BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 19, 2005

Kiera Hardy

Connie Yori

COACH CONNIE YORI: This is Kiera Hardy, had a great year last year as a sophomore, first time on Big 12. A young woman that we're expecting big things from this year at both ends. Notice I said both ends. We we're in a building process and we feel like we have made progress and we're at the point right now where we feel like we can compete in this league and on any given night beat anybody but then of course, on any given night they can beat us. We're excited about where we're right now as a program and the direction our program has moved. And when we took the program over three years ago, we knew it was going to be a process, and definitely we wish we could wave a magic wand and fix it all overnight, but it's going to take sometime, but we're moving in the right direction.

KIERA HARDY: Like she said, hard work, worked on getting stronger, and pre-season worked on a lot of defensive drills and that's something that this year I am really going to focus on being more of a complete player, like she said on both ends of the court.

COACH CONNIE YORI: We have seen Kiera improve each year, made a huge step from her senior of high school to where she was as a freshman and contributed as a backup player that year and last year obviously made a huge impact on our program and to be named -- as a sophomore being named the first team all Big 12 after coming off a year where she was just a baby in the game, prior to that, that was a great step for her. Now we'd like to see her do things that get her teammates involved more, play, play defense at a higher level, rebound better for us, move without the ball. I think that will be a key for her, people are -- our opponents are going to pay a lot of attention to her going into games. It's going to be important that she gets the ball in her hands. In order to do that she's going to have to be better at moving without the basketball. There's a lot of things she knows that she needs to work on. She is very committed to those ideas and she has done a great job in her pre-season practices, you know, working towards making those things happen.

COACH CONNIE YORI: Well, the pre-season poll pick is fifth, as I said. That doesn't mean anything, doesn't give us anymore Ws. All it does is, like I said, get me closer to being fired. So we're in a process -- like I said, we're in a building process. We feel like we have taken, you know, baby steps or bigger each year and we have got to trust that this process will work. We had a plan in place when I took the job three plus years ago and we're on track. And we just need to keep moving in that direction and our players have bought in 100% to what we're doing as coaches and that really makes it easy.

COACH CONNIE YORI: There's no question that's a great question, that we need play better in February and I think there's a lot of factors that go into that. But staying healthy and staying motivated, you know, and being physically and mentally sharp. And I have thought a lot about it why we have struggled in February the last two years, and I think it is really important that we give our players proper rest and make sure that they are fresh both mentally and physically. I feel like we really pushed our players very hard the last couple of years to get to the point where we can just be competitive. And in doing so, we ran out of gas, so to speak, in each of those two years. We hope that with a little bit more experience and kids that have been through the process and who have practiced and understand drills and understand what we're trying to do, hopefully we can shorten our practices in the long run which will help us in the long run.

KIERA HARDY: By everybody being a year older, I think that's going to help us a lot. We know what it takes to win and we know what it's takes to finish stronger. By losing the last stretch of games, you know, really opened our eyes and what we need to do and work on as a team and I think this year we're going to be better and finish stronger.

COACH CONNIE YORI: That's what I am saying somebody is trying to get my job. (Laughter). No, I think we feel good about that in some ways because I do think that from the standpoint that our players know that their hard work, you know, we're going the right way, but yet like I said it doesn't give us anymore Ws. I think probably more than anything, you look at the teams in the north that were picked below us, traditional powers in Iowa State, in Kansas State, I have a ton of respect for both of those coaches as well as the programs they have put together, and those are -- I think both of those teams could have definitely been picked above us. I think it was a tough year to pick. In the north you have two of the traditional powers who are losing, a number of their players and then you have a program like ourselves and -- who has a lot of kids returning. I think that's why we were picked where we were. I think it's nothing more than that.

KIERA HARDY: Probably one of the things that have made the biggest difference is conditioning, being committed to running and working hard and coming into workouts trying to get better. Also having positive teammates around me, like enjoying conditioning, not seeing it as much of a chore, but -- or not just trying to get through it but everybody working hard to make each other better.

COACH CONNIE YORI: She squatted 300 pounds and bench pressed 180. For somebody who was 140 pounds, that's rather incredible. And it's a huge, huge jump from where she was as a senior in high school. She almost weighed -- you almost weighed 300 when you were a senior in high school.

KIERA HARDY: (Laughter).

COACH CONNIE YORI: That's where 300 came into mind.