Final Four Diary: Calm before the storm (Day two)

On Thursday, all four teams held their pre-game press conferences at the Target Center ahead of the national semifinals.

Ian Bethune

Welcome to our Final Four Diary, a daily recap of everything that happened at the Final Four in Minneapolis. Everyone has access to the first half of the story, but only premium subscribers get our thoughts, takeaways and more. Subscribe for $6/month or $70/year.

---

Day two.

It’s 11 a.m. CT and I’m walking down the streets of downtown Minneapolis towards the Target Center. It’s another cold and dreary day in the city and an unrelenting wind cuts through my jacket.

As the arena draws nearer, there’s more signs of life and the coming Final Four. The street lamps have banners for the event while the windows of the team hotels are plastered the the school’s logos. North 1st Ave, the street the Target Center is located on, is blocked off while the fan fest is set up.

Daniel Connolly @DanielVConnolly

Hello Minneapolis

I get inside the lobby, pick up my credential, get through security and make my way into the media workroom — an expansive space set up in what appears to be one of the arena’s premium lounges. There’s dozens of tables to work at, a food buffet on the far side and the press conference space dividing the two.

South Carolina is up at the podium when I enter, with head coach Dawn Staley flanked by Brea Beal, Zia Cooke and Victaria Saxton. Shortly after they wrap up, Stanford goes with Tara VanDerveer, Lexie Hull, Haley Jones and Ashten Prechtel. They answer questions ranging everywhere from the matchup with UConn and their experience as defending national champions to which player at the Final Four has the best hair.

UConn’s media availability is split into two parts: First, Aaliyah Edwards, Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers are on Zoom, then Geno Auriemma, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams will be on the podium. There’s just one problem: The WiFi isn’t working to get on Zoom.

To fix this, a few other writers and I have to go to a back hallway in the Target Center, where the signal isn’t being overloaded by everyone in the media workroom. Once that finishes, we scramble back to the press conferences, where Geno touches on everything from the program’s history with Stanford to the high number of players in the transfer portal so far this season.

Following the press conference, UConn heads out onto the floor to practice, where media will be allowed in for the first 15 minutes. There’s not much to see — the Huskies go through their usual stretches and warmup routine before everyone gathers around the logo at center court, where Auriemma speaks to the team.

It’s impossible to hear what he says but at the end of the end of the 15-minute window open to the media, a buzzer sounds, which briefly spooks the coach and makes him jump.

That concludes the scheduled events for the day — at least, those that involve UConn — which means it’s time to start writing. One more sleep and game day will be here.

Become a premium subscriber to continue reading.