North Carolina State University Athletics
White at ACC's Women's Basketball Media Day
10/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 26, 2010
Pack Picked 6th in ACC Poll
NC State fifth-year senior guard Amber White participated in Tuesday's ACC Women’s Basketball Media Day at the Greensboro Coliseum. Here are some of the questions she was asked and her answers about the Wolfpack’s upcoming season.
Question: How much did last year’s team grow, especially at the end of the season?
Amber White: I think when we came together at the beginning and first met Coach [Kellie] Harper, we set high expectations. We wanted to make it to the NCAA Tournament. I’m not sure any team sits down at the beginning of the season and doesn’t think about that. So we set our goals high. We had some ups and downs throughout the season, but we started playing well when we needed to down the stretch. In the beginning, everything was new to us. She didn’t know what she was getting from us. It was kind of that time to find out what we were looking for.
Question: How tough was it for Coach Harper to make the transition from what you were used to?
Amber White: When Coach Yow passed, it was hard on everybody. We didn’t know if we’d be able to press on. When Coach Harper came in, she didn’t want to do away with anything that had been instilled in us before. She embraced it. It worked well and we came together as a team. We’d been through so much. We were sisters, and it was like losing your mom. Everything we’d been through helped us on the court.
Question: There is a big generational difference between Coach Yow and Coach Harper. How are they similar?
Amber White: They’re both so competitive and inspirational. They challenge and motivate you. They push you to your limit. They have two different coaching styles, but they both want to win. That made us better. We weren’t just setting out to play in the WNIT. We wanted to make the NCAA Tournament. Whatever anybody believed or thought, we wanted to play in the NCAA.
Question: So how satisfying was the season?
Amber White: We’d have liked to have gone farther, of course. Our goal was to make it to the NCAA. I wasn’t satisfied with losing in the first round of the NCAA and I am sure my teammates’ goal wasn’t that either, especially the seniors. I came in with that class. I wanted us to go farther.
Question: Coach said she wanted this team to be overachievers, like the team was last year.
Amber White: On paper, we may not be the best team. We all have to play well every night to be successful. This is a team. We don’t have any All-Americans. That’s why we try to be together so much. We need every piece to this puzzle to be as good as we can possibly be.
Question: How do the freshmen look so far?
Amber White: I think they look very good. They’re extremely talented. The thing that impresses me so far is they are working so hard. None of them likes to lose. Everybody is fighting, trying to be better than last year. We aren’t just going to settle for being in the NCAA Tournament this year and lose in the first round. We’ve instilled that in the freshman so far.
Question: Is it a goal to get a bye in the ACC Tournament so you don’t have to play on that first day of the tournament?
Amber White: That’s definitely a goal, so we don’t have to play every single day of the ACC Tournament. I am going to go ahead and say it: We want to go advance to the championship game [in the NCAA Tournament]. We are not trying to set out for lower goals. That’s why we have to work hard every day. We set our goals high.
Question: Talk about your strengths as a leader?
Amber White: This is my fifth year. I’ve kind of been through everything: injuries, playing, not playing, Coach Yow’s passing. I feel like I can definitely relate to a lot of players and talk to them about what I have been through. When you hit those rocky spots, the best thing you can do is swish your feet in it and step out. I’ve been through it before and I can share that with the younger team members. I’ve been through almost everything in my five years here.
Question: What you went through might have been the most devastating thing you had to face in your whole life. How do you use those experiences to help the people who weren’t here to go through some of that?
Amber White: It’s kind of hard to explain that to someone who hasn’t been through it. It can’t be worse than what we’ve been through in the five years I’ve been here. Just letting them know that things could be much worse and there are many more people who aren’t as well off as we are.
Question: Talk about coming back for your fifth year after the rest of your class has moved on.
Amber White: I feel like my injury was a blessing in disguise. I got a year to sit back and watch Coach Yow and really watch her coach. When you’re playing, you don’t get to watch the little things a coach does on the sidelines. I got the opportunity to be a sideline coach, which really helped me as a point guard. It really helped me understand the position. Sometimes, you’re out there just doing it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. But knowing really what to do and why, I developed that more over the year of watching.
Question: Who is going to be a surprise for this year’s team?
Amber White: I think our freshmen will do a good job. Kody Burke, has done really well to this point. I think people know about Brittany Strachan as our sixth man. Emili Tasler has a great jumper. Everybody who is returning has been working on their strengths. I know I worked on my jumper all summer long. That might surprise some people, but not my teammates, because they have seen me through pickup games. Tia Bell is doing really well and really wants to make this comeback work. I see what my teammates are capable of throughout the summer. I am personally not surprised. I feel like everybody has been working on their game.
Question: Was there anything specific you worked on during the summer?
Amber White: All I worked on this summer was 3-point shooting. Part of my problem was the lack of contacts. I could see, just not with precision. I had three really bad eye injuries in high school, being poked in the eye. I can’t stand to put anything in my eyes. It took me so long to get used to putting contacts in my eyes. But they are working great.
Question: How long did it take you to get over the Achilles injury [that prevented White from playing in the 2008-09 season]?
Amber White: I tore my Achilles in July 2008. It was probably June of the next year before I was back to normal. When I tore it, I felt like I was in the best shape of my life. I had my weight down really low. I felt like a freshman in high school again. It took a while to get back where I wanted to be.
Question: after one year with Coach Harper, how comfortable do you feel about things?
Amber White: I am able to understand it more now. Last year, it was hard for me, because I didn’t have a great understanding of what she was asking me to do. I have a much better idea of that now.
