Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder previews Colorado

The Iowa women’s basketball team will be looking to advance to the regional final on Saturday when they face Colorado in Albany, NY. Hawkeye head coach Lisa Bluder met with the media prior to the Sweet 16 game against the Buffs.

Q. I wanted to ask about a couple of things that Colorado could present as challenges tomorrow. First their rebounding with Vonleh and Quay Miller in the middle and their three-point shooting last year; adding Maddie Nolan into the mix, that changes things a little bit. Curious to hear about their rebounding and three-point shooting?

LISA BLUDER: I think you just said it all. We have to box out better than we did last year. We gave up 22 O-boards against them last year. Just crazy numbers.

Obviously they have two very good three-point shooters right now. Adding Maddie Nolan does pose a problem just because now they have two excellent three-point shooters on the perimeter and a great inside game.

Q. You’ve given Caitlin so much room to be open and public with the media and making her the face of Iowa basketball. What is it about her or your relationship with her that has allowed you to do that for her?

LISA BLUDER: I’d say it’s trust. I completely trust her maturity. She is extremely mature, has handled every situation that’s been thrown at her, and she’s had a lot of different situations thrown at her. She’s handled them all beautifully.

I think both of those things, trust and maturity, that she can handle it.

Q. What’s the latest with Molly Davis with the compression brace on, stretching? Could she play tomorrow?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, she’s doubtful for tomorrow. Molly is doubtful for tomorrow.

Q. How is she doing? How close is she, I guess?

LISA BLUDER: I don’t know, I really thought she’d be back by now. I really did. I have no idea how long it’s going to take for her to completely heal, but we’re not going to put her out there when it’s unsafe for her to be out there.

Q. I was hoping you could take us back to Iowa inviting Lynette Woodard for a very special game for Caitlin, for the program, for women’s basketball, and why you personally feel that that was something that was important to do?

LISA BLUDER: I just don’t want the history of our game to be forgotten, and Lynette is a huge part of the history of our game. She’s the leading scorer, and I just wanted her to be there in the arena to show her the appreciation that we all have for her and what she laid the groundwork for what we’re experiencing now.

That’s why it was important for me to have her there.

All the great women that were a part of our game, there’s been so many of them and we don’t talk about them anymore, and I think that’s really sad.

Q. Just in terms of getting a rematch of sorts with this team, in what ways are you able to use that to your advantage as you’ve kind of game planned for them? Obviously you’re a little different, they’re a little different, but what similarities have you been able to utilize as you head into this one?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, we had the whole team watch the film from last year, so they kind of have it in their mind, in addition to film from this year.

Neither team has changed. I know they’re a little bit different, but neither team has changed a lot with their style of play.

They only lost one starter, we lost two starters, and I think they replaced theirs with Maddie Nolan, like I said, a really good player. This is a very experienced group. You’re looking at three grad students and a senior in the starting lineup. Both teams are pretty experienced.

I’m sure they’re looking forward to this rematch from last year.

Q. You talked about the distractions, different things Caitlin has handled. There was an announcement of Ice Cube offering $5 million for her playing in the Big 3. I just wondered if you all even talked about that. Obviously you’re focused on the game, but things like that that come up, is it even something that people tease her about or how do you handle that when it’s happening and while you guys are playing?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I’m not sure how her teammates are. We haven’t even talked about it to be quite honest. It doesn’t have anything to do with us right now. Let’s not even talk about it.

She did tell me about the invitation that she was getting for USA Basketball, but she hopes that she’s not there. We all hope she’s not there next weekend. But she was invited, and she shared that with me.

The other stuff, that’s just — it’s crazy.

Q. The fact that Colorado has the two big kids, Quay and Aaronette, how do they present different problems for you guys with just Hannah as the post?

LISA BLUDER: Well, I mean, Quay is a power forward, and so she can play the post, but she’s a power forward, and Kate has been doing a good job for us all year at the power forward position.

Yeah, we’re a little bit smaller there, and Quay will come out and face up and shoot threes, as well. So she’s just kind of a big power forward, and I think that we’ve — I think that’s okay for us.

Q. Is there anything Caitlin can do now that would give you a wow moment, like, wow, I didn’t know she could do that? And if not, what’s the last one you had that you remember of a wow moment from her?

LISA BLUDER: That’s a good question. I mean, I don’t know if she could give us any more wow moments. She’s given us so many over the last four years. Whether it’s shooting incredible shots, passing the ball like no other. I’m not sure she could do anything yet that we haven’t seen.

My last oh, wow moment, man, there’s been a lot, but Michigan State at home was a pretty big oh, wow moment for me when she hit that three at the buzzer again this year.

But certainly she’s just a special player, and I’m really thankful — here we are four years into it, and it went like the blink of an eye.

