Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Coaches Check-In Episode 8: Rick Insell
7/20/2023 7:40:00 AM | General, Women's Basketball
The Hall of Fame Head Coach discusses in the new CUSA, a busy summer and international recruiting
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball Coach Rick Insell joins GoBlueRaiders.com Staff Writer Sam Doughton for the latest edition of the Coaches Check-In Podcast, where the two had plenty to discuss coming off of the Lady Raiders' CUSA Championship season this past winter.
Insell dives into his program's experience at the 3x3 Nationals, a summer of WNBA highlights for Lady Raider alumni, international recruiting, the new Conference USA and much more ahead of his team taking the Murphy Center court in front of MTSU fans in just a few months time.
You can find excerpts of the podcast below, lightly edited for grammar, clarity and flow. The full episode is available for download or to stream at the link above, or by visiting the "Podcasts" tab under "Multimedia" on GoBlueRaiders.com.
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Four Lady Raiders (Jalynn Gregory, Ta'Mia Scott, Savannah Wheeler and Courtney Whitson) got the chance to represent MTSU at USA Basketball's 3x3 Nationals. What did you enjoy about watching those four compete that weekend?
All they brought out there was 16 programs. For us to be considered one of those programs, first off, that was a positive. For USA Basketball to call and to think that our program could stand there with some of the better programs in the country, our players could stand there next to the better players in the country. It kind of shows what we've got going here at Middle Tennessee State. We were ecstatic, our coaching staff was ecstatic, and our players were ecstatic at the fact that they were going to be able to go out there and represent Middle Tennessee State University and our conference, Conference USA.
It was different. The whole strategy of how you do that, how quick you have to react, you've got to be able to shoot on the move. It's going. Those games were quick, it didn't take you long to get it over with and if you didn't know what was going on, you didn't know how to react. What it did for me as a head coach was it put our players in another situation that they had to learn to a different system and a different way of participating and playing. All that's going to do is make us tougher, make us mentally tougher when we get during the season.
It was a positive, it was very positive for me. And the feedback I've gotten from the players, it was a positive for them to go out to Colorado Springs, to see the Olympic Training Facilities and to be out there with some of the best players in the country. There was nothing negative at all about it.
Your recruiting class this offseason has taken on a significant international flair, which often means it can take a bit longer to get them to Murfreesboro in the summer. When are many of those international signees, including Iullia Grabovskaia, Stanislava Kabernick and Dora Van Rijs, expected to be on campus?
Those young ladies will be here the first of August. At that point, after they go through, get their physicals done and we're able to get them out on the basketball court and also able to get them into the strength and conditioning program, I'll be able to tell you more about them. But looking at them on film and looking at them in the international game, they're very athletic. The skillsets that they have are further along than some of the young ladies over here in the States.
We've developed some contacts lately in recruiting there. And Matt (Insell) has been able to take, Matt is really the sole one responsible. Kim (Brewton) is kind of in the background with him, and Tom Hodges, but Matt has developed that contact in Europe, a couple of them, and has been able to bring some of those young ladies in.
One of the reasons, you've got to look at some of the better teams in the country. One of the better teams is Connecticut. This past year, they had four young ladies that were starting for them that were international players. We're not the only one that's going over. Basketball is a worldwide game now; it's not just played here in America. It's played all over the world. Africa, Europe, Asia.
You see some of those young ladies, from the time they're in the third, fourth, fifth grade, they're working as hard on their basketball skillsets as they are in the classroom, more so than some of your American kids. They're more individualized, when I'm talking about sports in particular. If you're a soccer player, you work on your soccer skills. You don't work on your basketball skills. You don't work on your volleyball skills. You don't work on your softball skills. When you're designated to be a soccer player, then you spend the next seven or eight years working on soccer skillsets. Not any of the other skillsets. The same thing holds true in basketball.
Here in America, I'll be honest with you, I've got ten grandkids, and they're involved with everything. They're involved in soccer, softball, basketball, baseball. There's nothing wrong with that, you need to play as many sports as you can. But I don't think they get that opportunity in Asia, Europe and Africa to be able to do that. They're a basketball player, that's what they're working on.
You welcome four new schools in Conference USA next year. How do those four programs, plus the five that remain, affect the landscape of the conference in women's basketball?
If you look at what we lost and you look at what we gained, I think that our RPI and our NET, you've got two different things now, the RPI and the NET. I think it's better. Bringing in those four schools with the ones we lost. We lost an FAU, you lost a Rice, you lost a North Texas, you lost a San Antonio. San Antonio had a good year last year, but they were still in the bottom half of our league. Florida Atlantic was in the bottom half. North Texas was in the bottom half of our league.
And then you bring in a Liberty that has consistently been in the NCAA. Rick Pietri at Jacksonville is one of the best coaches in the country. I don't know a whole lot about Sam Houston State, but Jody Adams is at New Mexico State, has run her own programs at several different universities and played for Pat Summit. They're going to have a good program. I think bringing those programs in is not going to do anything be increase the success of our league and give us a chance maybe two or three teams into the NCAA Tournament, instead of just the team that wins the (conference) Tournament.
