Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Gamecock SEC Basketball Media Day Quotes

South Carolina SEC Media Day Quotes
Men’s Head Coach Darrin Horn

On team expectations…

"We are really excited, returning four-guys from a co-championship team in the eastern division. The league will be very tough and competitive this season. We as a team improved our non-conference schedule to help our resume for the NCAA tournament opportunity."

On the league’s toughness…

"I do not know all the numbers, but we as a league have a lot of players returning. In addition to the new talent that entered this league and it is a very dynamic conference. At the end of the season, we will see if it is worth all the hype based on how many teams get into the NCAA tournament."

Devan Downey, G, Sr.

On the depth of the SEC…

"I think the SEC is the best league in the country, and it is well deserving. Last year we took a beating about how weak the league was, mainly because everyone was so young. I think this year the league is going to get the respect it deserves."

On playing under head coach Darrin Horn…

"This year, the one big change is that instead of everything being new, we are tuning up everything, getting better, coming together as team, understanding the system and reading each other. This year, we know what Coach Horn expects of us and we know more about him. Coach Horn is an up-tempo and high-energy kind of guy and that helps motivate us as a team every practice."

Women’s Head Coach Dawn Staley

On expectations…

"As I begin my second year at South Carolina and in the SEC, I am looking forward to the vigors of playing in the SEC. We had a pretty tough year last year. I thought our team played as hard and well as they could play, and we still found ourselves down by a lot in a lot of our games. We have added some talent to our basketball team that should allow us to close the gap a little bit and help us win some of the games we lost last year."

On the SEC…

"I think you have to favor the team that has the most returning starters. LSU looks pretty good. You can not count out Tennessee or Vanderbilt because they always find themselves at the top of the SEC. I think you will find that probably the bottom of the SEC will move closer to the middle and top. I am looking forward to being one of the teams at the bottom and moving up a bit."

On if there was anything surprising about the league…

"I came from the Atlantic-10 and Temple. I did not think we were the most talented team in our league every year, but I thought we out-worked and out-hustled our way to win a lot of Atlantic-10 championships. Coming into the SEC, you can work as hard as you want to work and out-hustle the people that you face, but at the end of the game, you need talent to win basketball games. We did not have that, and a lot of teams had a lot more talent than we had. We saw ourselves on the losing end of the stick a lot of nights. That is probably the biggest thing I have learned."

La’ Keisha Sutton, G, So.

On last season…

"Last year was tough because we were all new to Coach (Dawn) Staley and her coaching system. It was especially tough when our two seniors got hurt, but we were able to bounce back. I think in most games we were right there, we just lacked the extra energy to get the win."

On the upcoming season…

"I feel without struggle there is no progress, but we will get better with each and every practice, each and every game. I think we are going to shock a lot of people this year.

I feel a little more confident being a sophomore. I believe in Coach Staley just like she believes in us. We are going to do what she asks of us because we want to do well for South Carolina."

For More SEC Information Go To:        http://www.secsports.com/sports/mbball/default.aspx

Posted by SEC Media Relations: October 22, 2009

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