The Boilermakers flipped their records, going from 20 losses in 2014-15 to 20 wins in ’15-16.
Now, they’re looking to build more.
Following is a portion of an interview with Coach Sharon Versyp, wrapping up the season and looking ahead to next year.
GoldandBlack.com: What are your thoughts on the season, now that it’s been more than a week since it's ended?
Versyp: “Obviously when you go back – and I always tell the players to reflect and I’ve already had individual meetings with them – they’re just so excited moving forward. Being able to flip the season the way we did, and when we talk about flipping it’s going from being at the bottom to a little higher than the middle of the pack and being able to get back to our type of basketball and enjoy it and play exciting basketball. The defensive and offensive end, we did some good things. We had high-scoring games and low-scoring games. But I thought our defense got back to where we needed to be. I think I was most impressed by our assist-to-turnover ratio this year. You can push the ball, but you’ve got to be able to take care of the ball and I thought April (Wilson) was the leader in that aspect, and everybody else followed from that.
“But to be able to get to the 20 wins, get to the NCAA, and to be able to have that type of experience and understand how things are done, now spring boarding forward, we’re very excited about the pieces coming back and we’re going to be exceptionally young. Right now, having seven freshmen and sophomores, you only have two seniors and two juniors. For us that leadership has to continue, but the next two or three years could continue something really special there.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is it important that players do what they did last year at this time, learn from that?
Versyp: “They talked about last year and I said before, that everybody said it was so much harder than the year before. It wasn’t. It’s if you’re invested 100 percent, it’s always going to be hard. It’s what you invest into it, so this year, the intensity will increase more, because you have eight returners who have totally bought in and that understand the culture, so it starts next week. It starts all over. When you’re looking at the two seniors left, with Bridget (Perry) and Ashley (Morrissette), it’s how are we going to move forward? How do you want to leave your legacy? This last group was able to get it back to where we needed to. Now everything needs to be about upping the ante, so that determination and work ethic has to continue but even for the mental and physical aspect.”
GoldandBlack.com: What is the next step, getting into the top-four of the Big Ten and into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament?
Versyp: “It starts right now. They all have to improve individually, right now. These next four or five months ‘til we get back together in September, it’s all about them working on their part to improve. And the big part is mental toughness, the second part is the physicality.
“Our incoming freshmen (last year) didn’t get to do anything for the first five months, and we think they did amazing things without us even having a chance to work on them physically in the development. So especially that group, they need to take four steps forward, not one, four steps forward, that’s been the goal for them. And then there’s particular players who really have to work on their lean mass and we’ve got to continue to maintain that, the ones that are more lean – not the bigger kids – we have to keep that year-round, and I thought we did a good job until the last month. But we have to be a lot more physical. But they’re in control of their conditioning, they’re in control of where their mindset is, but when you condition as hard as they condition, then you get mentally tougher. So that’s the biggest aspect, then when everybody comes together in the summer, it’s about team chemistry, putting your team first, teaching the young ones, this is how you do it the right way. The three that are coming in right now, they can bring a lot to the table, but they have to do it the right way and learn from the upperclassmen. The seniors did a great job with the incoming freshmen and now these upperclassmen need to do the same thing.”
GoldandBlack.com: How do you replace April Wilson?
Versyp: “I think (Tiara) Murphy has to fill her own shoes, not someone else’s shoes, her own shoes. And she’s got to work on her physicality, that’s No. 1. Resilience. But Ashley Morrissette is going to have the ball in her hands a lot. You’ve got one who is a senior, and Murph is that true point guard, but they’re both scoring guards. They want to shoot. I don’t have to beg them to shoot. They’re going to get people involved. And Ashley has to learn that a little bit more, what we’re looking for and understand that. But those two in particular and (Andreona) Keys is a very important ingredient to Tiara Murphy’s growth.
“I really feel Andreona can play 1 through 4 for us and now she’s a junior she’s got to become that coach on the floor, her and Ashley to help Tiara to talk more. But Tiara’s growth was immense over the last month-and-a-half, her shoulders were back, she carried herself different, she communicated so much more, she ran the team. She did things that she didn’t do early, but when you can’t train in the fall (because of injury), then you’re out six weeks, and you’re thrown into the Big Ten, I wish I could have wrote her freshman year a little differently. But we do believe in the qualities that she has, it’s just quit talking about it and now it’s about action.”