Listen to the full podcast
Insell dives into his program's experience at the 3x3 Nationals, a summer of WNBA highlights for Lady Raider alumni, international recruiting, the new Conference USA and much more ahead of his team taking the Murphy Center court in front of MTSU fans in just a few months time.
You can find excerpts of the podcast below, lightly edited for grammar, clarity and flow. The full episode is available for download or to stream at the link above, or by visiting the "Podcasts" tab under "Multimedia" on GoBlueRaiders.com.
--
Four Lady Raiders (Jalynn Gregory, Ta'Mia Scott, Savannah Wheeler and Courtney Whitson) got the chance to represent MTSU at USA Basketball's 3x3 Nationals. What did you enjoy about watching those four compete that weekend?
All they brought out there was 16 programs. For us to be considered one of those programs, first off, that was a positive. For USA Basketball to call and to think that our program could stand there with some of the better programs in the country, our players could stand there next to the better players in the country. It kind of shows what we've got going here at Middle Tennessee State. We were ecstatic, our coaching staff was ecstatic, and our players were ecstatic at the fact that they were going to be able to go out there and represent Middle Tennessee State University and our conference, Conference USA.
It was different. The whole strategy of how you do that, how quick you have to react, you've got to be able to shoot on the move. It's going. Those games were quick, it didn't take you long to get it over with and if you didn't know what was going on, you didn't know how to react. What it did for me as a head coach was it put our players in another situation that they had to learn to a different system and a different way of participating and playing. All that's going to do is make us tougher, make us mentally tougher when we get during the season.
It was a positive, it was very positive for me. And the feedback I've gotten from the players, it was a positive for them to go out to Colorado Springs, to see the Olympic Training Facilities and to be out there with some of the best players in the country. There was nothing negative at all about it.
Your recruiting class this offseason has taken on a significant international flair, which often means it can take a bit longer to get them to Murfreesboro in the summer. When are many of those international signees, including Iullia Grabovskaia, Stanislava Kabernick and Dora Van Rijs, expected to be on campus?
Those young ladies will be here the first of August. At that point, after they go through, get their physicals done and we're able to get them out on the basketball court and also able to get them into the strength and conditioning program, I'll be able to tell you more about them. But looking at them on film and looking at them in the international game, they're very athletic. The skillsets that they have are further along than some of the young ladies over here in the States.
We've developed some contacts lately in recruiting there. And Matt (Insell) has been able to take, Matt is really the sole one responsible. Kim (Brewton) is kind of in the background with him, and Tom Hodges, but Matt has developed that contact in Europe, a couple of them, and has been able to bring some of those young ladies in.
One of the reasons, you've got to look at some of the better teams in the country. One of the better teams is Connecticut. This past year, they had four young ladies that were starting for them that were international players. We're not the only one that's going over. Basketball is a worldwide game now; it's not just played here in America. It's played all over the world. Africa, Europe, Asia.
You see some of those young ladies, from the time they're in the third, fourth, fifth grade, they're working as hard on their basketball skillsets as they are in the classroom, more so than some of your American kids. They're more individualized, when I'm talking about sports in particular. If you're a soccer player, you work on your soccer skills. You don't work on your basketball skills. You don't work on your volleyball skills. You don't work on your softball skills. When you're designated to be a soccer player, then you spend the next seven or eight years working on soccer skillsets. Not any of the other skillsets. The same thing holds true in basketball.
Here in America, I'll be honest with you, I've got ten grandkids, and they're involved with everything. They're involved in soccer, softball, basketball, baseball. There's nothing wrong with that, you need to play as many sports as you can. But I don't think they get that opportunity in Asia, Europe and Africa to be able to do that. They're a basketball player, that's what they're working on.
You welcome four new schools in Conference USA next year. How do those four programs, plus the five that remain, affect the landscape of the conference in women's basketball?
If you look at what we lost and you look at what we gained, I think that our RPI and our NET, you've got two different things now, the RPI and the NET. I think it's better. Bringing in those four schools with the ones we lost. We lost an FAU, you lost a Rice, you lost a North Texas, you lost a San Antonio. San Antonio had a good year last year, but they were still in the bottom half of our league. Florida Atlantic was in the bottom half. North Texas was in the bottom half of our league.
And then you bring in a Liberty that has consistently been in the NCAA. Rick Pietri at Jacksonville is one of the best coaches in the country. I don't know a whole lot about Sam Houston State, but Jody Adams is at New Mexico State, has run her own programs at several different universities and played for Pat Summit. They're going to have a good program. I think bringing those programs in is not going to do anything be increase the success of our league and give us a chance maybe two or three teams into the NCAA Tournament, instead of just the team that wins the (conference) Tournament.
Listen to the full podcast
Players Mentioned
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