On Tennessee's performance against George Washington...
"I thought we played in spurts. They did a nice job of mixing up some things against us. I thought that again, we struggled with consistency and being able to sustain a certain level of play. Our bench had a little bit of trouble coming in and keeping us at the level we wanted and that was a challenge for us. That is somewhere we should separate ourselves out, with the depth there. We have to make sure our bench understands accountability. In some cases players learning to come off the bench and impact the play or at least keep us where we need to be. I'd been fairly well pleased until the North Carolina and GW games.
On playing Texas...
"I'm looking forward to playing Texas at their place. It's always a challenge for us and a difficult environment. That's why we schedule the way we schedule; to put our players in what could be a postseason like atmosphere. We had that at Arizona State and at North Carolina and I would expect us to have that at Texas."
On wanting team to be more physical...
"I'm talking about our defense, our rebounding and boxing out on the defensive end. We tend to be a team that hasn't initiated contact on the box out. From an offensive standpoint, we need stronger post up play, not just from the post players, but anytime we want to post our guards. We need to be more aggressive and physical on the offensive glass. It became very glaring in the NC game, physically they were so much tougher than us. Even watching our GW game, I did not feel like we were as physically imposing as we have been in past years. It is a very physical game, we have to understand and adapt to situations and realize that we do have to make contact on our box outs and more repetition of that."
On your decision to go the junior college route this year and their transition...
"We went that route because we felt we needed to add depth in the back court, with the transfer of Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood. Being exposed last year because at times we didn't have the quickness, the speed or the depth of quickness and speed. It's been more than I'd anticipated. I thought Alberta Auguste and Shannon Bobbitt could both help us, but the fact that they had two years of experience at the juco level gave them a wealth of experience to come in and help us. They didn't seem overwhelmed at all. They seemed much more mature in handling the expectations and getting into our training and conditioning in the summer. It was a very pleasant surprise and I was very pleased. At the same time, the thing that they have struggled with is when we are on the road in hostile environments, in particular Shannon at ASU and Alberta at UNC, they seem to be a little overanxious and bothered in that environment. That's why we do what we do with our scheduling. They have both helped us tremendously but I think there is a still a real upside to what they can do in the future.
On junior college players, when they first arrived...
"I think the conditioning was the biggest shock, the intensity of the training and their conditioning. Aside from that, and I know after Shannon's first workout, a few of the veterans called me and said `Oh coach, Shannon had a difficult time getting through the workout today, but we told her she couldn't quit,' and the same with Alberta. But they bought into it and kept getting better and more confident and comfortable as time went on. But mainly, they are so appreciative of the opportunities they have had here, whether it's how we travel, the gear they receive, the running shoes for conditioning, the basketball shoes for playing. When they got their basketball shoes it was `thank you coach,' they thanked everyone. They appreciate everything. Honestly, it has been a breath of fresh air. These kids really do appreciate everything because this is a different environment and different circumstances."
On pre-conceived notion or reputation of junior college players...
"I think there is a perception there, that they perhaps have more issues. Even for myself, I haven't looked at the juco route, because we've been able to identify and recruit players we know we'll have for four years. When you can have a player for four years, you have the opportunity for more consistency and hopefully they can make an impact for at least three of those four years and hopefully all four years. You don't have the turnover of two years. But, having these two (Alberta and Shannon), has made me rethink looking at jucos in the future."
On what Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood will do for Maryland...
"She is a very talented offensive player and has the ability to push tempo. She is a scoring point guard but likes to get other people involved. She's a very well-rounded offensive player that certainly would impact any team, regardless of the talent pool. On the defensive end, she is very committed. A lot of times her defense starts her offense. She should have a positive influence right away."
On the potential of foul trouble because of being physical...
"I'm speaking more about being aggressive and physical with our bodies. The emphasis on hand checking is what got us in trouble earlier this season. We need to play more with our bodies and our feet, not our hands. That is something we've tried to distinguish, between being aggressive with your feet and physical with your body, as opposed to just trying to play defense with your hands."
On the recent recommendation by the Committee on Women's Athletics to the NCAA on banning male practice players...
"I think it would be detrimental to women's basketball. If you look at what has happened, the parity in the game, the fact that when we have male practice players, they challenge us. It's not like they take away opportunities, on the contrary, they provide opportunities for our teams to work on specific game preparation. If we want to work on our full court press, we can press the guys, they challenge us and they make us better. Everyone on our team has the opportunity to work on that. If we don't have practice guys, and I think this would be true for most coaches, then the last five players on your team become the practice squad. Yes, they may get some reps in that way, but can they be counted on come game time. When I coached the Olympic team in 1984, we played against one female team in the exhibition games. The rest of the time, we played against males and traveled to different cities and did that. The guys made us better. When we were in Colorado Springs, we were training against guys in that area, a lot of former high school and college players. Why? Because it enhances our opportunity to compete at a different level and allowed us to get all of our players involved in whatever aspect we were focusing on."
On the overall perception of other top teams this season...
"I haven't gotten to see a lot of games, but I watched the Duke vs. Texas game. I thought Duke did a great job defensively, extending it and changing it a lot. Early on, a lot of these teams are going to show that their defense is ahead of their offense and that they generate offense from their defense. The same has been true for us, we've had to rely on our defense to generate points for us. We're not as sharp not in our half court offense as we will be in February. Certainly it's consistent with these top teams that the defense has picked up running the offense."
On Texas' Tiffany Jackson...
"She is a great talent. I see more dimensions now to her game. She's handling more in the open floor. She's facing up and putting the ball on the floor even more. Her offensive package, to me, is more extensive now than in the past. Certainly her force on the boards and great defensive presence has a great impact on how that team plays. They've established her as their go-to player and rely heavily on her production game-in and game-out. That will be a real challenge for us."
On Texas' young team...
"With a young team, watching them play against Duke, they are going to be a lot different at home than they were on the road. I see that with Cait McMahan, our freshman point guard who is getting quality minutes and with Alberta and Shannon, because they are comfortable. At halftime of the ASU game, I went up to Shannon and asked `What is the deal, you've got 9,000 people watching you, you have to step up and play on the big stage, why are you so nervous.' She said to me, `Coach, I'm used to hearing Rocky Top.' Well there wasn't any Rocky Top in Arizona and there certainly won't be any played in Texas. I think what you see sometimes when you have those young players, having been in that environment, it can affect their performance."
What do you remember from the last trip to Texas...
"It was like it was last week. The bus broke down, we were getting into taxis, jumping into cars and we got there late. We faced adversity getting there but faced more when the game started. They took it to us. Offensively we were stagnant and I thought looking back that is when we put in some different schemes offensively. We never got comfortable against their defense. Their defense just really took us apart. They got a lot of easy transition baskets. We looked like for the most part that we were in shock. It was a long night."
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