Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Episode 23: Spiders stay undefeated at home

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Episode 23: Spiders stay undefeated at home · Spiders Sound Off

0:06
Good morning Spider fans, this is Porter.
0:08
And this is Tom. And we're joined by Ali Sweeney.
0:11
Thanks, Ali, for being here. This is immediately following
0:13
the game with Navy where you played one heck of a game.
0:17
Thank you. Thank you.
0:19
So before we get into the game, it is Taylor Swift night.
0:22
So and I think one of the things we love about the the women's
0:25
game and what you guys do is a lot of fan interaction.
0:28
Obviously this is more than normal, but tell tell us what
0:32
it's like when you get to interact with the fans.
0:35
It's great. I mean, our fans show out day in
0:37
and day out. So one of the things that coach
0:41
or Cell does and has done for I think maybe his whole career, I
0:45
don't know, But after the game, win or loss, no matter like what
0:49
kind of a game it was, we don't go into the locker room.
0:52
He says a few words real quick out on the court so that we're
0:54
able to interact with fans after.
0:56
So I think that's one of the things that he does that's super
1:00
great and really helps us like build those relationships with
1:03
them. Tell us about It was a heck of a
1:07
game. Navy hung in there.
1:09
They're a great team. Expected to win the Patriot this
1:12
year, beat Florida by 15. Tell us about the two halves.
1:16
The first half was very, very tight, second-half all the way
1:19
through the third quarter very tight and in the fourth quarter
1:21
you guys kind of put them away. How did how did those
1:23
conversations go? How did you guys find that that
1:26
inner drive? Yeah, there were a couple of
1:29
things. We were playing pretty stagnant
1:31
on offense. One of the keys before the game
1:34
was to really get them moving, get them involved in actions,
1:37
make them make mistakes, which is like the main principle of
1:40
our offense. And we weren't doing that well.
1:43
We were doing it well at all. So that was one of the things
1:46
that we reiterated in the locker room just get moving more,
1:49
especially in transition. We could do so.
1:53
And then right out the gate, Eva Preschetti had that 45 cut in
1:56
transition, which is one of the things that we talked about.
1:59
So that was great, good momentum.
2:01
And then and then Simply put, we were just getting out worked I
2:06
think. So that was the biggest
2:08
difference between the 1st and the second-half.
2:10
Is there something kind of rewarding when you win an ugly
2:13
game? You know, because this game
2:14
wasn't a great shooting game, it was a rebounding game.
2:18
Does it going to make you feel more confident that you can win
2:21
ugly games like that? Yeah, Yeah.
2:24
In a way, I mean, yes, because you know that like we have the
2:27
kind of team that can bounce back.
2:30
Like there wasn't much as much else said in the locker room at
2:34
halftime other than this is our homecourt and they're out
2:38
working us on our homecourt. So to know that we have the
2:42
group that can kind of, you know, put the put the first half
2:46
behind us and move forward and make some changes from an effort
2:50
standpoint, it's I, I wouldn't say rewarding, but it's, it's
2:55
nice to know. It's hard to compare obviously
2:57
last year's team to this year's team, but we were when the game
3:00
was really tight, kind of reminded of the Georgetown game
3:02
last year, which was tight. Like it seemed like you had that
3:05
game. Sorry to remind you of that, but
3:07
it was it was great to see in the fourth quarter like your,
3:09
your team just took control and didn't allow it to get to that
3:13
who has the ball last situation. Right.
3:16
I, we're, we're a very good second-half team.
3:20
And while that's awesome, we need to come out in the
3:23
beginning the same kind of way, you know, and take advantage of
3:28
the opportunities that are given in the first half, which we
3:31
didn't do a good job of that today, But we do have a
3:35
tendency. Third quarter, fourth quarter,
3:37
we come out very strong and that's one thing that I really
3:40
like about this group. Maggie seemed to say something
3:42
to you guys in the huddle right before the third quarter started
3:46
because Tom was watching and he and he said all of you guys took
3:48
a deep breath simultaneously. So can you tell us what she
3:51
said? Yeah, well, first she told us to
3:54
take a deep breath and Maggie grounds us.
