George Washington Press Conference Quotes
March 21, 2008
Head Coach Joe McKeown
(On tomorrow’s game and being selected to the tournament) "First of all, we congratulate the teams that are here. It is interesting that we are playing Auburn in the first round, since we just played them in January, so that is kinda a neat match up that was a little bit unexpected. With that being said, all the brackets are set all the teams are ready. For our team it’s just a great opportunity to keep playing. We have a lot of experience from that stand point, with NCAA tournament for our seniors they played really well in this tournament, haven’t always won every game, but they played well. Last year we got to the final sixteen, lost to North Carolina, so I think there’s a little chip on their shoulder, I know there’s one on mine. I’m just excited about the match up. We have a lot of respect for Auburn. We hit the shot at the buzzer to beat them at Auburn so it was one of those games that could have gone either way. It was a great college basketball game because it went down to the last second. I expect tomorrow to be a great game also."
(On playing Auburn again) "Well I’m not sure there’s any real advantage or disadvantage either way I think its more just familiarity to the teams but we are very familiar with each other we played twice this year, we played them at GW the year before in December so obviously we are familiar with what they do, its just stopping them. One of the things we learned down at Auburn at the game the year before is that Bonner is one of the top players in the country might be one of the top players in the tournament and they have a really solid surrounding cast, but I think like any NCAA tournament for us it’s more about things we are going to try to do, and leaning on our seniors for experience, but it will be a tough match up."
(On changes about Auburn since last meeting) "We’ll Ill tell you the one thing that people have to understand about Auburn, Nell Fortner is a terrific coach. She won the gold medal with our Olympic team, done a terrific job at Auburn, had Purdue in the NCAA tournament, and coached in the WNBA. What I think they’ve done a really god job of is taking their team during the SEC conference and adjusting because they had to change some line ups and everything. I think right now she’s got them playing really well. Like any team that you play in December, early January, teams change, teams evolve. Just like us we are a different team than we were in January, but I think she’s really made some adjustments that I think fit her team really well."
George Washington Guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence:
(On being a senior in the tournament) "Well I think the goal still stands. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, like every team that’s playing. We still have the same goals coming into the tournament, but you can’t look so far ahead. We’re taking one game at a time, we learned that this year. We were kinda over looking games, so we are at a point right now where we are just taking every game for what it is. Looking at Auburn right now seeing what we can do, because we already played them this season, see what we did well, what we can improve on and hopefully come up with a victory."
George Washington Guard Kimberly Beck:
?(On being a senior in the tournament) "NCAA tournament is our last one; this is what it’s all about. ?It’s what we’ve been practicing and playing for all year. So we are happy to be here, we’re going to play Auburn on Saturday, we’ve been practicing hard getting some kinks out to prepare for the game ahead. Taking it one step at a time so Auburn’s the one we’re going to play first, and that’s what were going to do."
George Washington Forward Whitney Allen:
(On being a senior in the tournament)
"This tournament is about having fun and I think if we go out there and play GW basketball and have fun then the rest will be alright, we will accomplish our goal and I think be successful."