GoldandBlack.com: It’s not uncommon in college basketball these days, but you had a couple departures of young players this season. Why are kids transferring, underclassmen in particular?
Versyp: “They’re not patient. They don’t understand the process. It’s about them, not seeing the big picture. The freshman year is a tough year, and some are more mature than others. Most of it is playing time, not anything else, it’s playing time and you’ve got to earn that right. You can’t just all of a sudden wake up and say, ‘OK, now I’m committed and I get to play.’ Well, what happens that whole first year, you’ve got to understand the concepts. It’s sad, because a lot of kids don’t play as freshmen and their sophomore year, they start playing and if they do well then they’re going to play a lot more. But not going through your whole sophomore year, I think, is a shame. Your freshman year is tough, no question, but your sophomore year is when you can really build on things. But it’s all over the country, and there are people who start and play 35 minutes and it’s not good enough and they go somewhere else. If we knew why, there wouldn’t be all these transfers. It’s always been that they love the place, they love us, they just want to play more. I’m like, ‘Well, your opportunity is right there.’ But, you know, no one has the answer.”
GoldandBlack.com: When a kid is a freshman, are you ever thinking about trying to get them in the game just to keep them happy, engaged, etc.? Or are you just trying to wins games? How do you balance those, playing a kid early so that they don’t start to have those feelings, and the need to win?
Versyp: “We don’t go into it thinking that way. If they haven’t been suspended or been released from our team for eight games or nine games, you have different scenarios. You bring them in and try to let them play through mistakes, but that’s where your starters and people who play a lot have to take care of business, so they are growing their bench. It’s not about us, we can’t put the ball in the hoop. We want everybody to play, and if you have 10 or 11 kids this year, we were able to play almost everybody. When you get 14 or 15 players, they aren’t going to play. It doesn’t matter where you are. You get that rotation of 10 or 11, depending on personnel, maybe our big kids don’t play against mid-majors, then you have that opportunity. It’s not in the back of our mind, but we’re constantly talking to the freshmen, and it’s how they present it, ‘What can I do to help the team?’ Not ‘I’m not playing enough.’ Then it’s all about them, instead of saying, ‘What can I do for the program?’
“But a lot of them did it because they’re very honest. When kids are honest and talk about how they’re feeling, then, hey, I get that. But when you’re blindsided, that’s when it’s really confusing.”
Q: Was there a point where you felt like attrition played into a dip, in terms of wins or losses? And in the long run, from a team chemistry standpoint, is it benefitting you?
Versyp: “I don’t think it had an affect on the wins and losses at all. It just brings you closer because you want to go to battle with people who want to be here. If you don’t want to be here, that’s fine. It just brought everybody even closer, and now we know these are the people who want to fight, be in the battle, and they’re selfless and want to be there.
“But it’s hard, all over the country kids are leaving left and right. That’s the norm. You probably should have one a year and wouldn’t be shocked if you had two a year. It’s just hard. It’s a 'now' generation. If they don’t get it right this second, they’re not going to be committed to continuing, and that’s where you’ve got to find the right pieces that, ‘Hey, you get the opportunity to play, but you’ve got to earn that.’ I understand when you have all these seniors and juniors and they play all these minutes and you’re coming in to learn; as a staff you have to keep constant communication and be able to know how they’re feeling the whole time.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is UConn’s dominance good or bad?
Versyp: “You always aspire to be like somebody. You have to have people who might dominate the game. I think they’re obviously talking about other teams that have challenged them, but what has been fantastic is that there are three new teams in the Final Four. I think that gives a breath of fresh air to women’s basketball. I think it gives student-athletes an excitement that some people have never heard of these teams, there’s a 7 seed, there’s a 4 seed. They finally knocked off the 1s and some of it was done on home courts, which I thought was fantastic. It’s hard to go about doing that.
“I think this year has been fantastic that there’s three new schools going against UConn, because they’ve always been (there). It was Tennessee for a while, now it’s UConn. We’re all trying to get better, striving, but you’ve got to have someone that's saying, ‘This is what we all are aspiring to try to be.’ We need to get to the Final Fours consistently. Geno (Auriemma) has done that at another level that no one else has right now.”