3:57
She's very good at that. And then she told us that we're
4:02
all here, we're all playing basketball because it it's fun,
4:05
We find it fun and we play it because we love it.
4:08
And we didn't have fun in the first half and we didn't look
4:11
like we loved the game of basketball in the first half.
4:13
So it was, it was, I wouldn't have thought to say that
4:17
honestly, that that was a great thing to say.
4:19
And then in the second-half we came out and we had fun.
4:21
So shout out to her. What's the difference for you
4:24
going from, you know, sophomore year to junior year?
4:26
Like how is that transition band?
4:28
You know, you're the upperclassman, How is how do you
4:31
feel is now kind of the the junior player versus sophomore?
4:35
I definitely feel more comfortable.
4:37
I think that I have more of a leadership role to uptake in the
4:41
sense that like I have to resell and I kind of always talk about
4:46
it like they have to like look at me and like be comfortable.
4:51
They have to not be flustered because I have this like I got
4:58
this kind of thing going. So I think that's one of my
5:02
biggest roles this year that I didn't necessarily have this
5:05
year. And Maggie Addie from last year,
5:09
like they just did do a great job of installing little things
5:14
in me here and there to to take into the future, I guess. 16
5:19
points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds today.
5:22
It seems like in the recent games you've made a conscious
5:25
effort to take the ball to the rim more often.
5:28
Can you tell us a little bit? Is that a?
5:29
Is that a decision you've made, or is that just what the game
5:32
presents? It is a little bit of a
5:34
decision. I think I started the year a
5:36
little hesitant, complacent, I guess.
5:40
I don't know. But and then another thing is
5:43
coach or DS, my position coach has been saying to me more often
5:46
like you got to get downhill, whether that's getting a paint
5:49
touch and, you know, kicking out to one of our shooters, which
5:52
obviously we have a ton of them, or taking it all the way to the
5:55
basket. So I say when I'm finishing, I
5:58
don't even necessarily think I'm getting all the way to the rim.
6:00
It's just you have to move as if you are, you know what I mean?
6:04
So if you get stopped in the paint and have to do something
6:06
else, and that's OK too. Next year, I hate to jump ahead
6:12
so far on you. It's going to be your team.
6:14
You're the leader of that team. What do you do kind of in
6:18
preparation for being the leader off the court, to kind of show
6:21
the younger players you know what being a a Richmond
6:25
basketball player is all about? Yeah.
6:28
Well, that, yeah, that is jumping ahead well.
6:33
We keep it real on the pod, yeah.
6:35
Yeah, I see that. Well, culture is huge for us,
6:39
you know, and I mean, that's the main thing.
6:41
Like I will uphold the culture I like, I swear to try to do so.
6:47
And we do a lot of like, like I feel like I lead by example in a
6:53
way. So like I will make sure that we
6:57
were all working off the court, like we're all working to get
7:00
better. So obviously, again, jumping
7:02
ahead will be losing people like Rachel and Maggie.
7:05
So it's like other people are going to have to step up and I
7:08
think just making sure that everybody is putting in that
7:11
work off the court to get ready, ready for the following season
7:14
will be a big part of the offseason next year.
7:18
So you got the big trip coming up that going to Cancun, you get
7:22
a little bit of fun in preparing for the games or is it all
7:25
business? It's it's mostly business.
7:29
It is. It's mostly business we're going
7:32
to. Our practices in Cancun are only
7:35
an hour. So we're definitely going to
7:37
have to go over some things here, some preparation here.
7:42
But with that being said, we are all packing a bathing suit so.
7:47
And it is Olivia Miles, TCU first game, you know, one of the
7:51
best players in the country that we started that scout.
7:54
Or does that start tomorrow? We haven't started it, but she's
7:58
like, she's all in our heads already.
