University of Connecticut Athletics
Womens Basketball Holds Annual Media Day
10/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Geno Auriemma Quotes
Is it good to be back? Are you looking forward to being back?
“It is. I think for any coach this is probably the most exciting time of the year, other than right before the NCAA Tournament. Everything else in between is hard. I think you can feel it in the air, see it in the kids’ faces, the coaching staff has a different feel about it. And this year in particular, you’ve got everyone back from last year’s team; high expectations as usual. Saturday can’t come fast enough.”
How hungry is this team?
“You really don’t know until you start going through things on the floor and facing some adversity in practice. Seeing how people react. Sometimes you can just feel there is a little bit of a difference. And I think there is some of that, I can see it, I can feel it. This is the first preseason that everyone has been healthy enough to do everything. So we haven’t had to scale things back in any way, shape or form. It’s been incredibly successful in terms of how much work each player has been able to put in the last month and a half.”
The seniors on this team have not been to the Final Four, are you worried that it will be on their mind too much this year? Or are you hoping that’s what they are thinking about?
“I hope it’s on their mind a little bit, but not so much that they lose sight of what’s important. What’s important is the regular season; it sets you up to get a run at winning the National Championship. So every game you play in the regular season means something. But I like to see them keep that in the back of their minds the whole year.”
What does Maya Moore potentially mean to this team?
“I think any time you have a solid group coming back, and you can add a little mix to that, it kind of reminds me of 1995. We had everyone coming back from a team that lost in the Final Eight game to North Carolina. We were able to add someone like Nykesha (Sales) who was completely different than anyone we had. That kind of changed the whole dynamic of our team. I think maybe something similar can happen here with Maya and Lorin (Dixon). Lorin just blew everyone away in the mile; for a young kid like that to come in and be that competitive and prepared, its pretty good stuff already.”
Do you know what this team is capable of?
“I thought last year’s team had a chance to win the National Championship. And I still believe that if we beat LSU, we had a chance to win the National Championship, but we couldn’t get over the hump. There is a lot that’s going to happen to every team between now and March. If our team stays how we are today, and these same players are playing in March, I like our chances as much as at any time since 2004 when Diana (Taurasi) was here.”
Did anyone disappointments over the summer with their preparations?
“No, I haven’t seen anything. Everyone that I have seen up to this point looks a little better than when they left here (for summer break). And the most remarkable change in any individual is Kaili McLaren. She looks fantastic and is in the best shape of her life. Jamelle Elliott says she expects great things from Kaili McLaren. Usually those guys do what Jamelle wants.
How does Tina (Charles) look after coming off of shoulder surgery?
“I always think that when you are coming off of surgery, and you haven’t touched a basketball since when the season ended, you don’t get that back within a week or a month. Physically she looks great, she’s had a chance to work on her left hand a lot and shoot a lot. Tina Charles had a great freshman year with a bad shoulder. If she can replicate what she did last season and just add a little bit to it, she’s got an All-America type year.”
On Lorin Dixon:
“We had an endurance test on the court yesterday and she came in second to Mel (Thomas), and after that and running the mile today. She broke Sveta’s (Abrosimova) record. That’s pretty good. She’s fast. I am shocked. I never expected here to come in here that prepared. That is impressive. And she picks things up pretty quickly.”
Would getting to a Final Four complete the careers of these seniors?
“I think there is a lot of great players who have played college basketball that have never played in a Final Four. There are a lot of great players who have never won a National Championship. There just aren’t any great players who have played at Connecticut that haven’t played in a Final Four. So that’s a little different standard that they have here.”
On Charde Houston:
“Charde is probably getting herself geared up for a big finish, and I hope so.”
