University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina Press Conference Quotes
March 19, 2005 | Women's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS CONFERENCE
MARCH 19, 2005
University of North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement:
"It's great to be hosting in this great basketball environment. We're excited about hosting a lot of great teams here. It's been so exciting watching T.V. today and yesterday with the men's games, and now the women's games have started. I was just thinking this morning that these are probably the best days of the year. These days are like Christmas. A lot of people say they go into depression after basketball season is over, but this is what you want. This is what you live for if you're a coach or a player, like these kids. Again, welcome to all the teams here. It's going to be some great basketball and we're just excited that we have the opportunity to play."
Sophomore Guard Ivory Latta
Opening Statement:
"I'm excited to be playing at home, especially in the Dean Smith Center. I think our team is prepared for the game tomorrow and I know we're going to go out there and play hard and know we're playing against a good team. We'll have our fans behind us and that's even better. I'm just ready to play basketball."
Senior Forward/Guard Nikita Bell
Opening Statement:
"I'm just like Ivory and Coach when she said it was like Christmas. When it's Christmas you can't sleep the night before and I've been like that for the entire week. I'm so excited - let's get this show on the road and lets play. I feel like we're very well prepared and we're going to play hard tomorrow."
Have you talked about the experience the team had last year losing in the first round of the tournament while preparing for this year?
Coach Hatchell: "We haven't talked about it and I don't really need to. I'm sure that the players remember that and that's probably going to be a lot of motivation for us. They know that every team is good and that every team's seed doesn't really matter, like with Kansas and Syracuse yesterday in the men's tournament. We just have to go out there and get the job done. Our kids are ready to play. It's been almost two weeks since we've played a game so they're anxious to get back out there and play the game."
Is there any kind of advantage to playing a team that has never been to the tournament before?
Coach Hatchell: "I think you can look at it in two different ways. First of all, if you've never been there before you don't really know what to expect and the anticipation and anxiety or whatever, it could be that's not there. I think it's just a new experience like a new piece of candy or something like that. Sometimes a team coming in can just be real loose and just really give it all they've got and play the best game they've ever played. It could be that way, and then sometimes experience can make a difference. Whenever you've been there and done that, you know what to expect. Sometimes experience can make a difference, but I think it can go either way. I just think that each game is a new game and a different game and you've got to go out there and you've got to do it or it's over. So you've got to play that game with a sense of urgency."
What types of things have you been doing in the past two weeks to make up for not being able to actually play?
Coach Hatchell: "In practices we've done a lot of four minute games. We call them game situations or time score situations, just simulating games. We did that Thursday in our practice and it was pretty much like we were playing a game. I think that will help us."
