Summer Series: Episode 2 feat. Matt Insell, Ta'Mia Scott, and Jalynn Gregory

[00:00:08] You're listening to the Blue Raider Podcast, your number one resource for all the latest news, updates, and game recaps from Middle Tennessee athletics. Join us every Tuesday for our weekly interviews with players, coaches, and local media personalities alike. Thanks for tuning in and

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[00:00:36] I'd love to hear your feedback so don't forget to subscribe to GoMiddle.com to discuss this week's episodes along with the latest news and updates around Middle Tennessee. Welcome into the Blue Raider Podcast, I'm your host Jake Bolden and today is the second

[00:00:56] installment of our 2024 summer series. Our episode today features our highly successful Lady Raiders basketball program coming fresh off of a 19-0 CUSA season and a memorable trip to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament with some might say upset victory over Louisville.

[00:01:11] I'm not one of those people but there's no one better to talk about the success of the Lady Raiders program than associate head coach Matt Insull. Matt, how's it going? It's going really

[00:01:20] good just ready to get all the girls back on campus here this week and start workouts with next year's team. Excellent coach and for you it's been a really busy spring not only

[00:01:32] with the season coming to an end there in March but I know you've been hot on the trail as far as the transfer portal and high school signings so I mean it doesn't seem like it's

[00:01:40] really slowed down for you since it ended in March. It hasn't and you know that's one of the things that I guess we do a little different we don't want to rely solely on

[00:01:49] the transfer portal we want to be able to get really good high school players and particularly the best players from our state and the surrounding states that we can get and kind of bring them together and then use the transfer portal and as a situation of

[00:02:04] places where there's a need and not just to put nine or ten of them on the same roster we want to be able to use it as need base and we were able to go into the portal and

[00:02:15] we needed to get a point guard and we got that we needed to get a four player we got that we need another perimeter player we got that so we feel really really good about

[00:02:24] the transfer portal and also really good about our start in 2025 when it comes to recruiting and then in 2024 being able to get Savannah Davis early was huge a great shooter and so we feel real good about the pieces that we're adding to our roster for next season.

[00:02:46] Where do you kind of find that balance because today's game is really weird and one thing that you and Rick do excellent is the retention aspect of it and you touched on it getting those three commits out of the 25 class some teams especially the larger schools may be

[00:02:59] scared to sign that many freshmen in the fear that you may potentially lose them so how do you find that balance? I mean you just got a the biggest thing like we've got you know three

[00:03:09] committed right now we would like to get maybe two more maybe three more and you know and try to find get them in here and helping them understand that it is going to be a process.

[00:03:20] Tamia Scott was one of them she did not play a lot as a freshman and then as she got going and had two summers under her belt you saw the growth that she made and how much she

[00:03:32] grew as a player inside our system and inside our program and then you saw her game really take off the following year and we sat down and we talked to him about that when we're

[00:03:41] recruiting them that what does success look like for you is it a one year two year three year four year we don't know that you'll determine that but if you're good enough to play as a freshman

[00:03:51] you will play but if you're not it doesn't mean you're a bad player we're going to keep working with you and we're going to keep getting better and it may be your sophomore year maybe your junior year whenever it's your time but you know we feel really good

[00:04:04] about where we're at with 2025 we felt really good about our 2024 we only signed one player early in 2024 because we only had two scholarships and when you first looked at your roster and we knew what Savannah Davis could do and we were really really excited about her but

[00:04:21] we knew in our mind that there was going to be a possibility of plugging in some transfer reporter players and we felt like that would happen and we've been very fortunate with the

[00:04:31] with the three that we got to add to that and then you know I know there's a lot of questions out there about we do have one scholarship still available we really don't

[00:04:38] we've signed a six three six four player from Serbia and she'll be here she's playing with our national team and so she won't be here until August but we'll be releasing that anytime now she's already signed so I can talk about her we just haven't officially released it

[00:04:56] out there yet because there's still some hurdles she's got to jump through to be able to get here in terms of being an international student athlete coming into America. And to keep on the same trail here talking about this upcoming 24-25 season I think one thing that

[00:05:10] a lot of us on the forums have been kind of speculating about is one thing that I know MTSU does a lot of is they play a select few you know the best player plays and they get

[00:05:19] a lot of volume minutes as talented as this team is on paper I find it hard to believe if you're able if you're capable of doing just six to seven players I feel like you've

[00:05:27] got such a deep bench now something that you it's been quite a luxury for you from years past is that kind of something that we could expect to see higher volume minutes from more players?

[00:05:37] Yeah I mean that's I don't think I think a lot gets talked about how many players we play and playing the five or six and all of that you know it really is team by team and you

[00:05:50] know when we get into it we didn't go into last season thinking that we were going to play six we were hoping to play eight nine ten whatever it shall be it just didn't work out that

[00:05:59] way and the schedule we play we don't we don't have the luxury where it's frustrating from time to time because teams in our league have played division twos and division threes and NAI schools and they're playing them and kind of had a record and things like that

[00:06:16] when we go out and play when we played Tennessee we felt like there was you know six maybe seven players on our roster that could help us win that game and so we had to go into

[00:06:24] that game to try to figure out how to win that game the same thing goes with Louisville and things like that Gracie Dodging Gracie Hamby both had injuries they were coming off of we were

[00:06:32] expecting them to be able to give us some minutes but with the injury factor with them they were not able to Sifa Neza just wasn't ready I mean she was a good player great person

[00:06:45] you know and she's moved on to another school now and and I wish her all the best of luck but she just wasn't ready for our system we didn't have her all summer she was playing with her

[00:06:53] national team and so she just wasn't ready and so last year's team it kind of got down to that and Jada Granham is somebody that really if she was kind of a stat position there with

[00:07:06] with three really good big post players there and now next year I think she's going to have a major role because I think she'll settle in there in that post position with Nastia and I think with Alina coming in she'll settle in in that area as well

[00:07:21] you know and so I think there's you know we feel very confident that we'll be able to play nine or ten if not eleven or twelve I mean we want to be able to play as many of them that

[00:07:31] earn that and we say we tell them this is when you earn our trust you'll get on the court and how do you earn our trust you get in the gym you work on your shooting you work on

[00:07:40] your game you get in there and individual workouts and every single day when we start up this coming Tuesday every single day we're evaluating every shot they take every defensive move they make every offensive traction everything they do on the court we're tracking that

[00:07:58] we're tracking their times whenever they're in the conditioning we're tracking the numbers and weights and we're telling them and everything that we do that's how you're earning that trust to get on the floor right away and so we feel like on paper next season we're more

[00:08:14] talented than we were a year ago there's no doubt about that can that team come together and do what last year's team did or the year before his team did we don't know like that'll

[00:08:24] be something that we're working towards and we'll talk to him about every single day but on paper we've got some options and we've got some players that can really make some plays and do some different things and we're able to do some different stuff offensively we've lost two

[00:08:38] great players since Savannah Wheeler and Courtney Whitson but we feel very good about where we're at right now in those positions and you know the one thing that we want to make sure of is

[00:08:49] where's that leadership going to come from you know Courtney Whitson was one of those players that she never let you have a bad practice because she always practiced with great energy great enthusiasm she was great talking to the other players who's going to be that person

[00:09:05] is something that you know to make sure that you don't have bad practices and you know so it's you know we feel really good about where we're at and we were just at the conference

