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Welcome to The Amy Eagan Podcast. Every Saturday Lindenwood University's Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Eagan talks women's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about past games, future games, players, the OVC, the NCAA, academics, careers, and many other interesting topics.
Gary D Stocker (00:01.063)
It is once again the Amy Egan podcast where Lindewood University head women's basketball coach Amy Egan joins us to talk basketball, lots of basketball. We're going to talk travel today. We're going to talk maybe tropical environments for a couple of minutes and a lot more than that. And coach back from what has been a, I guess, fascinating travel and set of basketball games the last 10 days.
Amy Eagan (00:25.294)
Yeah, mean just and I know myself, my staff, our players were not doing anything or thinking any kind of basketball today. We're exhausted, but exhausted in a really good way. It was a great trip for us. Not only, you know, coming away with I think some really big wins for our program, but also just giving the kids a great experience of a lifetime that many of them may not have had the chance to do.
because of some of the travel and cost and those kind of things. just a really, really exhausting 10 days, but a really, really awesome 10 days.
Gary D Stocker (01:03.285)
I'm going talk about the college experience here in a second, but talk about those three games. Three games, three days, two in one. Just talk about what you saw from your team during the course of those three games.
Amy Eagan (01:14.946)
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think the first thing, you know, overall that I really felt after walking away from those three games is that our kids were really locked in. You know, they were really driven. They were really, I mean, they wanted to win all three, you know, after we got done with Drake yesterday, they kept saying we should have won Santa Clara, you know? And so like, they just have that winning mentality to them and.
Gary D Stocker (01:35.316)
Hahaha
Amy Eagan (01:40.172)
they're willing to do what they need to do in order to make that happen. what I mean with that is they're just so good at handling the process, you know, the process of putting themselves in practice every day in those situations, the process of game prep, the process of handling being in a tropical place with sun and great weather, but also having that focus of when it's time to get to practice, get to practice, you know, and compete and those kinds of things. So I think that's the first thing that I came away with. The second thing I'm going to tell you is like,
I know and I still have a lot of game review that I have to do, but I know we got better out of this trip. The talent that we played was great. We were challenged in a lot of areas and we got better and I think that was something for us. Like we really wanted to as a staff put these kids in a position to see where they were at. You know, mentally where we were at physically, where we at execution wise.
And we were able to do that at, I think, very important time of the year, heading into December right before you get to open conference in the middle of December. So I think it was just a really, really great experience for our kids, but also a valuable experience basketball-wise for them. So I was really happy with the three games, obviously coming away two and one. We wanted to go three and but two and one and beating a very,
good Vermont team who is picked to win their conference and beating Hawaii who is picked to win their conference. so I think, again, it was something that our program needed.
Gary D Stocker (03:17.127)
And coach, every student who goes to college has the academic experience. And then they have that subjective one where they have the college experience outside of academics. Talk about what you saw for your young women in that college experience phase of the trip to Hawaii.
Amy Eagan (03:32.207)
You know, I've always believed that it's good to, you know, give these kids an experience outside of just basketball and, and, you know, help them grow in other areas as people, as places and, or as, as players. And sometimes that's like showing them new places and giving them experiences that they wouldn't have the opportunity to get if they weren't part of a basketball team. And that was something we were able to do with this trip. And for most of them was the first time ever in Hawaii.
And then you give them the experience of Pearl Harbor, which we went to, and you give them the of experiencing the culture there with a luau. And some got to go snorkeling and be at the ocean and just being in Hawaii in a different culture. I think it's just something that's so valuable. And one of the great things about being a part of a sports team sometimes is that you're able to give them experiences they wouldn't have been able to have before.
Gary D Stocker (04:30.965)
So I know I teased you over a couple of texts over the weekend that I wasn't able to communicate much because my fingers were frozen and still covered, unlike what you had in Hawaii. But you guys talk about the trip back and the turnaround to the drink game yesterday.
Amy Eagan (04:36.046)
No.
Amy Eagan (04:44.334)
Yeah, I can't say any of us were excited about what we stepped into when we landed in St. Louis. I think we were ready to go back. mean, if anyone is ever going to go to Hawaii, I'm telling you, the timing that we went end of November was perfect. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't cold. It was just perfect, know, 75 to 85 degree temperature. Just perfect.
