Oct. 21, 2009
Big 12 Women's Basketball Media Day Photo Gallery
KANSAS CITY - Texas A&M head coach Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.), senior captain Damitria Buchanan (Houston, Texas) and junior captain Sydney Colson (Houston, Texas) met with members of the media at the 2009 Big 12 Women's Basketball Media Day held Wednesday at the Sprint Center.
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair Quotes
Opening Statement...
"I'm glad to be presented this national championship trophy right in front of Peter and I, and hopefully, we can live up to the expectations this year. Glad to be in Kansas City."
On the loss of four-year star players and this year's squad ...
"The core that we had together, those six kids, we graduated three of them a year ago, three of them this past year. They were very special. But at the same time, they had to come in as freshmen and play because we had nothing behind them as freshmen. Now, we're having better recruiting classes, and our freshmen are having to wait to be able to play just because our nucleus is a lot better than what it was four to five years ago when we were here for the first time. I like the makeup of our team because we're reloading. I don't think we're rebuilding. The talent is there. What we have to do is learn how to turn talent into basketball players and to be able to contribute. Those kids have played together for so long. They were so good defensively. Offense came second, because they enjoyed the defensive end of the court and we played very well as a team. Our team is all about pressure. Offensively, defensively, sideline plays, inbounds plays, pressure on us old coaches in recruiting and in trying to figure out game plans. It's what we do. And who's going to be the next core for us? I remember at Arkansas, they had a group of
triplets and then three more triplets and three more triplets back when Nolan (Richardson) was coaching. Kids change and they graduate. I think you'll start seeing the Tanisha Smiths, the Sydney Colsons and the Sydney Carters contributing, and all of a sudden they'll be household names just like Danielle Gant, Takia Starks and Morenike Aturnase were for us in years past."
On Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Danielle Adams ...
"Well, if some of you do not know Danielle, she was the nation's No. 1 JUCO Player of the Year and played up at Jefferson College (Mo.). She is a very good player and is an offensive machine who can score. I've never coached anyone like her before. Not so much of talent, because of her size. It's sort of like a Charles Barkley that can play the three, the four, or the five position. That's just the way Barkley was and this kid is just different. I'm going to have to work her into our system. She's been out for a month with a hamstring and we just go her back for the last week and a half. We have a lot of work to go just in the conditioning part, but I'm not worried about her on offense. Coach (Vic) Schaefer's really worried about her defense, but that all comes with all freshmen or JUCO players. We teach them how to play defense. We recruit them for their offense."
On player rotations this season ...
"If we had to play Duke tomorrow, we play them in the first game of the year on November 15, we have about eight players who are ready to play, and that doesn't include any of my freshmen or my JUCO player right now, because they're not ready for our system. We are going to move Tanisha Smith is solid at the three. We have Damitria Buchanan, who is looking very good for us. She's been Micheaux's backup for three years. She and Kelsey Assarian will battle for that five spot. The most improved player on our team is Adaora Elonu. You remember her brother played in the league and was drafted by the Lakers in the second round. He's now over in Spain playing. That family just believes in work, in the classroom and on the court. She's the most improved player that we have. She'll be at the four spot. Right now, I don't see any of the young kids challenging her. In three weeks from now, hopefully I'll have some of those freshmen and the junior college player ready to compete. But right now, we look like a very athletic AAU team going up and down the court. What we have to do is learn how to play a little bit better basketball right now. But, that's why we have the month of October and November in front of us."
On Nolan Richardson moving into women's basketball ...
"I think it will be great. I worked with Nolan for nine years (at Arkansas). He has a passion for the game. He also has a passion for young ladies, as most of you know his daughter died of leukemia. His wife was one of our biggest fans. They used to come to our ball games in Arkansas and the kids would love to go up and talk to her. I think it's a perfect fit. I think we'll do very well, particularly if he's getting Detroit's team. That's not an expansion team. That's a ready-made team, ready to compete and hopefully, he'll look into some of these Big 12 players like
Danielle Gant, who's over in Turkey right now playing, to say, 'come back home and play in Oklahoma.' He hasn't forgotten how to coach the game. He is a very, very good teacher and a very good coach. I really believe, for him to get his legacy that he deserved, he needs to get back into the game and hopefully, get into the Hall of Fame someday."