March 20, 2007

Updated Women’s NIT Bracket in PDF Format

Columbia, S.C.South Carolina Head Coach Susan Walvius and selected players met with members of the media Tuesday in advance of the Gamecocks’ third-round Women’s NIT contest against Hofstra Wednesday. Here are some of their comments:

Quotes from South Carolina Head Coach Susan Walvius

Regarding If The Gamecocks Are At Their Best Right Now:
“We did play like this but we are in the SEC. The SEC is a great league and the athleticism and size that we face everyday, we are in a different situation, but we wouldn’t be as good if we played in a lower level conference. We probably wouldn’t be as good as we are right now. When you play against some of the best teams in the country you are only going to get better.”

Regarding Hofstra:
“Everybody in this tournament is good. We are getting ready to play a good Hofstra team. Everybody is saying `who is Hofstra?’ This is a team that beat Michigan State and lost to Baylor by 10 points at Baylor and is a quality team. We will have to play well to beat this team. They beat Hartford by sixteen as a comparison. “

“I’m happy to be playing right now. We do know they are good. We have had an opportunity to watch film on them. They have some athleticism and play a very good zone defense. We imagine that they would work to try to slow us down.”

“We have to continue to use our depth. When you have as many days to prepare as we did against Hartford our depth got some experience, which showed in the game. We will need that this next game against Hofstra.”

Regarding The Gamecocks Being Left Out Of The NCAA Tournament:
“I really felt we were deserving to get into the NCAA Tournament and I’m still upset about it. But we still have an opportunity to play so we are enjoying it and embracing it. We just want to go out a play hard.”

Brionna Dickerson
Regarding Being Left Out Of The NCAA Tournament:
“One thing that we stress is we may not be in the National Tournament, but we are in a National Tournament and we are glad for the opportunity.”

“It was a disappointment not to get in. We did what they told us by playing a tough schedule, but it comes down to winning a couple more games and we didn’t do that so now we have to take advantage of this opportunity.”