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Coach P Notebook: Dec. 24, 2007
12/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Hello Blue Devil Fans,
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and gets to spend quality time with the family members they love. All of the Duke team and staff are excited about seeing their families and we hope Santa is good to everyone.
I am sorry for the delay in answering your questions but these last few weeks have been very crazy with travel and some very difficult games. As a team, we are improving and are excited about closing the non-conference action and getting ACC action started after the New Year.
A very nice well-wish from Ashley: A hearty Maine Hello to you Coach P! Well I have enjoyed watching your teams since I was about 8 years old, I am now about to graduate from the University of Maine, as you can imagine I am more then excited about Coach Blodgett being back with us. Best of Luck to you Coach, we still cheer you on up here from the artic north!
Now we will start with questions:
Question from Alex: Hey Coach P! It's Alex G. I hope you're having a good time at Duke. I miss Maddie though. I have a question.... you know that I am small. I can build my strength but I am only going to grow a little more. I'm only 5'4 right now. It's always been my dream to make it big. I want to play for you at Duke and then go to the WNBA. I'm just worried because people are always telling me that it's rare that a shorter person can make it. I know I will have to work twice as hard and I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to do anything. Do you have any advice for me or drills I should be working on that will cover for my height disadvantage? Hope everything goes well this season! GOOOOOD LUCK!
Coach P: Hello Alex and thanks for the question. Maddie says hello. The game of basketball is a mental game as well as a physical game. If I am not a great leaper, I need to focus on my ball-handling skills and be absolutely superb in how I handle the basketball. I need to work on my passing skills in terms of how I set up my teammates. It does not take any amount of jumping to be a great shooter so I've got to work on my shooting skills and rather than worrying about these jumpers and one-on-one play maybe how I come off screens and use screens to be an effective shooter. The three-point line has nothing to do with jumping or athleticism or verticality of any sort. I could be a fantastic three-point shooter. If you look at Larry Bird-- that would the example I would give-- this is somebody who is definitely very tall, not a great leaper, but one of the masterminds of the game of basketball. Physical limitations can always be trumped by hard work, work ethic and a mental focus. All the ball handling drills that you ever learned in camp, all the two-ball dribbling, around the waist, “the spider” and “the figure-eights”-- all the different things you could possibly come up with ball handling would be good drills to work on. Then tons of hours in the gym shooting will help. People are going to be recruited if they can shoot the basketball. There are lots of different levels--- Divisions I, II and III, NAIA--- but it takes an inordinate amount of time to improve your game.
How impressed have you been with the play of Chante Black after missing last year with injuries?
Coach P: Chante is remarkable, period. For somebody to come back after being off so long and to show the kind of timing and aggressiveness and focus that she already shows--- knowing she's still not there yet--- it's phenomenal. To me I see her growth block-to-block and I see her using her shot, which is fantastic, as much as possible as well. I'm very excited for Chante.
Former Duke basketball player Krista Gingrich is coaching your daughter, Maddie. How has that been so far?
Coach P: It's been very frustrating for Maddie because she's had a broken arm. She broke her right arm, her dominant arm, prior to the season and she absolutely loves playing for Krista. This is has been something Maddie has been looking forward to all summer. She just got her cast off and she can not wait to play--- as a matter of fact Dec. 20 was her first practice back after getting her cast off. Krista is a very intense coach, an excellent coach, and Maddie has already benefited from her even though she has been playing basketball in her cast.
In your 16 years of coaching have you ever had to deal with so many injuries with a team?
Coach P: These are funny injuries. In one way we need to be very grateful because these are injuries that players are able to come back from. In my years though I will say I've never had two wings out at the same time-- when Abby [Waner] and Nish [Wanisha Smith] have been out. I've never had that. I've definitely had a post player or two on occasion get banged up in one way or the other. It's been challenging for us but we're very fortunate because Abby was able to come back, Nish was able to come back, Krystal [Thomas] is close to coming back and we're very hopeful we can be back at 12 [players].
With the team still learning a new system, where have you seen the most improvement with them?
