Camp Carey
November 17, 2005 09:38 AM | General
November 17, 2005
LISTEN TO THE MIKE CAREY SHOW
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University junior women’s basketball player Meg Bulger admits she has felt the hammer coming down a little bit harder on the team this year. Her coach, Mike Carey, has always conducted lively practices. In fact, there are times when you can walk into the WVU Coliseum and mistake it for Paris Island.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia opens the 2005-06 season on Friday, Nov. 18, against Texas San Antonio in the opening game of the UCF Golden Knights Classic in Orlando, Fla. Friday night’s game will tip off at 3:30 pm and can be heard live on the Internet through CSTV All-Access. The Mountaineers will take on host Central Florida Saturday evening at 6 pm.
Asked if Camp Carey has been even harder this year Bulger flashed her bright smile, giggled nervously and nodded her head.
“Yes.”
There is a very good reason Mike Carey is putting the hammer down on his young basketball team and it’s not because he’s mad at them. It’s because expectations this year have reached an all-time high in the women’s program.
“He sees the talent that we have on our team and that’s why he practices us so hard every day,” Bulger says.
West Virginia has reached post-season play in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history, advancing to the NCAA tournament in 2004 and reaching the WNIT championship game last year. Back-to-back strong recruiting classes and a lineup that returns key players Meg Bulger, Olayinka Sanni and Chakia Cole has some national experts forecasting big things for the WVU program this year.
ESPN women’s basketball NCAA tournament bracket expert Charlie Creme picked West Virginia to make the field of 64 writing, “If the Mountaineers are going to take that next step, this would seem to be the year.”
Bulger agrees, “My perception is that we can open some eyes across the country. We definitely shocked the people at Ohio State by coming in and playing the way we did (in last weekend’s closed scrimmage). Granted it was a scrimmage, but we showed some signs of life that by the end of the season could really mean something,” she said.
Bulger is unquestionably the key component to the West Virginia program, averaging almost 20 points per game last year as a sophomore and earning Kodak honorable mention All-America recognition. She could very well wind up being the most visible player the program has ever had. At a minimum, Bulger realizes that she can’t sneak into opposing gyms anymore.
“If I do something well I’m like, I hope they don’t catch that on film,” she laughed. “Now, you just have to accept it and take it and keep on playing. I don’t have time to take a play off. I have to be on top of my game every single play of every single game.
“Last year there were times when I could kind of sit back and let the seniors handle things,” Bulger admitted. “I’m not a very vocal person on the court but when there is something that needs to be said or encouragement that needs to be made it has to come from me.”
Bulger is playing a new position this year after spending her first two seasons alternating between the wing and the post due to the team’s lack of depth. She will concentrate specifically on her perimeter game in 2006.
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| Junior guard Meg Bulger earned preseason first team all-Big East honors are averaging a conference-best 19.5 points per game last year as a sophomore.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I like going down in the post but the girls are getting bigger nowadays,” she said. “I kind of want to stay out in the guard area. We have about five true posts that can play the four and the five. Teams like Rutgers, Notre Dame and Connecticut that win all of the time have true posts and they don’t have people replacing people.”
That could mean a fresher and less worn down Meg Bulger in February and March when the games really count.
“You have to hold your own and it definitely wears on you. They work hard down there every single play posting up and playing defense. Now I’ve got to work on getting a little quicker to handle these guards,” she said.
Bulger says getting into better shape and increasing her quickness out in the open court were her two primary objectives this summer.
“My main goal this summer was being in a lot better shape and being able to play 40 minutes at a high energy level and not get tired from it,” Bulger said.
She also wants to cut down on the mental mistakes that sometimes get called out in team film sessions. Because there were so many her first two years, Carey became creative with some of the captions he placed above each clip he showed the team.
“We laugh when he puts captions at the top of the clips that read ‘Meg why?’ and it will have 30 question marks after it. Other times he’ll just put ‘Wow’ up. Everyone gets their fair share of captions but we’re getting to the point where there used to be about 20 of the same mistakes and now we’re down to about 10,” Bulger said.
If Bulger and her teammates had any doubts about how good the team can be this year, they were erased during West Virginia’s closed scrimmage at preseason No. 4 Ohio State last weekend. Bulger said West Virginia played toe to toe with one of the nation’s top teams.
“Even if we had doubts we know (the team can be successful) now after the way we played Sunday against Ohio State,” she said. “They’re top-three in the country right now and we played great against them. That gave everybody a lot of confidence to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we’re not as bad as we think we are everyday in practice.’”
Bulger singled out a couple of new players to watch this year in 6-foot-1-inch junior college transfer Tameka Kelly and 5-7 shooting guard Brittany Davis-White. Kelly will provide front-court depth and Davis-White could be another scoring option out on the wing.
“They’ve stepped up,” Bulger says. “Tameka plays a lot like Chakia (Cole). She’s a little bit taller which helps her but she’s very athletic, always around the ball, and is making plays. Brittany is a really strong guard who pretty much drives to the hoop at will. She has a nice shot and she’s real tenacious on defense which is a big energy booster for us.”
Bulger believes West Virginia will be just fine at point guard, too. Taking over Yolanda Paige’s old position are a pair of freshmen in Ashley Powell and Sarah Bucar.
“They’re starting to understand the high pace of the game. I think they have the skills and they’re both smart enough to understand what we’re trying to do,” Bulger said. “I think it’s just going to take game experience. Sunday definitely helped them playing against Ohio State.”
What has Bulger really excited is West Virginia’s size down in the paint with 6-foot-5-inch senior Yelena Leuchanka and 6-2 sophomore Olayinka Sanni. There are times when Carey might play both of them together.
“Just having that big-girl presence … whether they get 30 points a night or not, having them in there may stop an offense from driving all the time or get those few extra rebounds. And they’re going to put points on the board as well,” she said.
Probably the biggest difference in this team -- as opposed to the past two years -- is a much deeper bench, according to Bulger.
“My freshman year we just needed that one more big-girl when we played Ohio State (in the NCAA tournament),” Bulger said. “Last year we needed one more scorer or one more guard. This year we have people coming from all angles. We have backups at every position.
“When we get into the open court it’s really fun to play. We have tremendous athletic ability which means when you get beat on defense someone is sprinting over to tip the ball in the air. That gives us such an advantage,” Bulger said.
Possibly even enough of an advantage to push West Virginia over the top. And that might keep Mike Carey from blowing his top in practice.
Then again, maybe not.
