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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 1, 2011Matthew MitchellCOACH MITCHELL: Well, this is always one of most exciting days of the year because I get to gather back with some of my closest friends in my life. Guys, that was supposed to be right off the bat a good joke. That didn't go over at all. I guess I don't need to tell the joke about you leaving me cookies, either. That one is not going to work, either. Usually you guys don't leave me anything at this time of year. We have some cookies here. This is an exciting time of year. Obviously we are getting underway here very soon and we believe we have assembled a talented group of players. And so now the challenge, as always, is to see if we can form those players in a team. And so we have been working hard at that, and it's been very interesting to see that process take place and we are looking forward to opening up the season. But I'm excited about the possibilities that exist for this edition of the Kentucky women's basketball team. And I'll take questions now. Well, I appreciate it, great Media Day, and I'm sure with this out pouring of questions we'll have a lost you at practice today. That will be good, will be very nerve-wracking. Q. Having neither one of them back -- does her return in any way offset -- COACH MITCHELL: I'm sorry, can you start over? I didn't hear. Q. Having Amber back, her coming back -- what she brings as a leader? COACH MITCHELL: Well, first of all, with Victoria leaving, you know, we can just mention this now. She was a great player for us, one of the greatest that's ever played here and meant a lot to the program and certainly was a pivotal player in the resurgence of our program. So we are happy she played here. We are excited about what she's doing now. She's overseas in Turkey playing professionally and she is doing well there. So we miss her as a person. As a player, we have not us asked it any about replacing Victoria Dunlap. Victoria Dunlap is not here, so she can't help us this season, besides maybe sending us some well wishes. So Victoria does not factor into this team this particular year. I think we have enough talent and enough players to have a good team and offset anything that happened last year possibly that Victoria gave to us. Amber is still trying to get back into the swing of things. Her knee is in great shape. That's got news. It is very strong and it reacts well to competition and playing and practicing and she's not having any swelling in her knee. And so all of those things are positive signs of what we are trying to work with Amber on now is to knock the rust off, get back into the flow of things and that's always a difficult process. So I can tell you this: When Amber Smith is full speed, not only physically but mentally and emotionally, she can bring a tremendous amount of positive to the team. And so we are just trying to get her back into a spot where she's playing well and feeling good about herself and feeling confident and that's something our coaching staff needs to support her in and that's something that she needs to be working daily on to try to get herself where she can be a big part of the team. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH MITCHELL: Well, I think what we are trying to do is, we always do, every year, we just wipe the slate clean. I just believe this with all my heart: Every year is all you need to focus on and really all you need to focus on is once you have done all of the work of recruiting and getting all of players in shape and things, all you work on is trying to get that particular group to exceed their potential. So every year you go out trying to be an over-achieving team. And if this team will over-achieve, I think they will do some special things. Now that is something that they have to determine. Do I like the talent we have? Yes. I think we have a very talented team. So I think our expectations are very high because I believe they can get a whole bunch accomplished. And so I would be disappointed if this team doesn't choose to accomplish some great things. Q. When you say over-achieve, if the team plays to their potential -- COACH MITCHELL: I mean, to have an attitude that we are going to give our best every day. And that's so hard to do in life. That's just so difficult to do. And so I think that if you have a group that embraces that notion, they will over-achieve. They will, as a group, exceed what the different parts might add up to. They really can do special things because they decide they are going to give their best every day. Q. Can you talk about your pre-season ranking on the team, and also the fact that -- (Inaudible). COACH MITCHELL: Well, the -- you could not find a less interested coach in the preseason ranking. I found out we were 18 by our wonderful Nike rep who is a wonderful woman who does a great job for Nike and Nike does a great job for us, was asking where we were ranked in the preseason. I said I did not know and she looked that up and sent that to me. I don't -- I know our media people, I'm sure are on opponent of that and I'm just not interested in it at all it. Means nothing. It bears -- it has no bearing on what this group is now or what they can become. And, you know, three years ago, we were not ranked; last year, we were ranked in the Top-10. This year we are 18th. It just doesn't matter as to the final result. We have some very good teams on our schedule and that motivates us as players and coaches to get prepared as the best we can and what we would love to do at the end of the year is look back and say, we have become our best and I think that would be a very high ranking if this team could do that. So that's what we are interested in, and we think this could be a very good team. