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After a pair of injury-riddled, disappointing seasons, the Memphis women’s basketball team is poised for a turnaround season in 2003-04. Several talented contributors return this season, but a healthy year out of the squad will also be a key for the Tigers to return to the type pf prominence that the squad enjoyed in the mid-to-late 1990’s.
Tiger head coach Joye Lee-McNelis sat down for a Q and A session regarding the upcoming season:
Q. The Lady have appeared to hit a bump in the road the last two years. What do you think it is going to take to get this program back in the direction of success that you had become so accustomed to?
A. I think the key to this year is that we are going to have to stay healthy. Unfortunately, we are beginning individual workouts, already have two players who are injured. Raven Rogers is out with a stress fracture, and Tamika Butler is struggling with her shins, as well. When you only have 11 players on your roster, you have to remain injury-free in order to be successful. I think if we can do that, then it will give us the opportunity to have a good year. Our junior class of Victoria Crawford, Raven Rogers and Jennifer Sullivan is fortunate to have a great deal of experience since they have had a lot of playing time the last two years from all the injuries that we have struggled with. It is going to be very important for this group to step up and play. Princess Swilley’s leadership is crucial to this team’s success. We are going to have to keep her healthy as well, and hope that she has come back from her shoulder surgery better than ever. I know that she was really excited once she was finally cleared in August to start working out and shooting the ball. She says that she feels really good when she is shooting and that she is confident that this is going to be the year that things really turn around.
Q. You said that one of the keys to success for this season is the leadership of Princess Swilley. What type of leader do you feel Princess is, and do you feel that the rest of the team will respond to her cues?
A. Princess is not a vocal leader. She is a physical leader. She has come to me several times since the end of last season, and has told me not to worry, and that she is ready to take this team on her back. I definitely think that the rest of the players respect Princess, and that with additional vocal leadership from some of our other upperclassmen, we will have the perfect combination of leadership for this team.
Q. Since you feel Princess is not a vocal leader, who do you think will carry that role on the team this year?
A. I see Raven as having stepped to the forefront of being a vocal leader. I think it has been difficult for her since she has been injured, but off the court, when things have come up, she definitely has handled them in a manner that is very respectful. I think her vocal leadership is a must. Jennifer Sullivan and Princess have spoken out some, but I think Raven is the one I would consider more of a vocal leader. Princess and Jennifer are players who lead by example. We are actually going to go through a leadership book by Jeff Jamison to help them to understand the aspects of leadership. Leadership is not just being demanding all of the time. Leadership entails a lot of other aspects of a team. I think this workbook will help benefit them this season.
Q. After having struggled through the last two seasons, what stands out the most as the cause of such difficulty?
A. Injuries. Plain and simple. We have been fortunate not to have many injuries in my first nine years at Memphis. And, in the last few years, injuries have plagued us. In just two years, we have suffered multiple concussions, a dislocated shoulder that resulted in surgery, a torn ACL, a broken hand, a broken foot, multiple broken noses, deterioration of the kneecaps and one stress fracture after another. All of these injuries have made it difficult to have consistency in practice, and have really affected our options for game lineups. Last year, Shannon Hamp and Kaneshi Hart, our two starting post players, were only able to practice three full days out of a week. Then, Kalara McFadyen, our starting point guard was out with a broken hand, and Princess Swilley was only able to practice if needed due to a recurring dislocation of her shoulder. Any time four of your five starters are suffering from injuries, a team will struggle. As for this season, the positive outlook is that some of the younger players have gained some experience while filling various roles at practice and during games, and hopefully it will pay off. All in all, the key to us having any kind of success this year, is for us to stay healthy.
Q. You lost four seniors from last year’s squad, including your strongest middle threat in senior Shannon Hamp. Who do you expect to fill the role Shannon leaves behind?
A. I am not sure if replacing Shannon Hamp is possible. However, our younger post players Charity Egenti and Latrice Booker, have made progress over the summer. It is my hope that one of them will be willing to accept the challenge of being a go-to post player.
