(03-26-2016 08:50 AM)Dwight Wrote: Cullop says that the incoming class is "arguably her best" in her tenure at UT. That's pretty encouraging.
Hopefully that will prove to be the case. Right now I would settle for a class whose members are able to contribute on the court and profitably use their 4 years of eligibility at Toledo. Coach Cullop has had a lot of bad luck with injuries and other player turnovers so the law of averages says she is past due to catch a break and maybe this is the class to break out of that mold.
I was a lot more disappointed in the last 20 seconds of regulation play against Akron than I was about the WNIT snub (which does indeed seem to be a bit of a snub). In fact I thought at the time, it might be all for the best because it has to be gut wrenching to give away a game like that with so much on the line with those careless turnovers and even before that, a failure to make a free throw that would have also iced a victory. I suspect that it would have been very difficult for the team to put a game like that totally behind them in just a few days and go out and play a WNIT game as if nothing had happened. I could see a instant replay in my mind of the UT-Akron football game of 3 years ago where one of the announcers pointed out (referring to the NIU loss the previous week) that you should never let ONE game cost you TWO losses.
Next year has a lot of potential, but several things are going to have to happen if that potential is to even come close to being realized. First and foremost is how to (and who will) replace Brenae Harris----before McIntyre begin to emerge as a scoring force well into conference play, Harris was the ONLY UT player who could be absolutely counted on to
consistently play at a reasonably high level, game in and game out, and even she had a few hiccups early in the year. There were times in some games where she seemed to be the only one on the floor for UT who was not afraid to take a shot.
Obviously finding an answer to the loss of Harris will be the key to next season because she could create her own shots and was a consistent scorer who could be counted on for points every game and I don't see Prinz or Boyd doing that, at least not at present. I see Jay-Ann as a shooting guard not a point guard---if she is to play point, she will have to improve her passing skills and judgement. It would be extremely helpful to have "the next Presley Hudson" in our incoming recruiting class but getting a freshman guard who makes 2nd team All MAC in her first year is a very, very long shot at best.
Several things that would help next year's fortunes: 1) Janice Monakana needs to
consistently play at the high level she has shown that she is capable of. In some games she was totally dominant while in other she simply disappeared and was MIA (sometimes on the bench with early fouls). 2) Jay-Ann had a bit of a sophomore slump so next season the Rockets need her to build on the success of her first year that made MAC FOY. 3) Four other players who saw significant playing time were Prinz, Woody, Boyd and St. Fort, all of whom were in the game for reasons other than their scoring prowess, yet both Prinz and Woody at times showed hints that they could score (Boyd also occasionally hit threes but I always cringed every time she drove to the basket in among the tall timber). If these four could become reliable point contributors while not sacrificing their "specialty" skills, this would also be a major contribution. 4) Rasmussen started her freshman year like a house on fire; however, even by the time conference play started last year her floor time had greatly diminished, a trend that continued throughout her entire sophomore year. It she could reemerge with whatever she had going for her at the start of her 1st season, it would be helpful to have that depth with yet another "big".
The center position is the one about which I am most confident in terms of point production. If McIntyre can consistently get the ball inside she is a highly efficient scoring machine, although as others have noted, she needs to work on her defense skills. Reecher provides more beef in the paint and although she does not have McIntyre's good reliable hands or the variety of smooth moves to the basket, she does have one good and reliable move to the basket so she can also score.
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Disappointed Rockets looking ahead
