For 22 years coach Sally Brooks has led her team with Passion, Vigor, and Determination. Her efforts have paid off with 400 wins. We sit down with her to discuss this magnificent achievement.
Randy - What is the difference from when you're wining the conference championships, those highs compared to maybe now one of the lowest points where you're below 500.
Sally - I wish that we would appreciate it more at the time that it's happening, for sure. Because it's definitely tough when it's not happening and it's hard to get back there. We definitely hate losing more than we enjoy winning, but having said that, I have a tough time choosing my favorite conference championship, they're al very special.
Randy - Right now you're team has lost more games than they've won but defensively they still play hard. How hard is it for them to keep that effort up knowing the offensive struggles and how much do you think that will play into them giving themselves a chance to get it turned around?
Sally - I think how you just said that is, are we going to give ourselves a chance, I mean it doesn't feel like we are sometimes, offensively, but having said that, just by continuing to play good defense and continuing to rebound and even in the other nights game which was offensively again very frustrating, we still had more, that's probably the most assists we've had all year long and the least turnovers, so there was still a positive on the offensive end even though it didn't show it up on the board. If we continue to play good defense and rebound and just continue to keep working hard, it's possible because we have the ability. We have the ability to be better offensively than we've been. I don't see any signs of them giving up on that hope. That's my job to not let them.
Randy - What is it about a conference tournament setting where a team that maybe didn't perform as well in the regular season has a chance to win it? Two years ago Texas Woman's was the last team in out of the North Division won the tournament, last year Incarnate Word made a surprising run to the final.
Sally - That's just what is so great about sports or basketball, people go crazy over March Madness because anything can happen once playoffs get here and not all the sports have that opportunity. I think in our conference the decision to have a neutral site obviously makes it even more possible for that to happen.
Randy - Your team right now, as where they sit, from here to the end the last few weeks for you to see it as a successful ending?
Sally - Just getting into the conference tournament would not be successful in my opinion. Because I don't think if we just get in we would be given ourselves an opportunity to win it. That doesn't have anything to do with the seeds, just saying if we just get in we have not been playing very well, so we need to be playing well to get in. If we were able to win 6 of our last 10 games I feel like then we obviously started playing better. So that's still our goal, who knows what our seed will be but we will have been playing better going into it and gives ourselves a chance to win the thing. I know the players believe that they can beat anybody in our conference but we got to be playing better to do that. We got to put some points on the board.
Randy - What is the difference from when you're wining the conference championships, those highs compared to maybe now one of the lowest points where you're below 500.
Sally - I wish that we would appreciate it more at the time that it's happening, for sure. Because it's definitely tough when it's not happening and it's hard to get back there. We definitely hate losing more than we enjoy winning, but having said that, I have a tough time choosing my favorite conference championship, they're al very special.
Randy - Right now you're team has lost more games than they've won but defensively they still play hard. How hard is it for them to keep that effort up knowing the offensive struggles and how much do you think that will play into them giving themselves a chance to get it turned around?
Sally - I think how you just said that is, are we going to give ourselves a chance, I mean it doesn't feel like we are sometimes, offensively, but having said that, just by continuing to play good defense and continuing to rebound and even in the other nights game which was offensively again very frustrating, we still had more, that's probably the most assists we've had all year long and the least turnovers, so there was still a positive on the offensive end even though it didn't show it up on the board. If we continue to play good defense and rebound and just continue to keep working hard, it's possible because we have the ability. We have the ability to be better offensively than we've been. I don't see any signs of them giving up on that hope. That's my job to not let them.
Randy - What is it about a conference tournament setting where a team that maybe didn't perform as well in the regular season has a chance to win it? Two years ago Texas Woman's was the last team in out of the North Division won the tournament, last year Incarnate Word made a surprising run to the final.
Sally - That's just what is so great about sports or basketball, people go crazy over March Madness because anything can happen once playoffs get here and not all the sports have that opportunity. I think in our conference the decision to have a neutral site obviously makes it even more possible for that to happen.
Randy - Your team right now, as where they sit, from here to the end the last few weeks for you to see it as a successful ending?
Sally - Just getting into the conference tournament would not be successful in my opinion. Because I don't think if we just get in we would be given ourselves an opportunity to win it. That doesn't have anything to do with the seeds, just saying if we just get in we have not been playing very well, so we need to be playing well to get in. If we were able to win 6 of our last 10 games I feel like then we obviously started playing better. So that's still our goal, who knows what our seed will be but we will have been playing better going into it and gives ourselves a chance to win the thing. I know the players believe that they can beat anybody in our conference but we got to be playing better to do that. We got to put some points on the board.
