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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 7, 2015Brandon SchneiderLawrence, Kansas BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think first and foremost, I've been really pleased with our players, you know, throughout the summer months and here early in the fall in terms of their work ethic, their leadership. I really think we have some veteran players, and in our program right now, a sophomore is a veteran. We have some veteran players that have really stepped up and tried to demonstrate a work ethic and an approach to the process that we really like. But anytime you have good leadership, I think it's really important that you also have people who are willing to be led, and I give a lot of credit to our newcomers. They've come in with the right type of mindset, and I think just in general, everybody in the program wants to get better, and they see the need that we have to get better. Q. Have you seen any individual improvement from someone that maybe didn't think of themselves as someone who could shoot or anything like that? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: You know, I think right now, everybody has things that we're really focused on that we're trying to improve, but two players that maybe have not played a lot of minutes in the past that I know we're going to expect to do so, I think that have made a lot of improvement, Jada Brown is a player that I don't think has ever had a lot of confidence maybe in her offensive game, and we're really working with her to kind of develop her game and understand what her plays are. Not everybody's plays are the same. But we want to get her comfortable in what we call her plays on the offensive end. And then Caelynn Manning-Allen, you know, has been playing behind Chelsea Gardner for a lot of years, and we see a lot of really positive things in what she can potentially bring to the table, and we've seen a lot of progress with her over the summer. Q. Talk a little bit about some of the others that you brought in. You brought in Chelsea in May and then you brought in Kelea and also Sydney Benoit. Talk about some of the newcomers. BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think when we were hired in April, there were really six players that were here on campus, and you know, addressing the issue with the numbers is something that we wanted to do right away. You know, I think we accomplished that through a lot of different avenues, whether it be Division I transfers, whether it be a junior college transfer, freshmen. We do have six freshmen. And I think right now that some of the players that were signed by the previous staff back in November, all four of those guys are doing really, really well and feel like they're going to have the opportunity very early on in their careers to contribute. Q. What kind of impact is the first boot camp going to have on this team? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, you know, we're calling it training camp because Coach Self and his guys, they do boot camp. So we didn't want to have the same terminology. But we did have a three-week period in which we really amped up conditioning. You know, I think I said in this same room back in April that conditioning was going to be really, really important to us, and that was not to mean that I was going to come in and be some sort of taskmaster. The rules dictate that we become in better shape because now we're playing four quarters, we have fewer timeouts, we have a scenario where if a time-out is called at the 8:30 mark of the first quarter, it's going to wipe the five-minute media, so that's eight minutes and 30 seconds you could go without a time-out. And then you add to that maybe pace of play is going to be a little bit different than what the players were accustomed to. So I think it wasn't just us come in and saying you have to get in better shape, it's more about here's why, and then here's the plan and how we go about it. But I think what training camp does, that three-week period, is they have to come together to really -- I don't want to use the word survive it, but to attack each day and kind of help each other through it, and I think that brought them closer together. Our big mantra, it's all over our facility now, is "tough and together." For you to build that toughness and that togetherness, then you've got to have some built-in adversity, and I think that's what Coach Glenn and Coach Hudy did a really terrific job of in September. Q. When you have a thin roster and an inexperienced roster, you're limited in what you can promise the fan base or predict for them or anything like that. What can you promise that they'll see if they come out and watch your team? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: We'll play really, really hard. I think that we've always been a team that would rotate and take a charge, that would jump over the scorer's table after a loose ball, would dive on the floor. You know, I want us, especially here early, for fans and media and parents and everybody, to just evaluate us on how hard we play, first and foremost, and then can you see some evidence of a togetherness. You know, there's always those times in games where you see teams fragment. Maybe it's at the free-throw line and you should have a huddle and you should have good communication, but one guy is over here, one guy is over there. So those are the things that are going to be really important to us early on is how hard are we playing, and are we really promoting the unity that we're talking about on a daily basis. Q. What are your thoughts about fitting your ideal for how you want your team to play the game, style of play? Now you see your roster in front of you, you might be limited and you might not be able to roll out your entire package. Where are you coming at -- BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think the hardest from a position standpoint, we don't really play a true power forward. You know, our offense is a lot more four out, one in, so to compare it to football, you know, we wouldn't play a tightened or a full back. We really spread it out. So a player like Jada Brown, who's used to playing more on the blocks and at the