On who are some of the front runners to get a lot of minutes:
Keyen Green coming in with great experience, great energy. She is doing a heck of a job on the boards, and our players are playing with a lot of confidence with her. Kasiyahna Kushkituah has had a fantastic summer. She’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, and she’s very physical and strong. She makes a difference on the court with her team right now. Tamari Key has really excelled as of late. In our last inter-squad scrimmage, she really stepped her game up offensively. Marta Suarez is going to be the four spot, and she can also play guard. You can throw her in either spot.”
On how Keyen Green’s physicality has impacted practice competitiveness:
“She has come in with a confidence and a work ethic, in addition to her motor is just high. That’s where she is separating herself from a lot of people, because she is on go all the time. She’s making plays, she’s getting steals, she’s saving turnovers, and she’s getting put-backs. I think she’s adjusting to the size at this level.”
On if there was a time over the past few months that she was worried that the season wasn’t going to happen:
“I had some fleeting moments where I wondered if we were going to play. I was pretty confident that we would figure out a way to play basketball this year. I think that was really one of the more difficult things for players this year, when you’re practicing but you have no idea what it’s going to look like, you don’t know if you’re going to get to play, you don’t know when you’re going to play, you don’t know who you’re going to play. Having a schedule, I think that gave them a lot of confidence, and us as a staff, it helped to know where you’re heading. Sometimes you sit back and you think, ‘We’re in the middle of a pandemic.’ Stop right there, that should give you perspective. We’re going to try to play basketball, because basketball means a lot to a lot of people. For the emotional and mental wellbeing of a lot of athletes, we need to try to do this if we can do it safely.”