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- Lady Lion Media Day Photo Gallery
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- Maggie Lucas One-on-One Interview
- Talia East One-on-One Interview
Head Coach Coquese Washington Quotes
Q: Can you talk about integrating the freshman? How are they doing so far?
A: Certainly, it was a wonderful luxury to have a veteran team the past few years. The same returning starters, the same core team; that was fun. It's certainly different because, in some ways, it's starting over and teaching new things to eight newcomers. It's been different, but I really like the energy that the freshmen are bringing. They're picking up things really quickly. They play with a lot of energy. I've just been really pleased with how fast and how quickly they've picked things up. I'm pretty optimistic about how they'll perform on game day.
Q: How did the early start to practices help you?
A: It's been a big help, even this summer. You know we had the early access this summer. That was a big help, in particular with us so many new faces and so many new people, getting them acclimated to the pace, the speed of practice. That was really big for us to be able to get that transformation started early.
Q: With so many freshmen, are you concerned with teams looking to take Maggie Lucas away as an offensive option?
A: Well, people have been trying to take Maggie [Lucas] since she walked through the door, so that won't be a change for us. But, it is going to be different for different people. Some of our returning players have to carry bigger roles this year. So, we are definitely going to have to see them step up and I think that some of the freshmen are going to step up and do some good things for us. I think they are going to step up and do well. Every team is different, every team is new. We are still figuring out who is going to do what. Like is said, for the last three years, you know what Alex Bentley was going to do, you knew what Nikki Greene was going to do, you knew what Mia Nickson was going to do. Now we just have to figure out as we get into games and scrimmages and all of that, who is going to show up when the lights turn on.
Q: How has Candice Agee come along this off-season?
A: [Candice Agee] has gotten so much better. You will see her when we get out there, her body composition has changed, she has slimmed up a little bit and she is in better shape. I think she has a high level of confidence at this point.
Q: Talk a little bit about Ariel Edwards as she enters her senior season.
A: She has been one of the most impressive in practice and the most consistent. I think her confidence level is really, really high. I have been really, really happy with our four returning seniors. First of all, their leadership has just been tremendous. When you talk about integrating eight new people into a team, that takes a lot of work, takes a lot of determination but it takes a lot of leadership and for [the seniors] to get outside of themselves and making sure that the freshmen are coming along and coming along well. They have done a fantastic job in leading the freshmen, so far.
Q: How does the injury to Lindsey Spann effect the point guard situation and Dara Taylor, in particular?
A: I don't know that it translates into more minutes for Dara [Taylor], I think it translates into more minutes for some of the other guards. It certainly changed things a little bit because I had anticipated [Lindsey Spann] that she would be an impact player for us as a freshman, but we have enough bodies, we have enough people that we will just move people around, so I think we will be fine there.
Q: Do you anticipate being able to still play up-tempo with all of the newcomers?
A: That's the plan. We definitely want to play fast. It may look a little bit different sometimes when we get into the halfcourt. I think we have a lot of options, we have a lot of size and we've got a lot of versatility. We may look a little bit different in that way, in exactly how we are going to attack, but we are still going to play fast and be up-tempo and we are still going to pretty aggressive on defense as much as we can be this year.
Q: Is there extra motivation knowing that there is the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament at home?
A: I don't know about motivation, we are just trying to get through the first half of the season, with all of these newcomers. It's a great way for us to send out our seniors, Maggie Lucas, in particular. For her home fans to get a chance to see her finish her career in the NCAA Tournament, in this building, that's pretty special and I know that we are going to do everything we can to give her that opportunity and give our fans that opportunity, as well.
Q: What freshmen have impressed you early on?
A: Kaliyah Mitchell has really shown some good stuff in practice. Peyton Whitted, she is a fantastic shooter and she is doing some good things. Jenny DeGraaf has shown her ability to put the ball in the basket. Alex Harris is really athletic in the post and gets up and down the floor well and is a very good rebounder. But, they're freshmen, so they are inconsistent, they look great on Monday and awful on Tuesday. To tell you who is looking good depends on which day you walk into the gym.
Q: You graduated a lot of rebounds, is that something you will be concentrating on early on?
