By james art NC State Guard Madison Hayes met with the media to discuss her offseason development, the upcoming season and more.
NOTE: Click on the video above to watch the interview.
Speaking to Coach Moore at Tip-Off, saying you might start four or five guards early this year, but this team is in a unique position to do that with the length you all have with you and with Sania in particular great length at the guard position. What was it like preparing for that kind of small-ball lineup early in the season?
It’s been, I wouldn’t say easy, but just with the fact that we have four veteran guards coming back with Zoe, myself, Sania and Asia, we have a good transition team. We had a transition last year, but being able to see what the bigs can give, you know, we have some new bigs and we have two veteran bigs that can show what they have. But yeah, I think it was pretty important for us to use him just because with the small lineup that we have with the guards, I think it’s going to be really, really helpful to show something different this year. Coach Moore has done a great job of giving us different things, different options that we can use with different lineups that are in place. So yes.
And then just as a quick follow-up to that, you played a little bit of the four last year when River Baldwin dropped out. What was the importance of playing those minutes to be able to prepare for the season where you might be playing a little bit of a similar role?
I think I’m just picking up rebounding, obviously with River last year for some of those games and even Mimi Collins too at some point. Being able to pick up rebounds, they brought a lot of rebounds to our team last year. Just being able to bring that and being able to guard a role that might be bigger than me or stronger than me, but being able to have the tenacity to fight defensively and be able to get those things that I can to give as four players, really as a guard, this is the fourth position for my team.
Last season you expanded your game by coming off the ball, attacking the weak side, running the rim and things like that. How are you expanding your game this season?
Just being able to be a three-level scorer but also keep that rebound, being a two-way player on defense and offense, just giving what I have to give for my team, but also being able to be more aggressive offensively end and even more aggressive on the defensive end now that I’m going to be a guard.
A lot of people are talking about leadership from veteran players. What is your leadership style? Is that power to you? Do you speak, don’t you speak? I mean, how does that work for you?
I used to not be talkative. I used to only show by example, but now that I’m a high school senior, I have to step it up in communication. I can just help the freshmen because we really have four freshmen. So I can help them, even the big ones, I can just help them because I have a lot of information. I’ve been here for four years. So like Aziaha, Saniya has been here since two or three. So if we can, we all have three different leadership styles. So I think that kind of helps us just with different leaderships that can help different people. But yeah, I think that’s really important for me as a leader to lead by example, but also by communicating with them.
Being a player-led team is something you all talked about a lot last year, and just team chemistry seems super important to all of you. What have you all done this year to make sure it’s the same player-driven environment and that you’re just as close as you were last year?
We just went on vacation to Charleston, jet riding and the haunted house. It was really, really fun. I’m just building this relationship. We also do this outside of the coaches that are there. We do that, we hang out with each other or here at Signature in the apartments, but we build it wherever we go. So I feel like our chemistry is pretty good this year. I mean, we’re obviously still getting to know each other a little bit more as the season goes on, but I think our chemistry is really, really good right now.
Is there any moment from last year that you can point to or point to as a moment where you felt like you were hitting on all cylinders and were able to do what you did?
So I think the first game was probably UConn. I think just with the tenacity we had in that game, the chemistry we had on the court and the way we played together, it definitely fired us up, especially since we were eighth in the ACC, but then we also went to the Virgin Islands and then a win against Colorado, who beat LSU, who was the defending champion, the national champion this past year. So I think those two games in a couple of weeks, I think those two are really successful. That was our point. Yeah, I think we’re really that good and we’ve just moved on from there. I know we lost a few games in a few stretches, but we were able to come back together because that’s who we were as a team. So I feel like just having a player-led team that we’ve talked about has definitely helped us in the long run, as you can see.
Are there any parallels you can draw with last year’s team? I know you have a different team. Are there any parallels or any potential that you see in this current team that reminds you or kind of lets you know that, hey, we can be pretty good, just as good as what we did last year?
I think we have more bigs than last year, which can definitely help the fives a little bit. But I think having the core guards that we have definitely helps as well. That’s a lot of minutes played. It can also help other people coming in, like freshmen or even transfers. But yeah, so I think I can just give them that information because I know it can be a lot, especially starting college as a freshman. But once you step on that court, freshman stuff goes out the window. And I mean, I think they’re doing a really, really great job. I mean, I see a lot of potential in each of them. We’ll just have to see how it looks in-game.
Yes, two years ago, ma’am, you were all three-time tournament or ACC champions, I should say, excuse me. And the expectations, I guess, didn’t mesh well with what you did. Last year was the opposite. A lot of people didn’t expect things, and you did well. How do you build on these two experiences? And how do you use last year? So now you have the expectations again, you don’t want to repeat what happened two years ago.
Well, I think I just have the same general goals, like getting the ACC championship, and it’s going to be tough. It won’t be easy. And I feel like I can learn from the different things that we do in practice, like the mistakes and everything, just being able to put that aside and just say these are our common goals. This is what we are trying to achieve. Not even now, just the Final Four, but now we’re trying to get to that national championship. It’s going to be tough, but we have to come together as a group and not be shy about walking away from it. I think that helped us a lot last year. Even though we’re ranked highly in the AP poll as well as the early AP poll, we can’t let that dictate how we play. We have to play as usual. Yeah, so I would say that.
Madison, in addition to all the experienced guards you all have, you’re also playing some really talented freshmen. I just wanted to get your impressions of what you’ve seen from Devin and Zamareya so far.
Yeah, Devin is a really, really great player. She is a great shooter. I think you understand, obviously, like I said, freshmen have to go through these freshman things, learn different information, learn the different defenses that we go through, offenses. But they do a really great job. They pick it up very quickly, better than I did when I first came here. So congratulations to them. But I think from a talent standpoint, they’re really, really great players. Zamarea showed it. But we’ll see how it is in the game. I think they will do great. So I’m excited to see them in action with me.
I want to ask you about another freshman here. Tilda Trigger is emerging as an extremely, extremely long, really talented, really talented shot from where the scouting reports are looking. But a lot of times with a European player, you can take a little bit to get some of that aggression out, especially when they’re playing against bigger players. What have you seen from her in camp, trying to get her out, being able to play physically?
I think obviously with the smaller lineups that we might have, it might have to be 5 sometimes. She will be the 4th, depending on who is in the game. But I think for her, it’s like a 4. So for her to be 6’6 and be able to shoot the ball, which she does, I think it’s great for us, which will help us in games as well. People won’t be able to think, oh, a 6’6 4 player can shoot the ball. She can knock it off the bounce. We just have to make her physically think like more physical. But I think she’s doing a great job. She picks it up.