Texas head coach Vic Schaeffer returned to the NCAA Tournament with the Texas Longhorns and, once again, Schaeffer and the Horns were hosting the first two rounds of the Big Dance.
Ahead of Texas' First Round tip off agains the William & Mary Tribe, the Longhorns' head coach sat down with media to discuss the postseason game and more:
Vic Schaefer pregame press conference opening statement
"Just to start, I'd like to congratulate Coach Dickerson Davis and her team, as well as High Point. What a great game that was last night. Two teams that really competed at a very high level. Again, I think y'all have heard me say this, my local media has heard me say this, the thing about this time of year is, you've got to get hot, and you've got to have a little luck. Well, man, William & Mary is really hot. They are playing so well. Coach has done a great job with them, her and her staff. They're playing at a very high level. They have our attention.
"I guess today we finally know who we're going to play, so we'll have a much more specific defensive practice today than we have had. We've had to kind of cover two different teams. I'll even go back to High Point, boy, they are way different than the team we saw last year in the Virgin Islands. Their coach and their staff have done a great job, I think, with their team and their program, as well.
"For our kids, this is what we work for. What a great opportunity. So proud of them to be able to host, to play in front of our fans. I think I've been told we have 300 tickets left for tomorrow night, which is outstanding. Just want to praise our community and our people here at the University for their efforts in promoting and supporting our kids.
"As I've said all along, if I can get you to come one time, I think you'll be back, and I think that's what's happened, especially with this team. They're such great kids. They have great personalities. They play the game the right way. They honor the game. They respect the game.
"Again, the gauntlet that they've gone through, to be 31-3, I don't have time to pay attention to what everybody thinks. I get phone calls or texts all the time from friends going, well, so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that. I don't really have a lot of energy, time or effort to put any credence in that. All I'm going to tell you is, I live in the Southeastern Conference. That is a really, really tough -- in my opinion, it's the biggest, baddest conference in the country.
"We have to play the best of the best every night, and for us to survive that gauntlet and have gone through it the way that we've done it against some of the best players in all of college basketball, to be where we are, we've lost two games in the state of South Carolina and one game in overtime at Notre Dame, and I say that to say this: My kids are tough. I'm proud of them. I'm excited about the opportunity that we have.
"They've worked really, really hard to get to this moment. So, as I've tried to encourage them, you don't want to take things for granted. We've worked really hard to be in the position we're in. But now is the time to not lose focus. I'm sure they'll be focused again today and very intentional with how we work out."
Vic Schaefer on Rori Harmon as a defender
"Not bad, is she? I'm so glad you asked me that. She's up for the National Defensive Player of the Year. Again, not taking anything from anybody else in the country, but nobody -- I'm telling you, I look at this kid every day. I've coached some great, great players in my time, some great defenders. Rori Harmon is the best I've ever coached.
"She's not only great on the ball, she's a great help defender, and she's a great sealer. She takes away driving lanes while still being able to cover out on her own player. I look at her every day, and again, I've had some really, really good defenders in my day, but she does so many things well. Again, what she does on that end and the impact that she has on our team, she'll take a charge, she'll get run over by a freight train, but then she does what I want her to do on the other end, which is go run my team, make a big shot, make a great decision.
"Again, I'm just telling you, she's really, really special. And she's really good. On the ball, off the ball, she's just got it all. I know there's some really good defenders across the country, but man, I look at it every day. I'm telling you, she impacts our team on that end of the floor so well. And you know what? She does it because she plays her guts out.
"Again, you show me somebody else that picks up 94 feet every night, does what she does, and then goes and runs their team on the other end and is accountable on that end for her coach and her team, and we can talk."
Vic Schaefer on Texas' hunter mentality
"It's funny you asked that because my thought for the day today -- I pulled up a thing, and I closed it out with, we've got to get our edge back. I thought we lost our edge in the second quarter in the championship game, and we've got to have that hunter's mentality. Again, I try to help them keep that. It's kind of what I feel like our job is as coaches, to keep that hunter's mentality.
"We know everybody is coming for us, but I think -- that's when I say you've got to keep an edge. That's the edge. The edge is, I'm coming for you. I am hunting you. I'm not on the defensive because you're coming after me. I thought we got on our heels a little bit in that second quarter. Again, you have to give South Carolina credit because they can make you feel that way a little bit, and then have 14,000 people screaming at you, that'll get you even more on your heels.
"But I think we've got to have that because, again, I don't have time to pay attention to all the pundits, but there's people that don't give us a snowball's chance in hell, and that's okay. I'm fine with that. I've kind of lived with that a lot. But I want my kids to embrace that. I want them to have an edge and take it a little bit personal because it is for me. Again, I know 31-3 in the Southeastern Conference with the schedule that we played in non-conference, you've got to give me a break."
Vic Schaefer on keeping his players motivated
"Well, again, I think our kids see the bigger picture. I think they know we're after a really big fish right now, so to speak. We're not satisfied. My job is to help them not be satisfied if they're feeling that way. Again, it is such a long, hard grind living in the league we live in, to go through the schedule we've gone through.
"It's easy right now to -- again, your friends are on spring break, they're skiing, they're at the beach. What are you doing? You're sitting here in Austin, Texas. You're practicing a couple hours a day. And then what? So it's easy to get in that -- for some of them. I'm not telling you all my kids are like that.
