Everything From Karen Blair, Catherine Alben, and Ines Noguero At ACC Women's Basketball Tip Off

Basketball season is getting closer.

Today in Charlotte, the ACC Women's Basketball Tip Off began and it was the first media days for first year head coach Karen Blair. Blair is taking over for Nell Fortner at Georgia Tech and after an offseason of bringing in a lot of new pieces to the roster, it will be an interesting first season on The Flats.

Here is everything that Blair, Catherine Alben, and Ines Noguero had to say at this year's media days.

1. On why she took the Georgia Tech job...

KAREN BLAIR: "Yeah, the thing for me with Georgia Tech is, you know, the academic piece of the school was a big draw for me. Then, secondly, just being in Atlanta.

The high school basketball is elite. The coaching is elite. The AAU program. It's really just this recruiting hotbed. I think when you can find universities that you don't have to go far from home, you know, to be able to find what you need from a talent base, and that's what we have here at Georgia Tech.

So that was the main thing.

Then, secondly, the thing that's been great for me is that the administration has just been so supportive. And just the coaches. The other coaches from the other teams, just for me being there, have been phenomenal."

2. On getting players in the portal that are from Atlanta...

"Yeah, I think, as any university, like at Georgia Tech, we want to keep the talent home. We don't feel like you have to go outside of Atlanta. You talk about having elite level academics and a competitive basketball that plays in a premiere conference. Our question is, why not Georgia Tech?

We've got everything that you could possibly want. At Georgia Tech we're getting different kinds of student-athletes. You've got to be ready to compete. On the academics it's going to be a challenge, as well as on the court.

But for me that's what's enticing. That's what I love about the quality of student-athletes that we get at Georgia Tech."

3. On Ines' family and the fact that she is a triplet...

INÉS NOGUERO: "So my sister is called Cova (phonetic), and my brother is called Jesus in Spanish; Jesus in English. Then I have a little brother too that is David; David in English.

Then going back to your question, I would say that we are a big family, and you've got to work through things around. Like maybe doesn't go your way, maybe it's not -- like you're not right, and you just got to try to get to a point that is, like, in between things and maybe you're not comfortable with, but it's for, like, the good of everything, like the environment, like all the other ones. I think that helps me a lot in basketball."

4. On why Alben decided to come home...

"Yes. I already got people fighting over tickets as we speak, but it's obviously just super exciting. Super blessed to be able to play back home.

I think this will bring a lot of fans out with it being so many kids from Georgia and the tournament being in Duluth. So it's just amazing. Free food every now and then from Mom. Super excited to be here."

5. On if any head coaches in the ACC have offered her any advice...

KAREN BLAIR: "Yeah, this is a -- the one thing I do appreciate, the camaraderie of the ACC coaches has been great. You know, it's like even in our first head coaches' meeting, sitting down with Shawn Poppie and him explaining to me what he kind of went through.

Same thing with Tricia and even today just having a good discussion with Megan. So the support has been phenomenal. Like they say, as you go through that first year, you just got to go through it. There's a learning curve that you just have to go through.

I've blessed to work with these student-athletes and really, really happy with the group that we've been able to put together and the staff that we have in place."

6. On Ines ACC experience...

INÉS NOGUERO: "So, I was saying to them, be patient. Like, we're going to go from up to down. Like, it is what it is. It's not easy. It's always every night we're going to compete. Like, we're going to go play hard.

Now we're trying to learn each other, like, build that chemistry that is going to help us work hard and, like, compete in our games.

The most important thing is, like, be patient, trust your work, trust the work you putting in, and then listen to your coaches too, because they have the outside look of the game, and they can help you, too."

7. On the style of play this team will have...

KAREN BLAIR: "One of the things we talked about, you know the ACC is a phenomenal league, and you have really, really good guard play. What we've been focussing on so far is we've been trying to hang our hat on our defense, and that is finding ways to be disruptive, to have really good ball pressure.

The second thing is the rebounding. It's like we talk about, we do want to play at a fast pace, but if we can't get stops and can't finish the play with a rebound, it's really hard for us to get out and run. Those have kind of been our main areas of focus that we've been on in practice."

8. On what it has been like to play for Coach Blair...

CATHERINE ALBEN: "Honestly, Karen is honestly a joy to be around. On and off the court, she's continuously pouring into us, letting us know how great of people we are as basketball players and as athletes.

It's really just been a blessing to be coached by a coach like this, honestly. Obviously she gets on us, especially about rebounding and things of that nature, but it's just good to have somebody that honestly believes in you and wants to coach you hard, but it's our job as the players as she's pouring into us, to have that belief and just to continue to believe in ourselves, because that's really where it starts."

9. On what road environment they are excited to play in the most...

CATHERINE ALBEN: Oh, me? We are playing my previous school, Charleston Southern. That's obviously really exciting for me to be able to play and go against the people that have kind of built me up in a way for the past couple of three years. That will be exciting to see Coach García and her little baby boy again.

So, yeah, I'm excited for that game as well as every other game.

INÉS NOGUERO: For me I would say NC State has a good environment. Duke is historical, so it's always like a great environment to play there. Also, I cannot forget like about Cayman Islands, we're taking that trip and I'm ready for it.

KAREN BLAIR: I like where Inés is going with that. I think the Caymen Islands should be nice scenery and some really good competition. There is a lot of historic places in the ACC that I know I haven't played at that I'm very much looking forward to as well.

10. On the X-Factor for this team...

CATHERINE ALBEN: I feel like just having that mentality. As we talk about the confidence piece, it's going out there and just playing hard. Every time we go out there, playing hard on defense, be intentional about it, because defense is not always just a playing hard type of game as well.

It takes smarts. It takes closing out at the right spots. It takes being at the being in the right place at the right time.

Just continue to be coachable and doing what the coaches are telling us to do and trusting in that and bringing effort and energy every day in practice.

KAREN BLAIR: Shout-out to close-outs. Appreciate that.

12. On the non-negotiable in the program...

KAREN BLAIR: Yeah, I think the nonnegotiable for me is, like, it's two things. They have to be connected, and this is what we've always talked about. We're going to judge ourselves this year on us being a connected team.

Secondly is they know they need to be confident. It is okay for us to make mistakes. They know that. They have freedom within our system. But it's like just keep playing hard and do things confidently.

Then if we're able to do that, then we'll be able to make it through the season. Kind of like Inés says. Every season there's going to be the ups and downs, and you have to have the resiliency, but if we stay connected, that's the main thing, and confidence.

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