[00:09:16] meetings and my wife and I were sitting down at the beach and another coach's wife in the conference was actually sitting down beside us and she said how do y'all feel you seem like

[00:09:29] y'all feel pretty good about next year's team we say we feel really we feel we feel a little bit better really good we think we're better and she just kind of looked at me with a

[00:09:36] stunned face and i'm like well yeah we we did beat all of y'all by an average of 26 life years so you better be better yourself or we're gonna beat you by 30 next year so that's what

[00:09:45] I wanted to say but I didn't. Well you led me in my next question because I keep telling everyone that asked me about this roster is I and I've watched a lot of Lady Raider basketball this has

[00:09:54] to be the most talented team you've ever had and I think objectively you look back at you know maybe where where did you fall in the LSU game and I think height may be an area that you might

[00:10:03] address and it looks like you have with someone like Alina who has the talent to be not only a great defensive player as we've seen in years past but she has the ability to score

[00:10:10] the ball but I'm interested too and you touched on it there with with missing Whitson now and her leadership capabilities subjectively what are kind of some things that you think that this team needs to do to no longer you've already dominated Conference USA so what does it take

[00:10:23] to not only get to the say a sweet 16 berth but to be in that conversation for a host school when the NCAA tournament comes back around? Number one is we can't have slip-ups I thought

[00:10:34] last year we we you know in all credit to both teams I thought Belmont and Grand Canyon both beat us on their home floors and there were two losses that we did not need to have

[00:10:45] and if we go into the NCAA tournament with the Michigan loss and the Princeton loss and then it's a little different conversation about your seeding and things like that but you know I think that you hit on it right there our depth is better, our size is better,

[00:11:08] is something that's that obviously is important Courtney was a great rebounder but Alina brings more size, Jada Granham in there brings more size I think yes you Mosh is getting better Mason is getting better there with her size and we had a kid sitting out last year

[00:11:28] that nobody's really talking about that we redshirted and Stacey Stanzlova the other girl from Russia very talented very very talented reminds us a lot of Cassini-Malaska and so she's about 6'1", 6'2", that can play the three or the four that we're excited about her and so

[00:11:46] our depth, our size is important winning those games not having slip-ups boy I'd have liked to have the Princeton game back when you got that lead against them that could have been

[00:11:57] a great game and the way the schedule sets this year is we've got a chance late in December to get some net wins with with a Princeton game right before we start conference play we're going to

[00:12:11] play them right before conference play at the end of December and then we've got a couple other games in there that we can get some net wins and not just early November getting those wins we've got a chance spread out through our schedule maybe probably the toughest schedule

[00:12:24] that we've played in years and so if we can come through that and win you know come through that and you've got two or three losses now you're setting it like a Gonzaga was with an opportunity

[00:12:35] to host if you take care of business in your conference. How do you address that with the girls because obviously when you come to MTSU you understand that you know we're Conference USA where we're taking care of business there how do we address with the

[00:12:49] players what is it going to take to get us to that next level and you kind of talk about with that schedule and you can get wide eyes like that but I think you that you and Rick have this

[00:12:56] expectation that you come to middle you're going to be a winner we need to win these ball games how is that something that you discuss with the girls? One of the things is we never discuss

[00:13:06] we have yet to discuss winning a conference championship now we enjoy winning a conference championship we like winning it we we um we enjoyed going under feet and doing all those things and winning and cutting down the nets we enjoy that but that's not our ultimate goal

[00:13:20] that is an expectation inside the program that we're just supposed to win it now the goal is is how can we get to the sweet 16 elite 8 last summer it was all about is how can we get back to

[00:13:31] that Colorado game and win that game this summer is going to be how can we get back to the LSU game and win that game and we'll watch film on what happened in the second half whether

[00:13:43] it be some physicality stuff whether it be um some rebounding or some transition stuff whatever it shall be some mis-executions we'll watch film on that to make sure that we don't make those same

[00:13:54] mistakes again the same thing we did against color after the Colorado game is when we got back into the summer we try to break that down on where we were at there um but we'll talk a

[00:14:04] lot about sweet 16 elite 8 even a final four we'll talk about those things and if we can stay healthy there's the possibility of a lot of things and it's all about your draw we had

[00:14:14] a good draw this year with Louisville um just from from knowing them and um and Jeff does a great job but our players were confident knowing that they could beat them and um and then you hit an

[00:14:25] LSU which again a very very good team very well coached team but you know you'd like to have this player that play back um in that game that I think could every game has a turn

[00:14:37] in it and you know when you watch that game you know there was a turn there where if we make this shot then this don't happen and then all of a sudden we've got a 13 or 14 point lead

[00:14:47] and now they're upset with each other maybe we could pull through and win that game um but you know making sure that next year we get to that spot that when we get to make sure those

[00:14:57] turns stay in our favor is important but um putting them out there in the schedule is going to be it's very important and and our schedule this year and I can I can hit on it

[00:15:06] with you and we haven't released it yet but you know we'll have a game against obviously it's Tennessee again um we'll play um we got neutral site games against three teams and

[00:15:17] they'll be coming out soon and and once Iowa State once Purdue once um UCLA and so you know so we've got some good opportunities in there where against some very good teams that you got

[00:15:31] a chance now to to to get some resume building wins and even if you got those let's just talk about those four games we're not talking about Princeton and some of those but in those four

[00:15:42] games if you can somehow go three and one or two and two or if you go four and oh now it's now it's you're talking a chance to host you're talking um the chance to be ranked in the top

[00:15:54] 15 or 16 the nation and um you know it is I say this all the time women's basketball men's basketball women's basketball are a little different because the the the non-power schools get more credit in men's basketball and they're doing women's basketball and where

[00:16:11] everybody walks around and say well I'm in a power five minute power five outside or power four now outside of maybe the top six or seven in that those leagues the rest those teams

[00:16:20] aren't any good and I tell recruits this all the time is don't go to that school because they're conferencing because that program doesn't play at the same level as a middle Tennessee

[00:16:31] or a South Florida or a or a Gonzaga or a Florida Gulf Coast I mean we play at the level that those five or six play at where a lot of those teams that league don't play at that level

[00:16:42] but they want to say they do and then they get all these recruits in there and all this stuff and you know it is what it is but um we'll keep recruiting these little girls that

[00:16:51] can really shoot it and that can rebound and can defend and and that everybody don't think it's good enough and we'll keep winning those games year in and year out yeah but you seem

[00:17:00] to do pretty well for yourself you definitely can't complain about the talent you bring in and got girls like you already mentioned to me and when we know the type of player that Jalen is

[00:17:08] but the one addition that I really want to talk about is Courtney Blakely not only one how did you get her back in but two one thing I think it's interesting about her I just want to kind

[00:17:17] of hear you expand upon it is her play style is not the same as Savannah Wheeler we know she's not necessarily the scorer that Wheeler was but one thing I think that draws a

[00:17:26] similarity when you watch her on film is the speed that she likes to play with I know that you like to get that ball out to Savannah and run the floor Courtney can do that at probably

[00:17:34] two times the speed that Savannah was so that's something that's really interesting about how you can still transition that play style that you're comfortable with last year where it's kind of a running gun run the floor if you got if you got the the layup available we'll kick

[00:17:46] it out to a three I still think that like that's something that I am from from my viewpoint that is a lot of similarities that that's going to transfer well with her returning