Q. Even though you have had limited time with the players so far, how do you feel about the three new freshmen coming in?
A. We feel we had some pieces of our puzzle we needed to complete, and we feel strongly that we accomplished that task. We are expecting them to contribute early in their careers. Devin Necaise has really been a bright spot as a combo-guard, playing the point and the wing position. Ashley Dixon is expected to shoot the ball consistently, and Megan Gooch will give us the added fundamental basketball skills we need in the paint.
Q. Typically, the freshmen struggle a bit making the transition to the college game. Do you feel Ashley, Megan and Devin will struggle as well, or do you see them jumping right in and fitting in with your system?
A. Sure, all freshmen will have a tough time making the adjustment. But, I believe these three athletes, particularly, have a true passion for the game, and are willing to go the extra mile to help them with the adjustment. I truly feel that we have signed three very fundamentally strong basketball players. I definitely can see all three of these freshmen stepping in and immediately making a difference in this program.
Q. What has the tone of the team been lately? Do you think that all of the players are ready to come out and turn this program around?
A. The commitment to succeed has been excellent. They all were here for summer school, and used the time to work out four days a week in the weightroom, and created their own shooting skills program. It was fun to hear from them while I was on the road in July. I really enjoyed listening to how excited they were about the progress they were making as a team.
Q. What are your biggest concerns heading into the 2003-04 season?
A. Staying free from injuries is my biggest concern with such a limited roster. Currently, Raven has a stress fracture and Tamika is battling leg pain. Hopefully, they will be healed and cleared to practice fully prior to October 18. As for the team, our post game is very inexperienced, and we are going to have to make significant changes in our system in order to compensate for that lack of experience. Their progress will play a major role in the success of our season. I think our game plan will definitely have to change from what we have done in the past, just because we are not as strong and deep as we have been in the past in the post. I think Latrice Booker and Charity Egenti have come a long way and have really made strides to improve their game. I also think Jordie Soso is in better shape than she has ever been in. Her conditioning is something that she really struggled with last year. We also expect Megan Gooch to come in and immediately make an impact. She is really sound fundamentally. She really just doesn’t make many mistakes. She knows where to be. We have been pleased with what the post players have shown so far in individual workouts, but our strength obviously lies in our guard play.
Q. For the first time in the last couple of years, it seems that your one and two guard positions are solid, and you have some depth at those positions. Will you use the quickness of these players to compensate for the lack of experience at center?
A. Guard play is no doubt the strength of this team. We are expecting them to carry us early in the season. We have looked at changing a few of our offensive sets to create more scoring opportunities for them. I really feel that our recruiting class from last year fills a lot of needs for us. We struggled shooting the ball outside last year. We had a few too many slashers – people who put the ball on the floor to get to the basket. Ashley Dixon and Devin Necaise are two really good shooters. They are going to give us some balance in the perimeter game. I think we are going to have to play a majority of our games with a four-guard set. That is very different from what we have ever done in the past. A lot of people out there have gone to this strategy because of the lack of strong post players. In the past, we pretty much have been a post-dominated team. Of the top six scorers in the history of the school, four of them played for me, and all four of them were post players. This year, our post players are just young and inexperienced.
Q. Are you concerned that our opponents are going to double team Princess since she is the biggest scoring threat that we have returning from last year? Do you feel like you have the shooters in place to keep points on the board if she is being double-teamed?
A. I don’t think anybody will be able to drop off our point guard and double team anybody like they have in the past. We had some problems in the past two years because all of our opponents knew that Kalara McFadyen was not going to attempt to shoot the ball very often. That meant our opponents could drop off of guarding her, which meant two players were always defending Shannon Hamp. That is not going to happen with the guards that we have for this year. Devin can, and will, shoot the ball. She is a player with a level of confidence that if she misses three shots, she is going to take the fourth one. She is not afraid to shoot the ball. I think that is a big plus for her. We also have a lot of quickness in Jennifer Sullivan, Raven Rogers and Princess Swilley, and if we go to a four-guard set, our opponents are going to be forced to run with us as we play our typical pressure game. I also think we have a lot more weapons than we have had on the perimeter in the last two years. We have some versatility in our weapons. We are not going to be a team that has to score off the dribble like we were last year. I believe our returning players have really made improvements. Victoria and Jennifer have really worked on their mid-range games. Raven, unfortunately, has been injured, but I think she has really worked hard this summer. Princess will tell you that she is on a mission this year to really be able to go out there and make a difference. I think she has a focus that definitely flows through this team. I think our freshmen are going to look up to those four players, and are going to follow what the four of them set.
