University of Massachusets Athletics
A-10 Holds Women's Basketball Media Day
October 21, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 21, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass head coach Marnie Dacko spoke about the upcoming 2009-10 season as a part of the Atlantic 10 women's basketball media day video teleconference on Wednesday. The Atlantic 10 preseason poll and Preseason All-Conference teams were announced, as well, with the Minutewomen being tabbed 11th in the poll and Xavier selected as the preseason favorite. Here is what Dacko had to say in looking ahead to the 2009-10 campaign.
Coach Marnie Dacko on the upcoming season:
I'm just really excited to begin the year. We've got a lot of fresh new faces, we're spending a lot more time working on defense and I'm really looking forward to the start of the season.
Dacko on improvements over last season:
I think we're going to improve defensively. We implemented a new offense last year, the dribble-drive, and we had a lot of young kids so the pieces didn't fit as well as we would have liked them to. We're sticking with it this year, though. That being said, we're putting a lot of emphasis early in the preseason on defense. We've got a lot of new personnel so we're really, really excited. I think we're going to be greatly improved in the post and greatly improved on the perimeter. We have some post presence this year that we haven't had in the past. So far it's day five and practices have been going well.
Dacko on addition and impact of redshirt junior Megan Zullo:
Megan is a tremendous shooter, she's another coach on the floor and she exudes confidence. She's just that consummate cheerleader on the floor from the beginning of drills until the end of practice. She was a young lady who was injured a year ago, so she sat out, had surgery on her foot and is coming back this year. She really wants to play, she's hungry, and the rest of the kids have responded well to her. She's been a tremendous addition to our program.
Dacko on strength of the Atlantic 10:
It's amazing. When you look from top to bottom, I don't think there's an easy team to play in this conference. The coaching staffs are tremendous. When you go out to recruit, kids now are looking at the A-10. Today they recognize teams in the A-10 when years ago, they really didn't, it was all BIG EAST. The kids that are coming to these programs are really, really strong and it's great to see. The games are competitive, and it's going to be a dogfight.
Dacko on incoming freshmen, including Jasmine Watson:
Jasmine has been unbelievable. I don't think a lot of people knew about her early on, she played with Indiana Family [AAU]. Being from South Bend, Ind., she played with Skylar Diggins and it was the "Skylar Diggins Show" where Jasmine was a role player, more or less. But coming in here, she's found her own. We need a post presence and I love to coach the post players. She's fit in really well, she's strong, she's a good defender and she can rebound. Being a freshman, she gets fatigued quickly, but she really loves the system and she's doing really well in school. The other two freshmen we have include Danielle Montgomery, who is a lefty point guard. She's been battling some injuries lately, but she's going to really bring us some depth in the point position and can really dribble and penetrate in our offensive system. Then we have Shakia Robinson, who played with the Philly Belles AAU program, from Philadelphia. She's an undersized post player, but she plays like a big-time post player. Again, we've got to get her in great shape, but she is a beast inside so it has really made practices competitive. Along with their skill, they've brought quite a personality to our program, and they already seem like they're older than just the little freshmen.
Dacko on Megan Zullo coming from N.C. State:
Well, her aunt played here years ago, Christel Zullo and was an unbelievable player at UMass, so Megan has chosen to wear Christel's number. Coming in a year ago, being hurt, she didn't get floor time while she was sitting out as a transfrer. Coming in from N.C. State, a team that made it to the Sweet 16 when she was on the team, she knows what to do, she knows how to run a club, she knows how to get people up, she knows how to push people's buttons. She brings the whole dynamic, like I said earlier, of there being a whole other coach on the floor. She's had to work on her ball handling. Megan's a shooter first, getting back her game legs. She's a tremendous athlete and she's going to go and go and go. Really, we feel blessed to have her in the program and we just hope she stays healthy and has a great year.
Dacko on the team's focus during the preseason:
We've been focusing on defense. We worked so much on that offense last year. Stef Gerardot and Sakera Young, did a great job for us last year too, they graduated. I think that when you try to implement a new system, not everything works at once. What we focused on coming in this year as a constant was the defense in the workouts. We've been trying to get re-acclimated with the defense because we didn't do that very well last year and that was indicative of our record. The games that we played defense we were able to win or were in it to win it. The games we had a nonexistent defense, we struggled. There are no secrets right now, it's day five of practice, but who knows what's going to happen.