March Madness is officially upon us, and head coach Shea Ralph and the Commodores took their first press conference from Durham, North Carolina, ahead of the team’s Round of 64 matchup against Oregon on March 21. But before Ralph took the mic herself, the media had the opportunity to speak to graduate forward Jordyn Oliver and SEC Freshman of the Year Mikayla Blakes.
The two players were asked about their memories of March Madness and what those memories mean to them now as players in the tournament.
“I would say my first one was back when I committed to Baylor,” Oliver said. “When [the men’s team] won the national championship — just seeing how excited they were and how proud they were. That pride of winning for the university is what I want to do for Vanderbilt.”
Blakes also reminisced on a firsthand experience, the experience of watching her brother, Jaylen Blakes, a senior at Stanford who played his first three seasons at Duke. She talked about her familiarity with Cameron Indoor Stadium and Duke’s campus.
“I think I was at almost every single one of his home games when he was [at Duke],” Blakes said. “He always wanted to work out, so we would use the practice facility [there as well]. So I got a lot of shots up, too.”
The players were also asked about their upcoming matchup with Oregon and the extreme difference between the two teams’ play styles.
“We’re just kind of focused on ourselves,” Oliver said. “They got Deja [Kelly], they have 6’8 [Phillipina Kyei] and they do their style of play. But we do our style of play. It’ll be fun to see how that goes against each other on Friday.”
After Blakes and Oliver left the room, Ralph took the podium and delivered her opening statement, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the moment while simultaneously focusing on the task ahead.
“I’ve been telling the players since the moment that we got selected to this region, and we knew we were coming here to play Oregon,” Ralph said. “The most important thing is right now. To be where our feet are, to take advantage of the day we have today — the media, the practice experience — to prepare for the game tomorrow, and that’s it.”
Ralph noted how proud she was of her team for making it to this point.
“We know that we’ve earned this opportunity,” Ralph said. “I’m looking forward to us playing our best basketball of the year again.”
Ralph was also asked about how the team’s rigorous schedule in the always-competitive SEC prepared it for postseason play.
“You’ve got to go into every game knowing that that game is incredibly important for your season,” Ralph said. “If you want to compete for an SEC Championship, or put yourself in position to compete for an NCAA Championship, you have to prepare like you’re playing in the Final Four every single game you play in [the] conference.”
Ralph then finalized her press conference by discussing what she learned from last year’s tournament when Vanderbilt won its First Four matchup against Columbia before falling in the Round of 64 to Baylor.
“Last year was more of a ‘we’re happy to be here’ kind of feeling,” Ralph said. “[But] we had not prepared for the moment against Baylor, we just didn’t have enough to win that game, and I think it taught us a very valuable lesson; not only about preparation in March but preparation in June, July and August, and the mindset that you have to have to be a championship team. So both sides are true. We’re very excited to be in the NCAA Tournament, but I think it taught us a valuable lesson to be better prepared this year.”
Ralph, Blakes, Oliver and the rest of Vanderbilt will start its dance in the Round of 64 on March 21 against No. 10 Oregon in Durham, North Carolina, at 4:30 p.m. CDT.