Q. On Caitlin again, much has been made about her competitiveness. Is there any one story that you have that really kind of epitomizes how competitive she is and maybe how you’ve had to rein that in or temper that a little bit?

LISA BLUDER: Man. I mean, I’ve had to call technicals on her in practice. I mean, she gets — like you see her in games and the emotion she plays with in games, the passion, the highs, the lows — she’s the same way in practice when we go against our practice guys, when we have officials in, and the officials that we’re bringing in sometimes don’t want to call technicals on us, so I’ll just do it from the bench because I do feel like we have to try to help her maintain her composure at times.

If they’re not going to do it, then I will.

Q. Regarding last game, you got no three-pointers from anyone outside Caitlin, from any of the supporting cast. How do you reignite Gabbie, Kate, all them from deep? What’s the key?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, to me, this is going to sound so simplistic, but honestly, it’s so much just confidence, and it’s just getting in the gym and seeing that ball splash through the net and feeling good about it and envisioning yourself being successful.

But at this point in the season, they know they’re good shooters. I don’t have to remind them too much, but I will, because again, I just think it’s such a huge, huge part of it is the confidence building.

Q. You guys have played a little faster each of the four years of Caitlin’s career. Obviously the game against West Virginia was your slowest paced of the season. Wondering how important pace is going to be in this game, and what are things you can do, have the team do early on to kind of set the pace?

LISA BLUDER: You know, I think both teams like to play quicker than what West Virginia did, so I think it’ll be a little bit more up and down game. But West Virginia really tried to slow it down, and they did a nice job with it. They did a really good job with it. Again, their defense was very good.

I think not having to get the ball to Caitlin sounds like a funny thing to speed the game up, but might be an opportunity for us, to not get her the ball right off the bat, get her into a shooting position instead of a ball handling position where they want to pick her up.

Q. You mentioned confidence. How important is that with Hannah? You mentioned the other night about wanting her to be more aggressive. How have you seen that or tried to get her to develop that this season, and how important has Caitlin been with her in terms of that?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I think your peers are so much more important than your coaches in building confidence. That’s what great leaders do. Great leaders are able to bring up everybody around them, and that’s what Caitlin has done with Hannah.

It’s kind of like you tell — if you’re a parent and you tell your kid to do something, and they’re like, uh-uh, and the neighbor tells them, oh, wow, it’s a revelation. Same thing now. Coaches can say something, but if the players say it, it means so much more.

So, yes, we’re going to continue to try to build her confidence because I just don’t think she’s tapped her potential, even come close to it. I think she’s a marvelous athlete and somebody that just needs to be told how good she is.

I think there’s a lot of women that are like that, unfortunately, that lose their confidence quickly, and people have tried to suppress them, keep them down, instead of building them up and letting them shine their light. She needs to shine her light because we’re at our best then.

Q. You talk about Caitlin and everybody knows what she can do on the floor and off the floor. Has she had a bigger impact on her teammates with her basketball knowledge and the things that she can do on the floor, or is it the things that the rest of us don’t see?

LISA BLUDER: I’d say it’s the things the rest of you don’t see. Honestly, she is the one that’s cracking the jokes, she’s the one that keeps the locker room happy, fun.

Kate Martin does a lot of that, too, don’t get me wrong. But again, like you said, everybody can see the basketball ability, but you guys don’t get to see — she’s a great student, too.

What she’s doing for like the Food Bank in Iowa City, what she’s doing with her foundation, how she’s improving our community with that, you guys don’t get to see all of those things, but then you also don’t get to see the goofy Caitlin that we get to see and that we love.

Q. Logistically I’d like to get your opinion on the super regionals, eight teams, four locker rooms, hotels all over the place. Did you like it the way it was before or do you like it now? Did they make any changes from last year that you think have improved things? What is your opinion?

LISA BLUDER: Well, we haven’t maybe been here long enough to see if there’s been any improvements or not. Truly Seattle was great for us. We were in a great hotel. Seattle was good.

Albany, obviously the hotels aren’t as plentiful and maybe as nice, and obviously we’re talking about every time we’re on extreme coasts. We play some pretty good basketball in the Midwest, too, and we’d love to have the opportunity to showcase women’s basketball at its finest in the Midwest, as well.

I’m not sure that I love the two extremes that we’re seeing because I think it’s a disadvantage to us. You’ve got UCLA and Colorado flying halfway across the country. Can’t there be something in the middle that helps a little bit? I don’t know. I would think so.

I think women’s basketball has grown so quickly, we haven’t been able to keep up with it. It has, it’s exploded, and we do these bids so far out that I don’t think people knew what to expect three or four years ago when they bid on these sites. They didn’t know what to expect.