K-State Women’s Basketball Hosts Annual Media Day
Oct 15, 2019 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – Kansas State women's basketball hosted its annual media day on Tuesday at the Ice Family Basketball Center. Head coach Jeff Mittie and all members of the 2019-20 K-State women's basketball roster spoke with the media.
The following quotes are from Mittie's press conference, as well as selected quotes from K-State student-athletes.
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening statement…
"We've been going a couple weeks now, I think it's been pretty solid. I think our group is working hard, we've made good progress in the two weeks. I'm optimistic about where we started at and where we've gotten to in a couple weeks. Having some players back healthy has added to that depth, I like what I see. I thought today, in terms of just getting to today's practice, coming off the weekend, we've been grinding pretty hard here - I thought they were fantastic. I really thought their energy, their communication was better. I felt like our transition defense improved. I felt like our transition attack continues to get better. We did not start on the very first day that we could start. People have asked me that. We get 30 practice days with the 40 days prior to our games, but one of the things we kind of have to do is save a few of those for Peyton. We have to hold a few of those back so we can utilize them as we get her. What that does to you is that you just don't have that many days off, you have to string five or six straight practices together and there's some fatigue in that, but our group has handled it pretty well and made good strides."
On comparing this squad to the 2016-17 team which was also picked to finish fifth in the Big 12…
"We're depth-wise, similar to that team. We've got a center that I think is an up-and-comer in Ayoka Lee, that will give us somebody that we can throw it in to. We return our best player in Peyton
(Williams) so there are some similarities.
"What I would say about being picked fifth, quite honestly I was a little irritated we were picked fifth, I think we're better than that. Whether we are, we'll see. I never feel like people respect our players enough. Part of it is recruiting, we're a little more north than the league so maybe our recruits are under the radar. Preseason polls, you don't get too caught up in them, obviously the goal is where you finish at throughout the season. What I do think, and the challenge of the preseason poll, this is what irritates me is our goal is to advance in the tournament, but not only advance in the tournament to be one of the top 16 teams to host. You get a perception that if you start higher, you start higher in that chain. You still have to prove it on the court. All of it matters, it certainly matters to recruits. We're on the radar, but we've got our opportunities ahead of us, I like our schedule, to prove that, so we'll see."
On adding a grad transfer point guard filling a void…
"We're excited about (Angela Harris). Part of that was the injuries, kind of the unknown of Cymone Goodrich coming off of injury. We had Savvy Simmons that had a wrist surgery over the summer, you just don't know how those are going to respond. I was concerned about our depth. Both have come back healthy so its really increased our depth and competition. I would not know who the starting lineup is today. That would be the one thing I would say that is a little bit different than that 2016-17 season - you pretty much knew who the lineup was then. Right now I would tell you that we're not clear right now."
On what Angela Harris brings...
"Defensively, really gets after it one on one. Had 93 steals a couple years ago. She shoots the three very well, hit 85 a couple years ago, hit 50 something last year. She consistently has done those two things. What I'd like to see better out of her is push the tempo and really get our transition game going. That's been an area that we need to see her do better."
On Cymone Goodrich's progress...
"I've seen Cymone defend better, I've seen Cymone make plays in the open floor better. I've seen a maturity about her that's obviously different than a couple years ago. Cymone's a pretty quiet kid, to get her to improve those things, she doesn't say a whole lot, but those things are getting much, much better. She's worked hard to get back, everybody's rooting for Cymone to be healthy this year. She had a really good practice today, and has continued to practice very well. Like a lot of freshmen, she was up and down, practice was good, some days not so good, and then she had the injury take its toll last year. We're just hoping that she's healthy."
On Emilee Ebert…
"She's been a little bit hampered, but we're excited about her. She really hasn't been able to go full strength at all yet, but we are excited that it looks like tomorrow it looks like it'll be her first day to start and really get going. She's been able to shoot and do some things. We were excited about her in the summer. I liked what I saw in the summer. We're just going to have to see how quickly she progresses. Obviously, her being out of practice has set her back a little bit, but she seems to be a quick learner, learned things pretty well in the summer and I think she's got a bright future."
