Chicago - In her second season, MSU women’s head basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie is running into a similar roster situation as MSU men’s head basketball coach Tom Izzo.
Youth, and lots of it.
And McCallie is taking a similar approach.
“We’re very excited (about this season),” McCallie said at Sunday’s Big Ten Conference Basketball Media Day. “We’ve got a young team, but we feel quicker, a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, have more shooting threats and that type of thing. So we’re real excited.”
MSU captain and forward Abby Salscheider is the lone senior on the Spartans’ roster, but McCallie said that doesn’t isolate pressure on her.
“I don’t think (being a senior) puts a lot of pressure on her because our team is so young, our coaching staff is in its second year,” McCallie said.
But as the eldest Spartan, Salscheider said she feels some stress, but it’s a kind she’s willing to take on.
“It’s a little bit of pressure just knowing I’ve been here the longest, I’m probably the most experienced,” Salscheider said. “People look up to me and follow my lead somewhat. But I think it’s definitely a challenge I’m willing to take, just because I want to be so successful in my last season.”
Despite age, McCallie said she still expects her group of underclassmen to chase the team’s goal of earning a bid to the 64-team NCAA Tournament.
“Until proven otherwise we’re going to think we’re one of 64,” McCallie said. “You’ve got to find a way to compete for a championship, and you’ve got to get in the NCAA Tournament to do that.
“From our standpoint, teams all the time do things that people don’t project. So that’s our focus until proven otherwise.”
Last season, MSU set the standard for McCallie-led teams by leading the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense (.387) and rebound defense (32.6). And McCallie said she expects her team to continue that same defensive intensity this season.
With the MSU defensive trend sticking, some Big Ten foes are looking to make adjustments in their game-plan when it comes to playing the Spartans.
“(MSU) brings that damn zone (defense), that’s what they bring (to a game),” Michigan head coach Sue Guevara said. “(Coach McCallie) brings that to the Big Ten. We’ve got to make sure our outside shooters are working because they led the Big Ten in field goal defense (last year).”
Guevara’s team tied for first with reigning Big Ten champion Purdue in the Preseason All-Big Ten Coaches Poll. Wisconsin trailed in at third.
On offense, MSU returns its top two scoring threats in sophomore forward Julie Pagel (11.2 ppg) and junior guard Vnemina Reese (10.3 ppg). And with the return of Candice Jackson, who missed the final 15 games of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, to the backcourt, should relieve Reese of all her scoring duties.
“They’re going to be a much improved basketball team, and I think they have really good guards,” Guevara said. “And I think it starts with your guards and if you have really good guards, it usually means you have a pretty good team. Which means that they might be getting up and down the floor more than what they did last year, because I think they’re a lot more athletic now.”
McCallie said to be successful her team needs to focus on their toughness, work ethic, rebounding and effort and her players are showing an understanding in her philosophy.
“Basically effort is a huge deal (for our team),” Salscheider said. “We have a lot of talent, we have a lot of potential, but because we’re so young it’s hard to say what we’re going to do. But I think if we just learn how to work hard to realize that giving a lot of effort especially on defense and rebounding, hitting the boards, we’ll definitely have a lot of success.
“If we learn how to work together, work as a team, see who works well together and just focus (we’ll be successful).”
