March 16, 2003

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell spoke with the media Sunday night after finding that her team would enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed and would play Austin Peay on Saturday in Boulder, Colo. Following is a transcript of her comments:

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell: "We're just excited to know who we're playing next. We love Colorado - (assistant coach) Charlotte Smith-Taylor played for the ABL team out there and (assistant coach) Tracey Williams lived out there when she worked for USA Basketball in Colorado Springs. So we've got a lot of friends out there and we're excited to be going out there to play. Of course, we wish we were playing at home like we've done the last few years, but it's a different format. We're excited about playing and we'll be leaving on Wednesday night."

Austin Peay was expecting a much higher seed. Were you surprised when you saw that you were matched up with Austin Peay?

Hatchell: "I know they've got a really good team and I know their coach, Susie Gardner. I knew her when she played at Georgia - she was a great three-point shooter. She just has that winning mentality and she's done a fantastic job at Austin Peay. I would have thought they'd be a higher seed. They've done really, really well and dominated their conference. So, I'm sure they were disappointed, in that they expected to be a higher seed. They just have such a great team. But, you just never know what the NCAA committee looks at and how they make their decisions."

What is your opinion about where you're going? We're you surprised?

Hatchell: "Well, this being the first year for this format, I just had no clue where we'd be going. It's just a whole different thing - there was just no way to determine anything. We're just glad to be playing and we'll just go do the best we can."

Going to Colorado is obviously a big altitude shift and you don't have a lot of time to adjust. How do you plan to deal with that?

Hatchell: "We're going out Wednesday evening. Charlotte (Smith-Taylor, one of the UNC assistants) has played out there and I've coached a lot of USA Basketball teams that have trained in Colorado Springs, so we sort of know how it is to adjust to the altitude. Austin Peay has got to do the same thing, so we'll be in the same situation.

Was your first choice to go to Old Dominion?

Hatchell: "I didn't really have a choice. I really didn't know what to expect, to tell you the truth. I wasn't trying to map it out and say this is where we should go because I just don't think you can do that anymore."

When will you have a chance to find out more about Austin Peay?

Hatchell: "We're already gathering information, we've been doing that the last couple of hours. My staff does an outstanding job with our scouting reports, breaking down film and putting information together. We've already gathered some information and we've got a lot more coming in the next couple of days. So we'll get everything we can and put a game plan together. At this point everybody's good and we know Austin Peay is an excellent team."

After looking at tape from the Duke game last week, what were some of the things that you saw that did not work for you and what do you hope to improve on this week?

Hatchell: "I thought first half we did a really good job. The second half, (Iciss) Tillis and (Alana) Beard took over and took most of their shots. The first half, Duke was playing a lot of team basketball with a lot of people taking the shots and in the second half, basically Tillis and Beard were taking all the shots. Those are their two stars. They either scored or we fouled them just about every time and we've got to do a better job of that. For the tournament, I thought we played two-and-a-half excellent games. Against Duke, we played well in the first half, and our regular-season game against them at home was a great game, so I think Duke has prepared us really well for the tournament. We're just going to try to go do as much damage as we can do."

What do you think of this new format, in which you aren't guaranteed the first two rounds at home if you're a top seed?

Hatchell: "From Day 1, I've said I don't like it. I think a lot of other coaches have said the same thing. I don't know of a coach that likes it, unless it's someone who's playing at home all the way through. If they weren't playing at home, they wouldn't like it either. I'm just disappointed we've gone to this format. Either leave it the way we had it before or go to eight neutral sites. It should be what's fair and best for the student-athletes. They play all season long to put themselves in the best position possible and then a high seed has to go to a lower seed and play on their home court. I've talked to a lot of coaches about it and I don't know of a coach that's for it. But that's the way it is right now. It's what we've got to live with. Hopefully they'll learn a lot from this tournament and make changes for the better in the future."

Do you think that they should allow a team to conceivably play its first four games at home?

Hatchell: "I don't know of anybody in the country that would say it was fair except a school that's doing it. If I was getting to play all my games at home, I'd like that. But hey, (Tennessee and Stanford) saw an opportunity to play at home up to the Final Four and they put in their bids and were awarded it. It's the system. That's the way it is this year. We're just going to go do as much damage as we can do and take things one game at a time. Right now we're not thinking about Tennessee or Colorado or anybody else. We're thinking about Austin Peay because we know they're a great team and Susie (Gardner) is going to have them well-prepared.

Do you think you have one of the more difficult matchups in terms of going up against a No. 14 seed?

Hatchell: "Well, I think they're better than that seed. A lot of teams could say they deserve a little different bracket. I just know that they're a good team and that they're probably better than what their seed is. You can look the brackets and say a lot of different things according to your opinions and your conference. Our conference is second in the RPI and yet we got four teams in. There are conferences that got five, six, seven teams in. That concerns me because if we're the second best conference, why do we not have more teams in?

Are you satisfied to be a three seed? Is that where you expected to be?

Hatchell: "I figured we'd be a three seed. Possibly a two seed, but probably a three seed. I thought that's where we might be."

With the ACC Tournament ending almost a week ago, what is it like for you and the players with such a long layoff between the ACC and the NCAA?

Hatchell: "We had two great practices on Tuesday and Wednesday after we played Monday night. The players were off for spring break on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and they came back in today. So we had a little bit of time off to rest and heal up our bumps and bruises, but I really liked the way we left after practice on Wednesday. We're excited about the chance to play and we're headed to Colorado Wednesday night."