Brittany Hunter Interview
Stumbled across this on a blog called Looking Up Court and just thought it was a funny interview, very Brittany and shows her positive outlook and sense of humor through some pretty tough experiences.
"Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your time as a high school basketball player.
Brittany: Playing in high school was a rollercoaster ride. My story is different because I went from being a novice to THE BEST in a matter of 3 years. While my school had an amazing inner city rivalry with another high school on the other side of town, I LOVED LOVED LOVED AAU basketball. Ohio is a basketball factory in my opinion…just think of the talent that came from there, and furthermore consider the consistent Ohio presence on the UConn team of late. Because Ohio is so competitive you didn’t have to travel very far to play against superior competition. In a nutshell playing basketball in high school was so much fun because thats when I got better and when we had SERIOUS rivalries!
Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your time as a college basketball player at Duke and Connecticut.
Brittany: Some of my best friends today are from Duke, so I will ALWAYS treasure playing basketball there, even if it was just for a year. I loved the people and the work hard, play hard method of the students, and that made basketball almost a part time job outside of my classes. At UConn however, there rigors on basketball were much more prevalent. We had such a strong following so basketball was EVERYTHING. It was a whole new world playing in front of so many people and also for so many people to know who you were while you were at the mall or out eating with your teammates. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and my teammates will always be my best friends because of that.
Looking Up Court: How did it feel watching the team break the record?
Brittany: I was at the game with Tina so that made it that much more enjoyable! I love how loud the fans were and I loved getting to see the Freshman be a part of that and even get to contirbute to that. They havent totally been introduced to the whole Uconn Husky world, and they probably wont grasp the importance of that experience until they graduate and people ask them: “Hey were you apart of that team that won all those games in a row?” I would know because people ask me that all the time, and I get to say “Welllllll no, I was actually on that team that had the last loss”…sad I know lol.
Looking Up Court: How did your injury problems in college help you learn about life?
Brittany: I learned that basketball wasnt going to be the same for me at an early age so I had more than enough time to adjust to the situation and start to plan other things. For me, however, basketball was just a means to and end from the beginning, so it wasnt hard to get into plan B mode. I have used basketball as a vehicle to get to college so it was clear that I needed to use it for the rest of my life, if I could. I was devastated, of course, and it took me about 2 years to get out of the bitter stage but I also was forced to look 10-15 years ahead in life because I almost felt like a regular student, planning for the rest of my life, instead of looking ahead to the WNBA.
Looking Up Court: What did the coaching staff at Connecticut teach you about coaching?
Brittany: I learned to pay attention to detail. I got to see just how things were related to one another. When CD was yelling about our shirts not being tucked in, I really got to see how it looked when people didnt think about those things. When paying attention to detail becomes routine, its easy to do it in other realms. When You are trying to impress that on other young people, however, that can be very trying, so I got to see first hand how my own attention to detail would transfer over to coaching the girls.
Looking Up Court: What is your favorite thing about Geno Auriemma?
Brittany: Probably his ability to always come out on top. 99.99999% of the kids he recruits are competitive and he is as well. Thats what drew me to CT. I wanted to be the best and more importantly I wanted to be with a group of people who were the best and always wanted to be the best. Coming out of high school I was probably better equipped to deal with what that really meant, but after I got hurt, it was harder to realize that dream the same way, making it that much harder to appreciate that competitive nature.
Looking Up Court: What is your favorite thing about Christine Dailey?
Brittany: Her clothing choice lol. I remember waiting to see what CD was going to have on. There were times when she had maybe a repeat skirt or repeat shirt and being really excited to see what she had on for the game and then being let down, when I had already seen it. HOWEVER, I thought I would be over that but when they played O state this year, I kept looking at CD’s HUGE necklace and thinking “Oooooo, did she get that off QVC?” It was realllyyyyy nice!
Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your basketball camp that you have recently started.
Brittany: Our camp is not just a basketball camp. We include speakers who talk about eating disorders and ACL tears. These are things that are MORE common than people think and I think a lot of girls arent aware of it, and neither are their parents. Besides all the X’s and O’s and speaker stuff, the best part of our camp was definetly the counselors we had! Obviously it was my teammates, new and old and we got to be as LOUD as we wanted. The kids loved our energy and we had as much fun as they did because we were excited about every drill and OVERLY enthustiastic about the days events. IF that was one thing I think that is missing from a lot of camps, it would be that. Kids want to learn skills and play basketball and of course meet the players, but they really want to get to know the players and see that they are fun normal people just like them.
Looking Up Court: If you could pick one coach in either men’s or women’s basketball that you could be most like, who would it be and why?
Brittany: I Love Coach K. I think the best thing about his program, and seeing it first hand, is that he has such control over the team, but its not really control, thats a bad word. Its more or less a respect that they have for him. He doesnt really have to yell that much when he gets his point across. He holds everyone accountable for their actions and he gets everyone to play hard for him. You never hear about his kids getting into trouble and you never see him involved in anything he shouldnt be involved in. He is able to recruit GREAT players who are also GREAT people as well, who can succeed in the world outside of basketball. His staff of assistant coached are always so nice as well. They really look up to him and you can tell that they want to be in his presence and learn as much from him as they can. While a lot of a people HATE DUKE, I think they might lack the respect for Coach K that they should probably have.
