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Monday, March 8, 1999

(Note from Will:  I listened to this particular edition of the Hotline, which was the last one of the 1998-1999 school year.  It featured Bonnie Henrickson for the first 45 minutes, but my notes weren't nearly as good as those taken by message board poster and HokieCentral member Atlee Hokie.  Without further ado, here are Atlee's notes on Bonnie's portion of the show...)

1) Tech is as healthy as they have been in a month. The Spoon was practicing today. Has the old sparkle in her eye. Katie O was also back today. Today's practice was one of the best the team has had this year.

2) Two honors are coming Lisa's way. a) She has been invited to play in the WNBA college all-star game that will be played during the off day at the women's final four in San Jose. She was nominated to represent the Hokies, and was chosen from a list of 100 players. Quite an honor. b) Spoon will be named the Richmond Times-Dispatch's college women's player of the year. First time a Hokie has won this honor, as far as Bonnie knew.

3) At the close of business Monday, 3,000 tickets had been sold. It was noted that Texas has sold it's initial allotment, and wanted some more. No one said how many tickets were in an allotment. Bonnie has faith that Tech fans will prove the naysayers wrong and sell out Cassell.

4) What's the possibility of the Tech women's broadcast being extended to Roanoke? Answer: not going to happen yet.

5) An older Hokie called from Ocala Florida. Probably a snowbird since he said he was at a couple of women's games back in November. Said he watched the Hokie baseball team play today. They beat Evansville 11-9. He rubbed it in by saying the temp there was 70 degrees today.

6) Roth mentioned an article that talked about a couple of schools where the coaches are at each other's throats. I believe the schools involved were UCONN & UF. Bonnie said there are no such problems at Tech. All the coaches like each other. They are a family. Bonnie said she is not concerned that she is getting compared to Coach Hussey. Coach Hussey is not concerned what he is getting compared to Coach Beamer, etc. Bonnie said she is concerned only with making sure the Hokie women are getting what the women of 'hooville and the women monarchs by the sea are getting. [These characterizations of the other women's programs are mine & not Bonnie's.]

7) St Peter's is a quality opponent. They are a little taller than Tech. What Tech wants to do is try to get a transition game going. Bonnie said at least we won't get hammered with the "What's a Hokie?" questions, since we're playing at home, and we're playing the "Peahens."

8) Rick Watson, who broadcasts all the Hokie women's games for FM 101.7, was asked to compare the crowds at Tech with the other schools on our schedule. He said absolutely no comparison. Bonnie said the huge crowds may not affect the opponents very much (she mentioned that Xavier and St. Joe's actually loved playing in front of the big crowds), but never underestimate the boost it gives to our players. Bonnie also said the players from many of the other teams in the league want to play here because of the big time atmosphere. The other two teams coming for the subregional, Texas and Auburn, are used to playing in front of large crowds.

9) Bonnie feels that part of the women's problems late in the season was a self imposed pressure to win. Even after the regular season, there was pressure to win the tournament. They sort of got away from a lot of little things, like always noting good plays and good fundamentals from their teammates and in fact executing the little things really well.. They were losing their concentration. [My thought]-I feel they were mentally tired, in addition to being physically tired and beat up. I'm hoping this down time has allowed them to recharge their mental batteries. Bonnie said they just need to focus on making the little plays and not worrying about W & L's.

10) Bonnie believes this will be the last year that teams will host a subregional. It is a huge advantage to the home team, and Tech is not complaining. Besides, we earned the right this year.

11) Recruiting was mentioned. The five players Tech has signed are ecstatic about the success of this year's Hokies . Four of them will be down for the subregional. The fifth can't make it because she is involved with her state finals. A question was asked about foreign players, since a lot of A10 schools seem to be very successful with them. Bonnie said it's not her policy to recruit a lot of foreign players. However, if there was a great 6'5" plus post player overseas who wanted to come to Tech, she'd say--"Come on down." Bonnie generally recruits in an area that is within 6 to 7 hours driving time from Tech. She feels she can compete with the players in that area. She did say that her recruiting budget does allow her to woo a player that might be on the west coast if that player has an interest in coming to Tech.

This is all that I have.

-- Atlee (I'm tired of typing) Hokie

          

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