On Ayoka Lee returning...
"She's had a great start, great start. The thing that I love about Yokie is whatever drill we throw her into, it might be a guard drill, she just does it to the best of her ability. Last year I challenged her to watch film on players like Kalani Brown and watch how they'll get out to the three and contest a three. Many times last year when she finally got healthy in February, we were making her guard guards out there just to get her moving. She's doing some really, really good things. When you talk about offensively, she's going to be a player we're going to be able to throw it into and trust that she's going to make good things happen."
On Emilee Ebert...
"She didn't miss any in the summer, but she started having a nagging injury that we couldn't get figured out. We thought rest was going to solve it and rest didn't. We had to do a couple different things and we do think we have a handle on it. She told me she feels the best she's felt. She was actually practicing in the summer in quite a bit of pain. She told me she feels the best she's felt, and so Thursday is going to be an exciting day for her.
"It's hard to say (what role she'll play). When you've missed the first two and a half weeks of practice, you're a freshman, we're just going to have to wait and see."
On filling the gaps created with the graduation of Kayla Goth...
"We've got great competition at the point guard spot right now. Obviously when you lose a player like (Kayla) Goth that you can pretty chalk up anywhere between 13-20 points per game, chalk up the amount of assists, I don't think w';re going to replace that with one player. We need all of our players to make improvements on assist to turnover ratio and our group has been working hard to do that. I don't think it's just one player that's going to fill the role of goth, I think there will be multiple players do that."
On Rachel Ranke's game going forward…
"I see great improvement in Rachel on the defensive end. I see great improvement with Rachel being able to make more plays in the full court, being able to make plays at the rim. What's great about Rachel is she thinks every shot is going, what's bad about Rachel is she thinks every shot is going in. The challenge for our coaching staff is to make sure Rachel knows which shots have the best chance to go in and get her to have the discipline to do that. I love the gunslinger mentality that she has, but we have to harness that a little bit. She's worked really hard. The three-on-three tournament that they went out to in New York has greatly improved that group. We've spent a lot of time three on three, but I've seen Rachel make more strides in that area as well.."
On core coming back…
"When you have that, one you feel like you know where scoring is going to come from. You feel like you know what you are going to get from your group and that is always a positive. The other positive about that is you can probably expand your team because you know you have these things that you know that you can go to. While we haven't had Peyton hardly at all, we had her for one workout last week and a shooting workout, I can tell you that the one workout that she was in, you can tell she's an improved player coming off the Pan Am Games. Her confidence is sky-high right now. Her aggressiveness is at another level. That will be fun to get with our group. We can be a very deep team, one because we're practicing without her, so players are getting every rep. Players like Laura Macke are getting every rep. Players like Emma Chapman are getting a bunch of reps at that spot. They have really come on strong. I'm really looking forward to where this thing shakes out. I haven't whittled down the roles right now, but at some point we are going to have to do that to play within the strengths but right now we aren't there yet..
On the progress of replacing Kayla Goth's leadership…
"If you would've asked me a week ago it wouldn't have been a very good answer because I didn't like the way we were responding to the runs of the male practice players on our team or bad plays by us. I didn't feel like we had that togetherness on the floor. I have seen tremendous strides in the last three days of our practices. We don't have one player that's doing it, it's a collective effort, but I've seen big strides in that. I think Angela (Harris) has made good strides in that. I think it's hard to come as a grad transfer, even though you have all that experience, your experience is with other players and a different team. I think she's started to exert those things. Chrissy Carr has really started to have a better voice. Ayoka Lee is a really steady one. I'd put her in the category of Peyton Williams in that Yokie is super steady, you know what you're going to get every day, she never has a bad day. She comes in and has a voice in those huddles, we're seeing big improvement there."
