ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 24, 2023

Jeff Walz

Merissah Russell

Olivia Cochran

Louisville Cardinals

Women's Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Here with Louisville, Jeff Walz, the head coach. We also have Merissah Russell in our second seat as well as Olivia Cochran in the third.

The team finished last year with 26-4, fourth in the ACC, but also a team that is well known for how you guys perform late in the season. I don't know what it is that you're feeding this team late in the season, but just the understanding of what it takes to compete late in the year. Going back to how you guys were able to find ways to come together as a team, some things for you that you want to build on for next year?

JEFF WALZ: Well, it's a new look each year. That's one thing about it. We've been fortunate here that we've been able to sustain success for years.

I think part of it is how we try to organize our practice. We're not trying to kill them early. We're trying to make sure that come January, February, that they're still excited about being out there on the court.

At the same time, you're trying to find players that fit to what we're doing. We're looking for players that understand what expectations are, that just making the tournament is not what we celebrate because that's expected, and our ultimate goal is to get back to a Final Four and compete to win a championship.

You've got to have players that have that same drive, have that same desire. We're fortunate that we've been able to continue to find players that have that, and then as we all know, once you get to that Sweet 16, Elite 8, everybody is good.

You've just got to be playing your best basketball at the right time because, as I keep saying, it's not the best of five, it's not the best of seven, it's one two-hour night, and if you have a bad game, it's over.

That's what makes this so much fun is trying to figure out how to get these young ladies to be playing their best at the right time.

Q. Merissah, Coach said the past is the past, but what you're building, what's different about this team this season and how you guys have switched things -- I know we were talking about it for each team coming up here, not a lot of time on the floor yet. You had your tournament in Toronto, but as far as how this team can be different and what you're focusing on, what would be one or two of those things?

MERISSAH RUSSELL: Yeah, for sure. I think that Coach Walz does a really good job of getting girls that have great personalities, and that hasn't changed in the four years I've been here.

This year is truly special. We have a great bond between each other and we hang with each other on the court, off the court all the time. We work out together, depending if that's extra conditioning or just cooking together, it really doesn't matter. We're really focused on having a tough mentality.

He always is pushing that on us, and there's new girls, new mentalities, and they're coming from different programs, but we always focus on having a tough dog mentality and inflicting that on other opponents.

Q. Olivia, for you, being one of the players to me that's one of the most consistent, and it's because you know your role and you play it to a T. Started all games last season. To you, what does leadership look like in a season?

OLIVIA COCHRAN: Honestly, since our team is just -- I don't want to say old -- but everybody is older, so I feel like I really don't have to say as much as I need.

But also just emphasizing what Louisville stands for, like pushing that and making people want to be tough because we have to teach that, everybody having played for Louisville.

Being newcomers, we have to show them what being tough is, so that's why I feel like I'm there to emphasize, because I feel like I'm tough, and I have a tough coach. So yeah, just being tough and making sure that I'm there for them when they need me being a big sister as well as a little sister because some of them are older than me. But yeah, just mixing it up.

Q. I would say everyone across the league knows you're tough. You alluded to the newcomers --

JEFF WALZ: Seven newcomers.

Q. Looking at the new faces, for Sydney, as well, coming over from UMass, hit the game winner for you guys in Toronto, walk us through what those games were like for you guys and building the camaraderie but also the experience in those early games for you.

JEFF WALZ: Yeah, you know, it was a great opportunity for us for the fact that we get our 10 days of practice before we go up. It's a simple flight to get to Toronto. It's not like we're traveling halfway around the world. And then we're fortunate enough to be able to play four games.

I think what we were able to do was players are starting now to be able to see, okay, during those four, this is what she does well; here's how I can enhance what she does well.

We're still trying to figure that out. Practice is great. Practice is practice. But I think as we start to play games, there's going to be a learning curve and some growing pains along the way.

I think as we get to January and February when everybody starts realizing, okay, this is how Sydney likes to get the ball off the curl, she prefers a down screen, she prefers the curl on the inside foot, you start learning those things about your teammates.

I always say when we become good is when we stop setting our teammates up for failure and we set them up for success. If you're in transition, it's 2 on 1, 3 on 2 and it's my 5 player over on the wing, why am I throwing her the ball at half court. I'm just putting her in position to not be successful.

We talk about that all the time, we have to set each other up for success instead of failure. That comes from playing with each other, having the opportunity on the court.

As we learn more about each other's preferences, then we become a better team.

