The Amy Eagan Podcast

Gary (00:01.232)
Hi, welcome back to another podcast episode of the Amy Egan podcast where each week, Lyndenwood University women's head basketball coach Amy Egan talks basketball and much, much more. Coach, welcome back. You've been on the road a little bit.

Amy Eagan (00:13.922)
Thanks, it's good to be back, that's for sure.

Gary (00:16.822)
And we talked about this before I turned on the record button today. Two games that I was impressed with, even though they turned both into losses, both Oral Roberts and Nebraska. Tell me about those two games, what you learned about your team and how that might set you up as a conference season starts here in a couple of weeks.

Amy Eagan (00:33.422)
Yeah, I think, you know, obviously two really high, very talented teams in Oral Robertson, Nebraska and Nebraska being ranked number, I think 25 latest poll in the nation, 23 or 25, but.

two game going into that I knew for sure we're going to challenge us, you know, and I think after doing fairly well, you know, early on in our non-conference game, it was really good for us to try to reach and see where we were at versus even that next level of competition. So, Oral Roberts, I think, took it to us at the beginning. You know, we dug ourselves a hole. I think we were down about 20. And then right before, you know, halftime, and that made a huge push.

and got it really close at halftime and fought really hard. And then I think kind of ran out of gas in the middle of the third and really the fourth. You know, I think we're right there at the end of the third and then the fourth, they kind of took off a little bit. again, a very talented team, a team that I would expect if they stay healthy and continue to get better, are going to do some great things in Summit League this year. And then, you know, Nebraska being in the big 10, I knew it was going to be a challenge just because they have so much talent. They play really deep.

you know, I was really proud of our fight. It's hard as I tell our kids because I'm, I'm proud of how we fought, but at same time, I hate losing, you know, and you want to win and you see opportunities that we possibly could have won that game. Right. I think we were within like five or seven with five minutes to go in the game. And then, you know, kind of let them go on a run and I should have called time out and I didn't and ended up losing by a lot more than I think, what, was indicative of the game in that. So.

Again, proud of our kids' effort. I think both those opportunities allow us to grow if we choose to use those in the right way, to learn from both, and to become better if we choose to do that. So, excited now that we're off the road now. We have four at home, four straight at home. So, we get back home now on our own turf and have a good team Alabama A coming in on Saturday.

Gary (02:40.274)
So let's talk about the statistics here today. And the one I'm going to focus on is score by period. And the second period seems to be the strong period for your team, and the third period, the weakest. What do you think is going on there?

Amy Eagan (02:46.733)
Yeah.

Amy Eagan (02:52.654)
Yeah, I think it's probably the halftime speech for sure. But I think, know, we've got to continue to find ways to start a little bit faster than the third. I think some of that, you know, in a majority of the games we've played in, you know, when you are leading at halftime and a majority of them, we've been leading at halftime. When you're leading at halftime, you don't make as many adjustments as the posing.

Gary (02:57.652)
Hahaha!

Amy Eagan (03:21.526)
proposing team does. And so then in the third quarter, you you try to think of what adjustments they can make, but some of these teams we've never played before, you know, with it. And then they make some adjustments that you're just not ready for that you have to, you have to adjust, readjust to once, you know, there's a timeout and so forth with it. So that could be some of it, but I think we've just got to find ways to be better in the third quarter for sure.

You know, I think I do believe some of that's a little bit of that is conditioning. We're not where we need to be yet with our conditioning to play at the level we need to play at, particularly on the offensive end because we're exerting so much, so much on the defensive end, which I love. So I think there's a multiple factors that go into that, but I definitely think, you know, we've talked about putting four quarters together. haven't done that yet, but it's something that we have to continue to work to in our program.

Gary (04:13.254)
And again, looking at the stats, looking at the minutes per game, looks like you've got developed kind of an eight to nine lady rotation. How will that shake out as the year progresses?

Amy Eagan (04:23.33)
Yeah, I expected to stay like that. You know, I think we were fortunate this year that, you know, last year at this time of the year, we probably still didn't know who was going to play, right? Because we were trying to figure things out. But I think we're we're we kind of have an idea of, know, who's who's consistent for us in practice every day, who shows up every day on a consistent level and what that looks like and what those rotations are going to look like. And I feel really good about some of our depth.

Gary (04:33.529)
Hahaha

Amy Eagan (04:51.502)
I think there's some kids that as they know have to continue to still work to be more consistent. Consistency in practice earns you trust with coaches that obviously get you on the floor, off the floor type stuff with it. So I feel really good about our depth. I think it can help us in a lot of ways, but I think we should use that a little bit more to an advantage for us. I think we should be able to put together four quarters.

Gary (05:17.97)
And talk about comparing this year to last. was about, no, on wood here, about this time last year that Gracie Kelsey was just starting to come into role. And this is just from a fan watching the games. Of course, she had that injury that set her back and she's just now joining the rotation. What do you expect to see in the coming months in the conference season, I guess, for Gracie?

