Marquette University Athletics
Women's Basketball Meets the Media
10/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 24, 2008
MILWAUKEE - Head coach Terri Mitchell, along with seniors Krystal Ellis, Erin Monfre and Marissa Thrower and sophomore Angel Robinson met with members of the Milwaukee media Thursday afternoon to discuss the 2008-09 season.
The Golden Eagles, who were picked seventh in the BIG EAST, have had a successful first week of practice and will kick-off the 2008-09 season with Marquette Madness on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center. Marquette will then host a pair of exhibition games (Nov. 1 and Nov. 10) before officially opening the season Nov. 15 at the Al McGuire Center against Oral Roberts at 2 p.m.
Head coach Terri Mitchell
Opening Statement
"It's a very exciting time anytime you can have your pre-season press conference. Early indications are that our players are really benefiting from our NIT Championship. The hunger they went into the summer with has been unbelievable and how they've come back prepared. We always say that summers are the time when average players become good and good players become great and I can honestly say that our players took very seriously the task that is before them. Last year we had a lot of ups and downs but we dug our heels in and ended the season well. They've come back extremely competitive and we are as deep as we've ever been in the guard position. I think there's an old adage and I believe in it, and that's "you go as your seniors go," which is why I have our seniors here today. They represent our team and Angel Robinson obviously made a big name in our program last year as a freshman, but she didn't play like a freshman. I really like our competitiveness and their love for the game as they've begun this new season. The challenge I've placed before them is will you have this same desire a month from now? Obviously, every program has that desire early but can we stay with it with the kind of schedule we have? I just came from New York yesterday and the BIG EAST is as strong and as deep as you could ever want it to be. We are definitely playing in the best and deepest conference in the nation. There is a mental toughness that comes with being in the BIG EAST and we are no strangers to it now, going into our fourth year. We have a good non-conference schedule that's going to get us ready."
"When you're playing in April, you're getting those extra weeks of practice and finding a lot out about yourselves. I think that fed into our hunger. I think this team has very high expectations of what they want to do. It's good when it comes from them, coaches obviously, we have expectations of getting to the BIG EAST tournament. When you play in the BIG EAST you need to expect your going to play in the post-season. I'm coaching this group to be an NCAA Tournament team. There is obviously sacrifice and a lot of games until we get to that point but the desire and energy is there. There is nobody telling our players to play hard. In some ways we almost have to back them off a little bit because of how hungry they are so that is a good problem to have as a coach versus trying to get them revved up. Now it's my job and the coaches job to harness that energy. I think as a coach you always take this time to see what our team is made up of and what is the best position we can put our team in to be successful, and I think you have to be willing to change every year. We've always traditionally been a half court team defensively, but when we got into the WNIT we played a full court defense and I think we're going to look to start the year that way. I think we're going to respond to how our players are playing.
About the newcomers...
We've added four very good players. Lauren Thomas-Johnson is from England and played her high school ball here in the United States. She was team mates with Brianne Hill and won back to back national championships in junior college together. They've given us more depth at the wing and Lauren is very quick, she can score in a variety of ways. Brianne is a player who can post up and her mid-range game is her greatest strength. They've given us another standard of competitiveness and they're not freshman so they understand what needs to be done as far as conditioning. Our two freshman, Jess Paschko and Georgie Jones who was high school teammates with Angel they are both post players. Jess is very physical and a block player while Georgie is long enough where she will change shots and is an excellent rebounder. So two very different styles and we need that depth in the post. Our guard game is experienced and we have a lot of depth. I think we are still trying to figure out our post game and I think that is a good problem to have when you have this much talent. Playing time is going to be extremely competitive and I think that's why practices have been so great. I did an exercise with the team where they wrote down how many minutes they expected to play. Obviously, we all know there is 200 possible minutes in a game and the count came up to 340 so that leaves 140 minutes that can't be played but there are expectations on this team that they will be played. What that exercise did was demonstrate that you have to be prepared and can't ever take a day off in practice because there is that much talent on this team. I'll just use Krystal as an example. She's had a lot of minutes behind her name but she's getting pushed in practice. Even Krystal Ellis needs to know that some players may need to sacrifice minutes for the good of the team. I think you need to have games where depending on matchups you have to change up the minutes. But UCONN and Rutgers have had All-American after All-American competing for playing time so it's no different for us being in that situation as talented players are attracted to our program and as it grows. But it makes practice that much more competitive and our seniors have commented these are the most competitive practices they've ever been a part of and they enjoy that. They don't want to get on the court and have same-old same-old they want to mix it up and so you can see the energy they have had.
About the returning post players...
