Nov. 1, 2005
The America East Conference held its preseason conference call this morning, which head women's basketball coach Maura McHugh and head men's basketball coach Steve Pikiell participated in. The women's squad was picked to finish tied for fifth in the preseason poll, while the men were chosen to finish in seventh place.
Head Women's Basketball Coach Maura McHugh
We are pretty excited about this season. I think that returning Jessica Smith, Mykeema Ford, and Dana Ferraro is a big plus for us. Last year we were a very young team, so hopefully we are more experienced this year. We added some new players to give us a lot more depth as well. We are very, very excited about going into the season.
With your two returning all-conference players, and it looks like you have a great recruiting class, who are you looking to step up this season?
I think its important that we get some good play from our some of our new players that you just mentioned. We have three junior college players that we have added to our rosters. One is a guard, Sidney Orndorff, who is a First Team Junior College All-American who plays the two position. The other player that we are counting heavily on this season is Delicia Jernigan, also from the College of Southern Idaho, who is a point guard, a very savvy guard, who had a great tournament in the national tournament last year and we hope that she can give us a lot more depth at that position. Another player that we are counting on to give us some depth on the inside is Farah Vasquez, she is a transfer from Arizona West College. She gives us much needed rebounding and toughness on the inside.
What challenges do you see your team facing this upcoming season?
Well I see some big challenges. I think our conference, there is a lot of parity in our conference. Teams are getting better, they are doing a better job recruiting. Getting ready for that, it is going to be very important for us to all be on the same page and know that every night is going to be a challenge and not to take anyone lightly. Also, we have a pretty tough schedule, playing Temple, George Washington, BYU, some very good competition that will test us very early. Hopefully that will test us early, and get us ready for conference play.
Obviously Jessica and Mykeema are going to get a lot of the attention, but Dana Ferraro really did come along last season as the season progressed. Could you talk about her development and the role you see her having this season?
One of the things that we really wanted her to work on in the off-season was her offensive game. She spent a lot of time working on her shot, looking for her shot a lot more, she did a lot of things with footwork and being ready to shoot the ball and be more confident in her offensive game. She is a great rebounder and she has a very good feel for the game and a very good feel for where the ball is coming off. She's got that sixth sense that great rebounders do, she has really developed that even more.
Head Men's Basketball coach Steve Pikiell
First of all, I am really excited to be a part of this conference, and I am really excited about my first year here at Stony Brook. It is a great university, we are in a bit of a transition year here, but we are very excited about where this program is going.
What has your first year been like, after taking over from Coach Macarchuk, have you talked to Nick about advice on the program and where it is?
It has been a very busy time since I first got this job in April, the nice part is that Coach Macarchuk is one of the best coaches in the country and he has been terrific to me and very helpful with the players he recruited that are here in the program. He has been around, stopped by at a few practices, and it is always good to have a guy who has won a lot of games in your corner, kind of helping you with some advice. I look forward to moving this program forward. We have two seniors, Bobby Santiago and Hendrik Feist, who have just been outstanding and have jumped right onboard with me and the program. I couldn't be prouder of those two guys, because sometimes it is difficult for kids who have played for another coach for so long to switch coaches in the middle of their careers. I am just real proud of those two guys and those are my two seniors, and will be two starters for me. I am real excited about their leadership.
Once you get the two seniors on board, do you find it's easier to get the entire team in line?
Well, you know it really is. Once the older guys buy in, we got a junior, Mike Popoko who has logged a lot of minutes here too. Once I won those three guys over, the other guys jumped right on board, and were really excited about where we are going. We have a schedule this year, which is as challenging as it has ever been here at Stony Brook. We are playing four top 15 teams, all on the road, opening up the season at Villanova on the 18th. We are just really looking to upgrade every aspect of this program. With those three veteran players, we have really made big strides in the last few months.
As a new coach in this league, who did you pick to win the conference and why?
I picked Boston University, there are a lot of great coaches and a lot of great teams in this league but I do a lot of my statistics and voting on past history. BU has had such a tremendous run, and I look back at past results and who they are returning. I certainly had Albany right up there too, I know how talented they are, having two all-league players on the preseason first team. When you only have five players on that team. and you have two, that's a sign that you are going to be really good in the league. Coach Brown has done a great job building that program at Albany. I looked at those teams, with Maine and Binghamton right after that. Those are the top four teams. But I think more than ever, a lot of uneasiness of who is going to finish where. There is a lot of turnover, a lot of transition in the league. So I know some of those teams that aren't being picked as high certainly have great coaches and could change this league very quickly.
In your time so far here at Stony Brook, how have you assessed your talent, direction of the team, and where the leadership is going to come from this season?
I am most excited about Bobby Santiago, our point guard. He has just done just a terrific job. He stayed here all summer, working on his body. Hendrik Feist played on the German National Team over the summer and he got some added strength and experience. Mike Popoko certainly is a guy who went on a trip to Europe and was the leading scorer and rebounder on the trip. I am really excited about a walk-on we have named Solomon Bamiro, who will probably be in the starting line-up. He has done a really great job, as he is a very athletic wing player. I have two freshman right now, Andrew Goba and Stephane Bakinde. They are two big guys who are working hard and trying to develop their games. I am hoping to get Antwan Hardy and Mitchell Beauford healthy, they are still struggling with some injuries and haven't really practiced at full steam. I haven't gotten a chance to see them play at all, but I am looking forward to having them back in the lineup
Are you going to have to score of your defense this year, and is that Bobby Santiago's job right now?
I really looked at that. We really struggled at times last year to score and we lost three of our top five scorers. It is one of those issues that I have spent a lot of time on. We are going to turn it up a notch defensively, get into some passing lanes, try to steal some points as I like to say. Obviously when you play that way, you are going to need some depth, and we don't have that. Ideally, I would like to have nine or 10 guys who we could go with, but we don't. I am very excited about his year and looking forward to the season starting.