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: I would say 95 percent negative and just a sprinkling of positive. It was an embarrassing moment in my life and I would think that we probably shouldn't try that again; I don't know. It was positive. People liked it. It was fun. That's what that night is about, having fun. The fans are so passionate with the camping out for the tickets and just the sheer number of people this show up for that event, I always look at it as a night of celebration, bringing in this basketball season and this commonwealth that is so unique. Basketball is so unique to Kentuckians; so you see that passion. So we just want to have a good time and celebrate along with them. So we thought that would be a fun way to do it, and I just asked for a year for what we are going to do and now everybody knows but the problem is now everybody is wondering what is going to happen next year. I think I'll have to retire and just say we are not going anything. It was fun. I think the people that gave positive feedback understood that and the negative people, you can't worry about that. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Well, I guess that's true. I mean, I have said this before. There's program things and then there's team things for each and every team. So I guess when I comment on the 18th ranking is about this current team that's not really big but as you look at it that way, I mean, we would rather be well thought of than not, and from a perception standpoint, there's no question that the program has transformed in the last couple of years. And so that is a good thing and we want to be one of the top teams in the country or considered year-in and year-out a very consistent team on the national and international picture. That would be I guess at least it says that people are paying attention that Kentucky wins basketballs at least on the radar. So that would be one positive thing. I shouldn't have said that it didn't matter. I guess that is a positive aspect of that. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Yeah, probably so. If you can figure out what recruits are thinking, we could schedule some private meetings here and you let me know. I'm not sure what that is. It could be. It could be something that they pay attention to. Q. (Inaudible). COACH MITCHELL: You know, she was troubled by it. Even into the summer, and just struggled with it, and I was very, very concerned with how she was handling it from a mental and an emotional standpoint. And you know, she got back in the fall and had to do some extra conditioning just to try to get up to speed. And I was still a little bit concerned about where she was, and I just don't think when you're that level of player and you've never had that kind of an injury, and I'm telling you back injuries are scary, just don't feel quite right you and just don't realize it until you have one. But right before we started practicing at the beginning of October, she really sort of got some clarity on how she was feeling and some trust in herself and being able to perform at a high level, and she has just been fantastic in practice. She has really, really practiced at a level that encourages me greatly. If A'dia Mathies will practice really hard, every single day, she's going to be phenomenal. She had a harder time than I think anybody would ever understand or might ever know with that back. It was a difficult injury and it plagued her all throughout the summer. So she's feeling great now. And Courtney Jones, our athletic trainer has worked countless hours with her on how to handle that, so I would like to give her a lot of credit for helping A'dia and I'm sure A'dia, too. But she seems to be performing well and would know -- last year, you could tell, good day, bad day and you could tell when she walked in the gym and she's had nothing but really, really good days since we started the at the beginning of October. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Well, extremely talented player, very, very gifted. Great hands. Incredible strength around the goal, can finish with contact better than most players can. Very good timing around the basket on missed shots. Finishes a lot of shots and in-the-air tip-ins. Doesn't have to get it; come down and go back up, and that's really a major advantage of a player she just is -- which makes her a very good rebound. Offensively, just a tough rebounder. Can run the floor well, can move well, just has talent. We are just working with her on trying to initiate instead of hesitate. She's a bit of -- she hesitates every now and then just to make sure she gets everything right that happens with players every now and then. So that's where your strength of caring about what you're doing and wanting to get things right can't become a weakness that makes you hesitate and you can't perform. We are working with her on that. When she turns loose some plays and is very confident of what is going on, she'll be a very good audition to our team and make us win some games. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: But they have. They have. I think one great thing for us right now is we have a lot of players of similar ability, and that's only good if those players are good. And so we have a lot of good players that I think makes everyone -- so we have enough players that are committed on the defensive end. Sort of brings everybody along with them because you know you're not going to play until you play defense, and so that's something we try to make clearly very early on is that. We value defense in Kentucky. It's a very, very important end of the floor for us, and so we spend a lot of time on our defensive footwork and our defensive fundamentals. Now, if you don't buy into that, there' enough people on the team that will, and you'll get left behind. So our veterans have done a great job of leading the way there and our newcomers have been fantastic as far as their approach to defense in practice. