W/e happy to have her in her own right regardless of her sibling
4 Likes
7 Likes
I can’t find much good video on Dunbar, but here’s a YouTube short:
2 Likes
She’s not a top 100 recruit, which is neither here nor there, we aren’t super deep in the process and they’ve gotten enough good players that offering someone at her tier probably means they just liked her and not that she’s a 3rd option or something.
3 Likes
You think this is that much of a hot take? Hobbs really came on at the end of last year. I don’t think this is much of a stretch at all. Who would be a bona fide pick to be the second scorer ahead of her?
To respond to your other post, I think Cameron Williams starts and is therefore the “starter,” but Chyra Evans still plays more MPG. I really hope Cam does great things this year, but it sort of feels like she has plateaued a bit. I hope I’m wrong about that. I’m a huge Chyra Evans fan, though. I think she’s going to be an excellent player here and has already shown a ton of promise.
I also think Alyssa Crockett could see significantly more minutes this year. She and Hobbs seem a bit interchangeable with Hobbs showing a better ability to get to the rim and Crockett showing better rebounding ability. Otherwise, they’re both tall 3s that can shoot from any spot. I also think Crockett seems to be a very smart player; I don’t think she makes many self-inflicted mistakes.
It’s so hard to project the incoming transfers and how much they play, so here’s my guess with very little confidence:
1 - Kampschroeder
2 - Phelia
3 - Hobbs
4 - Stuck
5 - Cameron Williams
I think Evans is first off the bench for Cam, Taylor Williams comes off the bench for Stuck, and one of the shooters subs for Hobbs. I imagine Phelia will average mid-30 MPG and Greta will be backed up by one of the transfers.
As I said, my level of confidence in that lineup/rotation is very low ;I wouldn’t be surprised to find that I’m way off.
1 Like
You don’t see Hansen starting? I assumed the two year SEC starter would start!
2 Likes
You’re probably right. Pretty low confidence in what I said up above.
She definitely fills the volume shooter void at the 3-spot in Maddie’s absence.
The interesting thing is that you would expect her to slot into the 3 spot – she’s not taking minutes from Laila at the 2 other than spot duty while she’s off the floor for a minute or so – but she is by far the smallest of the three starting guards at that point. Greta is 6’1", Laila is 6’0", and Hansen is 5’8". Maddie seemed like a pretty small 3 at times, but she was 5’11". What does that look like on defense when you have a 5’8" guard checking the other team’s 3?
1 Like
Yeah, maybe the defensive responsibilities get juggled where Greta guards the 3? Women’s sizes are so compressed it’s funny - Greta and Emily Kiser are virtually the same height! (but Hansen is absolutely guard sized)
2 Likes
Here’s the schedule:
2 Likes
Sucks that Iowa and Indiana don’t come to Crisler this year.
2 Likes
I agree. Caitlin Clark is a must-see.
1 Like
I’m trying to decide if it makes the schedule tougher since you only get to play them on the road (which are likely losses) or easier since you only have to play each of them once.
I’d wait until March and then construct your narrative around the results 
2 Likes
Makes it much harder to build an NCAA tourney resume. Home games versus good teams are best thing for that.
3 Likes
7 Likes
3 Likes
Hellooooooo, fellas! The season is upon us! I watched (most) of the exhibition last night.
I got a lotta thoughts for you people! And now…you’re gonna hear about it!
The Good
- Laila is ready to ball and showed again that she can score all three levels. She’s not afraid to hunt her shot. She had the team’s first 9 points and already had 15 points a handful of seconds into the 2Q. This is her team.
- This team has plenty of players who will look to score. No passivity detected.
The Bad
- I thought the team’s defense looked like a definite step down from years past. Some of that may have been due to who they had available (more on that later), but I felt like they got beat off the dribble and on ball screens quite a bit by a low-level team. That was not encouraging. I think I noticed Hansen getting beat multiple times.
- The team still struggled against the press at times. While they did have a few very nice press breaks, they also had some turnovers. Same old, same old there.
- The other thing that seems to plague KBA teams is turnovers off of passes, and there were plenty. Several passed down the court that were overthrown or picked off, and a number where passing lanes were jumped. At this point, I think it’s fair to say these last two bullets are baked into the program and are what they are. Would seriously love to see fewer deflected and stolen passes, though. That seems way more easily correctable.
- Defensive rebounding was rough. Way too many offensive rebounds for the opponent.
Obversations
- Elissa Brett and Chyra Evans (ouch) were both in street clothes. It’s early, so hopefully both can work their way back from whatever they have going on. At this point, we might have to give Chyra Evans the “injury-prone” label as she started last season injured, missed a few games in the middle of the season with injury, and looks to be injured to start this season. That’s a bummer.
