Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Gary Blair
* I think when you look at it, we've never had a road trip where we've played AT Purdue, AT Connecticut, two teams that have won national championships. Those are NCAA tournament games. Are we ready to face that competition? I think we are. Purdue is undefeated; we'll be focusing mostly on that right now and maybe throw in some UConn stuff. They're completely different games. Purdue is solid. UConn is playing a four-guard lineup this year. Completely different because Purdue lost a kid last year to bacterial meningitis and then she came back, they won 23 games and had an outstanding year. They're 13th in the country right now. The best thing we could do, to play Purdue, was play Iowa, another Big Ten team. But this Purdue team is used to playing big teams. Our work will be cut out for us. Going to UConn ... it'll be real big. The top teams on the women's side are playing home-and-homes right now. They tend to avoid that on the men's side, they typically play at a neutral site or something. But it's good for our game. We've got a month on the road and we'll be ready.
* One thing that's helping Connecticut want to come down here now is realizing how good a recruiting ground this is. They just recruited a girl from down here who spent some time playing with Jamal Branch. He'll tell you about her. As far as us being on TV ... our style of play is fun to watch.
* At the first press conference, the first two names y'all said were Kelsey Bone and Tyra White. Now you're talking about Sydney Carter and Adaora Elonu. Elonu is getting a lot of looks playing in the high post and being there when we get turnovers. She's graduated and she's working on her Master's, so life is good right now because she's got a future with or without basketball. She's just a kid you want to coach. How many kids in nine years have we had up for the Lowe's Award (top scholar, active in the community, etc.)? This is not a flash, where she's going to get back down to eight points a game ... she's going to keep going. What's making our team strong right now is having four kids averaging double figures. Our kids are buying into the fact that we don't need to have Danielle Adams' 22 points a game, that we can share the load. Carter's playing so good right now. She really is.
* I don't respond to what other coaches say. Whatever Geno Auriemma said, that's Geno. I'm sure you'll have better responses when he plays Mulkey, instead of boring old me.
* When you go on a month-long road trip, it can be good because of the competition. We haven't faced a lot of defenses yet. They're coming, particularly when we go to Connecticut. We might see some when we go to Purdue, because they're a very well-coached team. We might have been in the Bahamas too long ... we couldn't get an early flight out and we got back at 2:30 this morning, but I told the kids they had to be a class this morning even if it was an 8 a.m. This is football country, no matter how you slice it, so people don't warm up to basketball until January here. Hopefully Billy (Kennedy) and I can change that in a few years, but bringing in great opponents like Louisville, Mississippi State, USC ... our fans need to realize those are great opponents, or they're not real sports fans.
* Everything Geno has done, he's earned. He deserves to have that swag. But he's had that swag since he was in high school. So you don't worry about Geno. We worry about the other things. But we'll be pointing to all those championship banners. That's how you get on ESPN, you prove that you can get them ratings.
* Mitchell and Scott are important to us as freshmen, but I can't find minutes for them in our schedule.
* We have nine kids that are pretty much ready. All of those kids are mature except for Alexia Standish, and she's coming off playing her best game against Iowa.
* Generally it's a hunch for me. Is it going to be Collins, Grant ... who's it going to be coming off the bench? Or do you just play the freshman and hope she develops like Jamal's doing on the men's team. We're not injured. If Carter comes off the floor, it'll be at halftime, and that's it. She will not come off the floor. She doesn't want to. And at the same time, you don't put in five off the bench at once, you leave in a starter
* I'm hoping this can become a new rivalry (with UConn). I hope we can extend it after this two-year deal. Geno won't back down from anybody, especially now that he knows the recruiting lines here. Why not come down here and play A&M and Baylor? Tennessee's playing Baylor, Texas has got Stanford. We're trying to get Stanford.
* I'm not in the club yet. I don't think Geno thinks I'm in the club yet. What does it take to be in the club? Have two of these (flashes title ring). Get a couple banners and prove you're not a one-hit wonder. Competing for the Big 12 championship is also important to me this year, very important. Texas and Tech are the two most improved teams in this conference. Texas just beat Virginia by 30 ... Virginia beat Tennessee.
* Karla Gilbert was very limited as a freshman. She could only play on the block. She's a lot better now. Danielle Adams was better defensively, as a senior, than Kelsey Bone is now as a sophomore. We have to get her better on that end. There's nobody on our team that knows more about basketball and sports than Kelsey Bone.
Adaora Elonu
* I'm a lot more relaxed and comfortable this year and I know where I fit in. I think originally I thought I had to do different things that I wasn't comfortable now, but I know where I need to be on this team now. I'm not out there on the court as just another body, but also as help.
* Having so many talented players does help because it puts pressure on your, as opposed to not having much depth and feeling like you don't have to do much in order to stay on the floor.
* It's important to be on the road for a month. Personally, I like it. We definitely need to come together, because being on the road is the toughest part of basketball. Especially playing the type of teams we're going to be.
* It means a lot for the program that we can schedule these types of opponents and it also shows what other teams think of us, that they're willing to schedule us.
* Creating turnovers gets us pumped. It's one of those things we want to do so we can get out and run. You saw it in the Temple game when we sat back in the zone and they made their run ... then we switched back to a press and we went ahead and won.
* We're definitely capable of coming out of this trip with wins. We just need to stay focused and work on the game plan.
