SOUND BITES

Redshirt Sophomore Diamond DeShields

(On health)
"I'm doing really good actually. Much better than last time we spoke, and I'm making huge strides each and every day. I can say that in confidence, every day I get better, every day I get stronger. I'm very confident in myself as far as when I'll be back, and I know I'll be good to go by the time that first game hits."
(On how sitting out has improved knowledge)
"Well, I guess I've sat out the longest. Mercedes is back in action. I'd say given this new team, and this new year, I've been able to see all of the new changes. I think I've grown tremendously as a player, and I'm thankful for my `sit-out year'. Aside from my personal battles and what I've been through, I think we've been able to grow together as a team, as a unit, and really become better as a program. I know I've become a better person and I will do everything in my power to be a positive influence on the rest of the team when I get back out there.
(On how you've grown as a player since coming to UT)
"Well at Carolina, in my past I've been known as just an athlete. I feel like I've grown into more of a leadership role, and more of a thinker. I'm still very instinctual, I don't think that aspect of my game will ever go away, but my wisdom has grown a lot since I've been here at UT. I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaches for basically forcing me to develop more of a mental aspect to the game of basketball.I've become more of an intellectual, I like to say more of a coaching mind now."
(On finally playing in the Orange after sitting out)
"It's like a dream come true actually. Like a kid seeing snow for the first time. I get to play in orange after sitting out an entire year, so it's just a mix of emotions on top of the excitement. I'm anxious, I'm hungry. I'm betting on myself to be the fiercest competitor on the floor this year. I say that with all the confidence in the world."
Redshirt Sophomore Mercedes Russell

(On sitting out a year)
"I would agree. The mental part is tough. I mean you have to practice. Just watching the games knowing you can't get in is hard. Mentally it just helps you get stronger, and in a lot of ways it just helps you grow as a person."
(On what it is like to play pain free)
"I'm definitely pain free. I feel great actually. I'm definitely 100% now, and just being back on the court. I feel great. Honestly I could do anything without pain now compared to before my surgery when I had pain all the time no matter what I was doing. Honestly I feel great right now.
(On being a new player after surgery)
"Personally I would say that I feel more explosive. Running, I feel like I run very different now compared to then. I'm a lot faster than before. Just getting up and down the court I feel like I can move a lot better now than before my surgery."

"It's great to be here. I'm excited about the opportunity to be in front of you all. From what I've seen so far, we've got a very athletic, active team. I have not been disappointed. We have been doing a lot of competitive things, and this group loves competition. As a coach, that's awesome. We do a lot of competitive drills [where] there's a winner, there's a loser. We've been getting up and down. I think we're at a good point right now. As a coach, I'm nervous that we don't have a lot in, but I've tried to go slow. We want to get the details right. If we played a game tomorrow, it wouldn't be good for us because we wouldn't be ready, but we'll be ready in a couple weeks.

"I talked a lot earlier about leadership, and we've had the opportunity to have some kids step up. I think Andraya Carter and Jordan Reynolds have done an outstanding job of fitting into that role. Bashaara Graves as well, but I think [Carter and Reynolds] have been very vocal, have stepped up to the plate, and I've been really, really proud of them and how they've tried to lead this basketball team. They had some big shoes to fill with our seniors. Those seniors did an outstanding job, but I think they have stepped up and done a great job.

"The freshmen are fitting in really well. They're adding the athleticism to our team that we haven't had. Te'a Cooper is stepping in, can play the one and the two. We're really excited about her. She's a highly intelligent basketball player who is very skilled. Meme Jackson, who's going to play a two-three for us, is extremely, extremely athletic. She doesn't know how good she can be. She plays hard, great defender, so we're really excited about those two as well.

"Our team, as usual, we emphasize a couple of things. We always want to be a great rebounding team, and that's going to continue to be part of our motto. We work on it every single day. We're not there, but we're going to get there. We want to be a great defensive team. If I had to, I'd say that our defense is ahead of our offense right now. I thought it was important for us to emphasize on the defensive end. I want us to be an up-tempo team, and right now I've not been disappointed.

