BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 19, 2005

Morenike Atunrase

Tamea Scales

COACH GARY BLAIR: I appreciate it. How about those Astros. Tamea Scales on my far left here. She's a senior. She's from Memphis Tennessee. She started for us last year at the five position, best singer on the team, best dancer, best post player. Hopefully, you will never see her again in the five position. Hopefully, she'll get a little taller. The next young lady is Morenike Atunrase from Shreveport, Louisiana, play on the same high school as Lambeer who played. Her mom is in the back there. Her home lives in Dallas right now. And she walked in like she was one of our junior college players that started this year. Morenike will be moving to the perimeter this year. Hopefully going to do an outstanding job for us this year. Sheaf had a great job much playing for USA basketball, and just learning how to play the perimeter position for us. We're glad to be here. Glad to be back in Texas, Big 12 tournament this year.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Difference a year makes. Coaches always use the word young. That's never going to change. But at the same time young is -- I would like to be young again. I am like you, but, unfortunately, I am sort of like Peter over here. I am not young anymore, but I do have more hair. We still got six new kids coming in this year. We signed 11 kids in two years, and last year our freshman class played for 53 percent of our minutes, five out of those six freshmen from the a year before are back with us. Hopefully they're going to be a lot better, but A'quonesia Franklin, our point guard, she just got better playing in the competition. You go against Jamie and Anna Jackson and the kids from the Big 12, particularly the Big 12 South you get better. Not by accident, but just through competition. This is my third year. And to me, it's time to rebuild and youth and all that. It's time to get it done. It doesn't matter we're in the Big 12 South or the SEC or Big East. I like the talent on this basketball team. I like the depth. It's the deepest team I have ever had in my life period. 25 years of college coaching, we're deep. Now can we turn athleticism which we do have. Can we turn the height which we just brought in this year. Can we turn this freshman class that are now sophomores and producing at the highest levels. Tamea Scales and Erica Roy lead us through the tough times. Can they make the tough baskets when it counts? I am looking forward to it this year. Am I predicting anything, no, ma'am. But we will be a lot better on the basketball court, and hopefully it's going to translate into a few more W's this year and L's going the other way. But basketball-wise, we're a lot better.

TAMEA SCALES: I am looking forward to making -- to my original position which is the high post position. I feel like at the forward position, I can make a little more things happen than I was able at the five position last season, but I am looking forward to making the forward position exciting, exciting for the fans as well.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Okay. For some of you that kept up with basketball back in the '80s, in Houston, Larry Micheaux, we have her daughter playing for us LaToya Micheaux who is 6'3". She's going to help us right away. We are committed to getting bigger at the five position. And even though Latoya and Lenka Zimova our junior college player, on paper, they're aren't our best five players. We don't worry about our best five players. We have to get or team better. So we're committed to playing those two lady's at the five position and moving everybody to the left one position over, and we're going to be better. A'Quonesia is the most physical post player I have ever seen in my life. Now translate that again into being a pure basketball player and stay in more ball games. You walk through the lane now, you are going to be touched. Last year, I am not saying anything - Tweedy is her nickname - so you have a sort of a problem of post player is 6 foot, 145 pounds and her nickname is Tweedy, that becomes a problem. I love the name, but I want to move her outside where she can be more effective. Now, when people come through the lane on us, there is going to be a physical presence. Also, by moving her out to the three position, that's really going to help us. Lenka Zimova is like huge teddy bear out there. She's the most likable kid on our team. Her English is improving every day. She understands everything that is going on. And all of a sudden I will throw one of my quotes out there or -- and she'll look around and say, coach, what did you say? But she's getting better. Most European players, they shoot better than us Americans. Okay. They do. They spend more time on shooting the basketball. Americans spend more time on creating with the basketball. And so when it gets into the low post, she's got the baby hook. She's got the fade-away shot. She shoots well facing the basket. We just got to get her up and down the court a little bit quicker, and that will happen. But once the ball gets down to the court, once she gets down there, she's knows what to do with it. But the compliment of those two kids at the low position will be able size-wise be able to say, there is Paris kids coming in there is Tiffany Jackson, we can look at them eyeball to eyeball and not necessarily front every defense player that we face and play for help side defense. Two kids that you are really going to like. Takia Starks out of Westfield. Her team won state as a junior, and that team was loaded with talent. She's going to compete for starting position at the two guard position, and at the back up point guard position. But a very good player. Actually on paper, probably her, the next young lady two highest recruits that we signed. Danielle Gant was player of the year in the state of Oklahoma. Out of Putnam City West. We signed her late. She is five foot ten very similar to this young lady here. She's a lot more physical. Morenike was a freshman. She finishes well. She got improve on outside shot. Right now, we have both of them playing small forward position. But Gant will probably go in and play the high post position as well, just because she's a scoring machine inside. Next young lady is Brittany Toran out of Humble. I think finished second in the state last year, just one of those kids a complete player. She's not the fastest kid. She just makes things happen. She knows how to pass the ball. I have got to get a little mustard off her passes right now because everything is an eye pass right now. I got to get her to learn what a simple pass is. And she's going to be a good ballplayer with us in time now. I have signed so many. The young lady from the Dallas area Ashley Horton, 6 foot one post played for Cedar Hill, just looks like a ballplayer. If you were a mom or dad you'd say my gosh that kid looks like she's is ready to play ball. A little bit bigger than Tweety here. We need to get in the weight room. Get a little better with the basketball. She's really going to help us. How much this year, hopefully not as much. Only because I like the kids that are in front of her right now. Hopefully, she's improves by getting better behind the kids that are a little bit older in her career. We have got time to wait on her. She's got the furthest to go on the freshman class of being ready to play.

