Stone Talks About Upcoming Road Trip
November 20, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Women's basketball coach Lisa Stone addressed the media Monday as part of UW's weekly press conference. Stone and the Badgers, who are 4-0 for the second straight season, will play at the Las Vegas Tournament this weekend before heading to UC Riverside next Tuesday.
QUESTION #1: Lisa, Milwaukee played Central Connecticut last night, common opponent, just a couple of days apart. Does that help, or is it too short of a turnaround to gain anything from that'
LISA STONE: Well, you can look at the box and the score and you can analyze it all you want. They played a lot of people. Central Connecticut State didn't match up with Edwards inside, and they got a lot of people in the game. But I reflect a little bit more back at their Drake game. And Milwaukee had a three-point lead with a 1:30 to go and still had to leave with 45 second to go up by one, and Drake caused a turnover.
I spoke with the Drake coaches, and having been there and knowing that's a really great place to play, Drake was, said that they were fortunate to get away with a W. And Milwaukee is playing well. We certainly have a great deal of respect for them. They 'll bring their best. They had to play yesterday and we practiced, and you can look at things all you want. The bottom line is it'll be a great contest.
They're playing really well right now. They've got a tremendous post player in Edwards inside, and Meredith Onson is shooting 67 percent from three-point range. Aubrey Hampton is a senior point guard, and they've got Rogers. They've got a lot of players that are going to get fired up for this one. This is one that they slate on their schedule as certainly a big game for us. It's another opportunity for us to get better, and hopefully we can have a strong start and get off to the races.
QUESTION #2: With this game tonight and then going on the road for three games, are you satisfied with where the team is right now, with the development'
STONE: I think we're showing some great progress. I really like the way the team shares the basketball. Probably the biggest concern right now is injuries. We want to get some people back healthy. Annie Crangle and Brittany Heins will be unavailable for tonight's game. They will not dress in uniform. We hope to get Brittany back for this next weekend.
But when you're on the road, you're traveling, and it's a lot of games, and it's no different. Everybody else is doing the same thing. Look at Milwaukee, three games in four days, and we're heading on the road likewise for the same. And it just, the kids love it. I mean, they want to play games, so they 'd rather play games than have 15 days of practice.
So we have to learn kind of on the move, and it's baptism by fire in many ways, and we have to adjust. And Bo just mentioned competing. You've got to compete no matter who you're playing, and I'm thankful that we're at home tonight, and then we'll gear up for the weekend as it comes.
QUESTION #3: Can you talk about your first extended road trip with a lot of rookies and just the bonding that you always talk about and what goes along with this type of tournament and trip'
STONE: Well, we kind of already had one last week just because we were gone so long. We left on Thursday, came back on Saturday for one game out at Air Force. But they're a great group to be around. They're young and excited and we're going to big lights in Las Vegas and things of that nature. And it's really hard for me actually on this day to talk about Vegas because we have a big game tonight but I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with our players.
A number of our players' parents are coming out there, and we'll have a big group together. And last year we were in Hawaii with the football team. And it 's just, there's nothing but good things that can come from these experiences and ones that the players will talk about when they're, you know, 10 years past graduation. So I'm looking forward to the competition, more games, and again, spending a lot of time together.
QUESTION #4: Could you talk about Janese, how she 's improved in the few games you've seen so far, and just the leadership role that she's embraced this season'
STONE: I think probably what's most noteworthy about Janese is the fact that she's not forcing things this year, and she's playing her true position. Both she and Jolene are now in their, on their wing position. And with Sarah and Rae running the point for us, being able to distribute the basketball, allows them to be comfortable offensively as well as defensively.
Now we don't have to have one of them back safety. We can have both Jo and Janese crashing the boards, and both are leading us that way. I think Janese, also her outside shooting has improved dramatically. She's become a very good outside shooter and not just a one-dimensional player. And we challenged her that. She worked on it this summer. And that in itself demonstrates great leadership as well as what you 're seeing on the court so far.
QUESTION #5: Record-wise, you got off to a good start last year, similar to what you have this year. Is there a different feeling for you though, or how different is the feeling this year as opposed to a year ago with your team '
STONE: Well you want to try to compare that and you want to get off to a great start certainly. And I like the look of this team right now. I like the fact that we have depth. We've got some size. We've got some athleticism. I'm seeing improvement in different players every game, and that 's a good sign. Mariah Dunham had a great game the other night. We're going to need her tonight with Brittany being hurt, so different people are stepping up. Everybody wants to get on the court. There's no egos. They're having fun together.
