Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

[JamesJacks]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

This team will lose three games at best and will go undefeated in conference!

They are deeper and more talented than lst year and that is taking nothing away from the Seniors but we are getting more and more athletic and bigger!

This just might happen, but I remain a little more cautious because we will need a few freshmen to contribute if we are going to play as many players as we have in the past. Freshmen are unknowns.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

I don't think this season will be as easy as last year and the effects of Jen Warkenthien will be felt in all phases of the game. I believe we can and will win the conference, but to match the success in the non-conference schedule from last year will be very difficult.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

This just might happen, but I remain a little more cautious because we will need a few freshmen to contribute if we are going to play as many players as we have in the past. Freshmen are unknowns.

I agree with Jamesjack both about the freshman (5 this yr, out of 15 on roster, that's 1/3 of team) have to exhibit a high learning curve to contribute to our depth .Also, looking at Jenn's stats from last yr, one of only 8 player's to score more than 500 points in a season in school history,she was solid in every aspect of the game & it's needless to say she had a very good yr. last yr., rebounding, scoring , steals, blocks, assist's, she did it all.I think though that Maria, jill, Ketty,Kistin & the rest of last yr.'s underclassmen know what they have to do to pick up the slack from the graduation losses.On a side note, i think Maria's sitting around 852 points if i did the math right, she should be the next to pass 1,000 for her career.She's slightly ahead of where Jenn was(818) at the start of her last yr. playing.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

I think Maria needs to be much more consistent in her Senior year. She had games where she was a go to force and other where she was completely not in the game.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

Talked to several of the players yesterday. They're ready to step up. As far as freshmen contributing, that's pretty much the rule and not the exception with AJ's program. Rotert, Michaelson, Young, Cornemann, Boever, and Sunnaborg all contributed when they were freshmen. I think Vanessa Johnson would have contributed a lot more minutes last year, but was hampered by injuries. And AJ has said Westergard would have been able to contribute last year. It'll be nice to have her playing as a RS freshman.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

When a team, say Oakland , from last yr has a dominant shot blocker, it's hard to score inside with one player.With two , you can draw that defensive player out of position,& score inside on the weak side (bad terminology?)Last yr. we had Jenn & Maria, this yr. it's Maria & ? I think we'll be even stronger inside this year with cala & Jen S.

[bigticket1]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

I think Maria needs to be much more consistent in her Senior year. She had games where she was a go to force and other where she was completely not in the game.

I think that the reason Maria seemed to struggle at times was because she missed so much time during the first half of the season due to both injuries and illness.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

With 6-3 Cala Westergard, 6-2 Jennie Sunnarborg, and 6-2 Katie Lingle , we'll have more height for the inside game, plus Maria & Leah at 6-1, we can create more havoc for teams this year, plus very good gaurds too, we should be a very talented team this year.It'll be interesting to see the various line ups & how well the players can adjust to different line ups at different times....can't wait to see this team in action.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

New recruits added to the roster: http://www.gojacks.com/SportSelect.d...44&SPSID=64554

[JamesJacks]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

New recruits added to the roster: http://www.gojacks.com/SportSelect.d...44&SPSID=64554

It appear their bios have not been updated

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

As usual senior leadership and play will dictate the course of the season. We have some good ones in Maria,Ketty and Allison.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

Last yr.,we didn't just eek out a few wins in the OOC portion of the schedule, we won by double didgets over most of them, I remember listening on the radio to the Illinois game when they fell so far behind i was ready to chalk it up as a loss, but they kept chipping away at the lead until they finally overcame the defecit (sp?) & won the game.Same thing about the first game against Missouri when they overcame a horrendous (sp?) shooting game to pull out the win.That group of players showed a lot of charachter in those two games, I'm sure there will be games in which they will show that same winning attitude this yr too.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

Just thinking on a boring Sat. morning about what kind of a year Jill will

have, after they've all been burnt by her last yr, and her rep as a close to 50%
3 pt. shooter, it'll be one of our opponents top priorities you'd think to shut her down.Will her points per game go up or down next yr? I think our coach has already anticipated this & will be prepared for any eventuality.They'll all probably put thier best perimeter defender on her.Maybe Ketty, Kristin, Macie , & the others can get some pressure off her by hitting thier three's.But, if they shut off the perimeter , then you have to make them pay by taking the game inside which should be much easier to do if thier concentrating on shutting down the perimeter.Knowing what type of intense competiter Jill is, with one yr. of div 1 basketball under her belt, i think her avg for the season will improve,....we have a lot of weapons available to take the pressure off any one player i think.Just a side note, would love to see a 3 pt. shootout between her & Hannah Linz playing for the Bison, like the one in the men's game with Oakland between Callahan & Kangas (sp?)

[rabidrabbit]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

Just thinking on a boring Sat. morning about what kind of a year Jill will

have, after they've all been burnt by her last yr, and her rep as a close to 50%
3 pt. shooter, it'll be one of our opponents top priorities you'd think to shut her down.Will her points per game go up or down next yr? I think our coach has already anticipated this & will be prepared for any eventuality.They'll all probably put thier best perimeter defender on her.Maybe Ketty, Kristin, Macie , & the others can get some pressure off her by hitting thier three's.But, if they shut off the perimeter , then you have to make them pay by taking the game inside which should be much easier to do if thier concentrating on shutting down the perimeter.Knowing what type of intense competiter Jill is, with one yr. of div 1 basketball under her belt, i think her avg for the season will improve,....we have a lot of weapons available to take the pressure off any one player i think.

Jill and Kristen will likely be our two 3's mainstays, but all the team can bury threes. Last year 8 different people were the high game scorers. I would anticipate another year with 8 or 9 leading scorers for different games. The other nice thing about the Jacks is that they can all score, and there would be 3-4 people in double figures EVERY GAME. Jacks game plan is to have everybody contribute. We do need SOMEONE who's the GO TO player. Megan Vogel and Jen W. are two examples of that person. This year Ketty and Maria will be the leads, and possibly Kristin or Jill will emerge in that role. Watch Leah or Cala break out too. 09-10 will be a fun season to watch Jacks WBB.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Ok.. I am ready for basketball...

Last yr. against TCU, we had 16 3's & shot the three pointer at a 50% clip as a team, that's spectacular, to say the least, they had to stop the flow of 3,s falling in or the final score would of been even more ridiculous, we lost good 3 pt. shooters in Jenn W., Ashlea Muck., Staci Oistad, but hopefully gained a few with the incomming frosh.I thought it might have been possible last yr. to seriously challenge the NCAA womens one game record of 21, but, even though we had enough good shooters to do it, the opposing team makes corrections to thier defense to stop the shot's from dropping.We did get to 16 twice last yr , which is quite remarkable, considering most teams never reach that many.