On accelerating the leadership…
I think we're having a lot more conversations with them. One of the things I changed with them this year, is our players watch ten minutes of film every day with a member of the coaching staff. I think having those conversations instead of in a big team film session, they are coming by every day for ten minutes. It is not always the same coach. Most of the time I will take the point guards, but obviously if I have a speaking engagement or something, they go to Coach (Chris) Carr. If Coach O (Brian Ostermann) has got something else, then I will take three or four of those players. I've really enjoyed that. I've enjoyed it as a coach, just to spend a quick ten minutes with them. I think it has helped us out on the floor. I felt the need to do that every single day with them, because I just didn't feel like having team sessions because players don't always ask the same questions in a team film session. I think one-on-one has been much better for us."
On Chrissy Carr's next steps to take this season…
"She's made great strides, worked extremely hard. I'm really excited about her sophomore season here. I think her passing is much better. She's worked extremely hard in the weight room, she's as physical of a guard as we've had. We know her ability to score, but I think she'll be a three-level scorer this year. It's exciting to draw that up as to how we can utilize her even further. We're at the very early stages of this offense with where these players are fitting into, but I like where she's at with it. We're moving her all over the floor because I think she's got the capability to be moved all over the floor."
On Emma Chapman…
"She's probably been the surprise of practice. She picks things up incredibly well. She's gotten the opportunity with Peyton being with volleyball. Her defense is fantastic, she sees things quickly. The physical part, she's got to get stronger, got to be more physical. She's got to handle physical play better, that's (strength and conditioning coach) AJ Kloss' job to get her to be stronger in the weight room and its our job to get her to play as physical as she can when she's out there. She's got a knack for doing things that - you know she was a high jumper in high school - this is a 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 player that's got a knack for jumping off of one foot and figuring it out. You're kind of always like, 'That was an interesting move' and yet it goes in and she'll do it again. I've been really pleased with her. She's got to rebound better at her spot, got to rebound better. I think that comes with the timing and playing off of contact better, physicality, all those things. We've been very pleased with her. Defensively is where she sees things so quickly. She's got a knack for both her player and has a knack for help early and that's pretty good for a freshman."
On 3-point shooting…
"We need to make more threes. I think shot selection has been an issue for us at times. You're not going to make a ton if you're shooting bad threes. I've said depth a lot, but this has the potential to have as many 3-point shooters out on the floor as we've had. Especially with the expansion of Peyton's game to the 3-point line late last year. Laura Macke, first scrimmage we had against the guys, hit two threes. That's an expansion of her game. Angela Harris, we've talked about her, she's hit quite a few threes in her career, so we have the potential to be a better 3-point shooting team."
On potential redshirts…
"I will say this, Jada Thorpe is out for the year. She sustained an injury probably four weeks ago, so she is out for the year. She will take a redshirt. But beyond that, no. No decisions have been made on anything else (redshirt related), and I still think we're a ways away from those kind of decisions. We don't have the football rule, though, so we don't have a four-game window. We have the two exhibition games for freshmen and then we don't have that rule like football does. The biggest challenge for us is to kind of figure out where everybody fits best together. Because we have as much depth as we've ever had, competition is really fierce right now. It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. I don't think it's going to be a four-week thing. I think it's probably a little longer than that. Maybe by Thanksgiving this will shake out, but competition is pretty stiff right now, especially in spots you would say, 'Who's your seventh, eighth, ninth (players)? Who's getting those kind of minutes and at what spot?' That's probably the biggest thing we have to get figured out."
On finding identity with so much depth…
"One of the things we've talked about is the amount of returning players and having your best player back. Part of your identity has to be that Peyton Williams has to get touches. So, playing through her is going to be part of our offensive identity, and everybody knows that. That's not going to be a big secret amongst the league or any of our non-conference opponents, but how we do that will be what we establish. Now, I have wanted this team to play faster. I did not feel like we scored easy last year. I did not feel like we had a mentality to score early in the shot clock and score easy. That has been a big focus of our early practices. Are we doing it? Well, it's not easy to score against the male practice squad. That's where it's a little bit hard to evaluate. I will tell you that we've scored it easier in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock than we did at any time last year."
RACHEL RANKE, JUNIOR GUARD
On being picked fifth in Preseason Big 12 Coaches' Poll a sign of more respect...
