Women's Basketball Media Day Transcript

Photo by: Madison Case

10/14/2016 | 4:47:00 | Women's Basketball

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team held its annual preseason Media Day Friday in the Cook Club inside SIU Arena. The Salukis return three starters, including All-MVC first-team selection Rishonda Napier, and eight letterwinners off last year's squad that made SIU's first postseason appearance since 2007. The Salukis open their season with an exhibition game against William Woods (Mo.) on Oct. 27, and open the regular-season at Oklahoma on Nov. 13.

Cindy Stein Transcript

Opening Statement

We're very excited about the year. The number one question this time of year is how are you going to be? When you look at that and you reflect upon the first 20-win season in nine years last year and four tremendous seniors, who were all-time statistic leaders and another is playing professionally in Finland, we lose a big portion of the foundation that we've been building upon the last three years. When you're building a program having that kind of leadership is pretty important. We enter a new year with a lot of new faces. We are dealing with episodes of renovation realities in the fact that it can get a little ugly at times because we've got to get everyone on the same page. Half of our team are freshman and sophomores, so that's a little different than we've had to deal with in a little while, but it's also very exciting. I think we have improved our athleticism. We still have tremendous talent that is returning, but we still have some of our youth to step up and play right away for us to be as successful as we believe we can be. A lot of things have to go right. We do feel like we have really good leadership. We picked out captains already. Rishonda Napier, Carlie Corrigan and Kylie Giebelhausen will lead out team through the captain position. We feel really good about it. They're outstanding leaders. They're all vocal and they step up to the plate. They work hard, so they're leading by example as well. Our most improved player at this point in Kylie Giebelhausen. I feel like she has come back ready to step up in so many ways. He ball handling has improved. With her leadership on the floor, she's talking more. I think that everyone here has always told me how shy they think Kylie is, I think that you'll see a different Kylie on the floor with her leadership and that definitely helps us. I also think that you'll see some tremendous players. I think that our youth is good. We're excited about Tiajaney Hawkins. She's back to full-strength. She was a medical redshirt last year, so she has all-four years left. We basically have six freshmen since she wasn't able to practice due to that injury. We're really excited about this. This is a group that brings good size. Good quickness. They're all tremendous scorers. We've got all-state players. When you look at everyone on paper it looks good. What do we have to do to be good? The youth has to step up. Their energy has got to be better every day, they're a little inconsistent in that. We've got to confidence and some swag because the Valley is tough. Our first game is against Oklahoma. We have a lot of respect for them. We need to go in there with swag, belief and confidence. That's what we're gearing up for. We will have our ninth practice today, so it's still young and that's a good thing. The bad thing is that we play our first exhibition in a couple of weeks. We've got to be ready and we're very excited about that. We're really looking forward to the year. We have a new addition to the staff. Andrea Gorski, my former assistant head coach, is now the head coach at Bradley, so we will be facing her. We have hired Nicole Collier who was a tremendous player but is a very good coach as well. She's coming from Lincoln University and we really have enjoyed having her on the staff. I did promote Christelle N'Garsanet to assistant head coach.

Q: With Oklahoma, UAB and Purdue, will this be one of your toughest schedules?
Honestly, the Oklahoma game was supposed to be last year, but we had the option to play in the Preseason NIT, so we had to move the Oklahoma game. They worked really well with us to move that. Having Oklahoma and Purdue in the first two weeks, we can't lose sight of Murray State in that mix. We've got to be ready for all three. It's a challenging schedule There's not a team on our schedule that feels like a win for sure. We're going to have to work hard every game.

Q: You have a lot of forwards, but do you have a true center like Dyana Pierre?
I'm really excited about our five spot. Ashley Hummel, a sophomore, is playing really well right now. We've got to continue to get her confidence up because I think she plays better that way, but Nicole Martin and Lauren Hartman are two freshmen that have been doing a really good job down low. I know a lot of us like to turn around and hang out around the three-point arc, but I really do feel like we have a true center if we need it to be.