Looking Up Court: If you could coach any former Husky other than yourself (LOL) who would it be and why?
Brittany: HAHAHA, Would I want to coach another HUSKY??? I don’t know, that’s a funny question. This answer is totally based on my experiences with this person. I remember Mel Thomas being the slowest white girl known to MAN, but she always came in first in sprints and the mile… makes no sense I know but its true and funny. One summer, when I was just coming back from my knee injury, Mel was asking me to help her learn a new move. It should be mentioned that this was the same summer that Mel and I were the BEST 2 on 2 competitors on campus. WE challenged every football and basketball player to a game of 2 on 2 almost everyday that summer and we were 98-3 that summer against anyone we played! I dont know the real record but we seriously dominated. Anyways, I was teaching Mel how to shoot a floater LOL…MAKES NO SENSE I KNOW…I am a 6’3″ post player teaching 5’8″ Mel Thomas shooting guard how to shoot a floater. What makes this so awesome is that Mel was actually listening to me and I was actually trying to teach her. She works so incredibly hard at everything she does from ball to school work and she is going to be successful in anything that she does in life, with my help of course. For the record she is getting her MBA because I told her to LOL."
GraceAnne had a wonderful experience working with Brittany and it definitely helped her game but more importantly the way she views the game. I'm very thankful Grace has gotten to know her and hope we'll always stay in touch.
"Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your time as a high school basketball player.
Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your time as a college basketball player at Duke and Connecticut.
Looking Up Court: How did it feel watching the team break the record?
Brittany: I was at the game with Tina so that made it that much more enjoyable! I love how loud the fans were and I loved getting to see the Freshman be a part of that and even get to contirbute to that. They havent totally been introduced to the whole Uconn Husky world, and they probably wont grasp the importance of that experience until they graduate and people ask them: “Hey were you apart of that team that won all those games in a row?” I would know because people ask me that all the time, and I get to say “Welllllll no, I was actually on that team that had the last loss”…sad I know lol.
Looking Up Court: How did your injury problems in college help you learn about life?Brittany: I learned that basketball wasnt going to be the same for me at an early age so I had more than enough time to adjust to the situation and start to plan other things. For me, however, basketball was just a means to and end from the beginning, so it wasnt hard to get into plan B mode. I have used basketball as a vehicle to get to college so it was clear that I needed to use it for the rest of my life, if I could. I was devastated, of course, and it took me about 2 years to get out of the bitter stage but I also was forced to look 10-15 years ahead in life because I almost felt like a regular student, planning for the rest of my life, instead of looking ahead to the WNBA.
Looking Up Court: What did the coaching staff at Connecticut teach you about coaching?
Looking Up Court: What is your favorite thing about Geno Auriemma?
Brittany: Probably his ability to always come out on top. 99.99999% of the kids he recruits are competitive and he is as well. Thats what drew me to CT. I wanted to be the best and more importantly I wanted to be with a group of people who were the best and always wanted to be the best. Coming out of high school I was probably better equipped to deal with what that really meant, but after I got hurt, it was harder to realize that dream the same way, making it that much harder to appreciate that competitive nature.
Looking Up Court: What is your favorite thing about Christine Dailey?
Brittany: Her clothing choice lol. I remember waiting to see what CD was going to have on. There were times when she had maybe a repeat skirt or repeat shirt and being really excited to see what she had on for the game and then being let down, when I had already seen it. HOWEVER, I thought I would be over that but when they played O state this year, I kept looking at CD’s HUGE necklace and thinking “Oooooo, did she get that off QVC?” It was realllyyyyy nice!
Looking Up Court: Briefly describe your basketball camp that you have recently started.
Brittany: Our camp is not just a basketball camp. We include speakers who talk about eating disorders and ACL tears. These are things that are MORE common than people think and I think a lot of girls arent aware of it, and neither are their parents. Besides all the X’s and O’s and speaker stuff, the best part of our camp was definetly the counselors we had! Obviously it was my teammates, new and old and we got to be as LOUD as we wanted. The kids loved our energy and we had as much fun as they did because we were excited about every drill and OVERLY enthustiastic about the days events. IF that was one thing I think that is missing from a lot of camps, it would be that. Kids want to learn skills and play basketball and of course meet the players, but they really want to get to know the players and see that they are fun normal people just like them.
Looking Up Court: If you could pick one coach in either men’s or women’s basketball that you could be most like, who would it be and why?
Looking Up Court: If you could coach any former Husky other than yourself (LOL) who would it be and why?
GraceAnne had a wonderful experience working with Brittany and it definitely helped her game but more importantly the way she views the game. I'm very thankful Grace has gotten to know her and hope we'll always stay in touch.
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