Media Day Student-Athlete Quotes
Syracuse University Women’s Basketball Media Day
Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center
October 14, 2011
Student-Athlete Quotes
Iasia Hemingway, Junior, Guard
On Coach Hillsman’s newly proposed coaching techniques:
“I think his game plan is great to get us where we have to be for him and our team.”
On being more comfortable this season after transferring last year:
“I am a lot more comfortable with his style of play. My first year playing was kind of intense. He had me making a lot of tough decisions, but I think we have a better bond this year than we did last year.”
Kayla Alexander, Junior, Center
On assistant coach Vonn Read:
“He knows his stuff. He has a lot of experience. He’s real knowledgeable and he wants to teach us. We’ve worked on fundamentals. He’s really big on fundamentals.”
On expectations for upcoming season:
“We are all very excited. The season can’t come any sooner. We’re ready to get out there. We’re tired of playing each other. It’s time to go battle other people.”
On Coach Hillsman’s expectation to make it to the NCAA tournament:
“I think it motivates all of us. We look out at practice at those banners that say NIT and we don’t want that, we want the NCAA banners.”
Rachel Coffey, Sophomore, Guard
On expectations for upcoming season:
“I’m excited for the season. Everyone has improved from last season, so we’re looking good.”
On how she’s handling her new position as starting point guard:
“I’m more confident. I am a sophomore now so it’s different not coming in as a freshman trying to start. I had the chance to watch Tasha (Harris) and Erica (Morrow) run the offense well so I learned a lot.”
On what she can improve from freshman year, what she's been working on in the offseason:
“Defense and just getting my conditioning up and running and being able to play however many minutes coach needs me to play. “
On what she took away from playing a few times her freshman year:
“I was a freshman, you know I would be very excited but this year it will be a little different.”
Shakeya Leary, Junior, Forward
On what Coach Hillsman has been teaching her this season:
“All about angels, rebounding and pivoting and limiting my turnovers.”
On something people may not know about Coach Hillsman:
“You see now that he’s very quiet, but when it’s time to work and when it’s time for basketball, he’s very eager and excited.”
Troya Berry, Senior, Forward
On expectations for this season as a senior:
“Win a lot of games, do great in the non-conference season and in the BIG EAST and make it to the NCAA tournament. I’m trying to go out with a bang.”
Elashier Hall, Junior, Guard
On being an experienced player for the Orange:
“I'm definitely a vet, I feel like I was a vet last year but I’m definitely a vet now. I'm much more of a leader than I was before. Iit’s my turn to step up and lead and not show everyone what not to do but to be more of a role model.”
On the team’s juniors:
“We have so much to offer the team and we've been here for three years and we know what to expect but have to much more to learn and to do.
On what Kayla Alexander can add to the game:
“Defensively, we can always get better and offensively there's always room to improve and I think we can all work on that. I think overall offense and defense can always improve and we're all working on that, including Kayla."
On the zone defense:
“Definitely (works for me). I'm getting used to it but it's very comfortable for me and I think for a lot of the other players … so it'll work well.”
Tiara Butler, Redshirt Freshman, Guard
On expectations for the new season:
“Definitely to win, for us to go further than we did before. For me, this is basically my freshman year because I redshirted last year. It's just to come out playing hard. I'm really excited to play and I believe in our system and I believe that we can really go far. “
Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Junior, Guard
On how excited she is for the start of the season:
“I’m really excited. I’m ready. We’ve been playing really hard all summer, in preseason, in summer league going hard. We’re really excited to play against somebody else. We’re really excited to get on the floor and show what we’ve learned this summer and we’re ready to go.”
On the mindset of getting back to the NCAA tournament:
“Ever since we heard we weren’t in last season, we’ve been working. We’ve been working hard towards that goal and we never forgot and we won’t ever forget until we get there. That’s something we’ve been aiming at and that’s what we work towards. We don’t aim for NIT but we get what we get. We’re looking forward to it.”
On difficulty of moving on from loss of guards Erica Morrow and Tasha Harris to graduation:
“Tasha [Harris] and Erica [Morrow], they led the way for us, they paved the way. They taught us a lot but now it’s time for us to lean on our own, stand up. We’ve pretty much got the scheme of things down. Myself, and Elashier Hall, and Kayla Alexander, and Shakeya [Leary], we’re juniors now. So we kind of know the ropes now so we can show the rest of our team if they don’t know as much as we do. So we’re really ready to go.”