8:01
You know what I mean? Not, I shouldn't say in our
8:02
heads, but we're thinking about it already.
8:06
But Alicia Newell is a really, really good defender.
8:11
I'll just say that. She's playing great this.
8:12
Year. Yeah, she is.
8:13
She's brought, she's brought another energy for us.
8:16
So incredibly grateful for that. Yeah, we're looking forward to
8:19
seeing what you guys can do. 22 tough opponents.
8:22
Yeah, really good teams, good teams.
8:24
So we're excited. Yeah, awesome.
8:26
Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us.
8:28
Thank you. It's been a pleasure joining the
8:30
pod and hopefully we get to see you again.
8:33
Yeah. Thank you guys so much.
8:34
Thanks, Ali. Thanks.
8:35
Thank you. Well, Porter, that was a great
8:39
interview with Ali. Let's transition a bit and talk
8:43
about the men's game we had yesterday or Saturday, a big win
8:47
against Gardner Webb. Yeah, Gardner Webb came into the
8:50
Robin Center and I think probably regretted that shortly
8:55
after arrival because what happened there was an absolute
8:58
domination by our men, a great effort by the team, by Coach
9:01
Mooney and the and the staff for getting our guys ready.
9:04
It started with a with a run and you know, the run kept going and
9:09
it was probably the most impressive game I've seen us
9:11
play this year. Yeah, we had lots of players
9:14
contribute. We did have, if you didn't know,
9:16
kind of two of our players in street clothes.
9:19
Bryson, who fell in practice. He's it sounds like he's OK, but
9:23
just needed to take take a break.
9:25
And Will Harper was sick. So nothing big on either those
9:29
parts, but it it tightened the bench.
9:31
I mean, I think those were players that probably would have
9:32
played a lot in that game with the blowout that we had.
9:35
But as a result, kind of you got to see some some pretty higher
9:39
scores with AJ Lopez in particular getting 18 four.
9:44
So yeah, he had that 3 pointer. The largest The largest minutes
9:48
total 22. The shortest was 5 Out of all
9:51
the active players on the roster for that game.
9:53
It was kind of a continue continuation of the theme we've
9:56
seen year to date with five home wins, playing everybody,
10:02
substituting early and often and really running a kind of a
10:06
constant set of of new bodies at the court, which is which is
10:10
working out well. I mean, credit to the staff,
10:12
credit to Coach Mooney for for the way he's put it together.
10:15
Yeah, it's nice. With today's win against Navy,
10:19
both teams are still undefeated in the Robin Center.
10:22
Yeah. And now they both travel, the
10:25
women's team going to Cancun and the men's team going to Disney
10:29
World. Yeah, Florida.
10:30
Yeah, so we got some games later this week we're going to do a
10:34
special pod to put out before those games to just do a
10:38
preview. So we're not going to talk about
10:39
those games too much today. But yeah, big win for for the
10:43
men's team, A lot of contributions.
10:44
I think the the players are really starting to I think get
10:49
more and more comfortable in. Hey I might I may only play 15
10:52
minutes, may only play 20, but I'm going to work my butt off
10:54
when I'm out. There, make an impact while
10:55
you're on the. Flag I think David Thomas had a
10:57
really nice game he looks super comfortable out there just
11:00
coming off the bench playing really good defense.
11:03
I don't think, I mean, I'm sure everyone would love to play 30
11:06
minutes and score 20 points. I mean that they've been doing
11:08
this since they were kids and probably having games like that,
11:11
but I think they've they're bought in right now and and it
11:13
gives us a lot of options. I mean, we.
11:16
Talked, we talked about it earlier, the team is stacking
11:19
wins like we're beating the teams we should.
11:21
And, and the thing about winning is it, it can be contagious,
11:25
like beating teams you should win against at home creates a
11:30
culture of, you know, this is actually the way we want, this
11:33
is the way we want to feel during and after a game, you
11:36
know, and I think that will or has the chance to persist beyond
11:41
the home game. So we're going on the road.
