oh my God we're joined by South Carolina Coach Don Staley and the student athletes Tessa Johnson and Ashlin Watkins uh coach if you could please provide your opening comments we appreciate it um just want to say uh congratulations to uh Oregon State really tough um basketball team they're they're young they're going to be back in this position again and they're probably going to get over the hump um they're they're that good on both sides of the basketball we are extremely fortunate and and luck
y um to get out of this this this region and and on to the final four so super proud of our team for the resilience um and the you taking their competitive spirits to another level to secure us another birth into uh to the to the final four thank you we'll now start with questions for the student athletes row two here hi Howard mandal the next congratulations to you guys um one for each of you if I could uh Tessa if you can take me through kind of the thought process around you had this kind of
tough end one finish um a critical moment in this one and then Ashlin you know you got you have a block percentage of 11 I it's I'm on the top in the country obviously Swan's the nickname I'm just wondering how much you take particular pride in being a rim protector um the thought process going through my head was I mean my shots weren't falling as I wanted so I needed to attack and I mean they called the foul so that's really it um with me I love playing defense I love jumping and I just like b
eing active on the defensive end and I think that just get that get that's what gets us started on the offensive end good defense thank you questions yes right here desan from MB online this question is for both student athletes we're witnessing the growth of women basketball taking off to new heights can you guys talk about how good it feels to be part of that history and watching the evolution of women's basketball take off to where it is right now it's special I agree because I mean when I wa
s younger like we were watching this and just being able to be here and and being like role models for the younger Generations it's it's what ashleen said special and I didn't realize that like women's basketball just started coming like being March Madness I didn't realize that like a couple years ago I didn't know that U Michael vn.com tessla could you just talk about your growth process um coach Staley has talked about this year your growth process this year and how that sort of got you ready
for a big moment like today leading the Gamecocks and scoring and a elite eight game um I mean practices they I'm I struggle a little bit in practices but just being able to I mean look past it and learn from my mistakes and having like my teammates helping me and my coaches helping me and just having a growth mindset I think I'm struggling with my mindset a lot so being able to grow with my mindset is the biggest piece before the question I do have an announcement folks please due to a team pr
actice the court will be closing at 4:45 p.m. so all media will need to remove their belongings from the court area by 4:45 p.m. we apologize for the inconvenience back to our questions I drew umle from the Troy Record and saratogian uh this question is for Tessa right here um oh there uh you guys I think in that third quarter uh were two for 15 from three and then you hit one and Raven hits one can you just talk about what you know seeing those shots start to fall meant for this team to be able
to put together that run that essentially won you the game late to my knowledge I believe Raven Hit it first and me and pal were saying like she opened up the basket for us and then I remember she passed it to me and I just let it go and then it brought momentum to the team Holly row ESPN this is for Ashlin what did you tell coach Staley after the Indiana game you promised her something what was it and how did you live up to it today um I told her that I was going to have more energy I was goin
g to be there for my team and I feel like I lived I live up I lived up to that today um I was just everywhere I wanted to be everywhere I wanted to get I wanted to get every rebound and and I did I almost did next thank you coming back be right here uh Griffin hos News 10 ABC here in Albany for Tessa just as a freshman just talk about how special it is that feeling of cutting down the Nets and being able to have that celebration with your teammates out there it's very special cuz like I said ear
lier I was the little girl dreaming of being up there and now I am and especially with my teammates like my team I love my team I can't ask for a better team and coaches more questions for the students one more here come on up D sh for mvy online question for both student athletes as we finish off women's history month for March like to ask who are The Inspirations in your life that made you into the woman you are today for me I would say um I don't even know if this makes sense but God like he
I live through Christ he lives through me so that's how I am who I am um for me I say my mother she was always there for me like in aou she took me to all my games and she was just she's my backbone I owe it all to her one more folks yes go ahead last one ashon just to kind of follow up um you talked about how much pleasure you take how much joy you take in shot blocking there's obviously a legacy of bigs here who have done it from from Aaliyah to Asia do you have a goal of being at or above the
level they were even as Rim protectors um I don't really have a goal like I don't have a goal like that I just play basketball but like if it comes to that then it it's great to be like what be on their level because they're great basketball players thank you to the student athletes for your time this weekend we appreciate it Happy Easter happy Easter we'll now take questions for Coach Staley start here hey coach congrats on making back to the final for Doug fineberg thep it's four straight yea
rs I think you've made it that far last year you because were undefeated also this this point what does it mean to get this group to the final four and what if anything did you learn last year that you might be able to apply to this year to get further um just proud just proud because uh um CU we beat the odds I mean odd said that we weren't um we we shouldn't be we shouldn't make it back to the final four um just proud of our team and and and for them believing in themselves they created a a ce
rtain level of chemistry and and culture um and they stuck with it and then they they allowed us to coach them um and they trusted us to coach them even when it didn't feel good to them personally at different at different times of the season um and then overall I just think that I think that uh um I think God has a has a funny way of of dealing with people and you know I'm one of his and U for us to lose lose the way we lost last year um and for him to bring us to this point today um makes me b
