Murray State University Athletics
Adams Addresses MSU Basketball Media Day
10/31/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Murray State women's basketball head coach Jody Adams addressed those in attendance at MSU Basketball Media Day today, held at the Murray Room of the Regional Special Events Center. Murray State opens its season with a home exhibition game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against Christian Brothers.
"It has been a quick two weeks," Adams said of the team's practice in her opening statement. "If I could add another two weeks on, that would be great! I'm really excited about the talent level that is here. Being picked third (in the Ohio Valley Conference Pre-Season Poll) -- that's great. I believe that's where we were picked last year. That's not the end-all be-all for this team. We would like to be back in that championship game, and for the outcome to be a little different.
"Coming in as a new head coach -- probably with a different style, and new coaches right and left except for Rob Cross -- the players are having to adjust to us as much as we are having to adjust to them. This group is a very talented group. We're trying to define who we are and what we want to be. In the couple weeks of practice, the athleticism and the speed that we have in the guard corps are definite advantages. Right now, what we're working with inside is just a lack of experience. That's where we're going to work with that group and build, day in and day out. Practice is very important for us.
"I'm very excited about this group," she said. "I think we should be a defensive team first. I think that's where you win your championship games. That's what I'd like to instill in this team. I think they have been an offensive team first and a defensive team second."
Adams then took questions from the media.
Q: How long do you think the process of the players learning your style will take?
A: I think, day in and day out, they hear my expectations. Over the last week, we've been particularly vocal withour expectations of individuals and what their roles are, especially the point guards. I have four young ladies who can step in and play that point guard position, and I'd really like to identify two. Shaleea Petty, who started for us last year -- her experience, her being a senior -- there is no doubt that she understands the OVC, she understands playing competition. She's a very quiet person, which is very different from me. I'm asking her to speak. When she speaks, then the other four people who are playing with her begin to understand what's expected; there's kind of a head to the body. Her challenge is just that: how she speaks, how she acts, how she carries herself. When she carries herself with enthusiasm and confidence, it's amazing what the rest of the team does and how they follow. The first one that I look to coming off the bench -- if I don't take a rotation and move my 2-guard into that position -- would be Mallory Luckett. She was a walk-on last year and has now earned a scholarship. She is everything that you would want to put in that point guard position; she just doesn't have a lot of experience. She has the communication, she brings energy, she brings life to the team. She has the intangibles: you don't have to ask her to get on the floor, you don't have to ask her to dive into the stands to grab the loose ball. She does the little things for your team, and that trickles down. It's kind of been back and forth this past week, to see who's going to give us the best start.
Communication has been the challenge for us. I don't think we're a great communicating team as of yet. I think we're kind of like a roller coaster right now, with the ups and downs of communication. When this team communicates on both ends of the floor, it's really amazing to sit back as the head coach and say, "They can be really, really good." If we ever get that communication level to where it should be, day in and day out, I think we can see something pretty neat with this team. That's their choice; that's where I challenge them: "It's your team. I'm here to lead you. I'm here to teach you how to win a championship." That is our No. 1 thing right now on both ends: communication.
Q: Talk about coming into your first head coaching job, coming into a program that had one of its best years ever, as opposed to coming in with pressure to build with a struggling team.
A: (Laughing) I think that pressure is there, no matter what! I think having a talented group and doing something special as they did last year -- I think you come in, and you don't want to stay there. I think any time you're a competitor, you want to take it to the next level. Whether we would have been last in the OVC or near the top of the OVC, it doesn't matter to me. There's not a complacent bone in my body, so the pressure is there, no matter what. I want to take the pressure. I want to take the pressure off of these guys, just to go out and play every night. I want them to know that I'm on their side, our coaching staff is on their side. We're there to teach, we're there to show them how to win. I think when they buy in and when they understand the things we talk about on a daily basis of putting it out there and everything we do -- game speed and the communication, the action on both sides of the ball and not standing -- when they get it all and it begins to gel, and it will take some time, I think you will see an exciting women's basketball team.
Q: Has the team been able to feed off of the championship game loss from last year in preparation for this season?
A: We wear that on our left chest; we take it to heart. We lost by two points, the regular season and the championship game. They wear it every day. They see it on each other. It is something that we identify. It is a driving force for me, and every time I walk on that court, I have a vision of them cutting down the nets and them being champions, winning the championship, and I share that with them daily. I want them to have the same visions, instead of coming in and saying, "Oh, gosh, we've got practice today. Oh, gosh, we have another three hours." We practice every morning at six, and that's tough. I mean, they are up at 5:00 in the morning, and then, they're expected to go to class after that and perform in the classroom. There are a lot of expectations with this group, but the visions that the coaching staff has of this team are very positive. I think we're a very good team.
Q: Talk a little about Amber Guffey and her creativity.
A: Amber has some creativity. I'd like for her to finish that creativity and make it a masterpiece. Sometimes, we fall a little short with that creativity. As long as she has four other people in that picture that she's painting, it's a beautiful picture, but when there's only one person, sometimes it bounces off somebody's head or hands -- we never know what's going to happen. But, when she has four other people working with her within that creativity, it's a beautiful thing.
Q: Talk a little about your interior play and how that has progressed.
