Women's Basketball Outlook/Prospects for 2012-13

[WuDrWu]

Oh, and it's nice to see KSU women have the bazookas to come down to Koch for a basketball game.

Yes it is, but it's not like they are flying into the same hornet's nest that a men's game would bring. In fact, the K-State game will almost certainly have (at least) 2 to 4 THOUSAND Purple clad kitty fans in attendance, dwarfing whatever fan base the Shockers will counter with. Sad, but true.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Yes it is, but it's not like they are flying into the same hornet's nest that a men's game would bring. In fact, the K-State game will almost certainly have (at least) 2 to 4 THOUSAND Purple clad kitty fans in attendance, dwarfing whatever fan base the Shockers will counter with. Sad, but true.

Popped in yesterday. This is a nice looking team. I don't know if this is a regular day, but Freshman Ali was shooting the lights out in live play. Alex is tough at the one, Jessie is steady, Kelsey is a beast, knocking the men they practice against all over the place. They look pretty crisp. Nice team. If Kelsey is their biggest banger, they are in trouble inside against playoff contenders who have very large girls. Kelsey is long and strong, but not thick enough to push around 6-4, 220. Mollie and Bugg are still slashing to the hoop and making forced passes. Michelle has no quit in her vocabulary. Plays hard! Jaz was playing a little tentative, Chynna kind of disappeared; hopefully not in games. Daurice was hitting her shots, but kind of cruises. Michaela was having a tough day and gets down on herself. Nicole plays hard, but was a step behind. I was fortunate to see live 5 on 5 (men) to make my assessment for one practice. Bottom line, this is a nice team!

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Popped in yesterday. This is a nice looking team. I don't know if this is a regular day, but Freshman Ali was shooting the lights out in live play. Alex is tough at the one, Jessie is steady, Kelsey is a beast, knocking the men they practice against all over the place. They look pretty crisp. Nice team. If Kelsey is their biggest banger, they are in trouble inside against playoff contenders who have very large girls. Kelsey is long and strong, but not thick enough to push around 6-4, 220. Mollie and Bugg are still slashing to the hoop and making forced passes. Michelle has no quit in her vocabulary. Plays hard! Jaz was playing a little tentative, Chynna kind of disappeared; hopefully not in games. Daurice was hitting her shots, but kind of cruises. Michaela was having a tough day and gets down on herself. Nicole plays hard, but was a step behind. I was fortunate to see live 5 on 5 (men) to make my assessment for one practice. Bottom line, this is a nice team!

The pre-season picks for All MVC are out. Haven't seen many comments on the Women's game. They will play soon. Volleyball is big at WSU and was huge at UCLA for Men back in the day. Lew (Kareem) played UCLA Rec. League. Ever tried hitting over 7-2+?

[1972Shocker]

The pre-season picks for All MVC are out. Haven't seen many comments on the Women's game. They will play soon. Volleyball is big at WSU and was huge at UCLA for Men back in the day. Lew (Kareem) played UCLA Rec. League. Ever tried hitting over 7-2+?

These are pre-season picks put out by College Sports Madness. So not the official MVC pre-season picks, although I don't see much to disagree with. What we really need though is to see some great team accomplishments and the individual awards will take care of themselves.

http://www.goshockers.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=205712409

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

These are pre-season picks put out by College Sports Madness. So not the official MVC pre-season picks, although I don't see much to disagree with. What we really need though is to see some great team accomplishments and the individual awards will take care of themselves.

http://www.goshockers.com//ViewArtic...CLID=205712409

The girls have started playing some full court live against the men. Jessie, Alex, Chynna and Kelsey are the four regulars with Bugg, who doesn't always seem to fit. The rest of the team seems out of synch during live play. Jaz is way behind. The entire team looks good during drills, but again, live play, there are four solid players. I'm sure this will improve.

[1972Shocker]

Jody must have read C0|dB|00ded's remark that the ladies didn't belong on the same floor with the guys as she scrimmaged the Lady Shocks against their all-male practice squad tonight at Shocker Madness and the Lady Shocks promptly kicked the guys ass 41-23 and that was with the guys shooting the 3-ball fairly well.

Shocks look similar to recent Shocker teams. They will defend and hopefully, they will rebound. They don't seem to have much outside shooting and I imagine Jody will restrict who and can shoot the 3-ball much as she did last year.
The Shocks will again need to score in transition this year.

I don't know that any one individual stood out tonight. Perhaps Michelle Price who looked better than I was expecting after sitting out a year. Jaz is still working her way back. I don't recall seeing much of Chynna. Not sure she played.
Alie Decker played and wasn't bashful about jacking it up, but she will have to learn more selectivity or she won't see much PT this year. Michaela Dapprich has her lower left arm/wrist in a cast. Molly has a new hair do. Liked it.

Shocks probably go 9 deep this year. Jessica, Jaz, Chynna, Michelle, Bugg, Alex, Kelsey, Darice and Molly. Nicole, Alie and Michaela (depending on her injury status) will probably only see fill-in minutes hear and there. If Michaela's injury is such that she will miss a good part of the season I would think a redshirt may be a consideration.