"Those three things -- our rebounding, up-tempo, and getting better on the defensive end -- have really been our focus in what we want to be identified as. When I look back, that's what I think Tennessee teams in the past have been. That has not changed, and that will continue to be that way here with the Lady Vols.

"With that, are there any questions?"

(On the shooting ability of this team)
"As a coach, I look at us offensively, and I think we're a really good offensive team. I think our main [focus] needs to be on defense. Defense isn't important to kids, so that's what I like to stress. I think when it comes to the playoffs, you're going to see shooting percentages go down.

"You have to have those kids that make plays. I think we do. I think with Mercedes [Russell] back, that's a big step for us, a big influence inside. Adding Diamond DeShields, being such an offensive threat. I think Te'a Cooper can make some shots. I think we've got kids in the right spots that can make plays and make shots. So, are we better offensively? I do think we are. Nia Moore's gotten better. Jaime Nared's gotten better. We've just gotten better down the line in confidence in scoring the basketball. I think you've got to have those players, and I think we have those players in place."

(On the impact of the team's trip to Italy)
"We took that [trip] for two reasons. Obviously, to get practice in and see where we are and play as a team, but I think more importantly, it helped us bond as a team. We had two freshman come in, then you add in Diamond [DeShields] and Mercedes [Russell] because they weren't in the mix last year. It gave us an opportunity to get to know each other. I did it more as a team bonding trip. We did everything together - the coaches, families, with our kids. It was so important to us.

"I talked about leadership, and I wanted to see who would step up. We hadn't named a leader. When you go over there, you don't have a lot of offense in. You don't have a lot of defense in. We were touring during the hot day, then coming in and playing in a gym with no air conditioning, so the conditions weren't great. I wanted to see how they responded. They had to rely on each other, and I think from that standpoint, we got that from them.

"We took a professor with us, which the university allowed us to do. I wanted it to be a little educational for everybody. What we got on the educational side, we got on the basketball side as well. It was a great team-bonding and team-building [experience] for us."

(On if this team can play inside-out)
"I do. Before [Isabelle Harrison] got hurt, I thought we were a really good inside-out team and we've always been that way. I think with Mercedes [Russell] back, it's going to help our outside game tremendously. We keep telling our players, you get the ball inside and they make a couple of shots, they're going to loosen up from the outside. And I will say this, from the Italy trip, Nia Moore has benefitted tremendously from that. She's a different player, a different person. She played with a lot of confidence and so I think I see her in the mix as well."

(On Diamond DeShields' role with the team)
"Diamond is an outstanding talent. We all know that. I know that. I see that. But what I do see that I didn't realize about Diamond, she's a great team player. The knowledge that she has for basketball - really both she and Mercedes - I didn't realize it until they didn't play basketball and they sat on the bench and I listened to them talk and I listened to them in practice. Those two have an incredible basketball mind. So when I look and see what both of those two can do, it's going to be huge because when you sit out and watch, you have a little bit more respect for the game. You have a little bit more appreciation for the game. I think those two are coming back with that in mind."

(On looking to Bashaara Graves for leadership)
"I don't know if it's a cliché, but she leads by her effort. Bashaara is not our most vocal player, but I think she's one of the hardest working players and that's how she's been successful in this program. I thought as a freshman she overachieved and I expect nothing less from her this year. She's coming off a nagging shoulder injury, and I think that may have helped her as far as the wear-and-tear of her body. This summer, she didn't do a whole lot. But I watch her, the competitive spirit is back. Her hard working in the gym is back. So I think again, sitting out, getting something taken away from you, has a lot of meaning to these young ladies. I just see Bashaara, she didn't get to play this summer with the Italy group, but she's playing extremely strong now, back to where she should be and where we need her to be."