Q. You have spoken very highly of your freshmen so far, particularly Devin Necaise. Do you see Devin starting at the point early on with Tamika Butler having suffered with injuries this summer?
A. A lot lies with what is going to happen with Butler with her legs. She came back in very poor condition, and she is going to have to be able to make a comeback. Butler made a lot of progress last season, and she is obviously an experienced point guard and knows our system, but she is going to have to get back in better shape. I think Devin and Butler make a really good team at the point guard position. They are very different. Butler is more athletic than Devin is, and she is a little more risky, and is going to take a few more chances out there. Devin is more of a conservative point guard. She is not going to turn the ball over very often. She is not going to make the plays that are going to get the “oohs and ahhs” out of the stands. Butler will make the kind of plays that will get people on their feet. They are a great combo.
Q. All but one of your assistant coaches is new this season, and Sytia Messer is still relatively new to Tiger Basketball. What is it that has you excited about your new staff?
A. I am excited about our staff. I truly believe we have added different components to make us a strong staff. It has been fun working together discussing the game, and how to better our players as individuals and as a team. I think we have a great blend of people on our staff. Tom Cross brings to us a wealth of experience, having been in the pros. He also brings international contacts, which will help broaden our recruiting. It is also a huge asset in recruiting when you have a former WNBA coach on your staff. Tom is going to work with Sytia on the guards, and I expect the two of them to really work well together. This summer, Tom has been over individual workouts, and it has gone quite well with the players. The players have really enjoyed what he has put in as far as different drills. Brooks Donald is one of the happiest people you will ever meet. I think she can be one of the best recruiters in the country. She has a great personality and has a feel for people. People are usually very comfortable around her. She can communicate with all walks of life, and I think that is huge. She had some experience as an assistant coach at Arkansas-Little Rock and worked with their post players. She and I will work closely with the post players this season. Tyler Williams is our new director of basketball operations, and we are excited to have him with our program. He has a strong background of having worked for the Sports Authority and here on campus. We are particularly excited about the fact that he is a native Memphian and has a lot of contacts in this area. Sytia Messer has been here a year, and she is the veteran of our staff. She brings stability because she knows what is expected. She knows what I want, and what is expected of the players and the program. I think that the players really respect Sytia, having been a former college athlete at Arkansas, and they really respond well to her.
Q. How do you feel about your schedule this season?
A. I think we have a great home schedule. We really have some variety from what we have had in the past. Our tournament is very tough this year with Eastern Kentucky, Ole Miss and Nebraska. We will have to play at our best to continue the streak of winning our tournament alive. We have Vanderbilt coming in here as a very dominating team that is typically one of the top 15 teams in the country. They are a team that we played in the past, but they didn’t want to come back to the Fieldhouse to play, so we had to drop them off our schedule for a few years. Now that they are under new direction, and particularly since they have Ashley Early from Briarcrest High School on their team, they wanted to give her a chance to play in her hometown. We also have APSU on the road this year, which will pose a challenge to this team. APSU is a team that made the NCAA Tournament last year. They are also going to feel like they owe us one because we barely escaped with the win last year. We also have Arkansas-Little Rock on our schedule, and that is going to be a special game for Brooks since that is where she coached last year. They have a new head coach now, and they have some very talented players on their squad. It seems that whenever a team gets a new staff, things start to turn around, so we definitely will not overlook them. Actually, we really don’t have any teams on our schedule that we would consider “gimme-games.” We have put together a tough schedule in hopes of helping our players to become stronger players. I have always been a believer in scheduling tough games in the preseason to prepare us for conference play. I think if you look at our preseason schedule, obviously it is pretty challenging. We are playing teams that played in the NCAA Tournament, the WNIT, and teams that have historically been ranked in the Top 25.