[00:17:55] it is I mean first off is when she left it was not a bad breakup at all and she was somebody that that we were real close with as a staff and we got along with Courtney really well and

[00:18:09] she loved it here and she just felt like she wanted something different she wanted to take an opportunity and and see if she could go and play it wherever it shall be in the power four

[00:18:19] and she went to Arizona and played well out there and she has no ill will towards them at all it just wasn't the fit that she had here and she really liked it here she liked her teammates

[00:18:33] she liked her staff and when she went in the portal it was you know I reached out to her the second she went in and I was at a sci-fi club event for middle Tennessee's donors and

[00:18:47] um Kim Bruton calls me and says hey Courtney Blake with this one in the portal and that's that I reached out to and said hey we want you to come home she said I want to come home

[00:18:55] and it was right away we I mean we started talking about what next year's team would like and she was all about it and she'd been watching us and she was excited about the

[00:19:04] opportunity and to come back and play and if you go back the year before our biggest win the year before was Louisville and at home and she was our she started point guard for

[00:19:15] that game and um you know Lexis Whittaker was hurt so Savannah moved over to the wing and you go fast forward a week later against Houston she started at the point guard for us because Lexis was still out then when we got into conference play Savannah gets hurt

[00:19:30] against Charlotte the first game and wasn't able to play in the first five games I believe that year conference play Courtney Blakely started all those games at the point guard so um and then you go fast forward on down through there um Courtney Whitton gets hurt

[00:19:45] so Courtney Blakely comes in and starts again we have we move um Savannah to the wing and move Alexis Whittington to the floor and we played Western at home and um Courtney started

[00:19:56] again in that game so she's she started in a lot of big games for us and she knows our system she knows how why she was so we were in on two or three point guards and had really

[00:20:07] good conversations with them and had a lot of good dialogue and had them they was about to make some decisions the day that she went in that week they were close to making decisions on where

[00:20:16] they were going to do and Courtney we got on the phone with her and it was like okay we got to bring her back she knows how we practice she knows what we do offensively

[00:20:25] she knows what we do defensively she knows how we travel she knows everything about our program she knows where they live on campus she knows where they eat at so it's you're basically bringing someone in that's that's been here for two years obviously

[00:20:40] that knows your system it knows what you do knows how you handle things and you're not having to reteach somebody and so you know having her coming in it's it's it's been a joy to have

[00:20:50] her back um i think she's going to be great for Jada Harrison um that's something that we talked a lot about with when Courtney Blakely come in she had Dorsar here and Dora was

[00:21:01] great um teaching her and and showing her the ropes of college basketball and the ins and outs of it and was really good role model for for um for cab where i think that cab can be a great

[00:21:14] role model for for um Jada Harrison because you got Jada Harrison sitting there it's coming off an injury that's you know you know she's trying to get herself back healthy and she

[00:21:22] will be healthy um but you also don't want to press on that injury too much um because she's got a longevity and um and so having to the having her here cab here to really help that

[00:21:34] transition with her is going to be huge as and then cab be right there and then and then um Jada Harrison is going to be a special player as well so we're real excited about

[00:21:44] where we're at there at that position and talk about Savannah Davis Savannah Davis can move over there and play as well there's no doubt about it but she can play so when a lot of people talk about replacing Savannah Wheeler um we've you know it obviously Savannah Wheeler

[00:21:58] was a great great player and we will miss Savannah Wheeler but we feel real good about how we how we have revamped that position we're very confident in that position and you're pretty guard heavy

[00:22:09] you got a lot of talent there and that's why i say it's interesting to see where where things fall when the season rolls around and as you said earning trust with those players um

[00:22:17] as far as the the front court goes and adding Alina Arrique who is the 2023 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year correct me if i'm wrong here was that a is this an acquisition

[00:22:26] that's been two years coming now it's an acquisition we've we've wanted for two years i mean we tried when she went in when when she went to the portal a year ago we did we tried every way in

[00:22:38] the world to get her and and had great dialogue with her and and um she decided she won't go to Texas Tech and which look that's that's her decision and we respected her

[00:22:49] decision i told her when she called me tell me she's gonna take the tickets you'll probably call me back um because um i don't think you fit what they do and i don't think they they

[00:22:59] they fit your game and um she's like well they said they're gonna do this and that and so she got there and she played them i think she played 18 19 17 18 minutes a game somewhere in

[00:23:08] that area and and had success but again it didn't fit how she played and it was not their fault it's not her fault it just you know when a system has to fit where like a

[00:23:19] Cassini-Malaska went to VCU was a good VCU's a great program but her game didn't fit how they played she comes here and she becomes a WNBA draft pick it's all about the system we play

[00:23:30] and we knew Alina's with with ways she played in in her game fit how we play and it fit our system really really well so we had a lot of confidence that by her coming here that she

[00:23:42] could do something special and so she goes into portal goes to Texas Tech long story short we play Louisville and i get on the bus at the Louisville game and um just i haven't paid much

[00:23:53] attention to anything besides everybody sending me videos of my daughter being on ESPN um and i get a text from a friend of mine in the business saying hey Aarike Alina has went in um

[00:24:07] the portal again i just saw it are you gonna get her and he's a coach of another university school saying he was going to try to get her but he wanted to know if i was

[00:24:14] trying to get her because he knew i wanted a year before and i said absolutely and on that bus ride from the arena to the hotel after beating Louisville in this tournament um i talked to her my

[00:24:25] dad talked to her uh kem Bruton talked to her Nina talked to her and Tom Hodges we all talked to her on that bus ride and um and then got up there in the hotel talked to her again

[00:24:38] and um and so it was kind of a good a good match and about a week later she came on official visit and had three other officials scheduled but she fell in love with it here and said this is where

[00:24:53] i'm going to be and we're excited about her she's she's a lot you talk about her defense she's a great she was defensive player of the year but she kicked us every way you could kick us

[00:25:01] offensively and and we couldn't guard her and we can guard any of we guard anybody in our league and we actually voted i think we voted for her for player of the year that year in the league

[00:25:11] because we can't vote for our own players and um you know but she is a special special talent that we're excited to have her we're glad we're playing she's on our team and that we're having

[00:25:21] to play against her we did not like playing against her too much absolutely not i can remember the game in murphree center where it just came down to three three player action those high

[00:25:30] screens with her and it was non-stop um she's a great ball player but man did she drive me nuts having to watch that game with her but it's exciting that she's on on our side now

[00:25:38] i got one thing i'm really interested to know just to get a little bit know a little bit more about the associate head coach but more importantly you're the son of the head coach how does that

[00:25:46] dynamic work and i think a lot of people will speculate that you know you're you're the next man in line and and forgive me if i'm stepping out of line with the question but

[00:25:54] it's an interesting dynamic i think it works great people highlight it all the time but what is that dynamic with you and your dad and and i know you've said this already this year

[00:26:02] um the job's not done for rick so how does that dynamic work for you two you know the the thing that um when i came back here my first question to him was is is you know what's your goal if

[00:26:16] your goals have changed and if you're satisfied with just winning the conference and doing all that stuff then i probably go somewhere else because that's just not who i am and he said

[00:26:25] no my my my objective is to steal sweet 16 lead eight final fours i think we can do it and so he and i talked about do we agree on everything absolutely not we'll argue over there