Now, they’re looking to build more.
Following is a portion of an interview with Coach Sharon Versyp, wrapping up the season and looking ahead to next year.
GoldandBlack.com: What are your thoughts on the season, now that it’s been more than a week since it's ended?
Versyp: “Obviously when you go back – and I always tell the players to reflect and I’ve already had individual meetings with them – they’re just so excited moving forward. Being able to flip the season the way we did, and when we talk about flipping it’s going from being at the bottom to a little higher than the middle of the pack and being able to get back to our type of basketball and enjoy it and play exciting basketball. The defensive and offensive end, we did some good things. We had high-scoring games and low-scoring games. But I thought our defense got back to where we needed to be. I think I was most impressed by our assist-to-turnover ratio this year. You can push the ball, but you’ve got to be able to take care of the ball and I thought April (Wilson) was the leader in that aspect, and everybody else followed from that.
“But to be able to get to the 20 wins, get to the NCAA, and to be able to have that type of experience and understand how things are done, now spring boarding forward, we’re very excited about the pieces coming back and we’re going to be exceptionally young. Right now, having seven freshmen and sophomores, you only have two seniors and two juniors. For us that leadership has to continue, but the next two or three years could continue something really special there.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is it important that players do what they did last year at this time, learn from that?
Versyp: “They talked about last year and I said before, that everybody said it was so much harder than the year before. It wasn’t. It’s if you’re invested 100 percent, it’s always going to be hard. It’s what you invest into it, so this year, the intensity will increase more, because you have eight returners who have totally bought in and that understand the culture, so it starts next week. It starts all over. When you’re looking at the two seniors left, with Bridget (Perry) and Ashley (Morrissette), it’s how are we going to move forward? How do you want to leave your legacy? This last group was able to get it back to where we needed to. Now everything needs to be about upping the ante, so that determination and work ethic has to continue but even for the mental and physical aspect.”
GoldandBlack.com: What is the next step, getting into the top-four of the Big Ten and into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament?
Versyp: “It starts right now. They all have to improve individually, right now. These next four or five months ‘til we get back together in September, it’s all about them working on their part to improve. And the big part is mental toughness, the second part is the physicality.
“Our incoming freshmen (last year) didn’t get to do anything for the first five months, and we think they did amazing things without us even having a chance to work on them physically in the development. So especially that group, they need to take four steps forward, not one, four steps forward, that’s been the goal for them. And then there’s particular players who really have to work on their lean mass and we’ve got to continue to maintain that, the ones that are more lean – not the bigger kids – we have to keep that year-round, and I thought we did a good job until the last month. But we have to be a lot more physical. But they’re in control of their conditioning, they’re in control of where their mindset is, but when you condition as hard as they condition, then you get mentally tougher. So that’s the biggest aspect, then when everybody comes together in the summer, it’s about team chemistry, putting your team first, teaching the young ones, this is how you do it the right way. The three that are coming in right now, they can bring a lot to the table, but they have to do it the right way and learn from the upperclassmen. The seniors did a great job with the incoming freshmen and now these upperclassmen need to do the same thing.”
GoldandBlack.com: How do you replace April Wilson?
Versyp: “I think (Tiara) Murphy has to fill her own shoes, not someone else’s shoes, her own shoes. And she’s got to work on her physicality, that’s No. 1. Resilience. But Ashley Morrissette is going to have the ball in her hands a lot. You’ve got one who is a senior, and Murph is that true point guard, but they’re both scoring guards. They want to shoot. I don’t have to beg them to shoot. They’re going to get people involved. And Ashley has to learn that a little bit more, what we’re looking for and understand that. But those two in particular and (Andreona) Keys is a very important ingredient to Tiara Murphy’s growth.
“I really feel Andreona can play 1 through 4 for us and now she’s a junior she’s got to become that coach on the floor, her and Ashley to help Tiara to talk more. But Tiara’s growth was immense over the last month-and-a-half, her shoulders were back, she carried herself different, she communicated so much more, she ran the team. She did things that she didn’t do early, but when you can’t train in the fall (because of injury), then you’re out six weeks, and you’re thrown into the Big Ten, I wish I could have wrote her freshman year a little differently. But we do believe in the qualities that she has, it’s just quit talking about it and now it’s about action.”
