EVANSTON, Ill. – For the third year in a row, the Wildcats hosted Giordano's with Joe in Evanston with head coach Joe McKeown and staff welcoming fans for a night of food and basketball talk.
McKeown introduced his staff and gave an opening statement before a Q&A session with WNUR Sports, the flagship radio station of Northwestern Women's Basketball. Select student-athletes were also in attendance and held a session with the hosts.
A transcript of select portions of the evening is below. The Wildcats hold an exhibition at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 6 before opening their season at home on Sunday, Nov. 10 against Loyola Maryland.
WNUR: "Are there any other goals that you guys think would define success for this season moving forward?
Amber Jamison: "I think we already said that we want to be Big Ten Champions, but just pushing ourselves to compete our best level in every single game, not just in the conference games but also the non-conference games and making a statement in every single game we play."
WNUR: "You mentioned some new players, I want to talk a little bit about the team that's coming back. Obviously, so many players coming back from last year. What are the positives of having that group pretty much for the most part, obviously Pallas graduating, but for the most part staying together. What does that bring for this year?
Abbie Wolf: "Definitely as a post player when I'm with certain guards, I'm like 'Oh, Lauryn Satterwhite's going to throw me some bullets' so I'm ready for that and the way she plays. Byrdy [Galernik] and I have been playing together in season, out-of-season, and one-on-one for so long that when we're on the court together doing handoffs and no-look passes it shows that we really have a lot of experience with each other. I think everybody who's out on the floor just tries to play to each other's strengths. When you're playing against them, you're pushing them to become better."
WNUR: "You mention the 5-out offense, what should we expect from that for fans who maybe haven't seen that before. What is that going to look like on the floor with so many guards this year who are so capable?"
Jamison: "It's just going to look like that we're trying to play fast and make it known that everybody's capable. Like coach said, we're a positionless team, everybody can do everything. It gives more freedom on offense to read the game and read the defense and just play. "
WNUR: "We glossed over a little bit the fact that Pallas is obviously the one departure, but that is a huge departure from last season. Can you just talk a little bit about how you're adjusting to that and how this team is going to feel without such a big presence both on and off the court?"
Wolf: "My first few weeks back in the summer, I was like 'Oh wow practice is kind of nice without Pallas'. Obviously we miss her, and she pushed me to be such a better and stronger player, but Courtney Shaw is incredible and I would say she's just as athletic and probably faster than Pallas and can really do a lot. She's pushing me at practice everyday. We're really trying to make each other better. I, of course, need to really toughen up in the paint and get a lot of boards. I think everybody on the team is realizing we all need to box out, 'cause I can not get up there like Pallas did. I really miss her. I keep in touch with her a little bit. She's doing great in Italy. You should follow her on Instagram if you don't already. She has a lot of great content up there."
WNUR: "We'll start with a question from the audience. They were curious about where the 5-out offense inspiration came from when you were trying to decide how to deploy your team this year."
McKeown: "Well I think that you're going to see a lot of different looks from us, but one of the things we have put in is to really spread the floor. We feel like we have a lot of different players who can score from different places. We're just trying to open the floor up, get to the foul line more, and we have some great three-point shooters this year. I think that's the evolution of it. If you watch some of the best offenses in college basketball, they're playing inside-out, and I think that's one of the things we want to do..."
WNUR: "How do you expect the team to develop this year with the amount of returning players that there are and that experience that they've gained over the past few years?"
McKeown: "It's great to start practice with four starters back, five starters back, six starters back, but we have a lot of people who played a lot of minutes last year. You heard Amber say this, but to be a positionless player to be able to play multiple positions, we're a little bit ahead of where we were from the standpoint of some of the things we're doing and want to put in. We've already spent a lot of time working on that the past couple of years. Hopefully, that will pay off in November. We still have some work to do though."
WNUR: "Is October the hardest month? That's what we heard from Abbie and Amber. Would you agree that October's the hardest month of the year?"
McKeown: "We still in October? We've got tomorrow to really get 'em in shape. We've got one more day. No, I think for players, this is every sport and really in basketball, coaches want to practice and players want to play. I think that's everywhere. Right now, I think our players have gone really hard for a long time, and you heard Abbie say that they're ready to go up against other teams, other people. We understand that. As coaches, we're a little paranoid that we've got to get this in, we gotta get gear, we gotta do this, so it's a little bit of both right now. Once you get to November, these guys will tell you, the season just flies. It's non-conference, you wake up and it's January and you're in the Big Ten, and all of the sudden it's March, and in our case, which is a great tribute to this team, we played last weekend of college basketball last season. It's a long season."
WNUR: "Obviously, you've been here a while; you've seen a lot of different teams. What qualities makes this specific group of players unique and dynamic?"
McKeown: "I think every team has its own identity and stamp on it. I think we're getting real good leadership. I think also they really care about each other; this is a really unselfish team. I don't think anybody was worried about stats or things that comes with that when you've been a really successful individual player. This is really a team that really buys into each other."
