Butler Leans On Young Roster To Play "Up-Tempo" and "Aggressive" Style In 2010-11
Thursday, October 14, 2010 | Women's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – When Florida women's basketball coach Amanda Butler looks around at practice, many of the faces looking back are new ones.
Over there are junior-college transfers Deana Allen and Lanita Bartley. If Butler looks the other way, freshmen Brittany Shine, Deaundra Young, Jaterra Bonds and Kayla Lewis stare back.
Even when Butler meets with her assistants, there is a new-yet-old face looking her way. Former UF and WNBA star Murriel Page recently joined Butler's staff.
All the newcomers plus six returning players have Butler thinking big entering her fourth season.
“It's really exciting to have the response that we have had the last five practices,'' Butler said Wednesday during UF's annual Media Day. “I just really like what we've seen and I have been really encouraged by the newcomers.
“Our returners have done a fantastic job of taking the reins and leading and guiding those new kids because they know they're going to be a very important part of everything that takes place this season.''
The Gators are coming off their first losing season under Butler. They finished 15-17 after getting knocked out of the WNIT's second round by Miami. With five seniors from last year's team gone and three other players leaving the program, Butler focused on quickly reloading, especially in the backcourt.
With junior Jordan Jones returning at shooting guard – Jones averaged 9.1 points in her first season after transferring from South Carolina – Butler added Bartley and Bonds at point guard.
In the Gators' first five practices, Jones saw an immediate change in the way the Gators are going to play this season.
“It's such a different dynamic,'' Jones said Wednesday. “Last year, the guards that played the majority of the time, we were all shooters. The defenses, it made it kind of easy for them. This year, we have penetrators, we have people who will stop and pull up. This brand of basketball is going to be different than people have seen the last couple of years from Florida.''
Butler used the terms “up-tempo'' and “aggressive'' to describe the brand of basketball she wants the Gators to play.
While the guard play will dictate much of the team's style, the veteran presence is mostly on the inside, where junior center Azania Stewart, junior forward Ndidi Madu and sophomore forward Jennifer George – an All-SEC Freshman pick last season – form a strong nucleus.
Madu doesn't see a repeat of last season when the Gators struggled to score points – they were 11th in the SEC in scoring and 12th in field-goal percentage. A lot of her optimism has to do with the newcomers.
“We definitely have a lot of talent on this team,'' Madu said. “I'm excited to start playing games. We're working hard together and I see us being a great team.''
While the team has worked on its shooting, Jones, the team's leading returning scorer, said defense where much of the focus has been since the Gators started practice earlier this month.
“We're going to play up and down,'' Jones said. “We're going to get out and score. We're not going to slow it down in the half court. We're going to be a scrappy team, we're going to get a lot of hustle plays, and we're going to pressure you.
“We want people to hate playing against Florida.''
The new attitude on the court appears to have a match off the court. As the returning players discussed the upcoming season on Wednesday, nearly all of them mentioned how this year's team is more united and focused.
“It is a completely different chemistry,'' Stewart said. “And [the newcomers] are young, vibrant, and ready to work. They just want to win and they'll do anything to win, and that's what I love.”
That's the kind of talk Butler likes to hear. A former UF player, Butler has won more games in her first three seasons (58-39) than any coach in school history. Still, after going from 24 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance two years ago to 15 wins last season, Butler went to work on revamping her roster and creating a new attitude.
She hopes all those new faces add up to more wins.
“The freshmen have done a great job of acclimating themselves to our expectations,'' Butler said. “They're eager and just little sponges. From a coach's standpoint, that's what you want – kids that you have to kick out of the gym, not ones that you have to drag in.
“We don't have goals that change every year. We're trying to be the best. Our kids' heads' are in the right places.''
