No. 11/13 Bulldogs Hold 2015-16 Media Day Tuesday
November 03, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Vic Schaefer
Opening Statement…
“I appreciate everybody being here today. Obviously, it's an exciting time. It's an unprecedented time here at Mississippi State and we're really proud to be a part of it. I don't think three-and-a-half years ago when we came here we thought we would be standing here today and be where we are right now. I think my staff and I had a vision. I think we thought it could be done. It's been fun for us to be where we are today. It's been a lot fun getting here. It's a great credit to our team, our players and my staff. A lot of people across the country have a pretty good opinion about us right now. All we are talking about is trying to get better everyday and living it. Where everybody thinks we are right now, I'd like to be there about March 15. It's all great right now. It's exciting. The players have been working awfully hard. It's been fun because this is a fun team to coach. I think we have a chance, but right now that's all we've got. We'll keep working hard and try to do what everybody thinks we are going to do. Right now, that's all it is. We have to live it. That's what we talk about with our kids every day, trying to live the expectations. Quite frankly, we have those for ourselves whether anybody else thought about us that way or not. With our kids, we have three starters back. Morgan (William) played a lot of minutes last year but she wasn't a starter. We've got three starters and one senior back, so we're still very young. We make a lot of young mistakes everyday in practice. They are a fun group that works pretty hard, and I expect that will continue. They are pretty motivated right now.”
On the progression of the program…
“I don't think there is one reason. I can't give you one answer. I think it's a culmination. There's a formula that I talked about with (athletic director) Scott (Stricklin) when he was talking about trying to hire me. He knew that we had the blueprint. Part of it is, you have to have the right staff. From day one he has supported us in that matter. We were able to go out and we continue to have, in my opinion, the best staff in the country. I had to be able to go get the right staff, number one. Number two, we had to change how we looked. When we get off the bus now, we look like an SEC team at 6'7”, 6'5”, 6'3” at the five (position). Our four (position) players are 6'1 with tremendous frames. I have a 6'1 two-guard and a 5'11” two-guard. Our point guards are awfully quick. We just had to change our team. If you aren't physical, I don't care what sport it is, in the SEC if you aren't physical you have no chance to win. All you have to do is look across on Saturdays and see who's winning early and who's not winning in October or November. Part of their problem probably is the physical part. You can't be physical, to me, if you don't have the frames to be physical. Right now, when we get off the bus I think we look like an SEC team. That's a big piece to the puzzle. You have to be able to do that. I think you have to have a certain skill set. The recruiting piece has been very important. (Associate head coach) Johnnie (Harris), (assistant coach) Dionnah (Jackson) and (assistant coach) Elena (Lovato) do an unbelievable job in recruiting. Quite frankly, this university recruits itself. We just don't lose kids if we get them here on campus. This is a beautiful place. We've had so many say, 'Coach, we had no idea this was here. It's gorgeous.' This university is a great place and an easy sell. There's a feeling of family here, not just in our program, but all across campus and across our athletic teams. The recruiting piece is a tremendous piece to it. We recruit well, we retain and we develop our kids. I think our staff does a tremendous job developing the players that we have. That's probably as big a key as any – the recruiting, the retaining and the developing.”
On Jazmine Spears…
“I need Jazmine Spears to play like the First Team WBCA All-American that she was in junior college and like the 3,200 point scorer she was in high school. She rebounded the ball in high school and she scored in traffic. Just in the last three or four practices, I've seen her to come on a little bit. I need that. Our four (position) players have to rebound and battle and help us on the boards. She has really come on just in the last week in that role. I need her to rebound and finish inside. I need her to be able to stretch it at the four and make some shots, and just be that heady basketball player. When I saw her in high school, she was tough, relentless, could score inside with two or three people hanging on her. I need her to be that player.”
On ideal average points and rebounds per game for centers…
“We've won 27 games one year with a five-player that was 6'3” and averaged five rebounds and five points a game. We were a great defensive team and had a great supporting cast. I think with this team and our inside game, if we could count on them to just get somewhere between 10 and 15 points just on layups and stick-backs among Chinwe (Okorie) and (Teaira McCowan) and (Sherise Williams). Sherise's range is a little bit better than the other two, but if we could get just stick-backs and the defensive piece they bring, especially Teaira McCowan and Chinwe altering shots and blocking shots, you've got that piece. Teaira takes up a lot of the room in there and she's going to get a lot of rebounds. I don't know if I have a specific number. Some nights are going to be better than others. When you have that big aircraft carrier inside, and we happen to have two of them, I think it really allows you to create more pressure on the perimeter and there is less heartache on penetration because even if you give up penetration, there's 6'5” and 6'7” standing there. Hopefully it will continue to allow us to be that pressure defensive team we like to be with a little less heartache of people getting to the rim and finishing. Martha (Alwal) was a great helper, but sometimes she helped too much to a fault and they would dump it down and we'd give up that layup. Right now we are trying to teach that happy medium with both of them, especially Teaira. She sometimes doesn't go to help, but I think it's because she doesn't realize how much help she can be right now. We don't have to put pressure on them to score. They just need to clean up stuff we miss, play good defense and be great defensive rebounders.”
