Wis. women’s basketball coach: ‘Get your butt in the gym’

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team lost to Nebraska 75-62 on Wednesday, and that led to a passionate postgame rant from Badgers head coach Bobbie Kelsey.

Losses or poor performances can sometimes lead to those moments from coaches when they hit their teams with a reality check, and this was one of those moments. Kelsey’s comments are transcribed below, and video of her comments can be found by clicking here.

“I’m sure (Nebraska’s Natalie Romeo) didn’t wake up one morning and say ‘oh, I’m going to be a good shooter today,” Kelsey said. “You gotta get your butt in the gym. Steph Curry shows you that. I saw him in high school. He looked like a 2-year-old out there — but the boy could shoot. And so what’d he do? He kept shooting. So, if people they’re going to get on the pillowcase, it’s not going to happen. You can’t nap your way to being a great shooter, and Facebooking it, and all these things teenagers do. You need to put the phone down, stop Face-timing, stop tweeting, and get your butt in the gym.

“And it don’t have to be an hour, two hours. Twenty minutes every day — that’s what (Nicole Bauman) does, and 10 minutes after practice every day. That’s it. There’s no magic formula. There’s no secret potion you rub on your hands. Get your butt in the gym and practice. Period. End of story. And you can shoot like that, too.”

Reporter: Do you think your team needs to do more of that?

“Absolutely,” she said. “Every team needs to do more of that. Women’s basketball, can you hear me? Get your butt in the gym. You’ve got people throwing the ball over the basket. Nobody wants to watch that. I don’t. I enjoy watching good, solid basketball that people make their shots, whether I’m coaching against them or it’s my team doing it.

“Women’s basketball players need to get their butt in the gym and get shots up because we can’t dunk. Brittney Griner’s graduated. I don’t see nobody else dunking out here. Candace Parker? She was gone a long time ago. People need to get in the gym — that’s where our game needs to grow. We need to be shooting the ball and making it, and then people will come out and watch us play.

“Sorry to go on my soapbox, but that’s how I feel about it. We need some more Romeos and Baumans out here.”

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