Syracuse Women’s Basketball Media Day Quenin Hillsman
Syracuse Women’s Basketball Media Day
Monday, October 18, 2010
Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center
Quentin Hillsman
“Well back here again, it is good to see you guys. We’re looking forward to a great year, we have a lot of new faces here and we’re very excited for the season. Last year, after the season was over I tried to go back and watch game tape and look at things we could improve. What I saw was we did so many good things last year; I just went back and focused on things that were positive. We won 25 games, the most in school history, Nicole Michael left here our all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Erica Morrow climbed the charts in scoring and Tasha Harris is now seventh in assists. We did so many positive things last year that this year I just want to focus on those things and get better. Going into this preseason we got back to where we started last year right to where we ended and just kept the season going. I’m very excited about our team and our work ethic, all the things we’ve done up until this point have been very good. I’m just very excited about the opportunity to get out here and compete again. Looking at our schedule we have Ohio State in here and we’re going out to the Bahamas to play Baylor. If you look at our non-league schedule, what those teams have done in the past and who they have returning, we have a very competitive schedule. We’re very excited for our season, very excited about the non-league and we’re ready to go.”
On how the game plan changes without Nicole Michael:
“We’ve been doing some things trying to change the way we play because Nicole allowed us to play a certain way where we could keep her out on the perimeter. We’ve done some things to step that position in one or two steps to become more effective around the elbow area and playing the short corner. Hopefully we have enough inside where we can step in and create some more baskets at the rim and pick up some of the slack in rebounding from our perimeter guards.”
On the graduation of all-time leading scorer Nicole Michael:
“It is a humungous loss, she has been around since I’ve been here, so we’ve been here together and just not having her face here is different. We have plenty of capable players to come in and pick up the slack. We’re not necessarily looking for one player, there could be two or three that can step in and take up her numbers.”
On how the team will follow up its best season in program history:
“Last year was one of those seasons where the season was so long, we’ve never played that long. As we got into the postseason and won our first and second games and were three weeks past the end of the regular season, we grew up as a team. It was one of those things where we knew what we had to do to continue to advance. Honestly, going down to Michigan and losing that basketball game was tough for us because we knew we had a chance to win that championship. We’re looking forward to being back in the postseason and playing in the postseason is one of our goals. Obviously the NCAA tournament it our optimum goal, but we’re just excited to be able to compete and play deep into the season like we did last year.”
On what looks to be the starting lineup:
“I don’t know. We have seven players right now who we feel can step in and start for us. We have gone through the preseason and looked at lineups. We looked at so many different things and right now we have enough versatility where there are seven players who can step in and start for us right now. We’re just trying to put the best team on the floor every night and put these players in a position to help us win. The seven right now from what we’ve seen are Erica Morrow, Tasha Harris, Tyler Ash, Iasia Hemingway, Kayla Alexander, Carmen Tyson-Thomas and Elashier Hall. Those are the seven right now that we feel can step in and play for us. We want to go 10-deep and play 10 players double-figure minutes and we definitely have the depth and the personnel to do that.”
On what he expects from Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Kayla Alexander and Elashier Hall:
“They’re going to have good years because they had the opportunity to come in last year and play very deep into the season. They all contributed a lot to our program so far. We’re expecting them to come in and do great things for us this year, they need to pick up some of the slack in scoring and rebounding and doing some of the things that Juanita (Ward) and Nicole (Michael) did last year. We’re very excited for them to step in and show what they can do.”
On who will be leaders on the team:
“We have a very unique team because we just talk about being together, everything matters, compete everyday and our team culture. We want them all to be leaders. It is hard to put one person up there and say that they’re our leader because we want them all to be leaders, we want them all to do the things we need them to do for us to be successful.”
On who has stepped up as a leader so far:
“It has been a pretty balanced preseason so far. If I had to pick out one or two players that have really stepped up and are playing well right now, one would be Elashier Hall, who has really come back a much better basketball player. Kayla (Alexander) has been remarkable; she has been here all summer and got stronger and quicker. Carmen Tyson-Thomas has come back really strong shooting the ball. One of our bigger surprises is Rachel Coffey; she has been very good in the preseason running the show for us. We’re looking for really big things from Iasia Hemingway, who has BCS playing experience and can step in and help us right away.”