On learning from close postseason losses…
“I think it's certainly an experience you can draw from. Those are painful experiences, they are disappointing experiences, but at the same time I think there absolutely are lessons to be learned in those. The SEC is such a nightmare of a league, and we'll have our work cut out for us again this year. It's a tremendous challenge. I certainly do believe that those are certainly experiences that you draw upon and hopefully mature you as a basketball team.”
On expectations after losing key offensive players…
“You don't realize it. I'm writing it down every day in practice who my teams are. We've got Maroon and White and when a Victoria (Vivians) as a freshman was struggling, you're putting Kendra Grant who is a senior in the game who has had 20 in a game against Tennessee before. Well that's a big wooly blanket there to know that kid that can come off the bench with that kind of experience. You have Jerica James who really developed over the three years that we were here. She made some big shots for us and was really a calming point guard that can run your offense in a half court setting, whereas Morgan was that speed racer up and down the court, a really great in the open court point guard. Now that's that challenge with Morgan, not only teaching her the up and down piece, but when it gets to be a half court game – and trust me that's how you win in the SEC, with half court offense and half court defense – can you go get me in a set? Can you get us in a successful set that we can score in? Then you're trying to replace a Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-SEC player in Martha. I take great pride and I think my staff does too in that we developed those kids. Those were kids who stayed through the transition. It was not an easy transition for those kids, especially that first year. I think they would tell you today it was well worth it. Getting them to the NCAA Tournament was my goal from day one, and I told them, 'If you stick it out, I promise you we will get you to the NCAA Tournament.' It was very gratifying to be able to reward those kids with that experience. It's hard. That's the challenge. Certainly, Morgan played a lot of minutes and played more minutes on average than J.J., but when she still came off the bench, she was able to sit and watch J.J. throughout the ball game and learn what's going good and what's not going good. I think the change of pace was really good. J.J. was a real settling half court player, where all of a sudden you put in Speedy Gonzales and here comes Morgan who is the fastest player I've ever coached in my life. Sometimes to a fault she would leave the ball behind her she was so fast. That gave us a different look and it hurt people.”
On Dominique Dillingham's offense…
“She's coming. That was something we talked about this summer. I told her, 'I'm going to run a bunch of sets for you. For us to be really good, you're going to have to score.' It'll take some pressure off Victoria because she has now had a year and people are going to know how to guard her and what to take away from her. Dom is going to have to score for us. She has worked pretty hard in the gym this summer on her shot. She has been shooting the ball fairly well. That's going to be the key, no question about it. I can sit here and talk about, 'Well, we have to get Dom's minutes down because she plays so many.' Bottom line is, Dom probably isn't going to let me take her off the floor. She is just that much of a competitor. She impacts the game in so many ways. I've told her, 'Make me keep you on the floor that many minutes because you're also going to get me 12, 14 points a night.' I think she has embraced that and I think she has looked really good. She has been doing a great job in preseason.”
On Blair Schaefer and the possibility of increased minutes…
“I get that question a lot, and between her and LaKaris (Salter), those are the two who everybody wants to see on the floor more. Blair's minutes will increase when she doesn't turn the ball over and she can guard the ball with a little bit more success. She's a great help-side defender, has a great understanding of the game and is a tremendous shooter. We know that. LaKaris' minutes will increase when she doesn't turn the ball over as much, when she can go from an ice cream with eight toppings to just being plain vanilla. It's what I keep telling my team sometimes and LaKaris, but I'm going to have to let her play a little bit like she likes to play with that flair. I just need her not to turn the ball over when she wants to have that flair. That's the key with any player, I can't play you if you're turning the ball over. I think with Blair, she gets the ball to the post extremely well, but again, she'll take those chances too sometimes when it isn't there. Don't turn the ball over. We have to get a shot every possession, that's big for me. When you play fast like I like to play, sometimes that's hard, but we have to do it. We have to be better at that.”
