Charlene Curtis Q&A
12/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2000
Seven players have individual action pictures on the front and inside covers of the Wake Forest women's basketball media guide. When you consider that there have been seasons where the Deacons have struggled to put together a healthy seven-person rotation, much less seven veterans who were expected to contribute at the beginning of the year, you know that depth is a keyword for the 2000-2001 Deacons. Even after a knee injury during an exhibition game ended guard Janae Whiteside's season, Curtis gave 12 to 14 players minutes during WFU's first three games of the season, which brought them a 2-1 record. Gold Rush talked to Curtis about the team on Nov. 28, hours after a 60-52 road win over High Point. The following is their conversation:
Gold Rush:
First of all, congratulations on last night's win.
Curtis:
Any win's a good win. It wasn't a pretty win, but any win is a good win. Anytime we play nonconference opponents that aren't in major conferences, they're going to come after us.
Gold Rush:
Is it a struggle, getting the team's intensity up against teams like that?
Curtis:
I don't know if it was a matter of the team wasn't up. We're still trying to change our intensity level, to take that intensity we play with against Carolina or Virginia and play with that every night. That's a battle I've been struggling through since I've been here. We have to learn to be more intense and aggressive.
Gold Rush:
Is it about making each win even more special?
Curtis:
It is. I learned a lot from the game against High Point. In our opener at Appalachian State, we came out with the intensity we needed, but we only did it for one half. When we had our game here against Western Michigan, we didn't do it the first half. We did it the second, but just ran out of time.
Gold Rush:
Is it a matter of learning how to play 40 minutes?
Curtis:
Well, we need to start the game, set the tone, dictate the kind of game it's going to be. We're still trying to work on our image and know who we are. Once we find that, we'll play like that every night.
Gold Rush:
What would you like that image to become?
Curtis:
This is a team that has the true ability to set a tone with our defense. We can pressure the basketball, cause some steals, and start our offense from the defensive end. That aggressiveness will carry over to the offensive end.
Gold Rush:
And it looks like you've got plenty of players to help with that aggressiveness.
Curtis:
I really believe we have depth. Our quality of talent level has improved. It's moving up. We want it to jump up, but it's getting there. Our returning players have continued to improve, and they have a lot of game experience. We want to give our freshman and sophomore classes with a lot of talent some valuable minutes now. Our depth is one of our strengths. We hope to wear teams out so we have the fresh legs in the final 10 minutes.
Gold Rush:
How deep is your rotation right now?
Curtis:
Right now, we're going with 12. Last night, we played 14 people in the first half. Some people will say that will contribute to inconsistency, but our whole thing is that they all can play, and there's no one player that's so dominant over others. When we do sub, we can sub groups that are used to playing together. That's how we practice every day. We really believe the more players we can get in during the first 30 minutes, the better we'll be in the last 10 minutes.
Gold Rush:
So does that mean a lot of five-at-a-time substitutions?
Curtis:
Close to it. It's not always a straight five sub. We have our starting lineup, I'll sub a little bit within that first six minutes within that starting group, but then I like to go a good four-minute block of time with a group that includes Bianca Brown, a freshman point guard, Tonia Brown, a freshman two-guard, Tracy Alston, a freshman small forward, Tiffani Listenbee is a sophomore, and the center is usually either Johanna Bjorklund, who is a sophomore, or Olivia Dardy, who's a senior. That group, we try to get on the floor together for a stretch of time around the 14-minute mark.
Gold Rush:
What strengths do they give you? Is it a matter of athleticism and fresh legs?
Curtis:
All of that. They're quicker than our starters. They bring defensive intensity. Tiffani gets to the ball, she's getting rebounds now and she creates some things for us. Bianca Brown is very quick at the point. Tonia Brown has some point-guard experience, so when we have her out there at two-guard, it gives us someone else who can make plays for us.
Gold Rush:
Tell me a little bit more about the starting rotation. What kinds of improvements have they made?
Curtis:
Val Klopfer is starting for us at the point spot. She's looking to take more shots this year and is shooting better. She's a steady leader out front.
At the two-guard, Kristen Shaffer is a senior at that position. She had been playing small forward for us for most of her career, but now we're better at that position, we've moved her to the two-guard. It puts a little more ballhandling responsibilities on her, but it allows her to be more of a shooter and not worry so much about rebounding, which is more natural for her.
We're starting Eafton Hill, a freshman, at the three spot. She gives us a presence that I've been wanting since I've been here at that spot. She's 6-foot-1, she runs, she can jump, she can shoot the 3, she can take it inside. She's young yet, but she gives us a size and athleticism we haven't had.
Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick is starting at the four. We're doing some different things with our offense that allow her to get shots at the free-throw line area, which is a strength for her. She's been steady and shooting the ball real well for the most part. She's also providing leadership for us. She still has that fire and desire, and what's neat is the team is starting to be more like her. When I first met her, I thought I wanted all my players to be like her in terms of intensity and drive, and they're starting to pick that up.
At the five spot, LaChina Robinson is back. She's getting better. We're moving her around more, and she's being a little bit more aggressive. She's showing a presence inside, passing the ball better, and we may move her to the high post some as she improves with that. She's also doing better at saying out of foul trouble.
Olivia Dardy is our other senior, still coming off the bench at that power forward-center spot. She's still providing that sixth-man spark, and that's the role she's most comfortable with now. She changes the course of things. She has great hands. She's rebounding, she's an excellent passer. She can score inside, power the ball in, turn and shoot, she can shoot the 3. She's still recovering from her knee surgery in terms of her fitness. She's working her way back to 100 percent. She also works real well with the young players.
Adell Harris, our junior point guard, had to sit a couple of games, because she played in two illegal summer-league games. She came back yesterday, and we put her in at the two spot first. We were three deep at each spot until Janae got hurt. Right now, if Kristen and Tonia aren't getting it done at the two, my next go-to person is Adell. She gives us a ballhandler over there, and she's shooting the ball better. She's making more good plays instead of trying to make great plays all the time. Her defense is good, her conditioning is better. She's got some nice offensive moves and she's really shooting well, even from 3.
LaTisha Pearson is continuing to develop. She's caught up in a numbers game right now. That will be a battle for her all year, but she's ready to play. She's defending and rebounding, and she's becoming a much better offensive player.
Johanna Bjorklund continues to improve. She's still a better practice player than she is in games. She's scoring in practice. We have to get her more relaxed in live-game situations. Hopefully, she'll have a breakthrough game. She needs to work on her mobility.
Heather Miller had a stress fracture in her foot and missed a few games. We're working her back in slowly. We'll play her at the 3, use her 3-point shooting and post her up a little. She's a sophomore with two freshmen at that spot, so that's our least experienced position. We might play Brenda Mock out there a little bit.
Tiffani Listenbee has made tremendous improvement from last year. It's because of her physical strength, especially in her upper body. She's able to finish plays now, she doesn't get knocked on the floor. She came off the bench last night and had seven points in the first half.
The freshman class: Bianca Brown can get after you defensively and is very good with the basketball. She's a true sparkplug coming off the bench.
Tonia Brown is a versatile kind of player. She played wherever they needed her in high school. At times you might see her at the point, because she gives us size.
Eafton Hill, we talked about. Tracy Alston is the other small forward. She played the post in high school, so she knows how to bang. She and Tiffani are our two best offensive rebounders. They will get you a rebound.
I like them. They add so much to our athleticism.
I played all of them last night. Everybody can contribute, and I want to give them the opportunity to contribute.
Gold Rush:
How is the chemistry of the team?
Curtis:
The players are very ready to make a difference now. They're very open to coaching. They're tight. Even when Janae got hurt, it hurt everybody. But it's been empathy for her instead of feeling sorry for themselves. Janae is still going to help us. She got the perimeter players together last night at halftime. I don't know what she said, but I know they played a lot better.
She was shooting the ball so well. In the first exhibition game she was 8-for-10 and scored 22 points.
We knew we would go with Kristen Shaffer at that point. We haven't made any changes, we've just played with those two people
Gold Rush:
How does the schedule look?
Curtis:
It's challenging. It's competitive enough, but it should allow us to make improvements to our nonconference record. We have to learn how to win against these kinds of teams if we're going to improve. And then you throw Connecticut in there for a little icing on the cake. If they're the best team in the country, you gotta learn what that's like. What's neat is, we're going up there, and they're coming here next year.
And then when you get to the league, we play Duke on Jan. 3. So not only do we have the No. 1 team on our schedule, we have the No. 3 team.
Gold Rush:
Is this the year we're going to see the improvement in the win total?
Curtis:
We're going to win more than we have. We're scoring better. We made some big changes in our offense that made it easier for them, and that has helped. We're trying to run more, and we have some players that are capable to do that. We're averaging in the 70s in points per game, that's more than 10 points more than we were averaging last year, and I don't feel like we're running the floor as well as we can. We have to get easier baskets -- more offensive rebounds, more layups.