On the recruiting class:
“We’re very excited. A lot of these players I’ve watched the last three or four years in trying to put this roster in place this year. I really believe that this class could be one of the better classes that we’ve had. Obviously Rachel Coffey has been very good for us and one thing she and I discussed in recruiting was that she would be able to come in and play her game. It is one of those things where being a point guard you want to over control the position but I’ve stepped back and let her play her game, make some mistakes and do some things on the floor to get better. Phylesha Bullard is just very athletic and she does some things on the floor for us that are intangible, getting loose balls, keeping balls alive, she is always in the right place and a very smart player. You also have to add Shakeya Leary because she redshirted last year and she has been very good for us. For the first time in a long time we have two players in the post that can really step in, play hard, contribute and we can split that time in half. Just for reference, we are redshirting Tiara Butler, it was something she and I talked about in the recruiting process just to break the class up and to give an opportunity for her to take a year, learn our system and get ready to play some meaningful minutes for us next year. We put ourselves in a position where we have some players coming in that will be able to help us right away and do some things that are going to be very good for us.”
On how talented this team can be:
“Obviously I feel good about all of them because I recruited them. We are very talented from top to bottom, every player on our roster will have the opportunity to contribute when they’re on the floor. From top to bottom we have a very good roster, we have good balance and during the season we just have to correct 10 possessions. If we correct 10 possessions from last season, it is a different season, we’re in the NCAA Tournament, we were probably top 15 preseason and so many things changed. It was about five to 10 possessions that really changed our season so we need to pay attention to the details and really do some things that will have us play better basketball down the stretch and really close games out.”
On what he expects from junior guard Tyler Ash:
“One thing about Tyler is she plays so many different positions for us that she is very valuable to us and we’re looking forward to her having a good year. She plays some point guard for us; so far in preseason she has also played on the wing and power forward, she has played four positions for us. She is a good basketball player and we have to put her in position to make plays. This year we’re going to give her an opportunity to get out in space, use her abilities and make plays.”
On what junior transfer Iasia Hemingway brings to the team:
“Just experience and she is a very explosive player. When you look at our roster she is the highest rated player coming out of high school that we’ve ever had in this program, so we’re looking for her to step in right away and contribute. She is a very good basketball player and she does things on the floor that you can’t coach, like the way she finishes around the rim. She is very vocal and has a lot of big game experience.”
On where he would rank the team among the BIG EAST:
“It is tough because I don’t know exactly how the other teams are right now and how many players they have coming back. We have enough talent to be in the top quarter of our conference, it all depends on us, how we close games, how we play and our commitment to getting better every day in the weight room, our conditioning and things of that nature. We definitely have the ability to be in the top quarter of our conference.”
On what the team needs to improve from last season:
“We have to score the basketball down the stretch; we’ve had too many empty possessions in the last two minutes of basketball games. We would come down the court and wouldn’t score, throw the ball away or make a mistake on the defensive end. We just can’t have empty possessions at the end of basketball games.”
On senior guard Erica Morrow’s role on the team:
“Erica has grown up in our program and done so many different things. We look for her to do a lot of things for us, handle the basketball, score, really get down the other end be scrappy and defend. This year she’ll be able to do more of those things with the things that we have around her as far as the athletes and the size inside with Kayla (Alexander).”
On sophomore center Kayla Alexander:
“It is going to be a lot tougher for her because people will be game-planning for her, she isn’t going to sneak up on anyone anymore as a BIG EAST All-Rookie. The coaches in our conference really respect her and respect her game. She is going to have to be able to shoot the ball quickly when she gets the ball inside because I’m sure they’ll be running double-teams at her and doing some things in their schemes to stop her. We have enough shooters on our perimeter that if they double down and pack things in then we have the people to make jump shots.”
On the team's win against West Virginia last season:
“Once we got toward the end of that season and played these teams and the way the games were ending we knew we had the ability to play with everybody in our conference. Once you go in and start beating West Virginia and you’re one possession away from beating Notre Dame, it becomes obvious that we’re strong enough and talented enough to win in our conference. That was the biggest thing toward the end of our season with our conference schedule, the players started to believe in our system and our scheme, which was what really changed our season.”