I'm really excited as we're going to continue to get to start playing some games here, and we'll find out how good we can really be.

Q. Sydney was seventh in the NCAA with three-pointers made with 104. Looking ahead with the season this year -- with each year, going back to the drawing board, what does it look like with this new group? If there was anything missing for you guys last year or a challenge that you have for the group this season, what would that look like?

JEFF WALZ: Well, I think we are going to have to rebound and defend better. Then the one thing, right now we are really, really good at turning the ball over, so I would put us in the top five in the country right now, and we can come up with some creative ways. (Laughter).

Really, we come up with some new ones -- I'm wanting to write a book one day and there's a few chapters just based on some of the ways we turn it over.

Once we can figure that out, then I think we can be a really good basketball team. But if you're turning it over 20 times a game, it's hard to beat anybody because you've got to play so perfect every other possession, and that's kind of our biggest challenge right now. Part of that is getting to know each other, too.

I'm expecting you to fade off that screen and you curl it and I throw the pass on the fade, that's because we don't know each other well enough yet during games, and the difference is when you've been teammates for three years, well, I know what you want to do.

Now we've been teammates -- there's seven that are new, and it's been five months.

I think that will gradually improve and we'll start to see a ballclub that resembles a true team that knows what each other is trying to do.

Q. I like you gave the X's and O's aspect of what the team needs to be this year. Olivia, when you said toughness, I want them to understand what it is to be on the floor in this jersey, understand what we need to look for. For you, Merissah, what does that look like when you're establishing an identity for Louisville this year?

MERISSAH RUSSELL: Yeah, for sure. Obviously Olivia and I have been here for four years and we have played with great players like Dana Evans and Mykasa Robinson. Just bringing that same mentality that Mykasa and Dana and Emily Engstler instilled in us and hopefully our team is receptive and listens to that stuff.

But when we're in practice we're leading by example, not just talking the talk, but also walking the walk in that sense. Bringing our knowledge of what we -- we've been to a Final Four; we've been to two Elite 8s.

So just bringing that stuff up and holding our expectations high and holding ourselves accountable as well as our teammates.

Q. I'm expecting a couple of nice shoes from you, as well, because I know you had some customized ones in the tournament. I know we can say one thing about how you guys compete, and I know basketball is huge because the standard is really high when you're going to Louisville. But what are some things that you guys like to do for fun that has really helped you guys to create some bonding experience outside of the cookbook?

OLIVIA COCHRAN: Cooking for sure. We're just groovy with each other. We have random dance battles. Sometimes we sleep over each other's apartments. Just staying connected that's what we want. We want to be close, because if you don't have bonds off the court, you're not going to connect on the court and it's going to be hard to play with each other.

Q. What makes the ACC the most dominant conference in a women's basketball realm to you guys?

MERISSAH RUSSELL: It's a tough conference. You have to be ready game in and game out, night in and night out. I think we have great coaches in the league as well as great players.

I think even our bottom teams can beat anybody else's top teams in other conferences. There's never a game you can think we're going to walk in and beat somebody easily and think we can't give effort every time. We have to come in prepared and ready to go every game.

Q. When you're looking at how Jeff is -- they say the team is a reflection of the coach. What does that mean for you guys?

JEFF WALZ: We're a good-looking team. (Laughter).

OLIVIA COCHRAN: Yeah, everybody knows Coach Walz is tough. I think shadowing him, obviously we want to be tough. Everybody looks at us like, dang, I don't want to play Louisville because of Coach Walz. But yeah, for sure.

JEFF WALZ: The one thing that I'm excited to see for this year is when you go back eight, nine years, we had Sam Fuehring and everybody was like, man, that kid plays so hard. She'll run through a wall. Then you had 'Kasa, and that's the one thing that I'm interested in. Mykasa replaced Sam Fuehring, and now I'm trying to figure out who's going to replace Mykasa, because you've got to have players -- who's willing to guard 1 through 5, always diving on the floor for a loose ball, getting the extra possession, coming up with the rebound, and does all the work but then averages six points.

They're not getting -- the casual fan all they want to know is how many points did you score. It's not the screen you set, it's not the defensive stop you came up with. That's the one person that I've got to figure out who's going to replace Mykasa because that's my biggest concern, and I think these two can tell you because they played with her, it didn't matter if it was in practice or a game. She gave it her all, and I think that's why every coach in the ACC and anybody we've played against would say they have the utmost respect for her because of how she played.