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N.C. A&T coach Tarrell Robinson after loss to #UNC
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Um, I'm just, you know, thankful that
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the Lady Tar Hills were able to come,
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uh, play in our gym and our atmosphere,
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um, with our fans, giving us a chance to
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have that caliber of program and team,
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um, you know, in our gym and and on our
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schedule. Um, I'm proud of my young
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women. I thought one of the the
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challenges that I told them, you know,
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we didn't have a great shoot around,
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didn't have a great couple of practices
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coming in, and I told them I'm a
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realist. like to think that we're f to
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execute and we still was struggling in
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our baseline out of bounds and our
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halfcourt execution and in our scout
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like I'm not that type of coach. I said
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but what I will challenge you to do the
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difference in this game and Winston
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Salem we got to be the hardest working
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team on the floor and I think we were
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able to do that. um in terms of talent,
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terms of execution,
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uh they're a top 25 program and they
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showed that and Courtney does a heck of
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a job with them with her adjustments,
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but I do think my ladies uh did a great
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job of of intensity and just competing.
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Coach, the team is really young this
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year. Um you know, can you talk about
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like how how much this experience helps
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out you guys going forward as they grow
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and as they mature as players, as they
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continue their careers at?
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It depends. It depends um how honest
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they are with themselves. Um because a
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lot of times like during the summer I
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talk to them about stuff they're not
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doing then and obviously when the season
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comes it's too late you know and they
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make it about the game they make it
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about the win or loss or the turnover or
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whatever the case may be and I'm like
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you didn't prepare for it. So um
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depending on whether or not they are
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very honest with themselves about what
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they the work that they haven't done is
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whether or not they'll grow from this
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situation. Again, my thought process
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wasn't, did we prepare to beat, you
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know, the Chapel Hill, uh, Tar Hills,
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Lady Tar Hills. I didn't feel like that,
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but it was building blocks. Can we play
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hard and compete against them in
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multiple possessions? And I thought we
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did that. Just the idea that we were
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able to outscore him in the fourth and
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she did, you know, start to sub late.
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Um, but still in terms of
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compartmentalizing the things that we
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want to want to really grow on, I
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thought that was that was huge cuz we
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talked about playing hard from the first
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quarter to the fourth.
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Coach Antonio Matx with the ENT
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register. Um, what has this game taught
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you?
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Um, well, you know, when I'm looking at
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them, uh, we need to get better players.
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Um, and just, you know, the adjustments.
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Like I said, Courtney's one of the best
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coaches in the country. like she sees
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something and she immediately, you know,
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exposes it. Like they knocked down nine
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threes. I thought we catch him off guard
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with our zone. Um Brooks, I think that's
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that the freshman's name. Um Nyla, she
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caught fire at the top of the key. We
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did a horrible job of locating her and
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that's all the execution from the
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leadership from that bench. Um but you
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know, so just adjustments and and
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obviously, you know, we'll work on that.
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We'll watch film. I really talk about
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X's and O's stuff in the locker room
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after the game. It's always effort. It's
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always attitude. Where you doing being
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uh what were you doing you being
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coached? What's your facial expression?
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What's your body language? And I always
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let the film do the talking um
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afterwards. So, we'll watch film and
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we'll try to make those corrections and
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get better.
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And I know you talked about, you know,
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the difference in talent and ability,
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but what um why was it so difficult, you
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know, for you um to combat the defensive
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pressure that they gave you guys for the
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entire
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Well, it wasn't me combating the the
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defensive pressure. Um, it was just, you
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know, I I talk about uh not being
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allowing the moment to be bigger than
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you and being bigger than the moment.
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And I think a few of our young women,
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you just said it, uh, we got nothing but
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youth, whether it's inexperienced
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minutes, meaning sophomores and juniors
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or freshman coming to the game against
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one of the best teams in the country who
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already can communicate or already have
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uh the the level of where they're
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reading switches before anyone even
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calls it. like all that stuff is stuff
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that you you get from experience and we
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just didn't have enough of that. There
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were a few times they left Jordan Brown,
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our point guard, on the island by
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herself. Um we was challenging her to
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try to beat them. We did everything we
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could in practice with our practice guys
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to try to prepare for their pressure,
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but obviously the real thing is the real
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thing. Um so just just learning from
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this moment and hopefully, you know,
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we'll continue to clean it up. We've the
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last five games that we played, we've
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averaged over 20 turnovers. And I told
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him, "Everybody's going to press you
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guys." Until you show that you can beat
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the press, that's the easiest thing to
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beat y'all.
