ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 11, 2022

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee

Maria Gakdeng

Dontavia Waggoner

Boston College Eagles

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Joined by the head coach for Boston College, Joanna Bernabei-McNamee. Thank you so much for joining us. I can't wait to talk about your story and how your team has been doing in this past few season.

And we also have Maria Gakdeng. Five-time freshman of the week. My goodness, it was a huge toss-up who was going to go to for freshman of the year, but congratulations on your success. As well as Dontavia Waggoner. Thank you for your time as well.

Jump straight into things. A new look in a sense for this team. Talking about the new look, it's a very young look. I don't think there are any seniors within this group. When you're talking about the foundation and what you want to see for this squad, where does it start?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: It starts with their young enthusiasm and energy. Sometimes you can say because they're so young they don't know what they don't know. So I think they're approaching this season with wide eyed intensity and looking forward to every matchup.

I don't think they're ever going to take a team for granted or look over a team. So it will just be one day at a time, and I'm excited for them.

THE MODERATOR: I know a lot of teams are wide eyed trying to defend Maria last season. Maria, for you, what did you learn last year, and how do you build on it?

MARIA GAKDENG: Last year was a really big learning experience for me. I learned a lot about the conference as a whole while also like getting thrown into the fire a bit, but I got a lot of insight from our seniors from last year. They really helped me get through it.

It got kind of tough, but I think that with the help of them, and then like everybody else on my team, I really got -- I was able to get through it.

I've taken that, and I'm going to take it into my sophomore year and also give insight to the freshmen we have now.

THE MODERATOR: Wow, so now you're a leader on the team too.

MARIA GAKDENG: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: The biggest piece of advice that was left to you?

MARIA GAKDENG: I think the biggest piece of advice was stay within your mind and keep it positive, because that's the only thing you have. Your mentality really matters.

THE MODERATOR: Awesome.

Dontavia, just being able to be with this group, grow with this group, and even challenge yourselves to be that team that can really shock the rest of the conference, what is that going to entail?

DONTAVIA WAGGONER: I kind of like us being like a really young team because no one knows what we have, no one knows what we're capable of.

I think if we continue to just like -- for instance, this season we've been working out a lot, like compared to last season. We know we're young and we been getting at it and getting in the gym.

So I think if we keep pushing on that and keep building on what we have, we'll be a good team.

THE MODERATOR: She said we've been putting in a lot of work. The guns are out up here too. My goodness.

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: Guns out, sun's out.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, just the philosophy you have with such a young group, what does that start with, and how do you continue to challenge them when you do say what you don't know, you don't know?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: Right. I think the culture lives on. That's what these guys have been a part of, and our team really in Boston College, women's basketball is now known as a gritty team that's going to come out and play hard and have that no-quit mindset.

So the challenge that we have, that we've been putting on is to really hold each other accountable and challenge each other every day.

So I have a team of awesome human beings and wonderful young women, and it's just turning that switch on when we get on the court to becoming grit competitors. Forgetting for that moment maybe in those couple of hours that you're teammates, but you've also got to go against each other and compete against each other and hold each other to another level. They have really bought into that and I think in the long run it's made them really get along off the court as well. They have a lot of respect for each other, and I love watching them grow.

THE MODERATOR: They're led by one of the best, being one of the premier coaches and former coach of the year. You have in your five seasons, two twenty-plus win seasons as well, and two with ten or more wins in the ACC. Navigating how to win in this conference, what does it start with?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: It starts with belief and a mindset. Maria just said it. Their mindset means everything because it's -- one of our slogans is five together as one, and that's just when we're on the court together, if we all believe in each other, it's a lot -- the whole adage, like this we're pretty weak, but together we can do anything.

As long as they keep believing in that, it's the truth. If we stick together through the highs and the lows, I think this team is going to be really special this year.

THE MODERATOR: Just going back to what this team can do, looking at the roster, you talked about the pieces you have missing, but only returning 29 percent of your scoring output. Does the scheme look different? Is it almost like a fresh slate? Like now we can really get creative with how we want to do things. Does anything change in that department?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: It's funny, we say we're not returning a lot of production, but we have a lot of depth. We've added a lot of depth. Right now we have ten healthy players that can go, and I think one through ten they can all play.

So I've never really had that since I've been at Boston College, where it's just a really great group and everybody has each other's back.

So I'm excited to see the makeup of itself. I think we can be a little bit faster and a little bit more aggressive this year than we ever have been.

THE MODERATOR: How do you feel about that when you're looking at the style switch?

MARIA GAKDENG: I think that gives us a clean slate, like you said. I think bringing in five freshmen is like young minds that we can help shape. They're really go-getters, I think. They always want to get in the gym. They always want to get in some work.

That makes me really proud and happy, because that means during the season we're going to get after it. I think we're going to surprise a lot of people.

THE MODERATOR: What's the conversation been like in the locker room as well? Obviously now ACC, the tip-off day means we're a little bit closer to really getting things started.

At this point, what are you seeing in the locker room in how you guys have been able to challenge each other?

DONTAVIA WAGGONER: I think that in the locker room we're like a family. We like talk a lot about what we think we're going to do this year, what do we have to do this year.

So a lot of the talk is how we need to basically upset the people's minds that think that we're not going to do good. We've been talking about how we've got to get in the gym, doing these drills, doing this and that, just to make sure we're better and we're prepared.

Because not many of us have experience in the locker room, and so we're looking forward to showing what we have to put out there.