elieve a little bit deeper um and it strengthens my my faith in in who he is because I mean this you know I don't know what the Bible verse is but um I know that when you're at your your your worst and your weakest moments he's at he's he's at his best and he started working on that um the day that that buzzer sound last last year during this time so I am um proud of our team and and I don't want to ever not give God the glory U for for giving us uncommon favor go ahead back Don Howard M do the
n congratulations on the final four I I obviously was asking ashin about it but I'm curious your perspective about it this is a program that's had so many shop lockers at an elite level just purely from that perspective especially on a day where you can see her flying around like she was today do you think she has a chance to be the best shop blocker you've had at this program um I mean I mean starts with volleyball I mean Asia played volleyball Ashton played volleyball thank you um we got anoth
er one coming in Joyce Edwards plays volleyball so I think those two three sport athletes always gives your gives us an opportunity um to be great shot blockers I mean Ash I don't know if she she came into South Carolina saying I'm I want to be one of the best or the best but when you put it out there in front of her and she understands what that means um she'll start she'll start goal setting um she's got a chance because she can do she can guard on the perimeter um she can guard in the post so
there are more opportunities for her to block shots because of her athletic ability and her ability to play you know positions one through five Dan Zak Jesy outkick.com coach you've mentioned the Bible your student athletes wished everyone a Happy Easter I'm just wondering if this win had any special meaning for you given that it came on Easter Sunday um you know I I mean Easter Sunday's pretty cool um you know but we all know who leads who's the reason for all seasons and we just don't we just
don't celebrate on the on the victories we we don't I I last year I thank God for um even the loss because I don't want to be one-sided you know and to give him the glory when it only is only befitting um for wins um but I last year rocked me it rocked me it rocked because um we had a team full of players who did all the right things all the right things gave us no issues for four years um they were Co babies they missed the NCAA tournament their freshman year they came back went to the final f
our their sophomore years we lost at a you know um putback Miss putback um that was devastating um to Ayah Boston and then they come back and win a National Championship ship in 2022 and then they carry the heavy load of trying to go back to back um and then it it didn't end that way but they gave every single thing if you could have been around that particular group of young ladies you want them to win and we don't know why and we often try to ask God why you know why and you know today I stand
here as aw doesn't make them feel any better about them not um cementing their legacy even more um but I know they're they're they're happy proud of this group and they're happy proud of South Carolina um where they chose to come to school and create a legacy so we have that culture in our program where um I'm sure if I go back and check the tweets a Asia Aaliyah um latisia all of them Za all of them are probably tweeting how proud they are of our of our basketball team so um you know Easter is
as significant as any other day but he is risen now hey Don chandel Jennings with the athletic congrats on the Wind I'm sure every group you coach has an impact on who you are as a person and a coach you've talked a lot about the unique personality of this group I'm curious how they've changed you as a coach um I mean this is probably the first time in my career that a team has more stamina in certain areas like much more stamina than I could that I could discipline them for um so I've I've lea
rned to not fight certain battles not core value battles not not the core principle of who we are and what I stand for but just the just the their identity they're loose they play free um and it's it's allowed it's allowed them to kind of police themselves and hold each other hold each other accountable and so in in one regard I relinquish that in the other regard they're taking care of it like but it's just different different than I'm used to so it so I give into allowing them to be um their s
illy selves like they're really silly they talk a lot about nothing but some of that talk is holding each other accountable they they talk to each other like in some of the most unadulterated ways that we got to close the door and just kind of give them their space but they enjoy each other that's who they are here and then right behind Marvin Chambers 4.0 Sports media congratulation uh coach um first and foremost um saw you in Philly you talk about women of color having having position getting
opportunity your success at South Carolina do you think has catapult more opportunities for women of color and men of color you know every every tell me I I I get a lot of requests to to recommend people for jobs and I'm OFA I tell them that you may want me to call on your behalf but the people that have called for it they don't get the job I don't even think they get the interview so I don't know if I'm the route I mean I'm not maybe I'm not the person that uh should be their you know their mou
th Peak when it comes to recommendation but I it's not going to prevent me from continuing to to try to get them jobs so um I I think our success at South Carolina um will raise some eyebrows to give someone someone else um of color and opportunity so um it's just there's not a like a direct path through me and maybe I'm bad at at convincing people to give somebody an opportunity go ahead hi coach Isabelle Rodriguez with the next congrats on the win um obviously you've been a great point guard a
nd you've coached against a lot of great point guards and coached them yourself I'm just curious what you saw from Donovan Hunter today and what that match up with her and and Raven Johnson was like to coach and and what that whole environment was like um I think Donovan is going to be great she's already she's already great I mean for her to be a freshman and to um to she's coming to to get her team in a position of one step away from going to the final four means that her her future is bright
I mean the the entire program of Oregon State's future is bright um I I mean they they took us all the way to you know to the fourth quarter and a one or two possession game and it was cat catapulted by Donovan her ability to to manage their their team and get people in the right places and the playoff ball and to make us pay when um we um we we got we got too um we collapsed too much in the on penetration she made us she made us pay for for that by hit knocking down threes um so I thought it wa
