Will the Women Be Any Good?

[IdahoAlum]

I looked at their roster and it appears just about anybody who made a significant contribution last year is gone. Is this a bottom feeder team? At one time I had high hopes for the McKeon regime, but any momentum they had seems to have faded.

 

[Cat Fan in Buckeye Land]

It seems like that program has been set back by injuries more often than not. Last year was horrible with the tragedy, which had to be so difficult for the whole program. Seems like they'll be very young this year, but don't know what level the newcomers are at.

 

[mikewebb68]

It should be a rebuilding year, but coach always has tremendous recruits coming in (two ESPN top-100 players again this year; the class also includes, oddly, the daughter of the Rutgers men's coach!) .

Whether we will be a bottom-feeder or a decent team will likely depend on two juniors: 1) Palais Kunaiyi-Akpanah, a tremendous talent with amazing leaping ability (last year she was allegedly injured dunking in practice, and she is only 6' 2") , whose career has simply not panned out on the court thus far, and 2) Amber Jamison (who last year looked like WNBA material on some nights, but disappered on others)

 

[pschatz25]

Nice post, Mike. I was planning to say basically the same thing: it's a young team (8 Frosh/sophs), but the talent should be there. I caught the last few minutes of today's scrimmage and listened to the Q&A. It sounds like JM is enjoying the 'attitude' of the young players. PKA and AJ have been covered, but here's a few other random thoughts I had from today and in general:

• It was encouraging to hear JM compliment Lydia Rohde on her improvement in defense and rebounding. She's been basically just a stand-in-the-corner 3-point shooter the last couple of seasons. Injuries clearly limited her mobility last season.
• JM seemed pretty high on Abbie Wolf. She was a top 100 recruit last year, but didn't play much. She could be a force in the post. She hit a turnaround 20 footer to win the scrimmage today, but I don't think that's going to be part of her game.
• A player I'm looking forward to watching this season is Abi Sheid. Last season, as a frosh, she showed she could score from inside and out. JM mentioned she scored 20 against OSU last year without missing a shot. She seemed to run out of gas as the season went along and was pushed around in a lot of conference games.
• Frosh Lauren Satterwhite is still recovering from injury (knee, I think?). Someone asked if she would play this season and JM was non-committal, so I'll take that as a 'no.'
• I don't have high hopes for the team this year, though I think they'll surprise a few teams. Hopefully the young players perform well enough to make a trip to the NCAA Tournament a realistic goal in the next season or two.
• Recently the women's basketball twitter account posted a graphic saying NU has the #1 ranked incoming class in the conference. They didn't list a source, so I don't know what that's based on. JM doesn't seem to have a problem recruiting well-regarded players. This year's team has 5 top 100 recruits (PKA, Sheid, Wolf, Pulliam, and Hamilton), and a verbal for another one next season.
• I think playing at ETHS is going to be fine. The gym is a bit of a relic, but it holds up pretty well. Video boards have been added at each end of the gym (from WRA?). It won't take a lot of people to get that place loud. One bad thing is the place is decorated in blue and orange. They put up some NU banners around the court, but it doesn't help much. I thought they might put some NU stickers on the court, but it doesn't look like it.

 

[pawildcat]

Nice post, Mike. I was planning to say basically the same thing: it's a young team (8 Frosh/sophs), but the talent should be there. I caught the last few minutes of today's scrimmage and listened to the Q&A. It sounds like JM is enjoying the 'attitude' of the young players. PKA and AJ have been covered, but here's a few other random thoughts I had from today and in general:

• It was encouraging to hear JM compliment Lydia Rohde on her improvement in defense and rebounding. She's been basically just a stand-in-the-corner 3-point shooter the last couple of seasons. Injuries clearly limited her mobility last season.
• JM seemed pretty high on Abbie Wolf. She was a top 100 recruit last year, but didn't play much. She could be a force in the post. She hit a turnaround 20 footer to win the scrimmage today, but I don't think that's going to be part of her game.
• A player I'm looking forward to watching this season is Abi Sheid. Last season, as a frosh, she showed she could score from inside and out. JM mentioned she scored 20 against OSU last year without missing a shot. She seemed to run out of gas as the season went along and was pushed around in a lot of conference games.
• Frosh Lauren Satterwhite is still recovering from injury (knee, I think?). Someone asked if she would play this season and JM was non-committal, so I'll take that as a 'no.'
• I don't have high hopes for the team this year, though I think they'll surprise a few teams. Hopefully the young players perform well enough to make a trip to the NCAA Tournament a realistic goal in the next season or two.
• Recently the women's basketball twitter account posted a graphic saying NU has the #1 ranked incoming class in the conference. They didn't list a source, so I don't know what that's based on. JM doesn't seem to have a problem recruiting well-regarded players. This year's team has 5 top 100 recruits (PKA, Sheid, Wolf, Pulliam, and Hamilton), and a verbal for another one next season.
• I think playing at ETHS is going to be fine. The gym is a bit of a relic, but it holds up pretty well. Video boards have been added at each end of the gym (from WRA?). It won't take a lot of people to get that place loud. One bad thing is the place is decorated in blue and orange. They put up some NU banners around the court, but it doesn't help much. I thought they might put some NU stickers on the court, but it doesn't look like it.

Yeah, the ETHS gym is a "bit of a relic." My mother, who passed away a couple of years ago at age 90, saw some games in that gym. Of course, she also remembered Dyche Stadium being build when she was small.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Yeah, the ETHS gym is a "bit of a relic." My mother, who passed away a couple of years ago at age 90, saw some games in that gym. Of course, she also remembered Dyche Stadium being build when she was small.

They need to tear it down and start over.