September 25, 2017

Pac 12 Preview: Washington

A Note: USC has another recruit, Jillian Archer a 6-2 Forward from SoCal ranked about 150.

Also three Pac 12 players have transferred to Santa Clara:
Joeseta Fatuesi from Utah
Lauren Yearwood from Oregon
Charise Holloway from Arizona




Pac 12 Preview: Washington

Last Year: 29-6 overall and 15-3 in league play. The Huskies lost in the Sweet 16 to finalist Mississippi State.


Coaches:
All new for this season. Jody Wynn is the new Head Coach moving from Long Beach State where she was Head Coach for 8 seasons and last year took Long Beach State to their first NCAA tournament in 25 years. Jody was a starting Guard at USC and also for 5 years an assistant at USC.

Derek Wynn is the Associate Head Coach, and her husband. Like Jody he was at Long Beach State and USC.

Michelle Augustavo returns to Washington where she was a player for two years transferring from San Diego where she set the single game scoring record of 42. Michelle coached with the Wynn’s this past season and before that 4 years at UC Irvine.

Paul Reed completes the move of the Long Beach State staff to Washington. He coached for three years at Long Beach State. Paul was a Small College All American Defensive back.


Losses:
Well the entire Coaching staff moved on. The Head Coach moved to Arkansas. And several of the greatest players in Husky history graduated.

Kelsey Plum graduated and goes down in history as one of the greatest players in College history. Plum averaged 32 points last season. She made 115 threes at 43%, and averaged 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Chantel Osahor averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists.

Aarion McDonald was just a Frosh last season but choose to transfer to Arizona. McDonald averaged 10 points

Katie Collier averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Heather Corral averaged 5 points and made 41 threes at 44%.

The Huskies lost 69 of their 85 points per game.



Additions:
Gigi Garcia is a 6-2 Post or Forward ranked # 89 two years ago. Gigi sat out last season with injuries so is a redshirt frosh.

Fapou Semebene is a 6-1 Soph Forward. She’s from Fairfax HS in LA where she was a strong rebounder. Fairfax is where Warren Zevon and many other famous people when to High school.

Kierra Collier is a 5-6 Frosh Point Guard from Missouri who was ranked # 55.

Khayla Rooks is a 6-1 Forward from SoCal. Rooks brother plays at Cal and Dad was a longtime NBA player and a standout at Arizona.

Alexis Griggsby is a 5-9 Frosh Guard from SoCal.

Missy Peterson is a 5-11 Frosh Guard from Washington.



Schedule: Washington plays the LA schools and the Arizona schools once each. Still no pre season schedule for the Huskies.


The Team:
Natalie Romeo is a 5-7 Sr Guard who transferred from Nebraska before last season. She averaged 9 points making 94 threes at 39% in her first season with the Huskies.

Mai-Loni Henson is a 6-1 Soph Forward who averaged 3 points and 1 rebound in 11 minutes per game. Henson was ranked # 69 in HS.

Amber Melgoza is a 5-10 Soph Shooting Guard who averaged 2 points in 8 minutes.

Deja Strother is a 6-5 Jr Post who averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds.

Hannah Johnson is a 6-1 Redshirt Jr Forward who averaged 3.5 points and 4 rebounds.

Kelli Kingma is a 5-8 Guard who missed last year with injuries. If healthy she will start. Kelli started her first two games last season before being hurt. Her sister is former Husky great Kristi.

Jenna Moser a Sr and MacKenzie Wieburg another Sr saw little action this past season.


Predictions: Huge losses and only one returning player averaged better than 4 points per game. It a very much rebuilding year for the Huskies.



2018 Recruiting: No Commits yet.

September 18, 2017

Pac 12 Previw: Utah

First an recruiting update: USC has a Commit for 2018 Point Guard Desiree Caldwell, ranked # 13. Caldwell's Sister was a UCLA player who transferred to Texas Tech.


Pac 12 Preview: UTAH

Last Season:
16-15 overall and 5-13 in Pac 12 play finishing in a 4 way tie for 9-12th place.

