Women's Basketball Presser signals start of hoops season

10/23/2017 2:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Lady Raiders play first exhibition game Sunday at 3 PM

By: @MTAthletics

Head Coach Rick Insell
Opening statement:
"Well we're excited about where we're at and basketball season about to get rolling. We feel pretty confident in our team right now. And it's tough being confident this morning because one of our young freshman (Kara Meadows) went down with an ankle injury in one of our early practices. But, you know, the post position where she plays is pretty secure when you're looking at Alex (Johnson), Becca (Reuter) and Gabby (Lyon). We've got four or five others that can fill in there. Pretty exciting times to know that Sunday is our first exhibition game, it'll give us an idea of where we're at. Then we're about a week or so away from playing Vanderbilt there, and that's going to be pretty exciting. It'll be pretty exciting for them and us, and for our fan bases. It kind of let's everybody know that basketball season is here."

On how a tough non-conference schedule prepares the team more for C-USA matchups:
"Well I think last year we ended up playing four teams that were ranked in the top 15 in the country at one time or another. We're looking at before the first of the year at Vanderbilt, Louisville, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Tulane and Southern Cal. If you're looking at the schedule, we better have some experience, I can tell you that. But we're excited it. That's a lot of opportunities there. If go win some of those games, or all of those games, it's going to give us a chance to be ranked in the top 15 in the country. Losing Ty Petty was big. We're hoping that one of our young ladies that has no experience is going to step up before the first game and if they do, then we're going to be in pretty good shape. But it's great opportunities for our program."

On which freshmen Insell expects to contribute early:
"I'll be honest, the three freshmen that we've got coming in are pretty good. Jadona Davis is 6'5 out of Mississippi. There we're several big time programs in Mississippi State, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU that was recruiting her and we were able to win out on that. We felt real good about that. Kara Meadows was Miss Basketball 1A in the state of Tennessee. I saw her just dominate with the Flight two years ago. She got hurt last year and a lot of programs backed off of her. We didn't back off and we were able to beat Ole Miss out on her. She's 6'4, Jadona's 6'5 and we've been needing some size. Then we brought in Anna Jones out of University School in Jackson, Tennessee. We watched her play early in the year at an event in Louisville and they had to play her out of position and I was really impressed with her toughness. If she walked in here right now, you wouldn't think she was tough at all; she's pretty tough. We got in on her, and we were already recruiting her, and we felt like she was a priority. She's come in and I think she's going to get some playing time right off the bat. She might end up starting before it's all over with. We're really excited about all three of them to be honest with you. And then our sophomore class with Kyla Allison. Very talented young lady who's just going to be a sophomore. You know it's tough in division-one basketball to ask someone to step up this early in their career, and we've had to do it at times. But you really want to give them a year or two. In Kyla's situation, we're trying to fast forward her right now. Charity Savage is one of the most athletic young ladies we've got on our team. She's 6'1; she came out of Memphis. She's a very personable young lady and we're hoping that before it's all said and done, she's going to play a big role in what happens with this program. Jordan Majors, she got hurt last year and we were able to redshirt her so she would be with that class. And Jordan, when she got hurt, we had her penciled in as a starter the next game which was in two days. Then she went down with her ACL and she was gone. So she might of ended up starting before it was all said and done last year. Right now, she's putting a push on just like she was doing when she got hurt. We're pretty excited about that. Our overall team chemistry is about as good since we've been here. They get along well, they're doing well in classroom, they're doing well on the practice floor, they have great work ethics. When you see them on the floor, you're going to see that their bodies have changed; they're more mature, they're stronger. And you know, with the schedule that we've got, we're pretty much are happy with where we're at right now."

On how the team has held up health wise this offseason:
"First time we've had an injury was this morning. We've had a lot of minor little things, you know, but this morning it was pretty unsettling for the whole team. If you watched the young man who got hurt in the Boston Celtics game the other night, Gordon Hayward, that was the type of injury that it was this morning. When we got (Meadows) to the hospital, it was just dislocated. They're saying if there's no other chips or anything like that, she can be back in 6-8 weeks. I'm excited for her and her family because they've kind of been snake bit. And I'm excited for her program, for her to get back, because I think she was going to get playing time real early."

On which players Insell thinks will step up as leaders with the absence of Ty Petty:
"Well we've got a group of seniors that I've really grown close to: Abbey Sissom, Becca Reuter and Gabby Lyon. They've played off and on for the last three years. You're going to see Sissom on the floor, you're going to see either Gabby or Becca on the floor. Whichever one comes off the bench, it seems to make our team a little better. The leadership kind of lays with them. Then you've got AJ (Alex Johnson). AJ has just been phenomenal what she's been able to do the last two years. She's undersized, she didn't have to play that post position in high school. She was kind of maybe the third one down the line on her high school team. And now she's come into Middle Tennessee and I think she's stepped her game up, I think all of y'all know that. If she can stay healthy, she very well could overtake Ebony Rowe in the scoring (record) and I hope she does because If she does, that means we're going to be pretty successful. But that leadership if going to come from those young ladies. They know what it's like. We just looked at film the other day where Alex was having to battle those big posts that Florida State had and she did a pretty good job. I think she ended up with 26 or 27 points when she was a freshman and all last year, they had to guard Alex with two or three people at a time. They know we're going to go to her and it's going to be up to the likes of those other young ladies: Abbey and Jess (Louro) and Becca and Gabby for them to step up and take the pressure off of her. And if they do that, we're going to be pretty successful."