[00:26:35] a lot and just have different opinions on different things but at the end of the day when it's time to come together and say okay this is what we're doing this is what we do

[00:26:45] and um you know so it's a good dynamic um i am not i mean dr mcfee and and chris misaro and i have talked about a lot about what the future looks like and we're excited

[00:26:55] about what the future looks like um with dad here with dad's not here whatever it shall be i'm excited about the future of this program and and where it's going and i love it here

[00:27:06] my wife loves it here um we've had opportunities to leave and um and and go back to the scc or go here and we go to the big 10 we we've chosen not to do that um because of the belief

[00:27:18] that we have and what this program is and what it's becoming and we got we got um and so you know from my dad's standpoint how much longer he does it that i tell him all the

[00:27:30] time do it as long as you want to do it and um you know as long as you're you're coming into office you got energy and you can still do this thing let's let's keep it rocking

[00:27:38] and rolling and and so he'll at some point he'll me and him a talk and he'll make a decision on you know what that what the future looks like but i don't think he'll ever step

[00:27:47] away i think he has a passion as well for some of this nil stuff that's going on um i think he um i think that that's something when he does side of retired that i think he wants

[00:27:58] to help with that i think the collective with jonathan maguire and those guys are doing some really really good stuff right now and and that's where it's going i mean at the end of the day

[00:28:10] if we want to continue to do the things that we want to do um and get the players that we that we need to get um we've got to get into the game on that and um whether it be in

[00:28:20] women's basketball football men's basketball whatever it shall be baseball um these i mean like it or not these student athletes are getting paid and um we've been very fortunate to be able to do some things with our student athletes we're excited about that and we've had some

[00:28:37] supporters they've stepped up that's really made a big help with that and i think dad has a passion in that area because i think he he believes that student athletes should get paid

[00:28:46] i think he has a passion um um in that area that when he does decide to retire that he'll stay around working in those areas he better but he's got to raise some money for us to be

[00:28:56] able to sign the players we want to sign so absolutely and and the lady raiders have done well and i'm always i'm sure as you are proud of the faithful that is lady raider basketball fans

[00:29:05] they always show up and show out for you um i mean that that's got to mean something to those players too being able to put 4,500 5,000 people in the seats every night and back to

[00:29:15] the recruiting aspect of it that just doesn't happen i mean that doesn't even happen up the road at memorial gymnasium i mean that's that's special stuff you got going on at murphy center it's probably why they won't play us they don't want us to have more fans

[00:29:27] or or the fact that we beat vanderbilt five years in a row or five times in a road they probably don't like that either but that's fine um but um you're right you're correct um

[00:29:37] you think about we go play at western kentucky last year and we had i think we had probably 800 900 people that came up for that game on a saturday morning at 11 o'clock and even the tv broadcast talked about it's just a home game for middle they have more people

[00:29:50] here than western and our national television game and we go different places and that happens and and you don't take that for granted our fans are the best in the country and you know

[00:30:01] we we are able to do the things we're able to do because of support they give us and we get recruits because of it and we showcase that to them and to be able to finish it year in

[00:30:10] a year out in the top 25 of the nation in attendance that's that's huge and so um you know that's we can't do it without our fan support can't do it without the things that

[00:30:18] you guys do i watch your podcast i watch it my dad watched it my mom watched it my wife watched it i mean we all we all listen to it and and and uh because we're all diehard middle

[00:30:29] tennessee i mean we believe in this athletic department and um this football program and and and what's going on right now with derek mason it's it's the exciting time i've spent a lot of time with derek mason over the coach mason over the last couple weeks and

[00:30:44] and just he's got a big vision for what's going on and i was out today at the football stadium and looking at what the the project the bill brew project what they're building and things like

[00:30:54] that and it's it's it's really remarkable and the vision that that uh dr mcfee and chris have um for our athletic department is a lot bigger than what people think it is and and they're moving that vision forward and that's exciting and we couldn't be couldn't

[00:31:11] have better leadership than those two guys absolutely exciting times there in murphreesboro and and myself am happy to be a very small part of that and i appreciate the support and i appreciate

[00:31:20] you um being a supporter of this show and uh but before we before we sign off here you talked about your your youngest there how she took over uh the the march madness by storm there can we

[00:31:30] expect some more um i i should say like showmanship from her like like we saw with with the outfits rivaling kim mulkey there yeah she um it was an interesting thing because we

[00:31:42] didn't knew it we didn't know anything about it she just kind of did her regular thing and right band base knows that she stretches with our girls she does all of those things

[00:31:51] um on an everyday basis with them and does it in practice things like that so we get out there in the game she does it espn highlights her and so then the next so that night we get

[00:32:01] back to the hotel and um my wife is getting all these direct messages from these boutiques down in and um lusiana and all of these things wanting to outfit her for the next game and all this stuff

[00:32:14] we're like well she just got a regular little basketball dress that she's wearing the next game so then my dad he's he's we we got to start her an instagram account let's go ahead and

[00:32:22] get her nil going i'm like no we're not doing that and so we had to step her game up a little bit but yes she will she she loves to dress up and um she's very shy um but she

[00:32:34] was not that weak so she she's excited and she's a little ball player she loves basketball she last night my son and her both they're they're they're big they love the game they love sports

[00:32:44] and before we go to bed every night they both make 10 free throws on their goals so they okay they're training getting ready to go right now so awesome stuff it should be the

[00:32:53] youngest one to ever pull an nil deal that'd be pretty impressive yeah we're going to sign her up right now i think i think i can get somebody to sign her up right now so awesome stuff coach

[00:33:03] well again i appreciate you taking the time out of your busy summer to do this for me um and again hopefully we'll talk soon about the upcoming season thank you appreciate you guys joining us now is the 2024 conference usa second team all-conference selection she was

[00:33:17] fourth leading scorer for the lady raiders at 12 points per game and second shooting percentage among starters at 44 she is guard slash wing from clarksville tennessee entering her junior campaign this year we have tamia scott tamia welcome to the show thank you it's a pleasure

[00:33:32] to be here thanks again for doing this and tamia one thing i just kind of kick us off here tell me a little bit about your summer so far what have you been doing since the

[00:33:40] season ended in march um i've been i've been with this last this past weekend um i started a summer class on the 20th so i've been doing that it's just monday through thursday um and

[00:33:56] then i'll go home on the weekend but yeah mainly just hanging out with friends and then i was working out with my trainer mark way um when i was home so are you back in clarksville

[00:34:05] then when you say you're back home oh i'm in murphysboro right now but back home is clarksville yeah okay so you're doing the classes i know that you're not the only player that's doing some summer classes tell me a little bit about that balance like is that

[00:34:18] something that you kind of is it necessary to do some summer classes to ease up the load in the in the winter yeah i mainly it's really tough for me because i'm an art major so all my classes

[00:34:28] are hands-on and nobody else like really struggles with that so it's just better for me to get this class out the way because during the season i won't have as much time

[00:34:37] to like be in class and just work on it and i didn't mention but the class is six hours long it's 9 a.m to 3 30 so oh my goodness yeah it's a long class we just work on art all day

[00:34:48] um so it's better to do it now rather than this season because i need so much time during the season for myself well it's interesting that you've got like this sort of like hands-on

