Oct. 13, 2011

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Head coach Brenda Frese and Terps met with media for the first time this season Thursday. Local and regional media members got a chance to spend time with the 2011-12 Terrapins.

Head Coach Brenda Frese

Opening Statement:
"Its hard to believe that we are going into another season and how quickly time goes by. Looking back at last season I think we took tremendous steps as a team to get back to the level we are used to being at. Reflecting on the big wins that we had at home - beating North Carolina by 23 points, Duke by 22 points - and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. We did all that without any seniors on the roster last year."

"Getting prepared this year we are thrilled with the experience we have coming back and the challenges we have lying ahead this season. I am pleased coming back from the off-season with the strides that we have made are even larger than they were last off-season. Coach Kyle Tarp has really helped our team and the difference in them is night and day. We are a very physically fit team and it will be fun to see them get up and down the floor and what we will be able to do both on offense and defense."

On the new basketball performance center:
"Our new basketball facility has been completed. It will make us by far one of the most elite programs in the country to be able to offer something like this. I don't know any other ACC school that has a performance, strength and conditioning facility like we have. We are one of the few to have it targeted to basketball. We will have a competitive advantage from the use of the facility that we are very excited about."

On the team's post play this season:
"Last year we were one of the most dominant teams in the country in rebounding. This year we are not expecting there to be a drop off in that. We can rebound the ball very well thanks to our size and how hard we go to the glass. We want to be a dominant rebounding team. Our post presence is very good. I think my biggest challenge is how to play four bigs all at once. The play of Lynetta Kizer, Alicia DeVaughn, Tianna Hawkins and Whitney Bays is a great mix. However, I think this season we will only go as far as our guards carry us. It is an interesting dynamic to see how it plays with the consistency of our guard play."

On what she's seen so far in practice:
"We have had about six practices so far and we are able to see a lot of things. I feel fortunate to have two players selected to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 30 list in Alyssa Thomas and Lynetta Kizer. It is a tremendous honor for them to be recognized for what they accomplished last season. Now the biggest thing for them is to see where they are at and what they have accomplished at the end of the year."

On their schedule this year:
"Our schedule will get us ready for ACC play. In our non-conference schedule we play Georgetown the second game of the season. We have Michigan coming in for the Big 10/ACC Challenge. Both teams have four or five of their starters returning so they are very experienced teams. We have Delaware coming in around Christmas and that should be a good game. The ACC was kind enough to give us the toughest schedule in the ACC for the second straight year. I say kind because it will get us prepared for tournament play. All of the teams we play twice this year are in the top half of the league. We get to play Duke, North Carolina, Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia twice. I am looking forward to those matchups. We open up on the road for three of our first four league games. We will get an understanding of being on the road for league play. We are fortunate to be on television eight times this season. It is great for our fans as they have a lot of visibility and get to see us on television."

On her multi-year extension:
"I am very thankful for the contract extension by President Loh and director of athletics Kevin Anderson. As a coach it gives my family stability until my boys are ten years old. The plan is to be able to retire here if I am fortunate enough."

On the benefit of team experience:
"It's great to have so much experience. We only have 30 practices before our first game so it isn't a lot of teaching time. We are a lot further ahead than we were last year. Our players know what to expect and the level of energy is a lot higher as we don't have to teach the kids new drills. The concepts are picked up easier and think we are ahead in that area."

On the fitness level of the team:
"The fitness level plays a big role as we play in competitive games that go down to the wire. Our fitness level gives us an advantage. I have felt in years past we weren't where we should be. It's been great to see it all come together with the players as they are beginning to see just how important it is. Both with our recovery and all of the other aspects that play a role in fitness it's been great to see what our team has done."

On freshman Brene Moseley:
"I am surprised to see where she is coming off of an ACL. A lot of players have a lot of limitations with that and with her if you didn't see the brace you wouldn't even know that she was coming off of an injury. With her ability to shoot the ball she can slide into positions. I think it would be too overwhelming to give her sets of plays at two positions so we are going to focus this year at the point position. At the point position she will get lots of hits with off the ball screens and other opportunities. One of the first plays she made in practice was her defensive player went under the screen and she hit the three. I haven't seen that since Kristy Toliver. Her ability to pick something up that quickly on the first day of practice showed me what she will be able to bring to the table."

