Young Owls Practice Pressure D
HOUSTON, TX -- I had a chance to stop by Fox Gym recently and check out the Rice Owls as the team prepares for the 2008 - 2009 season.
Here are a few comments from head coach Greg Williams.
How has practice gone thus far? –
“Well, it hasn’t gone badly, actually. We’re a young team with five new players and only two seniors and two juniors on the team. We graduated more points than any team in the conference (Conference USA). We lost 65 percent of our scoring. The thing that has been the biggest plus thus far in practice has been our scoring. In all the competitive things that we’ve done, I wasn’t sure if we’re going to be able to score; but, we’ve done well. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean we’re just horribly defensively because we know we’re going to have to been an outstanding defensive team. With five new players, the team has been up and down with how much they can learn. A couple of freshmen are a bit overwhelmed with so much so early. That’s all part of the process. We have to keep moving on; so, we can get all of our stuff in before we start playing. All in all, knock on wood, we remain relatively healthy -- only one injury thus far to Melissa Whitmeyer. We’ll find out more tomorrow.
“Our kids have worked hard; and, that’s all we can ask for as coaches. We’re still a work in progress, obviously, with the inexperience that we’re going to have. We’re going to be young in the backcourt; but, we like our two freshmen point guards and what they’re doing thus far in D’Frantz (D'Frantz Smart) and Amenemope (Amenemope McKinney). Really, all four of our freshmen have shown that they’re not going to be too far behind. Candace Ashford will have to play more this season with the offseason injury to Jackie Stanley. Candace has been a real pleasant surprise in the preseason with her ability to score. She gives us some size and some bulk as well.”
It seems like you’re to going to play more pressure defense in order to counter your lack of size in the front court –
“We’ve been so short-handed the last few years. We haven’t been able to press as much as we would like; and, we’ve been so thin at the point guard. Kadie Riverin had to play 35 plus minutes a night at the point the last three years. A lot of the pressure defense comes from your point guard; and, we couldn’t ask her to do that without a quality backup. We do have more depth at the point guard this year and that’s going to allow us to play a little bit more full court pressure. We don’t have great size inside. So, we are going to have be aggressive on the perimeter and use the depth that we have there, as well as the athleticism on the perimeter, so that teams can’t just come down the court and pound the ball down our throats if they have an advantage inside – which most teams will have against us this year.
“Because of the injuries to Jackie and possibly Melissa (Melissa Whitmayer), Megan Elliot is going to have play in the post. She’s very capable of doing that; but, she’s just six foot; Emery (Emery Carter) is 6’1”; Morgan (Morgan Mayse) is 6’1”; and Candace is 6’2”. We don’t have Lauren Neaves in there anymore or Val (Valeriya Berezhynska) at 6’4”. We will have to be more pressure oriented; and, fortunately, I believe we are going to have the depth to do that this year.”
Here are a few comments from head coach Greg Williams.
How has practice gone thus far? –
“Well, it hasn’t gone badly, actually. We’re a young team with five new players and only two seniors and two juniors on the team. We graduated more points than any team in the conference (Conference USA). We lost 65 percent of our scoring. The thing that has been the biggest plus thus far in practice has been our scoring. In all the competitive things that we’ve done, I wasn’t sure if we’re going to be able to score; but, we’ve done well. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean we’re just horribly defensively because we know we’re going to have to been an outstanding defensive team. With five new players, the team has been up and down with how much they can learn. A couple of freshmen are a bit overwhelmed with so much so early. That’s all part of the process. We have to keep moving on; so, we can get all of our stuff in before we start playing. All in all, knock on wood, we remain relatively healthy -- only one injury thus far to Melissa Whitmeyer. We’ll find out more tomorrow.
“Our kids have worked hard; and, that’s all we can ask for as coaches. We’re still a work in progress, obviously, with the inexperience that we’re going to have. We’re going to be young in the backcourt; but, we like our two freshmen point guards and what they’re doing thus far in D’Frantz (D'Frantz Smart) and Amenemope (Amenemope McKinney). Really, all four of our freshmen have shown that they’re not going to be too far behind. Candace Ashford will have to play more this season with the offseason injury to Jackie Stanley. Candace has been a real pleasant surprise in the preseason with her ability to score. She gives us some size and some bulk as well.”
It seems like you’re to going to play more pressure defense in order to counter your lack of size in the front court –
“We’ve been so short-handed the last few years. We haven’t been able to press as much as we would like; and, we’ve been so thin at the point guard. Kadie Riverin had to play 35 plus minutes a night at the point the last three years. A lot of the pressure defense comes from your point guard; and, we couldn’t ask her to do that without a quality backup. We do have more depth at the point guard this year and that’s going to allow us to play a little bit more full court pressure. We don’t have great size inside. So, we are going to have be aggressive on the perimeter and use the depth that we have there, as well as the athleticism on the perimeter, so that teams can’t just come down the court and pound the ball down our throats if they have an advantage inside – which most teams will have against us this year.
“Because of the injuries to Jackie and possibly Melissa (Melissa Whitmayer), Megan Elliot is going to have play in the post. She’s very capable of doing that; but, she’s just six foot; Emery (Emery Carter) is 6’1”; Morgan (Morgan Mayse) is 6’1”; and Candace is 6’2”. We don’t have Lauren Neaves in there anymore or Val (Valeriya Berezhynska) at 6’4”. We will have to be more pressure oriented; and, fortunately, I believe we are going to have the depth to do that this year.”
posted by Kris G @ 5:08 PM
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