USA Basketball

USA head coach Anne Donovan, Seattle Storm
On today's game:
It feels great to have a berth to Beijing and have this behind us. But what feels better is where we are right now as a team. I feel so proud with how hard these women have worked and how much it's paid off.

Cuba came out and we jumped on them right away. I thought we stayed focused throughout the game with our bench. It was a really great effort throughout this tournament, five games in five days. We started with the best team in the tournament, we finished with the best team in the tournament. We could see Cuba start to wear down throughout this tournament and that's where our depth and our bench comes into play. If they've been watching us play they had to think twice about how we were going to start this game. We started exactly the way we wanted to and ran the whole game, which is what we wanted to do, keep the pressure on them.

Is this a good foundation for Beijing?
If we could take this team, this effort that we've made, this progress that we've made in these three or four weeks, if we could pick up where we leave off, this team will be in great shape come Beijing. I really can't say enough about where we are defensively and where our focus is, our energy and concentration. We have great offensive powers. But it's the other end of the floor that we've figured out. As long as we don't take any steps backwards and every time we get together for a training camp we move forward, we're going to be in good shape.

Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
How important was it to close out the tournament like you did?
Very important. Coming into it everybody was skeptical about whether we were going to win and be dominant in our wining. This shows everybody that we're back, we're on top and we're going to stay there.

What do you think about the performance of your teammates today?
I think everybody did well. Everybody was clicking on all cylinders. I think the first Cuba game was what set the tone for us. The first game we played against them we had to fight through that game to win it and from that point on the chemistry and everything else just came together.

Does this help wash away the feeling after the 2006 FIBA World Championship bronze medal finish?
There's still more redemption to come. But this eases the pain, but the big goal is to win in Beijing, that's what I'm looking forward to.

Sue Bird, Seattle Storm
On today's game:
I think today's game was the sum of everything that we've been working on. Everybody coming together, playing the way we can, being comfortable, being confident. Even though we haven't practiced much together, having those four games prior to this one really, really helped. With each game we got better and better and this game was the peak of all that.

How important was this gold medal for all of you?
We definitely ahve to redeem ourselves. Even though we've accomplished what we set out to do, which was to qualify for the Olympics, I think that our loss in Brazil is something that will fuel us, will motivate us when we do get to the Olympics. Still, in the last major championship, major competition, we finished third. That's still in the back of everybody's head. For the time being we're going to enjoy this one. We came here and we did what we had to do.

How fun is it playing with all these guys?
Obviously with the WNBA you're mostly going up against these guys. To play with Cappie, Katie, Kara, Diana, Swin, you name it, you can go down the list of every single player. We're having a great time together.

Did anyone stand out today?
Today in particular I think Katie really came out and was aggressive, attacked the basket and it really opened things up for everybody.

Rebekkah Brunson, Sacramento Monarchs
How does it feel to win the gold medal here today?
It feels great. I wasn't there last year, but I know everybody was disappointed about what happened in Brazil and everybody was hungry to come out here, do what was necessary and we got it accomplished. It's a wonderful feeling. I wish everybody luck in Beijing and hopefully we can get it done there.

Swin Cash , Detroit Shock
How important was it to finish off the tournament strong against Cuba?
I thought this game was very important. To see us out there playing and clicking on all cylinders was great. The hardest thing is always the close-out game. But any time that you have veterans out there, a lot of players who played on the World Championship team last year, didn't want to see another championship go by. The energy was there, the motivation was there and we came out with a big win.

How does it feel to now be qualified for Beijing?
It feels great. That was better than even winning the game, knowing what was at stake, to now punch that ticket. Next year we know we're going to Beijing, we can prepare and that's the focus from here on out.

Kara Lawson, Sacramento Monarchs
How good does it feel to get a win like this?
This feels great. We really wanted another chance at Cuba. The first game they played us really tough and we felt like we were just getting our feet wet in the tournament. Since that game we really came together and gelled. We basically blew out teams because we played the style that we wanted to play: get up and down, score a lot of points, make them tired and use all 12 players. So it's fitting for us to end the tournament on this type of note. It's a real positive for us, getting that berth to Beijing.

DeLisha Milton-Jones, Washington Mystics
How good was it to get this gold medal?
It felt rather good. This medal symbolizes us accomplishing our mission and that mission was to put ourselves back in the running for another gold medal in the Olympics. China is our ultimate goal right now, winning the gold in China will be the pinnacle of all of our success.

On today's game and the tournament overall:
We did a great job during this tournament, there was a gradual increasing of intensity on the offensive end and defensive end for us. We've improved overall as a team. We picked a great night to come out of the box strong and finish strong. Cuba is a force to be reckoned with but I still say the USA is the number one team in the world and we showed that in this tournament.

There are a lot of players in the USA National Team Pool, but overall has the team laid a good foundation for the future?
Definitely. I think that the pool that we have in place, the 27 women, out of those 27 women (the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee) can pick any combination of women who will do great things anywhere in this world in any tournament. I don't think that that's something we need to worry about. I'm just so sad that I have to leave this great group of women.