And so stepping off the plane and seeing all the snow and it took us from the airport home about 45 minutes when typically it's about 10 because of the weather and all the wrecks and that it was something that we weren't quite ready for. And when we left here, it wasn't that cold either yet. It was still like 60 in that. So none of us had our winter coats or anything with us.
It was a little shocking, you know we so we left there Sunday night and took a red eye overnight landed in San Fran about 630 in the morning. Had a little bit of a layover left San Fran about 1030 AM landed in Saint Louis about 440 PM on Monday night because of the snow and all that kind of stuff. Got home and got them to the school about 6 PM.
We unpacked all the uniforms, got them repacked for the next day, and at 8.15 left the next day for the airport again to take a quick flight to Des Moines. And got off the plane, which was delayed just a little bit on the runway. And so got off the plane, went directly to practice, and got our one-day game prep in for Drake. Went back to the hotel, had just a couple hours of downtime, and then we had game prep.
Gary D Stocker (06:09.823)
No.
Amy Eagan (06:37.986)
with film and went to bed, got up the next day. They wanted to do a shoot around, our kids did. So we got up the next day about 6 a.m., left at 6.30 for a shoot around and came home from the shoot around, ate, went back to the gym, played 11 o'clock a.m. game. And you talk about some troopers, right? Just hearing all that. So, you know, we always, think one of the big things in our program is just
Gary D Stocker (06:57.471)
Yeah. So, so...
Amy Eagan (07:03.616)
always being grateful and thankful for even the hard, you know, I think that's really important because it helps you grow. And we talked a lot about that with them, like, you know, this travel maybe isn't ideal, but it could always be worse. And you are also giving a ton of opportunities and a ton of things to be thankful for during this whole process. So I think our kids, I mean, they handle it because we just have a lot of conversations about it.
Gary D Stocker (07:29.869)
And I know by nature most coaches are anxious. And so given the travel situation you just described, there had to be some anxiety amongst you and your coaching staff, but turned out to be quite the nice win for your program yesterday.
Amy Eagan (07:42.927)
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I think, you know, for us to just with all that travel and that the biggest thing is like we just kept telling ourselves as a staff and talking about how good this was for for us and you know, whether you know we were going to win or lose or whatever it was, all the lessons that we were going to learn about this team at the end of November and beginning of December to help us grow and to help us get better. So I think that was the biggest thing with it. So.
We were able to keep in, I think, a good perspective. But I'll tell you what, we are ready for no basketball today. We told them we didn't want to see them. We didn't want to hear from them. Anything today. So I know a lot of them, we put a couple things in the group chat about, you know, Leish being Sports Center number four on the top 10 and that. And a lot of them are just now liking it. So I think a lot of them that didn't have class.
Gary D Stocker (08:39.189)
I
Amy Eagan (08:40.667)
Those that had class had to get up, but those that didn't have class, think they're still sleeping.
Gary D Stocker (08:45.237)
And it was the Education Day game at Drake yesterday. And I turned the volume off on most of the ESPN games. It's just not worth listening to the announcers. But was it as loud at Drake as it was in St. Charles about a month ago?
Amy Eagan (08:56.878)
Probably a little bit louder. mean, they had the whole gym full with kids and I mean from top to bottom and it was packed. you I always talk about how hard it is to coach in those environments. I mean, yesterday when I was, they were sitting in front of me on the bench, you know, heading into the fourth quarter, I was trying to give them the pump up speech of 10 minutes left, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I was literally screaming and I don't even know if they heard me.
Number one, because they're so tired, but number two, because of the kids. But a really good atmosphere. was pretty cool because after the game, some of the young kids as we were walking out, one of them was like, Ellie had a towel wiping off her face and sweat. And one of them was like, Ellie, can I have your towel? Can I have your towel? And so Ellie gave him the towel. We told her it would have been better if she would have had a Sharpie in her uniform and pulled it out and signed it for him.
Gary D Stocker (09:41.628)
You
Gary D Stocker (09:50.729)
Next time.
