Coale, Sooners Meet National Media

Ashley Paris Reports from Kansas City
   Women's Basketball Television Analyst Debbie Antonelli
   Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
   OU Junior Courtney Paris
   OU Sophomore Jenna Plumley

2007 Big 12 Women's Basketball Media Day
Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale and the Sooners in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY , Mo. -- Oklahoma women's basketball members stepped in front of the cameras and the microphones Tuesday to discuss the upcoming season at the Big 12 Media Conferences.

Head coach Sherri Coale, juniors Ashley and Courtney Paris and sophomore Jenna Plumley represented the Sooners at the annual event. Coale was first at the microphone for a 15-minute press conference before shooting clips with Fox Sports Net and CSTV. The players also participated in the video packages before hosting a number of one-on-one interviews with several members of the national media.

The following are selected quotes from the day's activites.

Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale
On what the Sooners have to do to reach their full potential:
" We have to take better care of the basketball. I look back at last season and we beat Ole Miss by 15 if we controlled the basketball. They try to make you make mistakes with the ball, that's the way they play and the way they're successful, their defense generates offense. But clearly when we can get a shot at the basket we're going to have a chance to win games. I can remember a timeout in that game, where, if you just throw it towards the basket, because we're going to get the rebound, that would be a good thing. That's the deal. Really, we've got to take back the basketball. We were good defensively last year, I think we were third in the country in field goal defense. We guarded people. We didn't finish as much offense off the defense as we would like to, but we made people take tough shots."

On how Oklahoma will replace the six seniors it lost from last year's team:
"That's a tough one. I don't think that you do replace kids, any seniors when they graduate, but when you have a class the size of ours last year, the six kids, not only who they were and the statistics that they left behind, but what they meant to our program. Some of them 5th years, both redshirt in their career. I don't know if you replace people. We'll get the three point shots, and yeah, but we have a freshman that we can get the shots that Erin did. We will take those charges, those attacks at the basket that Chelsi had. We will find a way to get that statistical output that we got from those guys on the floor.

"What's difficult is the experience. What's difficult is the basketball IQ. That group of kids was as sharp on the basketball floor as anybody I've ever coached. That's a tough team to replace. Part of that is their ability to think and feel the game. And part of that is being in the program for four or five years. You just don't replace those two things immediately. We're working hard with the young people. I've been very, very impressed with our sophomore class with the growth they've shown from the freshman year to the early season thus far."

On how Ashley and Courtney Paris will be used this season as the team's most experienced post players:
" It's a little bit of a lot of different scenarios. Here's the deal, Courtney and Ashley together are fantastic. Ashley can find a way to get the ball to Courtney. She has a sixth sense about it and they have that communicative thing going between the two of them. The other thing is sometimes Ashley needs to play the low block, and sometimes Courtney needs to rest, and vice versa. They'll be on the floor together a lot, but there will be occasions where one will be in and one won't, because we need each of them at full strength when they're on the floor. We have the freedom to do a lot of different things. But more so than last year, because Leah Rush is no longer with us, and she needed to be on the floor a lot."

On creating the team's tough schedule:
"When you do your schedule you try to accomplish a couple of things, and for me, personally, the number one thing that I've always tried to accomplish with my schedule is to put my program at another level. Years ago we played Connecticut, we wanted to try to fill up our arena. We didn't think we could beat them at the time, we didn't have the personnel to be able to beat them. We weren't really worried about our RPI. And 10,700 people came to the game. It started a love affair with our community with our team. When I put the schedule together, I'll be quite honest, I looked around the country and said every year Tennessee or Connecticut are playing in the Final Four. Every year those two teams have the toughest schedules in the country, one and two. So if I want to be one of them, I want there, too. Find the best teams in America and put them on the preconference schedule. Once we get to conference play it's terrific. But I have some control over what happens in November and December, and I want that to be just as terrific as well. We went after it. And whether or not this year's team is ready for that, I don't know. We'll know in about 23 more practices, but I like our chances."

Oklahoma junior forward/center Ashley Paris
On the attention her sister, Courtney Paris, receives:
"Her attention is well deserved. I'm happy for her. I definitely like the fact that she's getting the opportunities that she is getting and that she's made a name for herself as one of the best players in the country. She's really accomplished a lot."

On how have two Paris sisters starting together on the same floor will work out:
"I think it will work out pretty well. We definitely play well together. We've been doing it for a long time. We're able to feed off each other. (Courtney's) good by herself but, for me, it makes it a lot easier with her being out there."

On how the team will find leadership after losing six seniors:
"We lost a lot of leadership, but I think everyone on the team has stepped into a leadership role this summer. It's different. We'll never be able to replace those seniors, but we'll be able to make it work and kind of do our own thing. It's been part of the challenge - coming in everyday knowing that you, as an individual, have to do what it takes to push yourself, push the team and make everyone better."

On what this year's team is like:
"We're definitely a quicker team. We don't have the experience and the fundamentals, but a lot of our youngsters are very athletic."