Q: What is the possibility of playing five guards or playing someone like Kylie Giebelhausen at forward?
I believe we have the ability to play big. I think we have the ability to play small and something in between. We've been talking about different things defensively to use with various lineups so that we can change our defenses up a little bit more.

Q: What kind of things are you asking of Rishonda Napier?
What I like about Rishonda is the fact that I don't have to ask her to do anything, she just does it. What's great about having someone at that position who is a first-team all-conference player is that she knows she has to work hard every day. She's doing a really good job leading the freshmen and being a tutor and a mentor to them. Her ball handling is really solid. She's been a one person press breaker the last few years, which has been awesome. Her shooting looks good and always has. I think that we might play her. A little bit more at an off guard position than last year; we didn't do that at all. That will free her up some time so she won't have to handle the ball all the time. That will get her some better looks for some shots. I think she's handling that role better. She just has a better overall concept of the entire play. That her part in it. Her basketball IQ helps us in that way.

Q: Who will play point guard?
We have several kids who can play point guard. Olivia Bowling, a sophomore, is playing really well. Brittney Patrick, a freshman, is playing really well. Kristen Nelson, another freshman, has the ability to play point or off guard. We have the ability to move all of those kids to any of the guard spots. There could be a time when we have two to three point guards on the floor.

Q: Will you redshirt anyone this year?
The plan is not to redshirt anyone, you never know. I hate to say that we won't. I think you always eyeball that a little bit if someone is a little bit further behind in their development. I think sometimes you look to do that. The way we want to play, we know that we will need a good number of kids to be able to play that up-tempo defense that we're putting in.

Q: What kind of impact will Kristen Nelson and Brittney Patrick have for you?
I would tell you that I hope they have good ones. Nelson is coming along a little faster in the fact that I think she's picking up all of the schemes a little bit. She works really hard. She's very coachable. I think Brittney will get there. I think she has the toughest position. Because it is the point guard position. She has a lot to communicate. She has to learn to talk. She's a little quiet right now. We have to get her a lot louder and a lot more confident in what she is doing. She's the leader. She's going to get there. She's nine days into her practice. We can't expect miracles right now, but I think she'll get there.

Q: What will be the defensive strengths this year?
I hope it will be rebounding, missing Dyana Pierre who was a double-double every game. Our kids know we have to put a lot of emphasis on our rebounding. I really like the way we're attacking the boards. I think we're a lot more aggressive I feel like our kids are on the floor a lot more for loose balls. That scrappiness I think is important. I think we're good shooters. That's one thing I really like about this team. I feel like we can score and we can score at any position. Our young kids have to grow up quickly because they have to take care of the ball and that's probably our weakness. We're not taking care of the ball like we need to. Sometimes that's youth, sometimes that's just throwing the ball all around. We've got to have a better sense of urgency there. I like this group. I think this group can be really exciting, but we do need those freshmen to step up and become sophomores and juniors really quick.

Q: Carlie Corrigan had a nice jump in her junior year. What says that will happen again?
Carlie is one of those kids that works hard all the time. She's a great leader. I've teased her this year that this is the first time she looks like an athlete because she's spent a lot of time in the weight room. She's always been this skinny kid out there that was a great three-point shooter. She's gotten her game a lot better. She's taking the ball to the basket a lot better and with better decisions. She's taking good shots. She's much stronger this year and a lot more confident as well. I think that that helps as well.

Q: How does the team fit into the Valley this year?
Obviously I feel like we're a top-tier team. We have yet to prove that. There are too many good coaches and players in this league to underestimate anyone. I definitely think that we can challenge for the Valley title. A lot of things have to go our right for us to do that. I think that we definitely have that potential.

Q: Tiajaney Hawkins was a raw talent before the injury last year. What was the recovery like from the shoulder last year and is she 100%?
She's full go. I don't think she thinks about it at all. That's a six-month recovery that she had to go through. It was a long time. She worked on a lot of different things at that time with her conditioning and her ball handling. The more reps that she gets in practice, she is just going to get better and better. I think she is doing a great job of getting boards. She's always been a really good rebounder and a very natural rebounder. Now she's figuring out what is a good shot and what isn't. I think her timing is going to get better and better.