Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
07-14-17 04:02 PM - Post#230909
Here are a few items of note as we get closer to the new season:
1. Assistant Martina Wood left to take a similar position at Richmond, closer to her home state of NC and her alma mater of UNC.
2. Brittany Pinkney, who served as the first DOBO after Aaron Roussell became the BU coach, has returned as an assistant coach. She spent the past four years as an assistant at Mount St. Mary's. One of her fellow assistants the first year was Brianna Gauthier, a former MSM player who married John Griffin the next year.
3. No schedule has been released as of yet, but I do know that the Bison will host St. Bona on November 21st, presumably as part of a doubleheader where the men will host Siena. Based on last year's schedule, there may be home return games vs Akron and St. Joes. And there may be road return games vs NJIT and Drexel. There could also be a home game with Elon, but I think the game there last year was a one-time situation to give BU another game after playing at UNC at the start of the long Thanksgiving break.
4. The new roster is up: Bucknell Women's Roster 2017-18. New additions and a few items of interest on each:
- Ally Johnson, 5-10 guard from Kentucky. She lettered for six years. Is the all-time Kentucky leader in FT pct. Scored 2126 points in her HS career and made 317 threes.
- Autumn Ceppi, 6-1 forward from Massachusetts. She made the USA Today All-Massachusetts First Team. Was POY for her NEPSAC class.
- Abby Kapp, 5-11 wing from PA (Boyertown). 1st team PA 6A all-state. Miss PA Basketball. Team won PA 6A state title this year and went 28-5.
- Tessa Brugler, 6-1 forward from PA (Nazareth). Made 2nd team PA 6A all-state team twice. Was teammate of Kapp in AAU ball.
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
07-14-17 05:18 PM - Post#230918
In response to Bison137
what is the early pre-season prediction for comptitive position in the PL? who/what are key factors for the team's success this year?
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 07-14-17 06:41 PM - Post#230924
In response to KenZ
Assuming no-one leaves, I think Army will be a heavy favorite. They return all of their players - including likely preseason POY Madison Hovren - to a team that was 12-6 in league last year. Second place Navy loses three of their main eight players, including their top player, and likely will be a little worse.
As for the Bison, I see them battling for 2nd place. They graduate a lot in DeBoer, McGurk, and Swart - but return three strong players in Kaitlyn Slagus, Kate Walker, and Kyi English. Then there are a lot of prospects and a lot of questions. Ellie Mack, a 6-2 sophomore wing, was highly regarded but missed the entire season while recovering from an ACL tear. Also 6-2 senior Catherine Romaine has shown flashes of good ability but has been slowed by injuries and inconsistency. My guess would be these five will start at the beginning of the year, if all are healthy. But they will need others to step up. Definitely will need to get scoring from a couple of the freshmen, given the amount of points lost to graduation. Kapp might be the most likely to see minutes but any of the four might step in. It would also help if one or both of their two bigs, MK Moore and Maegan Mikkelsen, who both saw little PT due to injury, can develop enough to give them some real minutes at center. Continued develop of CG Gia Hayes would also help a lot.
This will be a very interesting year with the Bison having so many different pieces and so much talent to blend. The style of play may look different, but I think Roussell and staff are very good and will mold them into a quality team.
American and Boston tied for 4th last year. American loses only one player, PF Lauren Crisler, but she was a good player. They will likely challenge the Bison and maybe others for second place. Boston loses three of their top eight, but should challenge for the top half. Holy Cross underachieved last year and there are questions about their coaching, but they should be better this year with virtually their entire team returning. Lehigh also underachieved and has coaching questions, but they return their entire team and should be a lot better. Both they and HC can challenge for the first division.
Colgate was improved last year with a new coach. They lost only one player and could challenge the .500 mark. The almost certain 10th place team is Lafayette. They were terrible last year, fired their coach amidst controversy, graduated three rotation players, had their best player transfer out, and had their top recruit decommit. Also had their tallest player transfer out. If they win more than four league games, their new coach, Kia Damon, will be a strong COY candidate.
|
Bison54
PhD Student
Posts: 1800
Reg: 11-18-09
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 07-14-17 06:50 PM - Post#230925
In response to Bison137
Looks like Tessa Brugler and Abby Kapp were teammates on the Lehigh Valley Fever.
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 07-14-17 08:02 PM - Post#230926
In response to Bison54
Gia Hayes played very well late in the season. I think she'll see a lot of minutes at PG & SG and contribute some scoring. I expect we'll see a lot of the freshman - if not starting, in the rotation. Mikkelsen has the potential to follow in Swart's footsteps if she can stay healthy. Moore is a great shot blocker, but not sure you can expect much offense from her yet. Walker could have a breakout year with the opportunity to play more minutes. Slagus will need to step up her game with DeBoer and Swart gone. Don't know if Romaine is ready to start, but she might have to. She's on campus this summer and hopefully getting a lot of work in the gym.
Army is going to be very good. Hovren is a great player, but I don't think they have the depth Bucknell has. American still has a young team but should be in the top 3. Loyola is always a pesky team, but lost some good players. And you can never write off Navy. They overachieved last year and no reason they couldn't again. Those are my picks for the top 5 PL teams.
Thought I heard they were going to play at Duke, but don't recall where I heard that.
