THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the 2025 ACC Tipoff Q&A. I'm happy to welcome Clemson to the stand with me. Head coach Shawn Poppie, Mia Moore, and Demeara Hinds. Thank you for joining us. Clemson, you defeated two ranked teams a year ago. You shot a whopping 43% from the field, 35% from three, and set a program record with 228 made threes. We know that's part of your system.
A year now of recruiting and getting players familiar with your system. What should we expect this season?
SHAWN POPPIE: That that record will be broken. I think that we put a really talented group together, skilled. We got much bigger, but I think we can play a little bit more inside-out. Obviously D is here for a reason. She's added a big dynamic to us inside along with Morgan Lee, but we've gotten even more skilled on the perimeter.
I think that we're going to play a little bit quicker in space with the idea that three is still worth more than two.
THE MODERATOR: Shawn, I think fans love to see systems like you, the three, the fast pace, but there's a balance there. Define post players, such as Ms. Hinds here, that can run the floor, spread the floor, but also defend down low. Can you talk about that dynamic when it comes to recruiting and how important she is to your system?
SHAWN POPPIE: Yeah, when she came on a visit, that's exactly what we showed her, is that what we've put around you and how we play, you will get one-on-one coverage. We're going to make it very difficult for people to come and double and play two on you. We're going to play for each other, with each other, but if you own the paint and have a presence to yourself, there will be a lot of one-on-one coverages.
In her career she's been really, really good when that's happened. I think it was a wonderful fit. It has shown to have a good fit all summer and preseason. It just adds a totally different dynamic to us that, yeah, we want to shoot a lot of threes, but we don't want to live and die by it.
Where is the balance of how do we get there. And sometimes she's so unselfish that she's trying to kick it back out. I'm, like, whoa, whoa, score the ball. It's been fun to watch that mesh together.
THE MODERATOR: We heard his side of the recruiting visit. What did you hear in terms of this system, and what's the impact you feel like you can make on this program?
DEMEARA HINDS: I definitely did like when I was being recruited because I did feel like I could fit within his system and his style of play. There are a lot of plays that he's added in for us bigs since we've gotten there, so that's been really exciting to kind of run through against, like, practice guys and everything.
I would just say there's a lot of positives towards his view or his perspective of how we can kind of run through his offense this year.
Q. Coach, last time I saw you was at the SoCon tournament, how has the transition been from the SoCon to the ACC?
SHAWN POPPIE: Yeah, there's some good players in both leagues, but in this one you need really, really good ones to make you look like a really good basketball coach.
I think the transition -- obviously last year I had been in this league before during my time at Virginia Tech, but it had changed so much, right, with the coaching changes, the additions of the Stanford, Cal, SMU, playing a lot of people once, not many people twice.
Obviously, Georgia Tech was really it until you got to the tournament. So I just feel like we got our feet up underneath us and have a lot better feel of what it needs to take to win in this league. And then we also had an offseason to add to the group that we had put together a year ago.
So it's a really good conference. You can't take a night off, but you better bring some of these with you to have a fighting chance.
THE MODERATOR: Mia, you've been known as one of the team's best defensive players, that lockdown defender. How has that helped your offensive game now going into your senior year?
MIA MOORE: Yeah, I feel like defense has always driven me on the offensive side. I love to get steals. I love to get rebounds. So I just feel like that really drives me. It brings the momentum. I feel like you can't have offense without defense.
Just getting those stops really energizes me to go and get a stop and a score really. Yeah, defense is my go-to, yeah.
SHAWN POPPIE: Don't let her fool you. She's pretty good on offense too.
THE MODERATOR: That's why I asked, how is that feeding into the offense? Huge strides in your first year, Shawn. What does year two look like as far as the goals, and just that continued growth?
SHAWN POPPIE: You know, we were very competitive a year ago, but still, at the end of the day we were 14-17, and that's not what our goals or expectations are at Clemson. I know it's year one, but I'm not very patient.
I think for us was to really focus, one, on ourselves as coaches and how do we get over the hump, because the reality is we're only five possessions away from having a totally different year.
If you really go back and look at the NC State and North Carolina and Louisville in overtime, it's just on and on, right? That's been a focus as we head into the summer that little things go a long way.
How we started games and how we finished, that definitely was not where it needed to be for us to take the next step. I think we have a group in that locker room that truly believes we can take the next step and compete to get ourselves in an NCAA Tournament, which has not happened in a long, long time.
