Everything Kim Barnes Arico said pre-American

U-M head coach Kim Barnes Arico met with the media on Friday to preview the upcoming game. For everything Barnes Arico had to say, check out the full transcript below.

Q. Give me the first word to describe your emotions when you saw your name pop up on the screen this time as a host.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Well, first, it really took a long time. So even though we felt like we were going to get in and we were going to have a chance to host, you're kind of holding your breath, and like, all right, could we have been called in the first bracket so we could have celebrated a little bit quicker?

But I just think -- and I've talked to you a lot about this -- the sign of a great program is one that can be consistent year in and year out, and when our name popped up as a host, I thought that meant we have taken tremendous strides in getting to where we want to be. And the opportunity for us to be in Ann Arbor, especially with the way our fan base has kind of rallied around us this year and the support that has continued to grow is just tremendous for our entire program, but the community, for the University of Michigan and for women's basketball in the state of Michigan.

Q. What have you guys seen on film from American's defense? In their last 14 games they were holding opponents to 53 points which was eighth best in the nation and I think goes around their player Jade Edwards who almost leads in every category, points, rebounds, steals, you name it. What have you seen from maybe Jade and maybe American's defense in particular?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, they really are a great team. I think all the teams that are still playing as of today are really great programs.

As you saw by watching the NCAA Tournament yesterday, anything can happen. You saw a 15 seed beating a 2 seed on the men's side. It can certainly happen on the women's side. So a lot of great basketball teams, and American is certainly one of them.

Yeah, they hold opponents to low scoring. They really play from the inside out. They try to protect the paint. They throw a lot of numbers in the paint, which we face a lot during the course of the season anyway because of Naz.

So I think it is something that we will be accustomed to. I think pace is going to be really important tomorrow because we don't want to really play that pace.

When I think about American, similar to Indiana in terms of Indiana really tries to defend that way, really tries to protect the paint, really tries to keep the scoring low.

When we prepare for opponents outside of our conference, we think, okay, who are they similar to, who can we compare them to? And I would think from a defensive perspective, similar to an Indiana-type team.

Q. When you're coaching you try to build a chemistry and get a chemistry. When you lose a player, you have to kind of reestablish a new chemistry. When you get a player that's been out that's back, you kind of have to reestablish chemistry. Having said that, having Leigha start to be back, what's it been like in terms of reestablishing good chemistry going forward?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I think that's really a great question, and I don't know if people on the outside really kind of recognize that or see that on a daily basis.

I think the thing that I'm pretty fortunate with is that I have such tremendous women in our program that really are able to adjust. And we always talk about the things that happened with COVID and being able to pivot and being able to handle adversity and being able to handle when you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring.

If there's anything the last couple years have taught us, it's kind of that.

This year has been that for us. We have had so many different starting lineups, whether that was illness, whether that was injury, whether that was COVID. We've had to adjust, and we've had to pivot through the course of the year.

When we lost Leigha for the last month, different people had to take on other roles. And then she was kind of back and then she's not 100 percent and then she kind of came back again.

I think we're always adjusting, but I think we have such great kids that they're just so welcoming and so embracing to change. I think that's probably this generation because they've had to face so much of it that our team has really handled that. And they're excited when she's there, we're on top of the world, but when she's not there, we know that we still can go on and be successful.

I think part of that, too, is that she has done such a tremendous job of being, okay, I'm not out on the court but I'm going to be right here and I'm going to be a great teammate from the sideline. She talked about Laila a little bit, but she's taken Laila under her wing and so has Naz. And what greater role models to have for a freshman than those two. She gets a different perspective from each one.

But when Leigha is not out there on the court, she's taking Laila under her wing and trying to help our team be a better team.

It has been an adjustment period, but I think our team has done a really good job of it.

Q. I wanted your thoughts on what you think the biggest strength of your team is.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, it's funny, I don't know if you guys had an opportunity to read that article. Was it the Players Tribune this week that came out with Naz? But holy cow, I mean, even thinking about it, I was like, wow. Because she just captured everything that our program stands for and the culture of our program in that piece. Just to hear it from someone on the inside, other than me preaching it, but to hear how our kids truly feel and what they truly believe is really special.

They believe that they have intangible things that no one else has, and they believe that they play harder than anyone else, and they believe that their toughness and their grit and their fire is greater than anyone else and that they can rebound with anyone and they can compete with anyone.

I think it's easy for me to sit up here and say that sometimes, but when you have the players in your program that truly believe that and the belief that they can count on each other. Naz is a special, special player and a special young woman, but there are other pieces, and I think that they believe in each other and they believe that they can count on each other and create something special together.

With that, if you talk to X's and O's, I know that's kind of an intangible thing, but we have a great inside outside game. When you have a presence like you do, Naz inside that draws so much attention and then the ability of players on the outside to make plays to counter that, I think that's pretty special.

I think our rebounding ability is one of the top in the country. I think when Leigha is going and Laila is going and then you have Maddie being able to shoot the ball the way that she can and then the way that Emily complements Naz is absolutely incredible. And then you add the toughness and the edge of Danielle Rauch and the never quit of Danielle Rauch into that mix, it creates a pretty special group.

Q. They asked the players what's different about hosting, and they obviously haven't really experienced it yet. You haven't, either, but you've been on the other side in many tournaments where you are on another team's floor. What are you most looking forward to about not being on somebody else's floor in these first two games of the tournament?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, you've been with me for a few of these, but I go through my head, and last year was obviously different because we were in the bubble. That's the only real memory.

They have one other because the year before the NCAA Tournament was canceled. Last year they were on a neutral -- their freshman year was -- Leigha wasn't with us, but Danielle and Naz, their freshman year we were at Louisville, and the year prior to that we were at Baylor. Ugh, that's all I can say.

I would always say after the game, man, I wish we had them on a neutral court. Man, I wish we had them on a neutral court. Because when in Louisville 15,000 people got going when it was a tight game, it was a major difference. Same at Baylor, we were in the tight game in the second half and then Baylor made a couple plays and their fans got behind them.

I'm hoping for the same kind of environment here this weekend starting obviously tomorrow being the most important day. You've got to get past one before you can even think about the next. But I'm hoping that that environment will be created here because I know being on the other side of it was extremely, extremely difficult to play.

And when I think about our season this year and the Iowa game at home, the Indiana game at home, the Maryland game at home, and two of those games Leigha didn't even play, and we were successful in those games.

Yeah, it was our team for sure, but it was our crowd and it was our fans and it was an opportunity to be playing at Crisler and protecting the block M.

It's definitely been a difference for us this season. I don't think our players really appreciate it.

I have vivid memories of all those times we were on somebody else's home court for sure.

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