North Carolina State University Athletics
Jimmy V Women's Classic Quotes
11/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2003
Game 1: Texas vs. NC State
Game 2: Purdue vs. Duke
Nick Valvano overall comment:
"It's very exciting for us to have a second national event like this right in our backyard here. I think we're really excited about it. This is the first event we ever created, where before the event started, we said this is where the money is going, and the money that is raised here, is going to fund a breast cancer research project. Last year, we gave a grant to a researcher at Duke Medical Center. This year, we'll give one at UNC, and each year we're going to hope to give at least a $50,000 grant every year from the proceeds. So, we're really excited to have a Final Four atmosphere and teams. Basketball is very, very close to our family and Jim was a very early proponent and supporter of women's basketball; [he] got me interested in it a long time ago. So, we're glad to have everyone here."
Texas assistant coach Kathy Harston's opening statement:
"Our coaching staff, team and university are really thrilled to have the opportunity and even to have been asked to participate in such a great event that obviously is such a great cause. We changed our home schedule around after they invited us to come and play in this. We dropped a home game on our schedule last year just to come. This is an event that, really for me, hits really close to home. I lost my mom to lung cancer five years ago, and coach Conrad is involved in a lot of the cancer stuff here in Austin. So, we're really excited. There's no one in the coaching profession that coach Conrad has more respect for than Kay Yow and what she has done at North Carolina State. So, we're excited to have been asked and looking forward to coming to Raleigh this weekend."
NC State head coach Kay Yow's opening statement:
"I'm extremely proud to be a part of the first two Jimmy V Classics for women. It's great basketball, has top players, outstanding coaches and of course it's raising money for cancer research, such a worthy cause. In addition to all of that, it gives me a chance to tell my own team about Jimmy V, who he was, what he did and what his foundation means to so many people today. I mean my own battle with cancer, along with my mom's and Jim's. I have great reason to be excited about this event in so many ways. I'm sorta, in some sense, the odd man out, with the other three teams playing in a great event this past weekend, and all teams, I thought, showing very well. Then, being the unranked team, we're certainly very much the underdog, and I hope that we can hold up our own to compete with a great team from Texas. I'm excited for Jody. I remember the years when she had the undefeated team in the nation and won the national championship. I know she had a few years where they are down, and I'm really, personally, excited for her to have a strong team back once again. I consider it an honor to go against her team this weekend."
Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors's opening statement:
"We were very fortunate last year to play in the first ever Jimmy V event, so we were so honored to be asked back this year. It's just a wonderful event and especially considering it's for breast cancer research, we definitely wanted to be involved with that. We know we have a very tough task ahead of us. Purdue already looks like they are in mid-season form, which is pretty scary, but we're definitely looking forward to the opportunity."
Purdue head coach Kristy Curry's opening statement:
"We're so privileged to have the opportunity to play in this type of event. I think, certainly growing up and being a little bit younger, having a chance to look up to someone like Jimmy V and understanding what all he went through. I just have so much respect and it's just an honor. I think it has touched all of us. Having had Katie Douglas a couple years ago and for her to lose both parents [to cancer], and to have a grandmother right now that's very, very sick and only has a little bit left with pancreatic [cancer]. So, I think it has touched all of us and our program is just so honored to have the privilege. To play an opponent like Duke, and we consider them an honor in itself, and we're just looking forward to the trip this weekend."
Purdue coach Kristy on win over Texas this past weekend and what to take from that game to prepare for Duke:
"I think that that was a very difficult situation as far as the opponent, but I'm really pleased with how our kids responded. It was a great start. But, certainly the thought for today is if what we did yesterday still looks big to us today, then we haven't done much. It was a great start. I see so many things we can improve at. It was a hard event for someone to walk away from with a loss because everyone is so excited about the start of the season, and we were fortunate to be on the good end of that. We're playing a Duke team that is incredibly athletic, their big. They are going to give us a lot of match-up problems and it's going to come down to us doing a nice job on the defensive end to have a chance to compete."
Purdue coach Kristy on Duke:
"They're just so athletic and they're big and strong. When you look down their roster, they have a high school all-american at every spot except for the Australian and had she been in the States, I'm sure she would have been one too. We've got four high school all-americans on our team. I think that says enough in itself, in that obviously, we're going to have to use our quickness at the head and do all the little things that's gotten us where we've been in the past with having some success. The bottom line is that 1999 was a long time ago and I wasn't a part of that and no one on my team was a part of that, so we really can't look back. We can't go back on previous experiences, nothing to compare anything to. We're just going to have to have an 'A' plus effort against someone with their caliber and their size."
NC State head coach Kay Yow on what she has discussed to her team about Jim Valvano:
"At the moment, I've only mentioned it. But, of course, I have all the footage from all his speeches, whether it was at the ESPYs or the last time he was at Reynolds Coliseum. I'd really like to show them part of the footage from the ESPYs and then show them his last speech in Reynolds Coliseum. They have not seen that yet; they won't see that until Thursday of this week. I could even hold it until Saturday because we play Loyola Marymount from Californina on Friday night in a double-header with our men at the RBC Center. But they know we're going to hear about him and they really look forward to it.
NC State head coach Kay Yow on anything particular that she wants to use from Jimmy V to help inspire her team:
"I just hope they will be inspired to be a part of the event. I just hope they will know more of who he was, how he was so motivated, the passion he had for the game and I just want them to know that this is a special event. It's in honor of a special person and a special cause. I just know it would mean so much to him. I don't think people know that Jim always knew about women's basketball. He always knew where the teams were ranked, what was happening and I had many conversations with him about women's basketball. He was just knowledgeable about all sports."
Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors on the 1999 game and looking forward to a rematch with Purdue:
"I think it's like Kristy said in that the players have all changed since then. I might be the only one in my staff that was part of that game. It just seems like such a different time. I'm looking forward to playing Purdue just because I know they are such a good team, and regardless of the outcome, we're going to learn so much about ourselves and we're going to get better. So, I haven't really been thinking about the past. Certainly it's a game that I'll never forget, but it it's just a totally different time for us."
Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors on what she saw against Purdue when they played Kansas State last weekend:
"I think that Purdue is in mid-season form. They look very comfortable, very confident. We knew they were a great three-point shooting team, and they're very disciplined. For this early in the season, I guess I was surprised at how disciplined they were and how well they ran through all their sets and knew exactly what shots they were looking for. They did a great job on the defensive end as well. So, I thought they were much further along than I think many teams are at this point in the season."
