January 16, 2006
Head women's basketball coach Gary Blair met with members of the press Monday at the weekly basketball media luncheon held in College Station.
Click the link to the right to listen to the press conference. A transcript is posted below.
Gary Blair Media Luncheon Quotes
When you look at the matchups against the Lady Bears, where do you feel you have some advantages going into that game?
"When you look at the Big 12 stats all the way through, we are a mirror image of each other in almost every category. When you look at scoring, one's second...the other one's third. You go through almost everything and we are so close in everything that we're doing. A lot of it is due to the style of play. Both of us are very athletic. Both of us preach defense first. Both of us normally rebound the ball very well... neither one of us did a great job in the last game. A lot of that was because we were making everything, but we were still not getting the boards. That's going to be one of the keys in the ballgame. I think the defense will be so good that you better get some offensive rebounds to get your second or third shot. I think that's where (Abiola) Wabara is one of the most improved players in the league for what she adds to the team. Sometimes (Baylor coach) Kim (Mulkey-Robertson) may think she disappears or something, but I don't know how we put a body on her. But at the same time, they have to put a body on my number four players who are doing a good job of flying in from behind the post as well. Obviously, scoring at the five position is not in our favor. When you've got the best player in our conference, and one of the two top players in the country in (Sophia) Young...we're at a freshman level going against a senior--just like we did with with (La Toya) Micheaux going against (Crystal) Kemp at Kansas. That wasn't a great matchup, but still we were able to take some other things away. What we have to do is try to hold Young to 20, and keep her from just going off, setting up other people, and drawing fouls. We're not going to win that statistical battle. What we've got to do is try to do a better job against the other four kids the best we can. It's still a team game. Young's going to play well no matter who's guarding her. You just try to contain her. You can't stop her."
What do you feel your edges are in the game? Perimeter? Transition?
"I'm taller than Kim (Mulkey-Robertson). That's about it (laughing). She's better looking. She's at home. She's been on the Olympic team. I coached the Jones Cup team. We both won gold medals."
Does your team get any confidence in the fact that Baylor is struggling a bit? Texas Tech beat them (in Lubbock) and you could have easily won at Tech? Does that give you any confidence?
"Baylor could have easily won at Tech also. I think that's just the way home court advantage is supposed to be. I'd just love to be in a position at the end of the game where decisions have to be made. That's our goal. The last two times we've played over in Waco, we played okay for a while, but then their crowd and good team play would take us out of it. Generally, their defense to me is more impressive than their offense. Their defense I think is outstanding and always has been. That's what concerns me more than anything. Can we create our shots against good defense?"
Baylor is in a situation where they really can't afford to lose to you guys. You figure they are the defending national champs, and once and while you may have an upset, but they are a game behind you and on their home court. That's a must win for them...
"Well, we both have 12 games to go, and am I worried about Baylor? No. They are No. (8) in the country right now. It doesn't matter who wins or loses this game. I don't think it's going to dictate one way or another who wins conference. If they lose the game, they are still the favorite in the Big 12 south to win. Period. Because of what they've accomplished...and when you have the best player in the conference and a hall of fame coach, you must be pretty dog-gone good. I still think, no matter what happens, all I want to do is go down there and play well. Put our team in a position to win or lose at the end of the game. Our team is getting smarter. That's the best thing about our team. We're getting smarter as game goes on. The film sessions on a Monday morning are not near as bad as what they have been the last couple of years. We're making progress. We're so far away from being where this team is capable of it's not even funny. I'm just enjoying playing well. We're not going to play 'what if' games. We're just going to go in there against Baylor and give them all the credit. Remember, our program has been sort of a little bit of a blueprint of what Baylor has done. We've done it without Parade All-Americans. We've lost recruiting battles to some other more heralded programs, and we still have gotten players that want to play in our state. We're doing a good job recruiting. Baylor's doing a good job recruiting. I think the most important thing is, as the two coaches, are we doing good job of developing what we have? Obviously, Baylor's done a good job of that. And I'm pleased with our staff, that we're developing what we have this year.
"I want this in years to come to be a rivalry. Right now it's not a rivalry, because it's one-sided...the same way with Texas, and the same way with Texas Tech. You know what this state would be like if the four of us were all top-25 programs? Just think, it'd be tremendous for this state to have parity among those four schools and to have a rivalry. So, every time Baylor played Texas or Baylor played A&M, you'd have a packed house. I think that's important. And that's up to us. It's not up to Baylor, or Tech, or Texas to do that right now. It's up to us to catch them as far as attendance, getting national television games like they're getting, and getting to NCAA tournaments and producing at the highest level. It's up to us to make them rivalry games."
How big of a step was it confidence-wise to go on the road and play like you guys did yesterday (at Kansas)?
"I think we're pretty hard to defend because we run a lot of stuff, and my point guard (Aqua Franklin) is starting to think the way I think now. Even though I still call out the majority of the offense, the improvement of our basketball team is because of our point guard. Last year she gave us stats. This year she's giving us direction. That's where you change up. Her shot is so much stronger this year because she's using her legs on her shot, going up strong, realizing she can't keep taking it to the hole and be road kill (like) when she was going in last year. She led the big 12 in road kill (last year) by getting her shot blocked or throwing up prayers. I think that's where we're better this year. Everybody else just gets better through age or experience or good freshmen classes coming in."
You could see that in the Kansas State game last Wednesday...(Franklin) was out in the first half because of foul trouble, and they made a run to get back in it, but she came back in and that's when you went on a run for the rest of the half...
"(Usually Aqua Franklin's) the only one back on defense, because a lot of times we'll send four to the boards depending on who we play. So she's got to realize when she's back on defense to play smart instead of going in and trying to block shots at 5'3". I'd rather her take charges. I don't want to see a single blocked shot at 5'3". That's an 'I' play to me. Spud Webb didn't make his living blocking shots, and she shouldn't either. That's (been) a key, to listen to her on and off the court, and (hear) the vocalization that's coming through her now. She's a captain on the team, as a sophomore, along with Morenike (Atunrase). The seniors are listening to her instead of telling her what to do. She's telling them what to do. Her assists are down only because we're having more assists, because we're running a motion offense. Look at Oklahoma last year. (Dionnah) Jackson was never near the top (of the league) in assists--and she was their point guard--because they ran motion. We share it and we share the passing. (Aqua) still values the basketball as good as any point guard I've ever coached."