A: Absolutely, Mia Nickson and Nikki Greene were just monsters on the glass and with those two walking out of the door, I don't know that we have any one person that's going to rebound like Nikki Greene or any one person that is going to rebound like Mia Nickson. It's definitely going to be rebounding by committee. Those freshmen are going to have get in there and impact us on the boards because they have the size that they have on the perimeter.
Q: This team took a lot of its cue, personality-wise, from Alex Bentley. Where do you think that will come from this year?
A: I think it's still a work in progress, but certainly Maggie Lucas. Her imprint is all over this team, when you talk about the work ethic and the passion that she plays with, it's definitely her imprint on the team. But again, I think it's a collection of what the seniors bring to the table and they all bring different things, but they certainly all bring a lot of energy to the court. If I had to say one person, certainly, it's Maggie's personality.
Q: How will the tough non-conference schedule prepare you for the rest of the season?
A: It's a challenging schedule, but I think they're capable of performing well. When we get into conference play, it's going to be just as tough, and then you get into postseason play, so you might as well jump right in to the deep end of the pool and swim. That's the way we are looking at it.
Q: How will Dara Taylor's role change this year?
A: I think she has a lot more confidence, she has a lot more understanding of how to run the team and what we are looking for. Last year with her and Alex [Bentley] on the court at the same time, Alex's voice was heard a lot and Dara [Taylor] kind of played off of Alex a lot and this year she's going to be the voice of the team on the court. She's got to be that vocal point guard and she's been doing that so much already, even starting in the spring, you heard her voice a lot. I am confident in her ability to lead the team.
Q: How do you see Maggie Lucas' role this season? Is she going to be playing more point guard as she did as a freshman?
A: She's going to have a little bit more of a leadership role on the court, but beyond that, it won't be too much different. We're still going to rely on her to provide that inspiration and offense output that she's done for her entire career.
Q: You haven't talked about Talia [East] or Tori [Waldner] yet. Talia had a pretty big postseason last year. Do you anticipate that to lead into this year and help the transition up front?
A: I hope so and from what I've seen from them so far, they've really gotten better over the offseason. We're still working on finding our chemistry on the court and I think that's going to be a work in progress until we start playing games. I've been really, really happy with how they've grown. Talia's, you know, every year she's played pretty well in the postseason and Tori's gotten better. They're definitely going to be counted on to provide some production and stability for the team, especially early on in the season.
Q: Last year, you had players like Tori [Waldner], Dara [Taylor] and Talia [East] feeding off of the older players and now it's their turn to do that, with the bulk of the younger players you have. How have they been able to do it? What has it been like for them to have those mentors to help them become mentors and help the younger players?
A: They've done a fantastic job of being mentors. It starts, because they were really good followers. We always talk about, it's hard to be a good leader, if you've never been a good follower. Because they were such good followers their first couple years here, they've been able to make the transition now to being good leaders and mentors to the younger kids on our team.
Q: You have a lot of freshman. Does that give them a chance to surprise you and change the way the team shapes up?
A: Yeah, in some ways it does. [Penn State women's volleyball coach] Russ Rose, one of the things he told me about having a new team and a different team, when you graduate some stalwarts and people who made big impacts, is keep the standard high. Keep the expectations really, really high and they'll meet them. That's how we've been coaching them the first few weeks of practice. We've kept the expectations high, we've been very demanding and we expect them to meet it. They're freshman, so there's been some inconsistencies, but the one thing that's been consistent has been their effort and desire to be outstanding college players. That work ethic is going to pay off at some point during the year.
Q: With the non-conference schedule, you mentioned it can pay dividends in the season, but how does such an ambitious non-conference schedule pay off in the long run for the program?
A: I just think, it's where we want to be. We want to be a program that plays the best teams in the country, not just the best teams in our area or our region. We want to play the best teams in the country. We want to play UConn, we want to play Tennessee, we want to play Stanford and we're excited about playing Notre Dame. We want to be one of those programs that play against the marquee talent. I don't expect our schedule to change from year-to-year in terms of the level of competitiveness that's on the schedule. We just want to vary it up and get different teams in here. We like being tested and I remember being at Notre Dame. When we joined the Big East, we started getting tested more and I think that's how you grow your program, when you're testing yourselves against the country's best.