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How impactful is it for such a young
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team to get these type of reps against
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an ACC opponent?
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I mean, it means everything. Like, we,
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you know, the reason that we scheduled
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this, like we played uh three power
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fours, two top 25s, um one of the better
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mid- majors in the country in New
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Mexico. Then we came home and played,
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you know, two really good top level
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division twos. Um, all is this is to set
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us up for the bigger goal. We was picked
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third in the CIA. We want to be number
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one. Um, and I told them, you know, they
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were laughing. I said, "At some point,
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I'll be addressing y'all as we played
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better already, so let's go ahead and
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take care of business cuz we have. I
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mean, we've had a really good schedule."
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Um, and they've survived. And when I say
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survive, we've survived injuries. You
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know, we've been able to stay together
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and not try to use excuses. and I have a
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great staff that really helps with that.
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Coach, I'm curious over the years, have
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you experienced it being a little bit
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more difficult to get, you know, a power
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four top 25 team to come to Greensboro
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to play you guys or has it kind of
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stayed relatively consistent with your
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schedule?
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We've had from I think UCLA I feel like
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they were might have been number three
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in the country back in 1716. Before
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that, Coach Bibs had Auburn and Clemson
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here. Um, you know, like the P4s don't
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run from us as everybody else, you know.
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So, uh, yeah, we we, uh, managed to get
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the top. Um, I think our team is a team
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that everybody knows like in March going
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to have a high net or RPI back in the
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day and, you know, they want to play us
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and, you know, they get us early um
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because we don't have a lot of
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experience, but I think we're going to
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be pretty good going, you know, later
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on. Jana Jana Meyers really impressed me
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with her presence and her readiness uh
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to play. Annayia, um, Kareem AK, she's
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continued to grow every game. Like, if
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we get those pieces along with our
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returners, I think we're going to be
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pretty good moving forward.
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What does it mean to you to get to play
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a game like this in Greensboro and not
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have to go to their place like a lot of
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these campers kind of look like?
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Yeah. I mean, it for our fans, you know,
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we have fans that might not have been
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able to actually see a top 25 team
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besides um on TV and to compete against
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us. like when the fans are complaining
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or saying that we should do this and do
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that, I'm like, "Well, help us get more
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NIL and we'll we'll get Anna Brooks, you
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know, cuz that's what it's about now."
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But, um, but just to give our fans that
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experience so they really understand the
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separation between power four um and mid
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major and, you know, to give them a
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understanding like is is a big gap, but
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it's not that big of a gap. I guess just
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on that really quick. I mean, I've had
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conversations with um other like coaches
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of um I guess non- like people or
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schools just about that gap and they've
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spoken about I guess just struggles post
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NIL post transfer portal and how they
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felt like just in terms of like
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retainment that sort of recruiting
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retainment and the gap
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widening. Is that something that you've
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felt or experienced? And if so, like to
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what?
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Well, I'm I'm a realist. Like I mean it
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is what it is. It's not going to change.
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you know, you can um I I will say this.
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Um we got some really good freshman
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because of this. U when we played TCU
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and Texas Tech, all they were subbing in
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was fourth and fifth year seniors. I'm
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subbing in a kid who was just in high
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school who wasn't an all-American who
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didn't play on the top AU circuits, you
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know, and uh uh Courtney had McDonald's
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All-Americans coming off the bench. Like
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that's a that's a reality um that I
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don't think is a bad thing. I think you
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know um from administration to alum to a
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fans they they got to understand it's a
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real thing. If it is your kid and
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someone's offering them x amount of
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dollars where are you going to send
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them? You know is it truly about the
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academic experience? Is it truly about
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whether or not they play or is it about
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helping you pay your rent, pay your
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bills? You know, it's a it's a reality
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that all of us can can relate to. Um and
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I just think it's necessary. It is.
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these kids are are sweating and and
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working hard and being held accountable
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and sometime have you know mental
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breaks. Um I think the money makes it a
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little bit better and worth it.