It may take a little while to figure out exactly how this team will come together this year, but perhaps the most positive thing was that Michelle looked to be back at or near where she was prior to sitting out last year.

Don't have to wait long to get a longer look at the Lady Shocks as they play an exhibition game Sunday.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Jody must have read C0|dB|00ded's remark that the ladies didn't belong on the same floor with the guys as she scrimmaged the Lady Shocks against their all-male practice squad tonight at Shocker Madness and the Lady Shocks promptly kicked the guys ass 41-23 and that was with the guys shooting the 3-ball fairly well.

Shocks look similar to recent Shocker teams. They will defend and hopefully, they will rebound. They don't seem to have much outside shooting and I imagine Jody will restrict who and can shoot the 3-ball much as she did last year.
The Shocks will again need to score in transition this year.

I don't know that any one individual stood out tonight. Perhaps Michelle Price who looked better than I was expecting after sitting out a year. Jaz is still working her way back. I don't recall seeing much of Chynna. Not sure she played.
Alie Decker played and wasn't bashful about jacking it up, but she will have to learn more selectivity or she won't see much PT this year. Michaela Dapprich has her lower left arm/wrist in a cast. Molly has a new hair do. Liked it.

Shocks probably go 9 deep this year. Jessica, Jaz, Chynna, Michelle, Bugg, Alex, Kelsey, Darice and Molly. Nicole, Alie and Michaela (depending on her injury status) will probably only see fill-in minutes hear and there. If Michaela's injury is such that she will miss a good part of the season I would think a redshirt may be a consideration.

It may take a little while to figure out exactly how this team will come together this year, but perhaps the most positive thing was that Michelle looked to be back at or near where she was prior to sitting out last year.

Don't have to wait long to get a longer look at the Lady Shocks as they play an exhibition game Sunday.

I didn't get to see them live but this is what it says on Goshockers.com:

The women's team scrimmaged against its practice players, and posted a 41-23 victory in the 20-minute, running clock scrimmage.

What has become Wichita State's trademark, a smothering defense, forced 11 turnovers, leading to 16 points. That advantage also helped the Shockers score 32 points in the paint and shoot 64.5% (20-for-31) from the floor.

Redshirt junior Michelle Price paced the team with eight points on 4-for-4 shooting from the floor. Nine of the 11 Shockers who played entered the scoring column. Sophomore Alex Harden led the team with three rebounds and four assists while Kelsey Jacobs recorded four steals.

WSU forced seven steals and out-rebounded the practice squad, 15-9.

[mumdaddy316]

Great news,can't wait for Sunday to see more product on the floor.

[Shox1979]

Hard to get excited about last nights performance. The men the women scrimmaged didn't fight through a pick once, easily gave up inside position, and never jumped to challenge a shot. Our post players basically had uncontested shots from the block all night. And the turnover number is misleading. The men point guard would have trouble getting off the bench at a lot of high schools.
That said, Michelle looked healthy, I think she's gonna have a good year. Chynna started at the 3. I think she will be a defensive liability here. She got beat several times. Allie Decker wasn't afraid to shoot, but couldn't find her range. Molly just looks to be a one on one player. Don't see where she fits into the offense. Bugs jones has one of the ugliest jumpers I've ever seen, but managed to knock down 1-2 from 3. Alex and Jessie look solid with the ball as expected. Kelsey seemed more confident. Hope this continues into the regular season. Don't remember much from Jaz.
Gotta be honest, I wish they would can the whole shocker madness event. I had considered just waiting til Sundays game to see the women in action and wish I had.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Hard to get excited about last nights performance. The men the women scrimmaged didn't fight through a pick once, easily gave up inside position, and never jumped to challenge a shot. Our post players basically had uncontested shots from the block all night. And the turnover number is misleading. The men point guard would have trouble getting off the bench at a lot of high schools.
That said, Michelle looked healthy, I think she's gonna have a good year. Chynna started at the 3. I think she will be a defensive liability here. She got beat several times. Allie Decker wasn't afraid to shoot, but couldn't find her range. Molly just looks to be a one on one player. Don't see where she fits into the offense. Bugs jones has one of the ugliest jumpers I've ever seen, but managed to knock down 1-2 from 3. Alex and Jessie look solid with the ball as expected. Kelsey seemed more confident. Hope this continues into the regular season. Don't remember much from Jaz.
Gotta be honest, I wish they would can the whole shocker madness event. I had considered just waiting til Sundays game to see the women in action and wish I had.

Sounds like I didn't miss much. I look forward to some real competition.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Sounds like I didn't miss much. I look forward to some real competition.

t

I was in the house today. I need some time to figure this out. An exhibition vs. DII. I don't like Jody's assistant, Dana rushing the floor yelling at refs and ripping Jody's players. Kirk is solid. He just visits, encourages, teaches. I'll give more opinions later on. The game didn't tell us anything. This team was much like the men the girls played during Shocker Madness.

