Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Sunday, March 30, 2008

Thanks to eyevolley4 for pointing me in the direction of Pitt coach Agnus Berenato's post-Stanford remarks. I've already outed myself as a fan -- this simply reconfirmed my feelings:

COACH BERENATO: I'm just going to say before we leave. I probably have another minute, right.

THE MODERATOR: You got four or five.

COACH BERENATO: Damn. All right.

(Laughter.)

COACH BERENATO: I just want to say to the NCAA and to the people of Spokane, you guys have done a tremendous job just in hosting and you have embraced us. And to my host family, John and Karen, you guys are awesome and I'm sure you're in the audience somewhere.

And Ray and Kevin, coming out here from Pittsburgh and to the other writers, if you guys don't write about our story, our story never grows. And as the NCAA says-- we're the NCAA. We represent them. And women's basketball is the greatest story in the world. And they're great student athletes. And they're kind and they're gentle women and they care and they're great volunteers and they're just hard working kids. So I just want to say to everybody that's here, the auxiliary people that have helped with this, with facilities and travel and security and catering and I know all about it, because when I was at Georgia tech I hosted two Final Fours and at Pitt we hosted a regional last year.

And then just a special shout out to our Chancellor and Steve Petersen and my staff, you know, who has really changed the face of women's basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. I feel like that is team now, it's a team that people will recognize and they have worked hard for it and they brought great pride to the university as well as to the community. But we could have never done it if my staff and the community and the administration didn't jump on board.

So to all of you that are here tonight, it's late somewhere, in the world, and I just want to say it's like the saying it's five o'clock somewhere. Well, I just want to say on behalf of my team, thank you all very much because by you being here our sport will grow and grow and grow and all these NCAA events will be sold out in the future. So thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Coach thank you
Yes, coach. Thank you.