Women's BB Going to be Historically Bad

[techtim72]

Their starting five is bottom third Big Ten quality and the only player with stand out skill and size is Grace Sullivan. They have zero depth and it looks like McKeown is afraid to let any bench sitters other than one or two players even step on the court. So they wear out and it is only going to get worse. They have one player, Lauren Trumpy, who as far as I know has never played in four seasons - and she is 6-5. I don't know if there is a medical reason or something else but that is an extraordinary fact. McKeown has recruited the program into oblivion - the bench is completely full with fifteen players, most not Big Ten calibre - and likely has tied the hands of his successor for years to come. All I can say is he must have had the goods on someone to get this last year of coaching. There simply wasn't a point to retaining him.

 

[NJCat]

All I can say is he must have had the goods on someone to get this last year of coaching. There simply wasn't a point to retaining him.

 

[Username Not Available]

Sullivan was coming along pretty well last year. Her game translated from her Bucknell days, and she looks good this year.
Lau seems to have peaked, but she's decent with support. You know she misses Daley.
Thomas was minor support last year and seems to have taken a step this year, and a big bump in minutes.
Walton has a lot on her plate for a soph and she didn't seem particularly speedy or crafty last year.
I'd hoped to see a big step up for Harter, but that hasn't happened yet. She has the tools, I dunno what's going on.

But as it's been for the last few years, regardless individual talent and ability, the schemes don't seem to be in place for them to succeed.
Sadness.

 

[bringbacktherantboard]

McKeown has recruited the program into oblivion - the bench is completely full with fifteen players, most not Big Ten calibre - and likely has tied the hands of his successor for years to come.

Why didn't the Big Ten championship translate into good recruiting classes? NIL?

 

[techtim72]

Why didn't the Big Ten championship translate into good recruiting classes? NIL?

I don't follow the sport enough to know, but I have to think an old male coach a year or two from retirement with a good but not exceptional record, coaching at a school historically weak in WBB, is going to struggle with recruiting.

 

[techtim72]

Sullivan was coming along pretty well last year. Her game translated from her Bucknell days, and she looks good this year.
Lau seems to have peaked, but she's decent with support. You know she misses Daley.
Thomas was minor support last year and seems to have taken a step this year, and a big bump in minutes.
Walton has a lot on her plate for a soph and she didn't seem particularly speedy or crafty last year.
I'd hoped to see a big step up for Harter, but that hasn't happened yet. She has the tools, I dunno what's going on.

But as it's been for the last few years, regardless individual talent and ability, the schemes don't seem to be in place for them to succeed.
Sadness.

Interesting take and it appears you follow the team more closely than my 20k takes, but just to add a few thoughts.

- Thomas doesn't look physically fit enough to carry the load she is being asked to take.
- Harter looks like a plus athlete to me but I don't see games enough to know why she doesn't shine.

What I see in my occasional viewing is a team with players pushed to carry minutes that they are neither physically nor mentally prepared to carry with the exception of Sullivan, who will soon enough be worn down into the ground. There is absolutely zero bench, I guess because McKeown recruited mostly players for which Big Ten competition is a level over their heads, with the notable exception of Sullivan, Harter, Lau and perhaps a couple of others. One thing I have learned about Big Ten sports, male or female, is that recruiting players without the physical and athletic traits to at least compete at that level is worse than a waste of time. Better to find seven decent "3 star" athletes who will go down competing than to recruit fifteen "2 stars" who simply fill up the training table.

 

[Catdude]

It’d be really interesting to know how McKeown got this final year. Did he and AD Jackson negotiate this as his final year too late to find a replacement? Everyone knew going into the season that it’d be a rough season. We went 2-16, 4-14 and 2-16 in the Big 10 the last three seasons and didn’t return much. It’s just so odd that we were willing to essentially concede an entire season in a major sport (I think women’s basketball is probably third after football and men’s basketball). The new coach will be starting at basically rock bottom and will have to build a competitive team from scratch.

 

[Username Not Available]

Interesting take and it appears you follow the team more closely than my 20k takes, but just to add a few thoughts.