Paige and Jocelyn have the most experience having shared that starting role with Svetlana last year. I think Jasmine Collins has had an excellent off-season. Obviously she lacks the experience from a playing perspective and is more like a freshman because she didn't play much last year because of Kelly and Svetlana. I think Jasmine is really understanding her role more. You'll hear me say a thousand times when people ask what our weakness is, and that is we don't have the size other teams have. Yet we went into the WNIT lacking size and were only bigger than one team and we out-rebounded teams by seven. It's a mentality of getting to the ball and a mentality of guards rebounding. Paige and Jocelyn definitely have experience, plus Jasmine Collins and our two freshman so there is six people and we're trying to figure out our rotation. It's my hope that we can figure it out in the non-conference but early on we won't have any answers because we have to see who can play the best when they officials are on the court and the crowd is in the stands. Then we'll find out a lot about who has that mental toughness to play.
About Krystal Ellis' leadership...
I think Krystal one of her biggest things is that she's always been a very quiet player. She's shy by nature but she has made it more of a point to talk. I think the biggest gift she has given us is her effort on the court. The very first practice that we had in August, we ran an individual we had four players on the court and she was diving for the ball. There's no better example than the person that's getting all the national recognition that Krystal is getting and deserves. To see her give up her body in the first ten minutes of that individual workout - that kind of effort has continued. Erin has been an excellent communicator and understands the zone defense better than anyone on the team. You need those kind of communicators and what I've seen is them is they're willing to talk. That's the leadership that they're giving - their competitive nature, communication, and obviously the effort.
About the BIG EAST Conference...
UConn has been number one in all the polls and I think they greatly deserve that. Someone asked me, `Do you that another team can win the BIG EAST?' And I said, `If we're not coaching to win the BIG EAST, we shouldn't be coaching.' I mean, if we're just coaching to come in second, then I believe we shouldn't coach. Connecticut is at the top. We're going to step on the court like everyone else, willing to go toe-to-toe with them. Rutgers has depth but they're very young, Louisville is coming off a great year. The conference didn't graduate much - they were so deep. We had eight teams in the tournament and I believe that there will be more teams this year because the BIG EAST didn't graduate much and we're older and more experienced. If you look at the one through six teams, nobody would be surprised if that was upset - if the people at the middle were towards the top, and if the people at the top were in the middle - because anything can happen on any given night because of the talent and the coaches. That's why we love college athletics, because on any given night, you can be the one that's going to be the upset, or people are coming after you to upset you so you have to be ready. I don't know that there's a conference that is deeper. There are conferences that have great teams at the top, but in no other conference could teams one through ten go to the NCAA Tournament.
About not looking too far ahead...
I think we are on people's radars because of what we did and the national exposure that we received in winning the tournament. Especially this spring and summer, I was talking to coaches who knew what we did, and Krystal's name being out there in a lot of national Player of the Year polls. We always have the mentality that we're underdogs and that's how we coach. I don't think we've ever taken anything for granted and we always try to look at ways we could be better. You've got to have that fine line of confidence because if you don't step on the court expecting to win, your opposing team will sense that in you. You have to have confidence but you never want to be so sure of yourself that you take any team for granted because you know that you could lose. That's the hunger that you have to have that has to be consistent from now until the end of March. You have to keep inside what your goals are and you only get those goals one game at a time. We have two exhibitions that will be great but overall, on November 15 is everything that we're working towards. You can't talk about Connecticut - you've got to talk about Oral Roberts - and after we get through with them, we can talk about the next game.
About Angel Robinson...
Last year, Angel wasn't lacking confidence, but I think she just needed to learn where she fit in this team and that the team was really okay with her having the ball in her hands. The biggest change I've seen with her is her communication on the court and leading them, which has been really fun. She didn't do that much of last year because she was still figuring out her own game. Here we were starting her and putting a lot of expectations playing 30 minutes a game. There's a lot of things we threw at her but we really saw that transformation through the tournament. She has started where she left off in getting the team fired up and ready to go. I think that is the biggest thing, just knowing `I don't have to wait to speak, I can speak at any time.'
About the play of Krystal Ellis...
I think Krystal is a great example of a player who can put their mind to it and is in the right environment and what they're able to accomplish. It goes without saying, she was not highly recruited out of high school and when she came to us early on, discipline was the big thing she had to learn. She was an athlete that could do so much, and I think the biggest part of this is the tribute to the rest of the team for realizing the talent that Krystal is. When she dropped 40 points at Kentucky, everybody celebrated every basket that she made. They set incredible screens for her, they delievered incredible passes to her, and everybody helped score those 40 points. It's because the team has identified that we have a pretty special scorer here and they're setting her up. I think Angel's presence on the team last year gave the ability for Krystal to be set up when she had been doing the setting up. Krystal created a lot of her scores the first two years because she had the ball in her hands. Last year, she was able to benefit from what Angel could do. It's her just working harder, every year, understanding that hard work. I don't think Krystal understood that at first, but now she's grasping that hard work, coming off an excellent summer, and the rest of the team not being selfish in understanding that Krystal can do things.