On the new defensive scheme:
“It’s more of versatility. We’ve been working our bodies a little bit more in the weight room, and we’ve had a pretty smooth preseason so far. So it’s more of about the pace we are going to play defense, and how we are going to get out there to the slots and box out and defend. It’s more about how quick we are going to get out there.”
Elashier Hall, Junior, Guard
On how they will avoid the WNIT this year:
“The changes that he [Coach Hillsman] said, just playing at a faster pace, more aggressive. We are already an aggressive team and playing up on defense, forcing turnovers, getting steals and that’s what we have to continue to do even more.”
On the new preseason workouts:
“It was definitely different, but always to get us better. Just more conditioning, more endurance, just to get us better with our stamina iso we can play those full-court situations.”
Iasia Hemingway, Senior, Guard
On the location of some of the team’s road trips this season:
“I’m not focused on where I’m going, I’m focused on who I’m playing. I’m trying to go out there, and it’s my last year, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got on the court day in and day out. Hawaii, Vegas, they are nice places, but I’m all about winning and getting better.”
On the new defensive adjustments:
“The adjustments are going fine, at practice we just keep gambling and doing a lot of crazy stuff but we come together and go over what we’re doing wrong and how we’re doing it. Overall, that’s all we do in practice is press.”
On necessity of defensive changes:
“I think that playing more up the floor is a good thing. Coach Q knows what’s right and we’re just going to do what we’ve got to do.”
On the excitement of the season:
“I’m excited; I can’t wait until the season starts. I look forward to it. I want to see how this press is going to look when we do it.”
On her personal goals for her last season:
“I don’t have any personal goals. I just want to lead by example. I just want to do what I have to do for my team. You know, Kayla [Alexander] and I helped a lot last year and I just want to continue to do that and basically leave it all on the floor and give it all I got so I can say I played my last year as hard as I can.”
Sophomore G La’Shay Taft
On expectations for the season:
“Our expectations this year are kind of high. We are trying to make the NCAA tournament, our coach has changed the way we run things so it is more up to speed. It’s going to be a good year and hopefully we’ll win some more games.”
Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center
October 14, 2011
Student-Athlete Quotes
Iasia Hemingway, Junior, Guard
On Coach Hillsman’s newly proposed coaching techniques:
“I think his game plan is great to get us where we have to be for him and our team.”
On being more comfortable this season after transferring last year:
“I am a lot more comfortable with his style of play. My first year playing was kind of intense. He had me making a lot of tough decisions, but I think we have a better bond this year than we did last year.”
Kayla Alexander, Junior, Center
On assistant coach Vonn Read:
“He knows his stuff. He has a lot of experience. He’s real knowledgeable and he wants to teach us. We’ve worked on fundamentals. He’s really big on fundamentals.”
On expectations for upcoming season:
“We are all very excited. The season can’t come any sooner. We’re ready to get out there. We’re tired of playing each other. It’s time to go battle other people.”
On Coach Hillsman’s expectation to make it to the NCAA tournament:
“I think it motivates all of us. We look out at practice at those banners that say NIT and we don’t want that, we want the NCAA banners.”
Rachel Coffey, Sophomore, Guard
On expectations for upcoming season:
“I’m excited for the season. Everyone has improved from last season, so we’re looking good.”
On how she’s handling her new position as starting point guard:
“I’m more confident. I am a sophomore now so it’s different not coming in as a freshman trying to start. I had the chance to watch Tasha (Harris) and Erica (Morrow) run the offense well so I learned a lot.”
On what she can improve from freshman year, what she's been working on in the offseason:
“Defense and just getting my conditioning up and running and being able to play however many minutes coach needs me to play. “
On what she took away from playing a few times her freshman year:
“I was a freshman, you know I would be very excited but this year it will be a little different.”
Shakeya Leary, Junior, Forward
On what Coach Hillsman has been teaching her this season:
“All about angels, rebounding and pivoting and limiting my turnovers.”
On something people may not know about Coach Hillsman:
“You see now that he’s very quiet, but when it’s time to work and when it’s time for basketball, he’s very eager and excited.”
Troya Berry, Senior, Forward
On expectations for this season as a senior:
“Win a lot of games, do great in the non-conference season and in the BIG EAST and make it to the NCAA tournament. I’m trying to go out with a bang.”