GoldandBlack.com: It’s not uncommon in college basketball these days, but you had a couple departures of young players this season. Why are kids transferring, underclassmen in particular?
Versyp: “They’re not patient. They don’t understand the process. It’s about them, not seeing the big picture. The freshman year is a tough year, and some are more mature than others. Most of it is playing time, not anything else, it’s playing time and you’ve got to earn that right. You can’t just all of a sudden wake up and say, ‘OK, now I’m committed and I get to play.’ Well, what happens that whole first year, you’ve got to understand the concepts. It’s sad, because a lot of kids don’t play as freshmen and their sophomore year, they start playing and if they do well then they’re going to play a lot more. But not going through your whole sophomore year, I think, is a shame. Your freshman year is tough, no question, but your sophomore year is when you can really build on things. But it’s all over the country, and there are people who start and play 35 minutes and it’s not good enough and they go somewhere else. If we knew why, there wouldn’t be all these transfers. It’s always been that they love the place, they love us, they just want to play more. I’m like, ‘Well, your opportunity is right there.’ But, you know, no one has the answer.”
GoldandBlack.com: When a kid is a freshman, are you ever thinking about trying to get them in the game just to keep them happy, engaged, etc.? Or are you just trying to wins games? How do you balance those, playing a kid early so that they don’t start to have those feelings, and the need to win?
Versyp: “We don’t go into it thinking that way. If they haven’t been suspended or been released from our team for eight games or nine games, you have different scenarios. You bring them in and try to let them play through mistakes, but that’s where your starters and people who play a lot have to take care of business, so they are growing their bench. It’s not about us, we can’t put the ball in the hoop. We want everybody to play, and if you have 10 or 11 kids this year, we were able to play almost everybody. When you get 14 or 15 players, they aren’t going to play. It doesn’t matter where you are. You get that rotation of 10 or 11, depending on personnel, maybe our big kids don’t play against mid-majors, then you have that opportunity. It’s not in the back of our mind, but we’re constantly talking to the freshmen, and it’s how they present it, ‘What can I do to help the team?’ Not ‘I’m not playing enough.’ Then it’s all about them, instead of saying, ‘What can I do for the program?’
“But a lot of them did it because they’re very honest. When kids are honest and talk about how they’re feeling, then, hey, I get that. But when you’re blindsided, that’s when it’s really confusing.”
Q: Was there a point where you felt like attrition played into a dip, in terms of wins or losses? And in the long run, from a team chemistry standpoint, is it benefitting you?
Versyp: “I don’t think it had an affect on the wins and losses at all. It just brings you closer because you want to go to battle with people who want to be here. If you don’t want to be here, that’s fine. It just brought everybody even closer, and now we know these are the people who want to fight, be in the battle, and they’re selfless and want to be there.
“But it’s hard, all over the country kids are leaving left and right. That’s the norm. You probably should have one a year and wouldn’t be shocked if you had two a year. It’s just hard. It’s a 'now' generation. If they don’t get it right this second, they’re not going to be committed to continuing, and that’s where you’ve got to find the right pieces that, ‘Hey, you get the opportunity to play, but you’ve got to earn that.’ I understand when you have all these seniors and juniors and they play all these minutes and you’re coming in to learn; as a staff you have to keep constant communication and be able to know how they’re feeling the whole time.”
GoldandBlack.com: Is UConn’s dominance good or bad?
Versyp: “You always aspire to be like somebody. You have to have people who might dominate the game. I think they’re obviously talking about other teams that have challenged them, but what has been fantastic is that there are three new teams in the Final Four. I think that gives a breath of fresh air to women’s basketball. I think it gives student-athletes an excitement that some people have never heard of these teams, there’s a 7 seed, there’s a 4 seed. They finally knocked off the 1s and some of it was done on home courts, which I thought was fantastic. It’s hard to go about doing that.
“I think this year has been fantastic that there’s three new schools going against UConn, because they’ve always been (there). It was Tennessee for a while, now it’s UConn. We’re all trying to get better, striving, but you’ve got to have someone that's saying, ‘This is what we all are aspiring to try to be.’ We need to get to the Final Fours consistently. Geno (Auriemma) has done that at another level that no one else has right now.”
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