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Versyp's post-season comments

KODK

All-American
Nov 9, 2004
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Purdue is coming off a 20-loss season, only its second in the program's history.

But Coach Sharon Versyp thinks it's only a blip, one anomaly that can be explained partly by injury - Purdue had four players who missed at least parts of the season, most notably Bridget Perry's seven-game absence, but also April Wilson (ribs, concussion), who was out two games; Torrie Thornton (foot, seven games); and Haley Bodnar (foot, season) - and partly by the Boilermakers' inability to finish close games with wins.

The ninth-year coach doesn't feel the season is an indictment of the program.

"I wouldn't say we're at a crossroad," Versyp said Thursday, a week after the Boilermakers finished an 11-20 campaign with a loss in the Big Ten Tournament. "We've just got to get it done. We've been here nine years and this is the only bad season. Everyone has had a bad season, look around. Now I would be even more upset - it's not an excuse - that if Torrie was healthy, April was healthy 100 percent, Perry was healthy and we still had this, then maybe.

"… When you struggle, sometimes it's the culture, some times it's the group that wasn't a good fit - who knows? - but all of us know what our goal is, the end game (Big Ten championships, NCAA Tournaments), but if the kids feel pressure, I feel pressure, everybody feels pressure, you're going to get worse. So I don't feel we're at a crossroads, I think we hit a bump and we're going to be young and we'll start going like this (angled up) but it will take a year or two."

Purdue's season was off track early, after it suffered close losses at home to Green Bay and Florida State in the nonconference and finished its pre-Big Ten slate 7-4. Yet, the Boilermakers won two of their first three Big Ten games, before the season spiraled out of control. They lost 14 of 15 games, including 10 straight to end the regular-season, before recovering slightly - and playing with some fight - in the Big Ten Tournament, where they won a game and lost one.

Still, Purdue takes a seven-game home losing streak into the offseason.

To get going on the right track again, Versyp says Purdue needs to change the culture and she plans to instill a new one in three steps: By making the Boilermakers a better conditioned team; by being mentally and physically tougher; and by playing for each other.

"Those are the three things that we have always done for the last eight years," she said, "and this year for whatever reason, maybe because of the things that just kept snowballing, we couldn't recover and then everything was kind of trying to piece things together and it didn't happen."

The injuries hurt, Versyp said. Bodnar was out from the start of the season, never recovering from offseason foot surgery. Perry was injured vs. Maryland in early January, suffering a high ankle sprain, and didn't return 'til exactly a month later. Wilson suffered broken ribs against the Terrapins, an injury that wasn't disclosed then but caused her offense to go off-kilter. Then, she missed a couple games later due to a concussion. And Thornton missed the last month due to a broken foot.

"I'd let you come to practice and try to coach when you can't do things," Versyp said. "We could never coach the way we needed to coach. We couldn't do some of the discipline things, making it tougher for kids. Because when you have four kids who can not run for any type of punishment, and you're wearing out your three freshmen … (Andreona) Keys did every single rep, more than any player on our team, and she's a freshman. When you can't do some of the things that we've normally done, it's going to adjust and change the culture.

"But I think it's the mindset, once you lose that game and the next one and the next one, when is it going to click? I thought our last two-and-a-half games, we got back to where we needed to be. Were we a little healthier? Were we a little more refreshed? Did we have more pieces together? Yeah, but there's no excuse for that. I think all of that snowballed."

From a personnel point of view, the Boilermakers will look drastically different next season. Gone are senior forwards Whitney Bays and Liza Clemons, who combined to average 24.2 points - they were the first- and third-leading scorers from a team that averaged only 63.2 points per game (13th in Big Ten) and shot just 39.2 percent (last) - and 16.8 rebounds per game. But Versyp brings in the country's seven-ranked recruiting class, according to ESPN, including forward Dominique McBryde, guards Lamina Cooper and Tiara Murphy and center Nora Kiesler.

It'll give the Boilermakers 14 scholarship players, but nine will be underclassmen. Versyp said the biggest thing she learned this season was that she needed a full complement of players, particularly with the Big Ten playing a condensed 18-game schedule that frequently includes three games in a week.

"I think there's going to be more competition at each spot," Versyp said of her 2015-16 roster. "You will have depth - you're still going to have injuries - but you need to change the culture of toughness and playing for each other, pushing against the wall. If we say run through the wall once, you want to run through it five times. And get your mind in a great place. It's just natural when you lose, it's hard for anybody. If you have something going on in your world, or family, and it keeps going that way, hope isn't coming, it's draining.

