The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Men's And Women's Basketball Teams Greet Media
11/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 8, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Coaches and players from the UAB men's and women's basketball programs met with the media today at the annual UAB men's and women's basketball media day function at Bartow Arena. New women's head coach Audra Smith and men's head coach Mike Anderson talked with media members about the upcoming seasons. Both squads get underway with exhibition contests later this week.
Smith, who takes over the helm at UAB after 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia, looks to turn around a women's program with a new attitude, new philosophy and new coaching style.
"When they start playing, I think everyone will be impressed by how good they look and it will be obvious that they worked very hard this preseason," Smith said. "They're all hungry and excited. They're excited about this new style, about this transition offense and about having the ability to get out and push the ball in transition to create an open court."
Smith's team does have the advantage of having two returning starters and seven returning letterwinners from 2003-04, including talented sophomores Carmen Guzman and Crystal McFadden.
Anderson, whose 2003-04 team made a run to the 2004 NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 and won a share of last season's Conference USA regular season title, returns 10 players, including two starters from a year ago. He is confident last season's success will have an impact on this year's team.
"It is amazing when you put the time in and the kids start seeing the results, the confidence sets in," Anderson said. "When confidence sets in, you can tell them to run through a brick wall and they will do it. Winning creates that environment."
Smith and the new-look women's basketball team gets their season underway with an exhibition contest at 7 p.m. CT Friday night in Bartow Arena against the Thavine All-Stars. The men's team plays Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. CT against Montevallo in an exhibition contest, also in Bartow Arena.
UAB Basketball Media Day Quotes
HEAD COACH Audra Smith On the team and the prospects for the season: "I'm extremely proud of this group of young women. They've all worked diligently during the preseason and they've shown tremendous progress through these first couple weeks of practice. As a team we strive to continue to improve every day in every aspect of the game. I've been very proud of them for how hard they've worked, how well they've received me, how well they've received these assistants, how well they've worked together and how hard they are playing for us right now. They're all hungry, they're all excited; they're excited about this new style, about this transition offense and about having the ability to get out and push the ball in transition and create an open court. When they start playing, I think everyone will be impressed by how good they look and it will be obvious that they worked very hard this preseason and in these first few weeks of practice to get better."
On her coaching philosophy: "Our philosophy this season is very simple. We're focusing on playing hard and playing together. Our team chemistry right now is really good. These young women have bonded together, they support each other and we know that we're going to have to have that as we enter the season. We have a lot of games on the road and we're going to have to have strong team chemistry and that we're going to have to play hard and play together."
SOPHOMORE GUARD Crystal McFadden On the excitement entering the season with a new coach "There's a lot of excitement entering this season. Last year we didn't do very well and we just needed a new coaching style. We're excited to see how everything's going to work out this season. We've been working very hard and we're just ready to start playing and see how this season turns out."
On the expectations for the season "I think we can do very well this season. We had the talent last year, but we just couldn't put it together. We have even more talent this year and we should be pretty good this year."
On learning how to win "We really do need to re-learn how to win. We lost a lot of games last year and now we need to get our confidence back. We just need to believe that we can win."
UAB HEAD COACH Mike Anderson On the prospects for the season: "I am looking forward to and am very excited about this particular season. I think, because of what took place last year this is going to be one of the toughest seasons that you are going to see because you go from being one of the guys hunting people to being the hunted. UAB stands for something."
On his goal for the season: "As I always state, my goal is to win a national championship. That's our goal as a basketball team."
On how last season's success can affect this year: "It is amazing when you put the time in and the kids start seeing the results, the confidence sets in. When confidence sets in you can tell them to run through a brick wall and they will do it. Winning creates that environment."
On his team at this point: "I like our team right now. I think they are working hard and they are pushing each other, but we are at the point now where we need to play someone other than ourselves. It gets to a point where you practice with each other, play pick up games and go after each other that you need to play against someone else just to see if coach and the coaching staff know what they are talking about it."
On players getting minutes: "There is quantity of time and there is quality of time, which would you rather have? Quantity means I can throw you in the game for 30 minutes and you don't do anything. Or, I could put you out there for 20 minutes where you get in there you going hard and your stats will be unbelievable. A case in point is Mo Finley. I put Mo in a game for 22 minutes last year and he had 26 points, five assists, and three steals. That's quality. It's not how many minutes, it is what you do with the ones you get. That is the key to our basketball team."
JUNIOR FORWARD Demario Eddins On carrying over last year's success: "Coach keeps telling us that last year was last year, that we have to put it behind us and create a new identity. I think we know that. The good thing is that we have a lot of guys back from last year, so we have that experience and know what it's like to play in the postseason. I'm pretty happy with our team so far."
On taking on more of the scoring and leadership responsibility: "I know I have to step up this year, but so do a lot of other guys. I'm not going to be the main man every night. Sqeaky (Johnson), Ronell (Taylor), Donell (Taylor), Marques (Lewis), everybody . we all have to step up and be ready to contribute when the time comes."
