Big Ten Women

The non-conference season is about halfway done. Enough games have been played to separate the hype from the reality. The polls have Penn State, Purdue, Ohio State and Nebraska as the class of the
conference, and the Big Ten coaches picked the same 4 as contenders.

The reality is that all 4 are overrated.

1. Penn State (13-3) is tough but #6 nationally? I do see them as Big Ten champs. But the truth is that after guards Alex Bentley and Maggie Lucas, the Lions, well even with Bentley and Lucas, they're not a very good shooting team. They hit the boards and they'll be counting on Nikki Greene and Mia Nickson to get 'em some 2nd opportunities, and they'll be looking to Bentley and Lucas to create points off of turnovers. But for primary offense and also on the defensive end, they're not an elite team at all.

(X. For future reference, Maryland would go here.)

2. Northwestern (11-5). OK, here's the 1st surprise, the young Wildcats knocking Purdue, Ohio State and Nebraska out of 2nd place. They're the anti-Penn State, well, except they too pound the boards. But they shoot the ball, too. Their primary offense is very solid, led by F-C Dannielle Diamant with 16 points on 56% shooting (so far this year) and Kendall Hackney with 16 and 47% (so far). Guard Karly Rosar has been good for 8 assists per game so far.

3. Michigan State (11-5). And another surprise, the not so-young Spartans also out-performing the rest of the faves. This is a great defensive team, and guards Klarissa Bell and Jasmine Thomas score just enough to stay ahead. Actually they're outstanding shooters.

4. Nebraska (10-6). Jordan Hooper, Lindsay Moore and Emily Cady are pretty much another 3-woman team. And, frankly, I'd rather build around them than the Buckeye's big 3. Neither appears to have the right pieces alongside.

(X. And for further reference, Rutgers would go here. IOW, the football Gophers may have picked up a couple of new Big 10 opponents they can beat. But for women's basketball, the Big 10 just got a lot tougher.)

5. Ohio State (10-6). This is a 3-woman team with guards Tayler Hill and Amber Stokes and post Ashley Adams. And neither Stokes nor Adams is a great offensive player. Stokes is however a genuinely great defender but she will have to create a lot of turnovers to keep Ohio State running. The loss of Sam Prahalis is just too much.

6. Minnesota (9-7). Improving. But like the above, the Gophers are also a 3 or maybe even a 2-woman team unless freshmen Kayla Hirt and Shayne Mullaney get it together in a hurry. Which could happen. 

7. Purdue (9-7). A poor shooting bunch, they are and will have to be a great defensive team to be successful.

8. Iowa (7-9). Has some nice talent but has not jelled so far, and the shooting percentages are not very good. Still Morgan Johnson has become a great all-around player, and Jamie Printy and Sam Logic are potentially a great guard pair. Theairra Taylor and Beth Doolittle are getting major minutes.

9. Michigan (6-10). Kate Thompson has become a contributor with 15 ppg and 49% shooting. But the Wolves are a little thin and a little lacking in firepower.

10. Indiana (5-11). Aulani Sinclair offers hope and Jasmine McGhee, too. And Milika Taufa for that matter. But it will take time.

11. Illinois (3-13). Karisma Penn didn't make the pre-season all-conference team, which is a joke. She is the best player in the conference. Without her, a winless season would be in order.

12. Wisconsin (2-14). Cassie Rochel and Anne Marie Brown are playing major minutes, but this team cannot shoot straight.

Post-Season: The Big 10 is not exactly an elite conference in women's basketball, and so 10 wins will be an easy cut-off for the NCAA to execute. So the top 5--Penn State, Northwestern, Michigan State, Nebraska and Ohio State--advance.

All-Conference

Karisma Penn, Illinois, not among the 8 pre-season picks by the coaches and media, ha ha
Alex Bentley, Penn State, more all-around chops than Lucas, the bigger scorer
Jordan Hooper, Nebraska
Morgan Johnson, Iowa
Rachel Banham, Minnesota, where oh where would the Gophers be without Rache?

