On the road with the Colonials: Day three

Good morning from Santa Clara. It's a busy day with an early start for GW. The team was instructed to come to breakfast dressed for practice. From here, we'll transport over to Maples Pavilion for the first time. After the news conference and a two-hour practice, the team has a few hours of free time until the post-dinner film session begins.

Obviously, it's a very important business day for the squad with just over 24 hours to go until tip-off. I'll be back in a little while with news and notes from the press conference.

Update, 11.08 a.m. - After breakfast in the hotel, the team spent about 15 minutes watching film on Auburn (see the picture to the left). Assistant coach Ali Jaques led the session; she said that the Tigers have added many new offensive sets since their loss to GW on January 3.

Just got done with the GW media session. Here is the transcript:

Opening statement by coach Joe McKeown: "First of all, I want to congratulate the teams that are here. It's interesting that we're playing Auburn in the first round since we just played them in January, so that's kind of a unique matchup that was a little bit unexpected. But that being said, all the brackets are set, all the teams are ready, and I think for our team it's just a great opportunity to keep playing and we have a lot of experience from the standpoint this is the fourth ncaa tournament for our seniors. They've played really well in this tournament. Haven't always won every game, but have played well. And last year we got to the final 16, lost to North Carolina. So I think there's a little chip on their shoulder. I know there's one on mine. We're just excited about the matchup. We have a lot of respect for Auburn. We hit a shot at the buzzer to beat them at Auburn, so it was one of those games that could have went either way. It was a great college basketball game, actually. It went down to the last second, so I expect tomorrow to be a great game, also."

McKeown on the advantages and disadvantages of facing Auburn again: "I'm not sure there's any real advantage or disadvantage either way. I think it's just more a familiarity. We're very familiar with each other. We played twice in the last, you know, we played them at GW the year before, too, in December. Obviously we're familiar with what they do, and it's just stopping them because one of the the things that we learned down in Auburn and in the game the year before is Bonner is one of the top players in the country, I think one of the top players in this tournament, and they've got a really solid surrounding cast. But I think like any NCAA Tournament, for us it's more about things that we're going to try to do, and leaning on our seniors, too, and our experience. It'll be a tough matchup."

Sarah-Jo Lawrence on being back in the NCAA Tournament as a senior and trying to meet the goal of reaching the Final Four set at the beginning of the season: "Well, I think the goal still stands. We've had a lot of ups and downs this season, but it's like every season, we play every game. We still have the same goals coming into this tournament, but we can't look so far ahead. We're taking it one game at a time. You know, we learned that this year with kind of overlooking games, so we're at the point right now where we're just taking every game for what it is, and we're looking at Auburn right now and seeing what we can do. Since we already played them this season, we're seeing what we did well, what we can improve on to make it a good game and hopefully come out with the victory."

Same question for Kimberly Beck: "NCAA Tournament - it's our last one. This is what it's all about. This is what we've been practicing for and playing for all year, so we're happy to be here. We're ready to play Auburn on Saturday. It's been a long week of practice, working the kinks out, and just preparing for the games ahead. Like Sarah-Jo said, we're taking it one step at a time, so Auburn's on our plate first, and that's what we're going to handle."

Same question for Whitney Allen: "This tournament is about having fun and I think if we go out there and play GW basketball and have fun the rest will work itself out and we will accomplish our goals and it will be a great time."

McKeown on how Auburn has changed in the two and a half months since the two teams last played: "I'll tell you the one thing that people have to understand about Auburn: Nell Fortner's a terrific coach. Won the gold medal with our Olympic team. Done a terrific job at Auburn, Purdue, had Purdue in the NCAA Tournament, and coached in the WNBA. I think they've done a really good job of just taking their team during the SEC Conference and adjusting because they had to change some lineups and everything. Right now I think she's got them playing really well. Like any team that you play in December or early January, teams change, teams evolve, just like us. I think we're a different team than we were in January. But I think Auburn, she's really made some adjustments that I think fit her team really well."

McKeown also told everyone that this is Allen's 12th NCAA Tournament appearance. I meant to take pictures during the press conference, but I was the only media member there, so I was busy (the interview room is pictured to the left).

Update, 11.18 a.m. - Before I headed over to practice, Auburn sat down for its media session. I asked coach Nell Fortner her thoughts on facing GW again and what advantages and disadvantages the rematch brings:

"There's definitely an advantage in a sense that you've already played them, so coaches are familiar, players are familiar. You have a lot of the scouting already done, so it gives you an opportunity to re-familiarize your team with George Washington. I think the disadvantage is that you have played each other, just the opposite side of the coin on that one. They know our players, and I'm sure they're doing things to take some things away from them. But we're doing the same thing, so I don't think it's good or bad one way or the other. It just is what it is. It's like another game during the season that you've played somebody before and you're just playing them again."

Now I'm really on my way to GW's practice.

Update, 12.48 p.m. - The team is wrapping up practice at the Ford Center, which is across the street from Maples Pavilion. Think of the Ford Center as the Stanford equivalent of the Lerner Health and Wellness Center, but much nicer (for example, an entire gymnastics room is located behind me). The players and coaches seem happy with how the session has gone. This is the final practice before tomorrow's game, so everyone is really locked in at this point.

California was practicing in this gymnasium before the Colonials, and Auburn is here next. Therefore, it's time to leave Stanford's campus and head back to the hotel. More to follow later on. Please check back then.

Update, 8.04 p.m. - The team just finished going through the lengthy scouting report on Auburn. After giving an overview of each Tigers player, the coaches are now critiquing footage of the meeting from January 3 (pictured to the left). All of the players have been extremely attentive during the session, and some have raised questions of their own to the coaching staff.

I can't forget to mention the awkward moment of the day, which occurred when the team was leaving the Ford Center for the team bus. While walking down the sidewalk past Maples Pavilion, GW crossed paths with Auburn, as the Tigers were sitting on the grass outside of the arena enjoying the California sunshine. No words were exchanged, but it was certainly an interesting moment.

It's another early start tomorrow. After an eight a.m. breakfast, everyone will get on the bus and depart for Maples Pavilion at 9.15 a.m.

I'll be posting the game preview later on tonight. We'll try to update with more information tomorrow, but we have a broadcast to take care of, so it may take us a little while to catch up. Please check back then.