Sylvia Crawley knows how to get a team prepared for a season.
Ohio's coach has been working with her athletes to prepare them not only physically, but mentally as well.
The Bobcats will begin the regular season tomorrow when they travel to take on Butler. Guard Simone Redd said she is eager to open the season and start down the road toward the goal of a Mid-American Conference championship.
Hopefully
this can set the tone for our away games Redd said. In the past we've struggled sometimes on the road
so hopefully
we can go out and get a victory and set the trend for the rest of the year.
Ohio was picked to win the MAC East by the league's media. The Bobcats also tallied five votes to win the MAC Tournament.
The Bobcats blew out the Showtime Skins Wednesday night in an exhibition game, 100-56. Crawley said that the game was more of an exercise for the coaches to straighten out all the plays they work on during practice.
Any game can be decided even in the final seconds, which is why Crawley places a high importance on mental toughness for her team. She said it was one of the main issues that she had to work out for the team during the offseason.
At the end is when I want our team to kick it in another gear
because that's symbolic of a game
Crawley said. At the end of practice
we do a mental toughness drill every single day that when their attention spans are gone
they're tired
and they're hungry
and their lunch has worn off