11:42
We've got some tougher opponents.
11:44
It's definitely going to be better competition, but you know
11:47
what, the team is learning how to win and win together and
11:50
they're doing it convincingly and the and the performances and
11:53
contributions are coming from all different angles.
11:56
So think about how hard Richmond's going to be to scout
11:58
for another team. When you look at the box scores
12:00
and you try to figure out who could beat us, how do we negate
12:03
something? When you've got 10 players
12:05
playing this kind of minute load every single night, it's very
12:08
hard to prepare for. Well, a couple notes from these
12:11
two games we we want to cover. So we did tonight during the
12:17
Navy game and hit the concessions.
12:20
So you've heard some of our concessions reviews.
12:23
My wife tried the chicken tenders this there was a special
12:27
tonight chicken tenders because that's Taylor Swift's favorite
12:30
food I guess and they got a strong rating.
12:34
She really enjoyed the chicken tenders.
12:35
So I guess the question is why don't we have chicken tenders
12:37
all the time here? Because they were well received,
12:41
had some honey mustard on the side that she enjoyed.
12:43
So chicken tenders were big winner.
12:45
I'll hit the chicken tenders if they if they keep them on the
12:47
menu because it said they sounded really good.
12:49
I. Had a couple hot dogs, both
12:50
solid and they've got good condiments on the side, you
12:53
know, I got some relish and onions so you know, good good
12:55
and your. Friend enjoyed the pretzel
12:57
sticks. Yeah, pretzel sticks.
12:58
So that was that. Was so and we then we did have
13:01
enhanced adult beverages as they said.
13:04
We had we had a Falcon smash or I had a Falcon smash.
13:06
You drank something different today, but you.
13:08
Know one other note we did, I forgot to mention that the
13:12
Gardner Webb game that we did, we had a men's attendance
13:16
number. So.
13:17
Yeah, my official record is 49 for the Gardner Webb students.
13:21
It was it was a Saturday night. I thought we'd get a little bit
13:23
more. Oh, we would do better.
13:23
This is really the lowest attendance of the year.
13:25
For the men five and five and two, the men's team needs the
13:29
students to come out because it is, it's a, it's a program
13:34
that's on the rise right now. We're we're doing things to
13:36
expunge the memories from last year.
13:38
The coach has the players playing in, in the right playing
13:41
well. The players are buying in and
13:43
we're winning convincingly. And there's nothing more fun
13:45
than a convincing win. OK, so as we wrap this thing up,
13:49
can I tell? You one quick step.
13:50
Yeah, sure. So we hit Coach Mooney after the
13:52
game with a Aiden Argabright stat.
13:54
He's now up to 6th in the nation and drawing fouls.
13:58
So his, his, his official ranking is 6 in fouls per
14:02
drawing per 40 minutes according to Ken Palm, which is actually
14:07
looking more and more like in a legit skill.
14:10
And so I it's either the speed he plays at or the way his body
14:14
reacts when it when it gets contact.
14:16
But like, give him props because you know, if he gets to the line
14:19
at that kind of level going forward, it's just going to be
14:21
another dimension to his game. So congratulations.
14:24
To that, we'll keep track of that one.
14:25
OK, So we're not at our normal Henrika Studios.
14:28
We're at the comedian room of the Robin Center.
14:30
And you kind of saw our interview with Ally.
14:32
We've got one with Coach coming up.
14:35
Thank you so much for joining us right after the Navy game.
14:37
We appreciate your your coming on the pod spider sound off.
14:40
Great to be here man. Y'all are killing this and
14:43
honestly really, really honored what you guys are doing.
14:45
And I think I've I've heard the I've heard the buzz in town.
14:47
Y'all are killing it. A good job.
14:49
Thank you. Well, a tough, a tough game
14:51
tonight, 3/4 of neck and neck and then the fourth quarter kind
14:56
of pulled it out. What what changed in the fourth
14:58
quarter to to make that happen? You're being really nice right
15:01
now. I, somebody could have said 3/4
15:03
of poor coaching and other things and I, I probably
15:05
wouldn't have even been able to, to argue with you on that.
