I wrote a story for today's paper about Georonika Jackson, the latest addition to the Lobos' lineup.
Now that I have more background on Georonika, I can finally answer Wendell's question about the way the changes affect next year's team.

Let's start with the departures.
On one hand, it hurts because it's not easy to recover from losing three players in your program. On the other, they all got limited minutes last season and weren't major factors in the program's recent success.
Based on my knowledge of the team, here's why I think they left. Wande Olude has had some nagging knee and back injuries since she got here. She looked good in spurts but would run out of steam within two minutes. Ultimately, she could not compete at this level.
I wrote about Lindsay Black's severe back injury last month. I think she would have preferred to stick with the program but struggled immensely physically and emotionally with her back injury.
I think Rachel Majewski's reason for leaving is both injury- and playing-time related. She wanted to see more minutes and believes in her shot, which is impressive, but was critized by coach Don Flanagan for not playing defense. Her foot injury sidelined her for quite awhile and left her in a ton of pain. Technically she could have played and practiced more than she did, but she decided the pain was unbearable. Flanagan saw people like Katie Montgomery and Abbie Letz battling through comparable or worse pain and seemed to get frustrated Rachel wasn't willing to give more of herself. He didn't need her to play in more games, but with so many injured players it was essential to have her in practice to keep her teammates from getting hurt or getting even more worn out. I think they reached an impasse on both issues, and Rachel decided it was time to go.
Lindsay and Rachel could have developed into solid guards, but the Lobos already had depth at that position. The biggest depth problem is at center, but I never really expected Wande to step up and carry a heavy load there, so I don't see her departure as a major blow.
I would guess the Lobos would start incoming freshman Amy Beggin at point, Katie Montgomery at the two (shooting guard), Julie Briody or Brandi Kimble at the three (small forward), Dionne Marsh at the four (forward) and Angela Hartill at the five (center). The first people off the bench will be Julie or Brandi, Timi E-Nunu at forward or center and Valerie Kast at center.
Flanagan hesitates to put a lot of pressure on Beggin, but there's no doubt in my mind he sees her starting and plans on taking advantage of Katie's 3-point shooting potential by shifting her to the two. He told me if it works, it would be like having two points guards ready to handle pressure and start the offense in any situation.
The wild cards will be guard/small forward Christian Shelter, point/shooting guard Georonika Jackson and guard/small forward Eileen Weissman. Center Morgan Saso is slow on defense and a little awkward on the court, so she'll have to continue working hard to carve out any playing time.
I think the biggest problem the Lobos will continue to face is low-post defense. Dionne is a prolific scorer but not the greatest defender. Jana Francis had to step in a big way last year to help the team handle some of its gaps in the paint. Lindsey Arndt masked the low-post problems two years ago. Next year's guards are solid, so the biggest question is whether Angela and Valerie will be able to step up.
What do you think? How will all the roster changes affect the Lobos?

Posted by ilimon at 03:11 PM | Permalink