University of Georgia Athletics
Andy Landers Preview Press Conference - October 10
October 10, 2006 | Women's Basketball
“This is an exciting time of the year for coaches and players because you get to officially start practice. We have been involved with individual workouts and team workouts over the last couple of weeks, but you are limited by the number of hours you can go and the number of participants that can be involved. Friday night kicks off the real deal. I have a lot of questions going into the season about how we will play and who will play.”
On filling the void left by graduated seniors:
“Our initial and primary challenge will be filling the void that Sherill Baker and Alexis Kendrick leave us with. They were as close to perfect from the standpoint of team players that they could be. The day to day leadership they brought and they did things the right way in practice as well as they could do them. They were a joy to have last year as seniors. Now our challenge becomes figuring out who will step in and set the pace or the tone for our basketball team. Those two carried that load entirely a year ago.”
On players returning from injury:
“Our second challenge is to get all of those people with offseason surgeries healed and back to 100 percent. Jaleesa Rhoden is probably the furthest from being back. She has been very limited in her activity as we have gone through individual and team workouts. Tasha Humphrey is probably the next farthest from being ready, coming off of surgery to clean up the kneecap and alleviate some of the pain she played in last year. In terms of getting a release to play from the doctor, she is probably not that far away. But in terms of being in shape and playing condition, I think she’s a long way off. The closest player to being ready is Angel Robinson. She is very close to going 100 percent. But, there is some concern any time you have surgery about any after effects when you do get back to going full speed. Then there is also Rebecca Rowsey who is without limitations but she is not going full speed like she was prior to injury. Megan Darrah had wrist surgery and she is back for the most part. The next part of the challenge is how we get them all back and in shape and ready to play. With the shortened preseason we lose six days of practice, so from a playing and coaching standpoint, that puts a heavy burden on us to be ready to play at a high level for an opening game that promises to be as tough as any game on our schedule.”
On filling the void at the guard positions:
“We played Darrah out of position for the last couple of years at the four, and we have hopes of getting her some guard time this season. But initially she may to help us back inside at the four. We also have hopes that Maria Taylor, the volleyball player who we could not get eligible last year b/c of SEC rules and will join us at the end of volleyball season, will give us some help there. But having Darrah in the backcourt will give us some game experience and maturity in the back with Chambers. The person that has been the most impressive in preseason has been Ashley Houts. She has been no less than super in everything we have done and she is bound to play, there is no way around that at the point position. She is a freshman and needs to get experience to be as good as she can be at this level. Janese Hardrick is a senior who has played an important role for us the last three years, starting as a freshman and then coming off the bench last couple of years, so she gives us more experience on the perimeter. Then we have another freshman in Christy Marshall who is a very talented player and a different kind of player than we have had on the wing in quite some time. She is a big guard at six feet who attacks the basket, rebounds well, is athletic, and from what little bit we have worked with her, could be an excellent defender as well. The challenge there is getting the young players into the mix in such a way that they can be successful and can our team be successful while learning, and that’s not an easy thing to do.”
On maintaining an up-tempo style of play:
“In terms of tempo, let me break it down into offense and defense. Offensively, Houts pushes the ball as quickly as anyone since (Saudia) Roundtree. She has the ability to initiate and run a break, she and Janeese both should be able to do that. Our wings’ ability to get out and run with them now becomes the question. On defense, Sherill Baker set the tempo which led to our offense and made us a running basketball team because of the steals she was able to get. As a coach, that is an area I want to focus on. I don’t know that we have one individual that can deflect and make the steals that Baker came up with, but its an area I am hoping will not drop off. I am appealing to our team even in these early workouts to be alert and maybe as a team we can get those steals and be able to keep that offensive pressure going that we initiated from Sherill’s steals.”
On the loss of Rebecca Rowsey in 2005:
“We missed her a lot, and for a lot of different reasons. Rebecca is as committed and dedicated of a basketball player that we have on our team. It really hurt me, as it does with every player, when she went down. Rebecca had conditioned and was in best shape of life, worked all summer long to improve, then had to go into holding pattern and was not be able do anything. That means a lot of that was lost, and that really hurt me for her. But she is one of the most positive and dependable people that I have coached. She will come to practice every day and do what her coaches ask her to and do it as well as she can. She sets an example for her teammates every time she is on floor. The presence gives you as team player, her ability to defend, rebound and score, as well as her height were all missed last year.”
On the ability of Angel Robinson to contribute this year:
“Angel Robinson is really a skilled player. She is one that needs to work and needs a half a season. It is hard for me to remember because she has been here for two summer schools and one academic year, that she still has yet to play. There is some rust, some lack of conditioning and lack of familiarity with the way we want to play, because she has never played that way. Anything that she does early on won’t surprise us. It will be appreciated and will give us things to build on as we move through the season.”
Player Press Conference Quotes
Angel Robinson, redshirt freshman forward, on the upcoming season:
“I am pretty excited. We have three new players and more coming back from injury. I am looking forward to a good season.”
On teammate Tasha Humphrey:
“Tasha is very aggressive. I look up to her. She brings her “A” game every time. I think our back court is going to be a lot stronger that last year.”
Rebecca Rowsey, junior forward, on returning from her injury:
“I missed playing a lot last year. I’m thrilled to get back out there. I’m definitely really excited about starting practice this year. Having to sit and watch for a whole season really made me appreciate what we are able to do.”
On the strengths of this year’s team:
“We have got good players at every position. There is not a lot of depth again. Hopefully we’ll be able to gel together as a team.”
On the freshmen:
“They are all tremendous athletes. I think they will jump in right away.
