Women's Basketball Holds Annual Media Day
Thursday, October 15, 2009 | Women's Basketball
The University of Florida women's basketball team on Thursday held its annual media day, previewing the 2009-10 season that gets underway on Friday with the team's first official practice.
Head Coach Amanda Butler talked with the media on Monday, before departing to participate in the Jimmy B Basketball Classic New York Dinner Auction, while the members of the 2009-10 had their opportunity on Thursday.
The following is a sample of what the Gators had to say about the upcoming season:
#1 Christal Caldwell, Fr., G
On how excited she is to begin practice on Friday …
“I'm very excited. I just love the atmosphere and how everybody around the community is just so involved with the school and athletics. I'm just happy to be an athlete and know that I have everybody's support.”
On why she decided to come to Florida …
“I really liked the coaching staff and took my visit to Florida and absolutely loved it. I just felt like it was the place I needed to be.”
On what she needs to work on most this season …
“I need to work on my shooting. In high school, I was mainly a small forward and worked mainly off my dribble, but now that people are a lot taller than I am, I probably won't be able to do that as much. I need to work on my outside shooting.”
On what has motivated her to be a hard worker …
“I'm motivated by just wanting to be better. Coach Butler always tells me I can be better. If I just keep working hard, I know she will bring that out of me.”
#2 Lonnika Thompson, Sr., G
On what she focused on the most during the offseason …
“I focused a lot on my conditioning and getting back into shape. I've also tried to get to know the other players better on the court to learn things like what kind of pass they like the most and what kinds of screens they like.”
On how playing in the NCAA Tournament last year motivated the team …
“It made us want to work that much harder knowing that we can get to the NCAA Tournament and play against a team that is as good as Connecticut. It makes us want to work so much harder to get back to that and move forward from there.”
On the strength of the teams in the Southeastern Conference …
“Every team is going to be good competition every night out. Everyone has to bring their A games. We really don't know who is going to win what games in the SEC. You might think that one team is going to win, but you never know until the final buzzer.”
On the team's off-season strength and conditioning program …
“We have a new strength coach [Steve Orris]. Steve is a great guy and he worked us really hard. We knew and expected that he would do that, we just had to be prepared for that. I think it's really going to pay off. We're in really good shape heading into the start of practice. I think everyone is doing their best and working hard right now.”
On her excitement for starting practice on Friday …
“I wish we could start practice today. Everyone is excited to start practice. I'm just ready to get out there and learn a lot of new things this year.”
#10 Steffi Sorensen, Sr., G
On the differences for her between last year and this year …
“Last year, I had no idea what the SEC was like. Now that I've experienced it and made it to the tournament, I think I have a lot more experience and have a lot more confidence going into this year. I'm a senior and I want to win and go out and leave a mark.”
On the strength of the Southeastern Conference …
“There's nothing like it. There's no conference I'd rather play in. It's one of the best conferences in the country. There's no easy game. In this conference, it's a battle every night.”
On how having a number of good shooters helps the Gators in 2009-10 …
“I see it as becoming more of a threat to other teams. If you're going to shut down one shooter, that shuts down three or four shooters. I see it as a positive and I think that makes us more deadly. Other teams will have to figure out how they are going to stop us. It doesn't affect me as a shooter. It just gives us an added dimension to that part of the game.”
On how the team can compensate for the loss of Sha Brooks and Marshae Dotson …
“I think the biggest thing is that we have a bunch of new players who are hungry. Losing players like Sha [Brooks] and Marshae [Dotson] is hard, but we have to look forward and focus on what we have, which is a great group of players and a hard-working group of players.”
On her thoughts on the 2009-10 freshman class …
“I know they have a great work-ethic and come out here and play well with us. They've already meshed well with us. I'm excited. I think they're very capable of contributing a lot.”
On the experience level of the 2009-10 team …
“We have a lot of experience, but we also have a lot of underclassmen. I think it's easy to overcome, because once you get that first SEC game under your belt, it's a totally different ballgame.”
#12 Tessah Holt, Fr., G
On what Coach Butler calling her a “true point guard” means …
“It means that I just have to do my job and help the team be ready to go. You have to be the general of the team and not get stripped at anytime. You have to protect the ball.”
On how being on campus over the summer helped her get adjusted to UF …
“It helped me a lot because when I got here, I didn't know when anything was. It helped me get really adjusted to everything.”
