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Head Coach John Cook
Opening Statement
“I think I love the colors of the floor in the Qwest, it’s a different look. I love the theme and ?The Wave to Tampa’. It’s bright and takes time to get used to. We’re excited to be here. We’re happy we made it up here. We’re glad it’s warm here.”
On the point they made about getting to Omaha at the beginning of the season
“I wanted to make sure that our team knew the opportunity we had in Omaha. I had a feeling we might be a little shaky out of the gate like we were. Tonight they are going to know why we were talking about getting to Omaha. I can’t tell you because it is a secret, they don’t even know it. We’ve had this plan for what would happen after we got here. That will be tonight at the meeting. The bottom line is that we had to take it in steps. We had to look at our nonconference season, our conference season and getting to Omaha. Because now we’ve put ourselves in the position to have a shot.”
On if he feels any different knowing all the teams in the regional
“As a coaching staff you feel more confidence, but you might start over thinking about what they might do different, this is what they did last time are they going to change it up? it probably drives the coaching staff a little bit crazy. What I talked to our team about, it’s like the NBA Finals, and it’s four out of seven. Everybody knows what everybody else is doing by the third or fourth game and that is where we’re at. It will come down to execution and will and heart. Who wants it the most? Whose commitment level is the deepest? For us, I know this group has worked very hard, has overcome a lot and has been going at this since January. I know our commitment level is deep.”
Kori Cooper
On what the difference is about this team from last year’s team
“I think we have had to overcome a lot this year. We really haven’t really thought about what a long year it has been. It’s been one game and one point at a time. I think that is what has prepared us for the postseason, taking it one play and one point at a time. We have had some tough battles and did have some ups and downs. It only made us stronger and helped us grow more. We’re really excited to be here for this challenge. We’re looking forward to laying it all out there.”
On what they can learn from when Iowa State beat them in Lincoln
“We don’t want to dwell on the negatives at all, but we do want to learn from it. We ride with confidence from the positive things and learn from the negative. That has been our mentality all year.”
On if the floor will affect home court advantage
“It’s the Qwest, it’s Omaha. We’re home.”
Setter Sydney Anderson
On what the difference is about this team from last year’s team
“We’re a team that loves to battle and compete and mentally each person wants to be the best that we can be. To get that whole team together playing on one team, it’s going to be something really special.”
On what they need to take into the match tomorrow with Iowa State
“Like Coach said, they might come out with something totally different so it’s just us being able to adapt to something new. (We need to) just play our game, focus on our side, on our team and have some fun. Out there at Iowa State, we had a ball, we were doing it together and that will be the biggest thing for us.”