Women's team holds Media Day

The BYU women's basketball team held its annual media day on Monday on its first official practice of the 2014-15 campaign. Head coach Jeff Judkins and players were interviewed by local media representatives. Some of the quotes from the interviews are below.

Head coach Jeff Judkins Quotes
On the upcoming season:
“We have a lot of new faces, kids that got good quality time so hopefully they’ll step it up for us. We’re not as big as we were because we don’t have Jen and we don’t have that inside blocking presence, but we have a lot more quickness.”

“You’ll see a big difference in how we press better and speed up the game. Morgan I think left last year with a real positive feeling about her playing experience. She’s a real good scorer and is going to score a lot for us. Kylie is going to have to be more offensive minded since we lost Kim with the outside shot.”

“There are some kids who worked really hard this summer. Makenzi Morrison is one of those players.  That’s one of the things that is a hard part of coaching: your team changes and you have to kind of change your style a little bit, so that’s what will happen this year.”

“I have three returning starters. We went to Europe and played very well. It will take us some time. We’re a little bit different than we were last year because of our size and especially defensively. Jen took a lot of things away. Her rebounding and shot blocking are something these guys appreciate a lot more now. We’re going to have to do a better job of helping each other and moving as a unit a little bit better.”

On Morgan Bailey developing consistency:
“You need to be consistent in everything you do in your life. You focus yourself and prepare every single minute, not just game day. And then of course there is practice every day where you work on your game and try to be consistent in that way. When you do that, it becomes a lot easier for you. I think she does a good job with it, but there were some times she would get upset with something, get in foul trouble or something, then she would try too hard. She needs to do a better job of balancing that, and I think she will.”

“Last year, she guarded the best player in the country and did a great job. Morgan is a defender. It’s a nice thing. She can guard someone in the post and can guard someone outside. This year I don’t know if we’ll need her in that role, but Morgan is really good at that.”

“I think offensively she has worked hard on her jump shot. She hit a lot of jump shots last year at the end of the season. She’ll get the ball a lot more this year and she’ll get more touches. Jen got so many of those last year, but this year it will be Morgan getting that. She’s ready for it. When we were in Europe, she was unstoppable.”

About Lexi Eaton:
“I thought Lexi had a real good year coming back from her ACL. The second half of the season she was very consistent with scoring, then she took that to the NCAA tournament. I thought she had a really good tournament. Hopefully, she’ll bottle that up and realize what she did mentally and how she focused herself and be a consistent player for us.”

“She and Morgan are the two best players in the league if they come out and play how they play. A lot of things will be on her back, but she likes that challenge. She’s never been afraid to take the team by its horns and do it. She worked really hard this summer on her outside shot to be more of a complete offensive player. Defensively, I’m going to count on her more than I did last year. She’s going to have to guard better players.”

On Kylie Maeda:
“Kylie last year did whatever it took for our team to win. This year, she’s going to have to look to score more. I thought she did that in the NCAA tournament. She needs to get us in our offense. Defensively she needs to put on more pressure. She’s improved a lot.  I think she’s feeling really confident about the things that she’s doing. I think she knows what I expect out of her. It’s nice to coach when I don’t have to worry about calling every play in every situation. She’s now at that stage in her career where she can do that.”

On the skills and play of the returning letterwinners:
“It will be really interesting to see what my backup bigs do.  First, I can’t play Morgan 40 minutes, so Savannah, Micaelee and Amanda are the three that are going to be playing the 5. We’ve got two freshmen and a sophomore redshirt, so it’s going to be interesting to see what they do. Second, we’ll have to see what happens with our backup point guard. I lost Rovetti, and right now Makenzi is doing a good job in that spot, but Cassie has really come on. The third issue will be who can come in and hit shots for us like Kim did consistently and also defend. Xojian has shown moments of that, especially last year in the NCAA tournament. Defensively I think she’ll be great, she’s probably my best defender I’ve had in a long time. The question will be, can she consistently hit shots when we need her to. And that’s where Lexi comes in; her shot is so much better than last year. We’re really deep and that’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a bad thing so we’ll see what these kids can do.”