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!
McKeown introduced his staff and gave an opening statement before a Q&A session with WNUR Sports, the flagship radio station of Northwestern Women's Basketball. Select student-athletes were also in attendance and held a session with the hosts.
A transcript of select portions of the evening is below. The Wildcats hold an exhibition at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 6 before opening their season at home on Sunday, Nov. 10 against Loyola Maryland.
WNUR: "Are there any other goals that you guys think would define success for this season moving forward?
Amber Jamison: "I think we already said that we want to be Big Ten Champions, but just pushing ourselves to compete our best level in every single game, not just in the conference games but also the non-conference games and making a statement in every single game we play."
WNUR: "You mentioned some new players, I want to talk a little bit about the team that's coming back. Obviously, so many players coming back from last year. What are the positives of having that group pretty much for the most part, obviously Pallas graduating, but for the most part staying together. What does that bring for this year?
Abbie Wolf: "Definitely as a post player when I'm with certain guards, I'm like 'Oh, Lauryn Satterwhite's going to throw me some bullets' so I'm ready for that and the way she plays. Byrdy [Galernik] and I have been playing together in season, out-of-season, and one-on-one for so long that when we're on the court together doing handoffs and no-look passes it shows that we really have a lot of experience with each other. I think everybody who's out on the floor just tries to play to each other's strengths. When you're playing against them, you're pushing them to become better."
WNUR: "You mention the 5-out offense, what should we expect from that for fans who maybe haven't seen that before. What is that going to look like on the floor with so many guards this year who are so capable?"
Jamison: "It's just going to look like that we're trying to play fast and make it known that everybody's capable. Like coach said, we're a positionless team, everybody can do everything. It gives more freedom on offense to read the game and read the defense and just play. "
WNUR: "We glossed over a little bit the fact that Pallas is obviously the one departure, but that is a huge departure from last season. Can you just talk a little bit about how you're adjusting to that and how this team is going to feel without such a big presence both on and off the court?"
Wolf: "My first few weeks back in the summer, I was like 'Oh wow practice is kind of nice without Pallas'. Obviously we miss her, and she pushed me to be such a better and stronger player, but Courtney Shaw is incredible and I would say she's just as athletic and probably faster than Pallas and can really do a lot. She's pushing me at practice everyday. We're really trying to make each other better. I, of course, need to really toughen up in the paint and get a lot of boards. I think everybody on the team is realizing we all need to box out, 'cause I can not get up there like Pallas did. I really miss her. I keep in touch with her a little bit. She's doing great in Italy. You should follow her on Instagram if you don't already. She has a lot of great content up there."
WNUR: "We'll start with a question from the audience. They were curious about where the 5-out offense inspiration came from when you were trying to decide how to deploy your team this year."
McKeown: "Well I think that you're going to see a lot of different looks from us, but one of the things we have put in is to really spread the floor. We feel like we have a lot of different players who can score from different places. We're just trying to open the floor up, get to the foul line more, and we have some great three-point shooters this year. I think that's the evolution of it. If you watch some of the best offenses in college basketball, they're playing inside-out, and I think that's one of the things we want to do..."
WNUR: "How do you expect the team to develop this year with the amount of returning players that there are and that experience that they've gained over the past few years?"
McKeown: "It's great to start practice with four starters back, five starters back, six starters back, but we have a lot of people who played a lot of minutes last year. You heard Amber say this, but to be a positionless player to be able to play multiple positions, we're a little bit ahead of where we were from the standpoint of some of the things we're doing and want to put in. We've already spent a lot of time working on that the past couple of years. Hopefully, that will pay off in November. We still have some work to do though."
WNUR: "Is October the hardest month? That's what we heard from Abbie and Amber. Would you agree that October's the hardest month of the year?"
McKeown: "We still in October? We've got tomorrow to really get 'em in shape. We've got one more day. No, I think for players, this is every sport and really in basketball, coaches want to practice and players want to play. I think that's everywhere. Right now, I think our players have gone really hard for a long time, and you heard Abbie say that they're ready to go up against other teams, other people. We understand that. As coaches, we're a little paranoid that we've got to get this in, we gotta get gear, we gotta do this, so it's a little bit of both right now. Once you get to November, these guys will tell you, the season just flies. It's non-conference, you wake up and it's January and you're in the Big Ten, and all of the sudden it's March, and in our case, which is a great tribute to this team, we played last weekend of college basketball last season. It's a long season."
WNUR: "Obviously, you've been here a while; you've seen a lot of different teams. What qualities makes this specific group of players unique and dynamic?"
McKeown: "I think every team has its own identity and stamp on it. I think we're getting real good leadership. I think also they really care about each other; this is a really unselfish team. I don't think anybody was worried about stats or things that comes with that when you've been a really successful individual player. This is really a team that really buys into each other."
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!