On the road with the Colonials: Day five

Good morning from Santa Clara. While it is Easter Sunday, there is no break for the team as it prepares for tomorrow's matchup with California. After breakfast, the team sat and watched the film of yesterday's Auburn game (pictured above). Now the coaching staff is presenting the detailed scouting report on the Golden Bears.

Now it's off to practice and the news conferences. Back with more in a little while.

Update, 12.10 p.m. - Back in the media wing of the Arrillaga Family Sports Center. The team is currently practicing across the street in Maples Pavilion. The session is closed to the media, so there is nothing to report at the moment. I will ask about it at the GW news conference, which begins at 1.50 p.m. Please check back later.

Update, 2.11 p.m. - The team just got done with its media session (pictured to the left). Coach Joe McKeown and company said they are looking forward to tomorrow's matchup against Cal. One of the keys mentioned a couple of times was not being too edgy like the squad was in the first half against Auburn yesterday. I'll get to work on transcribing the full conference on the bus ride back to the hotel. Check back in a little while.

Update, 6.36 p.m. - My apologies for the delay. Here are the highlights from the GW press conference:

McKeown's opening statement: "I'm very happy, obviously, to get past Auburn, and looking forward to a great matchup against Cal tomorrow night, and it should be a really exciting basketball game. I thought we played really well, kept our poise in the last 10 minutes of the game yesterday. I thought we struggled a little bit in the first half, but I was really proud of the way our players kept their composure, and they did what we had to do, basically, at the end of the game. Cal presents some different challenges for us. Obviously a strong inside game with Hampton and the other players, Walker. Their perimeter, Alexis Gray-Lawson, and it seems like they just have a lot of key parts who can shoot. They've had a great year, so it should be a terrific matchup."

McKeown on today's practice: "In the NCAA Tournament, in my experience, and you know we've been very fortunate to be in, I don't know, 15 or 16 of them. To me, what happened yesterday I'm not really that concerned with because we get a chance to play tomorrow. To be honest with you, I think our focus was more about Cal, and in all honesty, more about us, more about the things that we have to do to be successful tomorrow night and just play. I think the biggest thing you can do in this tournament, in the years that we've been able to get through a couple round has been not worrying about what happened the night before, and I think that's our attitude right now."

McKeown on if his familiarity with California coach Joanne Boyle from her days Richmond: "She did a terrific job at Ricmond, and put Richmond into the NCAA Tournament, and obviously has very quickly put Cal into the top 10 in college basketball, so I admire how quickly she has gotten this team to play at this level. I do think she's running, just when you watch a little bit of film, I've seen them on television a little bit because I stay up late, most coaches don't sleep, and just seeing some of the same things she did at Richmond. But I think they've done a real good job of adjusting to the players they've got here at Cal and trying to fit what would be successful with Devanei Hampton. She didn't really have that type of player at Richmond. Nobody did."

McKeown on making the adjustment from having a week to prepare for Auburn to two days for California: "Obviously the other team has the same situation. Although, I think at GW we're pretty much focused more on us than the other team. What we did preparing for Auburn was interesting because we just played them in January, so we had a lot of things to go off of. Cal obviously we haven't played at all. But in all honesty, I think in ways when you win a game in the NCAA Tournament...you want to play again. You really don't want to sit there and watch 26 scouting reports, 82 films, you know how coaches are. But these guys just want to play, so I think in a way if you're a player, you'd rather just turn around, play Saturday, and you're excited to play Monday."

Same question for Kimberly Beck: "We're all excited to be here and a week of practice was good. We needed the practice and we needed the rest and we needed to work on our execution, but we just wanted to get here and play. That's what the NCAA Tournament is all about. All the waiting around is nice, but we just want to get out there and play against somebody else other than ourselves in practice. So we're excited about Cal tomorrow, and it's going to be a great matchup."

Jessica Adair on the keys to battling the Golden Bears down low: "Stay out of foul trouble, bring my A-game tomorrow, and keep them off the boards, box out. Their post players are very good inside. I mean, it's the base of their team, and stopping them, I think we have a great chance to win."

Sarah-Jo Lawrence on what the team did well against Auburn: "I think we attacked as we needed to. We definitely rebounded. That's been a bit of a focus for us throughout the whole season...I think we were very unselfish as a team. It's hard to say you just stop two players on GW and they're going to fold. We have a starting lineup and bench players that can hang with pretty much anybody in the country, so I think it was sharing the ball, hitting the open people, and finishing and-ones all night that was really what made our game so interesting and so fun to play in, so I think we did a great job."

From talking to some of the California players, it seems as though Rama N'diaye will not be playing tomorrow night. N'diaye injured her right knee during the second half of yesterday's win over San Diego. This would be a big loss for the Golden Bears, as the 6-5 sophomore is third on the team in rebounding and fifth in scoring. N'diaye is usually the first player off the bench for Boyle, and the most talented interior reserve on the squad. In a game that will likely be decided in the post, the absence of N'diaye could be a major factor.

It's almost dinner time for the team. I'll be back with more later.

Update, 8.59 p.m. - The team is settling in for another film session. It's closed to the media, so there will be no update, but McKeown said he was ready to buckle down for a long night of Cal preparation.

This is the final business activity of the evening for the squad. Tomorrow brings an 8.30 a.m. shoot-around. I'll be back then.