Texas Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jody Conradt
Opening Statement…
“We are happy to be here. (Dallas) is a comfortable environment for the University of Texas based on playing the Big 12 tournament here the past two years. I think Dallas is a wonderful venue and a media hot bed. It is a good opportunity for what I think will be some really good basketball. Our team is like the other 63 teams - we are excited to be participants. ”
“I think our first opponent is a worthy one. We don’t know a lot of about Oral Roberts. Most conferences do not allow the exchange of tape. I have seen some video on them and have been impressed with what I have seen about Oral Roberts. They are a team that plays hard and relies on their defense. I hope that will be the same way our team will play in this tournament.”
“We are healthy with the exception for Nina Norman, but she is getting there. She has been practicing over the last few days.”
What does Elisha Turek (So., Forward) bring to Oral Roberts as a team?
“She is a really good player, and she reminds me a lot of (UT senior) Heather (Schreiber) and has some of the same skills. She can go inside out, and she is definitely a player that plays very hard. What I have read about her personally, her work ethics and the fact that she takes full responsibility and accountability for the success of her team shows her leadership. She is the main priority for us. We have to try and make it hard for her to score. She is like a lot of other great players; you cannot shut down great players. You just focus on making it hard for them to get good looks and you try to limit looks the best way that you can.”
Talk about the tournament and its growth…
“Well you know some things have changed and some things have stayed the same. I think for basketball players this was the ultimate. Getting to the NCAA tournament, measuring yourself against other teams in your sport, how other players prepare, the excitement that they feel and what actually happened on the court hasn’t changed that much. Everything around the sport has changed. The people in the stands and the media are paying attention to what is happening in the games. The fans are totally involved. If you talk about what’s the same, it’s the players and their excitement and how they prepare. If you want to talk about what’s different, everything.”
Senior Guard Jamie Carey
Talk about your comfort level playing in Dallas…
“I think all of us are really comfortable. Some of our players are from Dallas, so the chance for them to play in their hometown is good. We are just excited to be here.”
How do you feel playing in your last NCAA tournament?
“I think there is a sense of urgency with the seniors. This is our last go-around and we would like to go out with a bang. But with the situations in the past, it is a mind frame I’ve had every single day because you never know when last game will be. It’s a mind frame that I have and one that I think the team has at this point.”
Is it hard to not look past the first team since the No.13 has never won in the first round?
“I think when you step onto the court all seeds drop off and the seeds do not matter. Every team deserves to be here. It just comes down to what ever team wins advances.”
Sophomore Forward Tiffany Jackson
How do you feel about coming back home to Dallas (graduated from Duncanville HS)?
“Whenever I play near Dallas, I get excited. It’s just really fun times to come back home and play in front of my family and friends. Last year, we were at Reunion for the Big 12 Tournament and went to the championship game. We’ve had success here in Dallas, and we want to continue that this weekend.”
Senior Forward Heather Schreiber
Do you think Oral Roberts is ready to play a Big 12 team?
“I think every team will be ready at this stage in the season. As far as getting prepared, we are trying to focus on stuff that we really we need to improve on. I think we are working on things for Oral Roberts that we can apply to every team in the tournament.”
Oral Roberts Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Jerry Finkbeiner
Opening Statement…
“It is definitely exciting for our team and our program to be involved this year in the national tournament. This is our third year in the last seven to make it in. We kind of snuck in a little bit in our conference tournament as the fourth seed having to first beat the fifth seed, then the first and finally the seventh seed to win the conference. We are just glad to be here for our senior’s sake. This is the first time our senior Claudia Louis has been to the tournament. If we didn’t go this year it would be the first time in our last seven years that we would have a girl go through our program and not participate in the tournament.”
Talk about what Oral Roberts needs to do against Texas tomorrow…
“That is a really good question, and I am open for any answers here too in the room. We see a lot more of Texas than they see of us obviously. Coming from the Mid-Con (Mid-Continent Conference) we do not get a lot of exposure. That may be one advantage that we have. We probably know more about them (Texas) than they know about us. I read a quote from somebody from one of the players in the Big 12 saying that we are now in a one-and-out type of tournament. That may be another plus for us because we have been in a one-and-out tournament for the past week and a half in our conference tournament. I think my team understands that if you lose, then you go home.”
“If you look at Texas’ roster you will see some All-Americans and high school All-Americans. You will see some players of the year. If you look down our roster you might see one or two all-conference or all-state players. So from the very beginning the talent difference is a big deal, but is it a team game and team sport that lasts 40 minutes. We will give it our best shot. We are going to have some match up problems with Texas, but that is the challenge you face when you are a lower seed facing a ranked program. It is going to be a challenge for us, and we will see how we match up on the national stage.”
Do you like the new format of the tournament, the pod setup?
“I think it gives more of a chance for the Cinderella stories that we have seen happen on the men’s side the last 10 or 15 years. On the women’s side, it was almost impossible to beat the hometown team on their home court with how it has been setup. So, I think in the future with the more neutral sites you will see more of the 14, 15 and 16 seeds knocking someone off.”
Talk about Elisha Turek (So., Forward, Averages: 18 points/10 rebounds) and what she brings to your team…
“Elisha is a coach’s dream, and I am not stretching this at all. She is practicing everyday before practice an hour to an hour and a half. She is always the first person on the floor and usually the last person to leave. She has paid her dues and is an average athlete with an above average shot because she has spent so much time on it. “
“Elisha comes from a very athletic family. She has a brother who plays for the Nebraska basketball team as a three/four player. She has another brother, Josh, who plays for the Olympic Team in wheelchair basketball and her father is involved in the PGA Tour on the equipment side. So it is really just really a sports family.”
“We didn’t think we could get her (Elisha) here at ORU due to recruitment battles, but Elisha wants to be a medical missionary someday which fits right in with the kind of students Oral Roberts attracts, so she kind of recruited herself to ORU. Her success is really related to her work ethic.”
Senior Guard/Forward Claudia Louis
Talk about your team defense and the run you made during the conference tournament...
“We had an opportunity to run many defenses like we ran the whole year during the tournament. We just wanted to focus on one defense to stop their best players. It worked well for us and we had a lot of adjustments that we needed to work through. Our team just did a really good job at adjusting to different types of teams during the tournament and it worked well for us.”
