BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech women's basketball conducted a media availability Tuesday morning with Head Coach Kenny Brooks as well as graduate students Elizabeth Kitley and Cayla King addressing local media members detailing the 2023-24 roster, team expectations and recapping the first week of official practices.
The Hokies are scheduled to open their season on Monday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. ET at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum. Catch the team in action since its historic run to the Final Four, with the team unveiling its ACC championship and Final Four banners. The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a Final Four themed bucket hat.
Read below to see what they had to say.
Head Coach Kenny Brooks
Opening statement about expectations:
"Excited about this year. You know, before anybody wants to talk about the expectations, the expectations are no higher than what we put on ourselves and we expect to come out and win. I'm sure the kids have already talked about getting a taste of winning and how it feels. You want to continue to do whatever you can to continue that, get back to that point, and even go a little bit further. So, excited about this year, a new group starting over. But we're really excited about any prospects that we're going to be able to endure."
On competing in the ACC and the Hokies' pod (which includes Virginia, Duke, North Carolina and NC State:
"Yeah, and that's something too when we look at our schedule as a whole. People are always saying you need to play this, you need to play that. I know my program better than anyone, and I know who we have to play. I know that (Virginia Tech's) pod, in my opinion, is the strongest in the ACC. We know what we're going to have to go up against. It's not only that you're playing somebody in your pod. Like Virginia is a rival. You know, Carolina has become a rival. NC State is a rival, and then Duke is becoming a rival, because of the amount of times that you play them. So, we knew that was going to be a challenge for us and last year, I think we went 7-1 in that pod. To be 7-1, you know, during the regular season with that schedule, that's pretty impressive for our group."
On the Final Four run:
"Tremendous year. It also helped in so many ways as far as recruiting. We went to the transfer portal and we were able to get the kids that we got because of our success. And then recruiting, you know, in the future, we're talking to kids now that we're rubbing elbows with the best of the best. The kid will leave us and then they're going to UConn or going to Tennessee to visit and those are things that never would have happened, you know, five, six, seven years ago. So, it definitely changed our program for the better and we really enjoyed every minute of it."
Center Elizabeth Kitley
On returning to Virginia Tech for her final season:
"I think like this time last year I was kind of 50-50 really. Then just as the season progressed, I think just thinking about pros and cons, like the pros were starting to really outweigh the cons. I think the stability here and the relationships I have here are just unmatched. Obviously, that's not guaranteed anywhere else, especially at the next level. So that's mainly what contributed to it. I think now looking back, that's like 110% the best decision for me."
Guard Cayla King
On external expectations:
"In some ways, I think people are trying to see if we can just keep it up and keep doing it. We know we have a lot of talent this year, and we have a lot of potential that we're going to hopefully reach this year. So, we have the pieces to do it, so we just have to almost prove ourselves right, though, not really trying to show other people."