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Yeah, I appreciate that perspective and
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I'm curious too like I mean you talk so
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much about like the freshman that you
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that you have for um those players in
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terms of their recruitment process. I
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would imagine that it helps when you're
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like hey you're going to have the chance
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to play TCU and I'm curious how much
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that comes up as part of maybe the
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recruiting pitch. Yeah, like we we throw
8:53
everything like for for us far and
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foremost like our tradition, our culture
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here as an H.B.CU. Um uh competing in a
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PWI conference, I think it gives us um a
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leg with kids that want to play against,
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as you talked about, our schedule and
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the caliber competition that we have and
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want to be in this culture, you know,
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this family environment, this family
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community, which I don't think any any
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uh college in the country can can offer
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better than H.B.CU. So, um, we say it,
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we throw it out there, we throw them a
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little bit of money, and they they can
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bite or not bite. You know, I definitely
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think this situation isn't for
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everybody, but when you go to that game
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to this game like Courtney said, and and
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you have our fan support and you get
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that feel, it's hard to say no.
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I guess um I'll throw one out another
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one out if you don't mind. um from your
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perspective like
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as a coach, I mean again just talk to
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some um other coaches of like H.B.CU
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that have spoken about um or just nonP4
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schools for that matter. Um when you
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have so many games in the early season
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that might result in like blowout
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losses, how they can um take that and
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maybe distill it to players in a hey,
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you know, we lost by 50 last year, but
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we cut it down to 20. You're talking
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about like isolating the fourth quarter.
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What do you do as a coach maybe to um
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continue to like boost morale because I
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mean just realistically as a player
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sometimes it it can be hard when like
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you're maybe your schedule's stacking
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like backtoback really tough opponents.
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Yeah, you you just said it. You got to
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highlight the little things like you
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know it's unrealistic to to say, "Hey,
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let's go out with several bad practices
10:34
in a shoot around. We're about to beat
10:36
them."
10:37
No, it is it is you guys got to let's
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let's start I use an example. Um back in
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2019
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uh the University of Miami was uh 23rd
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in the country and we had a season group
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and one of our leaders just said like
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why don't we just play hard and give
10:52
ourselves a chance. We end up losing
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that game by two points on on a
10:56
substitution decision by me and I told
10:57
them that put it on me. But I said that
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to say like, let's play hard and let's
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see if our the same way Winston Salem
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State University a week ago made us
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uncomfortable, made us turn the ball
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over 34 times. Let's see if we can do
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that to them. And again, I thought it
11:12
was it was a very competitive game. It
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just came down to experience X's and
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O's. Um again, what we saw in practice
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and shoot around it, it carries over to
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the court. But um to your point like we
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watch film, we watch a lot of film
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especially having high school kids and
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them them not really understanding the
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details of this level and you in that
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time you highlight the good things but
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you got to hold them accountable to the
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bad.
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How did you end up having consecutive
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games against North Carolina here and
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not playing over there? And what
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you want the truth and is there a plan
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to go to Carmichael next year?
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Yeah. So, um,
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I'll leave that to the administrators,
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but they had to come and play us twice.
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That's all I'll say.
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And you're not going over there next
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year?
11:55
Yeah, we're going there next year.
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Okay.
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But it's not a return. It's a We're
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starting a new series.
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Is it both? Is it the next two seasons
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or just one?
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Just one.
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Just one.
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Just one.
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Yeah. They don't want to come here no
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more.
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Coach, the crowd was into this one like
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from the very start. Um, and UNCC
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praised the crowd as well throughout the
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entire night. Uh how important is it to
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you guys to just see once again that the
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team or the the fans will come out to
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show support the team through uh you
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know despite the score still going to
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cheer no matter what in the fourth
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quarter could be down by 30 in the
12:25
fourth quarter still going to cheer out
12:26
an annual all that kind of stuff. How
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much is that?
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Here's my thing. Come when we not
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playing them.
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You know I always get a lot of ticket
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requests when we play the last two years
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when we play them but come when we don't
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play them. You know because and that's
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my point. they see like there's not that
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much of a different uh brand of
12:45
basketball. They make they knock down
12:47
shots, they execute a little bit more.
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We're getting there. We'll be we'll be
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doing those same things around
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conference time, but make sure that you
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come and support us the same. Um and
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that is the experience of our players to
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play against a team like that and our
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fans again to see that the gap isn't
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that crazy. They're not doing anything
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that miraculous. They just happen to be
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a little bit bigger. We call we we say
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bigger, faster, stronger. That's what we
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tell our young women.
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Thank you, coach. Appreciate coach.
13:14
You're welcome.
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