Nov. 8, 2006

Summitt's Teleconference

Opening Statement...

"With Shannon Bobbitt and Alberta Auguste coming in from junior college, I think they have demonstrated that they have had that college experience. That is going to be a great asset for our basketball team. Cait McMahan and Nicci Moats both had setbacks from their knee injuries. Cait was in practice and got some good reps. I am encouraged by her recovery. Nicci Moats is making progress. She needs to get herself in shape and has worked a lot on her rehab as well. Those four new players have added quality depth and give us two point guards. Alberta gives us a lot of defensive presence and quickness on the perimeter and is another post player who can continue to improve to give us depth in our post game. We're looking forward to moving into the real games that count. Our exhibitions have been good, but I think having Chattanooga here on Sunday will be good for us. They like to spread you out, they are an up and down team. Having played against them, they're always a challenge for us in the transition game. We hope we are an improved team as far as our ability to play baseline-to-baseline basketball. We'll need to push tempo and extend our defense. It will be a good test to see where we are and to this point."

Overall evaluation of exhibition games and level of competition...

"As we look at those games and how we were able to extend our defense, I think this team, at this point and time, is more committed and focused on being a defensive team that can create opportunities. We weren't perfect by any means, but I was pleased with the intensity. We're better in the full court and half court from a defensive standpoint. Offensively, I thought we got very impatient at times. While these two teams were not as challenging as our next games will be, it was still good for us to get out there and play together, and see what we need to work on. Clearly we need to be a better half court offensive team. I think shot selection was questionable at times and we were impatient, so we can learn from that."

On the bench play...

"I've challenged the players that are coming off the bench. Every player that comes here has to understand, if they're coming off the bench, it's a different situation than when they were in high school or in Alberta's case, junior college and always being a starter. They have to be ready to play, and in tune with what is going on on the court and knowing that our priorities are based on our opponents, or who they are going to be matched up with defensively."

On Cait McMahan...

"I definitely will play her against Chattanooga unless she has a physical setback. Yesterday she was a little overanxious. She's excited, and rightfully so; she needs to look to be a scoring point guard. Shannon and Cait at times get too focused on running the offense but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've had point guards that were not as focused on that, and with these two, that is not an issue. Addressing our perimeter scoring, both Shannon and Cait need to score for us. Looking at Cait yesterday, she is just so focused on running the offense, but she's definitely a good shooter and has spent a lot of time working on her outside game. We want to capitalize on that."

On Bobbitt and McMahan being scorers...

"I'll have to repeat the importance of scoring to Shannon and Cait several times. We have a player and a half guarding our inside game a lot, but both players are coachable and want to help this team."

On Candace Parker...

"Candace has improved significantly from the end of last season to now. I would say that the USA Basketball experience was a tremendous one for her. The pro players took her under their wings since she was the only collegiate player. Tamika Catchings and Michelle Snow, two former Tennessee players, paid close attention to her as she was making the adjustment of going into the international game and playing with very experienced players. That's where she really grew as a player. She's definitely initiating more physical contact in the paint, instead of being finesse. She's imposing her will in the paint, and we need that."

On Chattanooga...

"I'll know more when we meet as a staff today. We're having to look at tape from a year ago. They are up tempo, their spacing offensively is great, they set a lot of back screens and they try to spread out our defense. Wes Moore does a great job, and they are always well coached. We look forward to the challenge of playing against a well-prepared opponent."

On outsiders opinion of Tennessee...

"They might be like I was before we started practice, we didn't know what to expect. That happens when you add four new players, and for the first time in many years, add junior college players. We lost our best three-point shooter in Shanna Zolman and our biggest and most physical post player in Tye'sha Fluker. This causes a little bit of the unknown. I'm anxious to see how we are going to perform with our challenging schedule. I will say that I am very pleased with our improvement in overall speed and quickness as a team."

What Bobbitt and McMahan have done to earn the trust so quickly...

"They both understand the role of the point guard and are both very coachable. Shannon is very instinctive as a player, particularly in the transition game, but she's also very disciplined in the half court game by calling out what she's running offensively. She wants to do things the right way, but she also has a good feel to know when to create for a teammate or for herself. She's got a really good feel for the game. With Cait, I felt the same thing even watching her in high school where she was more of a scoring guard for her team. Like Shannon, Cait understands the need to push tempo and when to set and when to get the ball inside. Both of them understand time and possession and manage the clock really well."

On the tough schedule...

"The SEC is always a challenge. When you play in the SEC, it's like family, everyone knows you, so because there are no secrets, it makes it more challenging. With the non-conference schedule, bringing in UCLA early and then going to Arizona State and returning home to play Stanford and Middle Tennessee State. MTSU should be very strong this year thanks to Coach Ansell, who added strength to his team. Early on we are going to have several big tests. We'll know a lot more about ourselves. Having North Carolina on the road, Duke here and Connecticut on the road, I must have been crazy, but it's the best thing for this team. They have to be motivated to play this schedule. I think we learned some lessons, and we have veteran players who understand that. This schedule gives them no time for a let down. They will understand game preparation for back-to-back big games. That is what you'll have in the SEC, the SEC Tournament and post-season."