"I think yes and no. Being ranked fifth, that's middle of the conference. We want to be on top of the conference. So, it is what it is. We think we're better than five, so we're going to take five as something light to us. We're better than five, so we just have to prove ourselves now."
On having a big group of experience back…
"It's good to have a team full of mainly returners because we know the system. We can take the younger ones underneath our belt and show them the way we do things around here. They've been perfect so far. They're really good at listening. They work hard, and they've been really good for us so far."
On importance of team's 3-point shooting this season…
"I think it'll be critical. The way that we're running the ball, we're moving at a little bit of a faster pace this year. We're getting our guards out right away. We want to get quick shots in transition. It's going to be pretty big for us this year."
On 3-point shooting opening up space for Peyton Williams…
"I think it'll be good because it'll allow other players to come out and guard our shooters, like me, Chrissy, Cymone and everybody else that shoots on our team. It's going to open up more because they're going to be more drawn to us. It'll definitely help out Peyton on the inside."
JASAUEN BEARD, SENIOR FORWARD
On biggest takeaways from last season…
"Some of my biggest takeaways would have been that I learned that my athleticism doesn't get me as far as it used to in different leagues. In the BIg 12, everyone is just as athletic or more, just as skilled or more, taller and all that stuff. So, I had to learn more control, I would say, and I had to learn more about my basketball IQ instead of just trying to get stuff off athleticism. For example, blocking out before just jumping for a rebound because we have people who have long arms just like me or are a lot taller and can just reach over me and grab the rebound. I had to adjust in that way."
On ups and downs of last season…
"I think we took away from those losses and getting down a lot, we started to come together more as a team. For example, a key game was the KU game here. It was definitely one of those games we shouldn't have lost, but it was one of those turnaround games where we played Texas and we were able to use the KU game and a loss to get us back up. I think we needed those down points because it helped us as a team to grow together and learn how to not be individuals and be a team, to come together and be up again."
On what big wins against teams like Texas do for team's confidence…
"Personally, not even the wins against Texas show that we can compete with the best in the conference. I, personally, think us playing at Baylor and being up 13 at Baylor, even though we lost the game, that showed we can compete with them. I feel like us coming back with everyone, with the exception of two great assets that graduated, we should be really good this year. Our effort is getting better. We're more disciplined. I think we're growing, mentally, as a team, because we were pretty young last year. But, now, we're not so young anymore. We've grown in maturity."
ANGELA HARRIS, GRADUATE TRANSFER GUARD
On the adjustment from Houston to K-State…
"Coming from being at home and never living away from home, it's definitely been a big adjustment. I think I've adjusted to it well because I played three years at another school, so I already experienced the college life. It hasn't really affected me a lot, but it's been a change."
On balancing leadership role being new and a veteran at the college level…
"It's kind of hard because you're coming in and you only have one year to make an impact on this team. I think I've done a good job of getting to know every single player and knowing what they like and where they like to have the ball and what puts them in a good position to be a good basketball player on this team. I think I've meshed well with them. They are some really good teammates, probably the best teammates I've had in a long time. Overall, the chemistry here and the desire to win and be great is crazy."
On how you play the game…
"Just hard-nosed and tough. I'm going to try to get up in the other team's point guard, if I can. Offensively, I'm looking for the open shot. If I have to drive, I'll take it. I'll dish it if I have to, so just being a hard-nosed player. I guess you could call it blue collar and a hard worker."
CYMONE GOODRICH, REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE GUARD
On leadership development throughout the roster…
"I think Rachel (Ranke) has really tried to step up into a leadership role, but we also have Peyton (Williams). Once she comes back, I'm sure she'll help out a lot. Rachel has definitely tried to pick up on the leadership role, but it's also a process for her and she's learning. Everybody, our whole team, is trying to help each other out as much as they can. We're just trying to listen to each other, help each other out, whether it be defense, offense, communicating, but Rachel has definitely stepped up."
On competitiveness of this team…
"Very competitive. We're definitely very competitive with each other, but we also want the best for each other at the end of the day."