Second

Tayler Hill, Ohio State, I know, I know, probably wins the scoring title, but a bit 1-dimensional
Maggie Lucas, Penn State, ditto
Dannielle Diamant, Northwestern
Aulani Sinclair, Indiana
Kendall Hackney, Northwestern

Third

Lindsay Moore, Nebraska
Klarissa Bell, Michigan State
Jamie Printy, Iowa
Rachel Sheffer, Michigan
Ashley Adams, Ohio State

Honorable Mention

Maggie Lyon, Northwestern
Jasmine Thomas, Michigan State
Amber Stokes, Ohio State
Taylor Wurtz, Wisconsin
Micaella Riche, Minnesota
Sam Ostarello, Purdue
Courtney Moses, Purdue

SDSU Gophers...er, Jacks Women 2-0

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits (nee Gophers) women got off to a good start last weekend with 2 easy exhibition wins. UM-Crookston fell 86-43 and Black Hills State 90-48. When they play next Saturday and Sunday at Williams Arena they will have 7 Minnesotans on board. To date, 4 of their 5 starters are Minnesotans:

GabbyBoever 5-9 soph G from Worthington scored 14 points vs. Black Hills
Mariah Clarin 6-1 soph F from Princeton scoring 8.5 ppg so far and a team high 7.5 boards
Leah Dietel 6-1 senior F from Jordan scoring 9 ppg so far
Megan Waytashek 6-1 sophomore G-F from Centennial leads the scoring so far at 14.5 ppg

Off the bench:

Megan Stuart 6-2 sophomore F from Roseville has played 17.5 minutes per game so far
Jessie Hart 5-9 freshman G from Eagan has played 4 minutes in each game
Hannah Strop 6-1 junior F from New Prague played 7 minutes in game 1 and DNP in game 2

Also of note:

Back up post Katie Lingle is the Jacks' secret weapon, playing 19.5 minutes per game with 15 points plus 2 blocks in game 1 and 4 steals in game 2. Guard Tara Heiser played 35 minutes in the 2 games and scored 12 points in game 2.

Let's hope the Gophers face SDSU on Sunday, and let's further hope it is for the Best Buy Classic Title.

Minnesota Girls in D1

Here are some statistical leaders among Minnesota high school grads now playing women's D1 basketball. I don't claim to have checked in on everybody, there are probably a few women who are doing better than what is listed here, but these are the women that came to mind.

Scoring

1. Tayler Hill, Ohio State, 22 ppg. And shooting 51 percent. No surprise here, the greatest girls scorer ever with 3,888 points in high school. (Mpls. South)

2. Brittney Chambers, Kansas State, 16. But shooting just 36 percent. (Jordan)
3. Rachel Banham, Minnesota, 15. Shooting 40 percent. (Lakeville North)
4. Jennie Sunnarborg, South Dakota State, 14 and 42 percent. (Osseo)
5. Kiara Buford, Minnesota, 13.5 and 41 percent. (St. Paul Central)

6. Courtney Boylan, Michigan, 13 and 47 percent. (Chaska)
7. Kiara Strickland, Illinois-Chicago, 12 and 50 percent. (Mpls. Roosevelt)
8. Kamille Wahlin, Iowa, 11 and 43 percent. (Crookston)
9. Katie Loberg, Minnesota, 10 and 41 percent. (Princeton)
     Brittnye McSparron, Drake, 10 and 37 percent. (Eastview)
     Tempestt Wilson, South Dakota, 10 and 36 percent. Just a freshman. (Elk River)

FG Percentage

1. Ashley Olson, South Dakota, 80 percent. (Blue Earth)
2. Ojulu, 56 percent.
3. Rochel, 53 percent.
4. Hill, 51 percent.
     Stephanie Sension, UW-Green Bay, 51 percent. (Hopkins)
6. Suriya McGuire, Miami (Fla.), 50 percent. (Mpls. Roosevelt)
7. Beth Doolittle, Iowa, 49 percent. (Hill-Murray)
8. Burich, 48 percent.
9. Boylan, 47 percent.
10. Molly Duehn, Northern Colorado, 45 percent. (Burnsville)

Rebounds

1. Janae Burich, North Dakota State, 9. (Roseville)
2. Loberg, 7.
3. Banham, 6.
     Chambers, 6.
     Sunnarborg, 6.

6. Strickland, 5.5.
7. Apiew Ojulu, Marquette, 5. (Lakeville North)
     Gina Lange, Valparaiso, 5. (Forest Lake)
9. Jackie Voigt, Minnesota, 4.5. (Park)
10. Hill, Boylan, Buford; Cassie Rochel, Wisconsin (Lakeville North); Megan Nipe, GW (Centennial); McSparron; Leah Dietel, South Dakota State (Jordan), all with 4.

