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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYOctober 20, 2016June DaughertyBorislava HristovaCaila HaileySan Francisco, California COACH DAUGHERTY: Good afternoon to everybody. Thank you so much to the PAC-12 for what has been a fabulous trip back down to this sunny bay. We really appreciate this opportunity to represent Washington State as well as the PAC-12. I'll tell you what, we're looking forward to a great season in women's basketball on the Palouse. We've had an unbelievable summer. We've had several players -- all of our players have been in summer school at some point, but all of them have worked really, really hard to improve their skill level, their strength, their speed, all the things that you want out of your team in the off-season. We also had four players represent the PAC-12 as well as Washington State in the under-20 European championships. Bobbi is one of them, and then three other players. What a great experience for all four of them to be able to go back to their home countries and represent Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal and Serbia in championship play that's unbelievable. Not only did they practice for another couple months and play all over Europe, but they also played against some of the future Olympians in their programs. Hopefully they'll be future Olympians, as well, from the experience. Great summer for the Cougs. We were young last year, and so close in so many games, and I know we're going to be able to close that gap and finish some games strong this year and really put a great product on the floor. We're looking forward to your questions today, and thanks for being here. Q. Bobbi, coming from another country and kind of integrating to the PAC-12 and immediately being a starter and having so much responsibility, how different are you now than a year ago? BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Well, I feel like I'm more confident right now in myself. When I go to the court, I know what to expect. I know the level of the 12 pack. I know what coaches expect from me. I know what my teammates expect from me. So I feel pretty comfortable right now. Q. Last year you had some great games, and then you were pretty quiet in the postgame. You seem very comfortable now. Would you be comfortable doing postgame interviews and doing some of that on TV? BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Definitely. No, I feel better with my language, so I will be able to give interviews, that kind of stuff. Q. June, every year when we talk be beginning of the year, we talk about assessing the strength of the conference up and down. As someone who's been in the PAC-12 for a long time, is this as deep -- people have talked about how much trouble they had filling out their ballots and where to place people. How difficult a conference is this going to be to navigate for everybody? COACH DAUGHERTY: Yeah, I kind of felt the same way in my sitting office trying to fill out the ballot. Oh, my gosh. But looking at the returning players, obviously the great coaches in this league, the success that we had last year, and obviously the newcomers in the league, it's going to be even better. I really believe that. You know, we're just looking forward to working hard and being ready for that type of competition. But as kind of a veteran in the PAC-12, this may be the best year ever. It's an exciting time to be a part of it. Q. Caila, you were a defensive stopper last year, took a lot of pride in that throughout the season. What did you do in the off-season to improve your defensive -- CAILA HAILEY: I would have to say just conditioning-wise, being more in shape. It's hard physically having to guard someone full court a whole game. So I think that was my biggest task, speaking with our strength and conditioning coach, David Lang, and he told me what I had to do in the off-season to stay in shape and to be in better shape for this upcoming season and to be a better defender. Q. June, for you, Chanelle Molina, the recruiting process and what she's going to mean to your program. COACH DAUGHERTY: Yeah, five super freshmen, the most athletic class that we've brought in to Washington State by far with all five players. But there's so many neat things to see around our area and it's great to be able to experience that with these young people. But I think it's just important that we're open, communicative staff and then we're good listeners because we've got 14 women who I can talk up here for hours about them. I'm so proud of them. They're all different in good ways, and it's a task to kind of bring all these cultures together, but I think the more that we're available for them and they see that we're available for them more than just basketball, all the better. Q. Would you two reflect on some of those things and some of the effort that June and the staff have made to bring -- CAILA HAILEY: As a team we do hang out a lot outside of basketball. Like June was saying, the Coeur d'Alene Resort that we went to, we hung out at, we had a surprise baby shower for our coach and we put that on together -- COACH DAUGHERTY: Let me clarify that's not me. CAILA HAILEY: Our assistant coach, so that was really fun. Outside of basketball we have like team dinners where we're all bring something from everybody's cultures and that type of thing, just to get to know each other better. We do that a lot, and it obviously helps us on the court, as well, coming to practice and communicating better. Q. Do you guys race on the paddle boards or is it yoga on the paddle boards? CAILA HAILEY: Well, last year was my first year paddle boarding ever, so I wasn't doing any racing. I was falling off most of the time. But it was fun. We all had fun out there. Q. Six different countries are representing on your roster. Have you picked up any languages along the way? CAILA HAILEY: A little Greek, a little French, some Bulgarian, a little bit of each. So it's interesting. It's fun. Actually next year I'm going to Australia with Louise to explore where she's from. Q. There's only one senior on the roster, June. Where is your team leadership coming from? COACH DAUGHERTY: Well, I'm really proud of Eva. This is her senior year, and she's a young lady that's played a little bit off and on, but she's had a great off-season, and she is right now I think our most consistent front line player in the program. She's gotten tremendously stronger in the off-season and more consistent with her post play, which is something we really needed besides her rebounding. Really excited to see how her senior year goes. All the kids lead, I think they all do, but she's a young person in the program that the kids look up to because she works so hard, and she maybe was not always rewarded with playing time in the past, but she's just stayed the court, so she's been a great leader. I think Caila has stepped up enormously in the leadership role in our program. We had some conversations in the off-season about her wanting to be a bigger leader, better leader in this program and how she can do it, and that's a big responsibility for a young person, I think, in today's age and kind of the things that go on in this world. I'm really proud of her for wanting to take the reigns, so to speak, and be able to take responsibility when it's good and when it's bad. A lot of kids are leading, but those two right now I would say really stand out. I think Krystle McKenzie is a young lady from Australia who has not played very much in the program, but I would