On the impact of the seniors:
"Having seniors makes a big difference. Last year I talked about it during postseason play. We can try to give our team a sense of urgency but until it's your senior year you don't really understand it. With our three seniors they can see the end and they know how much time is left. It will be powerful for our team to have their leadership and consistency this season."

On Alyssa Thomas playing different positions:
"We have moved her off the point. Last year as a necessity we had to play her there but as a result she picked up a lot of charges and fouls there and we would be limited as a result. Using her on the wing and her ability to post up we hope to take advantage of her ability more this season."

On the team's style of play:
"I think we will be even more up tempo than last year. We put in a new transition last year that was very fast and took a few months to master it and understand it. We are going to be a lot quicker since we know the system already. Due to our size and length we will extend our defense. We want to use our length in creative ways to make it an advantage for us. We are going to pound the glass just like last year. We haven't spent much time yet in practice but we are already dong a great job both on offense and defense getting to the glass."

On the team's expectations:
"We talk more about mentality. We think day by day and how we work and our toughness will take care of creating our numbers. Even with the 2006 national championship team we never talked about the number of wins we wanted. This sport has a lot of potential for injury and other things that can affect numbers. With the continuity that we have between our players and staff we expect a high level out of everyone in the program."

Sophomore Center Alicia DeVaughn
On how the preseason went:
"I think that preseason went very well. We started off with everyone focusing and working very hard. We are expecting big things this year."

On what she has worked on:
"I worked on my post up game. I want to be more of an offensive player this year to round out my game. I know I can be a complete player - I just wanted to make sure my game was well-rounded."

On the biggest thing she learned from last year:
"The biggest thing I've learned from last year to this year is patience. It is different from high school to college because the game is much faster."

Sophomore Forward Alyssa Thomas

On the team's experience:
"Last year, we had a lack of experience overall. This year we have a couple of seniors and a lot more experience overall. It is scary to think of what we will be capable of doing this year."

On what position she will play:
"They are going to work me around this year. I am expecting to play some more forward this year as well the two and the three. I like playing on the wing and think that is my best position."

On the expectation for the year:
"I think we can go pretty far. With all of our experience coming back we know what to expect this year. As long as everyone stays healthy I think we can do pretty well."

On other teams targeting Maryland this year:
"We had a target on our back last year. We think it's more of the same this year. Everyone is going to come in here and try to knock us off on our home court."

Senior Guard Anjale Barrett

On team chemistry:
"Team chemistry is going to be a big strength of ours. Pretty much everyone was here over the summer working hard. We are used to everyone on the team. We brought in Brene Moseley and she has caught on tremendously quick. I think our chemistry has been phenomenal. Last year it took a little while, this year we instantly clicked."

On her position:
"I am going to play whatever Coach B tells me to play. Bones [Moseley] she has come on very well. She is a great point guard as well as a scorer. We have some versatility at both the one and the two spots. Laurin Mincy has been playing a little bit of the point so far. She has looked great at the one. She is versatile at and can play the one through three positions. We are very versatile as a team overall."

On the post players:
"They are looking great. We wanted to come in this year and add something to our game. Lynetta Kizer she had a great accomplishment over the summer with helping Team USA win a gold medal at the World University Games. She has the goal medal and we are very happy for her. She has come back and really pushed everyone - both the bigs and the guards to get to the next level. The bigs look good and like they have added a little something to their games. We look good as a team and very versatile."

On motivation from how last season ended:
"No one wants to end the season that way. We do think a lot about the last game and use it as motivation. Anytime we are going through a struggle we just remember what happened in our last game and it pushes us that extra mile."

On her senior season:
"I haven't really thought about it yet. It will hit me soon. I am trying to enjoy my senior year with my teammates. This team is like my family. I will be sad when it's over but I am just ready to start playing right now."

Freshman Guard Brene Moseley

On her role this year:
"I am learning a lot from Anjale Barrett. Coming in I want to contribute as much as I can, whether that means passing, defensive stops or shooting, I will do what I have to do. Some games I might have to score and I will. Other games I will need to focus more on assists and I can do that too. Depending on the game plan I am willing to do whatever coach tells me to do."

On the team atmosphere:
"Being around the girls they rub off on me. When we are around each other we have fun. It says a lot about the type of people that Coach Frese recruits. We love to have fun when we are around each other."