Quotes & video from Gary Blair press conference
Notes from WBB press conference
***Transcribed live by Beau Holder***Gary Blair
* I think when you look at it, we've never had a road trip where we've played AT Purdue, AT Connecticut, two teams that have won national championships. Those are NCAA tournament games. Are we ready to face that competition? I think we are. Purdue is undefeated; we'll be focusing mostly on that right now and maybe throw in some UConn stuff. They're completely different games. Purdue is solid. UConn is playing a four-guard lineup this year. Completely different because Purdue lost a kid last year to bacterial meningitis and then she came back, they won 23 games and had an outstanding year. They're 13th in the country right now. The best thing we could do, to play Purdue, was play Iowa, another Big Ten team. But this Purdue team is used to playing big teams. Our work will be cut out for us. Going to UConn ... it'll be real big. The top teams on the women's side are playing home-and-homes right now. They tend to avoid that on the men's side, they typically play at a neutral site or something. But it's good for our game. We've got a month on the road and we'll be ready.
* One thing that's helping Connecticut want to come down here now is realizing how good a recruiting ground this is. They just recruited a girl from down here who spent some time playing with Jamal Branch. He'll tell you about her. As far as us being on TV ... our style of play is fun to watch.
* At the first press conference, the first two names y'all said were Kelsey Bone and Tyra White. Now you're talking about Sydney Carter and Adaora Elonu. Elonu is getting a lot of looks playing in the high post and being there when we get turnovers. She's graduated and she's working on her Master's, so life is good right now because she's got a future with or without basketball. She's just a kid you want to coach. How many kids in nine years have we had up for the Lowe's Award (top scholar, active in the community, etc.)? This is not a flash, where she's going to get back down to eight points a game ... she's going to keep going. What's making our team strong right now is having four kids averaging double figures. Our kids are buying into the fact that we don't need to have Danielle Adams' 22 points a game, that we can share the load. Carter's playing so good right now. She really is.
* I don't respond to what other coaches say. Whatever Geno Auriemma said, that's Geno. I'm sure you'll have better responses when he plays Mulkey, instead of boring old me.
* When you go on a month-long road trip, it can be good because of the competition. We haven't faced a lot of defenses yet. They're coming, particularly when we go to Connecticut. We might see some when we go to Purdue, because they're a very well-coached team. We might have been in the Bahamas too long ... we couldn't get an early flight out and we got back at 2:30 this morning, but I told the kids they had to be a class this morning even if it was an 8 a.m. This is football country, no matter how you slice it, so people don't warm up to basketball until January here. Hopefully Billy (Kennedy) and I can change that in a few years, but bringing in great opponents like Louisville, Mississippi State, USC ... our fans need to realize those are great opponents, or they're not real sports fans.
* Everything Geno has done, he's earned. He deserves to have that swag. But he's had that swag since he was in high school. So you don't worry about Geno. We worry about the other things. But we'll be pointing to all those championship banners. That's how you get on ESPN, you prove that you can get them ratings.
* Mitchell and Scott are important to us as freshmen, but I can't find minutes for them in our schedule.
* We have nine kids that are pretty much ready. All of those kids are mature except for Alexia Standish, and she's coming off playing her best game against Iowa.
* Generally it's a hunch for me. Is it going to be Collins, Grant ... who's it going to be coming off the bench? Or do you just play the freshman and hope she develops like Jamal's doing on the men's team. We're not injured. If Carter comes off the floor, it'll be at halftime, and that's it. She will not come off the floor. She doesn't want to. And at the same time, you don't put in five off the bench at once, you leave in a starter
* I'm hoping this can become a new rivalry (with UConn). I hope we can extend it after this two-year deal. Geno won't back down from anybody, especially now that he knows the recruiting lines here. Why not come down here and play A&M and Baylor? Tennessee's playing Baylor, Texas has got Stanford. We're trying to get Stanford.
* I'm not in the club yet. I don't think Geno thinks I'm in the club yet. What does it take to be in the club? Have two of these (flashes title ring). Get a couple banners and prove you're not a one-hit wonder. Competing for the Big 12 championship is also important to me this year, very important. Texas and Tech are the two most improved teams in this conference. Texas just beat Virginia by 30 ... Virginia beat Tennessee.
* Karla Gilbert was very limited as a freshman. She could only play on the block. She's a lot better now. Danielle Adams was better defensively, as a senior, than Kelsey Bone is now as a sophomore. We have to get her better on that end. There's nobody on our team that knows more about basketball and sports than Kelsey Bone.
Adaora Elonu
* I'm a lot more relaxed and comfortable this year and I know where I fit in. I think originally I thought I had to do different things that I wasn't comfortable now, but I know where I need to be on this team now. I'm not out there on the court as just another body, but also as help.
* Having so many talented players does help because it puts pressure on your, as opposed to not having much depth and feeling like you don't have to do much in order to stay on the floor.
* It's important to be on the road for a month. Personally, I like it. We definitely need to come together, because being on the road is the toughest part of basketball. Especially playing the type of teams we're going to be.
* It means a lot for the program that we can schedule these types of opponents and it also shows what other teams think of us, that they're willing to schedule us.
* Creating turnovers gets us pumped. It's one of those things we want to do so we can get out and run. You saw it in the Temple game when we sat back in the zone and they made their run ... then we switched back to a press and we went ahead and won.
* We're definitely capable of coming out of this trip with wins. We just need to stay focused and work on the game plan.
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