Dec. 2, 2009
Following a weekend sweep at the World Vision Classic, Kim Mulkey spoke with members of the media on the No. 8 Lady Bears upcoming matchup against her alma mater, Louisiana Tech.
Below are Mulkey's comments on Louisiana Tech:
On the emotions of coaching against Louisiana Tech...
"I think the emotion will (come from) seeing a lot of familiar faces. The emotion for me as a coach won't be any different than it was to see Jennifer White from St. (Edwards) or Angela Lawson from Incarnate Word just because I wanted these games in honor of Coach Barmore. I wanted some of his former players to come so he could see them in action. Lucky for me he is on my staff and not on their staff. It'll be good to Teresa Weatherspoon and Louisiana Tech (on Saturday). Coach Barmore and I spent many years in building that program and you will never erase the blood, sweat and tears that went into building a program like Louisiana Tech. There is a place in your heart that will always pull for Louisiana Tech but Coach Barmore and I know who signs our paychecks."
On Louisiana Tech...
"The first thing is they are very good. I think Teresa (Weatherspoon) has them playing with her personality--a lot of energy and enthusiasm. She has a new staff. Daron (Park) was at Maryland and he knows that game. They have seniors and juniors that have now been around Teresa for a while and they are playing very good basketball and had an opportunity to beat LSU (on Monday). I know they were heartbroken but I know they will be ready when they come to Waco."
On Teresa Weatherspoon and scheduling Louisiana Tech...
"It is has been 10 years since I left Louisiana Tech. Teresa and I have a great relationship and we talk all the time. This is not a Kim Mulkey versus Louisiana Tech--it's not that. It is Teresa Weatherspoon trying to rebuild that program and her seeing an opportunity when presented to play on the road against what we think is a good team. We think we are pretty good. It is not anything more than I called as many players as Coach Barmore had coached that were head coaches to see if they would come here and let him help me coach against them."
On the freshman...
"When you have this much youth, every day is an adventure-- who is going to do well today and who picked up what we learned yesterday? The thing about it is, as a staff, we can't move on until they all pick it up. That is the frustration of coaching a young team but it is also our job. When you have long stretches between games you must focus on your team. You must correct things, add things and put in new things. It's obvious that we have seen zone and that is new to a lot of us. We are going to have to keep addressing ways to just go make plays against a zone and I don't anticipate that we will see a whole lot of man defense for the rest of the year."
On Shanay Washington...
"I think don't think her knee is completely well. When that is completely well I think she is going to elevate her game even more. I think what you are getting out of her as a freshman is calmness. She doesn't get out there and get out of control and take bad shots. She really doesn't turn the ball over and she gives us a big presence out on the perimeter that can help us defend."
