Pac 12 Preview: Washington State

 

                                                                                            Pac 12 Preview:  Washington State  

Last Year:

23-11 for the year and 9-9 in conference play and won the Pac 12 tournament.

Coaches:

Kamie Ethridge is in her 6th year as Head Coach.   Ethridge was the Head Coach at Northern

Kamie Ethridge

Colorado for 4 seasons averaging 21 wins and making the NCAAs this past season.   She was an Assistant for 18 years at Kansas State.   Kamie won a Gold Medal for USA Basketball at the 1988 Olympics then won an NCAA Championship as a Player at Texas.

Laurie Koehn is in her 6^th year and came from Northern Colorado after three years with Ethridge.   She played professionally for 11 years.  

Camille Williams is in her 5th year at Washington State.  She was the Head Coach at Academy of Art is San Francisco last season and before that nine years at Nevada.   He was a two sport star at Wisconsin, basketball and the High Jump.  

Matt Smith is in his first year at Washington State.

Losses:    

Jason Chainey an assistant for 5 years moved on.  

Ula Motuga averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds.   Motuga graduated.

Emma Nankervis averaged 1 point.  Emma graduated.

Grace Sarver averaged 2 points.  Sarver graduated.

Kaia Woods just played 41 minutes last season.  Woods transferred to Arkon

Lauren Glazier averaged 2 points and 1 rebound.   Glazier to UOP. 

Additions:

Alex Covill, 6-6 Post from MT, not ranked 

Jenna Villa 6-1 Guard/Wing from WA ranked # 68

Candace Kpetikou 6-3 Post from SoCal by of Niger.  

Elornora Villa 5-8 Guard from Italy.  Has played on the Italy 17U and 18U National

Teams.

Beyonce Bea 6-1 Wing Grad Transfer from Idaho where last season she averaged 23 ppg. 

Schedule:   

Gonzaga, Houston, Auburn and Maryland are non conference games of note.  The Cougars play only USC and UCLA on the road and play Oregon and Oregon State only at home.

The Returning Team: 

Charlisse Leger-Walker is a 5-10 Sr Guard who averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds with 68

Charisse Leger-Walker

threes at 35%.

Bella Murekatete is a 6-5,  5^th year Post from Rwanda and Played HS in Idaho who averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds.    

Johanna Teder, 5-8  5^th year Guard originally from Estonia.  Last season she averaged 8 points and made 59 threes at 34%.  

Astera Tuhina, 5-9 Soph Guard.   Tuhina is the youngest player to play for her native Kosovo National team and scored 7 points ppg last season.

Kyra Gardner 5-11 Soph  Wing who was the state of Washington Gatorade POY.  Kyra averaged 2 ppg.

Cia Eklof  5-10 Redshirt Frosh Guard from Finland who played on their 20U National team

Jessica Clarke, 6-3 Sr Post from British Canada who averaged 5 points and 2 rebounds.  

Tara Wallack, 6-2 Jr Wing from Canada and averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Predictions: 

Most of the team is back with only one real loss.   Plus several good recruits/transfers.   Still the league is even better this season .   Obviously great coaching.   

Recruiting 2024: No commits yet

Pac 12 Preview: Washington

 Pac 12 Preview:  Washington

Last Year:   19-15 overall and 7-11 in league play.    Also the Huskies made it to the Final 4 of the WNIT.

Coaches:

Coach Langley

Tina Langley is in her 3^nd year Head Coach after 6 great seasons at Rice and before that 7
seasons as an Assistant at Maryland.    She was 126-61 at Rice.   Langley has two Masters Degrees.  

Katie Faulkner is in her 3^nd year coming from  Oregon State where she was an Assistant for 5 years.   Faulkner played at Montana where she was an outstanding player.   She will also be the Recruiting Coordinator.  

LaTara King is in her 3^nd year coming from Rice with Langley, having coached there the past 3 seasons and before that at Boston College.  

Nolan Wilson is in his 2^nd year at Washington first as assistant.

Bobby Wilson is in his first year as an Assistant and his 2^nd year with the Huskies. 

Losses:  

Assistant Dan Tacheny after three seasons.

Emma Grothaus averaged 4 points and graduated.

Haley Van Dyke averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds and graduated.  

