Colorado

 

PAC 12 Preview:  Colorado

 

Last Season:  Colorado went 22-9 overall, and 9 - 7 in the conference.  

The Coaches:  

Head Coach JR Payne will be in her 7th year at Colorado after two seasons at Santa Clara.   Payne led Santa Clara to its first winning season in 8 seasons and finished 23-9.   JR, no periods, and real name. 

Toriano Towns is the Associate Head Coach and is also in his 7th and also coached with Payne at Santa Clara.  Towns coached at Gonzaga with Payne and later at Arizona where he was the Post coach for the great, late Polk.

Ali-Marie, is a graduate of St Mary’s where she played for now Oregon coach Kelly Graves.   Her first coaching job was at age 23 for Graves when he started at Gonzaga.  

Alex Earl is in her 7th year on the staff.    Alex was an assistant with Payne three seasons ago at Santa Clara and played for years at ASU graduating in 2013.   Alex was a HS teammate of JJ Hones on a team where all five starters player Division 1 basketball.  

Tim Hayes is in his 1^st season at Colorado.  He was the Head Coach at Southeastern University where his record was 176-13.  

 

Losses (who is gone):

Shandrika Lee assistant coach who left after 6 seasons at Colorado to go into private business. 

Mya Hollingshed who averaged 14 points and rebounds and was drafted by the WNBA.

Sirena (Peanut) Tuitele who averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds.  Peanut transferred to Cal. 

Maura Singer who played only 7 games.  She may have retired. 

Lesila Finau who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds.   She transferred to Cal Baptist.

Kylee Blacksten who averaged 2 points.  She transferred to West Virginia.

Kennedy Taylor who played just 8 games.   She transferred to Missouri State.

 

Additions:

Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3 Soph Post Center transfer from Arizona.  Vonleh averaged 6 points and 2 rebounds at Arizona.              

Jada Wynn, 6-0 Frosh Guard from SoCal daughter of the former Washington coaches, unranked

Lizzie Holder, 6-1 Frosh Forward from MN   Unranked

Ali Fitzgerald, 6-2 Forward from Missouri, unranked

Brianna McLeod, 6-3 Frosh Forward from Canada

The Returning Team:   

Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7 Sr Point Guard who averaged 8 points and 4 assists. 

Tameiya Sadler is a 5-8  Jr Guard Washington.  Sadler averaged 15 ppg.

Quay Miller is a 6-3 Sr Post.   Miller averaged 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Frieda Formann, 5-11 Jr Guard from Denmark.   Formann averaged 7 points per game.  

Charlotte Whittaker is a 6-4 Redshirt Sr Post from Australia who averaged 5 points and 2 rebounds two years ago but missed last season with an injury.     

Tayanna Jones is a 6-1 5^th year  Guard who averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds.

Kindyll Wetta is a 5-9 Soph Guard who averaged 4ppg.  Her Mom played Basketball at Colorado.  

Sophie Gerber, 6-0 Redshirt Soph Guard who played just 7 games.  

 

The Schedule:            

The Buffs will play in the preseason NIT vs Texas Tech and Louisiana 

 

Predictions:  

Hollingshed is a big loss but 4 solid players return.  Miller, Sadler, Sherrod are solid Pac 12 players who won last season.  Formann is a good three point shooter and both Wynn and Vonleh played very well on their trip to Spain recently.    Are they top six?  Close at least.  

 

2023 Recruiting:    

Ruthie Loomis-Golti, 6-3 Post from NE, ranked # 74

Kennedy Sanders, 5-8 PG from MN, ranked # 70

Saulele Tanuvasa, 5-11 Guard from NorCal, not ranked

Looking at the CAL BEARS

PAC 12 Preview:  Cal

 

Our first PAC-12 game will be with the CAL Bears on Friday, December 23 -- the last game before the (brief) holiday break.  Here's what their team looks like so far.

Last Season:  11-13 overall and 2-12 in conference play.   

The Coaches:

Charmin Smith with 2 degrees from Stanford returns for her 15th season at Cal and is now the Head Coach for her 4th year.  

Kai Felton is back for her 10th year at Cal.  Kai has been an Assistant at Oregon, 2 years, and at USC, 5 years.  Kai is no longer an official coach but she is a Special Assistant. 

Paul Reed is in his 2^nd year after 4 years at Washington.

Eliza Pierre is in her 2nd year after 4 years at UCSB.

Heidi Heintz is in her first year.  Heintz was an assistant at St Mary’s the past three years.  

 

Losses:  

Kelly Cole coached for one year and moved on.

Dalayah Daniels 6-4 Jr  Forward ranked # 13 out of HS.   Daniels averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds and transferred to Washington.  

Fatou Samb, 6-4 Jr Post who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds and transferred to Rice. 

Cailyn Crocker 5-9 Grad transfer Guard who averaged 6 points.  Crocker transferred to Colorado State     

 

Additions:

Amaya Bonner, 6-0 Guard from Oakland.   Ranked # 51 and had offers from ASU, Arizona, UCLA, Utah and Washington. 

Claudia Langarita, 6-4 Post Soph transfer from USF where she averaged 10 points and 3 rebounds. 

Kemery Martin, 6-0 Sr Guard transfer from Utah where she only played 6 games with injuries last season.  As a Soph Martin averaged 11 ppg.