Assists

1. Wahlin, 4.
2. Banham, 3.
     Buford, 3.
     Hannah Linz, North Dakota State, 3. (Eden Valley-Watkins)
5. Hill, Boylan; Kate Thompson, Michigan (Wayzata); Chambers, Strickland, McSparron; Nicole Smart, North Dakota (Ada-Borup), all with 2.

Steals

1. Hill, 2.5.
2. Banham, Buford, Lange; Brianna Williams, North Dakota (Hopkins), 2 each.

Blocks

1. Burch, 3. The only player with more than 1.

The Minnesota All-Stars

C- Katie Loberg, Minnesota (Princeton), jr.
F- Jennie Sunnarborg, South Dakota State (Osseo), sr.
     Kiara Buford, Minnesota (St. Paul Central), sr.
G- Rachel Banham, Minnesota (Lakeville North), fr.
     Tayler Hill, Ohio State (Mpls. South), jr.

Second Team

C- Janae Burich, North Dakota State (Roseville), jr.
F- Apiew Ojulu, Marquette (Lakeville North), fr.
G- Kamille Wahlin, Iowa (Crookston), sr.
     Courtney Boylan, Michigan (Chaska), sr.
     Brittney Chambers, Kansas State (Jordan), jr.

Diaper Dandies (Soph. or younger)

C- Cassie Rochel, Wisconsin (Lakeville North), soph.
     Beth Doolittle, Iowa (Hill-Murray), fr.
F- Apiew Ojulu, Marquette (Lakeville North), f.
G- Rachel Banham, Minnesota (Lakeville North), fr.
     Brianna Williams, North Dakota (Hopkins), fr.
     Kahla Becken, North Dakota State (Centennial), fr.
     Morgan Van Riper-Rose, Denver (Eden Prairie), fr.
    

Minnesota Women in Division 1

I thought I better take a quick look at Minnesota high school graduates playing Division 1 women's ball before the high school season kicks off, because I'll never get back to it then. So this is sketchy, based on a few early non-conference games. But sketchy or not, here's what's happening.

First Team Minnesota All-Stars

C- Martha Alwal, 6-3, Freshman, Mississippi State--Alwal, from Worthington, stepped right into the Bulldogs starting lineup. She's playing 29 minutes, the 10th most that I've seen. She's scoring 7 points a game on 56 percent FG shooting. But her real value was always her defense and here it's no exception: 12 rebounds, the best among all the Minnesotans I could think to look up, and 4 blocks, which ties her with Janae Burich at the top of the list. You saw this one coming, right?

F- Gina Lange, 6-foot, Junior, Valparaiso--I remember sitting in the stands with my clip-board at New Life Academy a 2 1/2 years ago. Because I have a clip-board, people think I know something. So this guy started chatting me up. Who've you seen? Who do you like? I said I thought the best player in the metro area who hadn't verballed D1 yet was Gina Lange of Forest Lake. The fellow turned out to be Keith Freeman, Valpo coach, and a couple months later Lange had verballed Valpo. Now she's scoring 14 p0ints, 4th best in this group, on 60 percent shooting (6th best).

Wings- Courtney Boylan, 5-9, Senior, Michigan--Making the Ms. Basketball people look good, finally. She hasn't played a ton in 3 years, but now, suddenly, she's the Wolverines top scorer with 15 points on 48 percent shooting. Oh, and the Wolves are 4-0. (From Chaska.)

Brittney Chambers, 5-8, Junior, Kansas State--Off to a slow start this year with 13 ppg on just 27 percent shooting. She'll come around. (Jordan.)

PG- Kamille Wahlin, 5-8, Senior, Iowa--Off to a slow start this year with 11 points and just 2 assists per game. Still she's shooting 46 percent from the perimeter. More than that, she's the quintessential glue player who does exactly what her team needs and makes everybody better. And with backcourt mates like Sam Logic and Jamie Printy, that really means BETTER. (Crookston.)