Darcy Rees averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds and graduated.

Trinity Oliver averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds and graduated. 

Alexis Griggsby didn’t play last season.  She transferred to Pepperdine

Tyiona Watkins averaged 2 points and graduated. 

Additions:  

Olivia Anderson, 6-6 Post from WA, was ranked top 60 at one point

Ari Long 6-0 Guard/Wing from SoCal, ranked # 46

Chloe Briggs 5-11 Guard from SoCal, ranked # 93

Sayvia Sellers, 5-7 PG from Alaska, ranked # 28

Schedule:  

Louisville their toughest by far non conference game.  Washington plays only at home vs Oregon and Oregon State and only at USC and UCLA.

The Returning Team: 

Tergan Brown, 5-10 Soph Wing  Averaged 2 points however she was  Ranked # 79 out of HS.

Elle Ladine, 5-11 Soph Guard averaged 6 points.

Hannah Stines,  5-10 Soph Guard averaged 7 points. 

Dalayah Daniels

Dalayah Daniels 6-2 Jr Wing Transferred from Cal.  Last season at Washington Daniels
averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds.   

Shalya Gilmore 6-1 Soph Forward played just 33 minutes.

Lauren Schwartz, 5-11 5^th year Sr Wing who transferred from Rice.   Last season with Washington she averaged 9 ppg.

Nia Lowery is a 5-9 Redshirt Jr who didn’t play last season.

Jayda Noble, 5-11 Jr Guard averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Predictions:  

Pressure on Anderson as no one over 6-2.  However Daniels and Schwartz are strong players and Ladine and Stines are going to be top players. Also a fine recruiting class.  A team on the rise, soon.   

2024 Recruiting:    

Annika Soltau, 6-4 Post from Germany  A top recruit

Devin Coppinger, 5-10 CG from WA ranked # 35

Pac 12 Preview: Utah

 

Pac 12 Preview:  Utah

Last Season:  

27-5 overall and 15-3 in Pac 12 play and The Pac 12 Champion in the Pac 12 Tournament and the co-Champ in League play.

The Coaches:

Lynne Roberts is in her 9th year after moving from the University of Pacific, UOP.  Roberts was

Coach Roberts

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.   

Gavin Peterson is in his 9th 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.

Jerise Freeman is in her 3nd season at Utah.  Freeman was an Assistant at Oklahoma State the past 4 years.  

Jordan Sullivan is in her 2nd year at Utah.   Sullivan is a former Montana player who was an Assistant at Montana the past 5 seasons.   

Losses:

Teya Sidberry, averaged 4 points a game and transferred to Boston College.   However she is the all time leading scorer in Utah HS history.

Payton McFarland, graduated after just playing in 13 games while recovering from a serious injury.   With a covid year she is now at Houston.

Kelsey Rees, graduated after averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds.   Again a covid year for Rees and she is now at Oregon State.

Additions:

Daniela Falcon Hernandez 6-2 Wing/ Forward from Spain

Reese Ross 6-1 Forward from SD Not ranked

Alyssa Blanck 6-2 Soph Forward who transferred from BYU.   Blanck didn’t play last season.

Matyson Wilke 5-10 Soph Guard who transferred from Wisconsin.  Wilke averaged 12 points making 61 threes at 35%.

Nene Sow, 6-8 Jr Post who transferred from Northeastern Oklahoma, and originally from Belgium.  Sow sat out last season.  The year before at NE Oklahoma she averaged 3 points and 5 rebounds.

Samantha Crispe 6-2 Soph Forward who transferred from Boston University.   Crispe averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds at BU last season.

The Schedule:   

Baylor, South Carolina and BYU are the tough games.   Utah plays Stanford and Cal only at home and ASU and Arizona on the road. 

The Returning Team:

Jenna Johnson 6-2 Jr Forward averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds. 

Kneepkens

Gianna Kneepkens 5-11 Jr Guard averaged 15 points and 5 rebounds and made 71 threes at 42%.

Alissa Pili 6-2 Sr Post who averaged 21 points and 6 rebounds.

Kennady McQueen, 5-10 Jr Guard averaged 9 points and made 59 threes at 36%.

