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LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 14, 2015

Nikki Caldwell

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

COACH CALDWELL: Well, this is an exciting time of year for us because we're able to practice. Over the summer, had the majority of my team in summer school and they did a phenomenal job with the overall team GPA of over 3.0.

When you look at what we have returning, I'm excited that Raigyne Moncrief, someone who is an ambassador for this university, an engineer major, a great student, on and off the basketball court, she's been a great leader for us. So we're look to look for her to be that go to player for us.

I like the play of our bigs right now. Akilah Bethel and Ann Jones, Alexis Hyder, they have done a nice job of just being that established go-to player for us inside. And Rina Hill has stepped up tremendously and grown up a lot over the summer and they will be our starting point guard.

It's great to be able to identify potential starters this yearly in the season and I obviously want to make sure that we keep other kids encouraged to give their best and give their all and that's what they have done up until this point.

Q. You're playing a pretty tough non-conference schedule. What do you expect to see out of your team before you start SEC play?
COACH CALDWELL: We are going to be tested early. We are going to play on the road and play a tough away schedule. We are going to open up the season obviously with the Wake Forest and when you look at the rest of our conference, non-conference schedule, two teams that really jump out to be Rutgers, at Rutgers, and at Connecticut.

You always want your team to gauge where they are at and we are going to be able to do that early in the season. I know the committee look the at your non-conference schedule. As a head coach, you want to see your program moving in the direction of an NCAA bid and that's always going to be a destination for us.

So by us preparing a non-conference schedule as tough as we've done this year, it will hopefully segment into our conference play in the SEC.

Q. What do you expect from your players in terms of -- what Danielle did for you last year -- Raigyne is obviously is your star player for lack of a better word. Do you want the scoring load and the rebounding, all those things distributed among a bunch of players or are you looking for Raigyne to step up and be the focal point of your team?
COACH CALDWELL: I think there's going to be times where she's going to be the focal point. I think there's late-game situations where you want the ball in their hand. She's shown that she's a player that can make her teammates look good and make them shine.

But it's going to have to be a team effort. Everybody is going to have to contribute. Everybody is going to have to step up and be a threat offensively. And defensively, we've got to be solid. The loss of balance hard, obviously a great player. This team has grown a lot and they are learning that this is a team sport and they have learned that through the summer and they have learned that obviously in preseason; that everybody is accountable.

And you cannot hide on this roster. It doesn't matter if you're a first-year or you're going into your senior year, what your contribution to this team will mean, could be the difference in a win or a loss. I think everybody is on the same page as far as being accountable.

Q. Is there any team maybe in college basketball, men's or women's, NBA, WNBA, that you show your team and say, if we play like, this we could possibly be successful, especially as much as you're talking about the team has to share the ball to be successful?
COACH CALDWELL: You look at the WNBA Finals, and we are doing a little bit more than just showing them or will show them film. We are talking about articles being written about the players; what legacy do they want to leave. It may be a legacy of: I want to be a leader for our team but I need to groom other people on my team to carry on that leadership role once I leave.

The fact that we've got two former LSU standouts playing in the WNBA Championship game, that's a reason why you follow in women's basketball; when you look at what Simeone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles has meant not just for LSU, but for women's basketball on a global spectrum, you can't ask for two better players to watch.

And by watching them in the finals tonight, they are going to be able to see some of similar play action that we are running. We are not reinventing the wheel here. We are going to run some play action that we see that has worked for both programs, but I like the fact that we've got a competitive championship game at that level that our student athletes can watch.

Q. Jenna Deemer looks pretty good when she gets an open shot, usually able to knock the ball down. Will there be more of that for her this year, and what does she look to improve on in year two?
COACH CALDWELL: Jenna is a player that you have to know where she is at at all times on the floor. Her ability to make baskets is something that we are going to capitalize on. We have got to do a much better job of locating her early. She's got to do a better job of making sure that she's reading and using the screens.

