George Washington University Athletics
Quotable: @GW_WBB on Selection Monday
3/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis
On what it's like to see your name on the screen:
"I don't think that you ever don't get goosebumps. I've been fortunate enough obviously the second year in a row to go, and to go through it nine times at Notre Dame, it's such a special moment for the kids. It's something where each year only 64 teams get a chance to extend their season and I think for this group, with 13 of our players back (from last year), we're about to go through things that really aren't a first-time experience. So we're really excited. I don't know a lot about Kansas State; I know they're really, really well-coached. Coach (Jeff) Mittie is in his second year there after a tremendous run at TCU and we're excited to get our fans there. That was something last year with having to go to Oregon, it was really hard for our fans to be able to get there. Now we've got a site where it's a drivable distance and we definitely want to make sure that the GW fan base comes out and comes out loud."
On the motivation of playing with a chip on your shoulder:
"Well I think it's a team that's learned to play with that. I think that's what got us to where we were last year and I think this year it's been a big part of when Jonquel (Jones) got hurt, a lot of people told us that we we wouldn't be able to do certain things, that we wouldn't be able to win a regular-season title, we wouldn't be able to win a tournament title. We were fortunate enough to get her back for the tournament but I think it's a group that through the adversity of injuries has grown. You've seen growth in individual players and in our team, even from the beginning of the year when we lost a couple of games with our full team. I'm excited, I think this team plays best when they have that chip on their shoulder."
On what was learned last year from the NCAA tournament:
"You've got to take care of the basketball. On this stage, everybody knows the things you're going to run, and I think a big part of our poor start against Gonzaga (last year) was because we didn't take good care of the basketball. I think now they have that confidence and they've been in every part of that situation. They've been on that flight, or that bus ride down to the site, they've been in the press conference, they've been in the open practice to the media and they understand what it's like to be on that stage. You can prepare them for a lot of things throughout the year: level of competition, style, all those things. The one thing now that we have an advantage of is a group that's going to be on that floor that has NCAA experience."
On the week off:
"I think it's really helped us. Last year we were in spring break so we took more of the beginning part of the week off. It's really helped us focus on ourselves and be able to fix things that we knew (we needed to work on). For Jonquel, just to get more timing and chemistry opportunities and just to get some bumps and bruises healed up (on the team). I think at this time of the year it's big to mentally be fresh, and I think we are. We had a great practice earlier today and I think you can see it's a competitive group and they wanted an opponent. You wait and you get to this point and you've been game-planning and preparing for so long it goes back to the preseason. That part of it's exciting to now know who we're going to play as we get ready for Kansas State, and I think what every coach hopes is we're playing our best basketball now in March."
Senior Jonquel Jones
On seeing your name called:
"It's awesome. You watch the selection show, you know your name is going to be called but you still feel nervous. Once it happens all the nerves go away and you know what you have to prepare for and you know who you're playing, so it's awesome to see that."
On being in South Carolina:
"We're most definitely happy about it. Last season we went out to Oregon and this year we're where people are going to be able to drive down to come to games and we like that a lot."
On taking on Kansas State:
"I really don't know much about them; I'm sure the coaches are going to break them down and introduce them to us. They're good enough to be in the NCAA Tournament, so they're a team that we're going to take seriously and a team that we're going to be really prepared for. We still have that sour taste in our mouth from last year from losing in the first round, so that's something that we need to get over."
On if last year's loss will help this year:
"Most definitely. Anytime you can go to the NCAA Tournament and gain that experience, I feel like that's a great thing for this year. We're just looking forward to playing this year."
On the week off:
"It's been great for us, we've been playing so much basketball for so long that we needed a little bit of time to recuperate and time to rest our bodies. Just coming into practice today I felt like everybody was reenergized and ready to play so I think it was really great for us."
Junior Caira Washington
On seeing your name light up:
"It's so exciting, it never gets old. It's just exhilarating."
On going to South Carolina and taking on Kansas State:
"We're just ready. We're going to take it one game at a time and see what happens and prepare again."
On whether last year's result is motivation:
"Oh for sure. I think last year was a great experience for us just getting a feel for everything. This year we're definitely ready and we want to prove ourselves and go even further this year."
On what it's like to now be practicing for an opponent:
"Even when we're not game-planning, we're still kind of game-planning, if that makes any sense. We're definitely ready to get back out there and tighten things up and go further than we did last season."
