THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Colorado State student-athletes Brooke Carlson, Kloe Froebe, and Hannah Ronsiek.
Q. For you guys it's been a tough couple of weeks, just been very -- a lot of turnover. Do you see this as the calm before the storm, getting a practice in, seeing the arena before you actually compete here?
HANNAH RONSIEK: Yeah, I would say that there's obviously a lot of anticipation after we won the tournament, just obviously not knowing who we play, where we play. Then once we figured that out, I think we were all turning that nerves into excitement.
So just being here and getting the feel of the court, we're really excited about that.
Q. Kloe, you worked a lot on your 3-point shot, a lot of details in the off-season. How do you keep those details in a stressful time like this, would you say?
KLOE FROEBE: Yeah, I think, like you said, put a lot of work in the off-season for those moments. I think you've just got to trust that the work I put in, we put in as a team, and just continue to do what we've been doing all year.
Q. Brooke, last time these teams met was in like 2011 before Coach was even at CSU. What was it like to approach a team like this where there's no really history of you guys playing?
BROOKE CARLSON: I feel like it's fun because you can kind of just go out there and play. They don't know every single play that we run, we don't know every play they run. So it's kind of just going out there and figuring out how to get the win and stuff like that.
Q. Hannah, I'll start with you. What does it mean to be here? You're a senior now. You've been here all four years, but to represent the Rams here in the first round of the NCAA?
HANNAH RONSIEK: I stayed here obviously four years, like you said, for this moment and to get that championship because I think we've had championship teams here all four of my years. I'm just so, so happy and grateful that I was able to get it done with these girls my senior year, the most important year. So yeah, I'm just super excited.
Q. Kloe and Brooke, you guys are just sophomores, but you're getting here soon in your career, so you don't take moments like this for granted. What have you thought as you've come in here and trying to stay grounded?
KLOE FROEBE: I think we're just super excited, especially to experience this at such like a young era and stuff. We still have two more years. I feel like we really set the standard now. So the expectations are going to be nothing short of like returning and bringing home some championships.
BROOKE CARLSON: I'd have to agree with that, and it's just fun just to kind of get that experience now, and we can keep building off of it into our next two years. It would just be a fun experience.
Q. For the three of you, can you just kind of introduce your team, your buildup, your chemistry to the nation to kind of let everyone know what you've had to go through as far as team adversity, as far as team using the defense as your anchor to really blossom a lot of the offense and how the team is as hot as they've ever been all season long?
HANNAH RONSIEK: I would say that this is one of the most competitive and relentless teams I've been on in my whole career, not even college career, high school career. Obviously there's a lot of ebbs and flows in the season, but we came together when it mattered, and we used those hard times, and we learned from them and grew from it. So I'm super grateful from even the lows.
Q. What was it like to get a street named after you in your hometown? Do you ever go just take people by the sign and say, hey, look at that?
KLOE FROEBE: No. I mean --
(Laughter).
It's coming right into town, so we pass it every time. My parents are very proud of it. I'm very grateful for it. It's just really cool. Lincoln is a great community, and I'm really proud to be representing them on such a Nationwide scale.
Q. Brooke, this is for you. Do you prefer we call you B Sizzle or BC?
BROOKE CARLSON: Honestly, whatever works.
HANNAH RONSIEK: It's got to be B Sizzle.
BROOKE CARLSON: We'll have some B Sizzle merch coming.
(Laughter).
Q. Kind of to piggy-back off your question, introduce your team to the nation. Like we get the opportunity, all of us in this room, there's a lot of different conferences, a lot of teams. First time somebody tuned in, they're going to be watching your team, what should we expect? Or what should they expect? We've watched film, but what should they expect?
KLOE FROEBE: I would say definitely a relentless mentality. We're definitely a very motivated group. I think our chemistry is really there. So just never count us out. We've come back a lot.
We get ourselves down, and we don't give up. So I think that's what's great about this team is we're all so competitive and we want to win. So never count us out.
RYUN WILLIAMS: Hey we're excited to be here. This has been an exciting week for our squad. Obviously last week in Vegas was a blast too, but to be dancing, to be in Norman, we're really excited.
Q. Kloe right before this said don't count us out. You guys talked about the relentless, competitive mindset you guys have had since the summer. How would you characterize that in a tournament like this?
RYUN WILLIAMS: It doesn't surprise me that Kloe would say something like that, and I think any one of our players would speak just like that. The competitive mindset, the competitive character of this group is what has allowed us to be 27-7.
You could kind of see that all the way back in June when we first got together with this new group that, although we weren't very good in June, you could tell they really like to compete and that we had -- that's the first thing to becoming a championship team is you'd better have that makeup. This group surely demonstrated that early on.
Q. Do you want to kind of see this as a continuation from the way that you have played in the regular season, or is it kind of a fresh mindset? What would you say your approach is?
RYUN WILLIAMS: A little bit of both, right? A little bit of both. But this group really all year long has just continued to get better. Some increments may be a little bigger than others, but they've accepted every challenge that's been put in front of them.
Yeah, this is a little different stage, but at the end of the day, the ball is going to be tipped, and you'd better have the focus where it needs to be. You'd better have your compete on, just like they have all year, and make it just a basketball game.
That's what I've appreciated about our team is that whatever environment they've been put in -- and we've played in some tough places -- they've always been ready to go, and they've always put themselves in a position to win. Almost every single night they've done that, and that just screams compete.
Q. Do you kind of see with the four seniors you guys have on the roster, what is it kind of like seeing them and their college careers this way?
