Mike and Aaron sit down with Simone Cunningham, senior forward from Pleasant Grove, Alabama, for Old Dominion Women's Basketball, to talk about her path to ODU, her game, her teammates and a lot more.

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All right.

We're here with Simone

Cunningham.

A great opportunity to sit down and talk to you.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing good.

We just got off Christmas break, had a good Christmas.

So I'm happy to be back.

All right.

So we've talked in the past.

We learned how much you try to model your game after Dennis Rodman and obviously your hairstyle.

So how old were you when you first learned of Dennis Rodman and it kind of clicked for you like that's the player I want to be.

Uh, I would say I was about 13.

Um, my dad I always watched basketball and everything, and I don't know how I necessarily came across him.

Um, I know when I was trying out for my middle school basketball team, my coach was just like, I just want you to rebound.

And so, oh, I started looking up like good rebounders and Dennis Rodman popped up and I just took to him.

Yeah, that effort and tenacity he brought to the game was just different.

Yeah, I was like, and even, I know a lot of people don't think about him like off the court.

But.

I just like that he was a free spirit.

Like, don't get me wrong.

He was a bad boy.

He did all this other stuff.

But honestly, he just did whatever he wanted to.

And he didn't care about what about himself to say about it.

So that's what took me to him too.

Coming off of that, are there players now in the league or in the W.

N.

B.

A.

That you see, you look at him and go, I want to play like that too.

Um, I'm not gonna necessarily say that I want to play like them, but some people that I really I am really infatuated with that game is, uh, I do like injuries.

I know a lot of people get hurt bad, but I like injuries and I also like, um, awesome.

All right.

So sticking with the Rodman theme, one of his, one of his personality traits was his hair.

Like you always have something interesting going on with yours.

Can you tell us your latest, your latest style and what the inspiration was behind that?

So, uh, it's.

purple flowers and just a pink background.

Um, a friend of mine, her grandmother, her birthday is after Christmas.

And she was like, I watch her on tv all the time.

And she was like, I wish she would do something purple.

And I was like, I was like, okay, I was like, I'll do some purple flowers for, um, for Miss Barbara.

So that's what I did it for.

All right.

And then building off of that, Dennis Rodman tattoo.

Do you have a favorite tattoo?

Uh,

I don't know that I do, because as far as his tattoo choices go, he has a lot of different different

ones.

Well, for your personal tattoos.

Oh, my favorite tattoo?

Oh, um, honestly, out of the ones that I do have, it would be my koi fish, because I got it with my best friend Rachel.

And so anytime that I look at it, it just, it just reminds me of happy times that I had with her.

You started your career at Shelton State Community College.

You contributed to a 60 6 record during those two years there.

How did your experiences at Shelton prepare you for success at Old Dominion and help this team?

Juco was hard.

Um, Uh, giving praise to Coach Madonna Thompson.

She did a good job of just making sure that like, we understood that if we got to the next level and we got to play on the D1 level, how She just always said that she was exhausted when she played at Alabama.

She was like, don't get me wrong.

She was like, I woke up blessed and wanted to be there every single day.

And she was like, and I got through it.

She was like, but it's, it's a grind.

And I mean, it is, it's something that you got to want to do every single day.

But being at JUCO really taught me a lot of important lessons of just like, uh, being devoted, being able to push through and trying to handle hard better.

All right.

So you went from JUCO to Old Dominion.

What were your other um,

a lot of teams in the Sunbelt.

So Troy, uh, ULM.

So I was like teams within the Sunbelt.

So that's what I was being recruited by.

So what was the deciding factor for you?

Considering they're all in the same league, um, they all have their different positives about them.

What was the deciding factor for you to pick Old Dominion?

I really like the culture and, um, Coach D.

It's something about her personality and who she is as a person.

Don't get me wrong, her track record speaks for itself.

I mean, you can look that up, and that's already the first thing.

But after talking to her, she's such a down to earth person that it draws you to her, and it just makes you want to learn more about her and be up under her and learn as much as you can.

And then the rest of the coaching staff, uh, they have their records.

Coach Josh, when I was, my first year, it was Coach Shammond.

Um, Coach Bell and Coach Ro, all of them have great track records that really show that her staff knows what they're talking about.

I love that you just mentioned corporate culture.

This team this year has a lot of new faces on it.

