Before we discuss ASU, Washington released their schedule with non conference games against San Diego State, Santa Barbara and Davis being the tougher games. As Coach McGuff says, “it’s all by design” “a very difficult schedule”. Well it’s all relative I guess. Sadly Washington lost their best player Kristi Kingma to a season ending ACL. She plans to return next season.
Last season ASU was 20-11 overall and finished 3rd in the Pac 10 with an 11-7 mark. This earned them a trip to the NCAAs where they lost their first round game. However in May the bombshell was dropped, that long time Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne was taking a leave of absence. She seems to be set on returning for next season.
Long time Assistant Coach Joe Anders takes over as the Interim Head Coach. Anders is in his 11th season at ASU and was the Head Coach for 6 years at Sacramento State. The big mystery, will Anders employ the hockey style substitutions of Charli?
Meg Sanders returns for her 8th season as an Assistant and now Associate Head Coach. She was Head Coach at Northern Arizona University for 7 years, having succeeded Charli there.
Chris Mennig is a new Assistant, coming from Bluestar Basketball, where he was coordinator of events. Bluestar hosts a number of big time travel basketball tournaments, and views and ranks High School players. Chris was also a college Assistant for 15 years before Bluestar.
Amy Wright is also a new Assistant, having spent the last 3 years at Cleveland State.
After 15 years as an Assistant at ASU, Laura Hughes is now the Head Coach at Cochise JC.
Losses:
ASU graduated 3 of their top 4 scorers so they have some big holes to fill. They also lost their top recruit as she elected to play close to home, Los Angeles, and enroll at USC.
Dymond Simon graduated and she led the team in scoring at 13 points per game. Simon also had the most threes, but only 36 and only at 27%. Becca Tobin also graduated. The 6-5 Center was 2nd on the team with 6 rebounds and 3nd in points at 8.5 per game. Tenya Watson was the 3rd big loss, averaging 7.5 points and leading the team in both assists and steals. These three averaged 27 minutes per game, easily more total minutes than the next four players. Markisha Patterson who was 8th in average minutes and 8th in average points also graduated.
Top recruit Karina Alofaituli decided to stay close to her Southern California home for family reasons and is now at USC. Karina was ranked # 26 in the nation by HoopGurlz.
Returning Players:
Kimberly Brandon is a Sr, 6-2 Forward who lead the team in rebounding, 6.5, and was 2nd in scoring, 9.5 per game. She has really improved since arriving in Tempe.
Deja Mann is a 5-7 Sr Guard who started 14 games, averaging 4 points per game.
Alex Earl is 5-10 Sr Guard who was 3rd on the team in threes and averaged 3 points per game.
Kali Bennett is a 6-5 Sr Center who averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds per game.
Janae Fulcher is a 6-3 Jr Forward who averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds per game,
These five have the inside track to be starters based on the playing time last season.
Adrienne Thomas played in all games, 10 minutes per game, and averaged 2 points. She’s a 5-9 Soph Guard.
Joy Burke is a 6-5 Jr Center who didn’t play much behind Tobin and Bennett and averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds per game.
Olivia Major is a 5-7 Sr Guard. Haley Parson is a 5-5 Jr Guard who has only played in a couple of games and redshirted one of her three years at ASU. She has a 4.0 GPA at ASU.
New Players:
Promise Amukamara is a 5-8 Guard from Apollo High School near Tempe. Promise exploded onto the scene last year averaging 22 points per game in High School. Great genes, her brother was an NFL first round draft choice this past draft.
Jada Blackwell is a 6-1 Forward from Etiwanda High School in Southern California. She was ranked # 118 last year.
Micaela Pickens is a 5-8 JR and a JC transfer. Pickens was a JC all American averaging 23 points per game this past season. In her career at Cypress JC in Southern California she averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. At 5-8 she holds the school record for blocks.
Eliza Normen is a player I loved in Oregon in 2010. High energy, very athletic and so skilled. The 6-0 Guard/Wing was ranked # 43 in the nation. Sadly Normen tore her ACL late this past season and will almost certainly have to redshirt.
The Schedule:
Games against Illinois, Rutgers, DePaul and Boston College highlight a good schedule. We won’t see the Sun Devils at Stanford as they don’t travel to the Bay Area this season and the Oregon schools don’t travel to the desert.