The Coaches:
Lynne Roberts is in her 3nd year after moving from the University of Pacific, UOP. Roberts was Head Coach at UOP for 9 seasons, being named Conference Coach of the Year twice in the last three years. Before UOP Roberts was Head Coach at Chico State for 4 seasons. Utah improved quite a bit last season.

Gavin Peterson is in his 3nd year after 2 seasons with Roberts at UOP. Peterson has been an assistant in the West since 2002 and an Associate Head Coach for 6 of those seasons.

Danyelle Snelgro is in her 3nd year after a season at TCU and 2 seasons at Fresno State. She played at Utah State.

Joanna Reitz is in her first season as a coach at Utah. Reitz has coached for 7 years mostly D2.


Losses:
Paige Crozon averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds. Paige also made 49 threes at 35%. She made 1/3 of the Utes three point shots.

Malia Nawahine averaged 10 points and 3 rebounds. Malia made 41 threes at 32%.

Together Malia and Paige made about 2/3 of the Utes three point shots.

Joeseta Fatuesi played in just 9 games.



Additions:
Megan Huff is a 6-3 Redshirt Jr Forward who transferred from Hawaii and will redshirted this past season. At Hawaii two seasons ago she averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds. She went to Hawaii to play Volleyball but switched to Basketball.

Jordan Cruz is a 5-11 Frosh Guard from Sacramento. She made 13 threes in one of her HS games and averaged 20 points as a Sr. Jordan was ranked # 111.
Tori Williams is a 5-10 Frosh Guard from Idaho. Tori averaged 22 points as a Sr. She was ranked # 99.

Elli Koskinen, 6-5 Frosh Post from Finland. Elli has played at least 4 years for various Finnish National age group teams.

Dru Gylten is a 5-11 Frosh Guard from South Dakota. Dru led her team to 4 straight State Championships and was All State her last 2 seasons.
Arianna LaLonde is a 6-4 Frosh Froward from Arizona. Arianna will be redshirting this season.

Maurane Corbin is a 6-5 Frosh Post from Quebec, who averaged 15 points and 13 rebounds as a Sr.



The Schedule: The Utes play Stanford and Cal once each and also the Oregon schools once each. Huge break as all four of these teams should be top 5-6. The non conference schedule has Alabama, St Marys, BYU and Purdue.



The Team:
Emily Potter is a 6-6 Sr Post who averaged 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Potter was a member of the Canadian National Team.
Tanaeya Boclair is a 6-0 Sr Wing who averaged 10 points and 4 rebounds.

Erika Bean is a 5-8 Jr Guard. Bean is from the Sacramento area and averaged 4 pints, 4 rebounds and 5.5 assists last season.

Wendy Anae is a 6-3 Sr Forward who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes last season.

Daneesha Provo is a 6-0 Redshirt Jr Guard. Provo transferred from Clemson where she scored 5 points per game as a Frosh and was on the Canadian National Jr team. Provo averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds in 12 minutes.

Kiana Moore is a 5-7 Soph Guard from Vacaville who averaged 3 points in 12 minutes.

Megan Jacobs is a 6-1 Frosh Wing from Las Vegas. Her brother plays Pro Football with Carolina. Megan averaged 3 points in 13 minutes.
Tilar Clark is a 5-10 Sr Guard who averaged 3 points in 8 minutes.



Predictions:
Only three players return who averaged 14 or more minutes per game, although all three were starters. Several interesting new players, four are 6-3 to 6-5. Should be interesting, but not top 6 in the Pac 12.


2018 Recruiting: No Commits yet.

September 11, 2017

Pac 12 Preview: USC

Pac 12 Preview: Southern Cal

Last Season: 14-16 overall and just 5-13 in Pac 12 play. This has resulted in a new coaching staff.