On depth of this team…
"There's a lot of depth. We have people who can play multiple positions. Laura can play probably all the spots. I think, for us, we have people who can play multiple positions and excel in that spot. I would say we're (looking) pretty good right now."
The following quotes are from Mittie's press conference, as well as selected quotes from K-State student-athletes.
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening statement…
"We've been going a couple weeks now, I think it's been pretty solid. I think our group is working hard, we've made good progress in the two weeks. I'm optimistic about where we started at and where we've gotten to in a couple weeks. Having some players back healthy has added to that depth, I like what I see. I thought today, in terms of just getting to today's practice, coming off the weekend, we've been grinding pretty hard here - I thought they were fantastic. I really thought their energy, their communication was better. I felt like our transition defense improved. I felt like our transition attack continues to get better. We did not start on the very first day that we could start. People have asked me that. We get 30 practice days with the 40 days prior to our games, but one of the things we kind of have to do is save a few of those for Peyton. We have to hold a few of those back so we can utilize them as we get her. What that does to you is that you just don't have that many days off, you have to string five or six straight practices together and there's some fatigue in that, but our group has handled it pretty well and made good strides."
On comparing this squad to the 2016-17 team which was also picked to finish fifth in the Big 12…
"We're depth-wise, similar to that team. We've got a center that I think is an up-and-comer in Ayoka Lee, that will give us somebody that we can throw it in to. We return our best player in Peyton
(Williams) so there are some similarities.
"What I would say about being picked fifth, quite honestly I was a little irritated we were picked fifth, I think we're better than that. Whether we are, we'll see. I never feel like people respect our players enough. Part of it is recruiting, we're a little more north than the league so maybe our recruits are under the radar. Preseason polls, you don't get too caught up in them, obviously the goal is where you finish at throughout the season. What I do think, and the challenge of the preseason poll, this is what irritates me is our goal is to advance in the tournament, but not only advance in the tournament to be one of the top 16 teams to host. You get a perception that if you start higher, you start higher in that chain. You still have to prove it on the court. All of it matters, it certainly matters to recruits. We're on the radar, but we've got our opportunities ahead of us, I like our schedule, to prove that, so we'll see."
On adding a grad transfer point guard filling a void…
"We're excited about (Angela Harris). Part of that was the injuries, kind of the unknown of Cymone Goodrich coming off of injury. We had Savvy Simmons that had a wrist surgery over the summer, you just don't know how those are going to respond. I was concerned about our depth. Both have come back healthy so its really increased our depth and competition. I would not know who the starting lineup is today. That would be the one thing I would say that is a little bit different than that 2016-17 season - you pretty much knew who the lineup was then. Right now I would tell you that we're not clear right now."
On what Angela Harris brings...
"Defensively, really gets after it one on one. Had 93 steals a couple years ago. She shoots the three very well, hit 85 a couple years ago, hit 50 something last year. She consistently has done those two things. What I'd like to see better out of her is push the tempo and really get our transition game going. That's been an area that we need to see her do better."
On Cymone Goodrich's progress...
"I've seen Cymone defend better, I've seen Cymone make plays in the open floor better. I've seen a maturity about her that's obviously different than a couple years ago. Cymone's a pretty quiet kid, to get her to improve those things, she doesn't say a whole lot, but those things are getting much, much better. She's worked hard to get back, everybody's rooting for Cymone to be healthy this year. She had a really good practice today, and has continued to practice very well. Like a lot of freshmen, she was up and down, practice was good, some days not so good, and then she had the injury take its toll last year. We're just hoping that she's healthy."
On Emilee Ebert…
"She's been a little bit hampered, but we're excited about her. She really hasn't been able to go full strength at all yet, but we are excited that it looks like tomorrow it looks like it'll be her first day to start and really get going. She's been able to shoot and do some things. We were excited about her in the summer. I liked what I saw in the summer. We're just going to have to see how quickly she progresses. Obviously, her being out of practice has set her back a little bit, but she seems to be a quick learner, learned things pretty well in the summer and I think she's got a bright future."
On Ayoka Lee returning...
