Spring Break
Denise Dillon: The goal, 'To win a championship'
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Sports
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The Triangle: After the tremendous season you enjoyed last year winning 18 games and going 13-5 in the conference, how do you keep your team focused on taking that next step?
Denise Dillon: I think the biggest thing is just being hungry to do better and do more. Although we did well in conference play last year, we did not do well out of conference. And I understand that the key focus is how you do in conference, how you do there is what matters, but you can help yourself get to the next step if you do well out of conference. I think the kids returning are hungry to do better in the out-of-conference games to get back at some of those teams that we came up short against or gave some games away, which hasn't really been the case for us in the past. So just having those kids returning certainly helps set that tempo out of conference.
TT: Gabriela Marginean was named Preseason Player of the Year. How important is she to your team and what facets of her game are she trying to improve on?
DD: She's obviously a key player for us. Gabi has to continue to do what she does best. Her work ethic sets her apart from many players in our conference and the out of conference games we play. That always gives her a chance to be successful because she works hard every possession for 40 minutes and can be on the floor for 40 minutes because she's so well-conditioned. I feel that for us to be a better team, Gabi's just working on becoming a better teammate - working with and trying to make the younger kids better, helping them understand what's going on and having them fit into the system and the style of play we have. She's got the most experience on this team as a junior [considering fifth-year senior Nicole Hester lost so much time on the floor]. Gabi has that game experience so she's just learning to adapt with the new kids coming in and helping them adjust a little easier.
TT: Your team suffered some major losses due to the graduation of Delise Johnson, Stacy McCullough and the Suber twins - Narissa and Anora. How difficult is it to lose so many talented players ?
DD: It's not even so much "talent." I think with our system and our style it's that experience that always help kids be more comfortable and more successful. Narissa Suber's shoes will be tough to fill, just due to the numbers that she put up while playing so many minutes for four years, but also the players who may have not been recognized like Stacy. She didn't put up big numbers, neither did Anora or Delise, but they did everything that was necessary in order for the team to be successful. They knew what their job was, they knew what their role was and they accepted it and it made us that much better. I think that's going to be the most difficult thing, for new players to find themselves in those positions and start to understand what their roles are and what they need to do to make this team successful. Sometimes it takes a little time and I try to explain to the girls that when games start we don't have that much time to figure that stuff out. That's my job to make sure we're all on the same page.
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