Madison Hayes: "We're Trying To Get To That National Championship"

NC State guard Madison Hayes met with the media to discuss her offseason development, the upcoming season, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Talking with Coach Moore at Tip-Off saying y'all might start four or five guards at the start of this year, but this team is in a unique position to pull that off with the length y'all have with you yourself and Saniya in particular, great length at the guard position. What has it been like preparing for that kind of small ball lineup early in the season? 
It's been, I wouldn't say easy, but just with the fact that we have four veteran guards coming back with Zoe, me, Saniya, and Aziaha, we have a good transition team. We ran transition last year, but being able to see what the bigs got to give, you know, we have some new bigs and we got some two veteran bigs that can show what they have. But yeah, I think it's been pretty significant for us to use just because with the small lineup that we do have with the guards, I think it'll be really, really helpful to show something different this year. Coach Moore has done a great job giving us different things, different options that we can use with different lineups that are in. So yeah.

And then just as a quick follow-up to that, you played a little bit out of the four last year when River Baldwin went out. What was the importance of playing for those minutes to be able to prepare for the season where you might be playing a bit of a similar role? 
I think just picking up the slack with the rebounding, obviously with River being out last year for some of those games and even Mimi Collins at some point as well. Being able to pick up the rebounding, they brought a lot of rebounding to our team last year. Just being able to bring that and being able to guard a role that might be bigger than me or stronger than me, but being able to have the tenacity to fight on defense and being able to get those things that I can give as a four player, as a guard really, being the four position for my team. 

Last season you expanded your game by coming off the ball, running in from the weak side, rim running, things like that. How do you expand your game going into this season? 
Just being able to be a three-level scorer, but also keeping that rebounding, being a two way player defensively and offensively, just that I'm giving what I need to give for my team, but also being able to be more aggressive on the offensive end and being even more aggressive on the defensive end now that I'm going to be a guard player. 

A lot of people talk about leadership from veteran players. What's your leadership style? Is that a strength for you? Are you a talker, non-talker? I mean, how does that work for you? 
I used to not be a talker. I used to just show by example, but now that I am a grad senior, I have to step it up in communication. Just being able to help the freshmen because we do have four freshmen coming in. So being able to help them, even the bigs, just being able to help them because I have a lot of information. I've been here for four years. So as Aziaha, Saniya has been here for two or three. So just being able, we all have three different leadership styles. So I think that kind of helps us with just different leaderships can help different people. But yeah, I think that's really important for me as a leader to show the example, but also by communicating with them as well.

Being a player led team is something y'all talked about a lot last year and just team chemistry seems super important to y'all. What have y'all done this year to make sure it's the same type of player led environment and you guys are just as close as last year?
 We just went on a retreat to Charleston, did jet skis, and did the haunted house. It was really, really fun. Just building that bond. We also do that outside of the coaches being there. We do that, hang out with each other, either here at Signature in the apartments, but we build that wherever we go. So I feel like this year, our chemistry is pretty good. I mean, obviously, we're still getting to know each other a little bit more as the season goes on, but I think our chemistry is really, really good right now.

Is there any moment from last year that you can pinpoint or point to as a time where you felt like you guys were hitting all the cylinders and were able to make the run that you did? 
So I think the first game was probably UConn. I think just with the tenacity that we had that game, the chemistry that we had on the court, and how we played together, that definitely kicked us off, especially with us being eighth in the ACC, but then also going to the Virgin Islands and then winning against Colorado, who beat LSU, which was the reigning champs, national champions, that past year. So I think those two games in the span of a couple of weeks, I think those two really hit. That was our pinpoint. Yeah, I think we're really that good, and we just kept it on from that on. I know we lost a couple games in the couple of stretches, but we pulled it back together because that's how we were as a team. So I feel like just the player-led team that we've talked about, that definitely helped us in the long run, as you can see. 

Are there any parallels that you can draw from last year's team? I know you have a different team. Are there any parallels or any potential that you see in this current team that reminds you or kind of lets you know that, hey, we can be pretty good, just as good as what we did last year? 
I think we have more bigs than we did last year, which that could definitely help the fives a little bit. But I think having the core guards that we do have, that definitely helps as well. That's played a lot of minutes. That can help other people as well that are coming in, like the freshmen or even transfers. But yeah, so I think just being able to give that information off to them, because I know it can be a lot, especially starting college as a freshman. But once you step on that court, the freshman stuff goes out the window. And I mean, I think they're doing a really, really great job. I mean, I see a lot of potential in every single one of them. We just got to see what it looks like in the game.

Yeah, two years ago, ma'am, y'all were three-time champions in the tournament, or in the ACC, I should say, excuse me. And the expectations, I guess, didn't mesh well with what you guys did. Last year was the opposite. A lot of people didn't expect things, and you did well. How do you sort of build off those two experiences? And how do you sort of use last year? So now you have the expectations again, you don't want to repeat what happened two years ago. 
Well, I think it's just having the same common goals, like getting the ACC championship, and it's going to be hard. It's not going to come easy. And I feel like being able to learn from the different things that we do in practice, like the mistakes and everything, just being able to overlook that and just say, like, these are our common goals. This is what we're trying to go for. Not even now, just the Final Four, but now we're trying to get to that national championship. It's going to be hard, but we have to come together as a group and not shy, like, go away from that. I think that's what helped us a lot last year. Even though we are ranked high in the AP poll, like the early AP poll, we can't let that dictate how we play. We got to play how we usually play. Yeah, so I would say that.

Madison, in addition to all of the experienced guards y'all have, you're also playing with a couple of really talented freshmen. I just wanted to get your impressions on what you've seen from Devyn and Zamareya so far. 
Yeah, Devyn is a really, really great player. She's a great shooter. I think, you know, obviously, like I said, freshmen has to go through those freshman things, learning different information, learning the different defenses that we go through, offenses. But they're doing a really great job. They're picking it up really quickly, better than I did when I first came here. So kudos to them. But I think talent-wise, they're really, really great players. Zamareya's shown that. But we'll just see how it goes in the game. I think they'll do great. So I'm excited to see them in action with me. 

I want to ask you about another freshman here. Tilda Trygger comes in as an extremely, extremely lengthy, really talented, really talented shooter from where the scouting reports look. But a lot of times with a European player, you can kind of take a little bit to bring some of that aggression out, especially when they're playing against larger players. What have you seen from her in camp, trying to like kind of draw that out of her, be able to play physically? 
I think just obviously with like the smaller lineups that we might have, she might have to be a 5 sometimes. She'll be the 4, just depending on who's in the game. But I think for her, like she's a stretch 4. So for her to be 6'6 and be able to shoot the ball that she does, I think is great for us, which it'll help us in the games as well. People are not going to be able to think, oh, a 6'6 4 player can shoot the ball. She can take it off the bounce. We just got to get her physically like minded, being more physical. But I think she's doing a great job. She's picking it up.