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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 18, 2006

Connie Yori

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

PETER IRWIN: At this time we are ready to start with Nebraska. Coach Yori has joined us on the podium. She will make a couple of opening comments and then we will take a question or two.
COACH YORI: Good afternoon. I think every coach comes up here and talks about how excited they are to get started and I, too, am in the same position.
I would say, though, that over the course of my first few years at Nebraska I didn't feel as excited as I do today being in this position. I feel like we finally have -- we are at a point in our program where we can compete at a very high level against some of the better programs in this league, and we are past the building process. And we really feel like we are into the growth process, the growth phase of our program, and we have enough talent in our program at this point and enough depth, knock on wood, if we stay healthy to compete at a very high level.
PETER IRWIN: With that, we will take questions from the floor.

Q. I wonder if you can sort of expand on that. You guys have run into some bad luck, injuries, just different things that have happened at times in the season where you needed the run and it didn't happen. Do you feel like that's -- you are in a much better position this year than when it comes to February you will not run into that?
COACH YORI: Well, injuries are a factor in determining the outcome of your season and that's just -- that's a fact. The years that I have coached where I have had my best teams are years where we have stayed reasonably healthy, and in the years that we have met our expectations or exceeded those, we have stayed reasonably healthy.
We have had a series of injuries in our program over the last few years that have impacted our season negatively and every coach faces that. And that's part of the game. Injuries are part of the game. Illness is part of the game.
Particularly last year, we had a number of things that factored into the way we played at various stages of the year. By no means is that an excuse, it is just a fact. We are at this point more healthy, but still not ideally where we would like to be. We have had some key injuries in the off-season. Danielle Page who is one of our top three players had an ACL injury in June which is impacting where we are right now as a program. And we have had a number of -- Kiera Hardy had her gallbladder three and a half weeks ago and has been out all fall and just getting back. Vonnie Turner has been out all fall with a stress fracture. We hope to get those kids back 100% quickly but we know that's -- we are going to get back at various stages.

Q. First of all, how long until Hardy is back and what about Kiera?
COACH YORI: I will start with Kiera. Kiera began practice on Friday and that is the first time that she has been in any basketball activity for the past -- the previous month and she will be fine. In some ways she may be sitting out the conditioning phase of our program. In the long-term, it may benefit her not wearing her out any more than we need to.
In regards to Jelena Spiric, when she went down last year with an ACL at this time of the year, last October, it was somewhat devastating for us and we knew the importance that she brought to our program and our particular team last year. We just didn't have anyone that could do the things that she could do and now that she is back healthy, it is going to be. She can do so many things. She is versatile. Two years ago when she was named Newcomer of the Year in the Big 12, she played well, but she didn't really -- she was coming off a different injury, another ACL, at the beginning of that season, two seasons ago, so we really didn't see -- I don't feel like I have seen the Jelena Spiric I know that can play at this level, not because she sat out last year, but also two years ago she wasn't at full capacity.
We are expecting a huge year from her and I think she is ready to make that happen.

Q. What does Jelena bring most to your team? Scoring? Passing? Rebound? What is the one thing you missed most from her last year?
COACH YORI: We definitely missed passing. We were the worst passing team that I have ever coached last year. We were terrible. It is an area we were focused on improving individually as well as a team, but also it helps to have Jelena on the floor. She is our best ball player, our best overall passer. To get her back in the lineup just from that standpoint will help us. Plus that is an area we are trying to work hard on to improve.

Q. Your inside game from a freshman year, just how much better will you be this year?
COACH YORI: Danielle Page's injury does impact us somewhat. We were expecting Danielle to come in and be a 20-, 25-minute game player for us. She struggled last year with health issues and played really well in the spring for us after the season -- had dealt with the breathing issues that she -- she was beginning to deal with the breathing issues that impacted her last year and then her ACL set her back.
You look at Kelsey Griffin, Chelsea Aubry will be back to her national position. Chelsea last year played the three point for us. That was an out-position, so moving her back to her natural position, because Jelena has returned for us, I think is obviously going to make us stronger. Chelsea has been a two-year starter and has a lot of experience as a senior.
And then regarding Kelsey, I think Kelsey is a top-ten player in this league and she is a lot better than she was a year ago. This is a kid who is the second best freshman in the league last year, in my opinion, but she is -- she had a tremendous freshman year despite the fact that she played with mono the last six weeks of the season, almost the last eight weeks of the season. So Kelsey is going to have a great year, knock on wood, if she stays healthy.
And she is extremely determined young woman and has developed her game to the three-point line. She is much more capable shooting the shot now than she was a year ago. We expect her to have a good year.

Q. Just what sort of -- Kiera has been an electrifying scorer. Has there been other parts of the game that you are looking for her to be better in her senior year?
COACH YORI: I think one of the things that we are doing that will help Kiera is we are playing a style that will benefit her defensively. We have not been able to be -- to play the style really throughout my years at Nebraska that I would like to play and that's a little bit more oriented toward the Texas A&M style, and that is pressing, extending defense, and pressuring at half court. We really haven't been able to do that for a number of reasons: depth. We didn't have the athletes to do that my first few years. Like I said, a combination of depth.
As we go to that more and we begin to go to that later in the year, we think that's going to play into Kiera's hands defensively, because Kiera is really good on the ball in the full court. She can create a lot of defense -- or offense with her defense. And I think that requires that we play very, very hard, and I think Kiera is real excited about that.

Q. Connie, can you talk about some of the young players coming in and the depth they will bring to the guard position.
COACH YORI: We have three freshman guards in our program. Vonnie Turner played in the WBCA all-star game last year as a high school senior and very talented young woman from Omaha, and a highly recruited -- one of the most highly recruited players we have had since I have been in Nebraska. Unfortunately she has been out with a stress fracture for eight weeks and is finally getting back. That will set her back a little and we expected Vonnie to come in and play quite a bit for us.
However, she is a little bit behind because of that. But our two other freshmen guards are playing very, very well. Nicole Neals from Phoenix has been an extreme pleasure. We expect her to help us an enormous amount. She is a small guard, but she is very, very talented, really good with the ball, has bonded with what we are doing defensively and can really shoot the ball, score the ball.
And Kala Kuhlmann from Charter Oak, Iowa, is another player we are excited about. An athlete that has good fundamentals.
We think all three of those kids can help us and we are going to need them. We will need one, two or three of them to play good ball for us.
I think I talked about everyone except our managers. Do you want me to cover them?
PETER IRWIN: Okay. We will let Coach go.

End of FastScripts...

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