(On the difference in preparation for the season now compared to her first year as a head coach)
"There's a big difference. When I first got [here], my lens was this big. I wanted to see everything and anything, and I thought I had to control everything and anything. If the officials called a walk, I was raising Cain, 'That's not a walk!' And now, I'm worried about substitution and I'm worried about keeping this person up and I'm worried about what we're doing on the floor. Until you get up and experience it, you think you're prepared and I think Coach Summitt got me as prepared as anyone in the country. She allowed me to do what I needed to do, and I'm extremely thankful and blessed by that. But, I think my vision has gotten narrow. I've learned to trust people's help. The assistants do a lot of the substitutions. We talk about it, they do it. I'm not so concerned with the officiating anymore as I am getting our players in the right place at the right time. I just think you settle in and honestly it gets to be a little more comfortable. Managing the game, I thought I did it my first year well, but could I have done better? Absolutely, it just comes with experience. Anything that I think you do comes with experience, and I think the more I do it, the more I'm more comfortable with it, the more I rely on people to help and I'm more comfortable with our players because I spend obviously a lot more time than I did that first year."

(On Diamond DeShields' health and her game)
"I think Diamond, we're still going slow with her. She's not on the floor 100%, we're just watching her with contact. I just think she brings that wow-factor to us. I think Diamond is an exceptional athlete, an exceptional basketball player. And I think those type of kids come around only once in a while, and I think she's that type of player. She's got a little bit of Chamique Holdsclaw in her. She's got a little bit of knowledge of Tamika Catchings in her. She hates to lose, which I love. She's competitive in everything, sometimes to a fault. I think just her ability to play the game - and she's been blessed with a lot of talent - and her knowledge of the game is going to be tremendous for us. She's that kid that if we need a bucket, we can go to her and she'll get a bucket for us. I think in the past we haven't had that type of kid. I think you need one. And I think in Diamond we have that."

(On the point guard position)
"As a head coach, I love that we have different opportunities to play people at the point. Jordan [Reynolds] has done a great job, and she's really bringing Te'a [Cooper] along. So, I'm really excited about that situation.

(On the health of the team)
All of our players have been really putting in the time and effort. I will tell you this, yesterday Jaime Nared - somebody stepped on her hand and she broke her left hand. She was kind of shaking it and didn't know she broke it. All I had to do was look at it because I've had a broken hand and two broken wrists, so I'm a professional doctor, I can diagnose a lot of injuries now, especially anything to do with the hands. So, it is broken and she'll be out 3-4 weeks. It's her left hand. She wanted to go back in and it hasn't even fazed her. She's not going to miss a beat. I'm not sure the diagnosis, but I know they're keeping a splint on it right now to let the swelling go down and then she'll have a cast and she'll continue to practice. She won't miss practice, so that's a good thing. But everybody else, you look at Bashaara [Graves]. Jasmine Jones is back which is a tremendous help for us, our best defender that we've had in a long, long time. She's healthy. Alexa Middleton's healthy. You go down, Andraya Carter, she's healthy as well. So, as you all know, injuries have been a big factor against us or with us, but they're part of the game. I understand that and we've got to make sure we have people in place, so Jaime Nared's hurt, who's going to step in and take up the slack for her? That's what our hope is and what we're trying to get them ready for right now."

(On trusting players less or more as you gain more experience as a head coach)
It depends on what we are talking about. You know John, I think I trust them more. I've always been one to listen to their opinion. I don't have to use it or not. But when I was player, Pat used to ask me what I thought. What offense would work, what defense would work, or maybe what do I see out there. I would tell her whether she would use it or not. I want to have that relationship with our players. And so from that aspect, I do trust them. I think you earn trust by how hard they play and practice, and how they talk to their peers and how they talk to the coaches, so I think the more we're in practice and the more we see how productive we are and, how hard they work and listening to them talk and what's important them. Yeah I think it builds a lot of trust. I really do, and I'm open. Look, they're on the floor and I get it, I was point guard and I'm going to listen. Now, I may not do what they suggest but I'm going to listen. I asked Ariel quite a bit last year and Jordan. I trust their opinion because they should be in that position, they should have that authority, and that leadership, and that knowledge. They are point guards, they should know how to direct a basketball team. It's their team when the game starts, truly. So, sure I probably trust them more and I think they trust me more. I think the first year when I was out, I think they wanted to see what I was going to do and what I was made of. I get that. I understand that. So, hopefully, I think they have a lot more trust in me as well.

(On the possibility of Nared being out for the season opener)
I think she's going to go back and get a professional opinion and not my opinion. I think she's going back to the doctor this afternoon to find out all the details.

(On Diamond's availability)
She's going to be fine. She'll be ready to go.