2023/24 Summit Media Days Oct 10

[kiyoat]

Happened today in SF.  On the women's side, they brought in an Omaha-based sports podcast/ media group called Hurrdat Sports to do the coach/ athlete interviews!  

Here's the whole video (25 min):



The video above was the "live feed" and I think it might be a little not working...

They are also releasing separate videos for each coach and player, but have yet to release the USD ones.

[captaincoyote]

Grace and Carley picked pre-season all conference. Madison Grange is going to also light it up and Demers will improve greatly.

[marco]

I watched Kacie play a few times nice player but Grace is better

[captaincoyote]

Oct 10, 2023 17:05:09 GMT -6 marco said:

I watched Kacie play a few times nice player but Grace is better

IIRC Grace had MVP stats last year outside of team W/L record.

[kiyoat]

Hurrdat sports was releasing individual interviews a few at a time, and I think they did Kayla's last.  Kinda lost track of it....  Not sure why Grace's interview wasn't released separately, like they did with some of the other teams?

Anyway, here it is:



All of the other Summit WBB coach/player interviews can be found here:


www.youtube.com/@hurrdatsports/videos

[kiyoat]

They finally put Grace's interview up:




On being named preseason All-Summit:
"It feels nice to be recognized, but at the same time, teams that aren't ranked at all could come out and beat everybody.  So it really has no influence on us."

On having a target on your back as a player:
"...If someone's guarding me really well, or multiple people, ... someone's gonna be open... someone else is gonna have a great shooting day... It's nice to just be very dependent on my teammates and trust them."

On playing with pace:
"I love it.  I love playing fast... You'll see, I'm a very: Go, Go, Go! type of player.  Last season it was hard with less players... you can't sprint the whole game.... My coaches were like: SLOW DOWN!... So now it's so nice to be able to just go out and push the ball, run the court.  In the offseason we all worked on that... we're back to our old ways, and it's very exciting."

Has developing your 3-point shot been a focus?
"Um... I would say yes.  It's just about reps, at that point.  Making sure you get in the gym every single day.  Even if it's for five minutes.  Go touch a basketball- type of thing.  Even for confidence.  I know it helps my confidence if i've touched a basketball yesterday on our off day.  I know I'm gonna shoot good today.

On bringing in new players into your team culture:
"Two weeks in (transfer players) were calling me like: 'Let's go and get ice cream' ... We're all just best friends, and we would do anything for each-other.  That's the type of culture we have."

On growing into a leadership role:
"It was definitely a struggle at first.  I was not the most talkative person, especially my freshman year.  In my Sophomore year, in my opinion, I led by example more than talking.  I slowly developed into more of a talkative, communicative role." 

[kiyoat]

I know this is more of a Summit League than a USD WBB thing, but I did like AJ's answer to a question during his interview:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyp1kPkGOR4

What is it about North and South Dakota why there are so many competitive women's teams from here?

AJ: "I think it goes back to before I started coaching.  I think women's basketball in this area was always incredibly strong.  Back in the Division-II days, the NCC.  National champions came from the NCC.  They are used to filling arenas.  They are used to following women's basketball.... The high school basketball in this area is fantastic.  There are a bunch of elite women's players in Division-II and NAIA that are from this area.  For us, it's about capitalizing on those things that have always been here... So tradition and the talent in the area have a lot to do with (current) success."