THE MODERATOR: You get to show to a couple of teams in the non-conference as well. I believe Ohio State was on that schedule as well. Walk us through what that looks like for you guys and being challenged right out of the gate.

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: Yeah, I think -- and, again, that's what having a young team is. Every game will be a challenge in its own way. Each non-conference game will hopefully give us the experience and the confidence to move on to the ACC schedule.

We get to go to Puerto Rico this year and play a couple of games. We're excited about that. Again, Stephen F. Austin is a tough team, and so we're going to face a style of play we haven't really faced for a 40-minute game. I think that will be fun for our players.

Like you said, we have a couple of Big Ten teams in Ohio State and Rutgers in the Big Ten challenge. I think it's going to be a nice, challenging non-conference schedule that is going to build into us being prepared for the ACC.

THE MODERATOR: There's no place like home, looking at your schedule.

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: Right. We're excited to have some home games for sure.

THE MODERATOR: As far as the culture, and you mentioned just being a coach that tries to instill that in this group, I want to start with you, Maria, and what you witnessed from Coach as far as what that culture means and building that winning culture at Boston College. What have you been able to witness here so far?

MARIA GAKDENG: I've taken a lot from Coach Mac, and like I think she hones in on like our three pillars a lot, trust, love, and grit. I think it starts with the team.

Just like getting to know each other more off the court, knowing our strengths and weaknesses, how we can work on that, and then holding each other accountable.

So I think that learning from Coach Mac, the fact that we need to hold each other accountable and be prepared for what the season hold for us is something I'm going to take with us into this season.

THE MODERATOR: Not trying to start any Twitter beef or anything, but when you're looking at the schedule, obviously every single team is very tough. But when you're going up in the ACC, is there any team that you have circled on your schedule that you feel is going to be a great test for you guys?

MARIA GAKDENG: I feel like a great test is always Notre Dame. I feel like that's a game we're always looking forward to. Looking forward to Virginia Tech as well.

THE MODERATOR: Very nice.

And for you two, just if you can speak to the other players that are not here. We talk about the depth that you have and even the freshmen that are coming in.

What have you been able to witness as far as the gelling capabilities of what you guys have been able to do?

DONTAVIA WAGGONER: One thing about like the freshmen we have coming in, like all the new players, is we lost a lot of offensive players, but we have some really good offensive players. I think one of our freshmen, her name is T'Yana. She's probably one of the best offensive players on our team. She's from Canada.

I think that's one thing we're gaining. We're gaining people with offensive like mindset that can build on their defense. So that's a good thing we have from the freshmen. We know they're going to input when it comes to like scoring and stuff like that.

THE MODERATOR: Was there any shift at any point during the ACC play last year where you're like, I have the pieces to be a little bit different defensively. I know that's something you said you wanted to contain and build on, but where was that shift? How did you kind of build your own philosophy on what that looked like for the pieces you have now?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: Really this summer, getting to see them all come together. You know Tay is a really -- she's like our catalyst on defense that really gets us going. I don't think there's any anticipator of passes and getting in the passing lane better than Tay.

So I think just having her energy on the defensive end has really rubbed off on our young freshmen.

They see there's no doubt that great defense leads to such easy offense. So as a young team, I really want to be a program that does start to pick up. Defensively, we've not been the highest ranked team within the ACC in the country, and that's something we really want to change going into this year.

Q. Coach, I know that you had some players transferred to other schools within the ACC. How has the transfer portal and immediate eligibility kind of changed the way you build rosters and how you interact with your team once you've recruited them to Boston College?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: I haven't really changed much in my philosophy. I think the biggest thing that all of us coaches have to be okay with is changing with the times. Right now what I know is that the players that are in my program right now, we are going to be family.

As long as they can stay with me and as long as I get to coach them, that's my second family, and we love each other.

When they go off, if they move to other places, like we had this past year five seniors get their Boston College degrees and move on. I'm still going to love and support them where they're at. It doesn't change.

My team right now, the players that I have, now they're the most important thing, and they're at the forefront of everything I do. We have to be able to adapt and change.

But I think I still love recruiting high school players, just like I always have, and I think the transfer portal comes in as being a great opportunity to bring in people that maybe you missed on and you get to have that kind of later date to fill in your roster if you need it.

THE MODERATOR: We'll continue to build on this. We have time for probably one more. Coach, just from your experience with building teams and just being able to establish like what you want moving forward, I know you have to be like the biggest cheerleader and the rah-rah person for your squad. What are you telling everyone else? I know that we just heard from the ladies about what they want to be as far as shocking everyone else, but the potential and what they have and how quick you can see it, what does that look like?

JOANNA BERNABEI-McNAMEE: What it looks like for me -- and these two next to me, like I had mentioned Tay on defense, and what Ri-Ri brings every day on defense. She already has our school, all the block records and everything. She's amazing in her own right, and she's easily going to be a professional when the time comes. She's a pro almost already.

So I think what shapes our program are truly the people. I have an amazing coaching staff that brings their energy, that gives their heart to the team. I have amazing players individually that have high character. I think, when you build on high character, energy, and just everybody being positive and really dropping their egos down to, hey, we're for each other.

I think these ladies know, if our team is successful, that's individual success for them and vice versa. When it comes to voting a program, I'm just excited I get to surround myself with lovely people that I can't wait to be around.

THE MODERATOR: Perfect. Thank you so much for your time, guys. I know it's a busy day, so hang in there. We'll see you through the season.