The Penn State women's basketball team may have turned some heads this season with its run to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Lady Lions have a lot of work to do if they want to make an encore appearance next year.
That was the message from Lions' head coach Rene Portland at her year-end press conference, held yesterday with members of the media at The Bryce Jordan Center.
Portland stressed that off-season conditioning will be the main concern for her players, particularly the posts. After watching sophomores Jackie Shook and Courtney Upshaw struggle in the paint against Connecticut's oversized All-Americans in the Lions' final game of the year, Portland said hitting the weights is at the top of her team's summer to-do list.
"I saw our post players get the crap beat out of them," Portland said. "They got pushed around, there wasn't any balance. When their rehab is over, their weight training will be very different."
Portland and the Lions' training staff have overhauled their off-season conditioning program and set new summer objectives for the players. Last year's squad showed up for early-season practices out of shape and unable to keep pace in simple exercises on the track.
"We played catch-up all season with our conditioning, and it was a factor in late game situations at times," Portland said. "We finally got them in shape, but we would have been in a better situation if the team had done their summer program."
The 26-year coaching veteran also said that goal-setting and team defense will be other areas of focus for her young squad over the summer break.
"This has been the most frustrating team that I've ever had," Portland said. "It was okay if someone got 21 points against us. In previous years I'd watch a whole team go crazy to try and hold someone to 20 points. Too many times we just didn't reach those goals. We'll be better at that."
Portland has specific areas of improvement in mind for each of her players. Sophomore co-captain Kelly Mazzante spent much of last summer watching game film of players like the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson and former college standouts and current WNBA stars Marie Ferdinand and Jackie Stiles in the hopes of picking up some new techniques. This offseason, Mazzante will concentrate more on polishing her own game.
"This summer, Kelly's watching Kelly," Portland said. "She's ready to be their captain again next year, and she's excited."
Mazzante will also be attending tryouts for the World Championships for Young Women, a new tournament created by USA Basketball for college sophomores, juniors and freshmen. The All-American will head to Colorado Springs, Colo., in late May to begin practice under Texas Tech head coach Marsha Sharp.
Senior Rashana Barnes, set to graduate in May, will leave today for Chicago to take part in the 2002 WNBA Pre-Draft Camp, a two-day combine for more than 80 hopefuls from around the nation.
Portland also discussed improvements that she expects to see from freshmen guards Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom this summer. The coach said she would like to see Wright add a jump shot to her repertoire, while she hopes Strom will be able to enhance her three-point shooting abilities.
The Lions' coach had little to say about this year's recruiting process other than that she had already sent out all of the team's offers for next season. Portland said she is currently looking at a high school post player as well as some junior college players. While the youth of the Lions' current roster has been a "hard sell," for some recruits, Portland is convinced that the young team's potential will be an asset in future recruiting.
"If I'm a junior in high school, I say 'How many years do I get to play with Kelly and Tanisha and Jess and those people?' " Portland said. "They'll be great teachers of the game to the next group of kids."