RYUN WILLIAMS: It's neat for seniors to end their career in this tournament. That's the ultimate goal, right? Is to be playing in the most prestigious tournament in the world.
So it just shows that all their hard work, their loyalty -- we've got three seniors that have been with us for four years -- has paid off. So that was the neatest thing for me in Vegas was just seeing the joy on their faces because they knew they really accomplished something, and they knew where they were going.
For seniors to go out that way is a really neat thing. And they're a huge reason why, again, our record is what it is. You don't go through a season smooth sailing. It just doesn't happen. You're going to have the ebbs and flows, the ups and downs, and you need your oldies to get you through those phases. This group surely did that.
Q. How have you seen your team grow? So from June, then you go into like nonconference play, conference play, conference tournament, to now. In those different stages, how have you seen the team grow?
RYUN WILLIAMS: When we got together in June, like I said, just the -- we weren't very good. Again, you could see that there was some potential.
We thought in the non-con -- we challenged ourselves in the non-con, when we went and won at Gonzaga, when we went and won at Oregon State, we did that kind of in a grinder mode, right? It was not pretty, but we realized we had a really tough team.
But we also realized we've still got to get better. Our shot making has got to get better. Defensively we've got to get more connected. Then they slowly did that.
We had a little lull in the middle of the year where we lost a couple back-to-backs against really good teams, and we really challenged our group, you have to get better. From every area, from ball security to rebounding to shot making, you name it, everybody had to improve. That was the message after our loss in Vegas.
Since then -- and I don't even know what date that was. It seems like a long time ago -- but we've only lost one game. They've just continued to get better.
I think kind of all phases to be honest with you. We had to blend the new and the old. We added three transfers to the roster that were going to play a lot of minutes, and we blended those with kids that have been in our program. So that's going to take some time to just develop some chemistry, how to go about -- for this team, how to go about winning games.
I thought we really hit our stride really the last quarter part of the season.
Q. When you look at your team, with Lexus going down, to see your team bounce back from that now coming into another tournament and having a go into, like you said, the grand stage, how have you seen your team rally around that?
RYUN WILLIAMS: It was really neat too see the kids rally, or the ladies rally in Vegas. I don't think when it happened, you know, second quarter in that semifinal game, you don't have time to think. It's just next person up. Here's what we've got to do to get this baby accomplished, this victory.
Then the final against Air Force, it was on you before you know it. So our kids really didn't have a chance to kind of sit back and think, oh, we're a little different now. Lex was a big part of what we get done in a basketball game as far as production-wise, both offensively and defensively.
But now that we've had a week to kind of prepare without Bargesser, it's been neat to see the kids kind of evolve into, although a short period, just different roles, and everybody is going to be asked to do something a little different either offensively or defensively in this tournament because of how valuable she was for us. And she played a lot of minutes, like she had to beg to come out of the game.
So everybody's going to have to perform just a little different role, and they're ready for that. These kids have -- I think that's a big reason why probably every team is in this tournament. They're able to adapt. They're able to have flexibility and still drive the success of their basketball team. That's what this group will do tomorrow.
Q. Now that you know who you're going to play, it took until the final announcement on Sunday night, but what have you done now looking at Michigan State, how have you matched up and kind of as you look ahead to the game on Friday?
RYUN WILLIAMS: Obviously you go right to studying tape when you get your matchup. They jump out at you, a Big Ten team. Their length is a little different than we probably face on a nightly basis. They've just got really good basketball players, skilled basketball players. What I mean by that, they pass, dribble, shoot well from darn near every single position. They pass extremely well.
I know everybody's going to like -- they're ninth in the country or whatever it is in scoring, but they guard you too. They can really be disruptive from every spot on the floor. Whether you're off ball, whether you have the ball in your hands, they can apply some pressure.
So I think how we handle that is going to be really, really critical. The numbers are what they are. I think they average 22-plus points a game off of opponents' turnovers, and we obviously pride ourselves in valuing the basketball. That will be challenged probably like no other that we faced this season tomorrow.
Very well coached. They know what they're doing. They're organized. They've got really good point guard play in Blair. Not many holes is what we see, but that's why they're where they're at. That's why they're a 5 seed, and we're excited for the challenge.
Q. It's been a decade since this program's been on this stage. How will you personally handle it and mentally prepare, and what will be your message to the girls as they get set to play on the sport's biggest stage?
RYUN WILLIAMS: I'll personally handle it just fine. It's just this is what you dream of, right? I know we talk about that as players, but coaches too. Let's go have some fun with it. That's going to be -- and my wife will tell me the same thing. When I get up tomorrow morning, she's just going to say enjoy it and quit stressing out and take your granddaughter down to breakfast.
But our players, the message, it's going to be the same that it's been all year. It's embrace every single moment. Yeah, the stage is a little bigger, but go have fun with this baby, enjoy it. The lights are a little brighter, but this is why you practice, this is why you train, this is why you were in the gym at 5:30 in the morning in June, because you wanted the heat of these bright lights.
So no regrets. That's going to be the message. Cut it loose. Go for it. Play to win. All of those silly cliche coaching things, but it just will ring so true, you guys.
That's what I've liked about this group. Every single game we write on the board, the very first thing I write on the board every single night is just 1-0, 1-0, 1-0. Why would we get ahead of ourselves? It's the next game. We always treat this game as the most important game of your life. That's what tomorrow will be. But it also will be the most fun game of your life. So let's not lose sight of that.
Look at me, Mr. Fun saying let's have fun. Really?
(Laughter).
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports