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Sports

Curl sets high goals for Lady Cougars in rest of season

Coaches' Corner

Sam Khan Jr.

After dropping two tough games to Louisville and Texas Christian in late January, the Lady Cougars are back on track with a three-game winning streak, and they're looking like a team primed for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Daily Cougar spent a few minutes with head coach Joe Curl to talk about it.

Sam Khan: After the Memphis game Monday you talked a little bit about the team being streaky this season. Why do you think that is?

Joe Curl: It's a funny thing with streaks. I believe that success breeds success, and it can be the same with failure. I don't think we've lost confidence as a team overall, but I think there were some times there when we dropped a couple of games and we did lose a little bit of confidence. But our big thing is to keep the good streaks going longer and to get quickly in and out of the bad ones. I also think sometimes the streaks of a season can be a product of the schedule you get. For instance, last year we got to play five out of the top seven Conference USA opponents at home. This year, we play five of the top six on the road.

SK: There are five games left in your season. Standing at 17-5, how many games do you think you have to win out of the last five to assure yourselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament?

JC: I think at the University of Houston, and I can honestly say this but with a positive spin, that we almost have to beat everyone (left). That's my attitude in looking at the last few games, because of the way the selection (for the NCAA Tournament) goes. As a team we try to look at it with an "us against the world" mentality. I think we've played a tough schedule and if you took us today and looked solely at (Ratings Percentage Index), we would be in. I don't think anyone has played a tougher schedule than us. Sometimes I feel like whether or not we get in is up to the mood of the (NCAA selection) committee - and I say that with respect. 

SK: By trailing your two top conference foes (DePaul, TCU) by only one game, and getting a chance to play each of those teams in the near future, you basically control your own destiny as a team in terms of where you finish in Conference USA. How important is it to hammer that point to the ladies?

JC: We coach that every day - it's in the big things we work on as well as the little things we do. We don't want to be in a position where another team has to help us by losing in order to get to the top of the conference. This is a heck of a conference when you think about it because you look up at teams like DePaul and TCU and they have only one loss. There aren't that many easy games in this conference. If you look at our next two games, we could easily go on the road, play very well and come back 0-2. I think most coaches would be geeked out of their minds if they could get a split. But we're planning to go and win both of those ball games, and we're going to do the best we can - I know every coach says that but I truly believe it.

SK: The Lady Cougar's last two games have been decided pretty early, and you've been able to get a lot of minutes from your bench. How important is it to get the reserves those types of quality minutes and have, for example, a Kadi Creel contributes big as we near the end of the regular season?

JC: I think it's absolutely huge for our reserves to get those minutes. I feel like our bench is a strength of our team - not only the depth in numbers but the experience of the depth. Kadi has come in and played some good minutes but we've also got some big contributions from players like (senior guard) Crystal Simpson who was in the starting lineup before, hit a little wall and now has been playing big since we started bringing her off the bench. Then you've got players like (freshman guard) Jasmin Moore, who we've recently inserted to the starting lineup and (junior forward) Emily Fryters has given us some solid play.

SK: A lot of people outside of Houston looked at this team from afar at the beginning of the season, and assumed that there would be a significant drop off in terms of performance because of the absence of Chandi Jones. But seniors like Sancho Lyttle have helped lead the way to keep the success going and you really haven't missed a beat. How big is that?

JC: Here's a couple of things that I'm most pleased with of our program - and it's been like this for a few years now - but that one year breeds into the next year. We try to keep that success going from year to year, and no one wants more success for us than our former players like Chandi. The thing that got me is how some people could figure that we were going to have a big dropoff when we have so many seniors. I mean, we're not going to win 28 games every year.

Our goal is to play the toughest schedule possible. Some programs like to play softer schedules in order to build wins, and that way they can at least guarantee themselves a spot in the Women's National Invitational Tournament. We're not like that. Our program is about challenging ourselves. We as a basketball family are not surprised when we have the kind of success that we've had this year. Sancho has obviously been great and been a big reason why we are where we are this year. But one of the things that I'm proud of is that we have gotten so much from players over the years like Joann Overstreet, Kiki Harris and Crystal Simpson - they're experienced and they've given this program a whole lot.
 

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