Preview of the Washington Huskies

This week we’ll look at the Washington Huskies and their new Coach, Tia Jackson. When June Daugherty was fired after the past season, for a lack of buzz, Tia inherited a top 10 recruiting class. And quickly that some of this class, all of whom had signed binding Letter of Intent, started to have doubts. Katelan Redmon, an outstanding Wing from Spokane, had very serious doubts, as did New Zealand import Jess McCormack. In addition commit for the 2008 class, Krista Kingma also had doubts.

Fast forward to today, and all appears to be well at udub. Redmon and McCormack are practicing with the team and Kingma, an outstanding “1” or “2” has recommitted to the Huskies. And this turns out to be good news for Tia, as Kingma has a younger sister who could become a Division 1 prospect. Also Redmon’s father is a well known High School and Travel Girls Basketball Coach.

Now it’s up to Jackson to coach this team, and move them into the first Division of the Pac 10 and back into the NCAA’s. And this is Tia’s first Head Coaching job. Of course the actual coaching may be a welcome relief after her great re-recruiting effort.

Washington lost six players from last year’s team; well you have to lose some to bring in so many. Key losses include solid players Jill Bell and Cheri Craddock, and the outstanding Cameo Hicks. Hicks scored 17.2 points per game and wanted the ball in crunch time. However Washington brings in that outstanding class, Top 10 to be sure, and several will play key roles right away.

At the Center position and the “4” will be six players with a chance to play solid minutes. Returning is 6-2 Sr Andrea Plouffe. Andrea averaged 10 points per game last year. Also returning are 6-2 Soph Laura McLellan from the San Jose area, and 6-3 Jr Heidi McNeill. McLellan only scored 2 points per game, but based on her outstanding High School career, I think she will be a solid player for the Huskies.

The excitement comes from the three Frosh post players. Jess McCormack is on the New Zealand National team that recently qualified for the 2008 Olympics. She’s 6-5 and played on the New Zealand National team at ages 15, 16 and 17. Then there is incoming frosh, 6-5 Kali Bennett, ranked # 36 in her class by HoopGurlz. Fellow frosh MacKenzie Argens is 6-3 and also an outstanding prospect.


Katelan Redmon is a true wing, 6-1 and athletic. She is another incoming frosh and ranked # 102 by Hoop Gurlz. She and transfer Michelle Augustavo, a 6-0 JR who transferred from the University of San Diego could be the “3’s”. Michelle holds the single game scoring record at USD, 42 points. In that game she made 10 of 19 three pointers. However she was only 35 of 116 or 30% the rest of that season. Which Michelle will it be this season for the Huskies?

At the Point is the very good 5-5 Sr Emily Florence. OK, Emily’s not a good shooter, but the rest of her game? Wow. She has started all but 3 games during her three years, she led the Pac 10 in steals and was 2nd in assist to turnover ratio and for the 3rd year in a row was the Husky Defensive Player of the Year. In summary, Emily is the perfect Point Guard for this young team.

Off Guards, or “2’s”, are 5-8 Sr Dominique Banks, and 5-10 Soph Sami Whitcomb. . Banks had pre-season surgery a year ago for two stress fractures and came back to average 4.4 points per game. Banks scored over 7 points per game during her first two seasons at Washington. Whitcomb scored 4.3 points per game, and scored her career high of 13 against Stanford. Jr Stephanie Clark left the team at some point after late August. However this could open the door for Frosh Candice Nicholas, ranked # 83 by HoopGurlz. Nicholas cousin, and here’s a trivia question, is Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.

The back up’s at Point for Florence have encountered injury problems. 5-9 Sara Mosiman is out for the 1st half of the season with stress fractures. Her back up is 5-8 Frosh Sarah Morton, # 66 ranked by HoopGurlz. Sarah is recovering from a leg injury, but could be back soon.

Washington doesn’t look to be a 3 point shooting team, but a team that pounds it inside for their talented post players. It will be interesting to witness Tia’s style of play. The former Stanford, UCLA and Duke Assistant is now in charge.