MORENIKE ATUNRASE: On the team. As far as my position change, I am really excited. Last year, I was kind of frightened by it and I guess because I realized I wasn't ready to step up. All of my life I have been this tall since I was in middle school. I have no choice but to play the post. And thank you. He put me back at the forward. I have got to adjust to that. This summer, I played in USA team and I had an opportunity to see what I needed to work on and work on my outside shot. So I am really excited about that. And Megan is more happening at the three position, and opening have the outside looks for the post position also.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Hold on. I think we graduated a lot of good players out of league last year. So the freshman that are coming in are going to have the opportunity to play just like my freshman had the opportunity to play last year. A lot of it depends on needs, not the talent, not the freshman. Like when you look at on paper, I would say on paper, Texas had the No. 1 recruiting class. Oklahoma had the No. 2 recruiting class. Not in conference, in the nation. So you are looking at big time All-Americans that played on all the USA teams. They're expected to play and produce right away. On paper, we had the third best recruiting class in the Big 12. But then you look at Kansas class and Baylor's class and Texas Tech class they were all good. This you have got to have the opportunity to play. That is one the reasons a lot of young lady's want to come to Texas A&M. In today's world, whether it's the pro league or whatever, kids want the opportunity to play early in their career. And I think that's important. And instead of kids all going and lining up at one particular institution, kids are spreading out all over the country right now and there is so much parity out there and that's for the game. It was tremendous for the game that Baylor and Michigan State were in the finals of the championship last year and there might have been only been one great All American on both teams combined and a lot of great All Americans were sitting at home. That's good for our game right now. This kid right here was not All American. She should have been, if they would have done their homework. But they didn't. And all of a sudden they get an opportunity to play. And all of a sudden kids graduating at Texas and Baylor and Oklahoma right now, you have got kids ready to step up. But this is deepest recruiting class that the Big 12 has ever had top to bottom. These freshman are going to come in and play. Sometimes not out of necessity, like my kids did last year, they're going to play just because they're just damn good. They're going to move some of those older kids to the side lines. You have got to make room for these new kids.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Katie came last year. I don't know what you are supposed to say. Drew you might have to help me on this one. Katie came last year a Double A player of the year in the state of Texas, Shallowater, Texas. Like most women and a lot of us guys when you get to college, you put on the freshman 15, whether you want to or not. Is that politically correct, Drew. Okay. I did and that's why my career ended at 128 pound center fielder, but I didn't put it on. All of a sudden, she thought she needed those pounds to play the high post position. She played behind Morenike. All of a sudden, you put on too much weight and you do not have the flexibility or do what you do best and what Katie can do best is shoot the ball. She's the best shooter we have on team. Over the summer, she lost 28 pounds. Now, she's moved her outside and she's going to play both the two and a three position for us. So sometimes that's going to help you. She looks good. She shooting the ball well. She's had that oral surgery where she just got back competitively. Last year, one of our men's practice players knocked her tooth out. Picture a freshman knocking her tooth out. I mean clean baby. It's just clean. It's flying across the floor and you are a beautiful young lady in your freshman year and that happens to you, so we have had to go through this for almost eight months of getting all the oral surgery back and making sure she's not catching one of Morenike's elbows or whatever and getting her back ready to go. But we expect her to come in and run a lot of set plays that we ran for Castille last year because she's a true shooter. She's got better defensively. Most young kids do, but we never recruit a player for her defense ability. It's our job to teach them on play defense. We recruit them or offense first and overall athleticism and then we teach them defense our way.