Media Day Interview Videos
- Thread starter Carolina151
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Tidbits from the Banghart Interview:
- UNC had the 8th youngest team in D1 (avg 19 years old.) Syracuse by comparison is the oldest team: 23 y.o. Only 4 upperclassmen: Harris, Nivar, Barker and Kelly.
- Preseason rankings are just a recognition of your program's stature: an expectation on the level of team you should be able to put on the court. This team has not yet accomplished anything so it does not have as much to do with the actual roster as one would think.
- A lot of teaching this preseason and some significant changes to match the strengths of this group.
- Opponent UCLA has 7 seniors. You play teams like this to see the standard and set the standard and get live: pace, size, physicality placing a premium on possession.
- Playing a ton of lower tier in-state team, especially NCCU in the grade school student game, is important to meet UNC university goals to reach out across the state and have a local impact.
- Henderson: has not played in two years. Dynamically athletic and competitively hungry. Henderson's pre-combine numbers are on par with Nivar and Nivar is in the 99th percentile. Kelly called her a dog on media day; Banghart agrees.
- Grant: still the youngest player on the team but has established a leadership role within the team. lives with 3 of the freshmen, and basically is setting the expectation and standard with the newcomers.
- Thomas: has big shoes to fill on offensive efficiency in the post and we are probably not going to have that right out of the gate. So we will likely play a bit differently as a result. Thomas has more of a face-up game to stretch the floor a bit when compared with Gakdeng. Banghart basically emphasized Thomas's youth and room to grow.
- Astakhova: got here so late due to the visa journey that she had already attended 3 UNC classes before Banghart met her in person for the first time later that day. Plays like a Euro in terms of versatility, length, and multiple positions. Skills are ahead of her strength and power at this point. Has increased her strength numbers by 31% since she arrived (so perhaps her first time in a real strength training setting?) Barnhart wanted Liza because she brings a skillset that is unique and thought it would add to the team.
- Rehashed Astakhova's wild visa and travel story and punctuated that with her UNC WBB suitemates found out they were getting another roomie two days before she arrived (up until then they thought she may not make it so team not informed.) The roomies have been really accommodating, helping her fit out her room because she arrived with basically nothing.
- Brooks: Grant described her as a bundle of joy and Banghart agrees. givers her a hug every day and says "I'm here to do two things couch: to get better and to learn." and she does just that. Has enormous inner confidence and does not get discouraged when she makes mistakes. Humble and team-oriented. She is a coach's daughter (dad) and her mom campaigned for her to choose UNC.
- Harris: Came to UNC for an elevated role. She was available and an animal (tenaciouis) at Louisville. But here she will need to be reliable. In terms of production.
- Kelly: Still a dawg. they have brought out her personality to set a standard to help lead the team by example. This team does not yet understand consistency buy Kelly is the standard they must reach.
- Barker and Kelly run the team bible study for those interested, much like Hodgson did a few years ago.
- Feels a bit better about rebounding as fall practice has progressed, but still a concern and major focus for those who will play: we have to replace 17 rebounds per game from last season.
- UNC has more bigs that offer versatility so better spacing than in the past.
- UNC now has more decision-making guards: It used to all fall on Kelly, but Aarnisalo and Grant can do that now as well. (included Barker also)
- Referred to the following players as "dynamic wings": Nivar, Brooks, Henderson, "and you can go right down the line."
- We are still figuring out how to put all of the above together
- UNC played on national TV (On an actual channel, not streaming) more than any other team in the country last year. That is brand strength and has value to the university.
- McPherson: In staff meetings and actively coaching. More than a grad assistant role. Will be a great coach.
- Banghart loves the fun that the team has as you can see on SM. The team fits her personality and what she wants: a bunch of women she would enjoy being stuck next to on a plane is the example she gave.
- Goofy yes, but very serious. This team is as committed to the process of improvement as any team she has ever coached. that does not mean they are polished yet, but they do the right things and with the right tenacity.
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My expectation or maybe hope is that @ZinfanHeel heel will continue to bring that to the IC community. I always enjoy reading his posts and participating in his preview threads.
I was thinking about this stat a little more:
This should be our senior Class right now:
UNC's #2 nationally ranked 2021 class with eligibility remaining due to injury:
- Teonni Key #9
- Kayla McPherson #17
- Morasha Wiggins #18
- Paulina Paris #27
All gone for various reasons. On the whole we built better through the portal, but it is no surprise we are young and kind of amazing that our team is good with basically 2 empty classes in a row.
(2023 brought us #30 Kelly, #90 Grays, plus #4 Toomey and 4-star Hull who are a year behind due to injuries.)
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Good info. We have had some bad luck in recruiting as far as how things turned out on the court.
Being young might mean our best part of the season is after Jan 1.
Being young might mean our best part of the season is after Jan 1.