But I like the fact that she can extend the defense which allows us to have those lanes for that dribble-drive penetration and it allows other players to create great spacing for our post play.

I'm excited about Ayana Mitchell, being a player that's a freshman that has shown that she can play on both sides of the basketball. I'm excited that Anne Pedersen has returned, and she's another player that can stretch the defense.

When you watch Alexis Hyder, she's a player that can play inside and outside, and can stretch the defense. So we've got some threats from the three-point line. We've got some players that can get to the rim and we've got scoring inside.

Q. Your thoughts on the rules changes, obviously going to four quarters, definitely a big deal. And any other changes for this year; are playing going to be able to extend a hand a little bit more on defense? Can you just talk about those things?
COACH CALDWELL: You don't want me commenting on refereeing right now, right? (Laughing). Okay.

No, I think the thing about the rule change is a good thing for women's basketball. We obviously want to speed the game up. It gives you consistency at the grass roots level. It gives you consistency at the professional level. You're adopting some of the FIBA rules, so when you go overseas and play, you'll have that foundation.

I like the quarter system. I like the fact that we are going to have continue to teach our kids to play through adversity, because when you call that first time-out before the first five-minute mark, the media time-out, that becomes the media time-out.

So in that regard, your team can go nine, eight, seven minutes, without a time-out. So just right now, we're working on conditioning them, not only to just play four-minute segments; they have got to play six-, seven-minute segments at a time.

The addition of advancing the basketball, the last minute of the game, that's going to again give a team an opportunity to have a great scoring opportunity. I like the fact that you're going to have more games that are probably going to come down to the wire, and it will allow to you do some things strategically.

I do like the fact that we do have the ten-second backcourt rule. I like the speed of the game. We do a lot of transition drills where we are trying to score the basketball in six seconds or less, and it's just going to make the game more exciting. And you're going to have to be creative in your defensive schemes.

We are going to press people. We are going to defend 94 feet. We are going to mix up our defense but more importantly we want to run the basketball to people this year.

Q. Do you feel like you have a roster where you can go very deep and get a lot of players to contribute minutes; if you're going to play that style?
COACH CALDWELL: I definitely think so. I think we are going to have to allow our team to get those reps in practice. We're establishing a starting nucleus and we are this week already starting to see what the rotation is going to look like as far as substitution.

I want the team to understand their responsibility for the team when their name is called, which it will be called; what can I bring to the team at that point. So by us practicing that early, it won't be anything different that they will do in a game.

Everybody is going to have to contribute. Knock-on-wood, every coach, the big injury, you can never scout for that. You can never prepare for it. All you can do is get your kids ready to play and everybody be ready to contribute when their name is being called.

Q. Do you think the opening stretch of last season helps this team, especially since a lot of those players then were maybe younger than they are now, and do you think that helped them mature any going into camp?
COACH CALDWELL: I think the maturity level of our team has increased tremendously. And not just on the court: There's a different chemistry that's there within the team; that's that of a team that is playing united; a team that is sharing for a common goal, but more importantly, they are buying into each other.

And they are a team, you can tell by how we are playing defense. When I look at them and I see, are we on the help line, are we really over there lending help to the player that's guarding the basketball and we can see that on film that we are doing that, that tells me that our cohesion as a team is definitely in the right place and is going to continue to get better.

I like the fact that we did have this break and we were able to get some kids healthy, because they were a little banged up after the season, but definitely everybody is ready to go.

Q. Do you think the team is buying into an underdog mentality? Maybe people don't have high expectations with Danielle gone.
COACH CALDWELL: I think even when we had Danielle here, it still felt that way. But this team has built its reputation on being a great defensive unit. We like to keep our opponents in the 50s. We like to make the game ugly and rough and it seems like we always come under the radar, especially in SEC play, not being one of the top teams that you're voted. But then we finish there, as one of the top teams in the SEC, last year finishing one game off of third place.

