TENNESSEE LADY VOL BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY October 31, 2011 * Thompson-Boling Arena
OPENING COMMENTS Coach Pat Summitt: “Glad you are here. Obviously we are excited about our team They’ve been working really hard. The coaching staff has been very invested in our workouts. We are just excited about this team and our three freshmen as well. They are stepping in and obviously I think all three will be able to contribute right away. So, with that said, I have a great coaching staff right here beside me.” (On the schedule – it seems harder than ever) “That’s a good thing. Because I think, with this team, we have high expectations and we’ve got good leadership and as I said, even our freshmen are stepping in right away. I’m really excited about this team and I know our staff is, so I think they are on a mission. Coaches are always on a mission but if you have players with the right mindset it goes a long way.” (On the post game) “Well, obviously I think our post game is really solid. Vicki Baugh has been a great leader for us, and just across the board to have so many veterans (to play in the post). “As a coach, you have great expectations. But you also know they have great expectations, too. And it’s more about what they want and I think our post game is going to step up. (About Isabelle Harrison) “She’s got a really good skill set…she can go left or right… and she’s really got a soft touch. I like her game a lot.” (Senior class still hasn’t made a Final Four…. How much of a motivation is that for them?) “Now what do you think? I think they have their eyes on it… great focus, great leadership. Across the board, I know they’re aware that they haven’t cut down nets and obviously we don’t want to put pressure on them because of it. “They just need to come in everyday and work the way they are working in practice now. If they continue that…we’ll see what happens…I like their chances.” (On Vicki Baugh having played in a Final Four and cut down nets) “She knows what it is like. And well, she’s obviously a key and I think everyone of the players look to her, they respect her, they count on her… but at the same time I think this team is really focused on what they have to do every day in practice, in doing the little things that turn out to be the big things – like the Final Four. (On Ariel Massengale) “Having a true point guard is a key. Ariel is the type of player that’s invested. Obviously we’ve got to get her healthy and rested and ready to go. She understands the game, how to distribute the basketball, its fortunate she is getting healthy now and we’ll be able to rely on her down the road. We’ve got a lot of players that can step up if need be.” (On Meighan Simmons) “Meighan is trying to make a better commitment to her defense and distribute the ball more. You know the one challenge that we’ve talked to her about is her defense and her board play. She has the green light to shoot most of the time. We addressed better shot selection and I think she’s settled down now. But the defense and the board play? That is something she has to be passionate about.”
COMMENTS FROM: Coach Holly Warlick: (on the schedule) “Pat has always played a tough schedule to always get us prepared for the tournament. That is our goal. To play Baylor early, to play at Notre Dame, to go out to play Stanford on their home court, I think we put our players in situations where they will be tested early. That has pretty much been our goal throughout the years, to play tough competition so when it comes to tournament time, we are not surprised as to what somebody is doing or how they are playing. It is to prepare us, especially our young freshmen, to be put in that environment at an early time in our schedule.” (on the SEC) “You’ve got Kentucky that we have had battles with. We always battle with Vanderbilt and Nikki (Caldwell) coming in. It appears that the SEC has gotten easier, but it is still a difficult place to play. It is difficult to go to Mississippi State and play. We have to bring our game throughout the whole SEC for every game. I think everyone gets up for Tennessee and as coaches we don’t want to have our team have any letdowns. If we are playing somebody that is ranked 10th in our league, to us it is still a competition. I still think the SEC is a tough, tough conference to play in day in and day out.” (on the point guards) “I think that with Ariel (Massengale) coming in, I think she has lived up to the expectations that we have had for her. I said this early, Ariel has made Brianna Bass better. It’s been a healthy competition. It has been a challenge for Bri and I think she stepped up to the challenge and gotten better. Then you have Shekinna Stricklen and Meighan (Simmons), who can play the point as well. We would like to say that Ariel is our point guard, we can’t and have a point guard by committee. I feel very comfortable with that. We are running