15:08
You know, I, I, I think today, First off, maybe, you know,
15:10
formal opponent, right? Like that's, that's a team that,
15:13
you know, when I say they beat Florida and I know I didn't have
15:15
a player playing for Florida, but like they deserve to win
15:18
that game. They were the better team.
15:19
And, you know, I think we liked some of our matchups today, but
15:23
you just knew that they were going to find a way to play
15:25
tough to do all the things that were going to bother you.
15:28
And, you know, I first quarter, I think we tried to play fast,
15:31
try to do some things and it was helpful in some ways.
15:33
I didn't think it really got us into our offense.
15:35
And so that was probably a a swing and a miss by me.
15:37
I thought we had, you know, we played small with Dugan and
15:39
Olstrom out there. I really thought that was going
15:42
to be the answer. And I got stubborn when that
15:44
wasn't working and and kept trying to get to go that.
15:47
And, you know, we knew we're going to come back with some
15:49
ball screens and it probably took me too long to adjust to
15:51
that. And, you know, I thought once we
15:53
did, Sweeney was fantastic. You know, it may not have felt
15:57
like it because she's been all world, but I thought Dugan was
15:59
actually really good today, making good decisions.
16:02
I thought her rebounding was fantastic.
16:03
Her defense was really good. So we were battle tested, you
16:06
know, and we can all say, hey, we won a game when some of our
16:09
players weren't at our best and coaches weren't at our best, and
16:11
we just found a way tonight. Yeah, when you think Maggie had
16:13
an off night and it's a double, double. 1714 and four man like
16:17
that's there's a lot of coaches out there that wish they had
16:19
that stat line. Sam Dewey's best game of the
16:21
year? Tell.
16:22
Tell us about what she's meant to the program and how you know
16:25
staying patient and then finding her spot to really make a
16:28
difference matters. Staying patient in a lot of
16:30
ways, right? Like you look at the roster last
16:32
year and, you know, bring her in and I thought she and she was an
16:35
important to to, to last year's team.
16:37
But you know, you had Anna Camden out there coming off.
16:40
That was, oh, by the way, coming off the bench, right?
16:43
You know, we had Addie and we had Maggie and, you know, it was
16:45
great insurance. But I thought, you know, Sam got
16:47
better during the year, last year and I think she showed us
16:50
what we could do, what she could do.
16:52
I think she gave us a lot of confidence when we entered the
16:54
portal that we didn't have to get a body just to get a body.
16:56
Sam was going to come in and be really good.
16:59
Let's get somebody that can compliment her And and I think
17:01
we did that, but I thought today she I thought she was very good
17:05
defensively in the post. We needed that.
17:07
I I didn't love our lack of action, inactiveness, poor
17:12
choice of words coach, but lack of activity in the post
17:15
defensively today. I thought Sam did a really good
17:18
job of that. She rebounded and she just
17:20
allows you, you know, you hate to say like Addie, but you know,
17:23
when you can have a shooter setting ball screens, when you
17:25
can have somebody just has a knack for the basketball and and
17:28
shooting ability. She does it.
17:29
It's a great offensive weapon. You guys took away Navy's best
17:34
weapon tonight, the preseason player of the year and the
17:37
Patriot, Barnett Gay. Tell us about, you know how you
17:40
guys scripted that. You know, I probably gave
17:42
ourselves a little bit of confidence and I would say that
17:45
gave us, I think, you know, Alicia's given us a lot of
17:47
confidence this year of being able to stop the other team's
17:50
best player. You know, Rayne Wright's done a
17:51
really good job with that. You know, again, probably took
17:54
coach too long to adjust in the Temple game to, to do what they
17:57
did, but I thought those guys have really been that primary
17:59
defender on the other team's best player and done a really
18:02
good job with that. I I thought even today, Ava's
18:05
minutes on one of the best players out there showed us
18:07
something, right? Like all of a sudden we have
18:09
another good, I mean, get me as a freshman, you know, 2 freshmen
18:13
out there that can defend the way that they do and the other
18:15
things that they bring. So again, I think we came into
18:18
it and again, I'm going to go nerd analytics, but I think it
18:20
was like .61 or .62 points per possession to the other team's
18:25
best player on the season. And that's outrageous, right?
