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Duke Women's Basketball Press Conference Quotes
10/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Blue Devils held their annual media day on Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Members of the team had lunch with the media and also sat down for interviews. Duke opened practice on Oct. 15 and will play its first exhibition game on Nov. 2 against EA Sports at 7:00 p.m.
Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On Duke's Depth This Season
“We're very fortunate to have the depth that we have. I'm really tired of only having eight players at the end of the season; it's made it very difficult. We have more depth and more talent than we've ever had so it's a really good feeling. Right now, we're working on developing great team chemistry so that the players really care for one another. Fortunately, we have players here that have one goal in mind and that's to win championships. They understand that everybody's going to have to sacrifice in order for us to obtain that goal. I assume everyone's minutes will go down from last year so we need to be more productive with the minutes. We're going to run and press more than we ever have to help utilize our depth. The more you run and the more you press, the more bodies you can use.”
On Fifth-Year Senior Monique Currie's Intimidating Presence On The Floor
“I've always loved Mo's attitude on the court. She's going to do whatever it takes to win. She's a warrior; she's one of those players that when you are in a battle, you want her on your team because you know she's going to do what's necessary to win. She wants the ball in her hands, she's going to take the big shot and she's usually going to make the big shot. There's a mental and physical toughness about her and I think it rubs off on all of her teammates. Even as a high school player, you could see that within her. I think she brings toughness to our team.”
On Preseason Conditioning
“We're still conditioning. I don't feel that we are in the kind of shape that we need to be in to run and press for 40 minutes. It's an ongoing process with the conditioning. We're scrimmaging much more in practice than we ever have and we started putting in our presses the second week that we were in school. We started working on our traps and just having a better feel for when to press and when to trap.”
On Junior Guard Lindsey Harding
“Lindsey has grown so much over the last year both on and off the court. Sitting out last year was difficult for her but I think it helped her so much as well to sit on the bench and hear what we were saying as coaches from the bench. So she knows probably more than anyone what I want as a coach, when I want it and where the ball needs to be in which situations. Even though she's not a captain, she's a great leader for us. She really changes that game when she's in there both offensively and defensively. She can push the ball, she's one of the fastest players in the country and she puts such unbelievable pressure on the ball defensively that she really sets the tone for us. It really changes who we are as a team when she's on the floor.”
“It's just going to take a little bit time before she's ready to really take over with this team”
On Sisters Emily and Abby Waner
“They are very competitive, when those two go at it, you don't want to get in the middle. They are probably harder on one another that they are on anybody else on the team. I think they make one another better. “
On Freshman Abby Waner
“She does everything well...with her heart and her hustle. She's the kid who is always going to be on the floor scraping for a loose ball. “
Emily vs. Lindsey
“Emily and Lindsey play very well together. Emily is an incredible three-point shooter. When she shoots it, I think all of us expect it to go in. Lindsey is such a great push guard, she finds people in the court for the open three.”
On Coaching Team USA
“We had 12 great players on that team, and I had to find time for everybody....Make everyone feel important and an integral part of what we were doing, which was winning a gold medal. I think that was very helpful for me because here we have 13 great players, and I want to be able to accomplish the same types of things.”
“I enjoyed it more, probably because I was a head coach instead of an assistant. I enjoy working with the younger players because they are very eager to learn. I think sometimes when they reach that pro level they already feel as if they know most things, so I don't feel as if you can have as great of an impact as a coach in terms of helping them learn.
“It was such a great experience for me for so many reasons. The very best athletes: they're all stars from their own college or high school teams. Helping them to focus on the ultimate goal and be willing to sacrifice.”
On How Both North Carolina And Duke Will Be Very Good This Year
“I think we've both been pretty good for a very long time and I think we both have teams that can win a national championship this year. I don't know how it [the rivalry] can get more intense. It's very intense and exciting and I think this will make for an even more exciting year. I'm sure we'll both be highly ranked both times we play and hopefully they'll both be sell-outs. “
On The Post
“Allie's in really good shape, she's worked hard. Her goal this summer was to become more aggressive on the offensive end of the floor. She really turned the corner last year in the defensive end, now we need her to have that same cut type of turnaround on the offensive end. She's building upon where she was last year. I think what's really good about our post play now is they all give us a little give us a little different look:
Allie, at 6'7 as a shot blocker has a great look for that high-low presence.
Chante is a tremendous athlete and incredible rebounding post player. She's got great height as well.
Mistie has got unbelievable strength and works her tail off to get position.
Carrem can run the floor like a deer and has excellent post moves, good patience inside. She's been able to score over Allie now, which is really good for her and good for Allie to have to defend that kind of player.”
On Wanisha Smith
“Wanisha has been injured in the preseason, she's just now starting to get in shape. I anticipate that she will play much more at the two than at the point; she can play any of the guard positions. She's still going to be a major player for us, but I'm quite sure her time will go down though. Hopefully she will be more productive through that time.”