As a veteran player for Coach Milton Jones, what's your role in helping build that corporate culture?

Corporate culture?

Team culture when I'm thinking of work.

Yeah,

um, she talked about that with us, the four returners.

That's me.

Mikayla Brown, En'Dya Buford, and Brenda Fontana.

Before we got back, and it was just us at late postseason, she was just really talking to us about how she really wanted to change the culture here, coming into the next season, and how she wanted to tweak some things and just make it all for the better.

And so we did, we tried to do our best in terms of like, having more team meetings, making sure that we really, you know, Um, being our sister's keeper because that's something that we said to each other.

So making sure that the culture was very welcoming for the new group that came in and all the Different experiences that we experienced.

We didn't want them to experience the same thing.

So we tried to make it better

All right, so I know it's still early in the season, but does this team have an identity yet?

And if so, what is it?

I think it's shifted a little bit, but I think our identity is um It's still defense But I think we also have some offensive power within us.

Uh, I think we just some dogs.

Uh, we have, we have a extreme amount of talent on this team.

And, I think anybody can go get a bucket.

Anybody can get the job done.

Alright, so coaching is different depending upon where, where you go.

What's different about Old Dominion, the coaching that you get here that you've experienced other places?

Um, first I would talk about the personal level that you have with, uh, the personal connection that you have with the coaches.

Uh, I haven't had a personal relationship with one of my coaches probably since like middle school.

Um, There's nothing towards anybody that any program that I came from or nothing like that.

But it's just like on an extreme level like that.

The one that I have with Coach D.

I haven't been that close to the coaches since middle school.

Um, so the way that she's just is always there for us in any way I'm talking about.

She'll put stuff to the side to make sure that we're okay.

I love that about her.

So that's one thing.

And then secondly on the court, um, It's so crazy because sometimes when I first got here, the way that she would talk.

I wouldn't necessarily understand what I was doing something.

And so I think when I questioned her, she thought it was like me being a smart tail.

But it wasn't.

And when I explained it to her, I was like, I'm confused because I don't know why I'm doing this.

I was like, it's not that I don't want to do what you're telling me.

I just don't understand why I'm doing it.

And she just like a coach.

She sat down with me and was like, this is why you're doing this.

So now, uh, when I get to the next practice, I understand why I'm doing things so I don't have to question it anymore.

And you know, most coaches wouldn't do that.

It was just like, just do it because I told you to do it.

And so you're doing something, but you're doing it blindly.

You don't really have an understanding for it.

So you're not really learning the game as you're going.

But I think since I've been here on the way today, explain things and everything, I've actually been able to learn the game.

So.

All right.

So you mentioned coach Delisha and how she walked you through everything.

We asked her before we started.

What's the one thing you want to hear from the players in this interview?

And she said To ask them to give up their best impression of coach D

She did this is not

a trick question.

Oh I'm trying to think of a specific moment in my head.

I want to do one when she's mad Okay, I got When we're late when we get to the point where we're messing up She has four stages.

So the first one, she just has her board.

And she's just looking.

And then stage two, she gets on the wall.

She still has her board.

Stage three, her leg's up.

At the point of her legs up, the returners are trying to warn everybody like we're about to run.

When she gets here and the board is on the ground, it's over with.

So that's probably the funniest thing to me.

Um, it's not funny, my bad.

It's not funny.

But that, that's something that I'd be like, I'd be like, oh man, we finna run.

But as far as impressions go, like her saying something, she says so much.

She's just so funny.

Honestly.

Oh, I like when she she's talking about us traveling and she'd be like, you quit walking all over the place.

She does a little crazy.

That's funny.

Next practice.

I'm gonna be watching for that foot to go up.

All right.

Tell us, tell us something about one of your teammates that Old Dominion fans probably wouldn't know.

My teammates, aNisaaown.

Oh my gosh, a little freshman.

Uh, Nisaa is very artistic.

And Nisaa is actually really funny.

It takes her a minute to warm up to people.

I was like, I think when she first got here, she was like really nervous or shy.

So some people think that she doesn't talk much, but she doesn't shut up.

All right, so continuing on with the teammates thing.

The bigs are all very different players on this team.

You and snacks most

diverse group of bigs I've ever seen, honestly.

How does that kind of mesh in practice with going against different players every day?