On helping Victoria Vivians continue shooting efficiently…
“It's hard. You can talk about every shot she takes, but at one point in time, you see her make them. It's a fine line in trying to coach her a little bit. I think one of the coaches in the league called her a volume shooter before one of our games last year, well, that's not a compliment. For her, if she'll just understand that 9-for-25 could have been 9-for-20 or 9-for-19 and that percentage goes from 36 to 45 or 48, that's where I would like her to be. That's what we talked about after the season was over last year, about taking 36 percent and trying to get to 42. You think, 'Well, that's not that much,' but over the course of the season it can be. At the same time, we've all seen her get on a roll with four, five or six shots and two or three of them you're thinking, 'Wow,' and one or two of them you're thinking 'No, no, no… yes!' It's just one of those deals where that kid has a lot of confidence. She's made a bunch of shots in her career, both in high school and here at Mississippi State. You have to be careful in how you approach that. I think she's learning, too, that she has help. She doesn't have to wear all the pressure of being the player that has to take the game-winner. It's good to have somebody on your team that wants the ball. She absolutely wants the ball. She in an unbelievable competitor.”
On developing depth…
“I hope we are able to develop Kayla (Nevitt) and Blair to give us some depth off the bench at those two spots. Hopefully, you can bring along (Breanna Richardson) so she can play a little three over there for Dom. Bottom line is Bre is my best four-player, and until I can find another one that can get the job done, it's hard to take her out of that four spot. Right now, Dom has been very good running some point guard. Jazzmun (Holmes) has been great, but Dom is kind of J.J. She's got the calming effect. She has tremendous presence. Dominique Dillingham has unbelievable presence on the court. She understands the offense, and she is really good in a couple sets we run for our points guards in getting her shot and getting a great shot. She makes good decisions with the ball. She doesn't turn it over. It's a really good position to be in. Two years ago at Alabama we got down and I had to play Dominique at point down the stretch and into overtime. She had never played there a minute at State, and she did a great job, never turned it over. The kids that are the depth are our young players. They're going to have to come along. They are young players that have done it throughout their high school career and their AAU careers. Blair played in 29 out of 44 games last year. Kayla has really worked hard on her game. She's got a better midrange game than Victoria or Blair. She has the high-rising jump shot like Kendra had, shoots it big and high. She's really impacted our team today. I think she is going to be a big-minute player for us. I need her to be.”
Victoria Vivians – G, So.
On being No. 11 in the country…
“It really means a lot because last year we were not even ranked this high. Coming into this season that means we have high expectations. We have to get everything done.”
On improvements from her Freshman season…
“I have to work on everything. Every day is a day to get better so I have been working on my game all around. I am going to try to drive more this year. I have worked on everything this summer. I am going to try to bring it all to the table.”
On the team's improvement despite the losses of last year's seniors…
“They were all great players and big losses. Who we replaced them with are young, but they have a lot of room to grow. With them growing, they are only getting better. Just having them coming in will improve our team.”
On Freshmen getting playing time early…
“It is very important because if you don't play in a non-conference game you will not be ready to a conference game. For them to get playing time under their belt will help out a lot. It helped me out a lot.”
On shooting…
“I have been working on it a good bit. I have to knock down shots, but I have to take great shots. I can't just throw stuff up. I have been working on that. When I see an open player in the corner or across the court, I am going to make that pass. I wouldn't say it is an adjustment to pass the ball because I like to see my teammates score. It is natural. I just have to do it.”
On shot improvement…
“One day I took nearly 1,000 shots. Every day coming into the gym, we had to make 500 shots. We didn't have anybody guarding us so our shoot percentage had to be high, 70 or lower 80. I'm not just a 3-point shooter, so I had to work on my shots all around the basket. I shoot every day and make 500 shots.”
Breanna Richardson – F, Jr.
On being ranked No. 11 by the Associated Press…
“I think that it just shows we've earned respect across the country. It shows that our hard work is paying off. It feels good.”
On how ranking effects preparation…
“Coach (Schaefer) always tell us you cannot pay attention to the numbers. You've got to come out and play every day. We have to treat it like last year when we weren't ranked, and we weren't really well known. Now we are well known, but you've just got to act like it doesn't matter. Just go out and play.”
On team goals…
“The sky is the limit. Coach has told us we have to have the mindset to be the hunter because he said everyone is going to try to come after us this year. We always know there is a target on our back, so we've just got to come out and go after every day knowing we've got to take the win because everybody is coming for us.”
Dominique Dillingham – G, Jr.
On playing some point guard…
“Well last year JJ (Jerrica James) went through some injuries, so I had to play some backup point guard and just get in some practice. (Jazzmun Holmes) was out for a couple of weeks too, so that helped also.”
On being an “upperclassman”…
“As a junior, everyone looks to you to set the example because we know what to expect from Coach Schaefer, and the freshmen are still trying to figure out what it is that he wants and how he wants things to be done.”
On the high expectations and the atmosphere at Humphrey Coliseum…
“We are really just trying to embrace it. We don't want to buy into it too much, but we want to embrace it and meet those expectations. I think it is amazing to just see how far we have come in such a short amount of time. All of these fans make us play better in my opinion.”