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Well, I worry about a lot of things and I worry about in relation to that question, I think if you're doing your job, you'd better worry about testimony team try. As the head coach you're in charge of the results and the performance. I think you're crazy if you don't pay attention to team chemistry. I think that is something that we are working on 365 days a year. That's not just right now while we're trying to -- while we're trying to get the team formed that day as far as finding minutes. It is -- we'll see, the formula right now you is just show up and practice every day and it's there for you to take and you can either go take it or not. I guess there would be a scenario that if anyone performs at the highest level, you may run into that trouble. But that is a good problem to have and I'll cross that bridge when I get there. But that's not anything we've been bothered about right now. We have just been trying to get everybody functioning at their very highest level and full capacity, and when that happens the team could be very good. And we'll always be paying attention to team chemistry and I think that is a vital part of this team's success this year. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Stress fracture in her fifth metatarsal. Look that up if you don't know what that is. That is, I believe, a little toe, all right, for everyone out there, write that, I'm not sure of the spelling of metatarsal. You'll have to look that up yourself. It has -- she is in a boot, she has been an crutches, she is in the boot now no crutches; so is progressing. That's a four to six week recovery. She had surgery. I don't know if it was last week or the week before so she's either five weeks out or two to work weeks out. But she's looking around about the December 1 return, maybe a few days early earlier, maybe a little after that. But just a stress fracture that happens from time to time. She should be able to make a full recovery. Had surgery; she should be really strong and ready to go. We are keeping her fit with all of the great facilities and great resources that Mr. Barnhardt and Kentucky provides us so we can keep her going. So she'll be a little rusty when she comes back, but she'll be able to get back going pretty soon once when she returns. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Well, the great thing is, what I like about this team is we are not relying on just her to get that done. We have a lot -- I think one thing that you'll see as you look at this team, the progression of the freshmen class last year, sophomores now. I'm really happy with their maturity and their growth at this point. They seem to -- they are a huge part of the team. So we need a lot from that class, and they have been giving a lot, a lot of energy: Kastine Evans, Maegan Conwright on the perimeter have really been very fiery. A newcomer, Bria Goss, is a very talkative player and unique player. Even A'dia Mathies has done a good job so really happy that she's doing some good things now. With Amber, I think we just need to get Amber back to a place of confidence and that's a process I see it coming back little by little as far as basketball-wise. And when she finally gets all the plays and gets all the way back in her mind, then all of that fire and enthusiasm will be helpful to the team. We are really fortunate that we are not waiting for that to happen for us to have some enthusiasm and energy. That's coming from different places so that's a really good sign for this team. Q. Is it a lack of confidence? COACH MITCHELL: I just think that when she stopped playing, if you'll think about this, she was playing at an extremely high level, the highest level of her life and career, and late March of 2010. And that's in the NCAA Tournament. Great summer, feeling really good about herself. Then right before we go home, that July with the knee injury. And so it's a devastating blow to her. Physically we know what to do, and we have great doctors. And she knew what to do, and that's almost the easier part or easiest part of it; the mental and emotional recovery, is much slower than the physical recovery. So what I mean is, she's not making the plays that she was making at that point in time and it's not because she's not capable. It's just the process of knocking the rust off and it's a process of her being absolutely sure in her mind, and I don't care who you are, that's just something that every player has to go through and Amber has to go through it her own way. What I'm saying is, I've just continued to push her to make those dynamic plays I know she can make. She gets a little too frustrated with her mistakes right now and I'm really working with her on that and all of the coaches are. She is reading that affect her negatively so I'm really trying to get her so focus on her success s is instead of, she doesn't wait sail your and success equally and it's kind of holding her back a little bit. And I'm not here so say she is not doing well. And I'm just saying, you may be ready for her to hit the floor in 2010 form. And I'm just telling you, she isn't there quite yet. I have every belief and confidence she is going to get there, and we are working every day to try to help her get there, but that's what I'm describing right now. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm saying it doesn't matter if you're a senior or freshmen or in between. It doesn't matter who your mother is or your daddy is or your brother or your sister or your cat or your dog, it just doesn't matter. It's what you do when you show up, if you've been preseason or postseason SEC, or whatever that is, none of that matters, except for you to show up on the court every single day and practice and that will be our whole see to success year this year. If this group becomes a team that practices with an incredible consistency from an energy standpoint, we are going to be fantastic. And whoever earns that playing time is going to be fantastic. I'm not pulling people aside and saying, look, Amber, because you're a senior you'd better watch out for these coming behind you. We are not trying to scare anybody. This is a deep and talented team that's working hard in practice. And so we will decide it on the practice floor and we'll see how it goes and we are talking about that every single day but I'm not having individual meetings about that as far as trying to keep people happy or not. And we'll just say. I haven't been in this position before. Unfortunately we haven't been in this position before, so it's new territory for us. And I'll see how we can manage it. Working real hard just to let them though what their value is on the team and that they can be and it's their choice whether or not they can become that or not and we are there every step of the way trying to help them. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Right now she's on the wing. She has so many intangibles that I love that would translate into being a very good point guard. I'm going to tell you what, it's hard to play point guard at Kentucky. Not because of anything we do is that complicated, I'm not trying to make us sound better than everyone. We asked the point guard on every offensive possession whether we miss the shot or make the shot, she is on the alert to catch the ball, and if she can't want the run to start a fastbreak. And we are very rarely asking her to catch it and walk the ball up the floor. So that's the first thing offensively. And then defensively, so many times we are asking you to initiate the defense and pick the ball up, on the opposite free throw line or below and work her all the way up the floor. So not only do you have to be very tough physically, but mentally as you're trying to think of all this stuff as you are pretty gassed and tired. It's just a lot of put on one player. And so I think Bria is a player that I -- that we are looking at, and, in fact, today we are going to look at her a little bit more, some point guards. I think it's great we have some options. Obviously Amber and Crystal are true points. Bria showing some great leadership abilities. I would not call her a pure point guard of any stretch of the imagination. I would say that she's a very, very talented wing player, small forward. We don't really distinguish between the two that has some possibilities to be a very good point guard, too. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH MITCHELL: Well, it is. Every year is a little bit different and you're trying to find a good mixture of road and home games and depending on how your team is. All of those things go into consideration as we are developing the schedule. But this year, you know, we wanted to play some road games and maybe those teams, we like to play in the region if we can, and we just ended up the schedule we have and as we are looking at it now, that's the schedule we have, and so we are very excited about it and there can be some benefit there. It gives our fans early on a great opportunity to watch what I think could be a very exciting team if they will work hard. For me there's no place I like better than Memorial Coliseum to play. So it's exciting we get to play a ton of games in there early in the season and I think that's great for the fans. Q. Back-to-back -- COACH MITCHELL: Well, I think that they are two very quality games for us at home, gives our fans a great chance to watch us play against two very good programs and very good teams. The Louisville game is a contractual agreement between the two schools that we are going to play that first Sunday of December every year. We are going to do that and that just helps both schools with scheduling and we don't have to see who has a slot for each other. We just know we are going to play on that first Sunday. So that's real good for us. And the Duke game, you're just trying to find -- it's a two-year agreement we have with them so you're just trying to find a good time to play them. And so I wouldn't do it any differently because that was how we had to do it to get the schedule done. So it great, it will be a challenging week for our players, no question about it. Two really tough games, I think it's a Sunday and a Thursday, and so that will be a heck of a week or our program and we'll see if we can get the players ready for that. But two big games, I would expect they are very important to for us as we are trying to measure ourselves against our competition and ramp up and get ready for the Southeastern Conference schedule which is always the most important part of the schedule. And you mentioned that Notre Dame game, it would be really, really tough game on the road. I'm sure they are highly ranked and I know they are a very good team. So those will be three really tough non-conference tests for us. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: Well, it's a bit of a double-edged sword there. It was out of desperation. Another thing that we did that -- so last year's freshman class we were just trying to get kids that wanted to come to Kentucky and we had no real hard for position. We just wanted to get hungry kids that wanted to play for the blue and white and understood how special this opportunity is and that helped us. So desperation, that first year. And then last year, we found ourselves with a lot of athletes, a lot of talents for that type of system. And so I hesitate to say that it's our style of play because it's really up to the players whether we are going to find a group of young women who will really work that hard to prepare. It's not just something you just show up in the game and say hey we are going to run up and down the court and it's going to be a good time and everything is wonderful. It is really tough to prepare to play that way. And so I think we need to do a good job as coaches of identifying kids that have great character, that are not afraid of hard work. You just can't survive here if you're not into hard work. And I think we have maybe lost some players or some players haven't been attracted to that because the last thing I would want to do is to go against one of the real