say is a real leader for us, as well, just because she's very vocal. She's a point guard who's very vocal, and she demands -- she has a very high expectation for how the practice is going to go, and she demands it from her teammates. Doesn't get much better than that when you have three people like that constantly leading your program. Q. I know you had a new staff member last year, Rod Jensen, and you have always been known as such a very good offensive coach and three-point shooting. How has your defense evolved with him being involved? COACH DAUGHERTY: Well, thanks for the compliment, too. Rod Jensen and I had the privilege of coaching together at Boise State when I first became a head coach after working with Tara at Stanford as an assistant, and always admired how well his teams played, especially defensively. He's a 42-year-old veteran of coaching, but 40 years on the men's side. Last year was his first year on the women's side, so it's given us a full year to implement coach Jensen's philosophy, his program. Caila alluded to it with our strength coach getting everybody in a stance in the off-season whether they're on a football field or on the basketball court or in the weight room, and it's really made a difference. The other thing that we've done is we've tried to recruit more long, athletic players. Caila is another example of that, who are willing to sit down and really put the work ethic and the desire in on the defensive side of the ball because that's the hardest side of the ball to play and to get it done. Between having a full year with Coach Jensen's defensive philosophy both in his player to player and his matchup zone and our strength coach and most importantly the players buying into it. We are much, much better on that side of the basketball, and we call it chaos. We're going to cause a lot of chaos, we're going to turn the ball over, and we're going to hopefully score a lot of points off our defense this year, and I think it's a big improvement for us since last year. Q. On kind of that note, you were fighting for a tournament berth late in the season. A couple games short in my opinion. What did you learn or are there a few details or examples that you're like, we have to get better at this in order to push over the hump and get into the tournament? COACH DAUGHERTY: Yeah, I think it was 12 games that was four points or less, and a little bit of that was youth, but we've grown a lot in a year's time. I think the three areas that we really focused on is getting quicker, really getting much, much faster. We kind of laugh about Jimmy John's being freaky fast. We want to be really fast on both ends of the floor. Rebounding was definitely a concern for us. We didn't do a good job on the boards on both ends of the glass, and so that's been an area that from jump we've worked on this spring and through the summer. And you know, I would say the last thing besides getting the speed up is for the whole -- for the team to have a full year, like we said, with Coach Jensen in the defensive system so they don't have to think anymore out there. Well, the freshmen do, but the returners like Caila and Bobbi, they shouldn't be thinking at this point, they should just be playing. Q. Give me just a quick assessment on the development of Alexis and Nike McClure. COACH DAUGHERTY: Yeah, Alexis was Player of the Year out of the South Dakota, a freshman last year that stepped on the floor and had some big moments. Like all freshmen, was a little bit up-and-down, a little inconsistent, but I think she's done two things -- well, three things in the off-season. One she's gotten in way better shape. Because the PAC-12 is a grind and you better be ready for it every day and every night. The other thing is I think she's become much more aware of how she has to play on both ends of the floor. You just can't be a three-point shooter in order to help the team, so I think her defense has improved, and I think she's getting her shot off quicker which is really important against the defenses we play in the Pac-12 and the athleticism that we see in this league, and she's way for consistent. Nike McClure, 6'3", standout post player from Washington, was state champion in basketball her senior year as well as the state 400 champion, as well, and that's something for a kid that's 6'3" to run like that and to play like that. Nike has been up-and-down with some knee issues. We just -- we're just getting her back on the court at a consistent level here the last couple weeks, and I'll tell you what, there's times when I look at Nike, and that's her real name, and I just say, Nike, you know what, you can the top rebounder not only in this league but in the country if you would bring that intensity every day. So we hope that she continues to improve in that area because she is so quick off the ground, and she's so explosive. I'll tell you what, she's fun to watch. I had her in camp as a sophomore in high school, and I watched her dunk the basketball, and I was like, yeah, who are you, let's sign you up. Really proud of her. She's gone through a couple knee surgeries, a couple delays in her career, and she just keeps coming back and fights, and we love that about Nike, as well. Q. Caila, with so many games that were decided so closely and didn't go in WASU's favor, what's different about this team this year? CAILA HAILEY: The returners have been practicing, embedding in our freshmen how we need to play more tougher and finish games out more strongly, and I think that's our biggest thing this year is being more tough at the end of the games and playing how we play at the start all the way until the finish and knowing that we cannot take plays off and we have to play the whole game. I think last year was kind of more of a wake-up call for us because we were more underclassmen now we are upperclassmen, so we know what it's going to be like this year. And now our freshman will know what it'll be like this year, as well. We're hoping to change that this year, and our expectations are high. Q. Bobbi, do you like being called Bobbi Buckets? BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Yeah. Q. You're okay with it? BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Yeah. Q. I just wanted to make sure because I think there's probably not one of us that has not said that during a game at one point or another. BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Yeah, it's fine with me. Q. Talk a little bit about just kind of your play overseas, your ability to come here and just speaking the language a little bit better and how that's built your confidence. Talk a little bit more about that. BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: Well, last year I was like so nervous, how I'm going to do on the court, how I'm going to do in school because of my language, but my teammates helped me a lot. The coach has helped me a lot to develop my language. I feel like really good right now, so yeah. Q. I want all three of you to finish this sentence for me. Washington State makes the NCAA Tournament if, starting with Bobbi. COACH DAUGHERTY: She says I need to go first. I think if we continue to improve every day. I really believe that because this is a very athletic, very talented group, competitive at every position. So if we improve every day, we'll be more than just making the tournament. CAILA HAILEY: If we play with consistency. BORISLAVA HRISTOVA: And if we be tough enough to win games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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