February 23, 1999
Women’s Basketball Head Coach Bernadette Mattox Quotes
On what point guard Erica Jackson means to the team:
“This is Erica Jackson’s basketball team. She’s done a tremendous job beingthe quarterback of this team. She’s been what the women’s basketball teamhas needed. She’s exceeded my expectations quicker than I thought shewould. I can’t say how excited I am to see her where she is. She has greatconfidence and the players have confidence in her.”
On playing Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament:
“Anybody in the SEC is going to be a tough match-up. This conference is soequal across the board, you have to be ready for whoever you’re going toplay. We’re going to prepare the same wayhard and very detailedfor anyonewe face. Ole Miss just happens to be the opponent.”
On the turning point of the season:
“When we were on the Hawaii trip, I saw a glimpse of the confidence in ourteam that hasn’t been there in the years past. I also saw the maturitylevel and talent that we haven’t had. When I sensed that at thattournament, that was special for me.”
On Erica Jackson’s being left off the All-SEC Team:
“I’m disappointed Erica wasn’t All-SEC. That’s an insult to our basketballteam. A lot of the credit of our success this year goes to Erica Jackson.For her to be left off that ballot is insulting. She’s not going to holdgrudges about it. She knows what it takes to achieve the goals we’ve setfor this basketball team.”
On UK’s exceeding preseason expectations:
“When those preseason polls come out, you have to respect people’sopinions. But not one of them had seen a preseason workout. We went out towork hard and get the maximum effort out of our potential, and we’ve donethat.”
On the significance of LSU’s win over Tennessee:
“That lets the world know that this conference is tough. It’s not justTennessee by itself. We have some outstanding players in this league. Onany given night, it’s anybody’s ballgame if you’re not ready to play.”
On what UK’s success this season has meant to recruiting:
“In order to get great players, you have to have a great team. This isKentucky. People around the world know that Kentucky is basketball. Whenpeople found out we were going to play the way the men played, they wantedto be a part of that exciting type of basketball. Because we’ve beenwinning, and because of this conference, we’ve gotten some good looks fromrecruits.”
On what the Georgia win meant to the team:
“A win after your team has battled for a couple of weeks and worked ongetting better means a lot. We were coming out on the short end, and ourteam grew from that and matured from that. From that point on, other than acouple of other losses, we’ve really come on and matured from those twoweeks of battles.”
