Stone talks to media on Monday
December 08, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Wisconsin women's basketball coach Lisa Stone talked to the media on Monday as her team prepares for two games this week against in-state rivals. The Badgers (8-1) put their eight-game winning streak on the line against Green Bay (7-0) on Wednesday and Marquette (7-2) on Saturday. Tip off is at 7 p.m. in the Kress Center in Green Bay on Wednesday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin won its eighth-straight game Sunday, its longest winning streak since taking a school-record 15 straight during the 2001'02 season. The Badgers winning streak has put them into a first-place tie in the Big Ten Conference standings with Minnesota.
This week's play wraps up the UW's games against the other three state Division I teams. The Badgers downed Milwaukee in double overtime on Dec. 2.
A complete transcription of Stone's comments follows below while you can watch the news conference mid=2811"> --> here .
Lisa, what makes Green Bay so good ' They've got a pretty solid tradition, something like seven or eight years in a row of post-season tournament play. They're 7-0 this year. Is it just the tradition that they've established'
I think a lot has to do with tradition. They've been good for a long time, back when (Coach) Carol Hammerle was there. It's been a longstanding tradition. The players work very, very hard. They're blue collar. They can shoot the basketball. They play very good defense. They play very well together. If someone's hot, they find that person.
They'll spread us out to look inside, and, you know, they'll bring their best. And they've done very well. Obviously, that's why they're 7-0 and they've taken on some tough opponents, not only this year but in the past and prepared themselves well to put themselves in the top position of the Horizon League each year. I think it dates back to Carol Hammerle - when I was in high school a long, long time ago. And in fact, we're playing on Carol's court on Wednesday.
When you're up, like you were yesterday and they come back, was that a teaching tool for your club that with the way you play, you can ill afford to let up'
It happened against Milwaukee and it happened again last night and we can't let up like that. We have to stay focused defensively (and) offensively for 40 minutes. And we let up a little bit. We put the, took the gas pedal, let loose on it a little bit and did not allow ourselves to keep pressing. We got up by 20.
With six minutes to play, we're comfortably in the lead and they make a run at us. And we stopped hedging hard on ball screens and gave up the paint, didn't get rebounds. I believe the rebounded was 13-2 down the stretch after watching the film last night. That 's a lot to teach on. We get the W and we're happy about that, but when film happens today at 3:45, there's a lot to be taught. And we need to be concerned with us, get prepared for Green Bay. But a lot to learn from, because we let up and we can't let up. There's just no way. Those teams are going to keep on coming, and I give Northern Illinois a lot of credit, because they stayed right with it, kept the pressure on.
At the beginning with some of the expectations being lower on this program, now that you've won eight in a row, you sort of turned from the hunter to maybe the hunted. Is that a role that your kids embrace' Do you guys talk about that or is that how you guys look at it '
Well, we talk about staying humble. I mean, we haven't done anything yet and we've got to continue to get better. And the fact that we've been successful, found different ways to win is very, very encouraging. (Our) young players have done well (then) they've struggled. Returning players have done well (then) they've struggled. Overall, the foundation is that we're playing very, very strong defensively and that's keeping us in games. And yesterday we set a Kohl Center record for field goal percentage because we got some high percentage shots. We spread them out and offensively attacked the basket.
So I think there's daily growth. I'm very encouraged by our players, but we also have to remember that when you knock off someone like Baylor and you're not supposed to, that now it catches somebody's eye. And when that happens and we're still, you can be the hunter or the hunted. Really for us, it's just daily growth. We focus on what we do and try to have our team get better every day and not get wrapped up in what other people think. It's more about us getting better, getting on the court today, talking about doing a better job in our half-court defense, doing a better job making sure that we're prepared to handle the switching defense of Green Bay and get ready for the next game.
Lisa, do you have any idea how good you are at this point and do you think your players might have a handle on maybe not how good but how good you might be able to be'
I think right now is the fact that we're trying and I actually just visited with Lin Zastrow. I talked about having confidence become contagious and that's important for us for growth. And whether it's Lin or it's Mariah (Dunham) or it's Rae Lin (D'Alie) or whoever, the trust that we have in our players and the level of confidence that we have that they'll bring it every day. They're a great group. They really want to get better. And they're, I think, happy we won last night, but knowing that that second half is something that we can improve on. And that's, that excites me for today's practice.
We live in the moment, live right here for today and not let our highs get too high or our lows get too low, but keep trying to develop a consistent level of confidence. I think that goes a long way. Defensively, if I get beat off the dribble, there's somebody there to help me. If I get stuck in the paint on a penetration, I know I've got somebody to kick to. And the balanced scoring we have, the unselfish play that we have, the holding players accountable, whether they, if they didn't box out, you take them out. So if you want to get back on the court, you need to make sure they'll be clear of the boards. They're responding very well. They're taking constructive criticism the right way. They're taking hard coaching. We're working with them. And again, just trying to do what we do and get better every day.
Does the relationship between Kathi and the Green Bay coach play in at all as you prepare' I mean, he knows what the pack defense is. She knows what his offensive philosophy is. Is it kind of 50/50 '
I, honestly, I don't know that. It's not about Kathi and Matt. It could be about Lisa and Matt. I've known Matt a long time and he does a great job. He's a great coach. He's got a nice team, very senior-laden. They do a nice job with a lot of their things. And Matt was Kathi's assistant at Indiana and there's a friendship relationship there. But when we get between the lines, it's more about Wisconsin and Green Bay, and less about the personal sides of it.
Understanding each other' Yeah. I think their four-out motion is something that we've seen. We saw it last year. And he knows about the way we play defense and they're going to find ways to score. They're going to try to stretch us out, make us come out and play their shooters. And there's familiarity, but I don't think there's, again, once we get between the lines, it's more about Wisconsin and Green Bay.
Coach, after you play Marquette on Saturday, I believe it's going to be eight games in 17 days for you guys. Can you just talk about, winning aside, what this stretch has been like on you and the team, and just how you guys are able to just have that quick turnaround'
Well, you sometimes wonder if you remember how to get home, because we haven't been in our own homes. We're breaking down film and doing scouting reports one after the other and I give my staff a ton of credit. They've done a great job on the scouts. We've survived it. I think that the game with Milwaukee, the trap game that we survived. We got through Virginia Tech, played very well. Yesterday's game was kind of the end of the big long NBA schedule and now with two days to prepare, it's still tight, yet we have a little bit more time.
We'll get up to Green Bay tomorrow. Leave early enough to avoid the weather. And our practice up there tomorrow, have a shootaround on Wednesday up there, play and then prepare for Marquette.
But with the way it works with finals and our availability and so forth, this is the way it panned out. Our kids have been great with it. We've, knock on wood, maintained our health, getting people back. I just worked Caitlin Gibson out. I'm excited about her daily growth, and hoping we can get her back and ready for the Big Ten. We're doing okay.
And if you ask a player, they like games. As coaches, we like a little bit more time in between, but they've done a great job handling the tough schedule and stayed focused, and again, have worked real hard for us.
