TicketsNov. 11, 2011
By Jeremy Powers
It's basketball time in Cincinnati.
The women's basketball team opens the 2011-12 season tonight at home against IPFW. Head coach Jamelle Elliott and the re-vamped Bearcats are poised to improve this season for a chance to play in the post-season.
The Bearcats' new MO:
UC has much more offense this season with the addition of Dayeesha Hollins, a transfer from the University of Michigan, who will make an immediate impact this starting at one of the guard positions. Also, the newcomers add more offense to the team. Freshman Alyesha Lovett is a heralded prospect that has showed she can score and dish the basketball. She should see minutes off the bench for Elliott. Key returning players Bjonee Reaves, Chanel Chisholm, Jeanise Randolph, Tiffany Turner, Lashay Banks, and Kayla Cook will also play key roles this season and should increase the depth of the squad.
While the scoring has come as a prolific surprise to the coaching staff, the emphasis on defense still remains a focal point in practice. Given the number of talented players and All-Americans in the BIG EAST, defense will be an important component that will help win ball games.
"Our strengths have been that I think we are scoring a lot more points this year than we were last year," Elliott said. "In practice we are making more shots and in our first exhibition game we scored 72 points. I don't know if we scored 70 points more than twice last year. Defense, I think we still have a lot of work to do."
Line-ups and Depth:
During the Bearcats exhibition match-up with NKU last weekend, all but three Bearcats saw action. Freshmen Talequia Hamilton, Chelsea Jamison and junior Elese Daniel did not make an appearance, but that is not necessarily the game plan for the rest of the season. The Bearcats have more depth at the guard position adding Hollins and Lovett. They also have more depth in the paint with community college transfer, Lesha Dunn joining Randolph and Turner under the basket. Dunn - who at 6-4 is the tallest Bearcat on the roster - will provide solid minutes for Elliott and the team. With the team relatively healthy compared to last season, there should be much more excitement for a successful year and depth should turn from a weakness to a strength.
"There may be some games where one of the guards matches up better with a player on the other team, so I will want to start them," Elliott said. "I'm not one of those coaches that has my five and that's what I'm going to go with no matter what. I want to make adjustments to give us the best possible chance to win games. I don't really have a rotation right now. It's just a sense of who has been practicing well, who has been shooting well, who I feel comfortable with out there, and who I trust out there. That's how I'm going to be game-to-game."
The Bearcats begin a three-game homestand against IPFW before heading to Cancun, Mexico. Next week's tilt with Dayton will be the first big test for the team in the 2011-12 season. Dayton, who just missed the pre-season top 25, comes to Fifth Third Arena for an I-75 battle.
UC's first road test after the Cancun Challenge is not an easy one. The Bearcats play at the Cintas Center against a well-known Xavier Musketeer team that is coming off an impressive season, making its fifth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Other notable non-conference games include Indianapolis, Marshall, Miami (OH), and Longwood. The Bearcats will also play against the ACC when they travel to Blacksburg, Va. for the Hilton Garden Inn Hokie Classic against Virginia Tech.
"Obviously people make a big deal about the Xavier game with it being the cross-town shootout and it is at their place this year," Elliott said. "We have a very good Dayton team that is if not top-25 then top-30 in the country. I'm not too concerned about who we are playing in the non-conference, I'm more concerned about how good are we."
Cancun Challenge:
The Bearcats will travel out of the country over Thanksgiving to take part in the Cancun Challenge. There they will face NCAA-participant South Dakota State and Chattanooga. While this is not an opportunity to bask in the sun, UC will enjoy Mexico and hopefully some wins to go along with it.
"We won our first game on a road trip last season when we beat South Florida and after that it was kind of all down hill," Elliott said. "This year our first road trip will be going down to Cancun and playing in a very good tournament down there. I'm going to make it a point to tell my guys that we are not down here to enjoy the weather; we are down here to win two games. You have to try and treat the road games like a home game. As with anything it is even tougher to play on the road so you have to have more focus and even more energy."
BIG EAST Play:
UC opens BIG EAST play at home against a highly-regarded Louisville squad who made it to last year's Sweet 16. Having a number of non-conference games under their belt means a lot, however the team is facing a potential BIG EAST champion in Louisville before seeing USF at home in January. However, every BIG EAST game poses a challenge for the Bearcats.
"Every team we play has a good player," Elliott said. "You kind of cater your scouting report to that player. It's not just about what we will do when we play All-Americans, but every team has a player that they go to that you want to try and stop, and if you don't then chances are you are going to lose the basketball game. It's an every game situation for us."
Season Goals:
UC will be striving to reach the post-season this year while staying true to its team goals set forth at the beginning on the season. Whether it is competing in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT, the Bearcats will ultimately need to finish in the top-eight of the BIG EAST to reach that point. Elliott and the team feel that if they can improve consistently throughout the season then they will finish high enough to earn them a post-season spot somewhere. With more depth, scoring, and an emphasis on defense the team and the coaching staff feels confident they can make that happen.
"Our main goal this season is we want to improve every game," Elliott said. "We want to improve every practice, we want to continue to get better, identify the things we need to work on and work on them. I want to be able to identify what some of our weaknesses are in practice, address them and come out the next game knowing we worked on something and we achieved something in our practices the week before. Now we feel like we're getting better."