Pac 12 Preview: Washington

Pac 12 Preview: Washington

Last Year: All the way to the Final 4. This was after going 26-11 overall and 11-7 in league play.



Coaches:
Mike Neighbors is in his 4th season as Head Coach after 3 seasons as an Assistant at Washington.

Morgan Valley is in her 2nd year as an assistant, coming from Virginia Tech. She played at UConn.

Jasmine Lister is in her first year as an assistant. Lister played at Vandy and spent the past two years as a Grad Assistant at UConn.

Todd Schaefer is in his first year as an assistant after 3 seasons at Mississippi.

The two assistants Washington lost are both now Head Coaches.



Losses: Talia Walton averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds both 2nd on the team. Walton led the team in threes with 86 at 36%.

Alexus Atchley averaged 5 points becoming a starter for the last 22 games after an injury to Ruiz. She hit 35 threes at 40%.

Mathilde Gilling averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds in 12 minutes.



Additions: Two big additions to the team are Heather Corral and Natalie Romeo.
Corral is a 6-1 5th year Sr Wing who has missed the past two years with injuries. Corral has had a number of knee injuries, 2 in HS and not only missed the past 2 years but played in only 7 games in the year before that.
However if she can play she is a fine shooter from three and a heady player. Great to see her back.

Natalie Romeo is a 5-7 Jr Guard who transferred from Nebraska and must sit out this season. Last season at Nebraska Romeo averaged 16 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists and hit 104 threes. A top player out of HS.

Arrion McDonald is a 5-7 Frosh Guard who can score and play the Point. She was ranked # 51.

Mai-Loni Henson is a 6-1 Frosh Forward ranked # 69. She is a very strong rebounder and can play inside or outside the paint.

Amber Melgoza is a 5-10 Shooting Guard ranked # 147 but in her last two years of HS she averaged about 30 points per game.

Gigi Garcia is a 6-2 Post or Forward ranked # 89. She had a knee operation as a HS Sr but played in a post season all-star game. Gigi is an outstanding athlete, and should play right away if health permits.



Schedule: Incredibly weak especially for a Final 4 team. BYU, Fresno State and Boise State being the highlights. However they are in the Pre Season NIT, and it’s possible they play Notre Dame. The Huskies play Stanford and Cal only at Home and the Oregon schools only in Oregon.



The Team:
Romeo has a chance of playing this season and should know yes or no any day. Her coach at Nebraska was fired so presume her application to play is based on that. She is from the East Bay.

Katie Collier is a 6-3 5th year Post who started every game last season averaging 6 points and 6 rebounds. . Collier had cancer as a HS Sr then hurt her knee as a Washington Frosh missing the year. She was ranked 22 out of HS and a McDonalds All American

6-2 Sr Chantel Osahor played mostly off the bench last season averaging averaging 5 points and 6 rebounds can shoot the three and is a GREAT passer, although lacks quickness. However we all remember her in the Elite 8 game against Stanford

The Great Kelsey Plum now a Sr returns at Guard. Plum is 5-8 and averaged 26 points last season along with 4 assists and 4
rebounds . Plum hit 78 threes at 33%, but hit at 40% her Jr year. Plum is a First team All American

Brianna Ruiz returns at Guard as Washington played three Guards last season. Ruiz is a 5-10 redshirt Jr who averaged 6 points. Ruiz missed the last half of the season with a knee injury.

Kelli Kingma is a 5-8 Jr Guard. Kelli averaged just 9 minutes and 2 points per game last season. She is the sister of Kristi a former great Husky.

Deja Strother is a 6-5 Soph Post who averaged 2 points, 2 rebounds in 5 minutes per game last season. Deja was ranked # 35 out of HS.

Mackenzie Wieburg is a 5-9 and former walk on now on scholarship who played just 37 minutes last season.

Hannah Johnson is a 6-1 Redshirt Soph who played just 41 minutes last season.



Predictions: Several of the Frosh must step up and play meaningful and valuable minutes. Also Corral and Ruiz are hopefully healthy. Any team with Plum will be very good.


2017 Recruiting: Kierra Collier is a 5-6 Point Guard from Missouri ranked # 55.