high post and those areas, now she's having to move her game away from the basket a little bit more. We're asking her to really work on her three, asking her to work on getting the ball into the paint more off the bounce. So there's players who maybe weren't accustomed to playing a certain way, and now we're just -- through player development trying to better prepare them for those situations. I really felt like a mistake that I made at Stephen F. Austin was trying to come up with a scheme that fit the personnel, even though it wasn't how we were going to play in the future, and I felt like we wasted a year. So regardless of the personnel we have, we're going to try to play the way that we would like to play in the future, and I feel like we can get a leg up maybe on year two and year three. Q. To some extent, the ability to shoot is a gift, but have you seen players who don't maybe have the natural gift develop into good shooters just by mechanics? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Sure. I think a lot of players that have mechanical issues and then they don't spend time in the gym, they're not going to be very good shooters. I've coached guys who didn't have very good mechanics but they spent so much time in the gym that they convinced themselves that they were going to be pretty good shooters, and I think that's just the mental part of it. Now, we have some players on this team that I think have very good mechanics and also have a terrific work ethic. Kylee Kopatich would be a player that really stands out right now as she's shooting the ball extremely well. I love her mechanics. She has a quick release. Her teammates are ready. You can tell they have a lot of confidence in her. And that's not to single her out, but I think when you're talking about young players, she's doing a lot of nice things. Q. Culture-wise is there something you really want to get established early on with your players? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Just the toughness and the togetherness. Culture-wise, you know, a lot of times you go into a program and you inherit a mess. That's not the case at all here. We have terrific kids and they work really, really hard, and they want to get better. So it's not like we inherited a bunch of bad apples at all. That makes it a lot more fun to come to work every day, because again, they recognize that we need to get better, and they have a burning desire, I think, to improve. Q. What are your thoughts on Late Night, and are you using it as a recruiting tool to bring in a few recruits? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think there might be a few recruits here, yeah. You know, I think it's a big night, really, for not only the athletic department and the two basketball programs, but for the entire community and for the campus. Obviously if you were going to pick a weekend to have recruits on campus, this would be the premier weekend for our program, and we're excited about the opportunity to participate in it, number one, and it's going to be my first, so I'm not going into it with a lot of prior knowledge, but I know that from a recruiting standpoint we're hopeful that everyone that's here has a terrific experience. Q. Have some of the staff that's been here told you about Late Night? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Sure, Coach Aqua and Coach Katie just as we go through the itinerary and just how it's all going to work, they've been really helpful. Q. What does Natalie Knight bring to the coaching staff, not just what you do in practice but the culture of the team? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think where Natalie is really going to have a critical role in communication. You know, she's one player removed. Now, her loyalty has to be as a coach and to the coaching staff, but I think she can go put her arm around a young player like Aisia Robertson or Jayde Christopher and maybe they've had a really tough day or a difficult practice and say, hey, I was there. I know exactly what you're going through, and here's some of the things that I had to do early in my career to make progress every day. Just that kind of communication, because she's much closer to their age, obviously, than she is mine. Q. There's not a lot of starting experience on this roster at the D-I level. Does that make your transition in your first year a little more daunting or a little more difficult? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think especially from a scoring perspective. We don't -- right now I have no idea who's going to provide us the bulk of the scoring, whether it's one player or three players. I think right now, we're going to have to be very balanced, because as we practice and as we work with our players, I don't think you would look at our roster and say, okay, well, that's a guy that can go get them 20 every night. Now, we're hoping that somebody proves to be that player, but based on the past, I don't think that would be the case. We're going to have to be very balanced. Now, on the flipside of that, we should have a tremendous amount of competition in practice because we don't have a situation where these four guys have started the last three years and they're locked in and maybe I'm a young player and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. We have freshmen that are going to compete, whether it's for starting roles or I think significant playing time. Q. Is there an area or position that you can kind of tell already might be this team's strength or something you'll have to lean on the most? