Big East women’s basketball notebook

The Big East’s women’s basketball coaches at the league’s media day in October. (Photo by Ray Floriani/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

For the time being, everyone is still undefeated. It is an exciting time for both coaches and players, as they look forward to the start of a new campaign that tips off in earnest on Monday.

UConn was chosen the unanimous preseason Big East favorite. There will be challenges from the likes of Elite Eight finisher Creighton, NCAA tournament qualifiers Villanova, DePaul and WNIT finalist Seton Hall, among the most notable. Projections aside, member schools weighed in on their prospects for the coming season.

Coach Jim Flanery discussed his Creighton team as one that, “is balanced well offensively, has good shooters, passes the ball well and plays together.” The Creighton mentor, in his 21st season, also added another key point, momentum. The Bluejays advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last March. They defeated Colorado, Iowa and Iowa State before being eliminated by eventual national champion South Carolina.

“It’s something to celebrate,” Flanery said of the run last March. “The object now is to look ahead. Getting that far however is something we will bring up to instill confidence in our players. A trio of his key players weighed in with their thoughts.

Junior forward Emma Ronsiek: “We definitely have the reminder and momentum from last year’s run. But you have to put it in perspective as you move on.”

Junior guard Lauren Jensen: “You have to look ahead, but the Elite Eight gives us motivation on playing at a new level.”

Junior guard Morgan Maly: “It is motivation and a reminder for the leaders to set the example to serve as a reminder to get the little things done like setting screens and rebounding. Priorities.”

Beside points and rebounds, Maddy Siegrist, the Preseason Player of the Year, brings more to Villanova.

“You can’t accelerate experience,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said in reference to her outstanding senior. “She is committed to the game and the big picture. Maddy shows a love for Villanova on the court. She is very effective in transition and has the ability to play the three, four or five for us.”

The Wildcats face a challenging schedule. Siegrist is especially looking forward to the opener when Villanova visits Marist. A Poughkeepsie native who starred at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, where Marist head coach Brian Giorgis first made a name for himself before moving to the collegiate level, Siegrist’s father played for Marist and she is bound to have a strong representation of family and friends on hand when the Wildcats invade the McCann Arena on November 7.

“It will be exciting visiting Marist for that game,” Siegrist said. “Opening during Coach Giorgis’ final season will be special because of what he has done over the years at Marist. Playing there is something we are all looking forward to.”

The Wildcats will also face Princeton, Penn, Temple, Belmont and possibly Baylor in a tournament in Florida, all before the first of December, a challenge indeed and just the way Dillon wants it.

St. John’s will host UConn January 11 in the first women’s game at UBS Arena at Belmont Park. 

“I have been to the arena for other events,” St. John’s coach Joe Tartamella said. “It’s a great opportunity for us and facing UConn there is exciting. We have the Garden, Barclays Center, and now UBS gives us another special venue to play at right in our metropolitan area.”

Tartamella is enthused about the addition of several newcomers, certain to reverse last year’s 12-19 finish. 

“I think we did a very good job finding the transfers that fit us and wanted to play. All of them bring something different. Mimi Reid in the SEC, Jayla Everett started in the ACC, JaKayla Brown was one of the better players in the CAA and Jillian Archer, a Big East transfer (from Georgetown). I think their voices have been a massive change for us.”

Beside the new faces in the rotation, Tartamella is looking for an improvement on the defensive end as a priority toward having a successful season. Last year, the Red Storm allowed a defensive efficiency of 100.9 per outing, 335th out of 356 teams in Division I. To little surprise, the St. John’s mentor emphasizes the defensive side of the ball in discussing his team’s outlook.

There are changes on the court this season at UConn. Regardless, the Huskies will be formidable and the team to beat in conference play once again. 

“Looking back at the team competing in the national championship game last season, including Paige Bueckers out, four of the top five from that group are not playing for us,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “We have a few players with experience but just one year. We do not have experienced juniors or seniors. We do have talent and I would take talent over experience as a starting point anytime.”

Make no mistake, there is talent aplenty in Storrs. Forward Ayanna Patterson was chosen Preseason Big East Freshman of the Year. On the Preseason All-Big East team are sophomore guard Caroline Ducharme, junior forward Aaliyah Edwards and sophomore guard Azzi Fudd. Dorka Juhasz, a graduate forward, was also chosen Preseason Honorable Mention. DePaul coach Doug Bruno feels UConn will be better this season. 

“Last year’s team was not a vintage one,” Bruno remarked of the Huskies who advanced to the NCAA final game and suffered a loss at the hands of South Carolina. “Don’t compare this team to last year,” he added. “This one will be better.”

Seton Hall made a great run going to the finals of the WNIT last season. The slow start hindered a chance of getting an NCAA bid a year ago.

“We had some close games that we lost,” Pirate coach Tony Bozzella admitted. “We just have to win those types of games this season. We have Princeton, Columbia, UCF, Fordham who beat us last year and Rutgers before conference play. We just have to win games against those opponents.”

Seton Hall finished 23-13 while winning nine of its last 11 games. In the WNIT final, the Pirates were defeated by South Dakota State. 

“We had some great wins in the WNIT,” Bozzella said. “We defeated Drexel and had exciting wins at Columbia and Middle Tennessee.”

Senior guard Lauren Park-Lane and graduate center Sidney Cooks, both Preseason All-Big East choices, felt the WNIT experience was significant.

”After losing to Villanova in the conference tournament we went into the WNIT with a good mindset,” Park-Lane said. 

“We saw what we did to get that far, our attitude is to bring that effort right into this season,” Cooks added.

Both players were amazed regarding the final at South Dakota State. 

“It’s out in the country literally,” Park-Lane said. “It’s the only game in town. Coach (Bozzella) went to a Starbucks while we were there and all the customers talked about was the WNIT final. It was an experience.”

Jim Crowley of Providence spoke of having depth and versatility. He returns one double digit scorer in senior guard Janai Crooms, a 13.8 point per game scorer. Crowley believes, beside Crooms, he has multiple players with an ability to attack the basket. These qualities bode well for Crowley’s Friars. But just as his counterpart in South Orange, Tony Bozzella observed, those close games are difference makers in one’s season. Crowley spoke of the importance and need to seal the deal on those close winnable games. 

“We had several chances to get a significant victory especially in conference,” Crowley said, “but we were unable to finish down the stretch.” The Providence mentor hopes the qualities previously alluded to will help turn those losses into victories. The Friars finished 11-19 a year ago, including 6-14 (eighth) in Big East play.

The Friars will open with Dayton, and also face Rhode Island and Boston College prior to Big East play.

Coaches will tell you, to size up a conference, do not look at how strong the teams at the top are. Rather, determine the competitiveness of those at the bottom. In the estimation of veteran DePaul coach Doug Bruno, the Big East is a very competitive group.

“The bottom of our league is very competitive,” Bruno said. “You can’t look at anyone as a guaranteed victory. Everyone in the conference can beat anyone they face. It’s a very competitive league.”

Bruno has also advocated analytics for several years. Without surveying the other mentors, Flanery of Creighton utilizes the numbers as well. On hearing of my interest in analytics, Creighton’s Emma Ronsiek said, “tell me, how many possessions a game did DePaul have last season?” A quick check revealed the Blue Demons pushed it at an 80-possession pace, quite uptempo. 

“That sounds about right,” Ronsiek said with a smile indicating she experienced that pace firsthand. The numbers backed it up.