Amy Eagan (09:51.663)
Yeah, a lot of them were coming down and wanting to shake some of our kids hands, know, that kind of stuff. So it's pretty cool that our kids not only have the impact in St. Charles when we do that, but you can see that happening, you know, in other cities across the country as well.
Gary D Stocker (09:56.405)
Gary D Stocker (10:07.517)
And you know I'm a data nerd. I'm terrible disease and there's no cure for it. Only six turnovers. You had to be stunned yesterday.
Amy Eagan (10:14.51)
Yeah, I mean, you know, when you're mentally tired and physically tired, you worry about that, you know, and how we're going to take care of the ball and how we're going to handle the pressure and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And our kids just locked in. I mean, it's they did a great job at that and taking care of it. And, you know, the biggest thing when we got to like, you know, our third game in Hawaii in this game was, hey,
What I really need you do is lock in defensively and rebounding. That's what we got to do. You know, sometimes when you're tired, your legs are tired. It is hard sometimes to take care of the ball. is hard sometimes to get your legs under you for shooting and that kind of stuff. But if you can lock in and spend your energy on the defensive end and rebounding end, some really good things can happen offensively. And that's what we did. They took care of it. And we just did a great job on the defensive end.
Gary D Stocker (11:10.293)
And then again, the data nerd in me, over the last four games, I don't think any of your players played more than 29 minutes. That had to be by design, and you've got a lot of players, some playing time in the last 10 days.
Amy Eagan (11:16.738)
Yeah, that's huge.
Amy Eagan (11:21.484)
Yeah, that's huge. We did. And I think that's great for us just because we want to continue to work on our depth. know, one of the things we talked about after the Santa Clara game was that we just had to keep bringing our young kids and our new kids along. know, I think it's really hard and challenging to step into a program and a team that has so much experience, right? And that stuff, when you talk about, you know, being comfortable and
and getting used to the system and that just doesn't happen overnight, you know, with stuff. And so like when you look at like even Val and you look at, you know, Anna McCarn and those kids are freshmen, like they're getting some minutes. But you know, a lot of times right now when it gets down to some of that crunch time, I'm not able to quite.
get them to where I want them, but they're getting there. You can see it every game. They're just getting better and better at executing and understanding what they have to do. You know, we got Noah back now. And so she's played a little bit again, a lot of, lot of that is just getting comfortable, you know, with what we need done. So.
I'm hoping a lot of times they say with like new kids and young kids if they can stay the course and they can stay locked in and they can't and they don't get wrapped up in all this. Some days are good, some days are bad and they keep their confidence. They say by January they're feeling a lot better. And I'm seeing that a little bit with some of the kids already. Some of them we have to continue to have those conversations and bring along, but I'm definitely seeing a lot of that.
Gary D Stocker (12:49.641)
And then finally, I was telling you before we started recording, I walked away at the end of the third quarter. I missed what turned out to be a SportsCenter Top 10. Talk about what you saw off with Alisa Jones' buzzer beater.
Amy Eagan (12:58.018)
Yeah.
Amy Eagan (13:02.796)
Heck Gary, I didn't see it to be honest. I had already turned for the time out and was getting ready to get them to the bench and that so we could talk about heading into the fourth quarter and that but game changer. That was it. I mean, know, Drake had made a run, got to within three and she hits that and you could just see it. It was like, all right, here we go. Here comes the fourth quarter. She knew it when she released it.
Gary D Stocker (13:04.917)
You
Amy Eagan (13:31.468)
It was funny to see Brooke put her arm up. Brooke was too tired to probably jump up and down. But it was really cool and definitely a game changer for a momentum of that game and heading into the fourth quarter and so forth with it. So it always makes for a fun time.
Gary D Stocker (13:48.309)
So Coach, always a pleasure to chat. Fabulous 10 days for your program. Looking forward as we get closer and closer to the OVC system, or the OVC season, and we'll be back next week with another podcast on the Amy Egan Show, head coach. On the Amy Egan Podcast, New York University Women's Basketball Head Coach. Join us next week for the Amy Egan Show, where we talk with the New York University Head Women's Basketball Coach, Amy Egan. Amy, always a pleasure.
Amy Eagan (14:14.393)
Thank you.