"She's had a great start, great start. The thing that I love about Yokie is whatever drill we throw her into, it might be a guard drill, she just does it to the best of her ability. Last year I challenged her to watch film on players like Kalani Brown and watch how they'll get out to the three and contest a three. Many times last year when she finally got healthy in February, we were making her guard guards out there just to get her moving. She's doing some really, really good things. When you talk about offensively, she's going to be a player we're going to be able to throw it into and trust that she's going to make good things happen."
On Emilee Ebert...
"She didn't miss any in the summer, but she started having a nagging injury that we couldn't get figured out. We thought rest was going to solve it and rest didn't. We had to do a couple different things and we do think we have a handle on it. She told me she feels the best she's felt. She was actually practicing in the summer in quite a bit of pain. She told me she feels the best she's felt, and so Thursday is going to be an exciting day for her.
"It's hard to say (what role she'll play). When you've missed the first two and a half weeks of practice, you're a freshman, we're just going to have to wait and see."
On filling the gaps created with the graduation of Kayla Goth...
"We've got great competition at the point guard spot right now. Obviously when you lose a player like (Kayla) Goth that you can pretty chalk up anywhere between 13-20 points per game, chalk up the amount of assists, I don't think w';re going to replace that with one player. We need all of our players to make improvements on assist to turnover ratio and our group has been working hard to do that. I don't think it's just one player that's going to fill the role of goth, I think there will be multiple players do that."
On Rachel Ranke's game going forward…
"I see great improvement in Rachel on the defensive end. I see great improvement with Rachel being able to make more plays in the full court, being able to make plays at the rim. What's great about Rachel is she thinks every shot is going, what's bad about Rachel is she thinks every shot is going in. The challenge for our coaching staff is to make sure Rachel knows which shots have the best chance to go in and get her to have the discipline to do that. I love the gunslinger mentality that she has, but we have to harness that a little bit. She's worked really hard. The three-on-three tournament that they went out to in New York has greatly improved that group. We've spent a lot of time three on three, but I've seen Rachel make more strides in that area as well.."
On core coming back…
"When you have that, one you feel like you know where scoring is going to come from. You feel like you know what you are going to get from your group and that is always a positive. The other positive about that is you can probably expand your team because you know you have these things that you know that you can go to. While we haven't had Peyton hardly at all, we had her for one workout last week and a shooting workout, I can tell you that the one workout that she was in, you can tell she's an improved player coming off the Pan Am Games. Her confidence is sky-high right now. Her aggressiveness is at another level. That will be fun to get with our group. We can be a very deep team, one because we're practicing without her, so players are getting every rep. Players like Laura Macke are getting every rep. Players like Emma Chapman are getting a bunch of reps at that spot. They have really come on strong. I'm really looking forward to where this thing shakes out. I haven't whittled down the roles right now, but at some point we are going to have to do that to play within the strengths but right now we aren't there yet..
On the progress of replacing Kayla Goth's leadership…
"If you would've asked me a week ago it wouldn't have been a very good answer because I didn't like the way we were responding to the runs of the male practice players on our team or bad plays by us. I didn't feel like we had that togetherness on the floor. I have seen tremendous strides in the last three days of our practices. We don't have one player that's doing it, it's a collective effort, but I've seen big strides in that. I think Angela (Harris) has made good strides in that. I think it's hard to come as a grad transfer, even though you have all that experience, your experience is with other players and a different team. I think she's started to exert those things. Chrissy Carr has really started to have a better voice. Ayoka Lee is a really steady one. I'd put her in the category of Peyton Williams in that Yokie is super steady, you know what you're going to get every day, she never has a bad day. She comes in and has a voice in those huddles, we're seeing big improvement there."
On accelerating the leadership…
I think we're having a lot more conversations with them. One of the things I changed with them this year, is our players watch ten minutes of film every day with a member of the coaching staff. I think having those conversations instead of in a big team film session, they are coming by every day for ten minutes. It is not always the same coach. Most of the time I will take the point guards, but obviously if I have a speaking engagement or something, they go to Coach (Chris) Carr. If Coach O (Brian Ostermann) has got something else, then I will take three or four of those players. I've really enjoyed that. I've enjoyed it as a coach, just to spend a quick ten minutes with them. I think it has helped us out on the floor. I felt the need to do that every single day with them, because I just didn't feel like having team sessions because players don't always ask the same questions in a team film session. I think one-on-one has been much better for us."
