Stanford women’s basketball senior forward Brooke Demetre shared her thoughts on the upcoming season with members of the media.
VIDEO: Stanford F Brooke Demetre looks to have a great senior year
Amid all the changes in the program with a new head coach in Kate Paye and a new conference in the ACC, Demetre said she feels the team is very excited. With this being her final year, she’s excited to have a season that feels new in those ways. She’s excited to see how all the pieces fit together.
Demetre admitted she had a bit of a feeling that Tara VanDerveer might step down after last season, but she knew they’d be in great hands with Paye. She described it as a gut feeling.
On dealing with the changes that surround them, Demetre said the main thing that Paye tells them to do is just to focus on themselves as a team. If they focus on themselves and work on what they know how to do, then it doesn’t matter what situation they step into.
Demetre said she’s most been focusing on finding her shot and doing a better job of finding her shot within the flow of the offense and be more comfortable being a main scorer for the team after having a facilitating role last season. Making sure her ball handling is on point and shot is consistent and doing it within the flow of the offense. Demetre has also been focusing a lot on her conditioning. That’s a main thing she’s working on, too.
With respect to handling pressure, Demetre said she relies on her teammates a lot and remembers they’re the ones she plays for. If she’s feeling more pressure, she just goes to some other leaders on the team and seeing if they can lift her up a bit, but really just trusting in her teammates.
Demetre feels like the ball is moving around a lot this year. They always say it can be anybody’s night, so she’s noticed they have a lot of unselfish play. It’s not sticking as much, which she likes.
Demetre said Paye is an awesome coach. She’s very used to playing under her since Paye was an associate head coach before. She said Paye is more fiery but laughed that maybe that comes with age.
When asked about the freshmen, Demetre said they’re all standing out in their own ways. Kennedy Umeh is a “beast down low”, super strong, and agile for her size. She’ll be helpful with guarding bigger post players. Shay Ijiwoye is doing a great job of learning from Talana Lepolo how to be a better point guard and floor general and also she’s super quick. Harper Peterson is absorbing as much as she can and doing a great job of learning from everybody.
Demetre had a blast on the team trip to Italy over the summer. She feels the best part of it was the off the court stuff they did. Just getting to spend more time with each other and learn more about each other. A great team bonding trip.
Demetre feels like they are unique by not having a returning star player, so she feels like it can be anybody’s night. Lots of skilled players on the team. She likes the depth they have.
On transfers Tess Heal and Mary Ashley Stevenson, Demetre said they’ve done a great job of settling in. Smart and experienced players who want to win and be at Stanford. Demetre said it’s really refreshing to have them come in and make it more competitive. A very seamless transition for them. Demetre said they haven’t really had to deal with transfers in the past, but she feels like it’s been nice to be able to tap into the portal. She’s glad they were able to get Heal and Stevenson.
Demetre is excited about the ACC and being able to be in a new conference and new competition. It’s nice to face teams that don’t know them as well as the Pac-12 teams did. She likes how ACC teams are fast and tough. She feels like it’ll be a good challenge. She’s excited to see Duke, but she loves traveling and experiencing new things.
Demetre also emphasized that they don’t care who scores the most points. They just want to win. That’s the main thing they care about.
Demetre’s personal goals are to have fun, have a great senior year, and put everything out on the floor. Have no regrets, win a conference title, and go as far as they can in the NCAA tournament.
Other players who Demetre feels like will have strong seasons are Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden. Kennedy Umeh and Mary Ashley Stevenson she also mentioned as players who she thinks will have strong seasons. Across the board, she really seems to like her teammates and what everyone is bringing.
What Demetre most likes about Kate Paye is how she is fiery and intense while also being able to keep it loose at the same time. She likes how Paye cracks jokes, smiles, and knows how to keep it fun.
Takeaways: There’s a lot of good things Demetre said, but the first thing that stands out to me is the fact that it sounds like all the new pieces are fitting well. The transfers, freshmen, etc. The trip to Italy was great for team bonding and everyone seems to be confident in their ability to have a role. Team chemistry and harmony seems to be strong. And on that, the fact that they don’t feel like they have a true star player feeds into that.
The second thing that stands out is Demetre at least seems excited to be in the ACC and experience something new. The opportunity to face new teams is something that fires her up. Having that kind of attitude should serve her and the team well.
The final thing that really stood out to me is the fact that Demetre should look to have a new kind of role this year. She’ll be taking more shots and be relied upon to be a senior leader. It’ll be fun to see how she takes on both of those roles.
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