s a good matchup between um Raven and her she she put r i mean she got Raven in foul trouble which you know it's really hard to do cuz we're we're used to we're used to Raven being on the floor and when she's not on the floor we're not as good of a basketball team just for what Raven brings to the table on both sides of the basketball okay uh coach grien hos News 10 ABC here in Albany uh you've LED your fair share of teams to the final four cut down your fair share of Nets uh does that feeling c
hange year to year team to team or does it largely stay the same no each time you're you're each time we get an opportunity to cut down some Nets to go to the final four it's really special cuz you don't know when it's going to be the last time that that you'll do it and you know more times than not there are there are players on the team that didn't experience it we had I don't know six players on this team that didn't experience cutting down the net I think we called them all out in the locker
room just a while ago you know P's one of them p I'm happy P gets the chance to to get to the final four and display her Talent on on that level um Tessa uh I mean Ashley was Tessa Malaysia um Sima is that it Adele yeah so it's like four or five of them um and I I want their experience to be as special as the very first first time that we've been able to cut down the Nets to go to our first final four hey coach Vince gasperini with the bigs.com I was just wondering if you could speak on your re
lationship with uh Camila and her progression over the past few years obviously she won Regional most outstanding player and now she's one of the best players in college basketball so could you just speak on your relationship with her a little bit yeah she got that she got that today I don't know where I was yeah she got standing in the in the region okay who else was on the team anybody else oh okay good um um I mean Camila's U maturation process has been just on an upward trajectory I mean she
had to play behind you know a national Player of the Year National defensive play of the year um for two out of the past three years um and sometimes that can put you in a position of of playing a a backseat and she did it quite nicely cuz she's not a she doesn't ruffle anybody's feathers we got to actually make her be who we need her to be and who she needs to be for us and for the next level um I think at times she's fought that and there's other times where she's embraced it and that's just
the journey the process of being great and being dominant um if it was all just you know smooth and easy anybody could do it so um we're we we're able to push our buttons in ways in which produces growth um and then I it wasn't always just up I mean she would take one step forward two steps back and two steps forward one step back it's been a really it's been a really good I think it's a good process for young especially um young um post players um cuz they they took it it take a little bit long
er to to get things going um but she's had great coaches I mean Fred Shamil who um ended up going to uh Boling Green State University and then Coach boy has been has been a rock in Camila's life um on and off the court um to the point where she she trust her so when you can have and it could be if it's not me it's going to be somebody on our staff that really gets in the you know the crevices of who who are and and Coach Bor has been able to do that for us um to allow that growth to continue to
to happen here and then final one is Nancy uh Billy witz with the New York Times uh this you're back here in the final four you're undefeated you've done it with an entirely new starting lineup and I'm struck by how so much of the attention is on the game here tomorrow night and I've just it feels maybe from the outside like you've got done this very quietly and a little bit under the radar if that's if that's the way you kind of feel about this I'm just curious why you think that is I don't kno
w but I like it I really do like go ahead take take the the spotlight put it somewhere else you know let this team continue to to thrive in the space that they're given and and and hopefully at the at the end of the day at next week this time I'm I'm hoping that we give a lot of people a lot to talk about um but it's like that you know I mean I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's game now that we've won I'm going to sit back and I'm going enjoy it like everybody else like probably millions and
millions of people are going to tune into that game I'm going to be one of them I don't have a n a nson ratings in my house but you can Count Me In um to watch the game uh tomorrow night last one Don Nancy arm USA Today sports um you your team has had a knack for going on runs anytime a team an opponent has gotten close and kind of maybe gets hope what allows you guys to do that and if you're an opponent how disheartening must that be to just see you guys just going downhill like that well they
had to do something to to to close the gap um and then you respond I mean I mean I mean for for this particular year we've responded and it it produced wins it's not always like that but with this particular team I mean as young and inexperienced we are in certain positions and I when I say that is it's everybody's you know Camila started a few games for us last year Raven started maybe one or two games for us last year and everybody else is a starter um so they're they're just trying to figure
it out and they've they want to play for each other they want to not disappoint each other they hold each other accountable um I mean Ashlin sits up here very mild mannered and softs spoken but she's not when it's time for us to lock up and defend and you know when they when they went on their run in the in the second quarter when they were getting those threes off and making them I mean she was was saying things that I didn't have to say and utilize time and the time out I mean it is that it i
s it is them being able to lock in and execute what we need them to execute and and when it's it's not executed perfectly they figure out a way on their own to make some plays because a lot of times when you're making those runs it isn't is isn't a coach saying this the it is players making plays it's it's them giving an extra effort I mean you you saw Ashlin out there you know she was everywhere she was everywhere today out there on the floor um cuz she wanted the win and and her teammates foll
owed her coach congratulations thank you for your time this week and best of luck next week thank you I I just want to say I I thought this region did an excellent job at hosting you know all the teams the hotels the gym was very accommodating um to us I mean I can only speak on us um so I really appreciate it and I hope that if you if you uh make a bid for it again um you got my vote but again people don't listen to me we do we do thank you so much again reminder media that due to the team prac
tice on the court at 4:45 in about 10 minutes less
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