Augustus Ready to Go

Q: Talk about your experiences playing overseas this year.
SA: It went well. It was a different experience because you take on a different role from what you play in the United States. You go overseas and you might not be the star player on that team, but you are one of the best players on the team. You have to understand that whatever is going to make the team win games, that's what you have to do.

Q: How are your legs feeling? Tired from the constant playing?
SA: It's been tough, but I think my coaching staff here has been kind of lenient and light on me about the whole situation. I still work hard, but it has been tiring on my body. As long as I get to come here and see these girls fight every day, come in and make me better, it (rejuvenates me).

Q: What can you say about fellow No. 1 overall pick Lindsey Harding?
SA: I didn't get to really watch college basketball, but I played against Lindsey, and I know she's going to get after it on defense. That's something that coach is stressing this year. So with her starting at the point and being able to get up there and pressure the ball, that's only going to make us better as a team. Our motto this year is to have each other's backs, so when we know she's up there pressuring the ball, we're going to be back here fighting for her, trying to make sure everyone else is covering and we're playing team defense this year.

Q: And what about fellow first-rounder Noelle Quinn:
SA: I only played with her at USA Basketball tryouts, but she's a very good player too. We needed another scorer on our team besides me. We're looking to have a more balanced attack this year, not just me scoring 20. We're going to go inside-out, and I think she complements the outside game, just taking a little bit of stress off me and the other players. A.J. (Amber Jacobs) will be able to be in her comfort zone as far as knocking down open shots.

Q: Do you like the prospect of being able to play off the ball with the new talent taking over some handling duties?
SA: Most definitely. (Coach Z) came over to Russia and talked to me about the possibility of me playing without the ball in my hands, and it works good for me. I did it for four years in college, and it worked really well. It doesn't really matter if I have the ball or not, as long as we're moving, as long as we're getting the ball where we need to get it in order to be effective and attack people, I'm happy with it.

Q: You must enjoy playing an up-tempo style...
SA: Most definitely. I'm not saying our half-court game isn't balanced as well, but we'd rather get it out and get an easy two points instead of trying to set something up. If we can get it to (Nicole) Ohlde and let her go one-on-one, we'd rather do that. If I can get it on the wing and try to attack early, we want to do that. I like the team that we have, because we're quicker than we were last year, so we're going to be a little more dangerous than we were last year.

Q: So the transition game works well with your skill set?
SA: You don't have to force the issue. It's going to be there if we're out in transition -- you look to attack, and if not, you can pull it out. We have a lot of quick hitters now that we can hurry and attack. The post or perimeter players can pick and roll, or we can come off down screens. It's more versatile than it was last year, instead of just me getting it and me going one-on-one.

Q: What about last year can you see changing already?
SA: Last year, we lacked a lot of energy in games when we got down. We didn't fight as much. I think that's going to start right here in training camp. Just seeing us fight against our men's practice team is what's going to help us get over the edge once the season starts. (What I've) taken from overseas is understanding that my role may change. I may not score 20 points (a game) this year, but as long as we're winning as a team, it doesn't really matter how many points I score. I'd just rather have more wins than scoring 40 points a game if we still have 10 wins and 20 losses.