CU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY -- QUOTES - University of Colorado Athletics

The University of Colorado women's basketball team held it's annual Media Day today, with coach Ceal Barry and players Tera Bjorklund and Kate Fagan featured. Here are some excerpts from the press conference portion of the event.

Colorado Head Coach Ceal Barry

GENERAL: “It seems like a short off season. We are really excited, we had Fan Fest yesterday and over 400 fans came in to meet the team and we are all ready to go. As for how we look, we have the old reliables in Randie (Wirt), Kate (Fagan), Tera (Bjorklund). I know what I am going to get from them night in and night out. Outside of that we have a lot of question marks but that is what is great about college basketball. When you graduate great contributors, then you have new players getting their chance. They certainly will be getting their chance.”

“We could, depending on injuries have anywhere from 17 to 22 wins. It is going to be a haul to get a NCAA bid based on the schedule we have. We're going to have to score well and defend well. On the good side, we're a quicker team. On the tough side, we're young and inexperienced, probably the most inexperienced team we've had in three years. I think we are little more athletic than last season, on the challenging side we have less experience. Freshman and sophomores are going to play key roles in big games early on.”

ON HOSTING WBCA CLASSIC: “We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have WBCA Classic when it was offered to us. It is going to be good for us to have that caliber of teams to play against. It’s one of those things that could work for us if we get some wins or against us if we don't.”

ON EXHIBITION OPPONENTS: “All-Star teams don’t practice together and they come in and they don't have an offense, don't set screens and aren't cohesive. To bring foreign teams in to play it costs a lot of money to house them and feed them. When you have Metro State and other Division II schools that want to play you like South Dakota State, who are defending Division II National Champions, you are playing a program that is better than a situation where you have an an All-Star team that's not really running a system of play.”

ON THE MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: “I would say Whitney Law. She was on the team last year but ineligible due to her redshirt last year. I would say Veronica (Johns-Richardson) is the most improved of the eligible players. She worked really hard in her summer and our preseason conditioning and so she came in with a little more readiness than she’s had in her time here.”

ON THE BIG 12: “You've got the bottom schools that keep searching for answers like Texas A & M with a new head coach in Gary Blair, Connie Yori with her second year at Nebraska, and you can never count out Marian Washington (at Kansas), she's been down but she's never out. She has had to play quite a bit of freshmen and sophomores. I think Texas Tech, Texas, and with three in-state players at K-State, they are always tough. The bottom schools are working hard on improving and getting better. Baylor is a great example of that...where they were eight years ago and where they are now.”

ON C TERA BJORKLUND: “She’s definitely capable, that's the easy part. Tera is already a more confident defender and she’s matured and gotten older physically, I think she's going to be stronger on the boards. I think the one thing is that losing Sabrina (Scott) and Linda (Lappe) was like losing a bit of Tera because they got the ball into her. She is a senior playing with younger players as opposed to most of her career she played with older players. I think everybody in the country knows that if you’re going to stop Colorado you’ve got to stop Tera.”

ON WHO WILL BACK UP TERA: “Yesterday, Cecily (Jones) got hurt and we put Amber (Metoyer) in there. I really liked her in there. She played a lot there in high school. " We always have the option of having Randie (Wirt) in there.

ON ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: “Right now, we’re turning the ball over too much and not shooting free throws well, but I’m measuring this team against two Sweet 16 teams, not the bottom 100 teams. We’ve got to get the ball to Tera and second we need to hit free-throws. I think we’re quicker and we’ll be able to force some turnovers on defense.”

ON PLAYING YOUNG PLAYERS: “I’ll be very tempted to, but I don’t think it will help in March. I will be tempted, however, to play freshmen over seniors and juniors who are not producing. They want to play hard, but they will play harder if they get a breather. Every player is so much better at every position, if you take time off to give them a breather.”

ON WHO IS GOING TO EMERGE TO BE THE NEXT FOUR IN THE LINEUP: “My new assistant asked me when I typically decided that, and I told him that I don’t decide, players decide.”

Colorado Players

C TERA BJORKLUND

ON TEAM LEADERSHIP: “With us being seniors, we need to be encouraging to the younger players because free throws and stuff, a lot of it can all be mental. We need to keep everybody positive and confident and that will really help that.”

ON PRESSURE: “I don’t really feel that much pressure. I am just going in and playing as hard as I can and trying to have as much fun as possible. Whatever the outcome is that's how it's going to be. I can't be too worried about it because if I go out there and play as hard as I can, there is not much more I can do. Last year is kind of the same, and this year I think I'm a little more used to it, knowing what to expect. I don't feel as much pressure as I did last year.”

ON LAST YEAR’S MIDSEASON SLUMP: “It made me realize you are always going to go through your low points, and that was definitely not a very fun time. It's just something you need to work through. I watched a lot of film and focused on the little things and I think gradually I worked my way out of it. Just staying confident, and not being so worried about missing shots, I kept focusing on the little things and it helped me get through it. It’s good to know that things are always going to work out and won’t stay like that.”

ON WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES: “Being able to play over the summer anytime will help. The competition over in Europe was really good. Kate (Fagan) and I took a lot from the experience, both basketball and cultural wise.”

G KATE FAGAN

ON THIS SEASON: “I think everybody knows that Tera (Bjorklund) is an amazing center, and that's our main focus, trying to get her the ball from open spots on the floor. The other team is usually down on her, which means we need to find some different spots open on the floor. With Veronica (Johns-Richardson) penetrating, I think that will also leave some more open spots. We just need to keep Tera (Bjorklund) in the triangle, and keep running the triangle.”

ON TEAM LEADERSHIP: “I think a lot of the turnover issues...I think a lot of that is because we have a lot of young players. I don’t think it is their fault, but I think there is a communication issue due to a lack of experience on offense. I think that comes down to Tera (Bjorklund), Randie (Wirt), Maria (Billingsley), and myself to lead them, and I think we will be accountable for how we are playing as a team. I think seniors should step it up and hit free throws to begin with. If we are missing the front ends of one-and-one’s and we are not knocking down two-for-two’s, then it becomes acceptable to lose focus. Tthen you’re looking at games with 12-19 from the free throw line and that could potentially cost us the game.”

ON BEING 5TH IN THE COACHES POLL: “I don’t think we would have picked ourselves fifth. Oklahoma played in the national championship game a couple years ago, they’ve got Caton Hill coming back, and I think the media and the coaches who are voting recognize that. They (Oklahoma) have a lot of history, and name recognition, and I think they are a really tough team.”

ON TEAM PLAY: “Veronica (Johns-Richardson) has really stepped it up in the first few weeks of practice to fill her role, while Whitney (Law) has been hitting some outside shots. It is not going to be one person coming off with 20 points in a game like Tera (Bjorklund), but I think contributing seven or eight points will make it a real team effort.”