BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kentucky coach Mickie DeMoss, junior guard Samantha Mahoney and sophomore point guard Carly Ormerod each spoke at the annual Southeastern Conference Media Days on Tuesday.
Below are their comments on the upcoming season and the successes of last year.
Kentucky Head Coach Mickie DeMoss
On what she tells her team heading into this season after last year’s success…
“As a coach, I have to challenge my players. What we accomplished last year was last year. This is a new year. If any of our players were completely satisfied with last year, I won’t let them be. We can get better. You have to keep raising the bar for your team.”
On advancing to the NCAA Tournament last season…
“We talked about comparing last season to the season before. We don’t ever want to go back to the way it was. Once you get a taste of winning and a taste of that success you never want to go back.”
On the difference between this preseason and last preseason…
“I feel I can challenge our players more. They are not as fragile. We talk about embracing challenges so we can have a winning mentality.”
Junior guard Samantha Mahoney
On the team’s preseason rankings…
“We notice it (the rankings), but it is not something that we really need to pay too much attention to. We just need to focus on Kentucky basketball and being the best we can be.”
On this year’s team… “I think this year’s team is going to bring a lot of experience. We were pretty young in the past years as far as the core players, but now we are all back and more experienced.”
On building on last season’s success…
“I think this team always has to remember where we came from. We weren’t always one of the top teams. I think we just pretty much need to build on last year’s success. We all just want to keep getting better.”
Sophomore point guard Carly Ormerod
On last season’s success…
“We did get a taste of that success last year. We have a little different attitude this year. We know we have to bring it everyday. We are not the underdog team anymore. We know teams are going to come and want to beat us. I think we are a little hungrier than last year.”
On being a starting point guard in the SEC last season…
“It was a little tough to just get adjusted it. My teammates understand and can trust me with the ball in my hands. I had a lot of fun with it and think that it will definitely help me this year having that experience from last year.”
On what she thought during the team’s successful run through the SEC last year…
“Honestly, I don’t think I did until after the season. I didn’t want to get caught up in the hype or caught up in the success that we were having when our season wasn’t over. After the season I looked back and realized that we did have a really good season, but I didn’t think about it during the year.”