Q. The Tigers and Tennessee Tech seem to have developed a pretty intense cross-state rivalry. You are heading back to TTU this season, what do you think is in store for this game?
A. Tennessee Tech is 3-0 against us. We have really struggled against them because they are very fundamentally sound and they don’t make many mistakes. They handle our pressure defense quite well. I don’t think this season is going to be any different. I think the game is going to come down to the wire like it has the last couple of years. We definitely owe them one, and would like to snap our losing streak against them.
Q. You are heading to Montana for a tournament this season, which is an area that this team has not traveled to as of late. What are your feelings about this tournament, which comes just over a week before starting Conference USA action?
A. The Montana Tournament is definitely going to be a challenge for us. We start off with Idaho, which returns all five of their starters from last year. Montana went to the WNIT last year and won 20 games, so they are definitely going to challenge for the tournament title. Princeton is also a team that can upset anybody at anytime. We are looking forward to this trip, but that trip also begins a string of four straight road games before we return home to open C-USA play with Houston and TCU. Prior to those two tough league games, we travel to Arkansas and Lipscomb. Any time you go to Arkansas, obviously it is a huge challenge. They are under new direction now, and I know they are all really excited about Coach Garner and what she is doing there. They went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and so we expect this to be a challenging road trip for us. We then go on to Lipscomb, and we had fight tooth and nail to pull it out against Lipscomb last year at the Fieldhouse. I think we will all really be glad to get back to the friendly confines of the Fieldhouse to open with Houston.
Q. You have been very complimentary of Conference USA over the years, and how strong the league is as a whole. Do you feel the league is going to be as challenging again this year?
A. Our league is again going to be very tough. I think we are getting to the point that we are just beating each other up in the league. Last year, it was very evident that the level of play in Conference USA has improved tremendously. If you look past Charlotte, the rest of the league was nip and tuck. The middle of the pack going into the conference tournament wasn’t decided until the very last game of the season. I think that says a lot of our league. What also says a lot is that we got five teams from C-USA in the NCAA Tournament. TCU and DePaul are ranked in most of the preseason polls right now. You can’t overlook anybody in this league.
Q. The Tigers have some of the toughest games in the league on the road this year. How do you feel about facing the likes of Cincinnati, Louisville, Tulane, Southern Miss, Marquette, DePaul and Saint Louis on the road this year?
A. Our road schedule in the league is brutal this year. We are playing four of the top five teams in the league on the road this year. I am a little concerned about have three straight road games to end the season. If you look at our schedule, five of our last eight games are on the road. That really concerns me from a tournament seeding standpoint, and the fact that we have typically struggled on the road.
Q. You have been instrumental in the improvements that have been made the last few years at the Fieldhouse, with the most recent being the addition of 900 chairbacks to the arena. How do you feel about playing in the Fieldhouse, and what do you wish more people would realize about how special it is for the Tigers to play in this arena?
A. Obviously, a 90-25 record in the last nine years is pretty awesome. The Fieldhouse has been very good to us, and we have had a lot of success there. It is something that we really pride ourselves on when we bring opponents in here. This building is an old building. It is definitely not something that would win a beauty pageant. But, it is the atmosphere that really counts. It is what our fans bring to the atmosphere and to our players, particularly late in the game, that has really helped us to post such an impressive record at home. I think if you look back at the 90 games that we have won at the Fieldhouse, it would be quite amazing to see how many of those games went down to the wire, and our fans made a difference in the outcome of the game. Our fans are the best out there, and our players really feed off of the energy in crunch time. We are really proud of the fact that we have been able to add the chairbacks to the arena, because it gives the Fieldhouse a little bit of a face-lift. It is amazing what a difference a little bit of paint and new bleachers and chairbacks makes in that arena. |