all four of those players in and out. Mickie and I were just talking and we want Ariel back on the floor and to get involved with our team and be able to play. She is healing. We would like to get her on the court and for her to have an opportunity to play and get in the mix with our players.” (on the team’s versatility) “This is probably one of the most versatile teams that we have had. Our post players have the ability to bring the ball up the floor. People can play multiple positions. That is exciting for us as coaches that we can get them in the mix and do a little bit more things probably than we have before.” (on the freshmen) “Ariel Massengale, looking to her for leadership on the court. Her ability to distribute the ball, her knowledge of the game is just outstanding. From that standpoint, her leadership on the court and to run the team, we haven’t had consistency from that vantage point. Cierra Burdick can play multiple positions. We play her inside; we play her on the wing. She’s really come around and being a great leader off the floor. She is not only a very good basketball but a great kid and has a great love for this program. Isabelle Harrison, I think out of all three of our freshmen, Izzy is the most surprising because she is very coachable, she is very active, she is really, really understanding the post play and her position. She is just an energized player. A lot of energy and that is what we need. You tell her one thing and she gets it. So, very excited for Izzy to see where she has come. She has really come a long way since she first got here at Tennessee. The other two, they played for our national team. Izzy just has come in under the radar.” Coach Dean Lockwood: (on the SEC) “I think the SEC, if you look in my time that I have to Tennessee, come into the women’s game, there’s a couple stretches where Tennessee and LSU were making the Final Four every year and a couple teams that were close. I think that maybe hasn’t been as consistent the last couple of year, I think you still see top to bottom that the SEC is strong. On any given night, you can have a close game. You can go to Mississippi State or Ole Miss and have a close game. Top to bottom, I really believe we have one of the best leagues, if not the best league in the country.” (on the post players) “It is great to have the health there. Last year at this time, we had one player out in our post group and then we had two players who were very much day-to-day practice wise. It has been very nice, very refreshing, to have a healthy group that we have been able to practice with. They have been able to stay in the rotation and we have been able to count on them. What we have lost, very obviously, is the bulk and the
size. We are not the all-airport team anymore. We used to be very impressive walking off the bus or walking through airports, but what we are is a lot more mobile. We are a lot more quick and agile. We are athletic. We are able to extend our defense and pressure more with our post players. So we like that dimension, we got some versatility. To have them all healthy and practicing reps has been great.” Coach Mickie DeMoss: (on the SEC) “The fact that Nikki Caldwell is coming to the league, she did not inherit an empty cupboard. There is some talent on that LSU team plus she brought some kids with her as well. I think LSU is going to be better. I think Georgia is going to be better. Vandy is always competitive. Kentucky is going to be competitive. As Holly said, Tennessee has a target. When you are ranked number one in the league and we are picked unanimous to win, everyone is going to get up to play us.” (on the play of the guards) “One thing about this team is that we are very versatile. I think we have guards who can play multiple positions and in that case it kind of blends together. I think as an entire team, our whole perimeter game has been working extremely hard. Over the summer, our veterans worked a lot on their weaknesses. I know Taber Spani spent a lot of time working on that right hand. We had players who really buckled down to try and improve in their weak areas. So I think you are going to see a team that maybe last year we were limited in some ways on the wings, where we couldn’t go left or couldn’t go right or we didn’t like pressure. Things like that we really focused and worked on. We are going to have a lot of weapons. I think we can shoot the three and go off the dribble, so if we can maintain that chemistry and confidence, I think we will be hard to defend.” PLAYER COMMENTS: Meighan Simmons On the assistant coaches’ increased roles: “I don’t think we’ve actually talked about it. I feel if one of them (assistant coaches) has something to say and want to get it out, I feel like they will be smart enough to take turns and let each other share what they think out there on the floor.” On getting direction from the bench: “Most of the time I’m looking at