Tulane Basketball Teams Open Exhibition Seasons Next Week
Oct 29, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 29, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Tulane University opens its 2002-03 basketball seasons next week with a pair of exhibition games against a pair of traveling AAU teams at Fogelman Arena. The men's basketball team is the first one in action, hosting Vasda on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. The women's hoop team hosts the Houston Jaguars on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.
Season and individual game tickets for both men's and women's basketball are available by calling 504-861-WAVE or Ticketmaster or by visiting the Green Wave Box Office at the Wilson Center.
On Tuesday morning in the Hall of Fame Room at the Wilson Center, basketball coaches Shawn Finney and Lisa Stockton spoke to the media in advance of their seasons.
Lisa Stockton Opening Statement:
"We're just excited to be back in the gym. We've come back this season and the players have worked really hard in the preseason. Returning a lot of players has been nice because we've been able to go into the gym and get a lot accomplished and be very competitive. I guess that is how I can best describe our practices - they have been extremely competitive. We've had 14 players on the floor pretty much all the time, with a lot of veterans, and it is nice to see their excitement about the season. We certainly have a lot of great expectations for the year, but I don't see the players as viewing those expectations as pressure as much as they are excited about getting started."
What has been the biggest surprise for you so far this season?
"I don't think it is a surprise, but it has been nice to see the mindset of our players. They have gone in every day and tried to get better at practice. We are seeing the benefit of having so many returnees in that we have been able to do some things early in the season that we haven't really been able to do this early in the past. There is just a lot of excitement and I am really glad to see that."
How much is your team's experience going to be a factor this year?
"I think having that experience will be very important. With the tough non-conference schedule we have, and then going into a tough Conference USA season, it will be important to have some experienced players. Last year, I felt one of our biggest weaknesses at times was our lack of experience on the perimeter. Now, I think we'll reap the benefits of having some experienced players on the floor."
Comment on your team's defensive abilities.
"This is probably the quickest team we've had since I've been here, especially in terms of being able to pressure the ball. Early in the season, we've been able to put some full-court pressure on the ball, which hasn't really been one of our strengths in the past. We have different players who we can put on the floor that can really pressure the ball. Actually, one of the nice things about this team is that we have some post players that can go out and really pressure the ball. Defensively, that is one of our biggest improvements from last season.
"We are playing so many athletic teams early, so we will have to see how we match up with them defensively. I would foresee us going into conference play as a team that can really extend the floor a lot more than we have done in the past. In the last few years, we have really relied on our zone defenses, but this year I think we can do a lot more full-court pressure and create more offense from our defense."
How strong will Conference USA be this season?
"I think we have a tremendous non-conference schedule and then we'll get into Conference USA play and it won't be a let-down for us. In the past, we've had some success and were the team to beat. In the conference this year, Cincinnati returns almost everyone, so they'll be very, very good. TCU and Houston will be very good, as well. But then I also think you'll have some teams that weren't quite at the top of the pack last year, but who will be improved and play their way into contention. It is going to be very, very competitive. With our league schedule, and the way we don't play home and home, you have to win on the road. This year, we play Cincinnati and Louisville on the road. Those are games that, if we want to win a championship, we have to win away. We don't get them back. By the same token, we have TCU and Houston at home and you can't let a home game like that slip away.
Where does transfer Muci Harris stand on the team right now?
"I don't think we really have a pecking order or anything, but the one good thing about Muci is that she can play the 1 or the 2. Her outside shooting ability will be able to extend defenses a bit. With out post game, we're going to need some outside shooting. With Muci, Britt Themann, Kelly Nadeau, Delacey Joseph, we can really extend our offensive game and take some pressure off Teana McKiver and Gwen Slaughter.
Shawn Finney Opening Statement:
"We're excited about the upcoming season. We've had a great two weeks of practice; the guys are really starting to understand what we are doing. With us having five seniors on the team, we're able to progress a lot faster. Brandon Brown is in incredible shape; going into his senior year he has really changed over the last four years and provides leadership, provides a lot of spark defensively and offensively; he's going to be a big factor in this league this season.
"The other four seniors are doing a great job of providing leadership. Brandon Spann has really changed his style of basketball and really starting to adapt. The guys are picking up the defense, the offense, really starting to show what we are capable of doing this season. It is going to be a lot of fun coaching this team because I think for two years we have worked so hard to lay the foundation and to be able to come in and have experience and the depth we need to compete game-in and game-out with our schedule in our league.