- Thomas doesn't look physically fit enough to carry the load she is being asked to take.
- Harter looks like a plus athlete to me but I don't see games enough to know why she doesn't shine.

What I see in my occasional viewing is a team with players pushed to carry minutes that they are neither physically nor mentally prepared to carry with the exception of Sullivan, who will soon enough be worn down into the ground. There is absolutely zero bench, I guess because McKeown recruited mostly players for which Big Ten competition is a level over their heads, with the notable exception of Sullivan, Harter, Lau and perhaps a couple of others. One thing I have learned about Big Ten sports, male or female, is that recruiting players without the physical and athletic traits to at least compete at that level is worse than a waste of time. Better to find seven decent "3 star" athletes who will go down competing than to recruit fifteen "2 stars" who simply fill up the training table.

I agree.

My complaints with the last few years of coaching is the apparent lack of cohesive systems for offense or defense. On defense, most of the time the players seem to be reacting to what they see individually and are really easy to break down while also exerting a lot of extra energy trying to recover rather than responding with team schemes. On offense, it's mostly get the ball to the play maker and hope something happens.

I believe several of the players we've had over the past few years were/are so much more capable than their results and I see it as almost entirely a coaching (and conditioning) issue.

 

[olsh]

It’d be really interesting to know how McKeown got this final year. Did he and AD Jackson negotiate this as his final year too late to find a replacement? Everyone knew going into the season that it’d be a rough season. We went 2-16, 4-14 and 2-16 in the Big 10 the last three seasons and didn’t return much. It’s just so odd that we were willing to essentially concede an entire season in a major sport (I think women’s basketball is probably third after football and men’s basketball). The new coach will be starting at basically rock bottom and will have to build a competitive team from scratch.

It's not 3rd for us.
Not even the third women's sport. Let's see ... field hockey, lacrosse, golf, softball, tennis ....... wow, not even a top 5 women's sport at our school. So maybe they just decided not to embarrass someone who is very respected in the game. So crazy that COVID wiped out our chance to make national waves. So sad we never were able to build from that. I mean we got the NCAA win the following year, and had the strong start in the 2R game ..... but it's been like the end of the road for Bill Foster the last few years. Sad. Great guy, great coach in his day. Sad to see it end like this.

And no, we're not historically bad.

 

[Catdude]

I agree that’s women’s basketball is far from our third biggest sport (revenue and expenses) but I think it might be from a macro NCAA perspective. I think the next tier is baseball, softball and women’s volleyball.
The new coach is going to have to excel in the portal to build a team that can compete in the Big 10 in 2026-27.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

It's not 3rd for us.
Not even the third women's sport. Let's see ... field hockey, lacrosse, golf, softball, tennis ....... wow, not even a top 5 women's sport at our school. So maybe they just decided not to embarrass someone who is very respected in the game. So crazy that COVID wiped out our chance to make national waves. So sad we never were able to build from that. I mean we got the NCAA win the following year, and had the strong start in the 2R game ..... but it's been like the end of the road for Bill Foster the last few years. Sad. Great guy, great coach in his day. Sad to see it end like this.

And no, we're not historically bad.

I am thinking you might be revisiting that “we’re not historically bad” statement in a couple months. However, if they eeek out two conferences wins they probably avoid that distinction, which is really sad. Nice man, but would have been gone long ago pretty much anywhere else but NU.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Just lost to Loyola (was 3-7) at home…so so sad (and bad).

 

[CappyNU]

Just lost to Loyola (was 3-7) at home…so so sad (and bad).

Yikes, that was our most-winnable game remaining by far this year. Torvik had us winning by 18...

 

[SDakaGordie]

Lose today to then 7-5 GW (must be even tougher for Joe to lose to his old team), and it appears Sullivan and Harter DNPs (must be injured)?

 

[NJCat]

Sullivan played just ~8 minutes in the last game. She must have been injured then.

 

[SteelCityCat]

Sullivan suffered an ankle injury early in the loyola game. Harder has a lower body injury as well. Apparently Daija Turner is hurt too and she had been getting some minutes off the bench. Hopefully they get them back for this west coast trip next week that includes a ranked huskies team