One time in the last 21 years if I'm not mistaken at Clemson. That is definitely way out in front of us, but for now it's just, you know, let's get better daily, one day at a time. I think if this group does that, they're going to put themselves in the conversation of what their goals are for the season.
THE MODERATOR: Mia, last season you nearly doubled your threes made, you increased your shooting percentage to over 40%. What do you attribute that big jump a year ago?
MIA MOORE: It just goes back to the type of staff we have. Like, I came from UAB, and I wasn't really -- I wasn't really a three-point threat, but I got here, spent countless hours in the gym. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with my shot. We finally figured it out.
Just those reps he made me get in the gym just trying to keep going over the same thing. So, yeah, we finally figured it out. Now I just have a rhythm with my three. That just goes to show the type of coach that he is. He loves to develop his players and that's why I chose him.
THE MODERATOR: It sounds like Shawn found what was right with your shot as well.
MIA MOORE: Uh-huh.
THE MODERATOR: Demeara, what does it mean to you to know that your last year, this ACC tournament is going to be in your backyard. What does it mean for you to go home for that?
DEMEARA HINDS: It's really exciting just because I have a lot of support back home. Just knowing that I can even bring my family in and just to support the entire team, yeah, watch us win.
THE MODERATOR: Should the team expect a homecooked meal?
DEMEARA HINDS: I'm Jamaican, so yes.
SHAWN POPPIE: There might be some fightin'. If you look at our roster, there's a lot in that backyard. We have a lot of home cooking and a lot of fans. I'm excited.
THE MODERATOR: Shawn, this past weekend, I noticed there was a clip that you put out on social media of something, and you used the term "pretty basketball." Can you describe the clip and what that means to you, pretty basketball?
SHAWN POPPIE: I'm like in 2025 in today's time there's a lot of one-on-one basketball, you know, a lot of watching one person dribble, dribble, dribble, not a ton of movement. We kind of, our style and our belief, is the complete opposite of that. We're all going to touch it. We're all going to share it. We're going to space. Every movement we have is for each other. If I am making a cut and I may not get it, but I open up the next one.
And for that one it was a practice clip, and it dawned on me. We went sides of the floor; all five touched it. We played inside out. Ultimately, when the shot goes up, we're all celebrating because it doesn't matter that Mia makes a shot or D makes a good post move, we celebrate one another, as long as Clemson women's basketball is successful.
That's kind of the culture we're trying to establish. It's not only in the locker room. It's our style of play. I had a speaking engagement just this last week. People ask, what's your style? Well, hopefully our culture is our style, right, and vice versa.
To me that's the purest form of basketball. It's a lot of fun to watch, but I also think that our fan base feels that. That's why the growth that we've had in just a short time of the Clemson family really hopping on the young women we got in the locker room.
THE MODERATOR: Mia, give us the scouting report on Demeara.
MIA MOORE: She's the hulk (laughing). Like, she makes it so much more easier on the offensive side. I'm coming down. I see her. She's, like, Ball, ball, ball. I'm giving it to her. She can go to work on anybody. She's tough. She's physical. She's skilled. She's the post player that you want to have on your team down low.
THE MODERATOR: Ms. Hulk, a lot of newcomers on your team. Who is the one player that maybe we don't know about yet that you think a couple of weeks in everyone is going to be talking about?
DEMEARA HINDS: Mo Lee. Mo Lee has been doing so good recently in practice and everything. She's really found her spot, and her touch is insane. If you even let her see the rim, she's going to get it in there.
THE MODERATOR: Shawn, obviously this is your second trip through the ACC. You're very well aware of the coaches, but what makes this league so special when it comes to the coaches?
SHAWN POPPIE: Yeah. Well, they do a really good job recruiting great players (laughing). No, it's they're always playing chess. You know, sometimes you get out there, and it feels like checkers, right? It's just a simple move here or there. You can't relax. The amount of adjustments that they're making, allowing players to play. That's another piece, right? There's so much talent, but it's not being -- let them be players.
I think that freedom along with how many adjustments that are being made throughout a game, let alone trying to prepare for what are they going to try to do beforehand. It's an unbelievably coached league with really good players, and when you mesh those two together, it makes it a nightmare night in and night out.
THE MODERATOR: This is the last question. It's for all three of you. Demeara, we'll start with you. It's a one-word answer. When I say the term "ACC women's basketball," what does that mean to you?
DEMEARA HINDS: Tenacious.
MIA MOORE: Driven.
SHAWN POPPIE: Historic.
THE MODERATOR: Clemson women's basketball, thank you so much for joining us today. Good luck this season.
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