Do you think it will be difficult to keep all your players happy when there are so many good players?
“Of course everyone wants to play, but the reason they came here was to win championships. I think they all understood when they decided to come here that they knew how many people were going to be on the team. They made that decision anyway because they wanted to be challenged everyday in practice to be better; they wanted to play the best teams in the country, and to win a national championship.
Junior Alison Bales
On summer
“I was here for most of the summer. I went to Colorado and tried out for the USA team, and then I went home for a little while as well, but I was mostly here, running and lifting with the team.”
On what she has worked on to improve game
“Offense, offensive aggressiveness, post moves, just regular shooting. I've been working on a variety of post moves. Mistie's really good, before she gets the ball, posting up before the guards even look at her, so I've worked on that as well because then you get an easy layup.
On difference in practice with more players this year
“It's a little different. We use the guys a little bit less, and in the scrimmages, we go five-on-five a lot more just because last year we couldn't go five-on-five at all. Just having more players out there is better because we can pressure more. No one really gets tired as easily. I think it's good for us to work harder.”
On what is being emphasized in practice
“Ball pressure, getting up in the passing lane, deny defense, really getting after it this year.”
On whether offense is more focused on post or outside shooting
“I think both. A lot of high-low between the post players and then inside-outside with the guards, getting post touches but then the guards are spotting up.”
On improved confidence around basket
“I think it was a lot of mental thinking for me, just making sure that I'm thinking as aggressively on offense as I did last year on defense. I played pick-up this summer and made sure that I kept doing it, so hopefully that way, it'll become a habit.”
Difference this year with more point guard options
“I thought last year, Jess Foley, Monique Currie and Wanisha Smith all stepped up big for us in that point guard role because none of them had ever really had to play it before. But having point guards this year, it's so much nicer to have Jess go to the wing for her shot rather than having to bring the ball up against the whole press and then finally getting down the court and being tired. So I think it'll help with everyone's strengths, just having someone who's that good at bringing the ball up.”
On change in role this year
“I worked on offense a lot this summer, so hopefully that will translate to being more productive on the court.”
On impact from freshmen
“I was really impressed when they came in this summer. I expected of course they were doing some workouts, but they came in, and they were pushing us. All of them were. I thought that was impressive that they worked hard in the beginning of the summer when they weren't here.”
On physical status
“I'm close to being back fully. I had my first five-on-five work in practice last week, so probably in the next couple of weeks I'll be fully back into all the drills.”
On expectation of playing by start of season
“I'll be out there. I probably won't be 100 percent just yet. I've got to get into a little bit of shape, but I'm confident it won't take me too long.”
On what is being emphasized in practice
“There's probably less of an emphasis on the place so much at the moment. We're working a lot on our motion game and trying to free up our offense a little bit.”
On keeping offense from getting bogged down at end of season
“I think that's the main reason for the high emphasis on motion offense. I think it's pretty obvious the last couple of seasons, right towards the very last few games, we are struggling to get baskets through our plays. We are trying to work on our motion principles so at the end of the year, we're making reads, and we're going to be harder to guard.”
On Difference this year with more point guard options
“One thing I've noticed in practice is it's really helping with our motion because as soon as we get a rebound we can outlet to any of the three or four guards who are on the court at the time. We've got Lindsey Harding and Emily Waner who are sort of true point guards, but then we've got four or five others who are really confident in pushing the ball up the floor also, so I think it'll really help our running game.”
On mindset of team on being ranked first in several preseason polls
“I've been on teams that have been No. 1 going into the season before. I've played on a couple of really good teams here at Duke, and I don't think we're really paying much attention ? I know I'm not ? to the preseason ranking. It doesn't mean anything to me. I know we're confident that we had such a good team last year. We were lacking a little bit of depth, and we ran out of gas towards the end of the season, so I think our depth should help us there, but it's still pretty tough to say before we've even played our first game.”
On impact from freshmen
“The freshman class looks great. They all came in in pretty good shape, and they each offer something different. They're pretty heady for how young they are. They look after the ball, and they really get after it defensively. I think they'll definitely be able to contribute this year.”
Senior Monique Currie
(on intimidation):
“I love to win, I hate to lose?so I carry that over in everything I do.”
“You defeat yourself a little bit if you start off intimidated by someone, but either way, I'm still going to go out there and play they way I play.
Freshman Abby Waner
On playing with her sister Emily
“I know she is my sister and I can be competitive with her and step off the court and everything will be fine.”
“Emily is my best friend; she takes care of me and makes sure I'm all set.”
“In high school, I could read her. She knew what I was going to do and I knew what she was going to do. Here it is just a completely different level. We've talked about developing that look again, and it's getting there.
“I've already felt that cutthroat part of this level of basketball” (being on Team USA)
“Points should never matter, if you play hard, if you come with intensity and you leave it all on the court, the stats will come. “
Players Mentioned
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