On Chrissy Carr's next steps to take this season…
"She's made great strides, worked extremely hard. I'm really excited about her sophomore season here. I think her passing is much better. She's worked extremely hard in the weight room, she's as physical of a guard as we've had. We know her ability to score, but I think she'll be a three-level scorer this year. It's exciting to draw that up as to how we can utilize her even further. We're at the very early stages of this offense with where these players are fitting into, but I like where she's at with it. We're moving her all over the floor because I think she's got the capability to be moved all over the floor."
On Emma Chapman…
"She's probably been the surprise of practice. She picks things up incredibly well. She's gotten the opportunity with Peyton being with volleyball. Her defense is fantastic, she sees things quickly. The physical part, she's got to get stronger, got to be more physical. She's got to handle physical play better, that's (strength and conditioning coach) AJ Kloss' job to get her to be stronger in the weight room and its our job to get her to play as physical as she can when she's out there. She's got a knack for doing things that - you know she was a high jumper in high school - this is a 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 player that's got a knack for jumping off of one foot and figuring it out. You're kind of always like, 'That was an interesting move' and yet it goes in and she'll do it again. I've been really pleased with her. She's got to rebound better at her spot, got to rebound better. I think that comes with the timing and playing off of contact better, physicality, all those things. We've been very pleased with her. Defensively is where she sees things so quickly. She's got a knack for both her player and has a knack for help early and that's pretty good for a freshman."
On 3-point shooting…
"We need to make more threes. I think shot selection has been an issue for us at times. You're not going to make a ton if you're shooting bad threes. I've said depth a lot, but this has the potential to have as many 3-point shooters out on the floor as we've had. Especially with the expansion of Peyton's game to the 3-point line late last year. Laura Macke, first scrimmage we had against the guys, hit two threes. That's an expansion of her game. Angela Harris, we've talked about her, she's hit quite a few threes in her career, so we have the potential to be a better 3-point shooting team."
On potential redshirts…
"I will say this, Jada Thorpe is out for the year. She sustained an injury probably four weeks ago, so she is out for the year. She will take a redshirt. But beyond that, no. No decisions have been made on anything else (redshirt related), and I still think we're a ways away from those kind of decisions. We don't have the football rule, though, so we don't have a four-game window. We have the two exhibition games for freshmen and then we don't have that rule like football does. The biggest challenge for us is to kind of figure out where everybody fits best together. Because we have as much depth as we've ever had, competition is really fierce right now. It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. I don't think it's going to be a four-week thing. I think it's probably a little longer than that. Maybe by Thanksgiving this will shake out, but competition is pretty stiff right now, especially in spots you would say, 'Who's your seventh, eighth, ninth (players)? Who's getting those kind of minutes and at what spot?' That's probably the biggest thing we have to get figured out."
On finding identity with so much depth…
"One of the things we've talked about is the amount of returning players and having your best player back. Part of your identity has to be that Peyton Williams has to get touches. So, playing through her is going to be part of our offensive identity, and everybody knows that. That's not going to be a big secret amongst the league or any of our non-conference opponents, but how we do that will be what we establish. Now, I have wanted this team to play faster. I did not feel like we scored easy last year. I did not feel like we had a mentality to score early in the shot clock and score easy. That has been a big focus of our early practices. Are we doing it? Well, it's not easy to score against the male practice squad. That's where it's a little bit hard to evaluate. I will tell you that we've scored it easier in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock than we did at any time last year."
RACHEL RANKE, JUNIOR GUARD
On being picked fifth in Preseason Big 12 Coaches' Poll a sign of more respect...
"I think yes and no. Being ranked fifth, that's middle of the conference. We want to be on top of the conference. So, it is what it is. We think we're better than five, so we're going to take five as something light to us. We're better than five, so we just have to prove ourselves now."
