As much as I love our girls....we would not win that game (just yet). We have young outside shooters and a few who can drive and create their own shots....but we need someone taller that 5'11 and 6' down low. If we can recruit two young ladies who are at least 6'2, we would become deadly overnight. I personally believe with our showing in the NIT that next year....a team like Tennessee (who got in the tourney off name and tradition) will not get invited based on their first round showing. We have potential to get 3 teams in next year.

A few years ago I was watching Our Women, coming off back to back MAC titles, playing Toledo in the Convo. It was a high parity year in the MAC resembling a lot of years the men’s MAC has. It was at the #8 RPI league and Toledo and Ohio at the time might have been arguably the two best teams. I tought even though these are top 100 teams they would maybe be close to 40 point dogs to UConn. Well, there was less parity in the MAC and it was better overall and the best teams in the nation were not as dominant. I think they would have fared a lot better. It is quite unlikely that they would have won but also unlikely that they would have been totally crushed.

Over the next two years it might do even better. Even with only 6 losses it was a very young team and had some glaring weaknesses. It is much easier to get better by becoming adequate in a few areas where you struggled than tying to go from good to great in numerous areas. One, it lacked a healthy dominant inside presence. Hooks and Burke are already among the best point and off guards in mid-major women’s basketball. Gabby Burris at 5’11’ was able to play at times both bigger and smaller than her size. She defended most centers pretty well and physically battled bigger women for rebounds. However, we could watch her grab a board and take it across the court to the hoop herself or stop and pop a three if she had the chance. I think with a quality center inside of her she could be a truly dominant “4” which I think would play to her strengths much better. During the MAC championship broadcast the announcers noted that playing a power forward for Ohio, Erica Johnson could be considered a “point forward” and would be the best ball handler on most teams in the country. We know she can shoot. Improving on a MAC freshman of the year season, she’ll be even better and I think she could be a totally dominant “3” if she gets the chance.

The other is that the starters played nearly of the minutes. Recall Miami storming from well behind in the 4th to win in Athens to win. Recall nearly blowing a 27 point lead in Oxford. Recall Northwestern owning the last couple of minutes after Hooks and Burke fouled out. There are several other examples and I think it seriously contributed to almost every loss. I think fixing this depth problem is almost assured if the team stays healthy. With players coming off injury, transfer and freshman redshirts, and 4 recruits coming in even though the team on the court was young it probably won’t be a problem. Yeah, I think if everything goes well we might have a puncher’s chance against some of the better programs in the country over the next few years.