Women's Basketball Hosts Media Day
10/22/2012 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 22, 2012
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Head coach Brenda Frese and Terps met with media for the first time this season Monday. Local and regional media members got a chance to spend time with the 2012-13 Terrapins.
Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening statement:
"I'm really looking forward to this upcoming season. I think for us, to begin with, it's really about sustaining excellence and for our program to keep improving every single day we're out there. We were fortunate again last season to make our 22nd NCAA appearance, our eighth in 10 years. Another 30+ win season going 31-5, an ACC championship - our second in four years and our Elite Eight finish - our fourth in the past seven years. For us, the challenge is to continue to set that bar even higher to separate ourselves being out there.
I think the biggest compliment I can give to this team from a year ago is that they're not satisfied. Obviously, the humbling loss we had to Notre Dame last season really fueled the team into our postseason and summer in terms of our training. It was evident after we got back from the time off they were immediately back into the gym and the weight room. We had a tremendous offseason when you talk about all of our players coming back and working extremely hard. Our three freshmen came in for both sessions of summer school, so they were here for 12 weeks. So again you can look at our team when you see them down on the floor, again just an extremely fit team that is really disciplined in terms of their level of fitness, their nutrition, when you look at their body types you know they're just tremendous in terms of the discipline they put to preparing themselves this season.
By far the hardest working team that I feel like I've ever coached collectively when you talk about all eleven players and the time that they've invested. Some of you can see from our media notes our motto for this season is `all in to win' and win stands for `what's important now.' And all in to win really for us is a theme and motto we felt for our team this season was to really focus on the day in and day out in terms of activities. If you focus on the little things, the winning will take care of itself. What's important now when we're in this moment, whether its academics, we're focused on that moment. Whether we're in practice, we're into that moment or if we're with our family, we're all in and we're spending that time with that balance we get to have. So for us it's a motto we're really excited about for this season."
On the staff additions this season:
"We also had some terrific hires in our offseason. We added the performance coach Katie Fowler for strength and conditioning. She came from the University of Virginia. We're very excited about her and her abilities. She lines up right along Kyle Tarp, who we've had a lot of success with. Having two of the premier performance coaches in the country is extremely exciting. Megan Rogers has been added as an athletic trainer. She's someone who has been added from the University of Miami and someone who has a physical therapy background, so it lines up again with our performance- based coaches in terms of her background and where she's able to take our team and our program. Libby Ellis, a former manager for us, is now our director of recruiting operations so we're excited for her opportunity with us as well."
On what you can expect to see from the team:
"This season we expect to continue to be a dominant rebounding team. That's been our identity for a long time. We expect to be top five in the nation, that's something we take a lot of pride in. We want to be exciting, we want to be fast-paced, we love being an up-tempo type of team, using our transition game and being able to get a lot of points. Our defense has really improved, and I think that's really improved with our fitness level and where we're at. We have four of our five starters returning for us this season. We expect to be able to use that experience to our advantage."
On the individual players:
"To give you a run-down specifically of our players - Alyssa Thomas, it starts with her. The ACC Player of the Year - only the second sophomore to be named that and was also named an AP and WBCA All-American. She had the opportunity this past summer to play with USA Basketball and was selected for the 3-on-3 team. Unfortunately, she was not able to go and take that trip. She ended up in the offseason having to get her tonsils out, so she's fully recovered. I told Alyssa she's the only player that can come back after having the entire fall and preseason off and really got herself back in shape in about two days. You can definitely tell in terms of her stamina level, the joke was that she can breathe now. Her air passage ways have opened up so she's looking tremendous. She's extended her range, and really wants to focus on her defense this season and be a more complete all-around player. I'm excited about watching that within her because she's never satisfied with her game.
Tianna Hawkins is another player for us that led the nation in field goal percentage last season. No one can forget her 24 rebounds she had against Wake [Forest] last year, a record that had stood for almost 30 years. She was named Preseason All-ACC. I think the biggest success about Tianna Hawkins as a senior, is that she was ranked the 133rd player coming out of high school. And for us I think it speaks volumes in terms of the development of what we are able to do with our players. I think my assistant coaches do a tremendous job in terms of developing players throughout their career from their freshman year to their senior year that they're completely different players and they continue to improve.
Laurin Mincy, another player who's had a tremendous summer and she's come back stronger. She's added a lot more strength to her game. She's going to really play a versatile role for us this year. It's been really exciting for us as a coaching staff to see her length and how she's handling the basketball for our team, and just her versatility to play multiple positions. To have another scoring guard is going to be able to help us in a variety of ways.