18:29
That that's just a really, really low number and says a lot
18:33
about our our team defense, but really just the the primary
18:35
defender and you hoped it was a little bit of a trend.
18:38
And I thought, I thought we made her work tonight.
18:40
Even I think we had one in transition that she had, she had
18:43
one off the dribble. That was a just a tough shot.
18:46
I thought we did a really, really good job with her,
18:47
especially early. So Cancun's coming up, but maybe
18:53
tell us a little bit of the logistics.
18:55
When are you leaving? Kind of What does that whole
18:57
trip look like? Yeah, there's a little bit of of
19:00
some wrinkles here. You know, probably was not our
19:02
intention to, to go international with this.
19:05
We just had a really, really hard time with the tournaments
19:08
that we thought we were in and finding opponents.
19:10
And you know, fortunately we're able to find two really good
19:13
opponents in Cancun. You know, there's some logistics
19:15
with passports that we had to make sure that we, that we, that
19:18
we took care of early. You know, the, the, the flight
19:21
will actually, we'll, we'll fly commercial rough life.
19:24
I know right now to fly commercial to Cancun, but we'll,
19:27
we'll, we'll fly to Orlando on Tuesday and then yeah, stop in
19:32
Orlando. We'll get there Tuesday
19:34
afternoon practice, Tuesday night, Wednesday practice.
19:37
Those aren't long practices. So we're going to have to make
19:39
sure that we're efficient. And then two night games,
19:42
probably not when you agree to, you know, I felt like I was
19:45
getting a lot of favors. Hey, yeah, we'll play TCU.
19:47
Nobody else would play TCU. We'll play TCU thinking like,
19:50
hey, we'll, we'll throw a few things in there for you.
19:52
Was not counting on the 9:00 PM tip time, but hopefully there's
19:56
a lot of competition for eyes on that.
19:58
So 29 PM games, we're going to have to adjust to that, but.
20:01
You know, if you guys remember the NCAA tournament last year,
20:03
we had a late night game and so we you got to play when when you
20:06
need to play, you know, it'll give us a nice rest a second
20:09
time and then probably don't have as much quote free time,
20:13
but I'm sure the kids I find some time to relax and then, you
20:16
know, we'll be back here on Saturday and then, Oh, by the
20:18
way, A10 play starts crazy. How do you?
20:20
Prepare the team for back to backs.
20:22
That's, you know, it's like tournament time and it's like
20:24
the NCAA tournament. You get like a day A10
20:27
tournament. You don't, you don't.
20:28
How do you, how do you prep this team early in the season for
20:31
back to backs? And, and that's by design, you
20:33
know, to kind of mimic the the A10 tournament with a quick
20:36
turnarounds, you know, you know, obviously you probably wouldn't
20:41
want to be so minutes heavy, if I'm being honest on Maggie,
20:44
Rachel and and Ally right now, but I also not overly concerned
20:48
about their bounce back. Those guys will be fine.
20:50
We have an incredible training staff with with with our
20:54
athletic trainer, Sarah and and with Brandon, our strength
20:58
coach. So they've already had
20:58
everything mapped out between hydration, between rollers,
21:01
between stretches and and all of that sort of thing.
21:03
Don't think we're taking a masseuse.
21:04
It's kind of nice the a 10 tournament.
21:06
We get a masseuse with that, not players, players only.
21:09
But yeah, we'll we'll do a little bit of prep.