I like the fact that our team doesn't look at the standings and they go out and they play, and they give me everything that they got. Whether we are underdog this year or a favorite, it doesn't waiver the intensity and the level of commitment that they play with.

Q. What's it like to be a coach on campus right now -- your players go to the games and are having a lot of fun. How does all that excitement play in when you're a coach here?
COACH CALDWELL: As a coach, you always want to brag about what other sports are doing. I see that Leonard was on the cover of SI, and that's pretty amazing. And we're going to shoot that to every prospect that we're recruiting.

I think that we probably have had more people interested in coming to an unofficial visit or official visit because we have a lot of young girls that like Ben (laughing) and they know that he's here. They are a fan of his.

We are a fan of what Coach Jones and what he and his staff have assembled, and it does help from a recruiting standpoint for all of us to be able to take our kids over to Tiger Stadium and for them to see how crazy our fans are. And then how the environment of being at a football game on a Saturday night, it doesn't get any better than that.

And you would be -- that kid that doesn't come here, you're not doing what you need to do as far as really taking in anything that LSU has to offer, because I love walking them around campus, the Memorial Tower, taking them over to the Union and them getting a true feel and a sense of the education that we offer here, as well, which for us, we hang our hat on the fact that all of our kids who have completed their eligibility have graduated from here with a degree.

Our kids major in everything from engineering to math come. We have kinesiology majors. We have a young lady, Rina Hill, is a business major, majoring in business, minoring in Chinese. I like sharing everything that LSU represents and it's not just the sports; it's the academic component, as well.

Q. How many languages will that make for her?
COACH CALDWELL: She'll be trilingual.

Q. Will you depend on her, it's hard to say maybe right now since you have to go through a lot of practice before you begin the season, but will she be more of the point guard -- has she grown into that role now? You mentioned that earlier; can she bring the ball up the court most of the time, which, which instead of distributing it as in the past?
COACH CALDWELL: I definitely see her as that player for us. She's someone that -- one of the hardest working players I've ever coached, and she will tell you, it would absolutely kill her, her exact words, to miss a practice. She will fight through any adversity. She's shown that she's a great leader, not only on the basketball court but in the classroom within the community; within her own community.

Rina Hill is someone who -- I take about this all the time with our kids about who you are as the individual, your character. I hope my daughter can latch on and have a favorite player, and she latch on to Rina Hill and take about 20 percent of who she is as the person, I think my daughter would be okay. And she's only three, class of 2030 -- anybody want to sign her?

But she's somebody that I honestly can say is a great, great leader for our team. She is class of 2030.

Q. Maybe a big picture question, when you think about Connecticut and South Carolina and Tennessee, how close do you see this program to them at this point? How close are you to bridging the gap? Can you give us an idea of your goals just in regard to those elite teams right now?
COACH CALDWELL: Well, we've definitely bridged the gap with a little bit more height. So that's a good thing when you look at South Carolina being one of the biggest teams in the country.

Like I said before, we're a team that our non-conference schedules allows us to get better and get prepared for SEC play. We've had some success playing Tennessee and beating them, so we are right there.

South Carolina, we played them three times last year, and each time, I felt as though our team gave a better effort and competed and felt as though we could win. And they now can go back and they can look at, okay, look at what we did for at least 30 minutes and let's be a 40-minute team. They understand what that is and what that looks like when you have to play those elite teams.

Obviously South Carolina, Final Four team. You've got to be ready to play for 40 minutes, and what better way to get your young kids in that environment is to play at tough places, play at Rutgers, play at Connecticut, another Final Four team.

Our NCAA teams that we have on the roster than on the schedule that we're playing, Tulane was an NCAA team, Little Rock another NCAA team; just making sure that we're competing at that level so when SEC play does come around, one of the best players that they are talking about in the country obviously is Stewart.

So if you can go out and compete at that level with a Stewart, then when you reach the SEC and you're playing against Alaina Coates, somebody like that, or A'ja Wilson, you're going to have some things to draw on by what we have done in the non-conference.

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