University of North Carolina Athletics
Taylor Koenen (left) and head coach Courtney Banghart pulled off a win in the ACC Tipoff Whisper Challenge.
Photo by: ACC
Banghart and Koenen Represent Tar Heels At ACC Tipoff
October 6, 2019 | Women's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Three takeaways from this year's Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tipoff: Taylor Koenen's dancing skills are strong, her shoe game is stronger, and her drink of choice is a vanilla chai latte.
Koenen, a senior guard on the UNC women's basketball team and the Tar Heel team captain for 2019-20, joined first-year head coach Courtney Banghart Thursday in Charlotte for the league's annual preseason media day. The event, held at the Westin Charlotte, is much heavier on talk of sneakers and caffeinated beverages than it is X's and O's. This was good news for Banghart, who at that point had coached her team in a total of three practices.
"A lot of this event is talking about your program and your team, and I feel like we're all still figuring that out," Banghart said.
But she could, and did, talk about how the UNC job is a dream come true for a life-long basketball fan like her, and how she's been warmly welcomed by the other Tar Heel head coaches as she has dived into the job.
Banghart, who started the day with a live appearance on the ACC Network, said that one easy part of her first preseason has been naming a captain, Koenen. And Koenen represented her team well on Thursday, in both the silly (dancing the Whip/Nae Nae for ACC social media promos) and the serious (talking about her expectations for the upcoming season).
"It's an honor to come to ACC media day," said Koenen, whose Jordans drew compliments from other schools' players throughout the day. "You get to talk about your teammates and talk about all the great things we're looking forward to this season. It's a great day to celebrate the success of the preseason training we've done and get ready for the regular season."
Throughout the day, teams rotated through a series of Westin conference rooms for different interviews and photo shoots. Koenen posed on green screens and white backgrounds, showed off her shoes, detailed her drink order (twice) and answered questions about topics ranging from neuroscience (her coach's college major) to online shopping. She also discussed basketball, and chatted between sessions with representatives from the other schools – each school had its head coach and one or two players present.
"It was fun to see other players – I have friends on other teams, so it was cool to see them," Koenen said. "It's cool to see coaches in this setting too, where it's a little more relaxed."
In the day's finale, she got to see her own coach in a setting that was decidedly not relaxed. The competitive Carolina duo teamed up for the "Whisper Challenge," in which one person wears headphones with music turned up loud enough to drown out everything else and the other reads out words and phrases from a stack of cards. Success relies on the ability to communicate non-verbally and to lip read.
As one might guess, score had been kept throughout the day. As the last school to rotate through that room, the Tar Heels came in determined to hit the mark they'd need to win. They crushed it, rolling through every card before the allotted time ran out and picking up the team's first ACC victory of the fall.
"To be at my first ACC Media Day and see how professional this league is and be around so many great coaches and administrators and media and TV talent, it was just great," Banghart said. "And then when Taylor and I end up winning the Whisper Challenge, it's a perfect cherry on top."
UNC takes the Carmichael Arena court on Nov. 2 for an exhibition game against Wingate and opens the season Nov. 7 against Western Carolina. For the full schedule, click here and for ticket information, click here.
Koenen, a senior guard on the UNC women's basketball team and the Tar Heel team captain for 2019-20, joined first-year head coach Courtney Banghart Thursday in Charlotte for the league's annual preseason media day. The event, held at the Westin Charlotte, is much heavier on talk of sneakers and caffeinated beverages than it is X's and O's. This was good news for Banghart, who at that point had coached her team in a total of three practices.
"A lot of this event is talking about your program and your team, and I feel like we're all still figuring that out," Banghart said.
But she could, and did, talk about how the UNC job is a dream come true for a life-long basketball fan like her, and how she's been warmly welcomed by the other Tar Heel head coaches as she has dived into the job.
Banghart, who started the day with a live appearance on the ACC Network, said that one easy part of her first preseason has been naming a captain, Koenen. And Koenen represented her team well on Thursday, in both the silly (dancing the Whip/Nae Nae for ACC social media promos) and the serious (talking about her expectations for the upcoming season).
We had so much fun yesterday at Media Day! Shoutout to @accwbb for the warm welcome in Charlotte 💙
🏀 is right around the corner!#ACCTipoff | #InPursuit pic.twitter.com/aU0ZUwVVhJ
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) October 4, 2019
"It's an honor to come to ACC media day," said Koenen, whose Jordans drew compliments from other schools' players throughout the day. "You get to talk about your teammates and talk about all the great things we're looking forward to this season. It's a great day to celebrate the success of the preseason training we've done and get ready for the regular season."
Throughout the day, teams rotated through a series of Westin conference rooms for different interviews and photo shoots. Koenen posed on green screens and white backgrounds, showed off her shoes, detailed her drink order (twice) and answered questions about topics ranging from neuroscience (her coach's college major) to online shopping. She also discussed basketball, and chatted between sessions with representatives from the other schools – each school had its head coach and one or two players present.
"It was fun to see other players – I have friends on other teams, so it was cool to see them," Koenen said. "It's cool to see coaches in this setting too, where it's a little more relaxed."
In the day's finale, she got to see her own coach in a setting that was decidedly not relaxed. The competitive Carolina duo teamed up for the "Whisper Challenge," in which one person wears headphones with music turned up loud enough to drown out everything else and the other reads out words and phrases from a stack of cards. Success relies on the ability to communicate non-verbally and to lip read.
As one might guess, score had been kept throughout the day. As the last school to rotate through that room, the Tar Heels came in determined to hit the mark they'd need to win. They crushed it, rolling through every card before the allotted time ran out and picking up the team's first ACC victory of the fall.
"To be at my first ACC Media Day and see how professional this league is and be around so many great coaches and administrators and media and TV talent, it was just great," Banghart said. "And then when Taylor and I end up winning the Whisper Challenge, it's a perfect cherry on top."
UNC takes the Carmichael Arena court on Nov. 2 for an exhibition game against Wingate and opens the season Nov. 7 against Western Carolina. For the full schedule, click here and for ticket information, click here.
Players Mentioned
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