Last Season:
The Washington Huskies were 21-12 last season and 11-7 in Pac 12 play. This was after losing outstanding frosh Katie Collier to a knee injury.
The Coaches:
Kevin McGuff did a great job in his 2 years as Head Coach coming from Xavier but he left for the Ohio State position. His assistant Mike Neighbors has replaced McGuff. Neighbors was with McGuff for 4 years at Xavier and is a longtime assistant at age 44.
Kevin Morrison is in his 3rd year at Washington and was named by Neighbors as the Associate Head Coach. Morrison spent 4 years at Cal and before that was a well known travel coach in Northern California.
Adia Barnes returns for her 3rd season. Barnes is the U of Arizona’s all time leading scorer, being all Pac 10 three times in the late 90’s.
Fred Castro joins the staff from Tulsa where he was an assistant for the past 2 seasons.
Losses:
While the Huskies lost 5 from last season 3 didn’t play because of injuries. Kristi Kingma is a big loss as those of us who remember her rain of threes at Maples several years ago can attest. Kingma averaged 13 points per game and hit 86 threes at 31% while returning from missing the previous season with an ACL. Jeneva Anderson played every game but scored less than a point per game.
Additions:
Having 6-3 Redshirt Frosh Center Katie Collier healthy is huge. She can be outstanding. Collier was sidelined some in her Sr season being treated for cancer, and then tore her ACL before the first game last season. Collier was a McD All American and ranked # 20 in the country out of HS. She is due all the good luck possible, and with it you’ll see a very good offensive post player.
Kelsey Plum is a 5-9 guard, who will play and maybe start right away. Plum was ranked # 26 out of HS and is an outstanding three point shooter.
Chantel Oshahor is a 6-2 post ranked # 71. She is the best passing post player I have ever seen at the HS level. She and Collier will be outstanding together at some point.
Brianna Ruiz is a 5-10 guard ranked # 51. She may have gotten hurt in the off season a re-occurrence of her first ACL.
Marcy Keen is a 6-5 post transfer from Miami of Florida who will sit out this season and then have three years to play. Keen was ranked # 37 out of High School but struggled at Miami.
The Schedule:
Washington plays the LA schools and the Arizona schools just once each. Non-conference games include Texas A&M, St Mary’s and Pitt and then some teams that should be quite beatable.
The Team:
6 of the top 7 scorers and the top 2 rebounders return, although rebounding was a big weakness last season. The Huskies have 4 players back who started all but 6 total games last season.
At the guards will be 5-7 Jr Jazmine Davis and 5-8 Sr Mercedes Wetmore. Davis was a huge surprise once she got to Washington going from under recruited to the Pac 12 Frosh of the Year, and now a two time all Pac 12 player. Davis averaged 19 points per game last season hitting 71 threes at 36%, and 3 assists per game. Wetmore averaged 7 points and 3.5 assists per game as she and Davis started side by side for all but 3 games.
Collier at the Post.
Talia Walton is a 6-2 soph and Aminah Williams a 6-0 Jr and they will be the forwards. Walton averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds per game and added 57 threes at 31%. Williams averaged 9 points and 11 rebounds per game, and led the team in steals.
Heather Corral is a 6-1 soph wing who averaged 4.5 points per game in 19 minutes. Mathilde Gilling is a 6-3 soph from Denmark who played 8 minutes per game.
Add the frosh Plum and Osahor and you have 5 very good starters and good depth.
Predictions: This is a first division team and young with only one Sr. The Huskies are back.
2014 Recruiting:
Kelli Kingma, sister of Kristi is a 5-9 guard, # 86. Hannah Johnson is a 6-2 forward ranked about 170. Toree Thompson is a 5-9 guard ranked
# 123. Then there is the transfer Macy Keen.
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