key principles of our program, which is honesty and tell a kid, hey, this is going to be a bed of roses when it's really difficult day after day to prepare. But then the reward is big. We feel like, we have gone 30-2 here over the last two years and won 53 games over the last two years and had some great, great wins. And so I think there are some rewards to coming here but it's not the easiest place in the country to play. So we have probably attracted some players because of the up tempo style initially. Sometimes when you get into the recruiting process, or they come watch practice, they may say, hey, I'm not sure if that's for me. And that's what makes it even more special that you're getting to coach these kids that we have on this team, because they want to be here and they fully understand what it means to play here and how tough it. Is and that's why really have a deep affection and this team is slowly but surely earning my respect because they get after it. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: I would say if we are basing it off the last two seasons, and we were able to get there, I would say this team could. You know, I wouldn't say see reason why they couldn't. I see a lot of reasons, I know a lot of things that have to happen to get there and that will be a ton of preparation, a ton of honesty, hard work and discipline, three things we talk about all the time. And we certainly won't, you know, just believe we are going to show up and be there. But can this team get there? I believe so. And I hope they will make the right choices and I'll be doing everything I can as a coach to encourage them to make the right choices as we go through a long season. But that's a special tournament, and, man, I would love to win it. I think it would be a lot of fun and I think it would be a great accomplishment for our program. It's a great, great tournament. Q. Inaudible. COACH MITCHELL: I think it's the players have just done a great job of taking us from -- you know, it was so difficult to -- for Coach DeMoss who did such a great job here, when we showed up and I was our assistant when we showed up when the program was there to when I took over as head coach, there had been a million miles traveled, and it was light years from where it had been from where Coach DeMoss had just showed up. Theres was maybe less mileage to travel, but those are tough, tough miles. And we are not there yet. Coach DeMoss always had vision for this program; that it could be the best in the SEC and it could be one of the best in the country. And so we are not there yet. But you know, we are definitely -- we were -- the last couple of years we have been able to be up in the top two and that has not happened a whole lot. And so that's changed because of the players that have been on the last two teams have worked their tails off and have sacrificed personal statistics for the greater good of Kentucky and I love them for that and I love where we are right now, still at a place where we can travel some more and we still have more things to accomplish. But it's a different kind of energy right now when you're going into a season believing you can have a very good team, than going into the season when you're just not sure about things. So it doesn't mean anything's going to happen automatically, but it is exciting from a coaching perspective. So I feel always very fortunate to be the coach here. It's a very, very special place to coach. I'm just grateful every day I walk through those days. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH MITCHELL: I don't know if it's -- how much easier it is. I have not found much easy about recruiting. It is just a difficult, difficult process. People are so different. You're just dealing with different kids every year and you really have to do a lot of work to find out what's important to each recruiting class and the different personalities and the people surrounding it. So there's not anything I can you easy about it, and that's also hard to gauge while you're in the middle of it. I don't -- you can definitely feel a difference of the kind of kids that we're able to talk to, but I will tell you this. I thought we signed a really good class two years ago. Those kids that signed with us that are sophomores now, that's when we were preseason picked 11th and nobody was thinking anything good was going to happen, and you know I think it's a real credit to what Kentucky has to offer and the very tireless effort and hard work that Kyra Elzy, Matt Insell and Shalon Pillow put into recruiting. They really, really work at it, and we have a great school here and great athletic department. So you know, I'm a little biased. I think you're crazy if you don't want to come to Kentucky but there's nothing easy about recruiting. Q. (Inaudible)? COACH MITCHELL: I don't know that that one event changed it. I think it's important for me as a coach to constantly be trying to grow as a person. That's what we are asking our players to do. And anybody that's had a newborn knows that's a lot of opportunities for growth as a person there. That's a lot of challenges that go with that. But it has just been one of the happiest times of my life. Jenna is an incredible mother and Lacy is a great sister to Saylor and we are just a really happy family right now. When she comes around, you kind of see the kids light up and they are real, real sweet with her. That's definitely a life-changing-experience, any time that happens, the miracle of life. It's incredible. So hopefully I'll be better for it and hopefully that's more motivation to try to be the best person I can be and the best leader I can be for our program. So if little Saylor Rose motivates me in that area, I think that will be a good thing. But it's been a wonderful time for us, busy, but the best kind of busy you can have. Appreciate everybody coming out today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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