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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 2, 2015Bobbie KelseyTHE MODERATOR:Head coach Bobbie Kelsey is here. We will have an opening statement then take questions. COACH KELSEY: We are excited to start the third phase of our season, which is postseason. Obviously we didn't finish as strong as we wanted to with the last six or seven games, but we got this last one and it was a good boost to our confidence knowing that we could finish a game instead of losing it and letting it get away from us like we have done in the past. Again, these kids are playing hard and I knew one would come our way at some point so we're excited about the opportunity that lies ahead in that we play Purdue. They're going to be tough, I don't care what their record is they always find a way to play hard and give it their best effort, so they're on a little slide here and they're going to be itching to get a win. We're all in the same boat and look to go continue our seasons as long as we can. Q. These brackets come out, everybody looks at them, do you look at them and say, oh, if we do this or that‑‑ do you do that? COACH KELSEY: No, I don't. I think that's setting yourself up a little bit. I would rather, like we have always done, who do you play next? You get caught up in the two and three ahead, and this is a hard run for any team that starts out on the first day. You got to win‑‑ it's like the NCAA Tournament twice, if you start on the first day. Most of the better teams get the byes, but some years ago the Connecticut men, who were not picked to win the Big East, they went on that incredible run. I'm not saying we will do that, but we have seen it done and it can be done. Whether you do it or not is very difficult, and the likelihood is slim but it can be done. I just take it one game at a time, and I ask our kids to do that. You get overwhelmed when you think about three and four people you may have to play instead of just one team and that's it. Q. You talk about scoring upsets. Is it more important to have good defense if you're going to score the upset or is it better to have gunners like Tessa and Nicole and Jacki that can go off any game? COACH KELSEY: Well, there are two ways to think about it. I always think that‑‑ you gotta do a little bit of both. Good teams in our situation, most of the teams have a little more offensive fire power than we do. They're going to score. You're not going to hold them down to no points, but you better score, too, or you're going to lose the game. I think at this time of year I think scoring gives your kids confidence, we just encourage them now to play both ends of the floor. Our scoring is up. The last eight or nine games we have scored in the 70s, other than one other game besides this last one. We have we have not done that since I've been here, so the scoring is up. Now we gotta get the defense caught up with the scoring, and that kinda happened for us yesterday in that we shot 55% in the first half, went cold but had a lead and had cushion to sustain while they went on their run. So times we have relinquished that, and that hasn't been good, but we had enough of a lead so that helped us. Q. There are a lot of good players in this league. Where does Nicole Bauman fit in? I mean, The All‑Conference Team is going to be coming out. She should be on it. COACH KELSEY: I believeT so. Of course, you can vote for your own players, and she had my vote on there. When you're third in the country in anything, I mean, that's hard to do. It's a lot of people that play. We kinda tried to do the math, if you average 12 kids a team, times 300 and some odd kids, Alysiah could do the math. She's quick on that stuff. That's a lot of people, to get third best of all those folks, you should be getting something. Again, Nicole works on her shot, she shoots the same shot she shoots in practice as she does in the game. So the shot you see her shoot in the game, that's how she shoots‑‑ a lot of people don't do that. It's the same shot and that's why she can hit it at the clip she is hitting it at, her three and her pull‑up. And she has bought into having a mid‑range game. That's the one thing I preached when I got here because I've seen it. Kids want to get all the way to the basket, when you're not going to do out of high school; it's just not going to happen, or you're going to shoot three's. So when the defense gets on you, you got to be able to pull up, and I think that's why Nicole is such a threat. If you run at her, she cannot travel, go by you and not get her shot blocked, and when you help, she is a good passer. She is hard to cover, and she is smart. We've encouraged others to do that, Tessa gets her pull‑up going, Jacki has a pull‑up, AnnMarie has a nice pull‑up, but they can shoot a three as well, not really great going to the basket. Dakota can go more to the rim and finish. Nicole is not a rim finisher. You rarely see her getting layups except in transition, but Dakota can do that. She's got to work on her three. You got to have three phases of your game, and you gotta put defense in there. If you do those things ‑‑ I mean, you think about Aerial Powers, she can shoot a three and get all the way to the rim, and she is big; that's what makes her hard to guard. I could name a couple of other players, but she comes to mind because she is on the perimeter and she is a tough cover. So to answer your question, I think Nicole deserves recognition. Q. According to Diane Nordstrom she is second in the country. COACH KELSEY:  Okay, she might have moved up because yesterday I think she was 6 for 9‑‑ she is shooting almost 60% from the three. Not even‑‑ men or women, nobody is doing that. I don't know who is first, but they got to be incredible if they're shooting more than Nicole. And it's not like she shoots two a game. She is shooting nine and making six of them. That's a lot! There are games where she will shoot good percentage from the three and the two, so she is doing everything, and people got to guard her. Q. Continuing on that, does that affect your confidence level heading into this year's Big Ten Tournament knowing that you have a player that can heat up from three? COACH KELSEY: It makes people have to come out of the paint, they can't sit in there. I think that's the problem with other teams that can't shoot, you just pack it in. Dare them to beat you from the outside. Well, we have shooters and it's not just Nicole. Jacki can get hot; she broke the record here for three's. She can get going. You ask them to be consistent. If we have more of an inside presence like a big Momma sittin' on the block or‑‑ Cassie and Malayna do a good job, but we miss Michie, because she could command a double team. Now you got Jacki, even Dakota on the perimeter, Nicole or Tessa, if somebody is doubling Mich, somebody is open. We're missing that, but, again, it's a team effort and everybody is trying to do their part to make it hard for defenses to not cover certain people. Like I said if you're not guarded on the floor you can't play simple, so it encourages them to go work on their shot. You gotta work on it about we can try to hide you on defense but not on offense. Q. When will you know about Michala? COACH KELSEY: We're going to wait until the end of the season. There are steps we gotta take to make sure we're presenting the waiver‑‑ presenting all the information that's going to help her. I think I kind of went through the things that we think will help her get it, but we want to get a letter of support from Connecticut to try to see if we can get their‑‑ and they will support it. But they're busy. You kinda try not to get in people's face right now because everybody is concentrating on their season. There is not a deadline on it, so we will wait until after the season to get all those materials together and present them. It's up to the committee. We could sure use her. Q. (No microphone.) COACH KELSEY: By the end of the school year for sure. We will submit it way before that and I don't think it takes them long to tell you. But I've never had this happen so I don't know. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Bobbie. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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