Oct. 28, 2008

Hear Coach Dacko's Comments | Atlantic 10 Release

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass women's basketball coach Marnie Dacko spoke about the upcoming 2008-09 season as a part of the Atlantic 10 basketball media day video teleconference on Tuesday afternoon. The Atlantic 10 preseason poll and Preseason All-Conference teams were announced, as well, with the Minutewomen being tabbed 12th in the poll and Xavier selected as the preseason favorite. Here is what Dacko had to say in looking ahead to the 2008-09 campaign.

 

Coach Dacko on replacing 2008 graduates Kate Mills and Pam Rosanio

Kate's in Spain playing professionally right now and Pam's in Italy. We miss them, however, we have a whole new look this year and it's very exciting. The kids and the chemistry are terrific. Kate and Pam had a sense of urgency a year ago and put a lot of pressure on the freshmen class. Now that they've moved on to their careers, it presents new challenges to us in an exciting way. Teya Wright will be stepping into Kate's spot, and there will be a collection of different people stepping into Pam's spot. A mainstay for us, though, is Stefanie Gerardot coming back with a vengeance. She peaked last year at the Boston College game, but over-trained. She is more focused and grounded this year. She looks good, Teya Wright looks good, and the incoming freshmen can shoot the ball. So we're going to have a whole different face to the UMass women's team.

Coach Dacko on new style of play

We want to run and we've got Vance Walberg on the men's staff, so it's kind of a no-brainer that I can learn from him. We're really incorporating a different look: we want to get up the floor, we want to hit a lot of threes, and we're going to be a deep team. We've got eleven freshmen and sophomores, so there's no one set in the starting lineup yet. But we're excited even though we lost some key players. We shot very well as a team last year as far as field goal percentage, so it's going to be a little riskier for me to just let them run and gun. However, that's what I'm committed to and it's going to be fun.

Coach Dacko on Walberg's role working with the women's team

I've got to take advantage of his expertise, so I've been sitting in all of the men's practices and learning from Vance. He's made me a believer in the dribble-drive offense, so we'll see what happens this year.

Coach Dacko on her trust in the dribble-drive offense

I wouldn't call it a leap of faith because for us it's a little different. We like to run, we run the flex offense as everybody knows, and we've been pretty proficient in it. We still run a lot of quick hitters, but the dribble-drive offense has been something that the kids have really enjoyed. Since we have the guru of the dribble-drive here, it would be silly for me not to take advantage of his knowledge of the offense.

Coach Dacko on the success of the new offense and the defensive intensity

Only time will tell, so we will have to see if it is successful. We've got Vermont on Nov. 14 and we can put the ball in the basket, let's put it that way. Whether our defense will step up to match the intensity of our offense is another question to be asked. In years past, we've spent a great deal of time working on footwork and positioning on defense, but this year we haven't gotten a chance yet to cover everything defensively.

Coach Dacko on getting the players to buy into the defensive philosophy

Defense is going to keep us in every ball game, and we have to commit to a defensive philosophy that we can build on. When we're scrimmaging, it's hard to play zone defense or different presses unless we have the groundwork done for man-to-man principles. That's what we're trying to incorporate right now. When kids come out of high school they have different defensive styles: some force middle, some force baseline, some don't put pressure on the ball. This makes it tough to get everyone on the same page and work towards a team defense philosophy. Early on we've missed the boat on the defense, but we've concentrated on changing the offensive look. At some point something has to take a hit, so right now we're trying to make up on lost ground defensively.

Coach Dacko on Stefanie Gerardot

I think that the new offense takes pressure off of the freshmen to step up and mature early. Stefanie Gerardot has found her flow in the game and she can play four different positions in this offense. She will have a lot freedom in her senior year: she already worked as an intern at an accounting firm in Boston and she's already secured a job there when she graduates. This year is really an opportunity for her to come back and enjoy the game knowing that her future is already taken care of. The loss of Pam certainly hurt her, but at the same time I think that now she's got the freedom to be a leader on this team.

Coach Dacko on players who will thrive in the new offense

I think that we have a few. Teya Wright is one of them. Nicole Jones is a freshman from Rochester (N.Y.) who has great hops and a huge upside. Alesia Howard, who's a freshman from Africentric in Columbus, Ohio, is a slasher and can get to the basket. We've also got shooters here: Cerie Mosgrove stepped up last year in the final A-10 Conference game against Dayton. She's proven that she can put the ball in the basket from long range. Emilie Teuscher, another freshman, can put the ball in the basket. I think that we've got some good combinations, but it all comes back to playing defense. My other concern, of course, is what we're known for: turnovers. It comes down to whether or not we can step up and take care of the basketball. Since we want to run even more than we did a year ago, this will be a huge answer that we'll find out sooner rather than later.