Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis and student-athletes Izabela Nicoletti Leite, Meghan Andersen, and Kaety L'Amoreaux participated in the NCAA Media Day Press Conference previewing their matchup against fifth-seeded Kansas State.
Q. Your players were just talking about how much of a family feel this is and how this core group all chose to come back and play another year here. What do you love most about being the head coach at Fairfield?
CARLY THIBAULT-DUDONIS: I don't know how much time we have. I could go on for a little while. You heard them talk about how it is a family-oriented place. But we get great young women who care about the place, the people, their academics, the entire experience that comes with being a student-athlete in college. And so we have women that not only care about their experience, but they care about each other.
I get to coach women who love what they do, love who they do it with, and it really does make it more than just about winning basketball games. Ultimately that's our goal, but the bonds that they've created together, the way that they show up every day, and, of course, they're 18 -- in Iza's case, 25-year-old women.
They're not always going to have great days all the time but they always have teammates willing to pick them up. They're a great group to coach. Even I roll my eyes here and there a couple times a day. But I love getting up every day to go coach them every single day.
Q. If you could talk a little bit about the importance of Iza to the program from the leadership perspective and how you've seen her develop in this season too?
CARLY THIBAULT-DUDONIS: She's my first-ever recruit to Fairfield. We call her the OG for a lot of reasons. And she believed in this before this was a thing, before she knew what it was going to look like and how it was going to feel.
I'm really proud of her growth. We got her when she was four years into college, really, already but hadn't played a big role for Florida State. She had two ACLs and had a hard time recovering to play at the ACC level at that point.
She kind of went through all stages of things in her career at Fairfield so far, where the first year she was so happy to be on the court, so happy to score the ball again, to shoot the ball again, and we needed her to. That team was a little offensively challenged that first year. We needed her to shoot and try and score.
The second year she really grew into a facilitator a pass-first point guard. Sometimes to our detriment where we needed her to score.
She's been able to put it all together this year where she's done both, taking the care of the ball at an impressive level, one of the best in the country, aggressively looking to score when we needed to her. But I think the thing that probably doesn't show up in stats is how she shows up. She has just a joy for the game. She never takes it for granted. She had it taken away from her with ACLs. She's such an example how she walks the walk every day.
She doesn't take practice for granted, doesn't take a drill for granted.
There's times I'm telling her to take fewer reps. She's like, no, I want to win, in a 2-on-2 warm-up drill. That bleeds into everybody on the roster how she loves the game and the feel.
Q. The team struggled in the first games of the tournament but then had 15 3s in the championship game. What does it say about the team that they can have that great shooting night under the brightest lights?
MEGHAN ANDERSEN: I think it just goes to show how we push through adversity and how we have confidence in each other no matter what. Yeah, we didn't have our best two shooting games, but we kept putting in the work no matter what, kept taking those shots. You saw Sydni Scott 6-for-6 for 3s.
For us, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We have the confidence in each other and we trust each other.
Q. Kaety, second time around, second tournament appearance in two years. What are the emotions like this year, and are they different from last year?
KAETY L'AMOREAUX: I would say it's very similar to last year, very exciting experience, but like Iza said, we're a more experienced and we've added to the team, had more time together. But I feel like this year we're more comfortable here and, like, more ready. I think having that under our belts from last year, that we just know what to expect.
Q. Iza, you've had a long journey in college, seventh year here. What does it mean for you to be in this position to cap your career? Kaety, what does the senior class mean to you and how have they helped you through your experience here?
IZABELA NICOLETTI LEITE: It means a lot for me, of course. Like you said, I've been in college for a while now. But this is a different position, just in terms of the amount of minutes I'm playing, the amount of contribution that I bring to this team. So, of course, the whole different issues here.
I think our team is ready and we're super excited. So this feels completely different than the past few years. Last year, of course, being in the same position but this year also being a 12 seed and being able to play -- playing against a team on their court, looking at Indiana and their crowd there was a little tough. I think it's very exciting. It's my last one, so I'll definitely leave everything on the court for sure.
KAETY L'AMOREAUX: This senior class has been unbelievable. They have such a huge impact on and off the court for us. Seeing them go is going to really suck and it's going to be really sad. But I think that's kind of our motivation in this. We're just extending the season to be with them as long as possible.