Has this been a fun bonding experience?
Most definitely. We had so much fun together in such a short period of time, we're going to shed some tears, reminisce and celebrate.

Courtney Paris, University of Oklahoma
You've competed a lot for USA Basketball, how does this tournament rank for you?
Every competition I've been a part of with USA Basketball has been great, but this one was particularly great. Because this was my first time really with the senior national team and I learned a ton. It's pretty cool to play on a team that's qualifying to play in the Olympics. It's been pretty cool.

How much will this help you next year?
I think it's going to help me a lot. Everyday in practice is probably what's been best for me, getting tips from these players and these coaches, going up against the toughest players in the world. That's going to go a long way for me, especially going back to the college level.

You seem to have a lot more confidence playing on this team than you had in Italy this spring:
That was my first time, I didn't know what to expect. Every little mistake you can't let it go. But this time I got over that. I worked on some stuff this summer and came back a lot more confident and was lucky enough to be a part of the team that came here.

Candace Parker, University of Tennessee
On today's game:
We came out and jumped on them early, did what we needed to do. They didn't have an answer for our defense and for our transition play. We just pushed the ball and played together.

Do you think they were surprised by the way the team came out?
We didn't come out like that the first time so we kind of gave them some hope that we would come out like that again. But we knew that with the type of basketball that we play, we come out like that every night, we learned from the first game and we've been coming out strong like that ever since.

Do you think you established a good foundation for Beijing?
I think so. I think the important thing is that in every game we improved, we did so much better than the previous night. I'm just so proud of how we played.

Cappie Pondexter, Phoenix Mercury
You've won a number of gold medals playing for USA Basketball, including a couple of age-based FIBA World Championships (U19 and U21), how does this stack up?
It's special because last year I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get the opportunity to compete for USA Basketball (at the FIBA World Championship). So having the year to prepare and get ready now I can say that I've helped the USA take that step to Beijing and hopefully have a part in Beijing. This ranks in the top three, definitely top three.

Do you feel good about your play over these five days?
Oh yeah, I think I came in and contributed, gave them energy. I think I played my roll well. I'm excited and I'm looking to help the team get better. I'm looking forward to the next training camp to make some more good things happen.

On the difference between the USA's first game against Cuba and tonight:
I think defensively we applied a lot of pressure and our depth wore them down. In the first game we really didn't pressure them defensively. We really weren't cohesive as a unit. We got a lot better over the last four days and we were gelling.

Katie Smith, Detroit Shock
How does it feel to be qualified for the Olympics?
We handled what we were supposed to handle. It was exciting to win, but this is really where we want to be. Everybody played well, I was really pleased with the way this team came together in such a short amount of time and now we're Beijing bound!

This feels awesome. We came down here to do this, to punch our ticket and now we can focus on what we need to do when we get there. We have a lot more training to go the next year, but I'm excited about what we did tonight.

On tonight's game:
I think Cuba really thought that they played well against us the first night, but I don't think we played very well. I think they thought they had a pretty good chance tonight. I thought we handled our business from the get-go and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
On today's game:
We came into this game real focused. We played them in the first game and we watched film this morning and saw we didn't play well in that first game. We were offensively and defensively kind of hesitant. Today we came out and played aggressive on both ends and it showed for 40 minutes. The beauty about this team is that any combination of five players out there were confident and it showed on the court. This was definitely a statement tournament for us. We're getting back to where we were a few years ago. Brazil was definitely a let down, we obviously ended it on a good note against Brazil (in the bronze medal game), but we left with a sour taste. This was good to get things back on track.

You seemed to better as a team as the week wore on:
Everyday we got a little bit better and in a tournament like this where you don't have time to prepare, it's what you want. When the finals come around you want to play your best basketball and that's what we did tonight.

Tina Thompson, Houston Comets
On today's game:
We had a great start and that's how we wanted to start the game. I was really happy with our effort. Everyone was focused leading up to the game, knowing what we had to do. Our goal was to come in and qualify for the Olympics and we did that and we are very excited.

Did it feel good to be able to put Cuba away early?
It was great to be able to put them away early. But the awesome thing about that is that we never relaxed. We knew that at some point they were going to make a run because they are a good team. But the fact that we jumped out there and made a statement early had them on their backs the whole time, playing with their backs against the wall. It feels good, I'm excited, I'm happy. I now know that everything we do is preparing for Beijing and we got that monkey off our backs.

Do you feel you've laid a good foundation for Beijing?
I think so. Diana and I were talking about that during the medal ceremony. The starting five had a chemistry that kept growing and growing each day. We showed that today, coming out in the gold medal game and finishing them off. It feels good. This group bonded together. Who knows what combination is going to be together or what's going to happen, who's going to be there when we go to Beijing, but everyone has given an effort that no matter who's there, no matter what combination we have, we know that we're all on the same page. We're all going to give a high level of effort and intensity. That's a good thing.