To start things off, Lykendra Johnson, considered by many to be MSU’s top incoming recruit, was ruled academically ineligible, putting her out of the picture.

On top of that, recurring foot problems forced senior center Laura Hall to call it quits and junior guard Mia Johnson, expected to be a big scorer this season, was sidelined for much of the nonconference season after tearing her right ACL during the summer. She is still struggling to regain her form.

But the worst of all came Nov. 4 in an exhibition game against Lake Superior.

Junior forward Aisha Jefferson tore the ACL in her right knee that day and was lost for the season.

Jefferson, a team captain and emotional leader, was expected to have a breakout season after stellar freshman and sophomore campaigns.

Essentially, it’s been an uphill climb for Merchant since before the season even started.

Good luck finding any coach who can do well starting such a young lineup.

Although I wrote in this very paper on April 20, 2007, that Merchant was my third of three potential candidates (I supported Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller first and Vanderbilt head coach Melanie Balcomb second), I’ve been impressed with Merchant to this point.

Now that the team is finally starting to get healthy and has the proper depth, she can start sending messages.

Freshman forward Kalisha Keane was sat down by Merchant in Monday’s win against Purdue — presumably for bad shot selection.

Keane, one of the team’s big scorers this season, played only 11 minutes.

That depth showed against Purdue. Merchant seemingly pulled out the Random Lineup Generator and it worked! Three weeks ago, strange lineups like this were nonexistent. Players were not and could not be benched to prove a point.

But with the emergence of players such as freshman forwards Taja Wilson and Cetera Washington, and most importantly senior guard Courtney Davidson, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team go on a little run down the stretch.

If Davidson and Keane can play under control and within themselves, it will take a ton of pressure off sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan and won’t allow teams to shamelessly double-team her.

I’m willing to give Merchant a free pass for this season considering all that went wrong.

If she doesn’t get the job done next season with a potential starting lineup of Johnson, Keane, Jefferson, DeHaan and freshman guard Brittney Thomas, then there might be cause for concern.

That is a solid, solid team right there.

For now, the team is fighting for its NCAA Tournament life.

It might take a strong finish to the season and a strong run in the Big Ten Tournament to do it, but with the way the Big Ten is going this season, it could happen.

Matt Bishop is the State News Deputy Sports Editor. He can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.