Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Meet The Media
October 27, 2011 | Cowgirl Basketball
Oct. 27, 2011
Kurt Budke:
Opening Statement
“We are about now 17, 18 practices into this and I'm really excited about this team. I like where we are. Are we ready for the Big 12 right now? No. I'm not even sure we are ready for an exhibition game right now. They are working hard, have a great work ethic, great chemistry. It is just a matter of learning what we want to get done in our system. We've changed a few things, so even the veterans are learning some new things right now. I think what you'll see when you see this team is you will see the freshmen that played a lot of minutes last year have definitely taken a step. You will see a kid like Kendra Suttles, Jenni Bryan, Tiffany (Bias), Vicky McIntyre, all of them have taken a step and it is exciting to see. They are doing a good job of working with the freshmen. We've got five freshmen in here, and we're still one of the youngest teams in this league. At 10 freshmen and sophomores and three juniors, I think we are the only team without a senior right now. It is always going to be tough to win in this league with a young team, but we have got a lot more answers in place this year than we did last year at this time. Last year we had a lot of questions. We think we have answers this year, and I like the strength of the team, I like the depth of the team and I know the fans are ready to get going but I'm not sure we are quite ready. But maybe that is the next thing we need right now is just to go ahead and get to exhibition season and get going and take the next step.”
On team chemistry
“I just think it is so important. When you see teams go to the Final Four and you see teams that win it all, it is about the first thing they talk about is how hard they worked in the summertime and how well they got along. I don't think any team is ever going to be perfect in chemistry, but this group I think is the best chemistry group I have ever seen, to this point anyway. They just support each other every day. This is a team that is not worried about who is going to score. This is a team that I think we have the opportunity to have four, five, six people in double figures every night. When you have a bunch of unselfish people like that, the chemistry is going to be great.”
On the unselfishness being helpful
“I think it does. Right now, whether it is good or bad – we haven't figured it out yet – we have 13 people out there that think they can start. Sometimes when you have five senior returners and starters, it's like everybody understands their place, it's like do I go out to eat with the seniors at all? There could be a little bit of a divide, but with so many young kids they are on the same page and enjoying what we are doing.”
On how much a coach controls chemistry
“I think as a staff, we do a good job as a staff trying to do projects with the team, go to hospitals with the team. We have nights of dodge ball that we meet up here and play dodge ball and just do little things away from basketball to try to get them to know each other just a little bit better, trust each other just a little bit better. The staff can help that for sure. I have not been in a dodge ball game yet. I'm afraid of all 13 throwing at me, but they really do have a lot of fun doing that.”
On what player has stepped up as a leader on the floor
“It is Tiffany Bias. Tiffany is a great leader of this team on and off the floor. All you have to do is watch her play to see how she leads by example. It was hard for her last year really as a true freshman point guard in this conference to jump out and just be a leader from day one. It's hard on a freshman to be able to do that, and she did a nice job of it last year, but she has kind of taken over this team now, and right now she's the face of this program and doing a great job of leading on and off the floor.”
On Toni Young's progression and recovery from injury
“Toni is behind right now. That arm was basically snapped in half and she's not where she needs to be. She is not – I would honestly say about 60 percent right now. Our goal with Toni is to get her 100 percent by January. Not that these first games don't matter because they do, but we all know how tough the Big 12 is and we want her 100 percent by then. We don't want to do anything early that is going to keep her from getting healthy, so if that means holding her out of games, we're going to hold her out of games until we feel very confident that she can get out there and play like the Toni Young we saw last spring.”
On who has pressure to fill Young's spot scoring and rebounding
“That's a few points right there. I think what you are going to see again is you are going to see how everybody took a step and you are going to be surprised by what Kendra Suttles is doing right now out of Lawton, Okla. She has been the best scorer and the best player in the gym now for about two straight weeks. You are going to see a kid that really didn't hardly do anything for us last year jump up and be a player immediately. It is not just on her. I am going to go back on what I said a minute ago, I believe that we can have five people in double figures every single night, and you are going to see some of these freshmen jump up and help us immediately.”
