Wichita State women ready to use depth, faster pace
Jody Adams-Birch is happy to once again face uncertainties about her basketball team.
The Wichita State women weren’t afforded that luxury last season, and they may not have known it was a luxury. They started the season with eight healthy and eligible scholarship players, ended with 11 and had few questions about who played most of the minutes.
In their two-game Thanksgiving tournament in Miami, WSU had six available players. Offseason departures created a short roster following three Missouri Valley Conference championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Now the Shockers, with 11 returners and five newcomers, have 16 on the roster. Four played all 30 games in WSU’s 8-22 rebuilding season, but even they have no guarantees as Adams-Birch revels in newfound depth.
“It’s wide open. Wide open,” Adams-Birch said. “... As people get healthier and get in better shape, it’ll be clear-cut. Just because this five is starting for us, that doesn’t mean your best player couldn’t be coming in and playing with (a different) five. We’re looking at true combinations. We’re looking for people that play well together.”
TaQuandra Mike, Diamond Lockhart, Jaleesa Chapel and Aundra Stovall played in every game while leading scorer Rangie Bessard started all 24 second-semester games after the Minnesota transfer became eligible.
WSU averaged 52.8 points but their individual scoring averages totaled better than 63, suggesting a greater output if everyone had been healthy and eligible at the same time.
Returning every player from an eighth-place Missouri Valley Conference team may be more encouraging than it seems. Adding five more, including highly-touted freshman Kayla Williams, provides more hope.
“I think our depth, as far as us having 16 players, will help us play our offense, which is a dribble-drive,” Lockhart said. “It will help us keeping that high-tempo offense. I think that’s a great thing for us to have that many players with us.”
The Shockers are cautiously optimistic but setting no limits. Their Twitter hashtag for the season is “#Gains,” which reminds them that last season wasn’t a lost year because of the experience it provided and the improvement it made possible.
Eight of WSU’s losses came by six points or fewer, so even though the Shockers never had a winning streak, the big-picture view is that they emerged from their difficulties with greater resolve.
“That year was a great year to me because they got to learn so much,” Adams-Birch said. “They got to play a lot. They got to play a lot. Where other teams and young players, inexperienced players, weren’t playing, they played. They logged the minutes, they took the responsibilities for the wins, the losses, the close losses.”
Those responsibilities won’t be quite as condensed this year. The Shockers will play faster because they can, with a deeper rotation no worries about preserving energy.
Their greatest depth may come from the frontcourt, as WSU has eight players 6-foot or taller.
“It’s bigger in two ways – taller and a bigger roster,” Adams-Birch said. “I had to look back to see how much pressure it began to put on players who were logging 30 minutes a game. Pressure, wear and tear.
“…I truly believe that numbers are important, and having the right numbers on our bench. That is our strength, and everybody has a big part in this team being successful, and there is not one role bigger than the other.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Wichita State women ready to use depth, faster pace."