Second Team

C- Janae Burich, 6-5, Senior, North Dakota State--Scoring just 3 ppg on 21 percent shooting but she too will come around. Her stature as a player are best illustrated right now by her 4 blocks per game. (Roseville.)

PF- Jennie Sunnarborg, 6-2, Senior, South Dakota State--The Jackrabbits top scorer at 13 ppg on 52 percent shooting. (Osseo.)

SF- Megan Nipe, 6-foot, Junior, George Washington--Another slow starter this year, she's scoring just 5 ppg on 25 percent shooting. (Centennial.)

PG- Rachel Banham, 5-9, Freshman, Minnesota--Off to a great start: 2nd among Gopher scorers with 11 ppg; her 31 FG percent looks OK compared to some of those mentioned above; hopefully she can raise that up a bit. But mostly, her ball-handling and distribution have been stellar though you wouldn't necessarily know it with her 3 assists/3 turnover ratio. (Lakeville North.)

SG- Tayler Hill, 5-10, Junior, Ohio State. Top scorer among this group at 20 ppg with an excellent 50 FG percent; hard to keep her off the 1st team. But her other numbers (assists, rebounds) are well below those of some of the other guards like Chambers and Boylan.

Third Team

C- Georgie Jones, 6-2, Senior, Indiana--The St. Paul Central grad transferred from Marquette last year. Now she's scoring 10 points and adding 9 boards.

PF- Megan Howard, 5-11, Senior, St. Anselm--Also a Central grad (and teammate of G. Jones), she's the only D2 player to make the all-stars. Scoring 15 with 11 boards so far this year.

PF- Brittnye McSparron, 5-5, Senior, Drake--Missed last year with injuries but coming back strong: 11 ppg, 42 percent shooting, 2 assists, 3 steals. Her 4 turnovers per game are the most on the board, however.

SG- Kiara Buford, 5-10, Senior, Minnesota--13 points on 41 percent shooting, and an improved assist-to-turnover rate (3 to 2) so far.

SG- Kate Thompson, 6-3, Junior, Michigan--This might be a breakout year. She comes off the bench but scores 10 ppg with 5 boards.

Diaper Dandies

C- Alwal

PF-Apiew Ojulu, 6-3, Freshman, Marquette--8 points in 26 minutes

SF- Megan Waytashek, 6-0, Sophomore, South Dakota State--6 points on 57 FG percent

PG- Banham

SG- Suriya McGuire, 5-11, RS Freshman, Miami (Fla.)--6 ppg on 58 percent shooting

2nd Team Diaper Dandies

C- Pick 'em. Beth Doolittle, 6-4 Freshman, Iowa and Cassie Rochel, 6-4, RS freshman, Wisconsin. Neither is starting. Doolittle is scoring 6 points on 67 percent shooting in 13 minutes. Rochel is scoring 4 on 54 percent shooting in 14 minutes. Rochel is out-rebounding Doolittle 4-2.

PF- Hannah Strop, 6-1, Sophomore, South Dakota State--3 points in 13 minutes on 83 percent shooting.

PF- Kahla Becken, 5-8, Freshman, North Dakota State--8 points in 22 minutes.

SG- Morgan Van Riper-Rose, 5-10, Freshman, Denver--4 points in 24 minutes.

The Leader Board

Points--Tayler Hill 20, Courtney Boylan and Megan Howard 15, Gina Lange 14, Kiara Buford, Brittnye McSparron and Brittney Chambers 13.

Rebounds--Martha Alwal 12, Megan Howard 11, Georgie Jones 9, Janae Burich and Katie Loberg 7

Assists--Kiara Buford, Rachel Banham, Nicole Smart and Kahla Becken 3 each

Steals--Tayler Hill and Brittnye McSparron 3 each

Blocks--Martha Alwal and Janae Burich 4 each

Turnovers--Brittnye McSparron, Ephesia Holmes and Nytor Longar 4 each

Also Notable

Leah Dietel is scoring 7 points on 60 percent shooting for the Jackrabbits. Hannah Linz is scoring 10 points on 53 percent shooting with 4 assists for NDSU. Katie Loberg is at 9 points and 7 boards for Minnesota. Brianna Edwards is scoring just 2 points in 13 minutes for Providence.