Hokie ClubBoth the Tech men’s and women’sbasketball programs held their media days this afternoon, as both gear up fortheir season openers this weekend. The women open on Friday night againstLongwood, while the men open on Sunday afternoon against Brown.
Here are a few quotes from men’scoach Seth Greenberg and women’s coach Beth Dunkenberger concerning varioustopics:
SETH GREENBERG
(On the health of his team)
“I would have hoped that we wouldhave been a little healthier the past few weeks than we have been. But it iswhat it is. Losing Victor [Davila] last week after he had such a tremendousscrimmage was disappointing, but he’s recovering from the flu. He’s actuallylooked really good the last two days of practice. I thought he’d be a littleweak, but he’s looked good. Cadarian [Raines] is slowly but surely roundinginto shape and we’re hoping, with a little luck, that we’ll have him back byDec. 3. JT [Thompson] went full blast yesterday in practice for the first timein two weeks (high ankle sprain). He has a high pain threshold, so we’repleased he’s back. Jeff [Allen], with his knee, thumb and wrist, he’s practicedonly about seven days. We hope he’ll be ready to go on Sunday.â€
(On implementing more motioninto his offense)
“This isn’t exactly a Bobby Knightmotion offense. This is a work in progress. We’re force-feeding it to them atthis point. It’s a continual work in progress. It’s not easy to understand, butit gives them more freedom. With more freedom, there are some spacing issues.You’ve got to make sure you meet the pass, you've got to make sure you’re waitingon screens, and you’ve got to get people the ball when they’re posting up.There’s a lot to it. To simplify, it comes down to spacing and setting goodscreens and waiting on screens. If we’re patient and wait on screens,eventually it’ll be good.â€
(On why he added this elementto his offense)
“I’m doing it to move Malcolm [Delaney] todifferent spots so people can’t mark him as easily. That’s the main thing. Wewant to be less predictable because people are going to add at least an extrahalf of a defender on him.
“I’m doing it, too, because Ithink it will make our defense better. If your offense gets better and you workagainst it every day, then your defense is going to get better.â€
(Does Delaney play the samenumber of minutes at point guard?)
“We’ll play it by ear. I thinkErick [Green] is making progress and he’s going to have to play. One good thing aboutmotion is whether Malcolm is on or off the ball, he’s still going to getscoring opportunities. Whether he’s the point guard or not, once he gives itup, we’re going to get it back to him somewhere. We’re just not going to be aspredictable as to where we get it to him.â€
(On Victor Davila)
“Lewis [Witcher] has had a prettygood preseason, but Victor has probably been our most pleasant surprise upfront. He scores buckets. He makes shots. He’s a big target and he wants theball. That’s why it was disappointing he got so sick – he lost about 12pounds. But I was talking to him Sunday night and he said to me something thatI thought was important. He told me that he was confident, but moreimportantly, that his teammates were confident in him. That was a huge step forhim.â€
BETH DUNKENBERGER
(On the upcoming season)
“It’s an exciting time for us. Wehave very high hopes and great anticipation of an exciting season. For thefirst time in a long time, we have three seniors and two of them were our toptwo scorers from last year, Utahya Drye and Lindsay Biggs. We have 13 playerson our team who are cleared to go and healthy. We’re working hard and very muchlooking forward to our first game on Friday.â€
(On Drye and Biggs as seniorleaders)
“They have taken ownership of thatrole. Our team recently elected captains and they elected those two and NikkiDavis as their three captains for the year. What’s been nice is that when wehit lulls in practice – which every team does in the preseason – they’ve beenvery quick to gather the team up and then I’ve seen the intensity rise. Theyare hard workers who tend to lead by example, but they’ve been much more verbalthan they have in years past. They’ve done a great job of setting highexpectations and holding others to the level that they want to compete at.â€
(On Davis as the third captain)
“As a point guard, you tend to bea natural leader from that spot – it’s kind of like the quarterback on afootball team – and she has assumed that position. I’ve noticed that she’s beenvery active in the offseason as far as setting times for pick-up games, gettingthe girls to show up and keeping them organized.â€
(On the freshmen)
“Alyssa Fenyn has started for usin scrimmages against the practice squad and in the exhibition game, and shehas the ability to go out there and put up 20 points. Aerial Wilson is used toputting points on the board, but she is still trying to find her way. Sheplayed solely at shooting guard in high school and now we’re playing her at thepoint spot. She’s quickly starting to figure out how she can score from there.Porschia Hadley and Taylor Ayers were great rebounders in high school and Ithink they’re both going to find their way to that in college. Right now,Porschia is our first post player off the bench. And Abby Redick is one of ourmost fundamental, solid players. Her numbers might not be flashy, but she is inthe right place 95 percent of the time. She understands what we’re trying to doand she makes players around her better.â€
(On being chosen to finish 12thin the ACC)
“We talked about it once. Everysingle person on our team and in our program is adamant that’s nowhere nearwhere we’re going to finish. We decided that the only No. 12 we’re going totalk about from this point on is Nikki Davis. Talk is cheap and action speaks.We can say everything we are going to do and what we want to do, but thatdoesn’t change anything. It’s up to us to step up and show it, and we startthat on Friday against Longwood.â€