Lady Shocks Picked 10th

[1972Shocker]

2008-09 Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
School (First-Place) Points
1. Illinois State (40) 400
2. Creighton 310
3. Drake 297
4. Evansville 251
5. Northern Iowa 245
6. Missouri State 215
7. Indiana State 166
8. Bradley 161
9. Southern Illinois 108
10. Wichita State 47

The Lady Shocks are close to a unanimous pick for last place (40 points would be unanimous). I'm guessing the Shocks recieved 2 8th place votes, 3 9th place votes and 35 last place votes.

Unlike the Men's team who I expect to significantly out perform their predicted 9th place finsish, this is probably where the Lady Shocks deserve to be picked.

We will probably have to look for little things here and there for encouragement about the Lady Shocks future under Coach Adams.

Our non-conference schedule is pretty weak, so we should at least be able to enter conference play with some wins under our belt and give Jody a chance to get her system implemented without being totally dismantled by better competition.

[SubGod22]

I am anxious to see how this team does. I'm not expecting too much from them this year. Just go out there and play hard and look for improvement. I do think a couple years down the road we'll be very happy with Jody and the team.

[WuDrWu]

Contrary to popular belief, I am not always predicting a National Championship for WSU teams.


I believe even with a lack of talent, that Jody will improve the team from previous years. This will probably not equate to a drastic difference in the wins and losses, but I think we will be better.

Unless the Valley has really improved from top to bottom, I will be surprised with a last place finish.

:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[1972Shocker]

I am anxious to see how this team does. I'm not expecting too much from them this year. Just go out there and play hard and look for improvement. I do think a couple years down the road we'll be very happy with Jody and the team.

I agree Sub. This team doesn't have to win big for me to be satsified this year. As you say, they just need to play hard and show some improvement in the fundamentals of the game.

I think they will do that. It's not impossible for this team to out-perform expectations, but that would be icing on the cake.

While I do hope our two Seniors, Marcy and Daria have solid years, the key class to watch for improvement from is probably the sophomore class of Samantha Smith, Val Siemens, Jacie Hoyt, Shantel Pointer and Jadhon Kerr.

[SubGod22]

The SO class is very important to this program.

Sam showed some promise last year. I really think she can develop into a solid inside presence down the road.

Val can flat out play. She handles the ball well enough to create for herself and has very good range and touch. At least she did in HS and I'm pretty sure she hasn't forgotten how to play.

Jacie needs to stop traveling so much but she has what it takes to lead the team from up top. She's quick and for the most part knows what she's doing. She's also a threat to shoot the ball which doesn't hurt.

I don't know near as much about Shantel and Jadhon as I haven't seen them play much. Jadhon does appear to work fairly well inside from what I can recall...

[1972Shocker]

One thing team-wise I would like to see this year is for this team to be more competitive on the road in conference play.

Last year's team lost its 9 conference road games by an AVERAGE of 25.2 points, including losses of 33, 34, 36 and 37 points. That's a big number. Too big considering the MVC is a mediocre conference in women's basketball.

If we can eliminate the 30 point blowouts and lower that average loss significantly that will tell me that Jody's more disciplined approach is translating into a more mentally tough team. Might be tough to do with the short-handed roster at her disposal this year, but we will see.

Paul Suellentrop in his Shockwaves Blog today had this to say:

I have no read on the WSU women. If Gregg Marshall got a free pass on last season because of the transition, Jody Adams should get several years of passes. She has a bigger job rebuilding than Marshall did.

[1972Shocker]

Shantel has shown that she can occassionally step out and hit the 3.
She looks to me to be bigger and stronger than the average guard you will find in the MVC. However, I'm not sure about her quickness.

Jadhon seems to be more of an inside player, but she is probably too undersized to play the 5, so she is pretty much locked in at the 4 in my mind. Again, I'm not sure about her quickness and athleticism. She might develop into a strong rebounder.

Both Shantel and Jadhon could have benefited from a redshirt year last year and I'm not sure why they did not do that. They each only played about a total of 120 minutes. Maybe they just did not want to redshirt. I really don't know if they were offered the opportunity or not.

Both will probably have to step it up if they are going to be factors during Coach Adams tenure as I expect she will start bringing in a higher level of talent to compete with beginning next year.