[1972Shocker]

I didn't pay any attention to Dana so I can't comment on that.

Some general observations:

1. The sophomore class (Alex Harden, Kelsey Jacobs and Molly O'Brien) looks much more confident and aggressive than they were as freshmen last year.

2. Alex Harden may not start, but I think she will finish. She is an impressive all-around player.

3. Darice Fountaine and Alie Decker showed that they might be threats from behind the arc, although both have weaknesses on other areas they need to work on, particularly their defense. Shocks were 5-12 from behind the arc which is pretty good for them. Darice was 2-3 and Alie was 2-4. The key will be to be selective in the shots we take.

4. Shocks will no doubt try to make a living off of their defense and they look very capable of doing that although at times they get a little over-aggressive going for steals. Shocks forced 29 turnovers including 15 steals (5 by Alex Harden). Many of those steals lead to easy transition baskets.

5. Improving their rebounding was supposed to be a point of emphasis this year. Shocks lost the rebounding battle today 27-32. So there is a lot of work that still needs to happen in that department.

6. Shocks were only 9-17 from the line. I think that will get better. No reason we shouldn't shoot 70-75% from the line as a team (they 71.4% last year).

7. Hard to say how much Jody will shorten her bench once the season starts but all 11 kids that played today looked capable of contributing some minutes during the year if needed. Michaela Dapprich is out 4-6 weeks with a broken hand.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I didn't pay any attention to Dana so I can't comment on that.

Some general observations:

1. The sophomore class (Alex Harden, Kelsey Jacobs and Molly O'Brien) looks much more confident and aggressive than they were as freshmen last year.

2. Alex Harden may not start, but I think she will finish. She is an impressive all-around player.

3. Darice Fountaine and Alie Decker showed that they might be threats from behind the arc, although both have weaknesses on other areas they need to work on, particularly their defense. Shocks were 5-12 from behind the arc which is pretty good for them. Darice was 2-3 and Alie was 2-4. The key will be to be selective in the shots we take.

4. Shocks will no doubt try to make a living off of their defense and they look very capable of doing that although at times they get a little over-aggressive going for steals. Shocks forced 29 turnovers including 15 steals (5 by Alex Harden). Many of those steals lead to easy transition baskets.

5. Improving their rebounding was supposed to be a point of emphasis this year. Shocks lost the rebounding battle today 27-32. So there is a lot of work that still needs to happen in that department.

6. Shocks were only 9-17 from the line. I think that will get better. No reason we shouldn't shoot 70-75% from the line as a team (they 71.4% last year).

7. Hard to say how much Jody will shorten her bench once the season starts but all 11 kids that played today looked capable of contributing some minutes during the year if needed. Michaela Dapprich is out 4-6 weeks with a broken hand.

Very good summary. The game experience will help on all fronts prior to MVC play. I'm thinking a nine player rotation maybe eight in tough games.

[1972Shocker]

Creighton picked to win the MVC this year. Shocks picked 2nd.

http://www.mvc-sports.com/wbasketball/news/2012-13/6216/bluejays-picked-as-favorite-in-valley-womens-hoops/

I don't get too wound up about preseason polls. I think the Shocks being picked second is reasonable. I can see the Shocks finishing anywhere from 1st to 4th. I don't see a whole lot of speparation among the Top 4 or 5 teams. There does not apear to be any real dominant team in the league.

I think maybe UNI is being a little overvalued which I assume is due solely to having Jacqui Kalin back for one more season. Jacqui is very good, and assuming she has made a full recovery she will no doubt make a difference with UNI. Just not sure it will be that much of a difference.

I think maybe MSU is being underrated. Granted the Lady Bears lost some very good talent, especially Casey Garrison, but don't be surprised to see the Lady Bears in the mix again this year.

Great opportunity for the Shocks to win their 1st ever league title this

[The Mad Hatter]

Creighton picked to win the MVC this year. Shocks picked 2nd.

http://www.mvc-sports.com/wbasketball/news/2012-13/6216/bluejays-picked-as-favorite-in-valley-womens-hoops/

I don't get too wound up about preseason polls. I think the Shocks being picked second is reasonable. I can see the Shocks finishing anywhere from 1st to 4th. I don't see a whole lot of speparation among the Top 4 or 5 teams. There does not apear to be any real dominant team in the league.

I think maybe UNI is being a little overvalued which I assume is due solely to having Jacqui Kalin back for one more season. Jacqui is very good, and assuming she has made a full recovery she will no doubt make a difference with UNI. Just not sure it will be that much of a difference.

I think maybe MSU is being underrated. Granted the Lady Bears lost some very good talent, especially Casey Garrison, but don't be surprised to see the Lady Bears in the mix again this year.

Great opportunity for the Shocks to win their 1st ever league title this

That order seems very reasonable to me. Creighton, WSU, and Illinois State were the only teams to receive first place votes, and I think there is a good argument to be made for each of those 3 winning the league. UNI and MSU are both potentially dangerous, but there are more question marks around them than for the top 3. Should be a competitive race.