Charlotte's Basketball Madness is set for 9 p.m. Thursday at Halton Arena. This year's event will be hosted by 49ers alum Jesse Garber, with dunks and other activities on the schedule. The first 400 students will receive a 49ers rally towel. Students will also try out their new end zone seating sections.
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Charlotte
49ers basketball coaches Cara Consuegra and Alan Major held a joint news
conference Tuesday. Here are excerpts:
Consuegra:
Thoughts on practice so far:
“We’re working hard on team chemistry, leadership skills and
the ability to be great teammates. We’re starting to see that payoff in how we
get along on the court.
“But, basketball, we’ve got a ways to go. We’re still pretty
young. We have four returners back that I feel pretty confident about, but it’s
going to be really important for us to have them leading the way with their
game experience.
“After that, we drop off a lot. The challenge for us as a
team is to get everybody body on the same page. Get the players in the post,
where I’m worried about our depth, get them up to speed quickly.
“We don’t have time to start slowly. Our goal is the
postseason, particularly the NCAA tournament. In the women’s game, you have to
win games early. There’s not a lot of time for us to worry about inexperience,
we have to get up to speed and get going.
“But I’ll take that. We can teach Xs and Os and strategy,
but it’s a great thing not to have to teach effort and attitude.
“When I speak in terms of inexperience, it doesn’t mean a
lack of skill or ability. A lot of our young kids have great skill and ability,
they just don’t have game readiness.
“I’m pretty excited about our freshman Griffin Dempsey, who
has the ability to be the starting point guard for us. But she is still earning
that role. But if you watched us in practice, it would be hard to point out
that this is her first time as a collegiate point guard. She’s hit the floor
running. She has a quick understanding of what we’re trying to do. She has a great
IQ for the game.”
On playing in a tournament in Cancun, Mexico:
“This is a good opportunity for our student-athletes to have
that they may never have had. It’s part of my responsibility that it’s not just
about basketball. It’s about giving opportunities to our young ladies and we’re
fortunate to have that.”
Prediction for the season?
“One of our core principles is to embrace the process. I
would be going completely against that principle if I were to talk about where
we’ll be in March. It’s not what we believe in or focus on.”
Major
On practice so far:
“There are four things we have that I’m really excited
about: experience, depth, character, length and size – we have versatility with
that.
“We’re trying to establish our defensive intensity and
offensive aggression slash patience – to understand how they mix and how they
work together.”
“There’s a ton of encouragement in the gym, even in
competitive situations. They’re dapping up, giving high fives – we won, you
lost, we get a drink, you run. But there’s a lot of encouragement.”
On front court depth:
“With Mike (Thorne) and Willie (Clayton), it’s always good
to have players who have been in the fire. Willie’s had one more year. Mike
made that jump last year, now he has to match that jump and that’s more
difficult. Now you throw in a hybrid, like Bernard (Sullivan) and Terrance
(Williams), and they can play with Mike and Willie together or separately.
“Cameron (Blakley) made strides over the summer. He trusts
more what he’s doing and is shooting the ball better. He’s sustaining his ability to compete after
his freshman season.
“With these five guys, we have pieces there that can go in a
lot of different directions.”
The backcourt:
“It’s great to have a guy like Pierria (Henry) who triggers
it all with all the guys between. Terrence is at the back end of all the
perimeter guys. He can play inside and out. The big thing we’ve told all the
guys is the ability to play with great speed and control, to take care of the
ball, make open shots and defend your position. We’ve got some versatility back
there.”
On freshman Keyshawn Woods:
“He was coached so well in high school by Byron Dinkins, a
former 49ers legend. I give him a ton of credit on how well he developed him.
He’s still learning and going through development, but he came in with a lot ingrained.
He handles the ball well, has a good feel for the game, makes open shots and
defends his position. He had a strong, good summer physically.
“He’ll go through some bumpy times at the beginning.”
Will he play point or shooting guard?
“He’ll be a guard. That’s we told him when we recruited him.
I’m not taking a number out of my pocket and sticking it on your forehead. Over
your four years here, your skill will define your position. He’s a combo, with
skills for the point. He’s an all-around solid basketball player.”
What was the root of the problem last season, when the team
struggled during conference play after winning the tournament in Puerto Rico?
“We coach humility, and I feel like we lost a part of that
after Puerto Rico. But you’ve got to have some
of that to learn. It’s hard. You don’t wake up and roll out of bed and be an
outstanding team. It takes time. It’s a process. Part of our humility process
was coming out of Puerto Rico and things not
going so well.
“We can manage our success if we maintain our humility. That
was a good lesson from last year.”
The nonconference schedule:
“It’s probably as challenging as we’ve had. We have some games
on the road, at Elon, at Davidson, at George Washington and at Georgetown and Georgia Tech. So nonconference,
we’re going to be tested for sure.
“We open with Penn State at Charleston,
and if we’re fortunate enough to get to the championship game against Miami, we could face Miami
again in 48 hours in our home opener.”
Turnovers were a consistent problem last season. What’s
being done about that?
“The work comes more in a team setting. You can work on ball
handling over the summer, but once you get in a group, you have more of an
understanding of where the ball is supposed to go.
“Sometimes you make the right play and the defender is doing
his job. Sometimes the offense makes the wrong play and the defense didn’t do
anything at all.
“But everybody knows in practice what their turnover-assist
ratio is on a daily basis. If it’s negative, you always know in practice where
that’s coming from.
“It’s a big focus for us. We’ve always been a pretty good
offensive rebounding team, and we’ve been able to get some of those possessions
back because of that. Now we want to cut down the turnovers and still maintain
the offensive rebounding. We can get some separation in those possessions.”
On Pierria Henry’s development:
“I’m very proud of his ability to communicate because a
point guard or quarterback is an art form. He knows what his teammates’ buttons
are. It’s like delivering the mail: some like the mail in the front door,
through the slot. Some say to wrap it around a brick and throw it and throw it
through the front window. Other guys say keep in the box out in the street, I’ll
get it later. Every mailman knows how the mail is delivered.
“Mike Thorne wants his news and information given to him
this way; Keyshawn Woods wants it that way.
“Pierria has done such a great job of learning how to do that
since his freshman year. His experience, and he’s a warrior, he does so many
things that are contagious. Anytime your point guard is your most experienced
player, I feel like that can be an advantage.
Is the NCAA tournament the goal?
“It’s realistic and it’s our goal every year without a
doubt. We’d be cheating our kids and staff if we sights any lower.
“But I’m probably more consumed with how I want things to be
than what the outcome is. I’m more consumed with how we are every day.
“I tell them the best teams do the next right thing. If it’s
about practice, the next right thing is to have a great practice. If it’s
class, the next right thing is to go in, sit down, take your hat off, put your
cell phone in the bag, be attentive and listen.
“If it’s community service, it might be putting your hand on
the forehead of a kid who might be dying from cancer. Be thankful you get about
$118,000 worth of scholarship, gear, hotels and food each year.
“The next right thing plays out in every fact of your life.
The best teams, how they end up, string together a whole bunch of days of doing
the next right thing.
“You’ve got to act like a champion before you become one.
You’re not entitled or owed anything. It’s earned and it’s a steep price to
pay.
"That said, we’d love to part of that. To be in the
tournament is something we want. I know this sounds like coach-speak, but it’s
important to do the right thing and stay on the rails.”