INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler women's basketball team will take the court for the first time this season on Saturday, Dec. 5 with a 4 PM contest against the visiting Providence Friars. Head Coach Kurt Godlevske recently spoke about the unique start to this season, team goals, style of play, team defense, and playing in the BIG EAST Conference.
 
START OF THE SEASON
This season is unique in that we have no scrimmages, no exhibition games and a limited non-conference schedule. We have to get our players comfortable in our system and ready to play. Obviously it's hard to match game intensity, but we are doing our best in an effort to be ready. As a staff, we also have to analyze our own group. Try to figure out what other teams will do to make our lives difficult. We have to address those things now because our games are limited.
 
2020-21 TEAM GOALS
Our goal each year is to compete for the BIG EAST regular season championship, and fight for a conference tournament title. Why be in the business if you're not going to compete for the championship? We recruit young ladies that have the same mind-set and goals. I'm proud of what we have built at Butler and we will continue to work toward our goals.
 
STYLE OF PLAY
Each year it is important to adapt to your current roster. We have some new strengths with this year's team and I really like our length and overall skill-set. You are going to see more freedom of play this year due to how diverse we are out on the perimeter. Defensively with our length, I think we can change a few things. We have the depth on this team to change concepts game-to-game.
 
BUTLER DEFENSE
Is it X's and O's or is it the player's out there? Coaches can argue either side when it comes to team defense. We have a good combination of both here at Butler. Our style may not be better than other teams in our conference, but it gives our players responsibility. It holds them accountable. Our player's believe in our system and are good enough to excel in it.
 
BEST THING ABOUT PLAYING IN THE BIG EAST
The challenge of trying to prepare for all the different styles in the BIG EAST and to be successful is what makes this league great. We have a group here now that has a winning mentality and a skill-set to challenge the rest of the teams in our conference.