Keith Cieplicki met with members of the media on Friday, Oct. 15 to discuss the upcoming season.
Orange Women's Basketball Begins Preparations for Season
10/15/2004 6:10:22 PM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The 2004-05 basketball season begins on Saturday, Oct. 16 with the team's first day of practice. The coaches and players met with members of the media on Friday to talk about the upcoming season.
Syracuse returns seven letterwinners from last year's squad, has five newcomers that have been tabbed as the 24th-best recruiting class in the nation. Head coach Keith Cieplicki begins his second season at the helm of the Orange program.
Keith Cieplicki, Head Coach
On this season’s priorities:
“I think that with this group we want to get an understanding of what the new players’ strengths are and try to mix those with the players we have back. It is going to be a really important preseason.”
On where the points will come from this year:
“I hope we can establish a little more in the paint this year. We have recruited some size and we want to get easy scores. We hope to play a little bit faster than we did last year.”
On comfort level after one year as head coach:
“I think everybody, staff and players, feel more comfortable this year. We have a better idea on how things work day-to-day. I think the players have a pretty good feel of what our expectations are, so it has just been so much easier. We have been able to just focus on basketball and getting some things done on the floor.”
On this year’s expectations:
“We need to be as competitive as we can be. Hopefully, be a lot better at the end (of the season) than we are at the beginning. I think those are realistic. Until we get some people in some games, it’s hard to expect much more than that.”
On sophomore guard Lauren Kohn:
“Lauren had a great year last year being on the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team. She is only a sophomore, but we expect some good leadership from her. She made shots last year and hopefully she will continue to do that this year.”
On contributions from the freshmen:
“We want as much as they can give us. We have a good core back and they have to be the foundation for the year. Hopefully the freshmen can gain experience and gain confidence. We just need to be patient with them. There will be times when they a really good and times when they will struggle, but we just have to let them grow and mature.”
On being undersized last year:
“We were undersized last year and hopefully our size overall has improved as a team. To be successful in the BIG EAST, you have to be big. Let’s be realistic. That is a need that we are starting to address this year. We have to do a better job on the boards to be competitive this year.”
On the BIG EAST:
“There are great coaches in this league, but there are a lot of great players in this league. If we are going to be competitive over time, we need to be competitive recruiting wise. We can all coach to some degree, but we need to continue to improve our recruiting. We are in some recruiting battles right now, and hopefully over the course of two to four years we can win a few of those big battles. That will get us to a point where when we go head to head with those people we feel that we have a good chance of competing.”
On Syracuse’s selling points in recruiting battles:
“The Newhouse school has been great for those who are interested in communications. The people have seen the commitment to the program. I can’t say enough about Coach Boeheim and the guys taking time for our recruits and helping them to believe that the women’s team can be as successful as the men. My family and I and the people we have brought here feel that the people at Syracuse are just great people.”
On Lauren Kohn’s reaction as one of the first recruits:
“I know her parents are not happy because she doesn’t want to go home in the summer. I think Lauren has really embraced the school and the community. As much as we struggled last year, I thought the support that we had at the games was tremendous. We knew coming here that this is a great sports town. I think Lauren has really enjoyed her experience and is thankful to be here.”
On overseas recruiting:
“Recruiting overseas is tough. The NCAA has made it tough. The bottom line is Vaida Sipaviciute is going to be an outstanding player. She has great skills at 6-foot-4 and she runs the floor. As much as we can get good players from overseas we will. I think Vaida will attract more players from over there.”
Senior center/forward Chineze Nwagbo
On the team:
“I think we’re going to do well. It’s a totally new team - new environment, new players. We made the adjustment last year (to a new coach) so we know a lot of things that are coming to us now.”
On the loss of guard Julie McBride:
“She definitely was a key part of this program and we have to recognize what she accomplished here. I’m definitely going to miss her presence, no doubt about that. As far as us functioning as a team, we’re going to be able to function. You lose players every year.”
On her leadership role:
“I think everyone has a bit of leadership in them. When it comes to who should be the leader of this team I can’t say who should do it because every day everybody brings something different. If we can all come to practice and give 100% I think that’s all we’re really looking for and everyone can be a leader in their own way.”
Senior guard Rochelle Coleman
On Coach Cieplicki:
“We know what Coach Cieplicki expects of us. Last year everything was kind of new and we were getting adjusted to him as he was to us, but this year we know what he wants.”
On excitement about the upcoming season:
“Every season is exciting because you have a chance to do something you didn’t do the year before. We hope to go through the BIG EAST, hopefully make some noise in the BIG EAST Tournament, and make it to the NCAAs.”
Freshman forward/center Sara Antolick:
On team expectations:
“We want to play as best we can and work hard every second. I know we’re going to come to practice ready and get prepared to win.”
On the how the team is different:
“With Julie (McBride) gone there’s a lot to fill in the guard position, but we’re going to try focus a little bit more on the post and forwards because now there’s more height to the team.”
Sophomore guard Lauren Kohn
On Coach Cieplicki:
“Coach is very clear about what he wants and it’s not hard. I think that everyone pretty much understands where our program is heading and what we want to accomplish. It’s just a matter of time.”
On the freshmen:
“The freshmen are great. All five of them are terrific players, and I have no doubt that they’re going to step in and help us out right away. They can all help us in numerous ways. As soon as they figure out what they can do, and what we want them to do, we’re going to be great.”
On team confidence:
“I don’t think we ever expect to lose and we never will (expect to lose). That’s just the type of attitude our team has. We go into every game knowing we’re going to win. If we don’t win, it’s because even though we gave 100 percent, the other team was just a little bit better than us. Team confidence is higher than it was last year. We don’t really know what to expect because we have five new people coming in, but we all know it’s going to be great and we’re so excited.”
Freshman center Vaida Sipaviciute:
On her expectations for the freshmen:
“I hope we can help the team as much as we can, especially on defense and with rebounding.”
On the freshmen being able to play right away:
“We’re excited. We want to play as much as we can.We are excited to get minutes.”
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