The Coaches: Mark Trakh has returned to USC after six seasons as the Head Coach at New Mexico State. Mark coach for 5 seasons at USC before New Mexico. New Mexico State lost just 2 league games in the past 3 seasons. Mark started as a Head Coach at Pepperdine in 1994.
Jason Glover is the Associate Head Coach. Glover joined Mark at New Mexico State last season after several years coaching in both the NBA and the WNBA.
Aarika Hughes returns to USC where she played. Hughes coached for 5 years at New Mexico State. She was a HS teammate of JJ Hones and Colorado assistant Alex Earl.
Blanche Alverson is like the other assistants in their first year at USC after 2 seasons at New Mexico State.


Losses:
Lauren Higgins would have been a Soph Wing but has transferred to UOP. Last season she averaged 4.4 points while starting 15 games. She was a top recruit out of HS.

Courtney Jaco averaged 10.6 points and made 68 threes at 40%. Her 68 threes were more than the next 3 combined.

Ivana Jakubcova averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.
Alexis Lloyd averaged just 9 minutes a game.

Ayanna Clark who should be a frosh and at one time the top player in her class is not listed on the roster.

Destiny Littleton who scored about 5,000 points in her California HS career was released with the coaching change and is at Texas.



Additions:
The big addition is 6th year Grad Student Jordan Adams, see more under The Team.
Shalexxus Aaron is a 6-1 Frosh Guard from SoCal who played her firsdt three years of HS in Washington. Aaron was ranked # 57. Her brother is on the USC Men’s Basketball team.

Mariya Moore is a transfer from Louisville. She is a 6-0 Wing and must sit out this season. Her sister Minyon is a starter on this team. Mariya averaged 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for Louisville last season and is their # 13 all time leading scorer. She is a huge addition.


The Schedule:
Purdue and Texas A&M are the only standouts on the schedule. They play the Arizona and Washington schools once each.



The Team:
Kristen Simon is a 6-2 Sr Post who averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds starting every game last season. She led USC is both areas.

Sadie Edwards is a 5-10 Sr Guard who started her career at UConn. Sadie averaged 9 points per game, starting 22. She was a McD All American.

Minyon Moore is a 5-8 Soph guard who started at Point Guard last season. Minyon led the team is assists 4 per game and scored 12 points per game.

Jordan Adams is a 6-1 6th year Grad student at Guard. Jordan was only able to play 5 games last season, averaging 9 points. She was recruited to USC by new coach Trakh.

Aliyah Mazyck is a 5-9 Jr Guard who averaged 7 points per game last season in only 18 minutes.

Ja’Vavia Tapley is a 6-3 Soph Forward who averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds.

Asiah Jones is a 6-3 Soph Forwards who averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Marquerite Effa is a 6-3 Jr Post who played 82 minutes in 14 games last season.

Candela Abejon is a 6-1 Jr Guard from Spoain who played just 5 games last year.

Dani Milisic is a 6-4 Redshirt Soph Post from Australia;’ Last season she played just 6 minutes a game and appeared in 2.3 of the games. An interesting stat: she had 7 rebounds in 128 total minutes.



Predictions:
Really hurt badly by 3 great players who won’t be with the Trojans . Maybe Clark will at the semester, but I don’t know her situation.
Thin but with a couple of very good players. Still hard to see them in the top 6.



2018 Recruiting: No Commits yet. However they have had and will have some outstanding visitors.

September 4, 2017

Pac 12 Preview: Arizona

Pac 12 Preview: Arizona


Last Season: Arizona was 14-16 overall and 5-13 in Pac 12 play, under first year coach Adia Barnes.


The Coaches: Adia Barnes is the all time leading scorer at Arizona and is in her 2nd year the Head Coach. Barnes had been at Washington as an assistant the past four years as the Huskies came from the 2nd division of the Pac 12 to the NCAA Final Four. Barnes played professionally for 12 years including for 4 WNBA Teams.

Sunny Smallwood is in her 2nd year as the Associate Head Coach. Smallwood was the Associate Head Coach the two seasons at Boise State. She has coached at Cal, one year but the recruiting year of Hampton, Walker and Gray-Lawson. She also coached 9 years at Nebraska and another 11 years at Washington.