Peanut Tuitele, 6-1 Forward Grad Transfer from Colorado where she averaged 7 ppg.  However the year before Peanut averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds.  

Karisa Ortiz, 6-0 Guard Grad Transfer from Texas/  Mitty HS to Penn State to Texas.  Last season she sat out at Cal with injuries.  Two years ago at Texas she averaged 4 points and had a 2:1 Assists to Turnover ratio.

                                           

 

The Schedule:                 

Cal’s toughest known opponent presently is UC San Diego.  However they will play in three tournaments and from the dates 5 games.  First is in St Louis, then at LMU, finally at Cal.  At LMU they will play the host, LMU and Montana with their Assistant Jos Tinkle.  

 

The Team:

Jayda Curry, 5-6 Soph Guard averaged 18 points and 4 rebounds.

Jaden Bush, 5-11 Forward a Grad Transfer from Harvard.  Bush averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds in 12 games before being injured.   

Leilani McIntosh, 5-5 Sr Guard who averaged 7 points and 4 assists. 

Jazlen Green 5-11 Sr Guard averaged 9 points and made 49 threes at 36%.

Evelien Lutje Schipholt, 6-2 Forward from the Netherlands.  Last year she averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Mia Mastrov, 5-11 Soph Guard who graduated early from HS to join the Bears. Mia averaged 2 points 

Alma Elsnitz 5-11 Jr G from Sweden who averaged 2 points in 14 games. 

Sela Heide, 6-7 Jr Post from Washington (hometown is the Twin Peaks TV show location).   Sela played only 2 games before being injured and has played little at Cal. 

Ornela Muca, 5-7 Jr Guard from Greece.  She played just 12 games.  

Michelle Onyiah, 6-3 Jr Post ranked # 35 out of HS.   She averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds.  

 

Predictions:  

Cal has four starters back however from a team that won just two league games.  They have several players back from injury who should contribute and did well adding transfers.  Curry is very good and the team is a year older, more experienced.  Do they have a chance to be top Six in the league, I’d say close and possible.   

 

2023 Recruiting:  None yet although they should have at least 3 openings and as many as 6. 

 

 

 

Pac 12 Previews:  Arizona State University

An entirely new coaching staff, nine new players, seven players lost to graduation or transfer. A new era for ASU.

Last Season:   The Sun Devils were 12-14 and 4-9 in Pac 12 Play

The Coaching Staff:   

Natasha Adair is the new Head Coach after 5 years as Head Coach at Delaware going 95-58 and last season to the NCAA tournament.   Previously Adair was the Head Coach at Georgetown.

Darrell Mosley joins Adair after one season at Delaware and before that Head Coach at Lincoln University.

Mykala Walker spent the previous 5 years as an assistant coach at Delaware.

Camille Collier comes to ASU after coaching at Virginia Tech

 

The Losses:  

Charlie Turner Thorne retired after 24 years as the Head Coach.  The assistants from last season are all gone as the new staff takes over.

Jade Loville the leading scorer at 16 ppg.  Transfer to Arizona.

Mael Gilles the 2^nd leading scorer at 10 ppg and the leading rebounder at 8 per game.  She graduated.  

Taya Hanson who averaged 8 ppg.  Transfer to Oregon.

Ayzhiana Basallo who averaged 5 ppg.  Transfer to Santa Clara.

Katelyn Levings who averaged 5 ppg, Transfer to Tulsa.

Jayde Van Hyfte averaged 3 points

Gabriela Bosquez, 5-7 Grad Student Guard who averaged 3 ppg

That’s 50 of the 63 ppg for the team.   

The Returning Team:  

Jaddan Simmons, 5-9 Jr PG, averaged 10 points.

Maggie Besselink, 6-3 Jr Forward who averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Isadora Sousa, 6-0 Jr Guard who played just 7 games.   

Sydney Erikstrup, 6-1 Jr  Wing averaged 1.6 ppg

Imogen Greenslade, 6-4 Jr Post averaged 2 ppg

  

The Additions:  

Meg Newman 6-3 Redshirt Frosh who didn’t play last season ranked # 35 out of HS.

Trayanna Crisp, 5-7 Incoming Frosh Guard from Arizona, ranked # 73.  

Jaylah Robinson, 5-11 Incoming Frosh Guard from PA

Journey Thompson, 6-2 Incoming Frosh Forward from PA

Treasure Hunt, 6-2 Jr Wing from Kentucky who averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds.

Lauryn Satterwhite  

Morasha Wiggins 6-0 Soph Wing from North Carolina who averaged 1.5 ppg.  However Wiggings was ranked # 18 out of HS.  

Kayla Mokwuah Grad Transfer, 6-4 Post from TCU, averaged 5 ppg and 2 rebounds last season at TCU.  

Tyi Skinner, 5-5 Soph PG from Delaware, averaged 13 ppg last season at Delaware.

Nine newcomers and as many as 4 could start.   So many gone plus the coaching staff

 

Predictions:                     

ASU is pretty much starting over.   They did get the Coach’s Point Guard so that’s a start however they will be picked last in the conference.  It’s going to be a very hard year.  

 

The Schedule:  Not yet announced beyond a tournament with American, Notre Dame, and probably LSU.

2023 Recruiting:  None yet.