On having a big group of experience back…
"It's good to have a team full of mainly returners because we know the system. We can take the younger ones underneath our belt and show them the way we do things around here. They've been perfect so far. They're really good at listening. They work hard, and they've been really good for us so far."
On importance of team's 3-point shooting this season…
"I think it'll be critical. The way that we're running the ball, we're moving at a little bit of a faster pace this year. We're getting our guards out right away. We want to get quick shots in transition. It's going to be pretty big for us this year."
On 3-point shooting opening up space for Peyton Williams…
"I think it'll be good because it'll allow other players to come out and guard our shooters, like me, Chrissy, Cymone and everybody else that shoots on our team. It's going to open up more because they're going to be more drawn to us. It'll definitely help out Peyton on the inside."
JASAUEN BEARD, SENIOR FORWARD
On biggest takeaways from last season…
"Some of my biggest takeaways would have been that I learned that my athleticism doesn't get me as far as it used to in different leagues. In the BIg 12, everyone is just as athletic or more, just as skilled or more, taller and all that stuff. So, I had to learn more control, I would say, and I had to learn more about my basketball IQ instead of just trying to get stuff off athleticism. For example, blocking out before just jumping for a rebound because we have people who have long arms just like me or are a lot taller and can just reach over me and grab the rebound. I had to adjust in that way."
On ups and downs of last season…
"I think we took away from those losses and getting down a lot, we started to come together more as a team. For example, a key game was the KU game here. It was definitely one of those games we shouldn't have lost, but it was one of those turnaround games where we played Texas and we were able to use the KU game and a loss to get us back up. I think we needed those down points because it helped us as a team to grow together and learn how to not be individuals and be a team, to come together and be up again."
On what big wins against teams like Texas do for team's confidence…
"Personally, not even the wins against Texas show that we can compete with the best in the conference. I, personally, think us playing at Baylor and being up 13 at Baylor, even though we lost the game, that showed we can compete with them. I feel like us coming back with everyone, with the exception of two great assets that graduated, we should be really good this year. Our effort is getting better. We're more disciplined. I think we're growing, mentally, as a team, because we were pretty young last year. But, now, we're not so young anymore. We've grown in maturity."
ANGELA HARRIS, GRADUATE TRANSFER GUARD
On the adjustment from Houston to K-State…
"Coming from being at home and never living away from home, it's definitely been a big adjustment. I think I've adjusted to it well because I played three years at another school, so I already experienced the college life. It hasn't really affected me a lot, but it's been a change."
On balancing leadership role being new and a veteran at the college level…
"It's kind of hard because you're coming in and you only have one year to make an impact on this team. I think I've done a good job of getting to know every single player and knowing what they like and where they like to have the ball and what puts them in a good position to be a good basketball player on this team. I think I've meshed well with them. They are some really good teammates, probably the best teammates I've had in a long time. Overall, the chemistry here and the desire to win and be great is crazy."
On how you play the game…
"Just hard-nosed and tough. I'm going to try to get up in the other team's point guard, if I can. Offensively, I'm looking for the open shot. If I have to drive, I'll take it. I'll dish it if I have to, so just being a hard-nosed player. I guess you could call it blue collar and a hard worker."
CYMONE GOODRICH, REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE GUARD
On leadership development throughout the roster…
"I think Rachel (Ranke) has really tried to step up into a leadership role, but we also have Peyton (Williams). Once she comes back, I'm sure she'll help out a lot. Rachel has definitely tried to pick up on the leadership role, but it's also a process for her and she's learning. Everybody, our whole team, is trying to help each other out as much as they can. We're just trying to listen to each other, help each other out, whether it be defense, offense, communicating, but Rachel has definitely stepped up."
On competitiveness of this team…
"Very competitive. We're definitely very competitive with each other, but we also want the best for each other at the end of the day."
On depth of this team…
"There's a lot of depth. We have people who can play multiple positions. Laura can play probably all the spots. I think, for us, we have people who can play multiple positions and excel in that spot. I would say we're (looking) pretty good right now."
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