[00:34:58] uh in these this long class in particular especially during the summer but i think it's interesting that you're willing to kind of put that effort into a class like that because i know some athletes may may opt for general studies just again to kind of ease the

[00:35:09] workload and put focus into basketball but tell me a little bit where your your passion for art may come from um it came from like i've always been a really really creative person even when

[00:35:19] i was a kid but i took a um an art class in high school my freshman year and it was more so like graphics and stuff like that and i really got into that so that's what i wanted

[00:35:29] to do in college i was thinking of taking a business route but i wanted to do something more fun and like more me and i knew it was going to be tough because it is so hands-on

[00:35:38] and we're gone all the time but i mean it's something that i love to do so right now this class is like hands-on stuff and actually painting and i took a 3d class which was like sculptures

[00:35:50] and stuff this past um semester but what i want to do is like more so graphic with photoshop and illustrator and things of that nature very cool and i think one thing that

[00:36:00] you kind of announced this will come out in a few weeks but we're talking about your art and kind of your style and you like to be creative i know that you have a recent what

[00:36:09] appears to be an nil deal with a sort of like a custom sneaker what's kind of that outfit you got going there um yeah so i'm i'm also into fashion i like to dress up and you know i have

[00:36:19] a lot of shoes and stuff so i felt like that was the perfect deal for me but um he wanted me to just kind of spread his brand around so he gave me some blue and white mtsu color

[00:36:28] sneakers for me to just promote and i love stuff like that like the sparkles and everything like that they call me the barbie at mt so the sparkles just fit really good with me um

[00:36:39] and it was it was a fun project to do uh i before this i had an interview with matt and so you talk about you um style and things do you think there's any sort of like collaboration

[00:36:49] with you and his youngest daughter evie anytime soon about you know because she how she took the world by storm yeah that would be like matching jackets or something that would be

[00:36:58] really cute well to me tell me a little bit about um back to your game here you took a big jump from the freshman to sophomore year we all know the talent you had in high school when you

[00:37:09] got here your freshman year you sit behind alexis whittington who i'm sure you learned plenty from and and a lot of her experience and you've kind of had the ability to sit behind

[00:37:17] players that have had a lot of playing time but this year we saw you explode on the scene you're a superstar i think second team was just by virtue of numbers i think you're definitely

[00:37:26] a first team talent and we know your time is coming but tell me a little bit about about that jump you made from freshman to sophomore um i mean i knew i had it in me all along i just

[00:37:35] had to stay patient my freshman year um and i've always had a really really hard work ethic even through high school like i would stay after practice and just train and stuff so that transferred over to college and i just kept working like throughout the season

[00:37:50] you know even after a game i after a game once i went to the gym it was an early game but like when i wasn't playing i was making sure that i was still you know in the gym and

[00:38:01] just working on things that i wasn't able to do in practice because sometimes you know we're just working on our offense and stuff like that so i just made sure i was developing myself as a

[00:38:12] player because i knew my time would come my sophomore season and um it paid off so and when you get to mtsu i think one thing that is different because you were obviously one of the

[00:38:24] best players in the state coming out of high school you and i don't want to say that you fall into a role player but that's just kind of how mtsu is and like i said you're the fourth leading

[00:38:32] scorer at 12 points per game and if you were to put yourself into other conference usa teams offenses you would be a perennial power but you fit in well and there are nights where you know you've had 26.9 games this last season and you're very capable of that but

[00:38:45] there's also situations where you may take the single digit route but you're getting the how is that like your playing style that with mtsu collectively it could be your night or it could be your night to be an assist to someone else yeah that's just how our program

[00:39:00] is like it doesn't matter who's on like you know any any of our starting five could have a 20 point plus game so it really like i don't know it really just depends on how the game

[00:39:10] is going who's hot and who we need to keep getting the ball to um whether i pass it or or go make a play the one game i really draw to is the louisiana tech game the first time you

[00:39:20] ever played them which was with the overtime matchup there in ruston and i i bring this up because i'm sure like most athletes you've got photographic memory i think back to that game

[00:39:28] where jaylen and savannah just aren't it uh nos is doing her thing down low but your 20 points and i had made the the comment when that show episode came out after that matchup

[00:39:37] was that you were the the catalyst for a game like that is there ever a situation i know matt loves you and we can kind of talk about your dynamic there but is there ever those

[00:39:47] conversations in the huddle where it's like to me like we've got to have you you've got you got to kind of take the game over because you have situations where i know you you kind of

[00:39:54] take you take the ball and you can take you have the ability to take a game over yeah there's been a few games this past season like matt he's come up to me like

[00:40:02] we need to have you right now like go make a bucket um and after our loss to gcu we had that was like we had to like rebuild our whole offense after that we put in new plays and

[00:40:13] and there was a play specifically for me to like go attack the basket so you know everyone knows i can get the ball and go make a bucket um and since you brought it up the lautette

[00:40:24] game that was our first conference game so i just had to make sure that you know i kind of set the standard for the rest of conference and um usually like savannah at that time she

[00:40:35] was doing a lot for our team so i knew i had to step up and i started the game off hot so once i start off hot like it just keeps going so what's it gonna take this next year i mean

[00:40:45] you took a big jump i think obviously from just getting the ability to start but what's what's next what is what is to me i need to do to take your game to another level

[00:40:53] um honestly i'm a really confident player as of right now but i think i want to build that confidence up because i'm in the gym 24 7 you know working on all these moves and

[00:41:03] this different stuff and i want to translate that to my game um like this summer when i was back in clarksville i was playing pick up with some um high school guys teams and i was using all

[00:41:14] those moves that i like train with but i don't really translate that to my game it's either like a three or just taking it all the way to the basket i want to work on my mid-range

[00:41:23] and and i it's a percent it's a good percentage shot when i'm in the gym doing it so i just want to like translate that to the game and do it in the game basically and

[00:41:32] a lot of that just comes with confidence and during the intro i talk about you being the second highest shooting percentage on the team and the first goes to nos and her being a center

[00:41:41] i would even say and i'm sure you as a guard that's not necessarily a fair comparison but amongst the guards you're you have a high shooting percentage at 44 clip and your threes are just under 40 so you're taking those high percentage shots they as you say you know

[00:41:54] what as far as your game do you is it focusing on taking all that like when you're practicing we're doing all the shots or you focusing more on as you say the moves to get to those open shots to make those high percentage opportunities

[00:42:06] yeah mostly like the moves like when i'm in certain situations it's like i'll go watch film and it's like oh i could have done this that would have worked better or when i

[00:42:16] have a turnover i could have done that so it's just using those moves so you know just get me a better shot or to get somebody else a better shot that. And your game in particular you talk about like you had the opportunities and the

[00:42:30] turnovers i know that's kind of an area that i think you would know that you need to improve on and those kind of things what are things that this upcoming year that you think like you've pinpointed as that's got to change if again to take my

[00:42:40] game to the next level? Left hand that's probably my number one and with that comes the turnovers really working on my left hand because a lot of times like especially towards the end of the season you know people were saying coaches were saying send it right send

[00:42:56] it right and you know i would still score because like sometimes i'm just unstoppable like during the game but it's still it's still a really big flaw in my game it's just not as strong as my right which is with with

[00:43:10] most people but i need to definitely work on it and also finishing with my left hand really like like really just my left hand and me and matt have been talking on the phone like as soon as this season ended we were talking about

[00:43:24] like what i need to improve and it was my left hand so. Tell me about that relationship you have with matt i know during the year there was kind of some speculation that because you're as we all know

[00:43:34] you're a superstar and you're up and coming and and a lot of people speculate that Tamiya could go somewhere else because you have that level of ability but speaking to matt and about a lot of these girls that

[00:43:43] are on this team he's so confident with this group and he and he said to many players before that if you leave um you know you're gonna be calling us back and mtsu is a special place so what's that dynamic like because you kind of

[00:43:54] have that same that same um not in a negative way that ego of like i'm good and where i belong is where i'm supposed to be and we can take this to to a whole new heights that most people don't think mtsu can get to.