- Whitney Sollom started the game at the 5, but I think that was primarily because it was an exhibition, they were playing her sister’s team. I assume Cam Williams still starts at that spot. It will be interesting to see if Sollom follows the Emily Kiser track as she has played so very little up to this point but is a senior this year. If Evans is out for any extended period of time, she might get a lot more run.
- Lauren Hansen is the starting 1, and it appears for now that Macy Brown is her backup. Kampschroeder always played the 2 when she was in, IIRC, and was usually in alongside Brown.
- Hansen looked comfortable and quick with the ball. Still probably needs to smooth some wrinkles out, but as the men’s team knows fully well it takes some time for transfer PGs to settle in. I think she looks more comfortable already than Kampschroeder did to start the year at the 1 last season. She has a pretty shot, and she’s a confident shooter.
- The starting lineup was Hansen, Phelia, Hobbs, Taylor Williams, and Sollom.
- Macy Brown looked comfortable with the ball, wasn’t afraid to get to the basket (actually going coast to coast for a non-transition layup at one point), and I think will have a bright future at that spot. If KBA is going to trust her to get a lot of time at the backup 1 spot to prime her for next year, the 24-25 team will probably be a whole lot of fun. She also seems like a very vocal spark plug.
- I think Phelia, Hansen, Hobbs, and Kampschroeder all hit 3s in this game. That’s encouraging. Still miss having Maddie on this team.
- Taylor Williams had some real nice post moves. She also seems comfortable as a ballhandler and pushed the ball up the court off of defensive rebounds on several occasions. I don’t think I noticed her on defense, but she’s going to score in the paint.
- The officiating on block/charge calls was roooough. Michigan took two charges that I could tell on a live BTN+ broadcast were not even close. The players were definitely in position to take a charge, but they were either standing on or inside the restricted area.
- I did not see Katy Eidle at all. I think someone said she is enrolled, but she’s also not listed on the team page (only 13 players). Seems pretty likely she’s not playing. Right now, they have two open scholarship spots with 2 graduate players definitely gone after this year (Brett and Hansen) and only two players signed for 2024. They will definitely have room to bring some of Cameron Williams/Elise Stuck/Whitney Sollom back and/or add from the transfer portal.
- BTN+ broadcasts remain rough.
Excited for this season and to banter on this here board together.
Doubly-excited for basketball season because my 5th-grade daughter has her first official game playing for her school on Monday. Her dad is busy trying to act like he knows what he’s doing as an assistant coach.
My wife and I had been talking about maybe surprising my daughter with tickets to the Big Ten Tournament this season…only to remember that it’s in Minneapolis. People might get tired of Indy, but it’s centralized and a great city; super bummed that we won’t be able to make it happen.
18 Likes
Hansen being a PG is sort of new for her right
I had seen her as a Nolan replacement
I’ve been faking it as a coach for my kids’ elementary school (in Chicago that’s through 8th grade) in hoops and flag football for 4 years, AMA
My unsolicited advice is 5/6th graders demand lots of ball handling drills.
2 Likes
Yeah, I believe you’re right re: Hansen. She seems confident, and I think she’ll settle into it well. At worst, she should be a serviceable bridge to Brown taking over next year. I have to imagine that’s the floor, though; she looks to have plenty of upside.
We have been working a ton on passing with the girls, trying to drill into them a pass-first mentality. We did a fun drill where the head coach asked if the girls thought their fastest dribbler could beat the coaches down the floor. The loser of the race would have to do pushups. Of course, they bit on the dare. Then the coach said, “Just one caveat: the coaches are going to pass the ball down the floor.”
We let the girls start from the free throw line while we started from the baseline. They had to dribble to the opposite baseline and try to beat us to the opposite baseline. Of course, we smoked them with three passes (and did not make them do pushups 
). The point was to show them that passing is quicker and more effective.
They had an exhibition scrimmage this past Monday and did pretty well, all things considered. My daughter managed to get loose for a wide open three right in front of me and aaaaaaaaaalmost drilled it. Ball rattled in-and-out, but it looked good. Her older cousin who is a high school basketball player and her biggest cheerleader turned to my wife and said, “They would have had to escort me out of here if that had gone down.”
Truthfully, I’m just having fun with it and enjoying getting to be around my only child and her friends for as long as she still loves that.
4 Likes
Yes passing definitely very important!
Whenever my 8th grade son’s friends (who I’ve coached) come by the house, they are always happy to talk and will even give me a hug, to his immense embarrassment.
1 Like