March 24, 2007

Marist Head Coach Brian Giorgis

On being in the NCAA tournament: "Obviously, it's a tremendous thrill for us to be here. We are looking forward to playing the most storied program in the country. We're ready to go."

On whether there is room on the Marist bandwagon: "There's plenty of room. A lot of people have jumped on it and hopefully there's a lot more. Our country's always been one that likes the underdog. I don't think there's probably a bigger one than us, right now, in either tournament."

On what's it's like back home: "It's been unbelievable. Both the Marist community and the Hudson Valley are in a frenzy right now. It's been the most exciting thing I've ever been involved in. I can't go anywhere without somebody stopping us and wishing us good luck. We were kind of teasing our players that, if we had a $100 for everyone that's wished us `good luck' and `congratulations' I could retire. It's been tremendous."

On whether Marist will have a "home game" because of having Ohio players on the team: "I always think of a home game as being familiar with the court, and we're not familiar with the court. But, as far as fan support, that's what we're hoping it is."

More about the NCAA tournament: "It's a great opportunity. We're thrilled to have this opportunity, not only to advance and go through a legendary program, but a legendary coach. We don't look at numbers that way. That's the great thing about this program. It doesn't look at numbers or names on the front of uniforms. They just like to go out and play. They say, `Coach, what's the game plan and they go out and try and execute it."

On how difficult it has been to focus this week: "It's definitely difficult for the coaching staff to focus. I think they've really enjoyed it. When it's time to throw up the ball, they're focused and ready to play. They focus well in practice. When it's not practice time and they are off the court, I think they've enjoyed the attention they have gotten and they deserve all of it."

On his game plan: "We thought of putting Nikki Flores on Alisa Kresge's shoulders and trying to go with a triangle and one but I think it'd slow us up a bit. Sometimes I don't know if you can stop a Candace Parker, but you try to stop other people. Let's put it this way, we have more than one game plan, because against Tennessee, you have to have more than one game plan."

On Marist's three-point shooting: "We basically take what we can get. If the three-point shot is available, we've been fortunate to knock it down in the tournament. We do shoot the three, but we try to get it inside. Basically, it's what's open in our motion. That's what the kids look for. All five of them can shoot it and our bench can shoot it. We don't have a game plan that says, `We're going to take X number of threes.'"

On the NCAA Tournament run: "Out attitude is great. They think they can win. That's half the battle. It's what I like about this group. It's why we play the Dukes and the Marylands and UConn last year. The kids feel they can play with somebody. That's important. We like to say we like to be pains to people. Sometimes, we've played the major powers well but for 20 minutes or 30 minutes. We've finally been able to do it for 40 minutes the last two games."

On being a possible hot coaching commodity for other schools: "Like I've said to other people, nobody's given me a call. So, right now, the only thing I'm worried about is how in the heck do you guard Candice Parker."

On the conference tournament propelling Marist into the NCAA tournament: "I try to think about those things. When things are done, they're done. I sit there say, `Geez, what if they made that basket.' All I know is that we beat the preseason conference favorite three times. Going into the year, after losing the player of the year in the conference from our team last year, a three-year starter, I was just hoping to compete."

Marist Player Quotes

Meg Dahlman on guarding Candice Parker: "None of use will be starting out guarding her, but we all get a chance to guard her at some point. I know she is a great player but we can't get caught up in the fact that she is Candice Parker. We have to treat her like any other player and respect what she can do."

Alisa Kresge on Marist fans: "I think they are all so excited and are supporting us 100 percent. The fans just can't wait until game time."

Nikki Flores on her coach's comment about guarding Candice Parker: "That would be interesting, wouldn't it? Because I still don't think we would be her height. But yeah, his humor really keeps us relaxed."

Alisa Kresge on what has the attention been like: "I think I have had more interviews in the last two days than in my life. It's neat getting our school's name out there and the MAAC conference."

Meg Dahlman explains winning as an underdog: "We just have a lot of heart. We play together as one cohesive unit and our defense is what makes our offence. We play with brains, heart, and we leave it all out on the court every night."

Nikki Flores on how some losses of the higher seeds have improved Marist's confidence: " I think it helped us, confidence wise, because it showed us that we can play the higher seeds. We served as a model for other teams that are underdog. I think it's a great confidence booster for us and we are going to need it playing against the number one seed."

Alisa Kresge on what's it like to play against the likes against Duke, Maryland, and other big name programs: "You need to forget the name on the jersey. You just have to go out and know what they do best and play like your playing any other team. But then a couple of years later I can tell my kids that I played the likes of Duke, Maryland, and Tennessee."

Meg Dahlman explains her coach: "He is extremely dedicated. He will break down game film anytime of the day for as long as it takes. He is always helping us learn new plays or tweaking plays to make us better."

Nikki Flores talks about how ball security will be critical tomorrow: "That's number one on our game plan along with defense. Against Middle Tennessee I think it was very key for us to take care of the basketball and take good shots, so like wise it will be very important against Tennessee."

Alisa Kresge on the attention her team has been receiving: " I keep getting these phone calls telling me that my face and my team has been all over SportsCenter and ESPN, and I'm like oh my gosh! We must be doing something right but yeah it's amazing."