[00:44:06] I just i have a lot of faith in this program and then the people around me um whether it's my teammates or matt but i say this all the time i tell everybody i'm really family oriented so when i came to middle that was a

[00:44:17] really big thing that i wanted and i feel like all the coaches just carry carry that um and they just give that off so me and matt like over these past two years we've definitely like built our relationship up

[00:44:28] to be family um and all my coaches are someone i can call on like and i know a lot of people say that but i really mean that like if i'm going through anything or i need something like

[00:44:39] that's probably like after my parents they're probably the ones that pop up in my head to call so i feel like that speaks a lot on our relationship um yeah and he he guides me and i have a i had some doubts this

[00:44:51] past season of and just my confidence of you know how far i could take basketball and he just kept me level headed through it and gave me the confidence that i needed to you know keep going.

[00:45:02] Do you have aspirations past college? I know that's two years now but like do you have aspirations past college? Yeah i think about it every single day talk about every single day with my

[00:45:10] parents um overseas or go pro i mean i know the wmba is is on the rise right now so so that's but honestly overseas i want to travel and see the world so that's not bad at all.

[00:45:26] Absolutely not and when you look at some of those again the as the wmba as you say is growing in popularity not only by viewership but hopefully they're talking about expansion and all these big things in

[00:45:35] the works and you've played with some players that have had an opportunity we know milaska had her opportunity with the chicago sky um dorisar is playing internationally you've had some international teammates as well so again what are kind of some similarities there that you see

[00:45:48] um from what their game that you've kind of taken into your own to see how your game grow. Um since i had so much time my freshman year just sit back and watch Ksenia's game really like spoke out to me um and how prominent she

[00:46:00] could be like during some of our games and also i learned from a lot of her mistakes too um you know just how how her attitude towards things and um i learned from that and matt made sure that everyone on the team

[00:46:14] learned from some of our mistakes but uh specifically like a lot of the stuff that she did to to get better she was always in the gym which that's something i i'm always in the gym too but it just

[00:46:25] showed me like if i want to get to where i go i have to keep that up you know because she kept it up all five years of college so. Tell me about your roster makeup you got you got Courtney who's coming back

[00:46:35] you played with your freshman year that's that's got to be exciting for you guys um i always told matt like i feel like her similarities as far as running the offense like Savannah she's very quick she's got an eye for

[00:46:44] the open ball player so the excitement of her Alina you had to play against her she's another talent that you're gonna have at the four spots so tell me a little bit about your excitement about the roster and what what Raider fans should expect this next year.

[00:46:56] I'm really excited i everyone's like how are you guys gonna do this season you know you got a lot to live up to and i honestly think we could be even better than we were last year like this program keeps growing you

[00:47:10] know my freshman year we were really really good and a lot of people doubted how good we could be this year and look how good we did so i think we could be even better you know Courtney she's a really good

[00:47:19] facilitator and i think we need that this season we kind of struggled getting the ball back to whoever was hot um if we made shots and stuff like that so she sees the floor really well she's so fast um and then with

[00:47:31] Alina um we could not stop her when we played her my freshman year i remember i was like oh my gosh like and um and i watched some of her highlights from Texas Tech and she's improved a lot more so i'm really

[00:47:44] excited to just get in the gym and just see everybody's talent. Tell me too about what you got coming up for the rest of this summer i know you say you're in the gym every day do you have any sort of

[00:47:53] vacations is there any time off for Tamiya? Yeah there is um we had all the may off so a lot of that time i was just that was i went to um Miami in April um and me and my friends are probably

[00:48:04] gonna go to Atlanta one of these weekends in August i'm thinking of going out of the country with my sister but as of right now like we start um team workouts on Monday so after that it's gonna be stop i mean go and no stopping so

[00:48:20] i mean i'll use the weekends as good as i can and maybe go back home and just um hang out with friends and family. Does that kind of fill that void because i know when you're going through the high school ranks you

[00:48:32] play an AAU ball every single weekend and it's non-stop ball and then when you get to college you're at your place there's not AAU weekend teams so does that kind of i say fill that cup if you will?

[00:48:43] Um yeah sort of i mean it's not the same but it feels a little bit of it. Excellent well to me i appreciate you coming on before we have our parting ways here you know what are kind of some

[00:48:54] of your expectations for this upcoming year that we should all look forward to? I don't really know i don't like to really talk too much i just want y'all to see but just know that i'm gonna get a lot better and um

[00:49:08] it's gonna be last year times two. Should we expect 19 to know i love that level of confidence because it's hard to commit to those kind of things but as we've all said here the team is if good if not

[00:49:21] better than last year's team so that is that an is it another reasonable expectation you set for yourself and as Matt has said that's kind of a standard for you guys now. Yeah it is and um you know all five starters got

[00:49:33] all conference i think we can do that again with the people that we have um and get to get to the second round beat Ellis or whoever we play and keep going further than we did.

[00:49:45] Excellent to me well i appreciate you coming on and again we look forward to your upcoming season. Yeah thank you for having me. Our final guest in our lady raiders edition of the 2024 BRP summer series was most recently named to her second consecutive all cusa

[00:49:58] second team and 2023 conference usa tournament MVP mostly known for her own not not only for her three point shooting but her range hailing from Lafayette Tennessee is senior guard Jalen Gregory. Jalen welcome to the show. Thank you. So let's settle the important stuff right now is it

[00:50:16] Lafayette or is it Lafayette? Lafayette okay I know like those that are mtsu fans we used to play Louisiana Lafayette back in years in the Sunbelt conference years so um Lafayette Tennessee well you're from Macon County High School correct? Yes. So i i ask you that question

[00:50:35] because it's kind of come up in this discussion this year we're bringing in Savannah Davis the only freshman signing this upcoming year um tell me a little bit i'm interested to know about your recruiting process

[00:50:46] because i think a lot of us would describe you as a hidden gem obviously the cat's out of the bag you're a superstar here and murphys bro so tell me a little bit about your your recruiting process coming to mtsu. Well

[00:50:57] so it's actually a weird kind of situation so i was originally committed to a different school so i did that during covid and then or no i did that before covid so i did it early on in

[00:51:09] my high school career and then when covid hit i kind of was like oh i think i want to be closer to home i don't think i'm going to be able to go like so many hours away and

[00:51:22] i just decided that it wasn't the best fit for me and so i ended up decommitting and then as soon as mtsu found out that i decommitted they of course they called me immediately and i just knew when they called me that that's where i wanted to go.

