The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Norton Participates In Conference USA Media Day
10/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB women's basketball head coach Randy Norton participated in Conference USA Media Day on Wednesday, along with all 14 conference schools in Birmingham, Ala.
Norton, who enters his second season with the Blazers, spent time talking to local and national media about the upcoming season and the conference tournament which will be held in Birmingham in March.
He along with the 13 other C-USA head coaches spent time meeting with print media at the Westin before heading to Regions Field for the Conference USA Digital Network Live Stream. The teams previewed their upcoming seasons as well as discussing the tournament's return to Birmingham for the first time since 1999
The Blazers finished 16-15 overall and 7-9 in league play last season. UAB returns seven letterwinners from last season's team along with seven newcomers. Sophomore Chelsee Black was named to the 2014-15 All-Conference USA Preseason Team after averaging 13.1 points per game a year ago.
The team is in its second week of preparation for the 2014-15 season. UAB will play Truman State at home on Wed., Nov. 5 in an exhibition game before traveling to Florida State for the opening game of the season on Fri., Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. CT.
Below are several quotes from Norton throughout today's media day.
Head Coach Randy Norton
On Birmingham hosting 2014-15 Conference USA Tournament
"I know Jerod Haase and I are so excited for the opportunity for us to host the Conference USA Basketball Tournament," Norton said. "It is an opportunity to show off Birmingham, it is a great city. It is an opportunity to show off campus and Bartow Arena. Whenever you don't have to travel I think it is an advantage, but I think it is an added pressure. We are home and let's go ahead and win this thing. We are excited about it from a women's basketball standpoint just to create a buzz. It gives us an opportunity to start building a fan base for this women's basketball program."
On adding more to playbook in second year
"Absolutely. We are pretty simple. Offensively we are a are a transition team. There is jus the vocabulary, how we teach post play and how we teach guard play, it just doesn't happen over night. The same thing with defensive schemes. We love to press. Last year we weren't able to press like we would like, this year we have the depth. With some transfers and young kids will be able to play more like we would like to play."
On players stepping up as scorers
"I think we are going to have much more balance. Chelsee averaged 13 points last year and I feel like she will score even more than that this year. We have some transfers that worked out with us all season that will be able to score for us this season. Janae Smith, a transfer from Illinois State, in her last year there she averaged 13 points and eight rebounds so she will be an inside prescence for us. Lauren McGraw from Memphis is just a freak athlete. She is going to get those put-backs and drives to the basket. Miranda Burroughs, she is only 5'2" but can really shoot the ball, so I just feel we have core players and will have more balance this year."
On opponents going to the free throw line more last season
"That absolutely bothers us. One of our keys before every game is keeping our opponents off the free throw line. I think part of it is our girls that we inherited were extremely aggressive and with the rule changes we just didn't adjust the way we needed to and maybe we didn't coach them well enough. We are working hard to the play the game it is supposed to be played and keep our opponents off the line."
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