Holly because she’s pretty much the guard coach. Mickie every once and a while when she tells us to run certain things, but the only time I really ever talk to Pat is when she pulls me aside and tells me to do this or to make sure I’m in the right position at all times…Holly’s always there if I need another ear and I know Mickie will tell us to do stuff, but sometimes I need another ear to make sure that’s exactly what I’m supposed to do once I’m out there on the floor.” On whether the team is underrated because of the Pat story: “I really feel like we could be the best team in the country. We just have to keep our mindset on what the task is at hand and make sure we’re out there doing the right thing and playing together as a team. We need to make sure that we’re doing things for Pat and when she tells us things that we get it done and get it done right the first time.” On the differences between this team and last season’s squad: “Of course the incoming freshmen. They’re amazing basketball players. I think that a veteran team—I really feel like we have a veteran team. We have so many veterans that I don’t feel like there’s any excuse as to why we shouldn’t make it to the Final Four.” On feeling more comfortable this year: “I really do. I’m a freshman at heart, but I feel like I’m more mature in the mind and I know exactly what it is that I need to do. I’ve grown up since last year. I really expect something really great this year.” On confidence as a freshman last year: “There weren’t any confidence issues. No matter what circumstances came my way I always stuck to my confidence and made sure I prayed before every game; I made sure I thought about what I needed to do. If I knew I could do something well and I could be the best at it in the game, that’s what I did best.”
Shekinna Stricklen On being named SEC Preseason Player of the Year: “It’s just a prediction. It doesn’t matter until the season starts. That’s not what I’m focusing on. I’m focusing more on what I can do to help this team out and what we can do to get to the Final Four.” On being a senior leader: “[I am] communicating a lot more with my teammates, coming in every day holding each other accountable and working hard. No more complaining. I can play every position and I just want to get better at every position whether it’s playing the point, playing wing, or playing inside.” Vicki Baugh On playing a tough nonconference schedule: “It’s something to get us where we want to be in the end. Tennessee always plays a tough schedule and in the SEC, we’re in the toughest conference. We like to play tough teams because that’s who we’re going to have to play to win in the end. We like our schedule. It’s no added pressure. We’re just going to take it and handle it like we should. As long as we follow our philosophy which is good defense, rebounding and never taking a loss, we’ll be where we want to be in the end.” Glory Johnson On playing a tough nonconference schedule: “Seven of the first ten teams we play are ranked. I’m really excited. I like the whole competitive nature of playing hard teams early. I don’t look at it as something we should be scared of; I look at it as other teams should be scared of us because they have to deal with us early when both teams have developing to do.” On how the schedule prepares the team for conference play: “Just playing the hard teams early, winning or losing, we’ll realize where we’re at and what we need to work on. Playing them early will help us a lot because we know what to expect later down the line.” On conference matchups that stand out: “I always like playing Vanderbilt, I just don’t like playing at Vanderbilt. That’s always a huge game for me because I’m from Knoxville. It’s always ‘which is the real Tennessee (school)?’ when clearly it’s the Tennessee on the jersey I’m wearing (laughs). Sometimes they think they’re the real Tennessee so that’s the most fun game.” Izzy Harrison: On having a sibling on campus and siblings that have played college sports: “They’ve given me a lot of advice on what to do and what not to do. They’ve given me tips, even for off the court. Keep your head and be focused in school—that’s why you came here. Having DeeDee here has helped especially because it does get hard here and it’s nice to have a figure here. You can always call your mom and dad but they’re not here with you. I don’t want to be blowing her up with something that’s happening but I’ll call her and we’ll spend a day together and just spend time together when we’re out of practice.” On her brother David, who played in the NBA: “I don’t remember much about when he was playing because I was little when it happened. A lot of articles would come out about him and I was just like, ‘I want that.’ I want people knowing me, being impressed by me. He’s always told me to keep working hard and he knows what it takes to go to another level. I listen to him every step of the way. “