A: I've seen some bright spots, and the first one that I see is in Pam Bell. She is different in Division I basketball. She is a strong young woman, and she's been challenged to get in shape. I don't believe she made it through practice last year, and she's making it through three-hour practices for us. I expect her to play this year. I want to use her. She knows how important it is for her to get better each and every day and get in better shape. I give her a goal, and she knows what her goal is. When she's in a team setting of five-on-five, she goes hard, and she gets to come out, and I get somebody in for her. The progression that I've seen in Pam from Day 1, when I took the job, to now is leaps and bounds from where she was last year. A transfer coming in, Angela Brown, a 6-5 kid who came in from ODU (Old Dominion), she is someone very different, someone you don't see day in and day out in women's basketball, period. She can be a force. She and Pam can be a force for us at the block. What I'm asking them to do is to change their mindset of wanting to own the block, not just being there at the block, but owning the block and owning the paint and being special people for us. Those are two that I look to take over that block position.
You're going to see a talented Ashley Hayes who will play that forward position, probably someone we will look to take a lot of shots and put up a lot of numbers for us. The surrounding cast also includes Jessica Jackson and Jasmyne Thornton. Those are kids who haven't played a whole lot, and I'm asking them to play a different position. Right now, they're probably our weak point, and they know that. They have sat in film with me a couple of times this week, and it hasn't been easy on them. They are a weakness right now, but I am challenging them to be our strength.
A 6-5 player is an advantage, but a 6-5 person who sits down and doesn't post up and doesn't demand the ball and doesn't have that mentality, against a 5-11 player who is anxious, who is physical and active will push somebody off the block who doesn't have that mentality. Angela knows that. She sits here with me today, and she knows that. Pam knows that, and that's where I've challenged them, to be that person. It may not be natural for them because they are two very, very kind young women off the court, but I'm asking them to be two beasts when they step on the court.
Q: How have you seen the physicality of the women's game progress from when you played and coming up as a coach?
A: You're talking to a 5-4 lady, so it was always physical for me. I think the athleticism of the game and how fast it is today, compared to when I played -- it's a night-and-day difference. It's fun to watch. You've got bigger, stronger players now running the floor, and to see them move with such grace and finesse and be able to finish at the rim and do some of the things that just weren't in the game when I played. It's fun to watch; it's great to see the progression of the women's game. But is it physical? Yes, and if you don't like contact, you don't need to suit up. It's a contact sport.
Q: Having played against some OVC teams as an associate coach at Southern Illinois, how familiar are you with the conference and what you have to do to be successful?
A: I think a mid-major conference like the OVC and the Missouri Valley Conference, the bottom line: it's going to be the toughest team, the team that's in the best shape and the team that is playing well together at the end that is going to win. I've seen it happen, the 10th- or 11th-place team in the conference win the championship; I've seen the fifth- or sixth-place team win it; and I've seen whoever was picked first win it. I think it's a mentality. I think it has a lot to do with your players' mentality. If they're tough kids and they work hard, and they don't stop working when it gets tough and things are not going right, then you've got a shot at winning a championship.
Q: As you get ready for the exhibition game and the season, what things are you cramming into practice?
A: (Laughing) Cramming? I'd like to cram defense, and I'd like to cram putting the ball through the net. That would help us out a lot. Over the past few days, our practices have been really long; there's been a lot of teaching, trying to understand transition. We have a very fast group of guards, and I want to score quickly. If we can score quickly with high-percentage shots, then I want to do that. If we can't, and we don't have the numbers, then I want to slow it down, and I want to use the clock, and I want to make the other team play defense. Then, we flip it the other way around: When you have the likes of Shaleea and Gerraca Matthews, Alaina Lee, Mallory -- those guys who can apply great ball pressure -- I want to turn it around and jack the tempo up on defense. I would love to score off of our defensive efforts. If we can do that, it would help generate our offense.
There is some time of getting to know each other in a different set. We've kept up with the things they did very well from last year. I've kept the offenses that I thought they ran very well last year, since we have the majority of that team coming back, so why change something they did very well? But again, I came with an offense and have tweaked an offense that helps them with their strengths, and that is going one-on-one and getting to the rim. Being able to adjust and find our niche in motion -- I think it takes time, and it takes playing together day in and day out.
Q: Talk some about the "Racer Rap" available on GoRacers.com.
A: Three of our young women are not just talented on the court, but they're talented rappers. You can check them out on our Web site. If you scroll down on the women's basketball page on the right and click on the jukebox icon, you can hear their song. It talks about women's basketball and where this program has come from, what it is today and what we strive to do every day to make it better. Tanjala Wynn, Mallory Luckett and Alaina Lee all shared a combined effort with that, and they have their supporting cast as well behind them.
Q: Talk a little about how Gerraca Matthews fits in after sitting out last year.
A: She's had to work hard to get back in the game. I think a challenge for her is to get back in better shape. She's very strong and athletic; she's very powerful. The biggest thing I have with Gerraca is she doesn't have to play fast. She doesn't have to be fast all the time. She is fast. I ask her to stop and go and change her speeds up from going 100 miles an hour to 50 miles an hour. That's when she becomes very tough to guard. When she goes one speed, being fast, she becomes very easy to guard. That's her challenge right now. I expect a lot from Gerraca, whether she starts a ballgame for us or she's that spark coming in off the bench, she brings a lot of enthusiasm, she's fun to watch, she can generate havoc on the defensive end, and she can give you that needed basket when you really need somebody getting to the rim. She can do that for us.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ONLINE
Video streaming of the Murray State game against Christian Brothers on Saturday will be available for free through OVCsports.tv. Live Stats will be available through GoRacers.com, as will the radio broadcast, with Josh Perigo providing the play-by-play coverage via WNBS (1340 AM, Murray).
