Women's Basketball Hosts Annual Media Day
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Amanda Butler tipped-off the University of Florida's annual Basketball Media Day, held on Wednesday to preview the 2008-09 season and the start of official practice, which begins on Friday at 5 p.m.
Click here to watch Coach Butler's press conference.
The following is a sampling of what Coach Butler had to say:
Opening Remarks:
“We're excited to finally be at the point where we're practicing. I think the best way I could describe our team is that we're ready. Preseason seems like it goes on forever and ever and, for basketball players, we just don't like it. We want to be out on the court, so it's an exciting time for us.
"We take a lot of pride in the strides that we made last year, but by no means are we satisfied with where we ended up. This year's mantra and theme will be “Bigger and Better.” That's where our expectations are rooted. We want to make sure that we're not just competing with the best, but trying to be the best. That is certainly what our goal is.
"There are always a lot of questions about goals, and our goals are much more rooted in a daily work-ethic. On a daily basis, we want to make sure that we're doing the things to achieve the big things that we want to be able to talk about in March. That's really what we're talking about right now – what we are doing daily to achieve those things. We want to know if we are outworking people, how we are working as a unit and, right now, I am very proud of where we are.
"We are a little bit banged up and trying to get some people healthy, but that's to be expected this time of year.
"Our energy is great and our newcomers have brought a freshness and an eagerness that you would expect from new people. We have six new kids and then Jordan Jones, who is transferring, but won't be able to play this year. We have a very solid core of returners that, with the way our league looks this year, are as experienced as just about any team out there. I think there is a huge opportunity in front of us and we're talking a lot about that, but we're really staying focused on the daily process and knowing that our success is going to be rooted in what we are doing daily to improve.
"I think we have incredible depth this year – a weakness that we were able to correct, hopefully, with our recruiting class and the newcomers. I think we're going to shoot the ball better – hopefully with a little bit more consistency and we're a little bit bigger than we were last year, too, which obviously was a very pronounced weakness. We're working hard and know that there's just no shortcut to where we want to go. It's just going to be putting in the effort daily and putting your head on the pillow at night dreaming about big success, waking up in the morning thinking about what you can do to get better, and trying to live a lifestyle of winning. That's what we're doing.”
On whether it is easier entering her second year than entering her first year …
“I don't think easier is a word that I would use, but certainly there is more familiarity there and we're maybe a little more comfortable with one another. At this point last year, we were beginning a discovery process. Certainly where we are this year is past that and we know where our strengths and weaknesses lie, and that's a big advantage from where we were last year. We're trying capitalize on those strengths. We hope we've corrected some of our weaknesses and we don't have to spend so much time getting to know each other. We're there – the trust is built and some of those things that we were trying to form and build on last year, we've already established. We will be able to focus a lot more on the details and eliminate distractions, which was something we were not able to do at this point last year.”
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