On the WCC competition:
“I know that Gonzaga has everybody back and only lost a couple of kids. They do have a new coach this year, and that sometimes presents some challenges. Pacific only lost two starters, they’ll be really good. Some of the teams that finished at the bottom half of the standings didn’t lose many players, like Pepperdine, San Francisco, Portland, and Santa Clara. Those guys were good, so now with a year of experience, it is going to help them a lot. I think our advantage is that we have enough kids that played enough minutes last year that feel like they know the league. Then the kids that we have coming in are ready to go. They’re not just freshmen. They’re redshirt freshmen or sophomores, which will be key for them, to come in with a lot of confidence. Last year by us finishing as well as we did, that really set a tone for us to do what we can do. If they play the basketball they know they can play, then we can compete with anyone.“

Player Quotes
Senior forward Morgan Bailey
On senior season:

“I’m excited to play again. We played four games in Spain, and that was a good experience. Now I’m excited to get ready for the season, to get more physical and post up.

On BYU career:
“I think I’ve learned more off the basketball court than on the basketball court. When I got here, I was so shy and never said a word. Now people can’t get me to stop talking. BYU basketball has brought me a new found confidence that I love and will help me wherever I go.”

Goals for final season:
“I want to get back to the NCAA tournament, that’s a huge goal. And I want to make some noise in our conference. We’re sick of finishing second to Gonzaga, so we’re going to give it all we’ve got.”

What’s something about this team that will surprise people:

“I think that our depth will surprise people.  We have a lot of young girls that didn’t get a lot of playing time last year and some freshmen that came in, and so I think we have new weapons that people don’t know about that will surprise people.”

Senior guard/forward Xojian Harry
What are you looking forward to in your senior season:
“Getting back on the floor with my team. After a great run last year, we had so much fun and the camaraderie was great. It’s kind of scary and crazy and sad, but it’s exciting and I’m looking forward to going out there with my teammates and getting back where we were last year or even further and having a great time.”

On BYU experience:
“It’s sad because these are some of the greatest years of your life and it’s so much fun. I’m excited to hopefully finish off my career strong and have a good senior season, not only individually but also as a team, and see how far we can get.”

Personal goals for the season:
“To contribute where I can on the court for my team defensively and offensively and help my team any way I can to get back to the tournament and maybe further.”

Favorite basketball memory:
“I’m going to say in the locker room at Pauley Pavilion when we were all in there screaming and chanting that we were going to the Sweet 16. I’d say that is probably my greatest basketball moment because we’re all banging on the lockers and chanting, “Sweet Sixteen!” and it was so surreal and so amazing and it was just one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Senior guard/forward Ashley Garfield
What will you miss when you're done playing at BYU:
“Being with the team. We have such a good time on the road and we feel like a family.”

What are you looking forward to doing this year:
“Winning a conference championship, competing in the NCAA tournament and going even further. Going to play at BYU-Hawaii will also be a fun opportunity for us over the Thanksgiving holiday. We play really well there.”

What's your favorite basketball memory:
“My favorite memory is beating Nebraska to go to the Sweet Sixteen. That was an unforgettable experience. Another favorite memory is when we beat Gonzaga my freshman year to win the conference championship.”

What are you looking forward to outside of basketball:
“I’m looking forward to getting a little more family time. I look forward to the future when I can be with my family more.”

What have you learned as a player and a person here at BYU:
“As a player, all the knowledge that coach Judkins has shared with us. I've grown a lot mentally as a player. As far as my BYU experience, I hope that I've grown as a leader. Former teammates like Haley Steed and Kim Beeston taught me a lot, and I hope that I'm a better leader from what they taught me.”

Junior guard Lexi Eaton
What are your goals this season:
“One of my goals is to be better and play better than last year. We set a high standard last season and now we want to be able to improve every single year.”

Favorite basketball memory so far:
“My favorite memory while playing at BYU so far is when we beat Nebraska to send us to the Sweet Sixteen last year.”

What have you learned from coach Judkins:
“One of the things I’ve learned from him is to push yourself every day and be consistent.”