On the mental aspect of coming back from injury
“Absolutely. The bottom line is, they are comparing Toni's injury to an ACL. A lot of it is mental of if I fall is it going to break, if I set a good strong screen is it going to snap on me. She is battling mental toughness right now with it, but she should. It was a tough injury. With Kendra, it has changed her body over the summer. Kendra has changed her shape over the summer, and she went through being a freshman last year and not knowing where she belongs. Right now she knows where she belongs.”
On how the team will improve to finish games
“This is something we do talk about almost every day is basically the theme of this team is just to finish and do a better job of finishing. I think part of that is going to be just by experience. At key times in those games we had three freshmen on the floor, and we're playing teams like an A&M and Baylor and those kind of people that were loaded with seniors and upperclassmen that knew how to finish games. I think experience has a lot to do with it, but we will do more situational basketball, put us in those situations during a practice time – with two minutes, down four what do we do. Two minutes, up four what do we do. There will be more situational basketball to prepare for it, because we have always been a good road team and we struggled with that last year. We're going to get back to being a good road team again.”
On getting kids to buy in to sleep well, eat well, practice well
“I think you have got to ask yourself – and we just talked about this last night – at the end of the day, what did you do to make this program better. Did you get your rest last night, did you eat well last night, did you prepare for practice or did you just walk into practice and think that you were going to be a great player. This game really can't leave your mind very much, and to be at a championship or a Sweet 16 level you have got to constantly be asking yourself what can I do better, look in the mirror a little bit more. I think the girls last year were just kind of stunned by being freshmen, playing in the best league in America that they really didn't know what questions to ask and how to answer them. Again, I think we'll go back, we've got more answers this year.”
On strength and conditioning
“They really buy in. Nick Hoheisel does an unbelievable job with women's basketball, the best I have ever had in 27 years of coaching. They buy in partly because they now know how strong they have to be to win in this league. But they buy in because he is a great teacher down there also and they enjoy working with him.”
Sophomore guard Tiffany Bias
On being a team leader
"I'd like to think so. I think I led this team by example last year and I think this year I'll be more vocal and be able to explain what the coach wants more, from us having better team chemistry and coach and player chemistry."
On the team chemistry
"I think last year we came in really young with five freshmen; now we have five freshmen and five sophomores. I think team chemistry is really big this year. We really need to step up and learn how to play with each other. I think this summer we really improved, we got along with each other and we played a lot of pick up and just learned to read each other."
On Kendra Suttles
"Kendra doesn't really know how talented she is. She's a very talented player: she can shoot from the outside, she can drive, she has the best footwork in the gym. I think these last two weeks, she's really shown her potential and how much she can help out Cowgirl basketball and how much she can contribute to our team."
On what she thought when she saw Texas A&M win the national championship
"I think I went back to the game when we were at A&M when we played them as close as we could play. I think we were up maybe seven or nine at one point, and it was all about finishing, and last year we had a hard time finishing games at the end. I think it shows that we can play with these teams in the Big 12. Last year we were a young team, but I think we've learned a lot over the summer and over the year we grew every game. I think we improved to where we know we have the potential to go a lot farther."
Vicky McIntyre
On her offseason workouts
"A lot of time in the weight room, a lot of time was spent working on footwork and speed. We would play pick up four times a week and just a lot of extra shooting and putting in a lot of work."
On her attitude during summer workouts
"I was better coming in as a returner, as a veteran. I knew what to expect, knew how to prepare myself mentally as opposed to being a freshman. Nick helped keep things fun in the weight room. He changed things up and did different drills. We did footwork and stuff and that helped spice things up a little bit."
On Kendra Suttles
"She's definitely making herself a force inside the paint and outside the paint, which is really helpful. Her shot is great and she's really looking good for this year, so we're excited."