Salvo Coppa, or Mr Barnes is a 2nd year assistant. Coppa is from Italy and has extensive overseas coaching experience and several years in the US.

Morgan Valley is a new assistant coming from the U of Washington. Morgan played at UConn and before Washington was an assistant at Virginia Tech.


Losses: Leading scorer LaBrittany Jones who averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds.
Malena Washington was their 2nd leading scorer at 12 points per game and led the team in assists.

Breanna Workman was the Wildcats 3rd leading scorer at 8 points and their 2nd leading rebounder to Jones with 5 per game.
Dejza James averaged 5 points.
Lauren Evans averaged 4 points.
Farrin Bell averaged 2 points.
6-8 Post Eugenie Simonet-Keller only played 3 games.

Lost were 47 of the Wildcats 64 points per game and 23 of their 35 rebounds per game.



Additions: Sammy Fatkin a 6-0 Frosh Guard from the state of Washington. Ranked as the # 30 Guard out of HS.

Marlee Kyles is a 5-7 Frosh Guard from Illinois. Ranked as the # 23 Guard out of HS.

Sam Thomas is a 6-0 Frosh Forward from Las Vegas and was ranked # 95 overall.

Kiana Chew is a 6-3 post. Chew is from Germany but played HS basketball in Florida.

Kat Wright is a 5th year Grad transfer from Florida Atlantic. She is from Los Angeles and a 6-0 Forward. Kat was injured last season at Florida Atlantic but as a true Jr made 87 threes including 11 in one game.

Aarion McDonald is 5-7 Soph Guard who transferred from Washington where she started and was the teams’ 3rd leading scorer. In Washington’s post season run Aarion averaged 14 points per game. She will sit out this season.

Tee Tee Starks is a 5-9 Guard who transferred from Iowa State where she started about half their games last season. Starks is technically a redshirt Soph but will sit out this season.

Dominique McBryde is a 6-2 Jr Forward who transferred from Purdue where she averaged 7 points and 6 rebounds this past season. McBryde will sit out this season.

That’s 8 new players to Arizona, and 5 who will be eligible to play this season. This frosh class was ranked 8th in the Pac 12



The Schedule: While it isn’t much. TCU, San Diego State, Utah State and Hawaii are the highlights. However this is a weak team this year, wait until next season. The Wildcats play the LA and Washington schools only once each.


The Team: Taryn Griffey is a 5-7 Redshirt Jr Guard. Griffey, daughter of Ken Jr, averaged 6 points per game last season but with injuries could only play 15 games. . She missed her last 2 years of HS and her Frosh season and 10 games her academic Soph season with injuries.
JaLea Bennett is a 6-0 Sr Wing who averaged 7 points last season.

Destiny Graham is a 6-3 Jr Post from Eastside Prep in East Palo Alto. Graham averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds per game last season.

Charise Holloway is a 5-7 redshirt Jr Guard who was injured and played just 10 games and 70 minutes. She also didn’t play her Soph season. As a Frosh Holloway averaged 7 points per game and lead the team in threes.

Lucia Alonso is a 5-7 Soph Guard who started all but 3 games last season averaging 5 points and hitting 43% from three. She also had a plus assist to turnover ratio.

Bria Rice is a 5-8 Soph Guard who averaged one point in 6 minutes per game.


Predictions: Just 6 returning players to go with 5 new players eligible for play. The Wildcats are very thin as two of the returning players have missed more time than they have played. Looks like another last place finish. However recruiting is great and 3 top transfer ready for the following season.


2018 Recruiting:
Catherine Reese is a 6-2 Forward from Texas ranked # 29.

Shalyse Smith is a 6-1 Forward from Washington ranked # 47.

Bryce Nixon is a 5-10 Wing from Arizona ranked # 147

Valeria Trucco is a 6-3 Post from Italy ranked as a 5 star which would make her about top 25.

A great class and with McDonald a top recruiting class.