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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S MEDIA DAYOctober 16, 2014Bobbie KelseyCHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: Our first coach is Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey. Enters her fourth season at Wisconsin, returns ten letter winners and four starters from last year's squad, including Michala Johnson. Coach an opening statement. COACH KELSEY: Good morning. Thank you for having us here. We're excited about the upcoming season this year. Wisconsin, we're still working to build our program into what we know it can be. But we're very excited about the kids that are returning. As mentioned, Michala Johnson, being a First Team All‑Big Ten selection last year, she's ready to come back and show what she's been working on in the summer and her improvement over the course of the off‑season. We also have Jacki Gulczynski as one of our veteran starters, Nicole Bauman and point guard Dakota White and some others that are ready to make their mark in this conference and really show that they've been working hard over the off‑season to showcase their talents. So we're looking forward to our season this year and very excited about what's to come. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Tell me a little bit about the increased number of games, conference‑wise, 18‑game schedule, and how that will affect how you prepare your team and in the future and how you go about looking at the non‑conference scheduling? COACH KELSEY: It's definitely something that is a difference for us and a change for the coaches having the two more games in the conference. It kind of compresses the schedule a little bit there to make it a little bit more difficult. You have to watch your minutes with the kids and practice time, really making sure you preserve legs, so to speak, because you have more games in a week. You could have maybe three in a week really back to back to back, and it puts pressure on coaches to make sure they're maintaining their kids' health, mentally too. Some of that is taxing on the kids. But it is what it is. That's what we have, and we have to live with that. But I'm excited. The games are just exciting for me and the kids. So we're ready to tackle our schedule and do whatever we need to do to have a great season. Q. With three seasons under your belt, how do things change now that in theory most of these kids are kids you brought to campus? COACH KELSEY: It's nice to have veterans, kids that understand what you're saying, your terminology, your philosophies, your expectations. We don't have a very young team. We have three newcomers but only one is going to be able to play this year. So it's not a big change for us. I know some of the coaches have a lot of new players, and that's always very interesting when you have a lot of freshmen and new kids in your system. But that should bode well for us going forward in that I don't have to do a whole bunch of teaching and introducing new things. The kids really understand. So our practices go a lot smoother this year. And we're looking to use that as an advantage for us going into the season. Q. Last year the conference overall got better, five or six points offensively. Offensively, what are you looking to do? Obviously you returned Michala Johnson as a firepower, but who specifically will help on you the offensive end this year? COACH KELSEY: In addition to Michala, we're looking to Jacki Gulczynski. She was almost a double‑digit scorer and rebounder, close in those two areas. She'll definitely play a bigger role in what we're trying to do. Nicole Bauman had to play point a little more last year than we would have liked to have her play. But we'll move her back to the natural position at the 2. And Dakota White, she played with the Canadian Junior National Team. So she has a lot more confidence. When you're talking about a team that maybe hasn't had the success yet, it's important for us as coaches to build their confidence because I always say you can't necessarily give kids confidence but you can surely take the little bit they have, if you don't coach them correctly, and encourage them to excel and to make some mistakes. Sometimes as coaches we get on them, take care of the ball, don't turn it over. But in order for them to take some chances and learn, we have to live with some of that, if you want them then to have the confidence to go out and know they're not going to be pulled or yelled at the first mistake. That's what I'm trying to do with my kids. And going into my fourth year as a head coach, your first year, your fourth year is quite different. So I've learned a lot. They've taught me a lot as a coach. And we're coaching them a little bit different and making sure that we don't squash any confidence that they have because again that goes a long way when you're trying to get them to do what you want them to do. Q. You said only one of the newcomers would be able to play, who is that? What is the status of the others, and if you could also address how Cassie Rochel is in terms of her comeback? COACH KELSEY: Cayla McMorris from Minnesota, she'll probably play. She's healthy and ready to go. She's been practicing. Roichelle Marble tore her Achilles in the preseason. So she's out. And also we have a transfer that's obviously not able to play because of NCAA transfer rules. So that's Avyanna Young. Cassie Rochel, her back is better. It's not 100percent, but she's out there. She's practicing. And we're being very careful with her, because we don't want to aggravate anything that we don't have to, and right now she's a veteran. She's a senior, fifth‑year senior. She doesn't have to be in the thick of things every day in practice to do what we need her to do. So we're going to be very careful with her and make sure that we're not aggravating anything that's there. But she's ready to go. And she's very excited because she sat last year, and she's itching to get back there show what she can do. Q. Where do you see the Badgers this year fitting in the conference? COACH KELSEY: The good thing about the Big Ten is that anyone has the capabilities of winning it and competing at that level. Obviously with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, that puts a little bit more stress on it. But we like that. That's a challenge. Nobody's afraid of that. They're very good teams but we also have some really good teams in our conference that have shown that they can, that anybody can step up at any time and win a game. So we're excited about it, and we're confident that we can compete with what we have returning and some of the new things that we're going to be showcasing. So I can't tell you, but hopefully it will work out and we're excited about it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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