Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 26, 2017 17:10:09 GMT -6
Matt Zimmer just put out his pre season poll for the Summit League so why not start the Women's preview thread. I will put my picks in parentheses.
1. Western Illinois (1) They deserve this spot with almost everyone back from a regular season and tourney champs
2. South Dakota State (3) This year may prove whether Aaron Johnson has some burnout
3. South Dakota (2) but it would not surprise me if they finish first as I will explain below.
4. Oral Roberts (5)
5. North Dakota State (6) I am giving them every benefit of the doubt here
6. Omaha (4) Based on how they finished the year I see them being a bit stronger force this year.
7. Fort Wayne (8) who cares, especially since this very well be their last year in the Summit.
8. Denver (7) who cares
Of course Zimmer never gives the Coyote basketball program the benefit of the doubt but that is his opinion. I am not really sure why he has NDSU ahead of Omaha. Unless Omaha lost a lot of players I see no reason for a horrible program in NDSU to be ranked ahead of a rising program such as the Mavericks. If UND was in the Summit I would have ranked them 4th.
So now onto the Coyotes. Last year Dawn Plitzuweit took over a program where she was almost in a no win situation. She had to take over for a beloved coach who just won the WNIT. That is a difficult task. On top of that the Coyotes lost the most talent a Women's program at USD has ever lost in one year and then lost Caitlin Duffy and Trimboli on top of that. Considering this dire circumstance Dawn did an absolutely outstanding job and thinking back it is hard to think of a coach at USD in any sport that has come in and coached up a team the way she did. If she can do that type of work with what she had to work with (and that is to take nothing away from the players that remained) what should she be able to do this year considering she is starting on very solid ground.
Check out this roster with what she has to work with and it will have red shirts with some of these players.
Trimboli
A Arens
Bradley
McKeever
Ciara Duffy
Caitlin Duffy
These first 6 are absolute good starters on any Summit League team.
Frederick
Bonar
Liveringhouse
These 3 are proven now and can each give 10-15 minutes of solid play.
Kunzer
Korngable
M Arens
Lamb
Of these 4 I would expect at least 2 to not red shirt and I would not be surprised if 1 or 2 of them make significant contributions as true freshman.
Sjerven - she is a 6'2" Center that will have to sit out this year due to transfer rules but will have 3 years (I believe) of eligibility once she get through her transfer year.
I believe Plitzuweit was hand cuffed from the kind of a game she would like to coach. I don't think she had enough depth to be able to play an even more uptempo game. I believe I heard from one of her initial press conferences or interviews after she was hired that she would like to play up tempo basketball. The Coyotes seemed to wear down at the end of last year but considering the lack of depth and freshman playing alot those players will tend to wear down towards the end of a longer college season. Having not one but both Duffy and Trimboli back will pay huge dividends to help this club with experience. With two sets of sisters on the roster I can imagine this year to be closer then ever when it comes to team unity. This team should be fairly stacked with talent but more then likely this program will still not be picked to be the pre-season favorite of the Summit League and I doubt they will be picked in the top 2 either but I really believe they deserve to be picked 2nd.
1. Western Illinois (1) They deserve this spot with almost everyone back from a regular season and tourney champs
2. South Dakota State (3) This year may prove whether Aaron Johnson has some burnout
3. South Dakota (2) but it would not surprise me if they finish first as I will explain below.
4. Oral Roberts (5)
5. North Dakota State (6) I am giving them every benefit of the doubt here
6. Omaha (4) Based on how they finished the year I see them being a bit stronger force this year.
7. Fort Wayne (8) who cares, especially since this very well be their last year in the Summit.
8. Denver (7) who cares
Of course Zimmer never gives the Coyote basketball program the benefit of the doubt but that is his opinion. I am not really sure why he has NDSU ahead of Omaha. Unless Omaha lost a lot of players I see no reason for a horrible program in NDSU to be ranked ahead of a rising program such as the Mavericks. If UND was in the Summit I would have ranked them 4th.
So now onto the Coyotes. Last year Dawn Plitzuweit took over a program where she was almost in a no win situation. She had to take over for a beloved coach who just won the WNIT. That is a difficult task. On top of that the Coyotes lost the most talent a Women's program at USD has ever lost in one year and then lost Caitlin Duffy and Trimboli on top of that. Considering this dire circumstance Dawn did an absolutely outstanding job and thinking back it is hard to think of a coach at USD in any sport that has come in and coached up a team the way she did. If she can do that type of work with what she had to work with (and that is to take nothing away from the players that remained) what should she be able to do this year considering she is starting on very solid ground.
Check out this roster with what she has to work with and it will have red shirts with some of these players.
Trimboli
A Arens
Bradley
McKeever
Ciara Duffy
Caitlin Duffy
These first 6 are absolute good starters on any Summit League team.
Frederick
Bonar
Liveringhouse
These 3 are proven now and can each give 10-15 minutes of solid play.
Kunzer
Korngable
M Arens
Lamb
Of these 4 I would expect at least 2 to not red shirt and I would not be surprised if 1 or 2 of them make significant contributions as true freshman.
Sjerven - she is a 6'2" Center that will have to sit out this year due to transfer rules but will have 3 years (I believe) of eligibility once she get through her transfer year.
I believe Plitzuweit was hand cuffed from the kind of a game she would like to coach. I don't think she had enough depth to be able to play an even more uptempo game. I believe I heard from one of her initial press conferences or interviews after she was hired that she would like to play up tempo basketball. The Coyotes seemed to wear down at the end of last year but considering the lack of depth and freshman playing alot those players will tend to wear down towards the end of a longer college season. Having not one but both Duffy and Trimboli back will pay huge dividends to help this club with experience. With two sets of sisters on the roster I can imagine this year to be closer then ever when it comes to team unity. This team should be fairly stacked with talent but more then likely this program will still not be picked to be the pre-season favorite of the Summit League and I doubt they will be picked in the top 2 either but I really believe they deserve to be picked 2nd.