I set the tone for the rest of the team."
No. 5 seed Minnesota
Head Coach Brenda Oldfield
"First and foremost obviously we are excited to finally get here. After a long hard flight yesterday and the weather, it is great to be down here in sunny North Carolina and we are just really looking forward to it. We really feel our season has really helped prepare us, to get us to this point.
"Our team is definitely ready to go. They're energetic and focused. They're having a lot of fun. They're enjoying it and they should--it's a dream of a lifetime and only 64 teams get the opportunity to be a part of the NCAA Tournament. It's something they'll always remember. We still know that we're not here just to have a ton of fun. We're here to do what we've set our mind to."
Sophomore Lindsay Whalen
"We are all just really excited being down here seeing all the NCAA stuff and having fun, as well as getting prepared for the game. We want to just take in the experience, because it is something that a lot of use have been dreaming about since we were seventh, eight grade. To be here is just exciting and we're ready to get things started."
Freshman Janel McCarville
"Everyone is just all-around excited and anxious to get on the court to play, just even to practice. Hopefully we will have some fun."
No. 12 Seed UNLV
Head Coach Regina Miller
"This is something that has been a goal of ours all year, to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Now that we are here, we reassess that goal and obviously our goal is to win games in the NCAA Tournament.
"It has been a lot of hard work. We've fought through quite a lot of adversity and I think the sign of success and a great team is when you can capitalize on adversity and still be successful. I think that overall we have had a tremendous season, the most wins at UNLV in the past eight years, and these two players sitting to my left [Frohlich and Jinks] have been the leaders as far as directing the team to this point in the year."
Junior Constance Jinks
On the team's focus after receiving an NCAA bid) "As soon as we stepped on the court for practice our focus was there because we know that even though we have not played Minnesota and we know nothing about them, we feel like we can come out and play and do our best. You can?t joke around with a team like Minnesota. So our focus was there for the first day of practice when we stepped on the court."
Senior Linda Frohlich
"We definitely learned something from our Mountain West Tournament with the loss versus BYU."
No. 13 seed Harvard
Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith
"This is probably over-used, but we are very excited to be here, mainly because this is basketball territory, probably the finest area of the country as far as basketball. So it is fun for us to come to a place like North Carolina that has the tradition in both men's and women's basketball. We were thrilled with the draw because of that."
(On Ivy League Player of the Year Hana Peljto): "Hana came to Harvard with a passion for basketball and a work ethic that is on the top of the list of any student-athlete I have ever coached. She does not have a bad day in a game she does not have a bad day in practice. There is no aspect of the game that she doe not gives a 150 percent."
Senior Jennifer Monti
"This is the first trip (to the NCAA Tournament) for anyone on our team. I'm a senior so this is sort of the last shot. This is a nice way to finish up, and to be down here is perfect."
Sophomore Hana Peljto
"We're very, very excited to be here. It is the first time for everyone and we're in a different the atmosphere now, playing someone who's so much higher (seeded) than us. We have not played anyone like that in awhile."