Isabel Palmer is a 5-9 Sr Guard who transferred from Texas where as a Frosh she averaged 3 points.   Palmer was born in the US but moved to Australia with her family at the age of 4 months.  She averaged 8 ppg.

Lani White, 5-11 Soph Guard averaged 3 points. 

Dasia Young, 5-11 Sr Wing averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds last season.

Ines Vieira, 5-6 Jr  Guard from Portugal.   She averaged 3 points.  

Predictions:  

With 5 starters returning who averaged 8, 9, 12, 15 and 21 ppg and only backup losses this is a top team.  Utah is picked to win the conference and ranked # 5 in the nation to start the season.  

2024 Recruiting: 

Kylie Ray 5-8 PG from SoCal, not ranked

Brooke Walker 5-8 PG from KS Ranked # 69

Pac 12 Preview: Southern Cal

 

Pac 12 Preview:  Southern Cal

Last Season: 21-10 overall and 11-7 in Pac 12 play.  

The Coaches: 

Lindsay Gottlieb is in her 3^nd, after two years in the NBA and 8 years as the Head Coach at Cal

Coach Gottlieb

where she won 67% of her games.

Beth Burns is in her 2nd year at USC after coaching at Louisville.   Beth was once at Stanford.  Beth is the Associate Head Coach.

Wendale Farrow is in his 3nd year after 5 years at Cal, three with Gottlieb.

Courtney Jaco is in her first year after being Director of player Development.   She was a great player at USC and once an intern at Stanford.

Willnett Crockett is in her first year at USC.   Willnett is a UConn grad, 2006 and played for UConn and the LA Sparks.  She coached at Temple for 13 years.   

Losses:

Nneka Enemkpali Assistant after 3 years. 

Destiny Littleton  averaged 14 ppg and graduated.

Okako Adika averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds and graduated.

Kadi Sissoko averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds and graduated.

Rokia Doumbia averaged 3 points, and graduated.

Alyson Miura 3 points and graduated.. 

Madison Campbell  was injured last season and graduated. 

Bella Perkins averaged 4 points and transferred to Pitt.

Additions:

Juju Watkins, 6-2 Frosh Guard from LA ranked # 1

Juju Watkins

Malia Samuels, 5-6 Frosh Guard from Seattle Ranked # 49

Dominique Onu, 5-10 Redshirt Soph Guard transfer from UCLA.  Onu averaged 4 points per game as a Frosh at UCLA.

Kaitlyn Davis 6-2 Wing Grad transfer from Columbia where she averaged 13 points and 8 rebounds last season.

McKenzie Forbes, 6-0 Grad Transfer Guard from Folsom who transferred from Harvard after playing first at Cal.   Forbes averaged 14 ppg last season at Harvard. 

Roxane Makolo 5-10 Guard Grad transfer from TCU.  Last season she averaged 6 ppg.

Kayla Padilla 5-9 Guard Grad transfer from Penn where she lead the league in scoring at 18 ppg plus made 81 threes.  

The Schedule: 

The Trojans play Ohio State, Florida Gulf Coast and Penn State non conference.   Interesting their last 5 non conference games are all in the LA area against LA area teams.   The Trojans play at Stanford and Cal only and host only Washington and Washington State.  

The Returning Team:   

India Otto is a 5-9 Grad student Guard who played just 15 minutes.

Clarice Akunwafo, 6-6 Jr Post who averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Rayah Marshall, 6-4 Jr Forward who averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds.   

Aaliyah Gayles, 5-9 Redshirt Frosh Point Guard, NV who Ranked # 8   Badly injured and redshirted  last season.

Taylor Rigby 6-1 Redshirt Soph  Guard transferred from Oregon after averaged 4 points.

Kayla Williams 5-7 Sr Guard who averaged 5 points.

Predictions:    

Mostly a new team although new players Forbes, Padilla and of course Watkins are solid.    Strong Post in Marshall But Rigby and Gayles need big comebacks.   Picked 6^th in the Pac 12 Poll.  

2024 Recruiting Commits:  

Rian Forestier 5-11 CG from TX,  ranked # 51.   Avery Howell, 6-0 Wing from ID, Ranked # 23.  Laura Williams 6-2 Forward from VA ranked # 88.