There's lots of smiling on the court, low turnovers, high assists. We're doing a decent job on the boards. Free-throw percentage finally snapped out of its doldrums, and we only missed one the other night. That's going to become something that we want to continue to keep an eye on. But I like this team. I like the look on their face. I like the way they practice, they compete. And it does feel different, Rob, it does. It feels different. It feels really good. And hopefully we'll see that tonight.
QUESTION #6: Any concerns with Danielle getting into some foul trouble and just what she needs to do maybe to eliminate some of those fouls '
STONE: I think it's fair to say everybody knows that we need Danielle on the floor, and its just smarter decisions and getting in position, utilizing her quickness more so than trying to play from behind. And she looked at me the other day, she said, Coach Stone, I didn't foul out, and I said, that's because I took you out of the game. I mean, there's a difference there, and it's, we joke about it, but she needs to be smart.
In fact, I don't like to keep looking backwards, but the way she guarded Liz Shimek last year from Michigan State is something that we challenged Danielle to do. She guarded one of the best players in the country last year and played smart, played the entire game, was a definite defensive force for us, that that's something we challenge her to do. And, you know, tonight she's got her hands full as well, and she'll rotate both at the four and the five for us. Both she and Caitlin, I think, are playing better and better every game together, and the longer Danielle's on the floor, the better chance we have.
QUESTION #7: May we ask about the promotion yet ' Are you going to . . .
STONE: Yeah, I'm ready.
REPORTER: Okay. What is your connection to that ' Why did you go with this . . .
STONE: We are, my husband, Ed, and I decided that we were going to partner with Gilda's Club. And Sara Sinaiko is here with me today if you have questions afterwards, any media that would like to visit with her. She is the CEO of the Gilda's of Madison. We are going to partner with Gilda's on January 28th against the Minnesota Gophers. It's certainly a great game for us, one that drew a lot of attention last year and certainly one that we're going to partner this year.
For every fan that comes in, I will donate 25 cents to each person that comes in, and it 's titled Raise the Roof. So you're going to see these t-shirts for sales at Bucky's Locker Room and throughout Madison, $15 a piece, $5 of which goes to the Gilda's. And each person that buys a t-shirt gets two free tickets to the game. So our hope is that we pre-sell this thing out, we have a packed crowd, a full Kohl Center arena for a tremendous cause, and it's a pre-sellout, that we get over 17,000 people in here certainly for a great game, but even more importantly, a tremendous cause.
What Gilda's Club is, is a nonprofit organization that provides an opportunity for those families, friends, people of any sort of cancer that would like a place to go and find comfort and support, a place to go where they can call home, if you will. It would be located out in Middleton. That location exactly where that is, you certainly can speak with Sarah.
But it's all nonprofit. There's tremendous fundraising throughout. Gilda's of Madison is up and running and is very, very active in this community, and we are very fortunate and blessed that we can partner with Gilda's for this game and hopefully sell it out and provide a great opportunity for a lot of people.
QUESTION #8: Lisa, do you have any personal connections with friends or family who have been touched by cancer'
STONE: Friends, family. Not directly right now currently for me, but there's certainly a lot of people in my life, the coaching community, players, former players, etc., lots of dear friends that I have that are breast cancer survivors. I did have a former player on my team at Drake University that was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, and she has beaten cancer.
But when you look at places for us to go, for people that want education, that want to find out what we can do to help people through a tough time, this is what Gilda's provide us. And Gilda Radner from Saturday Night Live is where Gilda's comes from, and their symbol is the red door. So we're going to raise the roof and open that red door and hopefully provide a great opportunity for many, many people and reach out with our hearts and minds and our pocketbooks certainly to raise money for a great cause.
QUESTION #9: What does Thanksgiving in Vegas mean ' What does it entail for you and the team' What do you get to do ' How do you get to spend it, at the casinos, seeing a show' What do you do for Vegas . . .
STONE: Well, we're going to prepare for K State, Rob, is what we're going to do. No, seriously. We're putting the itinerary together and that's kind of on the down low until after the game 's over tonight. We'll talk more about that. But we have a young team, and they won't be gambling. There will be no gambling. There's lots of family members going out there. We have a Thanksgiving meal planned. Hopefully the weather is nice and we can get up and down and see a few things. But we'll treat them to some fun things to do. That's TBA yet.