On her personality:
"On the court, I'm not a big screamer. I'm not always voicing my opinion or anything like that. I'm going to lead by example and play hard every night and make sure my energy rubs off on the rest of the girls.

"I think I'm perceived by the media as low-key and not very outgoing, but off the court I'm loud. I'm sort of a prankster."

Oklahoma junior center Courtney Paris
On what makes Big 12 basketball great:
"Every time we step on the court we have to play our hardest. I think that's the best thing about our team - how though it is and the great work that's been done and how great the group is coming in."

On if the perception is that OU's toughest games are just against the SEC:
"I think people have different opinions and everyone's entitled to that. But, as a player, you're going to have the Baylor game and the Texas game and Texas A&M. Those are going to be tough games. You have teams like Missouri, Kansas State and Kansas who are going to come out and give you tough games, so you can never take a day off. There's never a game where we think, `Oh, we're going to win that day.' That's one of the reasons I chose to play in the Big 12. Every day you are going to be challenged, so I think that only makes you better as an individual and as a team."

On Gail Goestenkors as a head coach in the Big 12 Conference:
"I think she's great. I've had her as a coach in USA Basketball. She's tough and I think she'll invigorate her teams and they will be a challenge."

On if her game has improved:
"Certainly. When you play a lot and practice a lot, you can't help but get better. I've had the opportunity to practice and to play with some of the best players in the world. I've gotten so much better, not just from the experience, but from being challenged every day.

"The thing about being with (the U.S. Senior National Team) was that every one works hard and gives full effort on every possession. You can have a fun personality off the court, but on the court it's business, it's working hard and it's getting your job done. I think that was the coolest thing about them."

On her individual goals:
"To play hard every game, every possession, every minute. Just give my all. And when I can't do that, tell the coach to sub (me) out, get a breath and get back out there. That's my biggest thing. Also, I want to get better every day in practice. When the lights are on, I'm all about it. In practice, that's where my mentality has really changed. Coach (Coale) is always saying your best player has to be your hardest worker. Last year, I would think, `Oh, whatever.' Now, I really understand because I've seen Diana Tauarsi every day at practice going hard, slapping our hands hard. Off the court she's smiling and she's funny. On the court, it's all business and that's how I want to carry myself."

On if she wants to be known as the best player in the country:
"I just want to be the best Courtney (Paris). I want to do my job to its fullest potential, to keep improving and to be whatever my teams needs me to be. At the end of the year, I want to know that I did everything I could and I pushed my teammates to try to everything they could."

On the focus for the postseason:
"We're not really focused on the end. I know I've sat in this room the last two years and said,`We want do this and we want to do this.' Now, I want to go into practice tomorrow and be the best team we can be in practice tomorrow. I think we're really good. I think if we keep working hard and get better we'll put ourselves in a position, at the end, to play for bigger things. But we have to focus on tomorrow."

On replacing last year's six seniors:
"It's a tough thing to do and I don't think you can replace the six seniors. (The juniors) just have to be able to give the team direction and work with what we have. Those girls have left their mark on our university and our program and, I think, that just their spirit and their energy - like the way Leah Rush worked hard every day - has to come off on all of us. Leah's not here. Who's going to be that Leah Rush? Everybody. It's not going to be just one person who talks all day. We're all responsible for the whole team and we all have to be leaders."

Oklahoma sophomore point guard Jenna Plumley
On how the first practices have been for Oklahoma:
"It's been great. We came out with a bang, came out ready to get better. I know that's what Coach (Coale) was looking for and I feel really confident about our team. It's all about getting better daily, keeping up with what our coaches are teaching and doing the little things."

On what to focus before the start of the season:
"I think it's building chemistry. Everyone's very athletics and everyone has a special talent. It's just about putting all the pieces together. With practice coming along and going great, everything's just going really well. We've just got to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time, one play at a time, one possession at a time. I think that's what we're really focused on - making sure we accomplish that."

On what is was like to start at point guard at the end of her freshman season:
"I just had to get a grasp on it. I had to build up my confidence. The coaches looked at me as their point guard and the team needed to count on me. I felt like it was my energy that I brought to the team. It wasn't my play or whatever. It was people finishing. I may have gotten them the ball, but we had to finish the play."

On what it's like playing for Sherri Coale:
"It's unbelievable. With Coach Coale, you are always working on or developing fundamentals with a big picture in mind. In practice you work on little things, knowing why you are working on them. When Coach Coale speaks, she was a way that it's easy for you to know what she's talking about. It's easy to learn from her. We don't have to do things over and over until we get it right.

"She's that type of person who has an influence on you where you want to get better. She knows what your full potential is and if you haven't reached it, she's going to get you there."

On what Courtney Paris brings to the team:
"Courtney is an amazing girl, all around. Whether on the court or off the court, she's very special. When she gets on the floor, she going to make sure she gives it her all. When she's off the court, she's the same way with everything she does. That's what's so special about Courtney. I just love playing with her. Her mentality, everything she does and everything she brings to us - it's not about being selfish, it's about making us better."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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