Oct. 27, 2000
With two weeks of basketball practice under their belt, the Tar Heel women's basketball players had only positive things to say about the 2000-01 team. Redshirt freshman Courtney Chambers, true freshman Joy Hairston, and senior co-captain Leah Sharp talk about the upcoming season with TarHeelBlue.com:
Chambers on the first two weeks of practice:
"It's been going well. I think our team is really starting to come along, the team chemistry is looking really good. Everybody's working really hard."
Chambers on hopes for individual and team accomplishments this season:
"As an individual, you look to get better every practice and look to improve yourself overall and work into the concept of the team play. As a team I think we really are hoping to get our plays down, start getting our chemistry together, and start getting our timing down."
Chambers on how the team has been coming together:
"I think we're doing really well. I think we have a lot of possibilities on the team and I really think that some of those are starting to come out as we practice more and more. I really see this team going a long way if we keep working hard."
Chambers on the difference between college basketball and the high school game:
"It takes up so much more of your time. It's definitely like having a full-time job. You not only have the basketball practices, but you have the preseason workouts and the weights. It's a lot harder and more intense than high school basketball."
Hairston on the first two weeks of practice:
"I think it's a big adjustment, coming from a high school practice to a college practice, but it's been alright the first couple of weeks."
Hairston on the difference between college basketball and the high school game:
"We just do a whole lot more in practice now, things that would have taken us three days in high school because we moved so slow. We didn't have that much time to practice in high school, but here practices are two, three hours."
Hairston on how the team has been coming together:
"I think the team gets along well. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was to get along with everybody and really learn the offenses and the defenses and what everybody likes to do, but it's not really that hard."
Sharp on the first two weeks of practice:
"The first two weeks have been going well. The pace has been a little bit
slow because we have four freshmen and the coaches have to do a lot of
teaching, but the freshmen are being very receptive and working hard to
catch on."
Sharp on hopes for individual and team accomplishments this season:
"I think the only thing we can ask for is to continue to work hard to
improve every practice. We don't expect to play our first game at the same
level [that] we will be come ACC time or even tournament time. We know we have a
lot of work to do to get to the level we hope to get, but we have to continue to work hard, and we can do that."
Sharp on how the team has been coming together:
"Off the court we are coming together great. The team chemistry is better than its been in the past three years. On the court, we are also coming together. Like I said, we have four
freshmen that are all able to contribute so it will just take time and repetition for us to get the point where we want to be."
Sharp on setting a tone for the team as a senior:
"The other captains--Juana [Brown] and LaQuanda [Barksdale]--and I try to set the tone in practice with our effort and intensity (and encouragement) in general. If you have two or three people out on the court who are going all out in practice, it will catch on because no one wants to look like they're not working hard."