Edited by jkrun80 on 07-14-17 08:05 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
nitlion
Masters Student
Posts: 413
Reg: 06-18-06
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 07-14-17 08:33 PM - Post#230927
In response to jkrun80
player to watch, Ellie Mack, had to sit out with knee recovery last season, this girl is the real deal, a pure shooter from all over the court.
|
A Western Bison
Sophomore
Posts: 179
Age: 65
Loc: Albuquerque
Reg: 07-05-12
|
07-15-17 02:35 PM - Post#230935
In response to nitlion
I don't know that I have said this before here, but I have thought it-- this seems like a brilliant recruiting class. I wish them well in Lewisburg and Coach Rousell hangs around to see them play their senior year.
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 07-15-17 07:13 PM - Post#230938
In response to nitlion
player to watch, Ellie Mack, had to sit out with knee recovery last season, this girl is the real deal, a pure shooter from all over the court.
I hope she's fully recovered and can contribute. If she's as good as advertised, I could see har starting at the 3. Hopefully, she can defend as well as score.
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
07-15-17 07:16 PM - Post#230939
In response to A Western Bison
I don't know that I have said this before here, but I have thought it-- this seems like a brilliant recruiting class. I wish them well in Lewisburg and Coach Rousell hangs around to see them play their senior year.
I agree. The incoming junior class (English, Slagus, Walker) is very good, but this class could very well be better. Could be the start of a dynasty if Aaron sticks around.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
07-17-17 11:58 AM - Post#230955
In response to jkrun80
Sune Swart has signed to play this season with Sirius Targu Muresin in the top league in Romania.
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
07-19-17 08:21 AM - Post#231031
In response to Bison137
open the season @Rider on Nov. 10th
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
07-19-17 12:34 PM - Post#231050
In response to Bison137
Sune Swart has signed to play this season with Sirius Targu Muresin in the top league in Romania.
Congrats to Sune! She has worked very hard to get to this level.
http://www.bucknellbison.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_O...
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
08-01-17 03:57 PM - Post#231478
In response to jkrun80
A couple of new items:
1. Assistant coach Carissa Thielbar resigned a few weeks ago. I presume she is moving back to her home area of the Upper Midwest. Her husband is a former MLB pitcher who has been pitching for St. Paul in the independent league.
No idea who will be replacing her. Shelby Romine, who worked as an assistant at Aaron Roussel's former school, University of Chicago, would seem like a possibility - but she is now about to begin her second year as a graduate assistant at Nebraska. To leave might make it impossible to complete her graduate degree. Another name is former manager of basketball ops Brittney Marshall, who had been working as an assistant at Illinois State but lost her job when their head coach was fired.
2. Per Drexel's recently released schedule, the Bison will play there on the road on November 18th. Others already known are home with St. Bona on November 21st and Rider on the road November 10th.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-11-17 08:30 PM - Post#231881
In response to Bison137
2. Per Drexel's recently released schedule, the Bison will play there on the road on November 18th. Others already known are home with St. Bona on November 21st and Rider on the road November 10th.
Another addition to the schedule - Friday November 24th at Youngstown State. Possible return games from last year are St. Joes and Akron, both of which presumably would be at Sojka.
Following up on the vacant assistant position, Bucknell is now advertising for a Manager of Basketball Ops as well. At first, I thought that Lindsey Burke might have been promoted to Assistant Coach, but her name has now been removed from the roster. So apparently there are now two positions to fill.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-13-17 12:36 PM - Post#231910
In response to Bison137
One more game on the women's schedule - at Iona on Sunday December 3rd. Here is what is known thus far:
11/10 @ Rider
11/18 @ Drexel
11/21 St. Bonaventure
11/24 @ Youngstown State
12/3 @ Iona
Possible return games from last year are St. Joes and Akron, both of which presumably would be at Sojka.
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-14-17 02:08 PM - Post#231978
In response to Bison137
One more game on the women's schedule - at Iona on Sunday December 3rd. Here is what is known thus far:
11/10 @ Rider
11/18 @ Drexel
11/21 St. Bonaventure
11/24 @ Youngstown State
12/3 @ Iona
Possible return games from last year are St. Joes and Akron, both of which presumably would be at Sojka.
12/17 @ Fordham
full schedule to be released tomorrow
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-14-17 03:32 PM - Post#231987
In response to KenZ
One more game on the women's schedule - at Iona on Sunday December 3rd. Here is what is known thus far:
11/10 @ Rider
11/18 @ Drexel
11/21 St. Bonaventure
11/24 @ Youngstown State
12/3 @ Iona
Possible return games from last year are St. Joes and Akron, both of which presumably would be at Sojka.
12/17 @ Fordham
full schedule to be released tomorrow
Hopefully a few home games will be added.
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-14-17 08:55 PM - Post#231993
In response to Bison137
i feel reasonably confident the women will get a normal number of home games, the men i am more concerned about.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
Re: Bison Women's Basketball 2017-18 08-14-17 08:59 PM - Post#231994
In response to KenZ
i feel reasonably confident the women will get a normal number of home games, the men i am more concerned about.
Yes, I am concerned as well. Earlier in the summer I had heard it had been very difficult to find Teams willing to start a series at Sojka. . Do you think they will end up with a D3 game? I would not be surprised.
|
HuskyColonial
PhD Student
Posts: 1976
Age: 50
Reg: 02-17-12
|
08-14-17 10:19 PM - Post#231997
In response to Bison137
Bloomsburg is D2 but it would be a good logistical contest and delight me.
|