21:11
I, I kind of work backwards. I don't know if this makes
21:13
sense, but I'll, I'll take a little bit of time tonight,
21:16
tomorrow, even with our staff with Green Bay.
21:19
And then that way when I kind of flip over to TCU, I'm not going
21:21
back and forth. So know a little bit about Green
21:24
Bay, you know, size wise, a little bit like us.
21:26
But they've got a big kid in the post.
21:27
It's going to be a problem for us.
21:29
And, and TCU, they've got some big kids down low.
21:31
They're going to be a real problem and and maybe the best
21:33
point guard in the country. Yeah.
21:35
Yeah, Olivia Miles won't be easy.
21:36
It's it's crazy when Olivia Miles isn't the first person
21:39
that that that comes out of your mouth when you're talking TCU
21:42
Scout. But that ought to be two really
21:44
tough opponents for us. So coach, to get a little
21:46
philosophical on you for just a second, so this is the third
21:50
program you have built into kind of an amazing proportion.
21:54
You started at Chicago, Bucknell and now Richmond.
21:58
After your fourth year at each of these programs, your record
22:00
is 210 and 4881 plus percent winning percentage.
22:06
Tell us a little bit about you know, your how you you set about
22:10
to build the culture and the change in a program to turn it
22:14
into what you've done everywhere you've gone.
22:16
Yeah. And we've always used the
22:17
culture word. And I think because so many
22:18
other people have used it over the years, it kind of gets a
22:20
little tired and maybe I roll. But it is just that, you know,
22:23
and I think we've, I would say probably the first part of this,
22:26
with all due respect to, you know, administration and, and
22:28
players, you got to have the right staff, you got to hire the
22:31
right staff. And I think I've been fortunate
22:32
to, to have some longevity with our staff and, and a couple of
22:36
those guys still, you know, with us the last couple years at
22:39
Bucknell. So they understand the method to
22:42
I wouldn't say I don't think it's madness, but our methods
22:45
with that. But it really and then after
22:46
that, you know, you have to support of administration.
22:49
You guys have heard me say this. Probably everybody heard me say
22:51
this. We got the best president in the
22:52
country. You know, I've got an AD that
22:54
really is almost like the only boss I've ever had at this
22:56
level. You know, he he worked, I worked
22:58
for him at with him, Ed Bucknell and here.
23:00
So I think that part knowing that you have that is huge for
23:03
me. And then you got to get the
23:05
right players. You know, it's not just the
23:06
talent, it's the players like Addie Budnick, Siobhan Ryan,
23:09
Grace Townsend that we're going to come in here and work really
23:11
hard. Jade Hines Clark was in the
23:14
stands today. Like we inherited her.
23:16
We only had her for one year, but like that kid worked.
23:19
And so we just really talked about hard work and, you know, a
23:23
little bit of obsession. You know, I think we we all want
23:25
balance in our life. And I feel like I have that and
23:27
our players have that. But to be really good, there's
23:29
got to be a level of obsession. And I think we have that.
23:32
You know, Maggie and Rachel have been fortunate enough to win a
23:34
couple championships, but I said this during their freshman year.
23:37
Good God, if we can't get a championship for these two, I'll
23:40
have to drag them off their last 810 tournament game and probably
23:44
still will, however that ends in March.
23:46
But those kids are in the gym all the time, which means our
23:49
freshmen know that you got to be in the gym, you know, and you
23:51
got to be working and going back to staff.
23:54
Our staff's really good with player development.
23:56
I think that's a huge piece of it, player development.
23:58
And you've seen that with Ali, you've seen that with Alicia.
24:01
Look man, Maggie was pretty good coming in, but I think she's
24:04
gotten better and better with each year.
24:05
How have you improved? Like when you look back to like,
24:07
you know, your first year coaching, you know how, like,
24:10
how do you, how do you find kind of your improvements every year,
24:14
'cause you're, you're still a young guy.
24:15
Yeah, man, I appreciate that. I have a clue now.
