The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Audra Smith Previews Season At Conference USA Media Day
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 11, 2011
IRVING, Texas -- UAB women's basketball coach Audra Smith was on hand Tuesday for the 2011-12 Conference USA Basketball Media Day.
The league's head coaches met with the media at the Fox Sports studios in Irving, Texas, not far from conference headquarters, to discuss the upcoming season, which tips off next month.
Smith's team is coming off a 20-15 season that saw the Blazers win four straight postseason games to capture the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) title. She discussed that experience, her outlook on the new season, and much more at Tuesday's event.
The UAB women's basketball team is exactly one month from its Nov. 11 season opener at Chattanooga in the Preseason WNIT. The Blazers play their lone exhibition game Nov. 4 against UAH at Bartow Arena.
UAB men's basketball coach Mike Davis was unable to attend the event as he tends to an illness within his family. Davis' team went 22-9, won the C-USA regular-season championship and played in the NCAA tournament last year.
The men's team has a pair of home exhibition games, Nov. 3 against Florida Tech and Nov. 12 versus Auburn University at Montgomery, before opening the regular season Nov. 16 against Creighton at Bartow Arena.
Here are some highlights from Smith's day in Irving:
UAB Head Coach Audra Smith
On the WBI championship experience from last year
"Winning the WBI was a great experience. It really helped my kids grow and mature. It gave our team postseason experience that we definitely needed, and I really feel like that's going to help us going into this year.
"It boosted their confidence tremendously. There were a lot of games that we lost in league play where we left some games on the table. We lost by one at home to UCF. We had a one-point loss at Marshall. There were some games where we were right there but just let it slip away. We finished the conference tournament and weren't really sure what kind of postseason opportunity we would have. When we received the invite to the WBI, we were ecstatic to have the opportunity to continue to play. They took it very seriously and put everything they had into it."
On this year's returning players
"We have some very exciting players. Amber Jones is just phenomenal. Not only is she a phenomenal basketball player, but a phenomenal student and phenomenal person. She is exciting to watch. She's a very quick, athletic player that can shoot the 3, create off the bounce and has a lot of versatility.
"We have Karisma Chapman who was all-freshman team last year. She's a tweener type player. I tease her all the time that she shoots better from 3 than she does from two feet from the basket. She can handle the basketball, and we've moved her to the perimeter to give her some experience on the wing because she'll be able to help us a lot more there.
"Khalilah Watson is our point guard and she's my bulldog. She keeps things going and keeps everyone fired up. The junior class along with a couple of our sophomores will be key for us.
"LaShaunda Pratt has been a great leader for us. She's the type of player that has another gear that's unbelievable, and sometimes I have to get on her in practice to get into that gear. She's very athletic, very quick."
On her team's attitude entering the season
"Their attitude completely changed from winning that WBI championship. I was fortunate to have all of our players there for summer school. They worked out diligently with our new strength and conditioning coach. He really put him through the ringer in those voluntary workouts. They're excited about getting started. They're in the gym all the time. Our women's team is very close with our men's basketball team, so we have Amber Jones and Khalilah Watson in there getting shots up with Cameron Moore and Ovie Soko and Jordan Swing. They are really hungry and have proven they want to do really well this year."
On the new rule moving the women's 3-point line back
"The deal with the 3-point line on the women's side is just that whatever line they see, that's where they shoot from. We haven't spent a whole lot of time on it; we've just been reminding them to make sure their feet aren't on the line. We've made some adjustments with our offensive sets in terms of spacing so we'll be in better position when we're coming off screens to knock down 3s behind that new line."
On UAB setting a conference record for fewest points allowed per game
"We stressed last year the need for an identity. I said our identity would be defense. People will know when they play us, home or away, it's going to be tough to score against us. So we mix it up a lot with a match-up zone, man-to-man where we get out in the passing lanes, trapping on ball screens, playing sagging man. We just give people a lot of different looks. The players bought into that when they saw how successful it was. Now the flipside of that is we have to put the ball in the basket a little bit more."
On the newcomers and improvement among the returners
"We brought on two newcomers from junior college that were prolific scorers. (Michaelea Kleist) will be a lot like Karisma Chapman in terms of she's long, lean, can shoot the 3 and can create off the bounce, as well. (Kelsie Weynand) is a three-point shooter that will take the place of Amanda Peterson in terms of being the primary player that we look to in terms of knocking down 3s. We have some kids who have really improved. I feel like with some of the things we'll be running, we'll be able to get more scoring opportunities."