The Season:
While the Sun Devils have 7 players who played quite a bit this past season, only one is a returning starter or started more than ½ of their games. Plus losing Charli for even a year hurts. They have a couple of good new players and they have two 6-5 post players. However I think this will be a middle of the Pac 12 team at best.
September 19, 2011
September 5, 2011
Arizona tries to stay in the 1st division.
First a word about Oregon State’s schedule which wasn’t released until recently. Weak. Again, coaches have their eyes on 20 wins and job security, so they schedule accordingly. Rice and Pepperdine are the toughest non league games for Oregon State. Other than that very weak. Also the Beavers are helped by not playing the Arizona schools or LA schools twice this season.
Arizona finished 5th in the Pac 10 last season at 10-8 and 21-12 overall. They played and lost a close first game in the post season WNIT. Attendance was up, averaging 2,000 a game. Since Head Coach Niya Butts was hired, the Wildcats have improved from 12 wins in year one to 14 wins to 21 wins. In Pac 10 play the Wildcats have improved from 4 to 6 to 10 wins.
Sue Darling returns for her 4th year as an Assistant Coach, focusing on the Offense. Brandy Manning also returns for his 4th season, focusing on the Defense and post players.
EC Hill joins the staff replacing Chance Lindley who is now the Head Coach at Nebraska-Omaha. Hill coached the past 6 years at her alma mater, Northern Illinois. She will focus on perimeter players.
Losses:
Not only did Arizona lose 5 players, they lost 2 recruits. Huge loses as they include the Wildcats 3 of the top 5 scorers and 2 of the top 4 rebounders. Ify Ibekwe graduated and with her goes not only 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and she was one of the greatest players in Arizona history. Soana Lucent also graduated and she averaged 12 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Graduating and not returning despite having a potential 5th year is Brooke Jackson. Jackson averaged 7 points per game and was 2nd on the team with 46 threes and hit at 37%. Also graduating were Tasha Dickey and Amanda Pierson who were the 9th and 10th players in most stats and minutes played.
Two recruits are not on the roster for this season. Kama Griffitts is a 6-0 wing who scored 21.5 points per game for her National JC Championship team and she was MVP of the National Tournament. She had 72 threes two years ago as a JC frosh.
Jazmyn Dorsett, Tony’s daughter, who due to transfer from Oklahoma State and is not on the roster.
Returning Players:
Only 5 return and along with 6 recruits makes for a small roster of 11. Guard Davellyn Whyte leads the group of returning players and she’s very good.
All Pac 10, Whyte averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds per game. She led the team with 66 threes, although she needs to improve on her 31% from three. Whyte is a 5-11 Jr.
Point Guard Shanita Arnold is a 5-5 Sr who averaged 5 assists and 7 points per game. Her assist to turnover ration was a fine 1.5: 1.
Three players all averaged about 17 minutes per game and were the 6 to 8 players, or the first 3 off the bench. Erica Barnes is a 6-2 Soph Forward who averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds per game. Reiko Thomas is a 5-8 Sr Guard who averaged 4 points per game. Candice Wathen is a 5-5 So Point Guard who averaged 4 points per game and had a plus assist to turnover ratio.
New Players:
There is a great need for a post player and a big wing to step in and start. Aley Rohde is a 6-5 Frosh Center, ranked # 123 last season in High School, by one group, # 77 by another and the # 9 Center by a third. She had games of 37 points, 23 rebounds, and 12 blocked shots.
Lindsey Fearing is a 5-8 Jr, a JC transfer. Fearing made 199 threes in her 2 JC years, including 113 last season. Having only one returning post player, hitting threes will be important for the Wildcats.
Erin Butler is a 5-11 frosh guard, ranked # 210 last season.
Cheshi Poston is a 6-2 Jr and a JC transfer. She was a JC All American averaging 13 points and 11.5 rebounds per game last season.
Layana White is a 5-8 frosh guard who averaged 14 points per game last season in High School.
Cheylene Harper is a 6-2 Jr and a JC transfer who averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds per game last season at the JC.
The Schedule:
New Mexico, New Mexico State, Syracuse and BYU highlight their non conference schedule. The Wildcats play Stanford and Cal once.