Elashier Hall, Junior, Guard
On being an experienced player for the Orange:
“I'm definitely a vet, I feel like I was a vet last year but I’m definitely a vet now. I'm much more of a leader than I was before. Iit’s my turn to step up and lead and not show everyone what not to do but to be more of a role model.”
On the team’s juniors:
“We have so much to offer the team and we've been here for three years and we know what to expect but have to much more to learn and to do.
On what Kayla Alexander can add to the game:
“Defensively, we can always get better and offensively there's always room to improve and I think we can all work on that. I think overall offense and defense can always improve and we're all working on that, including Kayla."
On the zone defense:
“Definitely (works for me). I'm getting used to it but it's very comfortable for me and I think for a lot of the other players … so it'll work well.”
Tiara Butler, Redshirt Freshman, Guard
On expectations for the new season:
“Definitely to win, for us to go further than we did before. For me, this is basically my freshman year because I redshirted last year. It's just to come out playing hard. I'm really excited to play and I believe in our system and I believe that we can really go far. “
Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Junior, Guard
On how excited she is for the start of the season:
“I’m really excited. I’m ready. We’ve been playing really hard all summer, in preseason, in summer league going hard. We’re really excited to play against somebody else. We’re really excited to get on the floor and show what we’ve learned this summer and we’re ready to go.”
On the mindset of getting back to the NCAA tournament:
“Ever since we heard we weren’t in last season, we’ve been working. We’ve been working hard towards that goal and we never forgot and we won’t ever forget until we get there. That’s something we’ve been aiming at and that’s what we work towards. We don’t aim for NIT but we get what we get. We’re looking forward to it.”
On difficulty of moving on from loss of guards Erica Morrow and Tasha Harris to graduation:
“Tasha [Harris] and Erica [Morrow], they led the way for us, they paved the way. They taught us a lot but now it’s time for us to lean on our own, stand up. We’ve pretty much got the scheme of things down. Myself, and Elashier Hall, and Kayla Alexander, and Shakeya [Leary], we’re juniors now. So we kind of know the ropes now so we can show the rest of our team if they don’t know as much as we do. So we’re really ready to go.”
On the new defensive scheme:
“It’s more of versatility. We’ve been working our bodies a little bit more in the weight room, and we’ve had a pretty smooth preseason so far. So it’s more of about the pace we are going to play defense, and how we are going to get out there to the slots and box out and defend. It’s more about how quick we are going to get out there.”
Elashier Hall, Junior, Guard
On how they will avoid the WNIT this year:
“The changes that he [Coach Hillsman] said, just playing at a faster pace, more aggressive. We are already an aggressive team and playing up on defense, forcing turnovers, getting steals and that’s what we have to continue to do even more.”
On the new preseason workouts:
“It was definitely different, but always to get us better. Just more conditioning, more endurance, just to get us better with our stamina iso we can play those full-court situations.”
Iasia Hemingway, Senior, Guard
On the location of some of the team’s road trips this season:
“I’m not focused on where I’m going, I’m focused on who I’m playing. I’m trying to go out there, and it’s my last year, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got on the court day in and day out. Hawaii, Vegas, they are nice places, but I’m all about winning and getting better.”
On the new defensive adjustments:
“The adjustments are going fine, at practice we just keep gambling and doing a lot of crazy stuff but we come together and go over what we’re doing wrong and how we’re doing it. Overall, that’s all we do in practice is press.”
On necessity of defensive changes:
“I think that playing more up the floor is a good thing. Coach Q knows what’s right and we’re just going to do what we’ve got to do.”
On the excitement of the season:
“I’m excited; I can’t wait until the season starts. I look forward to it. I want to see how this press is going to look when we do it.”
On her personal goals for her last season:
“I don’t have any personal goals. I just want to lead by example. I just want to do what I have to do for my team. You know, Kayla [Alexander] and I helped a lot last year and I just want to continue to do that and basically leave it all on the floor and give it all I got so I can say I played my last year as hard as I can.”
Sophomore G La’Shay Taft
On expectations for the season:
“Our expectations this year are kind of high. We are trying to make the NCAA tournament, our coach has changed the way we run things so it is more up to speed. It’s going to be a good year and hopefully we’ll win some more games.”