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think we have the most depth at the point guard or the combo guard position, because we do return Lauren Aldridge, Timeka O’Neal has, I think, really recovered well from the ACL. She's another chop-the-ball, played really well all summer, and then you have the two freshmen in Aisia Robertson and Jayde Christopher, who they bring a lot of athleticism. We feel like they're going to be players that can really get into the gaps of the defense and make some plays. Now, here early, we may throw it to the cheerleaders and the band a lot, but you know, that's okay for me. Early in the season I want them to play without fear of making mistakes a little bit early. I think you can always maybe rein it in a little bit. Q. Along with that, just give us a quick thumbnail sketch of newcomers this year that will play, maybe a few things about each. BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think Kylee I already talked a little bit about; she's shooting the ball really well. We're going to rely heavily on her three-point shooting especially. She's also a terrific passer being a bigger guard. Tyler Johnson, I think her and Caelynn Manning probably would be the two right now that would see the most time based on what I've seen to this point at the center position. Tyler is going to be undersized at that position, but I think, again, is a very skilled player. I think the rules benefit her, too, as a big with her ability to face the basket, and then you've got AR, Aisia Robertson, who will probably play the 2 spot for us this year. Very, very athletic. She can shoot the three but I think probably prefers to make plays off the dribble. Jayde Christopher is as fast with the ball as any player I've ever been around, and she's going to be one of those players, I think, that could really have some electric moments in transition. We've got to get her looking for her shot a little bit. She's so locked in to making plays for others, but I think when you're in that role, you also have to understand that when I can get in the lane as much as I think she's going to be able to, she's got to be able to have a mid-range game or a floater game and get some baskets, as well. You know, Chelsea lot provides us with some depth, again, at the center position, as well as returner Lorraine, and then right now Kelea Dennis is still coming off an ACL, so she hasn't participated a lot in our five-on-five stuff. But I think just when you see her, her length, she's about 6'1", has very, very long arms, as we move forward in recruiting, I think it'll be pretty obvious as to the body type, you know, that we're really looking for. I like guys that can run. I like guys that have longer arms than what their height says that they should have. But most importantly, we like basketball players, people that can dribble, pass and shoot. Sometimes you've got to remind everybody we're not recruiting a track team. Q. What is the recruiting message that's worked for you already? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I think, you know, obviously the league, first and foremost. It's an opportunity to play in what's been the toughest women's basketball conference in the country for probably six or seven of the last eight years. You're going to play against pros every night. I love our location. I feel like we're basically three hours from anywhere in the country. But just Kansas basketball probably has been our biggest selling point and message. I mean, from a facility standpoint, from where you're going to compete and play, I don't think there's anybody that can beat us. Q. Is the shadow in any way negative, or no? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Not at all. I think it's a positive. And I think people are smart enough to understand that we're very fortunate that we have all the shiny stuff because of the success of our men's basketball program. We're appreciative of that, and they've set the bar really high. Now it's up to us to try to get ourselves into that type of level, which they've been dominant. Right now we're trying to be competitive in the Big 12 Conference. But no, and Coach has been terrific, not only with myself and our staff, but also when we do have recruits on campus. He's been the first one to want to help us. I think that makes a big difference. Q. Chayla Cheadle presented such a high ceiling but she was certainly a freshman and made a lot of mistakes. Can you talk about her going into her second year? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I'm excited about her versatility. We're going to play her at two different spots. I love her work ethic. I think that she's going to have to be one of those players that could develop into a double-digit scorer. We have some candidates out there, but she should be one of them. But I think from a defense and a rebounding standpoint, I think she's got the potential to really be a lock-down defender and take a lot of pride in that role. Q. When you have so many newcomers and such a young roster, when you get out and play really good D-I teams like you see every night in the Big 12, does having those two transfers help prepare them for that shock? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think -- well, you know, the biggest thing that those two guys bring is some swag about them. You know, they are ultra confident, and I don't think it hurts to have that in your facility every day, because it is -- those are the caliber of players that we're playing against. When you face that in practice, it's going to do nothing but make you better. Q. How about recruiting, people you want to play with? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: I think it's helped us a lot. I think it's given us a little bit of street cred throughout the country because social media today, all the players know each other. They've played against each other on the summer circuit, and whether they're a 2016, '17 or '18, they know who Jessica Washington is and who McKenzie Calvert is and what type of players that they're capable of being. Q. At this time last year Lauren Aldridge came in as an unknown. Now a year later from your perspective, talk about how you've seen her develop knowing that teams out there are going to be game planning for her? BRANDON SCHNEIDER: Well, I can't really speak to how people might game plan for her yet. I don't know that we've had enough practices. But what I will tell you is her work ethic and her attention to detail is tremendous, and just from a lead-by-example perspective, and this is where McKenzie Calvert and Jessica Washington, all of our freshmen, doesn't matter who you are, you need to strive to try to work like Lauren Aldridge does every day. If we can as a program and as a team try to keep up with Lauren, then we're going to get better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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