The Season:
The Wildcats lost some quality players and with 3 of their newcomers JC transfers they are not really rebuilding. Davellyn Whyte is a wonderful player but she and maybe Erica Barnes are the only players who might be expected to regularly score in double figures. The JC transfers must contribute right away. It’s going to be very hard to remain in the upper half of the Pac 12.
Arizona finished 5th in the Pac 10 last season at 10-8 and 21-12 overall. They played and lost a close first game in the post season WNIT. Attendance was up, averaging 2,000 a game. Since Head Coach Niya Butts was hired, the Wildcats have improved from 12 wins in year one to 14 wins to 21 wins. In Pac 10 play the Wildcats have improved from 4 to 6 to 10 wins.
Sue Darling returns for her 4th year as an Assistant Coach, focusing on the Offense. Brandy Manning also returns for his 4th season, focusing on the Defense and post players.
EC Hill joins the staff replacing Chance Lindley who is now the Head Coach at Nebraska-Omaha. Hill coached the past 6 years at her alma mater, Northern Illinois. She will focus on perimeter players.
Losses:
Not only did Arizona lose 5 players, they lost 2 recruits. Huge loses as they include the Wildcats 3 of the top 5 scorers and 2 of the top 4 rebounders. Ify Ibekwe graduated and with her goes not only 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and she was one of the greatest players in Arizona history. Soana Lucent also graduated and she averaged 12 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Graduating and not returning despite having a potential 5th year is Brooke Jackson. Jackson averaged 7 points per game and was 2nd on the team with 46 threes and hit at 37%. Also graduating were Tasha Dickey and Amanda Pierson who were the 9th and 10th players in most stats and minutes played.
Two recruits are not on the roster for this season. Kama Griffitts is a 6-0 wing who scored 21.5 points per game for her National JC Championship team and she was MVP of the National Tournament. She had 72 threes two years ago as a JC frosh.
Jazmyn Dorsett, Tony’s daughter, who due to transfer from Oklahoma State and is not on the roster.
Returning Players:
Only 5 return and along with 6 recruits makes for a small roster of 11. Guard Davellyn Whyte leads the group of returning players and she’s very good.
All Pac 10, Whyte averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds per game. She led the team with 66 threes, although she needs to improve on her 31% from three. Whyte is a 5-11 Jr.
Point Guard Shanita Arnold is a 5-5 Sr who averaged 5 assists and 7 points per game. Her assist to turnover ration was a fine 1.5: 1.
Three players all averaged about 17 minutes per game and were the 6 to 8 players, or the first 3 off the bench. Erica Barnes is a 6-2 Soph Forward who averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds per game. Reiko Thomas is a 5-8 Sr Guard who averaged 4 points per game. Candice Wathen is a 5-5 So Point Guard who averaged 4 points per game and had a plus assist to turnover ratio.
New Players:
There is a great need for a post player and a big wing to step in and start. Aley Rohde is a 6-5 Frosh Center, ranked # 123 last season in High School, by one group, # 77 by another and the # 9 Center by a third. She had games of 37 points, 23 rebounds, and 12 blocked shots.
Lindsey Fearing is a 5-8 Jr, a JC transfer. Fearing made 199 threes in her 2 JC years, including 113 last season. Having only one returning post player, hitting threes will be important for the Wildcats.
Erin Butler is a 5-11 frosh guard, ranked # 210 last season.
Cheshi Poston is a 6-2 Jr and a JC transfer. She was a JC All American averaging 13 points and 11.5 rebounds per game last season.
Layana White is a 5-8 frosh guard who averaged 14 points per game last season in High School.
Cheylene Harper is a 6-2 Jr and a JC transfer who averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds per game last season at the JC.
The Schedule:
New Mexico, New Mexico State, Syracuse and BYU highlight their non conference schedule. The Wildcats play Stanford and Cal once.
The Season:
The Wildcats lost some quality players and with 3 of their newcomers JC transfers they are not really rebuilding. Davellyn Whyte is a wonderful player but she and maybe Erica Barnes are the only players who might be expected to regularly score in double figures. The JC transfers must contribute right away. It’s going to be very hard to remain in the upper half of the Pac 12.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)