March 22, 2008

NCAA Open Practice Photo Gallery

Miami University's women's basketball team plays in its first NCAA Tournament game at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 23 against No. 21 Louisville on ESPN. Quotes from Saturday's open practice day are below.

Head Coach Maria Fantanarosa

Opening Statement: "We're thrilled to be here representing Miami University and the MAC. When we found out we were going to Connecticut back on Selection Monday, we were excited because this is such a great basketball area. It was added excitement to our first NCAA Tournament. We continued to improve throughout the season and the sky's the limit."

On the team's confidence level: "We are not the type of team that is going to show swagger. We are going to take things being humble and you can see that from my players. We are humble, but I want my players to be confident too. There is a fine line between confident and cocky."

On Gameplan: "We have been working on the fundamentals of press-breaking. We need to control tempo and slow it down. We don't want to have the deer in headlights look at the beginning of the game, especially against a team with their athleticism."

Senior Guard Amanda Jackson

On her match-up against Louisville's prolific scorer Angel McCoughtry: "I'm going into this like any other game and just going to be aggressive on both ends. Angel is going to be a key for us when we are on defense. We have to limit her touches and make sure to box her out when the shots go up."

Junior Guard Jenna Schone

On being a part of Miami's inaugural NCAA Tournament appearance: "It's big for our program. It's important to all of the players too. Getting here was always a goal of mine since I came to college. Winning a championship was too and we accomplished that."

On not being content with just being in the tournament: "You have to realize how far you've come and that you can't stop now. We still have something to prove to ourselves and this is a great opportunity for us to do it."