Coach P: It takes time. This system's hard. Recently the improvement's been with our ball movement, particularly against Utah Valley with 25 assists and learning how to create. But I really think that our offense being generated by our defense as exemplified by Abby who did such a remarkable thing. I mean to get 10 steals and to be operating at that intensity from the defensive end and to sort of thrust that into her offense with her assists and everything else including her scoring--- I think that's kind of the trademark is recognizing how the defensive end and the rebounding end can sort of promote great offense. I think we've come a long way in 11 games and now we've got to look for consistency, that's the big key.”
Knowing injuries happen and can change the way a team plays, what good, if any, has come from the players being out with injury?
Coach P: It has provided opportunity, this is true. 'B' [Bridgette Mitchell] has been a starter and been able to get that experience as a starter while Nish was out. KJ [Keturah Jackson] as well. We've had a variety of people come in and get playing time and learn what it's like to be a go-to player, learn what it's like to start a game and dictate the tempo-- that's invaluable for our team because now you've got those people coming off the bench still trying to earn minutes but with the wider scope of experience. I think that injuries are tough but you definitely have to make the most of them.
What is the best part of the winter break period and where it falls in the season?
Coach P: The best part is just allowing the student-athletes to be able to rest, recover, heal and focus on basketball and to really take some time with film, individual work, extra work, and extra free-throw shooting-- extra everything can occur now. There are no excuses for anybody and it sort of gets everybody in the right framework of commitment-- the commitment it takes to compete at this level. So we really have to make the most of this time to sort of set the tone before we get back to classes in January.
What do you look for in a recruit? What skill sets are necessary to attract attention from Division I programs?
Coach P: We always look at how they play the game. Are they tough? Are they aggressive? Can they get to the free-throw line? Are they active? Are they vocal? You look for a lot of intangibles. It depends on what your total needs are. Do they rebound? If we're looking for a rebounder. You have to assess what we need and then we go out there and try to find it. I think the most important thing is there are certain things you can't teach at our level--- shooting, shooting confidence, one-on-one play, the ability to score and the scorer's mindset. That is a tricky thing to teach at this level. If somebody has not been a scorer characteristically there's no way they're going to be a scorer at our level. We try to go after a lot of scorers and not all of the scorers will be a scorer at Duke but you've got to start with that kind of foundation--- what I call the take-on artist. Somebody who's savvy enough that they can create their own shots and they understand their game-- that's a good place to start. We can get them shored up on defense and rebounding but those skill sets have to be there.
Do you think part of your losses against Penn St. and Vanderbilt had to do with the fact that you and your team are still getting used to each other?
Coach P: I think there are layers of reasons why we were not successful. I think first of all at Connecticut we suffered with injuries to Abby and Wanisha and I think that hurts obviously a great deal to a very experienced Connecticut team. The problem with the Connecticut loss was I'm not so sure we held ourselves accountable to that loss. Almost like ?we're kind of injured and it didn't work out.' It's not anything anyone says, it's sort of a feeling or action you see as a coach as you witness. And then Vanderbilt, it was a very quick turnaround so we had to be very mentally tough to take out Vanderbilt-- and we weren't. With 2:37 left we were within three points. Something had to happen there to really punch us through Vandy. Krystal got injured in the game-- that was very bad for us-- but still nobody punched, nobody took a punch and we kind of handed that game or I should say almost walked away from that game a little bit. So then everybody had attention at that point. And that attention was everyone was concerned and everyone was angry and motivated and wanting. Well Penn State's pretty good at Penn State if you look at their winning there. When a team shoots 67.0% in the second half... what we found was it wasn't going to relent that the obligation to come ready to play is severe at Duke. There's no not showing up for awhile and we did not show up for the first 20 minutes against Penn State. Now--- some of that's new, yes. Learning to play with each other, yes. Some of that's injuries, yes. But at the same time it's our responsibility to be ready to play and we showed in the second half what we could against Penn State and fell short. I guess what I'm saying is those were a very interesting three and then that was of course excruciatingly painful. Then Penn State's down and everybody's whining and everybody's saying ?wow, wow, wow.' And to me it wasn't really ?wow, wow, wow' it was sort of other teams playing very well and us not playing with a readiness that we needed. That's a fascinating group of three--- it's a very interesting dynamic. All away games, all opponents that played--- with the exception of Connecticut who's been playing well--- I think Vandy and Penn State played above. I just think those lessons have been valuable--- I think we've learned a ton. I think the team and the staff have owned it, learned from it and I think we're better for it.”
More later from Coach P, Happy Holidays!
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