With MM being out of action for a while, I'll post women's stories here. -- Xavier Women's Basketball Message Board

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Date Posted: 14:47:03 11/01/01 Thu
Author: Matt Barber
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 66.144.8.174
Subject: With MM being out of action for a while, I'll post women's stories here.

Here's a season preview:

Don't ask Xavier's head women's basketball coach, Melanie Balcomb, if this will be a rebuilding year.
"I would never use that word. I can't stand that word," she says.
So what will the 2001-2002 season be for the Musketeers?
"A learning year," says Balcomb.
After losing four starters and a key bench player to graduation after last season's Elite Eight run through the NCAA Tournament, it certainly will be a learning year for defending Atlantic 10 champion XU.
Gone are guards Nicole Levandusky and Jennifer Parr. Gone are post players Taru Tuukkanen and Jennifer Phillips. Gone are a laundry list of Xavier records and the 75 percent of last year's offense they represented.
And so, the curse of a senior-laden team one season is that the next year's team is short on experience. How short? Only one player on the roster, junior guard Reetta Piipari, has had two full years in the program heading into this season. Just behind her is junior point guard Amy Waugh, who missed most of last season with a leg injury after starting her freshman year.
Piipari and Waugh will start, alternating between the point and shooting guard positions. Both are excellent passers who know how to find an open teammate (Piipari's 8.3 assists per game led the nation last year), and both are very accurate three-point shooters. If the lane is open, they can finish a drive, but their height (Waugh is 5-6, Piipari 5-7) means they are often challenging taller players if they venture under the hoop.
Joining them in the starting five will be sophomore forward Kate Kreager, who averaged just over 10 minutes per game spelling Tuukkanen and Phillips last year. She averaged just 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, but showed that she has the potential to be one of the best forwards in the conference.
The final two starting spots are up for grabs in the preseason. Balcomb tends to favor upperclassmen initially, until a freshman beats them out, so look for some of last year's inexperienced bench to be starting as the season commences.
Colleen Yukes, a 6-4 sophomore center, and Aida Sarajilija, a 6-1 sophomore forward, are the leading candidates to join Kreager in the frontcourt. Yukes brings size, but is probably the slowest member of the team, and Balcomb likes her players to be able to run the floor well.
Sarajilija played last season as a guard when injuries and transfers thinned Xavier's backcourt, but she has returned to her natural forward position this year. How quickly she returns to form in the paint will be the deciding factor between her and Yukes, but practicing as a guard last year has made Sarajilija the best ball-handling post, as well as an outside-shooting threat.
Senior Shavon Bell, a transfer from Cincinnati State last year, is the only other returning guard. Quick as lightning and defensively stifling, Bell could start if Balcomb opts for a running game and defense over athletic power in the early stages of the season. Bell is more of a slasher, driving to the hoop, than a pure outside shooter, but she is still a threat from behind the arc. However, at 5-7, a Xavier backcourt of Waugh, Piipari and Bell will be undersized against just about every team XU faces.
Of the five newcomers to this year's team, two stand out as probable starters as the season progresses, 5-10 guard Ashleigh Cuncic and 6-0 forward Alexis Henderson. Both are very athletic, and have been making progress in practice picking up Balcomb's offensive system. Cuncic is a talented outside shooter, and Henderson, although a little undersized in the post, plays bigger than she is.
The other freshmen are 5-6 guard Dani Statuto, 5-10 small forward Nikki Wells and 6-0 guard Kim Neidermeyer. Wells is the most athletic of the three, but she was nursing a sore knee during the Musketeer Madness festivities, and will probably drop down the depth chart because of it. Statuto is a shooting guard who averaged 24 ppg as a senior last year in high school, and Neidermeyer brings size to the wing and an accurate three-point shot.
Things may start slowly for this year's team until the freshmen and sophomores gain experience, but expect Cuncic and Henderson to be starting before the conference schedule begins in January.
The practice jerseys say "new team, same dream." Speed and defense will be the strength of this new team, as they lack the size and experience of the old one, but though the dream may remain the same, the results most likely will not.
George Washington is the team to beat again in the A-10, a spot it enjoyed until the past few seasons. Xavier should still finish second in the West Division, but Duquesne and Dayton will not be far behind. In the East, Temple and St. Joseph's will be the division leaders.
Balcomb said this season will be a learning year, and the success of the Musketeers depends on how fast the freshmen and sophomores learn how to play. This team is young. "As young as it gets," says Balcomb.
They will have to grow up quickly if they want to achieve their dream.

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Great post (nt) -- Corporate Law, 16:36:02 11/01/01 Thu