And how does that make you get better?

It's actually really helpful when we get towards the game, because with me saying that this is the most diverse group of bigs I've ever seen, um, playing other teams, you might have one or two bigs that could pop out of six.

And so then it's like, Oh, well.

She plays like snacks.

I deal with snacks every day and she's, she's not even as good as snacks or she's not as strong as snacks.

So it's like, I'm already prepared for the game.

Oh, this girl pops like Brenda or cam.

And it's like, I've already prepared for this and at practice.

So it gets, we get to the game and it's, it's almost simple.

So it's nothing to overthink about the situation, but they, they push, we push each other every single day in practice.

And so I think that's the best thing.

Alright, we're going to ask you a handful of fun questions, then we'll get back to basketball.

Don't think too much, just what comes out first.

Favorite pre game meal?

Ooh, uh, is it, what time is the game?

Is it a late game or early game?

Give us both.

Okay, early game, we gotta have pancakes.

Uh, late game, uh, chicken alfredo.

That is so common.

Carbs, we eat carbs for a game.

I mean,

I think the men's player, that's the most common one we've

heard as well.

Yeah, I think it's up to the person and how their stomach is.

Yeah.

I'm a very light eater before I do activity because my stomach isn't great.

I mean, we eat four hours before the game, so even if I eat heavy by the time the game starts, it's gone.

Yeah,

that's fair.

Alright, we asked you about this before we started.

Favorite pre game song?

Uh, Korn, Y'all Want a Single.

Need that on my playlist.

Favorite thing to do in your free time?

Draw or watch anime.

Anime.

So how old were you when you got into anime?

Uh, my dad was very educational, so I didn't get to watch a lot of TV.

But on Saturdays, I could watch the Saturday cartoons and my dad like Dragon Ball.

So I was always watching Dragon Ball with him.

So it's early is like four or five.

All right.

If you weren't on the hoop squad, whether what other monarch team would you be lacing it up for?

What other team?

Yeah, what other team on campus?

If you weren't playing basketball, what team Volleyball, hands

down.

Okay.

Yeah,

I played volleyball in high school.

I played for the volleyball team.

Okay.

Alright, so we've seen your tenacity in action, and we're big fans of it.

If you had to pick your favorite move, which one would it be?

Uh, I like tipping.

Okay.

So just off a rebound, doing a tip, but if I had to like get a pass and do a move, I would say uh, dribble to the middle and spin back.

That's probably what I hit the most.

Alright, so I want to ask a follow up to that, so, we're all, we're all kids playing in the, in the driveway, right?

Mm hmm.

That one thing in your head, you're like, alright, 3, 2, 1, what was that play, when you're in the driveway?

I wasn't a good shooter, so I would throw the ball at the backboard and go tip it.

I love the honesty.

Alright, life after hoops.

Life after hoops.

So, what are you majoring in, and where do you see yourself after the ball stops bouncing?

Um, I'm majoring in criminal justice with a minor in psychology.

And Afterwards, I will hope to get into a grad program that would help me further, um, do something with psychology with it, with student athletes.

But if not, if I just had to go directly into the work field, then I would try to find something where, um, helping juvenile delinquents.

That is a very giving career path if you go down that route, and that's very cool.

Um, all right.

So what is your top personal goal and team goal for this year?

And what will it take for you guys to get there?

top personal goal

Still being the leader and rebounder on the team and then

To increase my free throw percentage because it's not the best.

I just want it to be higher than what it's been My entire collegiate career.

So I just want my last year to be my best year And then as a team, I mean, obviously we're looking for a championship, but this year I think we're really focused on winning it the right way.

I know a lot of people have looked at the games that we've lost and they're like, they're like, Oh, well, y'all play big teams or like E.

C.

U.

Game.

I think that was a game that we should have won.

But coming in here watching film after the games, Our coaching staff has been very meticulous about the mistakes that we're making.

And I think each game we're getting better in terms of how we're playing the game.

So I think winning the championship and winning it the correct way.

All right Simone, we appreciate all your time.

What's your message for Monarch Nation?

What's my message for Monarch Nation?

I think y'all are doing a great job of supporting the team.

Um, continue to do that.

Continue to give us love and we got y'all.

Thanks again.

Go Monarchs!

Go Monarchs!

Mhm.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr