Everything From Nell Fortner's Press Conference Before The Start of The Season
While football season is nearing its end, college basketball season is right around the corner and it is sure to be an exciting one for Georgia Tech and women's basketball head coach Nell Fortner. Fortner has done a tremendous job with the Yellow Jackets program and is looking to take Georgia Tech to its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Fortner spoke with the media Tuesday ahead of the season and here is everything that she had to say:
Opening Statement:
"Thanks for being here, it is good to see everybody. It is hard to believe we are almost here, starting, but I guess the biggest thing that people are going to notice is that we are different this year. We have lost some players that we have coached for the past three years that really... really did a nice job, got us to a sweet sixteen, the NCAA Tournament twice and really gritty players. Now we have 13 players on the team, seven are new, six are returners, so we are trying to... it is a new look and it is a new day."
"We are coming off of a team that is coming off of three years of being one of the best defensive teams in the country. Not just in the ACC, but the country. We have a lot of ground to make up. Losing Lorela Cubaj are big shoes to fill. Two-time defensive player of the year in the ACC, so those are really big shoes to fill, but we have really good players that are coming in that are pretty talented that we are going to rely on that are going to have to help us. Tonie Morgan, Kara Dunn, we have some transfers in Bianca Jackson and Cameron Swartz, Bianca from Florida State, Cameron Swartz from Boston College."
"That changed the style of play for us really, what we have done for the last three years. We are more mobile, we are a little bit bigger on the perimeter... well I don't know, I think about (Digna) Strautmane out there last year a lot and she was pretty big, but we are mobile and we can put some good size on the floor. Nerea Hermosa is back, a four-year player for us and we are looking for her to have a big senior year. I think the biggest thing is that we are going to be different and it is going to take us a while to find ourselves and who we are on the court, but they have been a fun coach and I look forward to games starting."
1. On if she will have to rely on the transfers (Jackson and Swartz) for scoring...
"That is an interesting question. We definitely want them to score because they have great experience in this league no doubt, but the freshmen coming in can score, its not like wait your turn scoring, we want to score faster and have more possessions that we score faster, so it is a little bit of an equal opportunity offense, it's not like "I am not shooting because Bianca (Jackson) has not shot yet", it is a little more open type of offense and we're looking for the first good shot and nobody has dibs on that shot."
2. On if Bianca is used to getting the offense going quickly...
"You know... she can freestyle, and I don't know if that is the best way to say it, she is good with the ball in her hand, she is good with playing off the bounce, so, she has a little bit of freedom in this offense to be able to take advantage of that. So do all of them really. We are trying to play a style that gets them a little bit of that so they can take advantage of their skill. So hopefully it is a fun style to watch and we are not throwing the ball all over the gym, you know that is the thing that we might see early, but hopefully not."
3. On playing local schools...
"I don't know that I want to look at it like that, but anytime that we can create a rivalry in this area, good, good for both teams, it draws people to come and watch you play. I have a lot of respect for Kennesaw State and what (Octavia) Blue has done, and a lot of respect for Georgia State and what Gene (Hill) has over there. That is just respect for programs and I just think it gives us all an opportunity to play here in front of our people, all three of those teams, and then throw Clayton state in there, that we play on Thursday, but it's more of a respect for their programs, getting people in the stands to come and watch both teams play"
4. On who they will rely on when Nerea Hermosa is on the bench...
"Kayla (Blackshear) is a really capable and versatile player, along with Eylia Love, they are versatile and can play both inside and outside, but we did lose great size with Cubaj, a lot of great size with her. But hopefully, with Aixa Wone Aranaz, she is 6'3 so we do have a good combination of post players who can get in there and help Nerea when she needs some rest, but Nerea... we are looking for her to do some big things for us, being able to get her the ball a little more this year, we will see if that works out. But I like the size, I like the versatility that we have with this team, we have players who can play on the perimeter, off the bounce, or they can go inside and post you up, so it gives us a lot of good options."
5. On if she prefers the new style of play over last years and what kind of adjustments she has made...
"Our goal always when we took the job here as a coaching staff has always been to play faster and to be able to push tempo and we are going to be able to do that more this year with Tonie Morgan, Bianca Jackson, Cameron Swartz, Kara Dunn, they can run, Eylia Love, they can get out and run so we want to take advantage of that. So it is going to take us a while for that to come and we are going to have to be extremely comfortable with that and not be afraid of it and to run all the time, make or miss, we are gone. So it is going to be interesting to see how this comes together because we are not there yet to be really honest with you, to play the competition and get a feel for how you want to push that ball like that, maybe we'll see, we'll see what that looks like, maybe we are throwing the ball all over the floor or shooting the ball over the backboard, I don't know, but maybe it will be a fun style to watch and play."
6. On if things are where she wants to be in terms of building the program up...
"I think it put us a couple of years behind (COVID). COVID prevented you from being on the road recruiting for two years just about, so it put us a little bit behind, but this freshmen class is a great core group that we had to build upon and come behind and add to, so we are excited about that. So hopefully we can speed up the process some hopefully, maybe, you know, but I like the class that we are about to sign in November to add on to this freshmen class to go with this core group of older players that we have to see what we can do."
7. On why she wants to play at a faster pace...
"Well, it is attractive for sure. It is attractive to recruits and they want to hear we are playing fast so that's one thing but as a coaching staff, it is more fun to coach. Let's get out and run, let's use our athleticism, speed and quickness and make people guard us. You know, one of the hardest things to guard in basketball is off the bounce, being able to guard somebody heading to the basket strong, it is very difficult to guard. Hopefully, we can take advantage of that and see what kind of opens up for us, we might not always get the shot out of it from that person, but we might give someone else on the floor a nice look. So yeah, we want to play fast."
8. On Eylia Love...
"She is playing between the three and the four, so she is not as much of a ball handler for us this year. We got Swartz, Morgan, Jackson, Ines Noguero, a freshmen from Spain, who has been playing some backup point for us and she is a really good ball handler, so we have far more ball handlers to create some things for our finishers. It is definitely a different style than what you are used to seeing us play. Hopefully it is a different style and we don't have to revert back."
9. On if she knows who is going to start...
"I have a sense, but we are going to just wait until game time."
10. On not receiving any AP top 25 votes despite two straight NCAA Tournament appearances...
"I don't think it is anything unfair. When you lose Lorela Cubaj and Lotta-Maj Lahtinen that that is unfair, that is what happens. Now, we have to have players step up and, and fill those shoes and take it beyond that, but that is ok. It creates a huge challenge for us and it creates a "we will make sure they know who we are" and have to fight for something. I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing, we just have some ground to make up, and let's hope we do that."
11. On if Tonie Morgan is ready to play a lot of minutes as a freshman...
"Yeah, she is a phenomenal athlete, a really good track athlete, so she missed some time early on, but it only affected her conditioning for two days and then she was right back at it. She's extremely fast and she could probably play all day long."
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