"It's going to be a lot of fun playing teams like Kentucky and Georgia Tech here and to have a chance to play LSU. I think our guys are really looking forward to the season and the possibilities of getting to post-season play."
Talk about the expectations; it seems like you may be having more fun with this team:
"It is definitely a lot of fun coaching a team that is senior-oriented; that's been through it; that's learned what it takes to win. That is something we had to lay the foundation with because we were so young over the last two years. It's been a lot of fun teaching these guys the first couple of weeks into practice. We have to embrace expectations. That's what you want. You want to put your program in a position to have expectations, for people to feel like you have a chance to win every game. That creates excitement for our basketball team."
When you say Brandon Brown has changed his game, what do you mean?
"He has really become an offensive threat and he understands he can score. He has really worked on his three-point shooting more; his ball-handling is better than it has been; he is stronger and more physical and really he thinks he can take this team on his back and carry them at times. That is something that Ledaryl Billingsley did sometimes in our first season that last year we were still a team-effort. We only had guys stepping up occasionally; I think Brandon is ready to step up game-in and game-out."
Talk about how you are going to counter with teams double-teaming Brandon?
"At this point we are really shooting the ball well and hopefully we will be able to exploit that during the course of the season. Everybody is shooting the ball really well and that has been our nemesis the last two seasons. If people continue to shoot this way, it is really going to open up for penetration, it's going to open up post play for him [Brandon]. Near the end of last season when Nick [forward Nick Sinville] was hurt, people were able to focus on him a little bit because we didn't have that inside presence like we needed. I think with Nick back and being healthy that is clearly going to alleviate that because he is playing very well also."
When you went up against bigger teams last year, that caused problems. Do you see that being solved this year?
"I think we are still going to be an under-sized team when you look at Nick [Sinville at 6-6] and B. Brown [6-8] getting most of the minutes at the four and five. But we still have some big bodies when you look at Ivan [6-10, 220-pound junior Ivan Pjevcevic], you look at Quincy Davis [6-9, 215], who's an incoming freshman, and George [6-10, 235-pound junior George Brown], we still have big bodies to throw in there, and more mature bodies than we have had."
What do you think of the Hornets coming here and how that will impact Tulane basketball?
"I am excited about the Hornets; I can't wait to go to the game tomorrow night. I think it is going to be great for basketball. I have seen more written about basketball and more news flashes about basketball in August, September and October than I have the last two seasons. I think that just puts basketball in the forefront of peoples' minds and it is not always just the Saints, LSU and Tulane football; now we have basketball being talked about earlier and I think that creates more excitement for the game. I think when we play LSU, there is going to be a lot more excitement because, 'Oh, it's basketball season now!" There is going to be a lot more talk about basketball leading up to that point."
Are you excited to get that series with LSU back going? [Tulane and LSU have not played since the 1982 season].
"I feel it is only a rivalry if you play each other, and by playing, it creates a rivalry, it creates bragging rights. The players are going to be excited for both teams. The fans are going to be excited for both teams. The coaches probably won't be quite as excited as both teams, but it's a fun game, and I think it will be fun for everyone. If you look at the excitement Tulane baseball and LSU baseball has created, I think it will be fun for us, fun for the media and fun for everybody else around us. Hopefully the game will be as much fun as the hype."
You mentioned Quincy, how are the new freshman adapting?
"The freshmen [Quincy Davis and Vytautas Tatarunas] are coming along slow. You definitely can tell they're freshmen, especially with a senior-laden team. They don't pick things up as quickly; they are a little bit further behind, but Quincy Davis is going to be a heckuva player. He is very low, a quick jumper, he's got a good reach; we've got to get him in the weight room, get him a little stronger and more physical. Vy [pronounced Vee] Tatarunas is a man; he is a more physical European player than you normally see; he shoots the ball, he is very physical. Those guys, it's going to take them a few guys to get acclimated to this level, but I think they are going to have a positive impact on this program in the course of time."
Talk about your depth for this upcoming season.
"That is something we [the coaches] have talked about. Sometimes we don't know if we're going to have enough minutes for everybody, but that will work itself out as the season comes. I think we can go nine or 10 deep very easily this season, which last year, I was hoping we could do that going into the season, but the freshmen needed a year of maturing; now I see, like [6-5 sophomore swingman] Karl Hollingsworth is really playing well, shooting the ball, understanding what it takes to compete. You look at [5-10 sophomore guard] Marcus Kinzer, playing as well as anybody at the point and really distributing the ball. Those guys were good, but this season you're going to see them being more of a factor."