Amy Eagan (05:25.261)
Yeah.

Amy Eagan (05:36.514)
Yeah, I just love that kid. I just smile, I think, every time I think about how good she is, you know, and all the things that we've missed the last year having her out. And she's not quite back there. I think she is way further back than most people would imagine for a kid being out for 360 days or so, you know, with it. But I'm really happy with where she's at. She knows she's got to continue to work on some of the strength in that leg and...

But she has done such a great job of two things while she's out. Number one, being invested in our program and her teammates. And number two, standing on the sideline, being an unbelievable teammate and learning and staying with our system. And we put in a new offensive system this year and she still has a little bit to go with that. But for a kid that hasn't had the reps, she's really just done phenomenal with that. So.

I just expect her to continue to grow. She's put on lot of really good muscle again that we needed her to get stronger, even her upper body. So I'm really excited about what she's doing right now, but more excited when I think about what, where her game is going to continue to go to. She hit her first three of the year in Nebraska, you know, kind of fake the handoff turn and hit it. So that was pretty exciting for her, but she just has such a high IQ. She's the...

Gary (06:44.22)
I saw that,

Amy Eagan (06:54.88)
She's one of our kids that really just, I mean, she does not like losing and she will tell, she will hold her teammates accountable. But at the same time, you know, she holds herself accountable. So a lot of things I really love about that kid and I'm really excited for.

Gary (07:09.938)
She seemed so quiet on the few occasions I've had a chance to talk to her.

Amy Eagan (07:12.974)
I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that.

Gary (07:17.33)
So this Saturday, getting back at home now for the rest of the month almost, Alabama A press identical record as yours and it seems to be pretty similar teams they've played. What do you expect to see?

Amy Eagan (07:31.714)
Well, I, you know, when I watch them and I initially think about, you know, what they kind of look like, I go back to UMKC, I go back to what Little Rock last year, you know, how they looked in our league and that, and I think about that's similar with them. I mean, they're, really great athletes. They'll press. They're going to mix it up in the half court. They're going to play some zone, some man, excuse me.

But they're going to fly up and down the court offensively. They run like some quick actions and then it's a lot of one on one defense offense. So, you know, we've really got to understand what they're trying to do. We've got to understand their style of play. We have to have to take care of the ball and then we have to contain them in the half court while we also try to make plays. So it's going to be a really good game. You know, I'm excited again to get back on our home court. And I think, you know, our kids will be ready coming off two losses to get back to that win column.

Gary (08:28.69)
And then finally, I've always been fascinated with the travel logistics, especially for the non-Power 5, Power 4.5 schools out there. Tell you, you just went to Nebraska and back in the course of a few days. What's, you describe what a road trip is like for a D1 non-Power 5 women's basketball team?

Amy Eagan (08:48.3)
I gotta tell you this story. you know, Jessica Keller, who I recruited years ago to Quincy, she is an assistant Nebraska, one of my good friends. you know, we talk coaching and all that kind of stuff a lot, but I've known her for 20 years now. So it's crazy, but she texts me the day of the morning of that we were headed there, which was Monday and said, what are your travel plans? And I said, well,

Gary (09:15.25)
You

Amy Eagan (09:15.406)
I said, unlike Nebraska who gets on a charter and will be here in an hour and a half, I'm getting ready to be get on a charter bus and be there in about six and a half, seven hours. So we actually, we chartered there and by bus. It was pretty much an all day charter. I mean, you you're talking six and a half, seven hours and then.

Gary (09:34.737)
Yeah.

Amy Eagan (09:35.47)
We stayed the night. played the next day. Our game was at 7 PM and turning around having to play on Saturday. I don't want to drive throughout the night and our kids not get a good night's rest. So we actually stayed that night after the game and then got up yesterday morning and left about 730 and got back about 230. So.

You know, some of that we just base off of what we feel like, you know, our kids need in regards to some rest and some sleep and those kinds of things. And I think sometimes that's the best recovery you can get, right? So it's important to take those things into consideration. So I feel good that they were able to do that today, obviously having practice. We're back after like game and scout they had yesterday off, even though it was a travel day, but we're back after a scout and game film and that.

And obviously that'll be tomorrow and then we play again on Saturday. So, I would say one of the fortunate, very fortunate and lucky things we have in the OVC is that our travel is not bad. A lot of the schools I would say are average of about three, three and a half hours. So that is not a bad trip at all. So we can bus, our league's primarily a bussing league. So we can bus everywhere, but that's an easy bus ride.

with it but you know it's still important that we find ways to get them food while we're traveling to get them the rest that they need while we're traveling in order for them to perform.

Gary (10:57.446)
Good. Well, Amy, let's call that a wrap on this episode of the Amy Egan podcast, where each week we share lots of information about Lyndon Wood University women's basketball. For listeners, please feel free and I encourage you to share the podcast link with friends, families and others. Coach, always a pleasure. I look forward to watching the game on Saturday afternoon.

Amy Eagan (11:16.514)
Thanks, Gary.