Season Opener - St Louis

[Yotes]

The season kicks off Monday night at 5:30 in Vermillion against St Louis, who is fresh off a WNIT championship. Haven't done the research to know what they are bringing back. I would figure this is a pretty tough opponent though.

It's a doubleheader tomorrow, and the AD is calling for a white out. Good opportunity to see both teams right out of the gate.

[yoteforever]

I have court side seats that I do t think I’ll be able to use. Would anyone like to go?

[marco]

St Louis won the WNIT last year so good first game. We have 5 true freshman will be interesting who plays or who maybe red shirts

[yote18]

Should be a great game, and I for one am ready to start the new era and forget about the last two years. I didn’t do a lot of digging but St. Louis was picked to finish 7th out of 15 teams in the A10 pre season poll.

[yotewannabe]

Nov 3, 2024 15:25:15 GMT -6 marco said:

St Louis won the WNIT last year so good first game. We have 5 true freshman will be interesting who plays or who maybe red shirts

Is red shirting even a thing anymore? Outside of medical redshirts, it doesn’t seem like coaches want to do that much any more. Maybe because of the portal. I think there is a need for it. And maybe it was just our last coach. As for this year I think it’s going to take a bit to find out who we are going to be. I’m not sure we will see many of the freshman getting many minutes. My guess is that Wilke might get some minutes based on her size. However, I know very little about any of them. I watched the Summit league media day and in the interview with Grace and Lexie they referred to Lexi as a five who can stretch the floor. So wondering if we are going to see her in a different role?? Excited for the games to start.

[johnh]

Not having seen any of the new players, based on Coyote experience we could see for starters:
Grace
Carley
Alexi
Cassidy
Olivia

I think this lineup lacks height, but I do like having one or more that can handle the ball well besides Grace.

I’m guessing Ruthie will start. If she is healthy, I would like to see Addyson start. We’ll see. I’m excited for this new chapter to begin.

[90yote]

I posted a long post in the MBB forum because Peterson has given a little detail about the players and how they expect to play. Eighmey has been pretty tight-lipped, so I don't have much of an idea of what we will see. In one way, that's interesting/exciting. But hopefully in a couple years we will get back to knowing a bit more of what to expect, and in a good way.

Only nugget I saw is in the SF Live preview they stated that Kieffer and Klosterbuer were expected to get some guard minutes.

My admittedly uninformed take? Best-case scenario is that RLG and Klosterbuer become something close to all-league players (even hon mention) this year. Or that a couple others do. Just a couple players to take some of the load off Grace. We probably need to be patient. Addy has played two games of college basketball and Ruthie hasn't played a minute yet.

Also, Carrie's teams have always been defensively focused, so if we just see some improvement there it could be meaningful.

So if all that can happen, maybe they can finish 2nd in the league and give the Jacks a run in the title game if they have an off day. Hopefully at the end of the year we can see a path forward to return to the top of the Summit.

[Men's League Waterboy]

The best part of the year.

We get to see who was in the laboratory this summer tinkering and tuning. Who was in the weight room. And who was at the lake.

I am also very excited to see what the new staff can unlock. And that's not a dig at the old one, it's just a basketball fact. Sometimes coaches see things in players and mesh with them and bring things out that somebody else may not have seen and/or can't mine. Sometimes players just come back after an offseason of work a different player.

I completely agree that this team has exactly one known quantity. It is past time that it found its second, third, etc.

[captaincoyote]

Let’s get this party started. I got to say, I think coach Eighmey will be great in due time, but we’re going to probably have to be patient with this team as they gel. Win or lose, I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from game 1. That said, I’m excited to see who coach has early confidence in. We can’t rely on Larkins to do everything, but I don’t think it’s guaranteed that the few other vets will be who step up. We may be in for some surprises. I’m just happy to be back in season.

[kiyoat]

Here's an interview with SLU coach Tillett from a couple days ago:

[kiyoat]

Looks like their top 2 returners are:


#32 Payton Kennedy
5-11 5th-year Forward
--Named the Most Valuable Player of the WNIT after averaging 22.5 points and 6.3 rebounds
--Led the Billikens in scoring in 16 games including seven of the team’s final 10 games
--Led the A-10 in free throw percentage (.870) and points (677) and ranked second in points per game (16.7)



#4 Kennedy Calhoun
5-5 Senior Guard
--Started every game for the Billikens and saw the third-most minutes on the court (1,165 total/29.1 mpg)
--Named to the A-10 All-Defensive team
--Ended the year ranked 24 in the NCAA in steals (86)

[Men's League Waterboy]

Kennedy must be crafty as hell. She will be a significant test for a young frontcourt. I wonder if Duffney is big enough to deal with her. Calhoun could be disruptive but I wouldn't think she'd be long enough to deal with Larkins on the drive/spin.

[yotewannabe]

Expected starters from a source: Grace, Adara, Lexi, Carly, Cassidy. Liv should be getting the back up guard minutes. I’m assuming if you can defend you will see time. That might be the one area plaguing Addison. I’m sure things could change many times over as the year goes and players gel and develop.

[Men's League Waterboy]

Interesting. That strikes me as a pretty small lineup. Better be boxing out.

[kiyoat]

Nov 4, 2024 11:32:46 GMT -6 Men's League Waterboy said:

Kennedy must be crafty as hell. She will be a significant test for a young frontcourt. I wonder if Duffney is big enough to deal with her. Calhoun could be disruptive but I wouldn't think she'd be long enough to deal with Larkins on the drive/spin.

Looks like they brought in a couple of 6-5 international girls from the portal, too.... could be a long evening (pun intended)...

Mostly what they lost from last year were four 5th-year kids.  Probably Covid extension players.  The only transfers out were some players that weren't getting a lot of court time.  So, a pretty cohesive roster, all things considered.