On if having size will change things for the Lady Raiders offensive and defensively:
"I don't think it's going to change a whole lot early. I think by the time we get to the middle of the conference schedule, you'll see us using some of those young ladies. That's one of the ways that she got hurt this morning. We're kind of working with her on contesting shots, hoping that our 6'4's or 6'5's are going to be shot blockers and have a presence in the center. We haven't blocked any shots in the last seven or eight years. We were hoping that we could do that, that it would help, kind of be a rim protector. I think you'll see a change in that in the middle of the season."

On what continues to drive Insell after many years as head coach:
"I can't wait to get up every morning. It's just not the season, I mean my passion is coaching and working with these young ladies. I love everything that I do, I love everything about this situation here at Middle Tennessee State. My grandkids, my family, my friends. You know, I couldn't ask for a better situation. I love every morning, coming in and working. That's what drives me."

On what other conference teams may pose a challenge for the Lady Raiders:
"I think Western's going to be decent, I think Marshall is going to have a pretty good team this year. Western, I think they are going to end up be picked either one or two with us. Marshall's good. UAB's going to be pretty good again. And you look at Rice, they're not going to be too bad. You've got some great coaches in our conference, so I'm sure there will be a team or two that will pop up and get hot. We kind of changed the format of our conference so that our better team are going to be playing the better teams, and the teams that are not as good are going to be playing each other. Hopefully that's going to help our RPI by the end of the year. You can see a shift there a little bit. And you can see some things take place. You might see a team really get some momentum going right before you get to the tournaments because they schedule is."

On how Alex Johnson compares to some of the other greats he has coached in the post:
"Well Alex is not as great of a rebounder as we would like. That's one of the things that we've been working on with her. We kind of had to keep her out of foul trouble also. We don't want her to be as aggressive on going for the rebound because we need her at the end of the game and she's kind of held back on that a little bit. Because of the people that we've brought in and because of what Shalon (Pillow) and Tom (Hodges) have done with post position, we can be more aggressive there. So we're hoping that we can add a few more rebounds to that. You'll see her up here in a minute, but you won't really get to see her body until she takes her coat and things off and out here on the gym floor. I think you're going to see an Alex Johnson that you hadn't seen before. She has really put the time in the strength and conditioning room. Matt Riley's done a tremendous job, probably the best job that we've had done with our players since I've been her in 12 years. They're stronger, they're quicker, they're in better condition than they've been. It's all because of the emphasis that Matt and Cassie Hodgson placed on that back in April. Now we're seeing some of the results of that."

On what Insell takes from watching NBA games regularly:
"Well you're looking at the movement, spacing, things like that; inbounds, sidelines. All coaches do that. You may see some coaches that kind of go through the motions an there's some of those around. Believe me, there's not any here at Middle Tennessee. Kermit or myself, we don't go through the motions. When we sit down and watch a game, we enjoy watching games, I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing. But we're also looking at something that might help our basketball program. Maybe it's on the floor or on the bench or whatever. You can't ever get to the point where you can't steal something from somebody else that may help you become a better team. But I do. I watch (the NBA) every night. Love it."

On what having two less C-USA games during the season does for the team:
"Well we felt that it might help our RPI a little bit. If you've got 14 teams, that's 28 more games inside the conference. By raising our RPI, hopefully they'll go out and schedule some people. Now we've gone out and scheduled people. I don't know about the rest of our teams. But if they go out and schedule some people and we can win some of those games out of those 28 extra games that we've got, then that's going to help our conference RPI which could possibly get us another team or two into the NCAA Tournament. And that's what we're all about, trying to get two to three teams into the NCAA Tournament."

On if Insell still adapts, evolves his schemes and philosophy year-to-year:
"Well you've got your baseline, you've got what you want to do. I like to press. The year that I didn't press, I think it was back five years ago, we ended up No. 5 in the nation in defense, just playing half-court defense. So I got to thinking, it's a little stupid on my part to keep trying to press with people that really couldn't press as well as we needed to. So yeah, you've got to change. You've got to change to your personnel. You've got to change maybe it's how aggressive you want to be. Do you want to play any zones? Any traps? There's always changes that goes on. That really comes in with having a great staff. In my case, I've got four coaches. You've got Tom and Shalon and Kim (Brewton) and Richard (Lowe). Of course, Richard's got nothing to do with the day-to-day what we're doing strategy wise, but those other three are on it right now. I mean they're prepping down the road all the way to Christmas. That's just something that's a part of our basketball program."

