I watched the Lipscomb game and inevitably compared this team to the 2024 Dores. Some of my thoughts :
1. This team is quicker.
From last season’s team, we lost Jordan Cambridge, who had the quickest hands of any player I’ve ever seen . But we added Blake’s, a healed Madison Greene, Lelani
Kampinus, , and Jane Nwaba. Blakes and
Greene have just as quick feet and better
handles than Jordyn. The others have good quickness , too, and make for a deep team that won’t tire and lose quickness because of the depth in quickness. We will be able to press and pressure throughout games.
2. This team will make fewer turnovers.
We had a good back court with Cambridge and Moore last season, but neither had great handles against pressure. We turned it over a lot. Lipscomb was slow and didn’t present much of a challenge, but
Our ball handling looks better overall. Fewer turnovers lead to more chances to win .
3) . This team is better conditioned. Blake’s looks like she could run all day. Makurat is no longer razor thin . Aiyana Mitchell is jacked . No baby fat and muscled. At 6’4 ( Coach says 6’5’) and soft as a freshman, she looks like an athlete now. If she could contribute 10 to 15 quality minutes, we can compete better in the post. Nwaba looks like a linebacker. Kapinus was physical at Penn State. The outlier is freshman post Trinity Wilson , who in contrast to the others is overweight and slow . But nobody expected her to play much this season anyway. The net change : We aren’t going to get pushed around as much this year.
4). 3 key pieces are missing . Pissott, Kapinus, and Sacha Washington are out with injury or illness. Every one of them would play and play a lot. Without them , our potential is severely restricted. With them , we are much much tougher.
5). Experience for tight games is present.
Overall , one could call us a young team with a big sophomore class . But we have a veteran senior post in Sacha Washington , a steady senior who makes few mistakes in Jordyn Oliver, and and veteran guards in junior Iyana Moore and graduate player Kapinus. They are unlikely to panic and choke in tight games .
1. This team is quicker.
From last season’s team, we lost Jordan Cambridge, who had the quickest hands of any player I’ve ever seen . But we added Blake’s, a healed Madison Greene, Lelani
Kampinus, , and Jane Nwaba. Blakes and
Greene have just as quick feet and better
handles than Jordyn. The others have good quickness , too, and make for a deep team that won’t tire and lose quickness because of the depth in quickness. We will be able to press and pressure throughout games.
2. This team will make fewer turnovers.
We had a good back court with Cambridge and Moore last season, but neither had great handles against pressure. We turned it over a lot. Lipscomb was slow and didn’t present much of a challenge, but
Our ball handling looks better overall. Fewer turnovers lead to more chances to win .
3) . This team is better conditioned. Blake’s looks like she could run all day. Makurat is no longer razor thin . Aiyana Mitchell is jacked . No baby fat and muscled. At 6’4 ( Coach says 6’5’) and soft as a freshman, she looks like an athlete now. If she could contribute 10 to 15 quality minutes, we can compete better in the post. Nwaba looks like a linebacker. Kapinus was physical at Penn State. The outlier is freshman post Trinity Wilson , who in contrast to the others is overweight and slow . But nobody expected her to play much this season anyway. The net change : We aren’t going to get pushed around as much this year.
4). 3 key pieces are missing . Pissott, Kapinus, and Sacha Washington are out with injury or illness. Every one of them would play and play a lot. Without them , our potential is severely restricted. With them , we are much much tougher.
5). Experience for tight games is present.
Overall , one could call us a young team with a big sophomore class . But we have a veteran senior post in Sacha Washington , a steady senior who makes few mistakes in Jordyn Oliver, and and veteran guards in junior Iyana Moore and graduate player Kapinus. They are unlikely to panic and choke in tight games .
