same coach, New energy: Cynthia cooper brings a different focus to usc
By Connor McGlynn
When any basketball team comes off a .500 season and loses it’s top three scorers and best two rebounders, it would be easy to panic looking toward the future.
Staring this obstacle right in the eyes, the USC women’s basketball team approaches it as an incentive to improve and challenge themselves everyday, even months before the season begins.
“Winning is a state of mind. It’s an attitude. It’s the way you practice, the way you carry yourself on and off the court,” said head coach Cynthia Cooper. “I think everything that we’re doing now in strength and conditioning is toward that winning. It’s toward getting our kids in great shape to compete every play, offensively and defensively.”
Coming off a 15-15 (7-11) campaign a year ago in which they fell in the first round of the PAC-12 Tournament, the Women of Troy look to return to the conference champion form they were in just two years ago and need to rely on a roster with much turnover.
When any basketball team comes off a .500 season and loses it’s top three scorers and best two rebounders, it would be easy to panic looking toward the future.
Staring this obstacle right in the eyes, the USC women’s basketball team approaches it as an incentive to improve and challenge themselves everyday, even months before the season begins.
“Winning is a state of mind. It’s an attitude. It’s the way you practice, the way you carry yourself on and off the court,” said head coach Cynthia Cooper. “I think everything that we’re doing now in strength and conditioning is toward that winning. It’s toward getting our kids in great shape to compete every play, offensively and defensively.”
Coming off a 15-15 (7-11) campaign a year ago in which they fell in the first round of the PAC-12 Tournament, the Women of Troy look to return to the conference champion form they were in just two years ago and need to rely on a roster with much turnover.
Redshirt junior Jordan Adams looks to take on bigger role with loss of key players (Mariya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan)
USC graduated two seniors last season, Alexyz Vaioletama, the team’s leading scorer averaging 12 PPG, and Kaneisha Horn, an All-PAC-12 Defensive honorable mention selection, in addition to losing two transfers and four other women leaving the team.
“At the end of the day, it takes experience, the veteran players that we still have helping out the freshmen, “ Cooper said. “It also takes coaches taking our time to teach players lessons that we want them to know.”
Despite several key loses, the Women of Troy’s roster remains stocked with talent and features some pivotal newcomers that are poised to make an immediate impact.
Part of that incoming freshman class ready to make the quick transition to collegiate ball is left-handed New Zealand guard Khaedin Taito, who played for her national team at the under-16, -17 and -18 levels.
Taito is one of four incoming foreign recruits, adding to freshmen Australian forward Dani MIlisic and guard Candela Abejón from Spain, as well as Harvard transfer graduate student Temi Fagbenle, who hails from London, England.
“Most of the foreign recruits don’t know about Stanford, they don’t care who Cal is, they’re just coming in as a USC Trojan to beat any opponent they’re going to play against,” Cooper said about the mentality of recruiting outside the US. “It doesn’t matter who you’re facing, if you do what you’re supposed to do and stick to the game plan, you can beat any one on any given day.”
“At the end of the day, it takes experience, the veteran players that we still have helping out the freshmen, “ Cooper said. “It also takes coaches taking our time to teach players lessons that we want them to know.”
Despite several key loses, the Women of Troy’s roster remains stocked with talent and features some pivotal newcomers that are poised to make an immediate impact.
Part of that incoming freshman class ready to make the quick transition to collegiate ball is left-handed New Zealand guard Khaedin Taito, who played for her national team at the under-16, -17 and -18 levels.
Taito is one of four incoming foreign recruits, adding to freshmen Australian forward Dani MIlisic and guard Candela Abejón from Spain, as well as Harvard transfer graduate student Temi Fagbenle, who hails from London, England.
“Most of the foreign recruits don’t know about Stanford, they don’t care who Cal is, they’re just coming in as a USC Trojan to beat any opponent they’re going to play against,” Cooper said about the mentality of recruiting outside the US. “It doesn’t matter who you’re facing, if you do what you’re supposed to do and stick to the game plan, you can beat any one on any given day.”
After opening the first half of last season with a 11-5 record, the Women of Troy went on to drop 10 of the last 14, a tally that Cooper realizes cannot be repeated.
“We need to be mentally tougher and be able to endure the season, understanding that our season could end in March or it could end in April,” Cooper said. “This offseason we worked a lot on mental toughness, on strengthening and, of course, conditioning.”
While the season is still months out from the mid-November season opener and players are getting settled in on campus, the third year coach said the summer sessions are pivotal for her team to work on their cardiovascular training and learning the heart of her system.
“We need to be mentally tougher and be able to endure the season, understanding that our season could end in March or it could end in April,” Cooper said. “This offseason we worked a lot on mental toughness, on strengthening and, of course, conditioning.”
While the season is still months out from the mid-November season opener and players are getting settled in on campus, the third year coach said the summer sessions are pivotal for her team to work on their cardiovascular training and learning the heart of her system.
Coach Cooper wants to bring focus her team on a new defensive mentality to kickstart fun, fast-break basketball (John Bazemore | AP Photo)
“Some of those small things that end up being important, we want to teach those during the summer access period so that we’re not dealing with those during the season,” said Cooper. “During the season we can focus on what offense we’re going to run, what defense we want to run, but the concepts they have down and the terminology they have down.“
As for plans to utilize this new and improved conditioning program, Cooper is emphasizing that her team will be more athletic than in the past and can use its training to get up and down the court more often.
Though she loves to push the tempo on offense, Cooper, who is third on USC’s all-time leading steals list from her playing days as a part of the National Championship teams in the 80s, realizes that the Women of Troy need a plan to springboard that attack.
“I love the guard style, but you can’t get out and run unless you’re playing great defense,” Cooper said. “We need to get back to our roots and cause some turnovers with our defense and that will allow us to get out on our fast breaks.”
While some people spent their summers relaxing in various vacation zones, Cooper racked up the airline miles traveling to over eight different states ranging from Oregon to South Carolina, but not in search of the perfect beach day.
“Between camps and recruiting and really trying to get the right players for our program, I’ve been doing nothing more than working 24 hours a day,” Cooper said.
The Women of Troy look to capitalize on their coach’s pursuit as the team’s quest for a second PAC-12 Title continues this winter.
(Originally created for publication in The Daily Trojan)
The images presented in this article are copyrighted and belong to their respective owners. Its use on this website falls under the fair use policy of US Copyright Laws. No infringement is intended.
As for plans to utilize this new and improved conditioning program, Cooper is emphasizing that her team will be more athletic than in the past and can use its training to get up and down the court more often.
Though she loves to push the tempo on offense, Cooper, who is third on USC’s all-time leading steals list from her playing days as a part of the National Championship teams in the 80s, realizes that the Women of Troy need a plan to springboard that attack.
“I love the guard style, but you can’t get out and run unless you’re playing great defense,” Cooper said. “We need to get back to our roots and cause some turnovers with our defense and that will allow us to get out on our fast breaks.”
While some people spent their summers relaxing in various vacation zones, Cooper racked up the airline miles traveling to over eight different states ranging from Oregon to South Carolina, but not in search of the perfect beach day.
“Between camps and recruiting and really trying to get the right players for our program, I’ve been doing nothing more than working 24 hours a day,” Cooper said.
The Women of Troy look to capitalize on their coach’s pursuit as the team’s quest for a second PAC-12 Title continues this winter.
(Originally created for publication in The Daily Trojan)
The images presented in this article are copyrighted and belong to their respective owners. Its use on this website falls under the fair use policy of US Copyright Laws. No infringement is intended.