"But I think for us, I think the overall mentality of my team right now is -- and I've tried to remind them of this every day for the last two weeks, we are good enough. Again, all it takes is one bad game. We had a bad game last year in the Elite 8. That's the worst we had played in a long time. Give NC State credit. I'm not taking anything from them.
"But we picked a bad game to shoot it bad. We had some really good looks in that game in the first half that we didn't make that we'd be making all year long. This is not the time of year to be playing bad. If you do, you're going to get beat. But so my message to them is, hey, we're good enough. It would be a shame to not give this our full attention right now, where your feet are, live right now in this tournament because this is not guaranteed.
"I know we all take it for granted; it's what we've done. It's what we've done in the past. We've been here before, yada, yada, yada. It still doesn't matter. It's not guaranteed. I think the crazy thing or one of the things you have to commend my team on is, it's two years in a row now that we've lost a starter. This year, we've lost potentially two starters in Laila and Aaliyah Moore. Last year, we lost Rori Harmon.
"Yet my team, our kids have been able to gather up and figure out a way, along with my staff, to go win 30-something games. That's crazy. I'd like to get through a year with everybody intact just once
before I decide not to do this anymore. I'd just like to have my whole team that I start with in August, everybody together in April. But sometimes in athletics, this is what happens.
"But that's what's crazy about these past two years, and so I'm ultra proud of them. You can tell, I get excited about this group. Again, we've got to go do it. You've got to go live it. Talking the talk and walking the walk is two different things. But I want them to embrace where they are right now because this is not a given."
Vic Schaefer on if the NCAA should make the First Rounds regional
"You know, it's been a while since we did that. I think by giving teams the reward of being able to host, I think we're in a good place with that. I would like to see us go back to four sites for the regionals. Having eight teams at one place is problematic. We experienced that last year, from practice times available to shoot-around times available. When you've got eight people trying to run through there before that first game -- I would like to see us go back to regionals.
"Plus, I think then you can keep teams in their region a little bit. Right now, you've got them here and there. At least this year, we do have a semi-Midwest. It's a whole lot more Midwest than up in the east where you had West Coast and East Coast. But again, if I had a vote, which I don't, and they're not calling me to ask, but if I had one, I would like to see us go back to four Sweet 16s, where you have four teams at a place.
"But again, because of our sport and because there's so much attention and so much support for it right now, I think it's an evolving thing that they have to look at each and every year."
Vic Schaefer on Kyla Oldacre's impact and journey
"You know, I went up to her yesterday and said, man, I am really glad you're here at Texas. Kyla, she's just a wonderful young lady. You look at her, you don't get to see what I get to see every day. She's got a personality. She's just a special kid. You guys, all y'all see is that look that she's got when she's playing and on the floor.
"I see her a lot differently. I get to see her in so many different ways. But I've told the story, she's the only kid I've ever recruited that asked me to work her out on her visit. She's just a special kid, man. I love her. Her teammates love her. She's becoming more and more comfortable as a vocal person.
"I look for her next year to be one of our vocal leaders. The thing about it is, she can back it up physically, too. She's going to be great. By the time she gets out of here in another year, she's going to be another one that's going to go on and have a great career."
Vic Schaefer on Bryanna Preston and Jordan Lee providing a spark
"Yeah, you know, those two are -- they're our energizer bunnies. If you pay attention over on the bench, they're living and dying over everything that happens on the floor with their teammates. They celebrate everything good over there. They are animated. They're such good teammates. They're the energizer bunnies. They come in the game and usually change it.
"They make plays -- and the plays they make, y'all, Bryanna Preston, she's Rori on steroids when it comes to speed and quickness thing. I mean, Rori is really fast. Like, Preston is electric. That's how I describe those two. You know, I just think that both of them have meant so much to the success of our program this year. They've provided depth that I haven't had my whole time here at guard.
"I've heard Coach Harston mention to me early on, back in the summer about, man, talking about Preston, man, that's your kind of guard, Vic. Then, of course, Jordan Lee, when we were recruiting her, I knew she was way ahead of the curve defensively. She was a great help defender. She was really good on ball. She communicates. She talks. So she provides that, that most freshmen don't do.
"They just don't -- they're not either confident in doing that or it's not something that they have a habit of doing. But Jordan did that in high school, and she brought that with her. She is a confident kid. She doesn't worry about whether that's cool or not. Kids hear me tell them all the time, hey, this ain't about being cool or playing cool. Cool don't win. Man, both those kids have been so special and have added a really dynamic and necessary dimension to our team.
"Again, to me, that's our future. You start thinking about those two and Book, our guards for the future are really, really -- I think we're in a great place right now. Again, those two kids are -- I don't want to say they're the class clowns, but they're a lot of fun to be around. They keep things loose.
"I'm telling y'all, they got all the dance moves. Like, it is -- I told them this one time joking, like, if they ever take anybody with them to the club to dance, that'll be the last time anybody goes with them because those two ain't coming off the floor. By the time the 2:00 horn sounds and you've got to leave, they'll be wanting to stay, and the other person will be going, no, we have to go now, because they will absolutely wear them out.
"They are just full of juice and energy. They're just a lot of fun to be around. They're great kids, and again, you have to give their parents credit. They come from wonderful families, absolutely wonderful, wonderful families, and that's why those kids are as solid as they can be."
Also read: Everything Rori Harmon, Taylor Jones, and Madison Booker said before First Round game
The Longhorns and the Tribe were scheduled to tip off at 8:10 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 22, from the Moody Center in Austin, TX.