24:17
I don't know if I ever had a clue at age of 25 when when I
24:20
first started as a head coach. Yeah, again, I, I think I say
24:24
this to to friends and become head coaches.
24:27
I say this to our assistant coaches.
24:28
You still have to have a growth mindset, man.
24:30
If you think this is like you've arrived because you're a head
24:33
coach, like this ain't going to go very well.
24:35
And so I tell people I have a love hate relationship with
24:39
social media because we've all been kind of in that mode of
24:42
whatever the doom scroll is. And I wish my phone didn't tell
24:45
me how much I was on Twitter. But honestly, I'm on Twitter.
24:47
The right follows trying to find different acts, trying to find
24:50
different things. You know, I've been fortunate
24:52
to, to have a lot of colleagues at the in the professional, you
24:55
know, both NBA and WNBA just picking at their brains.
24:58
And that's a little bit of my obsession, you know, especially
25:01
kind of with the offense the last few years.
25:03
You know, when we have the players that we have, how do we
25:05
get them in the right spots? So I think you're just have to
25:08
constantly be watching film, constantly be studying and you
25:10
got to beat yourself up a little bit, right?
25:12
Like you got to question yourself.
25:13
And we had some good things going early and then we changed
25:16
our offense 3-4 years ago. Whatever it was, we we had a
25:19
really good team coming back. We still probably have to change
25:22
a few things and probably still have to change these things
25:24
before we get to the A10. Play with this group as well.
25:29
Anything else I'm. Good if you're good, OK.
25:32
Awesome. Thank you, Coach.
25:33
You got it man, thank you so much.
25:35
Are we did we do this with a few Falcon smashes?
25:37
But before we we had professionals.
25:39
We wait till after. We had one Falcon Smash.
25:41
I've had a bold rock. OK, All right.
25:43
We do have some new food reviews that we're going to give out on
25:46
this this coming episode as well.
25:47
We have and they're good. It's good news.
25:49
It's not it's not the BBQ news coach.
25:51
Right, fair, fair stuff. Appreciate you guys, man.
25:53
I really, really do. And I know a lot of Spider fans
25:55
out there are saying the same thing.
25:57
Yeah, undefeated on Taylor Swift night.
25:58
Undefeated on Taylor. Swift, you got rocked again.
26:01
How impressed are you that he could fit into his daughter's
26:03
sweatshirt? I love that that's.
26:05
Pretty impressive right there. Sequins or anything.
26:07
But no friendship bracelets, man.
26:09
Yeah, well. We'll have to do it again.
26:10
Man. There's an awesome crowd today.
26:11
There was a really, really good crowd today.
26:13
Almost too loud for me at times trying to communicate with our
26:15
players. Yeah, Did you?
26:17
See the Navy guys with no shirts.
26:18
I did. I did.
26:19
That's the one thing that you know, you say you we were smart
26:21
and getting Navy here, but you know, you got to remember, you
26:24
know, especially like a St. Gertrude like they they quote
26:26
travel. Well, yeah, there there were
26:27
some passion in the. Stands they had a it was Navy
26:30
fans at times it felt like a neutral cork game.
26:32
It did. Which will which will serve you
26:34
well coming up. Yeah.
26:35
No, you're right. You're right.
26:36
But Congrats again. Thank you very much.
26:38
Thank you, you guys are the best.
26:39
OK, so anything else you want to talk about today?
26:41
Poor. It's just it's been a great day
26:43
here in the Robbins Center, seeing the fans come out, turn
26:46
out for the ladies, see a big win against Navy, a very good
26:49
team at all the Patriot Conference.
26:50
So just a just a good day. Yeah, and we will have a preview
26:54
show of the tournaments. We'll release that a couple days
26:58
after this pod. So be on the lookout for a
27:01
special Thanksgiving episode where we'll talk about what's
27:05
going on in Orlando and in Cancun.
27:08
Looking forward to. It and until then, this is Tom.
27:12
And this is Porter. And this is spiders sounding
27:14
off. See ya.