On the biggest differences between high school and college …
“The biggest difference is workouts and school work. School work is harder and work-outs are more demanding and it takes a lot of extra work.”
#13 Azania Stewart, So., C
On what the challenges will be for the team this season …
“We're really excited about this season. The challenges are that we have a difficult preseason – we go to Rutgers and we go to Pitt. We just have to be ready for what's going to be thrown at us. I look forward to it because it gets us ready for the SEC season with those hard, tough games and difficult situations.”
On whether or not it has been a long off-season …
“It has been long but, for me, I've actually really enjoyed it because last year I didn't have it. I was coming off my kidney surgery and I was just fighting to get back to regular shape. This year has been kind of different and I have enjoyed it more.”
On what the Gators can do to make up for the loss of last year's senior class …
“Really, we just have to come together and fight in rebounding and putting points up on the board. I think out-hustling other teams and being the aggressor. I think it will be difficult at first, but it will be alright.”
On the 2009-10 freshman class …
“I love our freshmen. They've really just fit in really well. They're challenging me and I'm challenging them, so it has been really good.”
On her personal goals for improvement this season …
“I really have to be a leader on this team and be vocal. I have to show by example. I also really have to put points up this year and rebound and be a solid post player.”
#14 Ndidi Madu, R-So., F
On the SEC's switch to a 16-game schedule in 2009-10 …
“We haven't really talked about it. It's obviously tough, but we're ready for the challenge this year.”
On what she has worked on individually during the off-season …
“I've worked a lot on my shot and my quickness. I've got to be quicker than my defender and I've really worked a lot on that.”
On the team's off-season conditioning program …
“It was pretty intense. We have a lot of speed on our team and that showed up a lot in the workouts. We've been working a lot in the weight room and getting ready to go.”
On freshman Jennifer George …
“I'm excited about Jennifer George. She's very strong and I just like her inside game a lot. I'm looking forward to playing with her this year.”
On what she has learned from former Gator post player Marshae Dotson …
“I talk to Marshae a lot and she tells me to be tough and don't get down on myself. She really just taught me to be confident in myself and my game. That's a big thing that has really helped me a lot.”
#20 Susan Yenser, Sr., G
On the importance of building off of last year's success …
“Last year's motto was 'Bigger and Better' and it's really the same this year. We don't want to go backwards. We're ready to build on that. We want to win a championship and, last year, we didn't win a championship. It's really easy for us to still be hungry because we haven't met those goals yet.”
On how the team will compensate for the loss of Sha Brooks and Marshae Dotson …
“It's really exciting because we have five seniors this year and we have a lot of people who are ready to step up in whatever role that might be. I think we have people who are ready to go, ready for their chance.”
On whether last year's success has raised the expectations on the team …
“People should really expect us to build on what we did last year. I think that if we all continue to buy into Coach Butler's game plan, I don't see anything but bigger and better things.”
On what she has been working on individually during the off-season …
“I've been just continuing to work on my shot. It's really exciting because we have a lot of shooters this year, so there's a lot of team competition and people fighting for playing time. At the same time, we're a team and it's so good to look around and see four or five people in my position that can really get the job done. We're just ready to go out there and play.”
#21 Trumae Lucas, So., G
On the loss of senior Sha Brooks …
“I feel like there are a lot of points and team leadership lost from Sha Brooks. This is the opportunity for me and the other players to step our games up and help our team to win games this year.”
On the difference between her freshman and sophomore years …
“Really, it's just a class. Since my freshman year, I could tell that I have gotten better this offseason before practice even started. I can definitely see myself being able to produce more in a number of different areas this year.”
On what she has worked on improving during the off-season …
“I've worked on being more explosive getting to the basket and always improving on defense because that's the key to winning games.”
On what she is most looking forward to about this season …
“I am really looking forward to getting to play with our new incoming freshmen because all of them have great potential. I can't wait to see how they develop during the season.”
#24 Sharielle Smith, Sr., F
On starting official team practice on Friday night …
“I'm really excited. We've been playing pick-up and doing individuals for the past couple of months now. I'm really excited about practice. We've got four freshmen that are probably more excited than the rest of us because they don't know what to expect.”
On how the freshmen have adjusted to being at UF …
“They've done really well. They came to us in a lot better shape than freshmen usually come in. They've worked really hard and have done well with team chemistry. With us playing pick up, we've learned each other as players over the past couple of months. I think they're ready.”
