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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S MEDIA DAYOctober 16, 2014C. Vivian StringerCHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: Joining us next is head coach Vivian Stringer. Coach, an opening statement. COACH STRINGER: Let me first of all say that I'm excited to be back. I recognize some of those faces, and it's coming full circle and it feels good to be a part of the Big Ten. And I'm just hoping that we can add to the already storied program and the kind of opinion that people have across the country. So we know that it's going to be tough. We're excited about that. But we do come with a veteran team and one that is itching and excited about the possibility of, one, qualifying for the NCAAs and going much further. So with that, I'll leave it to you. Q. It's been a long time since you've been in the league. How do you see the Big Ten differently maybe than you did when you left the league after you left Iowa? COACH STRINGER: I see the Big Ten different top to bottom that the Big Ten is a much stronger conference. There was no question that the Big Ten had tremendous success. I think that during the time that I was there it was, if you will, top‑heavy with Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue that were really a part of the national scene and part of the national scene on a consistent level. There's no way that you can say that now. It would be those schools for sure. But in addition to that now you've got Nebraska and Michigan State and Michigan, and there is no one that you can count out. Like Bobbie Kelsey just said, her team will be experienced and ready to go, top to bottom. And just to be part of a conference that has the kind of academic and athletic prestige is just something very special for Rutgers. When I first went to Rutgers, I really felt that that's where we belonged. That was our footprint, you know. Large land‑grant university with academic prestige. And now to see this become reality is just so very special. But top to bottom I can't think of one team that is weak in the Big Ten. This is a power conference and with the addition certainly of Maryland, I didn't see any weakness then before and I certainly don't see any now. It's much, much, much stronger. Q. I believe you return everybody from last year, at least all your starters. Is that correct? COACH STRINGER: You believe that I‑‑ Q. All your starters are back from last year? COACH STRINGER: Yes. Q. You had one or two freshmen last year that looked very special. Could you just talk about them a little bit? COACH STRINGER: Yeah, I think that probably the one that's most outstanding in your mind is Tyler Scaife, a young lady who played with no fear and just played like she had been playing for 20 years and she returns much the same. But I will say this: I think that the people who needed to be much more confident and much stronger have really demonstrated that. And I'm really excited. I think that two of the people that really are showing tremendous growth and experience is Ariel, a young lady from the inside, and we needed that to happen, as well as Kahleah Copper. And for sure Briyona Canty who many thought she would be a great player from the beginning, it was just that she had open heart surgery. She had knee problems the first year. And she had open heart surgery her second year. And now she's playing with the level of confidence and the skill that we saw when we recruited her. So even with those two‑‑ and in addition to that we've recruited young ladies that can shoot the 3. Now, we had to go to California, and we had to go to Utah to find them but we'll go wherever we need to get what we need and they come in to get us that, give us that. Q. How would you define overall looking at the Big Ten, how would you define the overall style of play and how does that style of play work to your advantage, and if it doesn't, what adjustments do you have to make to make sure that you can be extremely competitive? COACH STRINGER: Let me say this, I haven't had an opportunity to study the Big Ten as well as I know that we will. But overall the style of play there, highly skilled athletes that have outstanding coaches that are able to take advantage of those skills. You have stretch 4s. You have people on the inside that are just throwing the ball against the backboard. They know how to shoot it, when to shoot it. They're just fundamentally very, very strong and you have people that work hard and they're disciplined. And the game, while you want athletic people and you always need to have that, you also need to have a high level of intelligence and discipline. And so the difference for us coming into the Big Ten is as I've shared with my assistant coaches, you don't necessarily study the athlete. You can study them for the skill that they may bring to a thing we want to be done whether it's a 3‑point shot or a drive, it is the coach that you study. And so in this case we've got all new coaches. So it's a lot of work on our part, while they will look to study us, one team. And Maryland, we have an entirely different job. So our styles are going to be different. And I know they're going to offer the same kind of flavor that when we were in the Big East we had all types of coaches doing a number of different things that I think in our situation and being in the Big Ten really best prepared us to handle what was going on on the national scene. And this is going to be much of the same and now with the addition of Maryland as well as Rutgers, this is amazing. I'm excited. I'm excited. Excited. Excited for the challenge. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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