Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Attend MAC Basketball Media Preview
October 24, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 24, 2006
CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Four members of the Bowling Green State University women's basketball program attended the Mid-American Conference Basketball Preview on Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 24). The event was held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Cleveland.
Head coach Curt Miller, along with seniors Liz Honegger and Ali Mann and junior Kate Achter, were in attendance. The list of attendees included the head coaches of all 12 teams, along with the student-athletes chosen to the Preseason All-MAC Team, plus one student-athlete from each school that did not have a player chosen to the team.
Not surprisingly, the members of the BGSU contingent were kept busy fielding questions from the media, after the Falcons were announced as the preseason pick to win the MAC's East Division and tournament titles in 2006-07. Many questions, of course, were about the expectations placed upon the Brown and Orange. A portion of the question-and-answer segment on Tuesday afternoon:
MILLER
"We're excited to begin the season. Obviously, the preseason hype is a direct reflection of our success last year. But, we are excited to have nine players back, and we add three freshmen that we are infusing into the lineup.
"I am glad to be able to work with our seniors, who are a tremendous group. They bring a consistency to practice each and every day. We have loaded up our non-conference schedule, and we will use that to prepare us for the challenges ahead in what looks to be a tremendous MAC race."
MANN
"Like Coach Miller said, we are all excited for practice to start. We can't wait to get on the floor for our first game, and we hope to meet all our goals this season."
ACHTER
"We are thrilled to have started practicing. I had said earlier that I was sick of seeing a 400-meter track, so seeing a 94-foot floor has been a dream come true for me."
HONEGGER
"I echo the thoughts of the other three; we are excited to get started. We had a great off-season, and our preseason workouts have gone well. We're just ready to get going."
(On the expectations for the 2006-07 season)
MILLER
"One of the dynamics of our team has has been that we are very hungry. It started minutes after we lost to UCLA in the NCAA Tournament. We were very, very disappointed with that loss, and we didn't fulfill some of the dreams we had for that team. So, minutes after that game, we started preparing for (this) season.
"This team is very hungry, and there are no expectations that anyone can put on this team -- the media, the fans, the community -- that we do not already have of ourselves. The four coaches have high expectations for this team, the players have high expecations for this season, and we are not going to let any media pressure dictate it. We put pressure on ourselves.
"We enter this season understanding those expectations, but I think it gives us energy. Frankly, I think it gives us a little bit of fear. We know, each and every night out, we are going to get teams' best efforts, and we know that we have to be prepared. That starts in practice; we need to bring that effort each day in practice to continue to get better and better. If we are just as good as we were last year, people are going to find ways to beat us. This league is too talented, the coaches are tremendous in this conference, and we have to continue to add wrinkles and find ways to get better, or we will not reach our goals."
(How disappointing was the first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament?)
MANN
"You never want your season to end. We had an amazing year, but as soon as you reach a milestone, you want to reach the next one. After we won the MAC, we wanted to win that NCAA first-round game. As soon as that game was over, like Coach Miller said, we had a hunger for the next year. We want to build upon that, we want to get back into MAC play and we want to keep working hard."
(How can this team get better, and build upon a 28-3 season?)
MILLER
"We realize that we may not be the most-talented team, night in and night out. But, we believe that you can't have a championship team without a championship lockerroom. It starts with that chemistry in the lockerroom, and I believe that it why we have had the success that we've had. We have a championship lockerroom, and we take that onto the floor and play hard for each other. There's no jealousy, there is great balance, and there is great depth within the program.
"We sacrifice some personal glory for the betterment of the team, and frankly, these three (Achter, Honegger and Mann) are great examples of that. They all could average more points, more assists, more rebounds, but we spread the wealth around, give people more minutes, and we are not worried about individual statistics.
"Another example of that is Carin Horne, who could easily be sitting here today as well. Carin could average more points in a different system, but like her teammates, she sacrifices individual statistics for the good of the team."
Falcon fans can get their first look at the 2006-07 team on Wednesday, Nov. 1, when BGSU hosts Findlay in an exhibition game at Anderson Arena. The Falcons and Oilers will tip off at 7:00 p.m.
In other news, MAC Commissioner Rick Chryst announced that the first-round games for the league's 2007 women's basketball tournament will be held on Sunday, March 4, at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland. The dates were finalized following the release of the NBA schedule and confirmation of arena availability for the Sunday date.
The 2007 tournament will be the sixth at Quicken Loans arena for the women and the seventh overall in Cleveland. The women's tournament championship game has averaged 4,336 in attendance since moving to the The Q (then known as Gund Arena) in 2001. In 2000, the first year the league tourney was in Cleveland, it was held at Public Hall.
The 2007 championship will be the 26th in MAC history since the initial tournament in 1982. This year also marks the first time that all 12 teams will be brought to a neutral site for all tournament games.
2007 MAC Women's Basketball Tournament Schedule
Sunday - March 4 Game 1: 1:00 - No. 4 East vs. No. 5 West Game 2: 3:00 - No. 3 West vs. No. 6 East Game 3: 5:30 - No. 4 West vs. No. 5 East Game 4: 7:30 - No. 3 East vs. No. 6 West
Tuesday - March 6 Game 5: 1:00 - Game 1 winner vs. No. 1 West Game 6: 3:00 - Game 2 winner vs. No. 2 East Game 7: 5:30 - Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 East Game 8: 7:30 - Game 4 winner vs. No. 2 West
Friday - March 9 Game 9: Noon - Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner Game 10: 2:30 - Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner
Saturday - March 10 Championship Game - 1:00