"So we have to get really refreshed, and when you have 14 bodies, you have different personnel, so our system will change. You have more threats from the outside. This year we had it on the inside and we didn't shoot well. Next year we'll shoot well and we'll have more pieces to the puzzle. It doesn't matter if you're a freshmen or walk-on, there's more pieces. But this is all about physical, mental toughness, just be the best-shaped team. Because when you're not tired, you're going to make shots. When you're stronger, you're not going to miss layups that are wide-open. There are a lot of things that go with that. So we've got to get back to what we've done for eight years in a row."

Versyp thinks Purdue can get there again, if it follows her three criteria. They were written on the board of the conference room in the women's basketball office on Thursday.

"If we create this, we'll be fine," she said. "Because we have won with less before. Has our conference gotten tougher? Absolutely. Adding two (teams) it's gotten tougher. So if you were in the top four (before), now you need to be in the top-seven. We were always in the top four, always fighting for the Big Ten Championship, won those tourney championships. Now you add two that are top programs, you're really 1 through 7. If you're in the best shape and have a tough mentality and are playing for each other, the rest - everybody thinks it's this whole thing - but it's mindset, believing in each other, confidence, anything is possible."

Injury updates
Purdue has a number of players who head to the offseason with injury concerns:

• Keys will have minor surgery to clean up her previously repaired knee on Wednesday.

• Thornton will miss 3-4 months after having foot surgery.

• Cooper, who tore her ACL in the state playoffs, will have knee surgery at the end of the month, putting her out until near the start of the season. She'll miss Purdue's trip to Italy in August.

• Wilson will X-ray her ribs, but is expected to need only rest.

• The same for Perry, who was dealing with hamstring and Achilles tightness at the end of the season.

No captains
Versyp said Purdue's leadership was "average" last season.

And thus, it doesn't currently have captains. Wilson, a junior, was the only one returning from last season, with Clemons and Bays graduating now.

"I don't think anyone has earned it or deserves it," Versyp said. "Like all of us, we need to be part of the solution, not the problem, and things should have changed and nothing changed."

The freshmen
How quickly do next year's freshmen have to help?

"Immediately," Versyp said.

More immediately than this year's group. Of Purdue's five rookies, only Keys played significantly, averaging 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. She started 11.

But Erica Moore, who was suspended at the start of the Big Ten season and reinstated a month later, played in only 12 outings; Bree Horrocks averaged 7.4 minutes per game; and Justine Hall played in 20 games, average 4.8 minutes per.

"Circumstances. No. 1, you've got to earn it," Versyp said. "You didn't earn it and I wasn't putting you in. That's always been me. You've known me for nine years, I'm not going to reinforce not working at it. They think they know what working hard is, they don't know what working hard is.

"A lot of it was 50-50. If we would have done what we were supposed to with the upperclassmen, they would have performed the way we thought we would have performed and you could get those players in, give them some time. But the other facet is have you earned it or not?"

Looking for help
Purdue would add a 4 player this spring, if it could find a fifth-year transfer or J.C. who could make a positive impact.

Versyp has a scholarship open.

"We're looking right now, but they have to come in and make an immediate impact," she said. "We're not going to look for someone just to look because we don't have to. We're comfortable with who we have."

50K
Purdue needs its offense to be better and will take steps this offseason to get there.

Versyp says the staff will look at schemes and move to more of a 4-out, 1-in offense that should take advantage of Purdue's perimeter next season.

"We have to have better everything. They're going to shoot 50,000 shots this summer, have 10,000 free throws. They're shooting those anyways, but when you're way behind the 8 ball, you've got to do it even more so like we did two years ago and everything elevated after committing to that.

"But when you have a young team, it's the physical part of the game, the mental and physical part of being able to push through, being able to handle conditioning, the lifting and the workouts. And if you can handle that pretty well young, then you're very receptive of everything that comes your way. But we have to score the ball and that's why I said, if you don't have some pieces, it's hard to score."
 
One bad season? What has happened to this program being in contention for a national championship? We have gone from national champions to last in the Big Ten. A good season for Versyp is below standards for the great tradition that used to be Purdue Women's Basketball. This incoming class had better produce or this program will completely disappear. Seems so strange that Morgan is allowing this to happen.
 
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