Kennedy, Blair welcome the season

Billy Kennedy

Opening statement...

Kennedy: "It's that time of year again and we're excited in a way about practicing and excited in a way about playing games. The way we've played defensively has been the biggest challenge so far. We're excited to have Louisiana Tech in here and it'll be a good challenge for us early on."

On how he'd like the team to play defensively...

Kennedy: "Got to do a better job of containing the dribble penetration. [Incarnate Word] did a good job of getting in there and kicking it out for threes, though fortunately they didn't make a lot. We've got to be better fundamentally and protect the paint."

On Fabyon Harris...

Kennedy: "He can score, a lot. He's more of a combo scoring guard than he is a true point guard and he showed he can score at a good level."

On the point guard situation...

Kennedy: "We want [J-Mychal Reese] to run our offense and push the ball in transition."

On the JUCO guys' defense...

Kennedy: "Dash Harris was one of the best defenders in the conference and we lost him, so [with the JUCO additions] we've helped ourselves offensively, but we've got to work on defense. The ball screens hurt us. We worked on that in the spring time but we've got to be able to carry it to the game."

On Alex Caruso and Jordan Green...

Kennedy: "Alex, I think, played 20 minutes and Jordan played 20 minutes. All those guys will play quality minutes. It was pretty balanced. Alex did some good things and he'll continue to get better with experience."

On Kourtney Roberson...

Kennedy: "He just hasn't played. He rebounded the ball well for us, 13 rebounds, with a lot of possessions. I think he understands his role. It's just going to take time for him to get adjusted conditioning-wise and learn how hard he has to play since he didn't play last year."

On A&M's post presence...

Kennedy: "That's a good question and I couldn't answer it the other night either. We're kind of rotating guys in and out and seeing who's going to be our most consistent post player. Kourtney is probably our most consistent guy. I know Ray Turner has it in him. He has experience. He's going to have to come through for us. We scored 97 points and we were running pretty good the other night, but we didn't get him the ball. And when we do get him the ball, his decision-making has to be better around the basket."

On Louisiana Tech, A&M's season-opener...

Kennedy: "They shoot a lot of threes and they play small. It's kind of like playing Incarnate Word but at a higher level. We have to be better offensively. They play up-tempo and present some challenges you usually don't see this early. We've got five big guys and we hope we're able to use two of them to create an advantage [against the four-guard lineup of La Tech], but we'll use our guards if we have to."

On the team's strengths and weaknesses...

Kennedy: "I think both our guards' ability to get in the paint offensively and push the ball has been a strength of ours. We don't always make the best decisions when we get in there, but last year we couldn't create easy baskets in transition. That's been a positive. Our team chemistry's been better. We'll be relying on some guys that don't have any Division I experience, so we'll have to be patient. This team's going to progress slowly. But it'll be good for us."

On whether he's closer with this team...

Kennedy: "On the perimeter, we are. I really like [Fabyon] Harris, Caruso and Reese. They've been good players for us and they're playing quality minutes. Jordan Green has been good and Elston Turner is good out there. We've got to get our post guys at that level."

On J-Mychal Reese's development...

Kennedy: "Since we've started practicing, practices have obviously been more organized than pickup play and he's been better for us. His pace is really fast, so we've got to slow him down. He has to realize he can't just go up against big guys at this level and always score on them. But he'll get better. You always see that with these young guys."

Gary Blair

Opening statement...

Blair: "I was thinking of these stats a while ago: We're ranked #12 in the nation in the Coaches' Poll, #15 in the other and the Coaches' just came out today. We're ranked third in the SEC. But this will scare you for an opening lineup: Kristi Bellock averaged 0.9, 1.3 rebounds. Tori Scott 0.7. Adrienne Pratcher 3 assists, 1.8 rebounds. Kelsey Bone 11.7, 6.9. And our freshman Courtney Walker, zero.

