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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS (WOMEN)October 28, 2010Jim FosterCHICAGO, ILLINOIS Q. When you look at some games last season like when you were on the road against Indiana and maybe lost a game that you technically weren't supposed to lose, what areas are you looking to improve upon for this season? JIM FOSTER: Well, I don't necessarily think losses are the only things that give you an indication as to what you've got to improve on. Depth in the post and a little more versatility at the guard position, and I think we have a freshman class that's going to give us depth in the post. Tayler Hill and Amber Stokes have shown that they can play the point position, which makes us deep in that area, also. Q. Sustaining success like you have is pretty rare. What's been the secret from your end to maintaining the success year after year with all the expectations that come with it? JIM FOSTER: Good players. You know, coaches can't win games without good players, and I've been fortunate to have some very, very good players in our tenure at Ohio State. I think that continues to be the case. So it makes your job a lot easier when you walk in and you've got those components and pieces there. Right now Lavender and Prahalis are very, very competitive players, which makes for great practices. Q. Players like Jantel and Prahalis who have had so much accomplishment and they play on national teams, how do they bring that experience back to your team? JIM FOSTER: It's been my experience over the years that players that play in the framework of USA Basketball come back better because they develop an understanding that there's another level in them. When you're on one of those teams -- and it's not so much about the games necessarily as the practices. I don't think players of that ilk are used to having that kind of competition on a daily basis, and so you've got -- they may be together ten days, practice twice a day, and you have to work harder than you've ever worked in your life, and you find out you can work harder than you've worked in the past. I think that's what they come back with, a heightened sense of the reality of what you need to do to be better. Q. I know one thing you take a lot of pride in every year is your players get better in something or a couple of things. In Sammy's case, last year she really got better by leaps and bounds shooting the basketball. What difference are we going to see in her this year? JIM FOSTER: I think a consistency of between the ears and on the floor. I'm sensing and seeing a great deal of maturity, as it should be. When you come in, you're an 18 year old with a bunch of high school AAU experiences, and then you start to get a learning process. From a basketball point of view, she's playing at a very high level at a great tempo, and it doesn't matter what combination we have her playing with at practice. So I just think she's maturing, as she should, as she enters her junior year. Q. In many ways this is a big, big year. Jantel is a senior, sort of everything -- you've got great sophomores, incoming freshman. What do you think is -- I know you hate when I ask this question, but what's one or two things that would take you to that level you want to get to this year? JIM FOSTER: I think you have to have good players. I think we have good players. I think you have to negotiate a difficult schedule, and I think you have to have a degree of luck. End of FastScripts |
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