On the team's depth and the schedule:
Obviously our team is thin, we have 11 players. This season we have to continue to be smart, we have to continue to stay healthy with the schedule in front of us. We have a brutal schedule, our non-conference schedule includes at Nebraska, at
Connecticut, and Virginia and that's all in one week. We're at Delaware with season, we have 18 conference games so just a lot of tremendous basketball we're going to get to play this season.
On playing with a limited bench to start the season:
"I think the biggest thing is the ownership on the coaches and we have to be smart with the amount of time with our practice preparation. We don't need to be on the floor longer than two hours, maybe even 90 minutes. Just how many days you're going in a row, the pounding effect that you have. I think for our end our coaching staff does a really nice job in terms of that balance so we'll continue to be smart with that, maybe more days off ,which players never mind. Just understanding it's a long season."
On the team's chemistry:
"Well I compare this team chemistry-wise a lot to the 2006 team. They're extremely close. I think a lot has to do with the maturity when you talk about our juniors and seniors and the way we can communicate with one another. They're very comfortable like they're sisters, but they just have that natural chemistry where they want to spend a lot of time together. They go to the movies together, they go shopping, they eat meals together, and it's genuine. You see it transfer from the times they're off the court to when they are on the court. The communication on the court is really good"
Senior Forward Tianna Hawkins
On her senior year:
"It's very exciting being my last year. I have the highest expectations for this season. I am really looking forward to it."
On lessons learned from last year:
"We want to keep our philosophy that we had last year, fight to the finish, as well as win every day. We want to focus on what's important now which is what we mean by win. "
On what she worked on over the summer:
"The main thing I focused on over the summer was ball handling. I also want to be able to shoot off the dribble; I worked on conditioning and my jump shot."
On her senior leadership:
"I expect to play a big role this season, being a vocal leader and sharing my experience with everyone else on the team. "
Junior Forward Alyssa Thomas
On how last season ended:
"I remember how last season ended but you can't dwell on it. I am focused on what this season brings. That game [Notre Dame] is something that hurt me but I learned from it."
On the strength of this year's team:
"Our team identity is to be relentless; we want to be relentless in everything we do. Whenever we step on the court we want teams to remember us and how hard we are playing."
On her improving her defense:
"I want to be an all-around player. Yeah I can score, but I also want to be able to come down and defend the best players and be an impact on defense. The competitor in me - I want to be the best. I want to be a scorer but be a defensive stopper as well. I want to extend my game."
On handling the ball more this year:
"I feel like I already do. I can get the ball off the rebound and push the ball when I need to. That's what is so unique about our team; it's not just one person setting up the plays. Our offense is designed for anyone to set up a play."
On her perimeter game:
"I have been working on my range to get more consistent shooting the three. I worked a lot on that this summer."
On how this year's team differs from last year's:
"I feel like this year we have a lot of experience. Myself, [Laurin] Mincy, Alicia [DeVaughn], and Tianna [Hawkins] have been in this environment for a while. Now that we are all upperclassmen we know what it takes, and we have the experience making the Elite Eight run last year. We are just trying to motivate our teammates and be positive about what we have ahead of us this year."
On Malina Howard:
"Malina is a great player. She is a solid post and different from our other post players. She plays a solid post with her body and can bang around. She will add a whole different aspect to our team this year."
Junior Guard Laurin Mincy
On the team meals over the summer:
"Alicia DeVaughn did all of the seasoning with the salmon, I did most of the chicken and steak. We like to have our little team dinners at our apartments. We usually take turns cooking. It was a good all-around time."
On what she worked on over the summer:
"I worked on my ball handling. One aspect of my game that I think improved was being vocal and a leader out on the court. I think we all have done a good job of communicating. That is one thing that we all have improved over the off season."
On the strength of this year's team:
"I think our chemistry and our relentlessness. In practice we go after it. Sometimes we might be tired but you can never question our effort. We are always there and always pushing to make each other better."
On the team bonding:
"Off the court we have team dinners. We take turns cooking for each other. The freshmen don't really cook. Chloe [Pavlech] cannot cook at all. We keep her away from the stove. We go to movies and recently we threw Alicia [DeVaughn] a surprise birthday party. We told her we were going out to dinner and we convinced her to go back to the room and we surprised her. We had crabs because she likes seafood. We hang out and have a lot of jokes and laughs. We spend a lot of time in our new locker room. It's a lot of fun and we enjoy being around each other."
On using last season as motivation:
"We still feel the pain of last year. We won't forget it but in the back of our minds we know that we aren't satisfied. We know that we have to push harder and do the things that those final four teams did to get there."