Forward Alex Johnson:
On preparation in the weight room during off season:
"This off season the weight room was the biggest focus for me. I spent most of my time this summer just in the weight room. Most of the time I was there it was just to do cardio and lean out for the most part, as well as, getting defined."

On replacing Ty Petty's leadership:
"I think the biggest thing is just being more vocal on the court and being mentors for the younger kids. When we are on the sidelines with the younger girls we want to just walk them through things that they may not have a good grasp on and just being vocal as we are on the court."

On being more effective on defense in the post, specifically rebounding:
"I am definitely up for the challenge and being in there like he (Coach Insell) was saying the biggest thing was trying to stay out of foul trouble. I wasn't getting good positioning in there to get the rebound so, this season the biggest thing is working on getting in that position and going up to get the rebound."

On competing against power five schools this season:
"It is very exciting and we definitely talk about it in the locker room. We are up for any challenge and we are not going to back down, if anything we are just going to get more aggressive with them. So, I think just knowing their personnel and how they do things is the biggest thing and trying to win the game against them."

On loosing Ty Petty this season:
"It is definitely different; Ty played a huge role on our team. She was very vocal, she put people were they needed to go on the court and if things weren't going how they needed to go she took it upon herself to put the ball in the hole so I think the biggest difference is just having multiple people this time around doing what they need to do and providing that vocal leadership on the court."

On the comparison of herself to Ebony Rowe:
"It is definitely an honor to be mentioned with her, as well. It is a big role to play. I think the biggest thing is just doing what I can do and if that is fitting into what she did then I am doing what I need to do. I've seen lots of tape of Ebony Rowe. Last season, I actually got a whole DVD on her and Alysha Clark and how they worked inside the post. I think the biggest thig is how they moved around the court and using that to try and mimic."

On gaining more size in the post:
"The biggest thing is we need size and I need help in there, so I am excited about that. With Kara going down that just means someone else has to step up but, my role doesn't change very much as far as scoring. I still feel that I can be dominant but, I still need help inside it will help take some of the pressure off me, as well as, some of the shooters coming in and putting down shots."

On being undersized in the post position and adjusting to playing in the post in collegiate play:
"I definitely didn't think I would come in (to Middle Tennessee) and be the person that I am right now. The coaching staff, when they recruited me they told me that from day one the potential that I had and sometimes I didn't think that I believed in myself enough to do it but, they continuously pushed me day in and day out to be that player."

Guard Abbey Sissom:
On replacing Ty Petty's leadership:
"It definitely has been different, it's been great still having Ty out there with us as a graduate assistant and I think that's helped me a lot. Ty has been my mentor. She has helped me throughout my four years here and I know that has helped me a lot. Like Alex said, we have definitely all had to become more vocal on the court and we are still trying to get better at that. Also, helping to mentor the younger girls is a big thing for us. You can't really prepare anyone for the jump from high school to college until you actually get here. I think one of the things I have tried to stress to our younger girls is that it is going to get better, that this is a completely different thing right now but once you get into the swing of things and learn the system and learn his (Coach Insell's) system it becomes a lot easier. So, definitely being more vocal and just helping the young girls not only on learning the system but helping them get through the starting point of this were you have to break the ice and get with the system."

On gaining more of a shooting presence from the arc:
"I definitely have been working on that, coach had a little spell a couple years ago and every time I didn't shoot he would take me out of a drill. I got over that quick because I wanted to play but, definitely with Ty leaving us we have to help Alex out scoring so I'm trying to take on a part of that role and so that's one of the reasons I've been trying to shoot more. Coach has been on me about working to get open and get the ball so, it's definitely something I have been working on in practice and can carry into the games."

On Sissom and Coach Insell's relationship:
"I can't say enough about coach. Our relationship has definitely changed a lot over the years. I was definitely pretty scared of him as a freshman but, I still respected him. I am definitely more comfortable taking his criticism now and try not to take everything to heart, which I really struggled with in my younger years. I think that I have definitely overcome that and learned that all he wants is the best for us and I know the things he says to me he is just trying to get me out of my comfort zone and make me a better player. I think that is something I definitely had to switch gears about."

On working hard on defense and offense this season:
"I think that is definitely going to be a challenge for me, with Ty there and Alex's scoring I knew that I didn't have to do as much offensively as I did defensively, so I took pride in taking that extra energy and putting it on defense. This season it will be a challenge to keep my defense up and help out on the offense end a little bit more than I have been."

On opening the season at Vanderbilt:
"I think that it is going to be awesome, with it being a SEC opponent right here, close to home. I think it's going to be awesome for our fan base and it's really neat that we are able to get to play a big game as close as we can get to home. I think that we will have a great crowd and fan support for us up there to create a really cool atmosphere."