Any story about the University of Washington Women’s Basketball program has to begin, sadly, with who isn’t at Washington. Washington lost three fine players due to a somewhat normal process, graduation and an injury. Gone are Point Guard Emily Florence and Post Andrea Plouffe who both graduated. Guard Dominique Banks retired rather than return for a final season. However the real disappointment for Husky fans was the lost of four prize frosh who decided to transfer rather than continue in Seattle.
Leading scorer Katelan Redmon, whose sister is an outstanding 2010 prospect, transferred to home town Gonzaga. Center and Tall Fern Jess McCormack transferred to UConn. Center Kali Bennett transferred to Arizona State. Finally Candice Nicholas transferred out even before the 2007-08 season started. Only two are left from this outstanding Frosh class, and both of them battled injuries last season.
2008-09 hopes to be more than a new year for 2nd Year Coach Tia Jackson, as they strive for continuity and success. To that end Jackson, a former Stanford Assistant, has the # 18 recruit, the dynamic Liz Lay. Liz is recovering from knee problems suffered in February, but when she is ready she’ll present problems for all Pac 10 defenses. Other top frosh include Guard Kristi Kingma, an outstanding shooter, and # 44 last year and Mollie Williams, a 6-2 Forward, named # 64 in the country by Collegiate Girls BB Report.
Washington finished 6th in the Conference last year with a 13-18 overall record. I don’t see too much improvement for them, but as they build it will be interesting. The Huskies have seven returning players, five new frosh and three transfers. Regina Rogers transferred from UCLA and must sit out the year. The other two transfers are JC players who can play immediately.
The Huskies have 5 potential post players to play the 4/5 positions. Returnees are 6-2 Jr Laura McLellan (from San Jose), a true post player, and F/C’s 6-3 Sr Heidi McNeill, redshirt frosh, 6-3 Mackenzie Argens, 6-1 Frosh Liz Lay and 6-2 Frosh Mollie Williams.
McLellan averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes last year while starting 7 games. She did shoot 59% from the floor. McNeill averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds in 18 minutes. Losing Bennett and McCormick really hurts here. Argens was hurt and only played in 4 games.
The two Frosh, Lay and Williams could both start. Lay would be an undersized 5, so expect her, if healthy, to start at the 4, and McLellan at the 5. Lay is a battler. She is extremely aggressive and talented. You’ll love to watch her play. If Williams lives up to her Collegiate Girls BB ranking, she’ll see lots of minutes. Regina Rogers will help tremendously in 2009-10 after sitting out this season under the transfer rule.
It appears 5-6 Frosh Nicole Romero will be the Point Guard. Jackson has called the Australian “one of the purest point guards one will ever see”. She was named the top player on her country’s 21U team. The back up could be 5-8 Soph Sarah Morton or 5-8 Jr and JC transfer Christina Rozier. Morton averaged just 8 minutes a game last season.
At the Wings will be Sami Whitcomb, the top returning scorer for the Huskies. Sami, a 5-10 Jr, averaged 11 points per game and hit 62 three’s at an average of 34%. The other starter could be 6-0 Sr Michelle Augustavo who only averaged 6 points per game, but made 46 three’s at a rate of 31%. Michelle took 183 shots last year, 150 of them were from behind the arc.
5-10 Frosh Kristi Kingma will play right away, probably the 3rd wing. She is an outstanding offensive player with a nice three, but even better pull up jumper. She is very quick, called explosive by Coach Jackson.
Sara Moisman is a 5-10 Jr who averaged 4.5 points per game while starting 9 games last season. One of Sara’s Travel Coaches was Glenn Nelson of HoopGrulz.
Washington now has to rebuild after losing so many talented players. Lay, Kingma, Williams and Romero could be great starts for the Huskies.
No comments:
Post a Comment