[00:51:35] Where were you originally committed to? UT Martin. Do you ever look back on that and think wow what a decision and how crazy how things happen like that? Yeah i just look at the whole different situations and stuff and not being able to have my family

[00:51:51] come to a lot of stuff would have really been hard and going here really like not only like the culture and the family that i've also gotten from basketball and the fan-wise but i also get to have my actual family there too. And family's kind

[00:52:05] of a big aspect of the Lady Raiders program i've talked to Matt earlier in this episode and he obviously has a big emphasis on the family side of things and in my understanding what's the relation with you and the young girl that you hold hands with when you

[00:52:16] enter the tunnel after every game? We're just like best friends. She'll sit with me on the bus and everything when she comes and she loves to stretch with all of us and i babysit them some her and her brother Clark so it's just i love being around

[00:52:33] kids and she's just kind of taken up with me. Yeah Evie's taking the world by storm i've talked to Tamiya about you know or Matt was talking about some NIL opportunities and stuff like that and it's it's blown up for her especially but

[00:52:46] i'm interested too on you i know that NIL is something that's kind of grown over the years but for you especially again the superstar nature of your game just kind of it shines bright so tell me like how

[00:52:56] those opportunities have been afforded to you at MTSU per se if you were to go to a school like Martin or anything like that? Yeah i feel like here where it's such like a family community it brings in like various like interactions between like fans that

[00:53:11] obviously like own businesses around MTSU and so just being able to like connect with them kind of builds that relationship so it's not just like oh i'm going to give you money like you're going to do this it's actually like a relationship

[00:53:24] like you're building something with them that's not just going to be like oh while you're here that's it they're going to be people like that help you further on in life and that's one of the big things about

[00:53:34] like with my NILs that i have gotten these people are always constantly talking about like this isn't just like a business deal like if you ever need anything you let us know and we'll be happy to help you

[00:53:48] and they've also talked to me about some of my other teammates like giving them opportunities after college and stuff if they didn't know really what path they were going to take and stuff

[00:54:00] and so that also allows not only for it to benefit me but it kind of benefits my teammates too. Excellent, that's interesting stuff i mean is that kind of something that when you obviously NIL wasn't a thing

[00:54:12] when you had committed to MTSU is that kind of something that you again have felt really afforded by being here in Murfreesboro now? Yeah i think it's a great thing that i see with the NIL it's like a good

[00:54:23] and a bad thing i can see where it can hurt be like harmful for some places and then beneficial for others and i feel like here we've kind of we've tried to stay more on the beneficial

[00:54:33] side and it's not we're not letting it get in between each player and everything we just kind of like we're a team and that lesson is going to stop that. Yeah that's always an interesting dynamic especially on smaller rosters like like basketball is but

[00:54:48] i'm interested to know about your summer now like when i was when i was trying to get you scheduled here you're telling me you have classes going on and my understanding is you got your bachelor's this after this last spring semester

[00:54:58] is that right you're still in your in your mood working towards masters? Yeah so i have two more classes this summer and i have to take so i'll graduate in august and then i'll start my masters my last year. Okay what are you studying?

[00:55:12] A psychology it's what i get my degree in and then i'm just doing like leadership professional leadership is what i'm going to get my masters in. I feel like head coaching is something that like rings a bell when you when you list all those

[00:55:25] things is that something that kind of interests you or where's your head going with that? It has been an opportunity that i've considered and i am will be staying around after my senior year after this next year i'll be ga-ing

[00:55:39] so i'll be a ga it's also be around and that's kind of going to be where i decide whether or not i want to go into coaching or if i want to take the other side of it i feel like that's going to kind of

[00:55:48] like get my foot in the door a little bit and allow me to be able to see like if this is what i actually want to do. As far as the coaching aspect like or do you like kind of the x and o's i know

[00:55:59] you talk about family i know the relationship that you have with with Courtney Whitson and Savannah Wheeler so is that kind of the is that the aspect you like the recruiting side of things you like

[00:56:07] the coaching the x and o's like where's kind of the draw for you as far as coaching goes? Yeah i like all of that and i think i would enjoy like i've been around basketball my whole life so it's just something that i've obviously loved to do

[00:56:21] and i've where i've been around it so long and i've like when i was a kid even too that i've just kind of like grasped like more knowledge about basketball and then obviously just learning from like coach rick and just listening to coach matt and stuff

[00:56:36] and so i enjoy all that i mean i hear about the recruiting side of it and i know what it is like for a player but i don't necessarily know what it's like for from a coach's

[00:56:46] standpoint and so i think that's another part that i'm going to be able to see if i like or not and i think i will but it's always one of those situations where you're not always sure.

[00:56:57] Sure absolutely when you get your feet wet you kind of have a realization of whether it's four-year or not. I talked to Tamiya too about her summers and you're much like her you were on the AAU trail for a lot um when you were in high school

[00:57:08] what how do you feel your time? I know you've been here for three years now and you've been at the college level for some time but how do you feel your time over the summer now that you're not playing basketball five and seven days a week?

[00:57:17] Yeah it's still kind of like very busy just with the schedule because like we only really get May off. It's really we get a little bit of time in August but May's really our only time off like we get at home but

[00:57:30] we also like that's not technically really a break like you're obviously still having to shoot and still having to do things so when you do come back like you're still ready to go and so it's still a lot to do but

[00:57:42] it just kind of takes out playing games but you know sometimes you always got to work on those fundamentals. Yeah the saying I was a baseball player and the saying was you always had optional winter conditioning and optional is kind of

[00:57:54] a funny word because it's not that optional right as I'm sure you can imagine. All right right so one thing we talk about that you have a break per se but one thing that everyone always

[00:58:04] brings up when they talk about the Lady Raiders is the amount of playing time and you're one of those people. You started all 35 games this last year, you play a ton of minutes, you've had many games where you play 40 minutes. I mean what are you doing in regards

[00:58:15] to your conditioning and obviously the amount of shots that you take that puts a lot of wear on the body so what are you doing in this time to one prepare yourself for the next year but also recover from

[00:58:24] what from the previous season? Yeah so after season we get like two weeks off and that's really where I just completely like kind of I almost erase basketball from like from what me actually doing anything like of course I'm still

[00:58:39] watching like the like everything else like if there's games still on or something like obviously the tournament was still going on so I was still watching games but those two weeks I let my body rest

[00:58:50] and then in May it's kind of like a lighter situation like I kind of start slowly getting back into it so I won't necessarily like beat myself to death but I will at least still keep my like rhythm going

[00:59:01] and then now of course when we're in June and July we're like full speed like we're going back to conditioning and everything and it's just once again kind of like during season like I'm it's a harder time but by now my

[00:59:14] body's kind of like it's rested up and it's ready back to like get back going. Absolutely and those two weeks what are what are you doing to fill your cup if you will? What are things that you really enjoy? I like I read I love reading books so

[00:59:29] I'll read, study my Bible, you know kind of just like lay around and like just do things like usually it's getting a little bit warmer so if I can go sit by the pool I'll go do that and just all that stuff. So are you

[00:59:44] are you about I know you mentioned you're watching games when you're not playing too are you about this new WNBA craze and the Caitlin Clark of it all? I think I like Caitlin Clark. I just think she's obviously got a bunch of on her

[00:59:57] plate she of course went to Indiana fever so it's like not the best team to be put on and she I know she's probably feeling a lot of pressure like I know like from just playing basketball like you can tell that she probably

[01:00:10] has a lot of pressure put on her but I am a big fan of hers. I do like her obviously because I mean she's a shooter so and she's one of the best that we've ever seen so

[01:00:20] it's just somebody like you got to obviously look up to kind of. Yeah I draw that parallel there because she kind of has the logo three um shot that that always impresses a lot of people and you're not

[01:00:30] you yourself are not afraid to pull that trigger so I'm interested to know where that mentality comes from like is it I'm always open and if there's on a hand up a hand down man down right is that kind of mentality you carry?

[01:00:42] Yeah and it kind of is just because also like my coaches don't put that restriction on me they're telling me like if I don't shoot the ball I'm going to be getting yelled at or I'm going to be

[01:00:52] getting taken out because they say even if I'm missing like if I'm having an off night and I quit shooting that's when they're going to take me out they're not going to take me out because I'm missing shots they're just going to take me out if

[01:01:03] I choose not to take those shots because it's hurting my team. Right and one thing that's really impressive is your volume of shots continue to grow your made three pointers continue to grow and the shooting percentages is just under a hair of 36 percent which

[01:01:17] is exceptional for the volume that you shoot at. What does it take because I know that there are times where you go in slumps like I know this last season the season kind of started slower than you

[01:01:25] would have liked but when conference picked up you found your stroke especially there at the end um tell me like what is how are you working through what's the process of working through that?

[01:01:34] It's just kind of like a mental thing I have my coaches like behind me like telling me like yes like we know you can make it like you've got to believe in yourself and just knowing like I just have to

[01:01:45] think back to all the times I've spent in the gym like shooting like I know I put the time in and I know I can make these shots but it's also one of those things of where our coaches hold us accountable.

[01:01:55] Like when I was going through that dry spell and I wasn't shooting very good at all it was one of those things of where hey they pull me into their office and we kind of have like little reality check like hey you're not shooting good

[01:02:06] I know you know that but it needs to be like said out loud just so it's like reality like we got to figure out what's going on we got to fix it like you need our help can you do it yourself like it's just kind of one of

[01:02:18] those things of where the coaches really do help like with getting out of that little slump. It sounds like too it's not necessarily a mechanics thing because you've always kind of like you said you put the hours in you fall on

[01:02:28] those mechanics is it ever kind of a confidence or sometimes teams scout you real well. Yeah so teams do obviously have learned to scout me and it's just one of those things of where I've got to take the stuff that

[01:02:40] I've worked on in the summer and just know that I can do it and so I feel like it more comes from like a confidence and like mental standpoint of it rather than like the way the team guards me.

[01:02:53] The the team dynamic changed a little bit when the season ended this year you got you're losing Savannah Wheeler. I think before we got the news of the transfer portal I think a lot of eyes turned that Jada might be the point guard Jalen

[01:03:04] yourself might even get some reps at point guard because we know that you've done that especially in games where Savannah was was out but now you're getting Courtney and that's that's always a good thing because she knows how to man the point guard

[01:03:14] position Jada Harrison her time is certainly coming and that's exciting news but what was kind of your reaction when you heard that Courtney was coming back? It was very exciting of course like I didn't want Cab to leave in the

[01:03:27] beginning like she I was friends with her and I loved having her as a point guard and so I hated to see her go and so having her back is just really great because I know how the team mixes with her like we have good chemistry with her

[01:03:40] she's a good person like on the court and off the court and so I knew it was a good mix and we really needed another point guard like not saying like Jada Harrison will be able to see and I believe

[01:03:52] that she can run the point guard so I think both of them will be have a good chance of like obviously they're gonna determine that themselves when they start playing but I think it's just having both of them

[01:04:04] and being able to keep me from having to run the point is a better like position putting us in just because my strong suit is obviously not the one position I'm more of a two and so

[01:04:16] just being able to keep me out of that and keep them where they feel more comfortable just works a lot better for us. Yeah I think you hit it right there my question was really is like are

[01:04:25] you comfortable now that you feel like you can actually play your true position as shooting guard we know you're not just a one-trick pony we've seen you able to dribble drive and get to the hoop and obviously

[01:04:33] your run sets that open up the point guard position but do you feel that there was a lot of pressure taken off of you when she returned? Yeah I do feel like it's a lot that I don't have to

[01:04:42] really worry about it like yes there may be times where I might get thrown back in there at times because you never know what will happen you always have to expect to be thrown in unexpected things but

[01:04:53] yeah I feel like it does take pressure off of me just being able to play in a position that I'm more comfortable playing. So now we're moving into this next year we've talked about team scouting you know what are kind of some things that you're looking to do

[01:05:05] in this offseason to better not only your to improve on the areas that need improving on but as well as the team collectively what are kind of some expectations you're setting for yourself as well as your team? One big thing is just taking my

[01:05:18] new role of being more of a leader so of course we lost Courtney and the leadership position and so that's kind of a role that needs to be filled so that's one thing that I've got to take on is being more of a leader and

[01:05:30] being vocal and everything and then for me like just personally like basketball wise just kind of like working more on getting to the rim and being able to finish and using my jump shot because obviously people are starting to come out more and it gets more

[01:05:44] difficult for me to take like threes that I've have taken in the past and so it's just being able to open up that next level even more. Do you expect to be face guarded a lot more this upcoming year? I

[01:05:54] mean the word's already out but now like especially with you being a key contributor at the three-point line do you is that an expectation you have as far as team's defense? Honestly I don't think a team would be very smart to honestly just face guard because it's not

[01:06:09] if you face guard me you take away a help side or you take away like that defender helping on our other players and it's not just like yes I may be a key part to the team but we also have a bunch of other key parts

[01:06:21] like Naus and then we'll have Cab and we'll have Jada Harrison and then of course Tamiya like Tamiya stepped up big time last year and so this year I expect her to step up even more

[01:06:31] which is going to be hard to guard when you got two guards that can play and then you also have your transfer Alina, Arikay, her coming in and stuff and so it's just I feel like it would be stupid for a

[01:06:46] team to just straight up face guard just because of you're taking away a help side. What's your excitement around Alina? It's probably great now that she's in blue and not on the other side. Yes I'm super excited to have her here. We haven't practiced yet of course

[01:07:02] so we haven't like played together or practiced together or anything but I've obviously talked to her a lot. I was her host when she came on her visit and I've talked to her since she's

[01:07:14] got here and stuff and so I'm really excited to see her like I know what she can do because I seen it when she was at UTEP. I played against it and know she was like a key thing that we focused on when we played them

[01:07:25] so I'm super excited to have her in blue and white this year. Excellent stuff well Jayla and I appreciate you taking some time out of your busy summer to do this for you. Of course good luck this upcoming year and one last thing before we go

[01:07:37] are you ready? Are you feel slighted that you keep getting that second team conference USA finished? Do you think it's time we start pushing for that first team and that player of the year award? I mean yes that's obviously like something that

[01:07:50] I kind of expect out of myself but it honestly kind of gives me more of a drop just to do even better for my team. I'm not a big person that's on individual awards. I'm more worried about getting that conference championship and

[01:08:05] winning more games in the NCAA tournament. I'm more focused on that but obviously like it's another thing that drives me to just like get better. Well I know you're too humble but I'll call it now. I think that if you're not pre-season player of the year and by

[01:08:18] the end of the year player of the year I think it'll be a robbery so again excited for what you bring to the table for this upcoming year this upcoming season. I'm excited for this team. Jaylin I appreciate you once again. Thank you.