On her injury:
"At first I missed the game a lot and didn't want to sit out if possible. My coaches told me that it would be best for me to sit out. It did provide some positives though. There were a lot of parts of the games that I didn't know a lot about. Sitting out allowed me to look at it from a different point of view. I became strong from every aspect of the game. If I had rushed back I might have reinjured the injury. I am now at 100 percent. I can do it all. If I had come back in January I wouldn't be at where I am right now."

Junior Forward Tianna Hawkins

On the team's rebounding:
"I think it is our size and our desire to get the rebound every time there is a missed shot. Sometimes in practice it can be as competitive or more to get rebounds. With the athleticism that our scout team has, rebounding can be very competitive."

On what has improved the most:
"I think it is our maturity level. We have come together as a team and grown a lot in our team chemistry. I think we have the potential to do something special this year."

On what she worked on over the summer:
"This summer I really worked on shooting and my conditioning level. That way I can help my team out by being on the floor more often this year."

On what the team still needs to improve on:
"The priorities are making sure our defense is up to far. We want to be able to stop our opponents every single time they come up the floor."

Sophomore Guard Laurin Mincy

On team relationship:
"I think we're a really close team as opposed to a lot of other programs. I think we're even closer this year. We push each other through everything as far as workouts and conditioning sessions. Last year we were like working through sprints and things like that. We had to really go through all of preseason to get through sprints and this year we've actually finished our sprints early because everyone finished early."

On playing up-tempo and eliminating turnovers:
"I think we're going to be better. We're looking to be more poised this year as well as still pushing the tempo. We've actually implemented drills where we have a ball rack at practice and we put five balls on the ball rack and if you lose the five balls you run sprints after that so I think that's helping us with the turnovers."

On defense:
"We're definitely going to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. I think we're really long and we have a lot of defensive presence on the team. I think we're going to be tough team this year."

Senior Guard Kim Rodgers:

On team-building:
"The biggest thing that I'm trying to do is what I tried to do last year with the freshmen that came in. I am just trying to continue to lead by example and to become more vocal and just try to show them what it going to take for us to be a good team."

On her final year:
It's kind of like it's real now. It's weird because I've been here for so long. I just think like `Oh my gosh, this is my last year.' but it makes it so much more special to me. I'm just really going to try to take this year and do everything I can to lead this team and to help the younger kids realize what it's going to take for them to continue to be successful."

On leadership:
I am definitely the quiet one, that's where I started even a couple years ago, real quiet just trying to lead by example. But right now what I've had to do is really force myself out of my shell. Coach B really enforces communication so it's my job to, even though I'm not a really vocal person, I have to step out of my comfort zone and tell the rest of my teammates, `Hey, we have to do this' sometimes and give some words of encouragement."

On improvements:
"Having so many returners, we're moving with things, we're flying through things. Brene Moseley is really picking things up fast, so are Katie Rutan and Whitney Bays. Even though Whtiney was here last year she didn't really have a huge part in some things like learning the plays. Because everyone knows what we're doing, it's making everything so much easier. We're getting through stuff, people are picking up fast, and we're moving in the right direction."

Senior Center Lynetta Kizer

On the team's philosophy:
"Our motto this year is fight to the finish, and I think that's something that the girls have done excellent with so far. Just fighting through every play, every possession, just playing until you hear the whistle."

On improvements from last year:
"Freshmen and sophomores, pretty much and we had a phenomenal group coming in last year and just so see their transition from last year to this year that's something that's definitely going to benefit us. Just having them step outside their box and speak in practice, just hearing their voice is something good. The girls all love each other, we all love each other. Just having them hold each other accountable is something that definitely is a good thing from this year to last year. That's something that I really look forward to showing up in the games and during the season."

On her leadership style:
"I'm definitely a vocal leader. I like to get everyone encouraged, get everyone hyped up. I want to start leading by my actions a little more on and off the court. It's definitely going to be a lot of fun for us."

On her final year:
"It's definitely been a blink of the eye. It's gone so fast. Just being here is actually just a great experience for me and then for my teammates. It's sad but it's definitely good. I'm excited that we're here and I know the girls are going to give 100 percent to make sure that they see we, Kim and Anjale go off on a good senior year. I'm excited."