"But look where we're picked. A lot of that is we're picked because of where our program is now. Remember back four or five years ago, the team was picked higher than where our program was. Our program was building a fan base, learning how to host NCAA Championships and find the Sweet 16 and the Final Four. The top-50 programs [ranked] this year, Connecticut was one, Tennessee two, Baylor three, Stanford four, Notre Dame five and Texas A&M six. The people across the nation don't believe we're going anywhere. We're here to stay.

"Duke was seven, Maryland eight, Louisville, the rising star coming up, was picked 10. That's where we are as a program. Our program right now is probably a little bit better than our team. But our team has a lot of potential. I'm playing with four freshman in my top 10. They're going to make some mistakes; I'm not sure if any of them are Johnny Football or anything like that. But they're all solid, and they're very good."

On whether players other than Bone can hurt other teams...

Blair: "I think so. Scott, she's having a very good fall camp. Kristi Bellock was our best player over in Italy. But when the lights come on, we're going to have to find out how well she's going to play. Can we keep her out of foul trouble? But I like the athleticism."

On how the team will progress early against a tough schedule...

Blair: "If we can handle adversity early, with this schedule we're playing ... if we don't get bent out of shape, because we're going to take some hits ... we didn't make this schedule to lose ball games. We made this schedule to try and generate a fan base in November and December instead of waiting for January, February and March. We're experimenting every day with little combinations in practice.

"[Alexia] Standish is just rounding back into form, with her knee. We're monitoring that. We feel she's better coming off the bench, because we're playing her at the two this year, not just point guard. We need her scoring. Against zones, which we'll probably see against Louisville, we'll need her shooting."

On who will replace Sydney Carter defensively...

Blair: "Courtney Walker. She's probably going to have guard everybody's best perimeter player. That's how Carter moved into the lineup as a freshman, because of her defense. [Walker] will be solid in that position, but we've got plenty of other people that can rotate in at the two guard and play that position."

On what else they'll see from Louisville...

Blair: "We beat them here by 18 in the first game of the year. But they were missing three starters. We're fixing to see a completely different team. Will their pressure and their crowd bother us up there? It will be the largest crowd we'll play in front of until we face Tennessee in Knoxville."

On the defensive changes with Bob Starkey replacing Vic Schaeffer...

Blair: "Remember, when Vic first got here, our offense was so bad that we didn't know if we could score. We were built on defense until we got good enough that offensive players would look at our school as a destination place. Now we've got those offensive players and we've got to teach them how to play defense the way we want them to. We're concerned with playing the lanes. We're not playing soft man-to-man, we're playing pressure man-to-man like we've always done, but we're playing a bit differently on the perimeter.

"I'm very high on Bob Starkey. I was very high on Vic Schaeffer. But Bob might be the most organized man I've met in my life. He can teach the game. If you get a chance, read his blogs that he puts out. His knowledge of the game is very good."

On fouls and other changes...

Blair: "We'll foul less if we can keep people out of the paint. That's why we got into so much foul trouble in the post, because our guards were giving up penetration. We might not lead the league in steals like we usually do, but maybe we'll fix some other things. Something the kids will be better at early is transition offense than half-court offense. We've got to get the ball off the glass and get in transition, because that's all our young kids know right now. They can run, they can create and they can score."

Closing statement...

Blair: "Folks, I appreciate it. I know it's hard for folks to get excited about basketball right now, I'm excited about football and all that too. But our seasons will overlap. We ask our players, can you chew gum and play basketball at the same time? Our fans that are out there, can they do both? This is the year of the SEC and A&M and the transition, and we're doing well in all three sports we're competing in right now. We're doing fine.

"So just think of what we were all thinking in April when we went in the league, that we're going to get killed and all that. We're doing fine in every sport. Welcome to the SEC. We'll be glad to have you and we'll play Penn State, #8 in the country, next Wednesday in our home opener. We're hoping we can get people interested in us and be able to see the type of competition that's coming in here."