The coaching staff of the MSU women’s basketball team understands what it’s like to be part of the 64-team NCAA Tournament.
It wants the team to experience that feeling.
“We lost more games then we thought we were going to ever lose last year,” said head coach Joanne P. McCallie, who coached Maine to six NCAA Tournament appearances.
“So that was very, very painful. I think from a coaching staff standpoint, especially for me and Katie (Abrahamson-Henderson), missing the NCAA Tournament, that was really, really hard, and we tried to share that with the team, how painful that is and look what you’re missing. You know this is what it’s all about.”
Youth is on McCallie’s side this season - one senior, four juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen - and it’s a scenario with ups and downs, she said.
“With the newcomers, they don’t know speed, they don’t know what playing hard really is, and so it’s just a different challenge,” McCallie said. “What’s better (from last year) is you get them for four years.”
So far the youth looks promising. In an 93-74 exhibition victory against the Premier All-Stars on Sunday, all four freshmen scored in double figures.
And from a veteran standpoint, sophomore forward Julie Pagel said the mixture of youth and young, but experienced, players could be a deadly combination for the Big Ten.
“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people,” Pagel said. “Being as low in the Big Ten as we’re expected to be, I think this team has a lot of potential with the newcomers coming and the veterans returning, it’s a good balance.”
This season McCallie said she looks to junior guard Vnemina Reese to step into a leadership role because of the examples she sets on and off the court.
“Mina is the leader for our team,” McCallie said. “She is the person who communicates well with the players. She’s a person who plays hard, which is a great benchmark for other kids to learn from. You can say Mina do this drill, and she’ll do it and show kids how hard it needs to be done. So she’s a leader by example.”
And being a leader is a task Reese has been working on.
“Right now I’m basically working on being more of a vocal leader, talking on the floor,” Reese said. “Giving good and negative reinforcement to the team.”
The Spartans are keeping the slogan “One of 64” in their minds this year, as their goal is to reach the NCAA Tournament. And the veterans are already starting to talk about reaching that goal.
“We can do anything that we put our minds to as a team once we all are clicking as a team,” Reese said. “Reaching our goals will require climbing a lot more mountains. We’ll probably surprise a lot of people this year, and I think the outlook this year is very, very positive.”
It will take consistency to reach the team’s ultimate goal, Pagel said.
“I think intensity-wise we’re on the track,” Pagel said. “I think we need to be better as a defense. We absolutely need to hunker down and be the best defensive team in the league as we were last year. If we keep that up and bring our offense along I think we can accomplish that goal.”