On the difficulty of maintaining and building upon last year's level of success …
“I think it's not going to be easy, but I think that it's not something that's going to be different for us. That's one of the things that we work on all the time – maintaining the intensity for games, for practice and for everything. For the rest of this season, we have to make sure we don't have those games where we should have won, but didn't. We have to win all those games we should win.”
#31 Lily Svete, Fr., F
On why she chose to come to the University of Florida …
“I just really liked Coach Butler and the whole atmosphere here, including the academics and my future teammates. It just seemed like a really good fit.”
On being on a team with a number of great shooters …
“We've been playing pick-up a lot and everyone has their good days. There's always someone that's hitting that day. There is no one that you don't want to shoot from the top of the key. It's awesome to have so many people who can score from the outside.”
On if having so many good shooters makes Florida tough to defend …
“I think that we are such a threat because everyone has to be guarded at the 3-point line or else we are going to knock down shots. That definitely makes us hard to guard, how to scout and how to defend.”
On the biggest adjustment between high school and college …
“One of the biggest differences is the speed and the physicality. I expected the adjustment, but it's even harder to adjust than I thought. I'm still adjusting every day.”
On what her teammates have told her about playing in the SEC …
“They've said that it's hard and every game is a battle. Azania told me you just go as hard as you can every single minute. When you're in the game, you just give 100 percent for as long as you can.”
#32 Jennifer George, Fr., F
On how things have gone for her at Florida so far …
“It's been amazing so far just with everything – conditioning, academically, basketball. It has just been a lot of fun.”
On why she decided to attend UF …
“I knew that they offered a very prestigious academic opportunity. Basketball wise, I knew they were really doing good things, so it made it a very easy decision.”
On what impresses her most about Florida's coaching staff …
“What impresses me most is that they're great coaches off the court, but off the court, they're so much fun to be around.”
On how she is most looking forward to contributing this season …
“I hope to bring some added rebounding because defense is what I like to do best. I like just being able to stop somebody. Defense is a pride thing. You don't want the other team to score on you and that's what I like best about it.”
#33 Jordan Jones, So., G
On her excitement about returning to the basketball court …
“It's been more than 600 days since I have played in a game. Putting on the jersey today and looking in the mirror today, I thought that it finally feels real that I'm here and about to play for the Gators.”
On how hard it was for her to be away from playing for that long …
“I can't even really fathom that it's been that long. Last year, it was tough sitting and watching and I haven't had to do that for a long time. I'm glad it's finally here. I learned a lot and I'm really ready to just step out there.”
On what she learned last season …
“Honestly, it taught me to appreciate the game that much more and work harder, because that's all I could do is just work hard when I was by myself in the gym. I went back and watched film of my freshman year and tried to see what I could learn from it. Hopefully this year, I will benefit from that.”
On how having a number of strong shooters helps the Gators …
“I think it really puts pressure on the defense. They can't double the post without leaving one of us open. We're going to knock down the shots and I'm excited to see how other teams are going to play us.”
#50 Ebonie Crawford, Jr., C
On how the experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament helped the team …
“It definitely helped us out a lot. It showed us we can reach that level, it just takes a lot of hard work. I think playing UConn kind of showed us that we can play at that level. It was hard work, but we enjoyed it and were very happy to be in the NCAA Tournament.
On what she hopes to improve individually this season …
“This year, I hope to be more of a leader. I'm a junior this year and have a lot more experience. I'm able to show the freshmen things that the coaches expect from us on the court. That's what I've been working on this year.”
On how the transition has gone with the 2009-10 freshman class …
“It has been a big transition because coming from high school, things are so much faster. Having someone there to help them and tell them that I've been through it before has really helped. They're hanging in there really good.”
On the strength of the Southeastern Conference …
“The SEC is the top conference for women's basketball in the country. You have a lot of great talent that has already been here and the SEC has produced a lot of talent that has gone on to the WNBA and professional careers. Those people from the SEC who have been very successful worked hard and that just shows us that we have to work hard to reach that level.”
On what the team's motivation is heading into this season …
“This year, our No. 1 motto is to be the hardest-working team at Florida. Not the hardest working team in the country, but the hardest-working team that has ever been at Florida. I think that if we can reach that goal, then we will go far.”
