Wake Forest Athletics
Basketball Media Day Quotes
10/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 11, 2007
Head Coach Mike Petersen
On being excited for the season...
"Every year you look forward to the start of practice and the start of the season, and this year maybe more so because a year ago, we had growing pains, and we paid our dues. So you want to be able to cash in on those dues. I've got a great feeling about this team being able to reap some of the benefits that went into the investment of last year playing so many freshman and sophomores. Now they're juniors and sophomores and we got a class underneath them. It's a great group. They've had a great spring and fall. We're excited to start and see how things come together."
On the backcourt...
"The biggest thing I like about it is it's got better depth. One of the best things about this team coming into it is that we'll have so much more competition for playing time. We have 13 players, and we feel comfortable with all 13 competing for playing time. We have experience coming back. Yolanda (Lavender) played a lot of minutes. Tiffany (Roulhac) played a lot of minutes. Courteney (Morris), Alex (Tchangoue), they all played a ton of minutes last year. At the same time, underneath that, our freshman class is really good. Camille Collier is a point guard. Kem Wilson and Brittany Waters are both wings, so you have all your minutes back, all your points back, all your assists back and you also bring in a great class underneath that that's got talent. So the competition for playing time will increase, which will make everybody better."
On what he hopes to see in practice...
The biggest thing is the competition level. I think our practices will be very competitive. A year ago, we had limited numbers. We didn't have a ton of experience, and we were learning to compete kind of on the fly as it went a long. This year, we know how to compete, so our practices should be much more competitive which will lead to better execution, which will lead to us being better prepared for January, February and March."
On the direction of the program...
"The biggest thing is being competitive every day. One of the things that leads best to winning on game night is being competitive every day in practice. I think our personnel will lead to that. I think our maturity will lead to that. The better job you do competing every day in practice, the better job you'll do competing on game night. You can't be non-competitive in practice and then all of a sudden flip the switch and be competitive in games. It just doesn't work that way. I'm very excited about this team. I think this will be a very competitive group of people every night in practice and going into the season."
On the freshmen...
"Camille Collier is a point guard from Washington, D.C. Very skilled, has a great feel for the game. A very creative passer, also shoots the ball extremely well. While she's a pass-first point guard, she can really score the ball. She really shoots it. And the best thing about her is her feel for the game. She really knows when to get off the ball, when to distribute the ball, when to hold on to the ball, and she's used to running a team."
"Kem Wilson's a very explosive athlete that'll play on the wing for us from Frederick, Md. Very strong, very athletic, very good mid-range scorer. Very good rebounder and defender for her size. And somebody that will be very good in transition and will be very good on the defensive end."
"Brittany Waters was the 6A Florida MVP. Her team won the state championship. She basically just picked them up and carried them all by herself last year. Very long, very good athlete, and also very skilled perimeter player. For somebody who's 6-0, 6-1 has great perimeter skills. Shoots the ball well, has a good handle, and is somebody who has a good feel. Very good in open floor situations."
Sophomore forward Corinne Groves
On sitting out the end of last year due to injury...
"That was probably the most frustrating thing I've ever gone through. To have to sit there and watch my team play, especially going into the tournament and playing Carolina, to be sitting there watching and not be able to practice or anything was very frustrating to not be out there with the team."
On how she feels...
"I feel great. I'm so ecstatic about the season starting. I just can't wait to be full-throttle again."
On the team...
"It's going to be a lot of fun. We're a really tight group. I'm excited about practice starting in a couple days to see how we really do work together. I know we work together well as far as individuals, but working together in practice as part of a team dynamic."
On what will surprise people...
"I think our freshman are going to be real surprising. They've come a long way since being here this summer. Playing pickup and individuals and all, they're playing really well so far."
On what the team needs to do to be competitive...
"We need to win. That's the major thing. We didn't have a great season last year, so anything will be better than last year just about. But we just need to win and be tough and be able to hang in there in the tough games and be able to win them."
On the team leadership...
"We do have great leaders. My class [of juniors], with there being four of us, and the sophomores as well. They couldn't be freshman last year. They had to come in and be on top of their games right away because we didn't have that many players."
Sophomore forward Alex Tchangoue
On the upcoming season...
"I'm very excited about this year because we've learned from the past. We grew, we have more experience and we definitely learned from the past so we're ready to go."
On this year's team...
"We're deeper, we're athletic, we're going to be running, and we're skilled. [The new players] are very good and I definitely think they'll be able to contribute right away."
