Head Coach Quentin Hillsman Media Day Transcript
Opening Statement:
"Good Afternoon. Good to be here, obviously. We are back at this point of the season again. Our first day, we are healthy and I think that is the one thing that I wanted to get to this day. One-hundred percent and fully healthy with no injuries and so far so good. We are very excited about the opportunity this year to compete. For the first year I feel that we have a complete team. There are not many holes in our team. We are going to have very good point guard play, very good women’s players and very good post play. We are going to be very deep. Probably as deep as we have been since the year we went to the NCAA tournament and that’s what’s very encouraging and I am most happy about. I think that we kind of lacked some depth. We have always had very good players, we have always had players that can make plays and do certain things on the floor. This year, when you go down our roster from top to bottom we have players that will be two deep and three deep that will be able to step in help us at different positions.
"I am very excited this year for (senior forward) Nicole Michael. She has the chance to do some special things for us. This year she is a couple hundred rebounds away from being the all time rebound leader and just a couple points away from being an all time scoring leader. That is exciting for us and for her to hopefully to be able to reach some of these accomplishments and some of the credit that she rightfully deserves for our team. For as our returners, (junior guard) Erica Morrow, (junior guard) Tasha Harris, and (senior forward) Vionca Murray – those players are back stronger than ever. They were looking great in the preseason. I’m very excited of what they have been doing and what they can do. We have added a lot of depth in the post with (freshman forward) Shakeya Leary available to us this year. (Freshman center) Kayla Alexander and (sophomore guard) Troya Berry are playing really well in the preseason. In the previous season we had lack of size and depth in the post. This year we are not going to be short in that area. We are looking for our young kids to have a very good year for us. With (freshman guard) Elashier Hall coming in, winning four straight state championships, talk about a proven winner. Shakeya Leary along the same lines – a proven winner, winning four championships. (Freshman guard) Carmen Tyson-Thomas is one of the most explosive players that I saw on the summer circuit. We are very fortunate to have her here. We are very excited about the things those players will be able to bring to us.
"We're happy to have (sophomore guard) Chanieka Williams back and healthy. She had a great post season work out. Coming into this year she has been very strong. She’s been front of the pack in all of our conditioning and things of that sort. She is back strong and I think she is back close to one-hundred percent. That is very encouraging for us. We're just looking for (senior forward) Juanita Ward to really step up and do the things that she can do. She is a very explosive scorer and I think this is going to be a year where we can give her our space and let her make some plays and really score the basketball for us. I think one of our top positions this year is going to be at the point guard position. Someone that can really control the floor. Obviously, Tasha Harris has proven this. Being the BIG EAST All-Rookie and having a good year last year, but I think (sophomore guard) Lynnae Lampkins coming in and having a full season on her belt this year. I am looking forward for her to adding some depth at the point guard position to really push the ball and press the ball up the floor. I am very excited and for the first time I can really say that we are definitely 100 percent healthy and we have a full roster. We have very good players, very strong players. We are going to be the most athletic that we have been since I have been here. I think we really have a chance to extend the floor and do some things further out on defense and be able to attack the basket. One thing we always talk about is leading the country in offensive rebounding and free throw attempts. We have been at the mark for the past couple of years. I am very excited that we have a chance to be there again. We have the athleticism and the size and depth that we have coming into the season."
On building off of last year and how it fits in:
"Last year was great for us. Obviously, everyone wants to be in the NCAA tournament, but I think going to the NIT, winning a game, getting our first post season win in school history. I think that was another benchmark and another goal that we had to reach. I thought last year was a great experience in reaching that mark. Post-season is the post-season for us and I was excited to play in the post-season and be able to host the first round game here and to get a big win on our campus. I thought we played really well in the post-season, so we are looking forward to building on that."
On filling the gap of Chandrea Jones:
"I’m glad you said that because one person that I was going to wait to talk about was Tyler Ash. I think she is going to be very important to us. Tyler is such a gifted basketball player. I have seen her play four positions – when you talk about a player that can put the ball on the floor, player that can shoot the ball and defend two to three positions on the floor. I think that she is going to do a very good job on some of the rebounding voids and scoring voids that we have. I actually left her out intentionally because I was going to spend some time on her because she is going to be a huge key to our season as far as what she can do on both ends of the floor regarding multiple positions and scoring from multiple positions on the floor. She is going to really have to step up and do some things and it is going to be my responsibility to put her in positions for her to score the basketball and to put her with proper match-ups on the floor where she can help us defensively."
On a freshman standout:
"It’s tough because I think they all are going to be. As I listed them earlier, Elashier Hall is very versatile. She can guard multiple positions on the perimeter, probably every position on the perimeter. She played some point guard in high school. She played on the wing. The things that she has accomplished in high school, she is a winner. She can probably count on one hand how many games she lost her whole career in high school and that’s very impressive. One thing we want to bring to our team is proven winners. Carmen Tyson-Thomas was very explosive when we were recruiting her and saw her play. She also played one, two and three. She played all three perimeter positions. I think she will add some depth to our perimeter play.
"Kayla Alexander was one of the most dominant post players that we saw the last couple years on the circuit. We are very fortunate to have her here and she is going to help us tremendously. We need to get Vionca (Murray) to breakout the floor a little bit and to be able to put Troya (Berry) in some different positions where she can play a four and a five for us. I think when you go right down the line with our freshman, our newcomers that they are all going to have a great opportunity to come in and to impact the game. It's the same thing with Shakeya Leary. You can probably count on one hand how many games she has lost in her career. We talk about proven winners and players who are versatile and can do many things on the floor."
