Marquette University Athletics
Terri Mitchell's Coaching Diary
2/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Throughout the course of the season, Marquette Women's Basketball Coach Terri Mitchell will share her thoughts on the Golden Eagles.
Q: It's been kind of a momentous week for the program, receiving its first-ever national ranking and now with the possibility of winning the regular-season C-USA title with a pair of wins this weekend (vs. UNC Charlotte on Friday, Feb. 18 and vs. Saint Louis on Sunday, Feb. 20).
A: It's very exciting. We are trying to strike that balance of being excited for what has happened and understanding that it's the same old, same old. We can't lose our edge, we can't lose our hunger. I allowed myself to enjoy it for a day. We've received a lot of media attention -- I've gotten a lot of calls and e-mails -- you name it. That's great for the program and the kids. But now, just to go back and say to our players, "okay, we just gave our opponents that much more incentive to beat us." They want to beat you anyway, everyone is highly competitive in this conference, but now we add to the fact that we are nationally ranked. We have to be ready to deal with that. We've talked to the team about that -- if we have settled in anyway and think we have arrived, then we are going to be in for a big disappointment.
Q: It's another big weekend in that with the two final regular-season home games for your seniors. As the season winds down in terms of regular-season play, have you thought about their impending departures and what they have meant.
A: I have tried not to think about it because I keep trying to think, hey, let's keep this thing rolling. But, obviously, everything does come to an end. It will be bittersweet, especially on Sunday when we are saying good-bye. I've watched the video of the seniors already and it put a tear in my eye. It really hit me what kind of an impact those three have made personally more than what they have done on the court -- just how much I love coaching them and how much our staff loves coaching them.
But, it's one of those things you look at and say, could this be the last home game? I don't know. That's the goal we are shooting for. Maybe from the outside people look at it and say it's a pipe dream that we would think that we could possibly host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. I think that from my standpoint as a coach it keeps that hunger and determination going. By far, this is a huge goal. We are asking the team to win six more games in a row. We're asking them to win two at home against teams that we had difficulty with. Then to go on the road to play DePaul and win there. And to win a conference tournament where every team has new life and new excitement. So, while it's difficult, it keeps us talking about it and it keeps the players fresh and it keeps them think that if we were 26-4, would we present something to the committee to think about? A team that won the regular season and conference championships and whose RPI was pretty high, why wouldn't we be given the opportunity to host? So we keep talking about these not being our last home games.
I probably won't really let it (Senior Day) really hit me until the end. But I'm sure when that video goes up there, my friends are telling me to start reading things to make me cry now so I can practice not crying when I'm up there.
Q: Getting back to the business at hand, what about the Charlotte and Saint Louis games this weekend?
A: We had difficulty with Charlotte and with its penetration on the offensive end. It was a low-scoring game and I say that understanding that it was a great defensive battle. We need to stop their penetration and keep them off the boards. Offensively, they played zone against us and we struggled. Now, I think that we have come a long way with zone offense since that point. It's that fine line between moving the basketball against the zone and letting your post players post. We moved the ball so quickly, we never touched the ball inside because they didn't have the opportunity. We've really addressed that and talked about it. UNC Charlotte across the league is one of the scariest teams whose record doesn't represent what they are capable of doing. They have some tremendous athletes. I hope that Friday isn't the night that they choose to have everything working their way.
Saint Louis, on the other hand, is a team that uses quickness to its advantage. They are going to press you the whole time, and at times we've struggled with pressure and shown times where we have handled it just great. I think they believe that since most teams are bigger, that they might as well press. They press the entire game and they will deny the entire game. To the degree that we handle their pressure and their denial will be the degree that we have success.
