A Sea Of Red

With our loss tonight, I thought Id take a look at our roster heading into 2014-2015 and its pretty much the same as 2013-14 with only one new addition in Candice Leatherwood, but everybody returns next year. That said, here are the players that would be seniors or Redshirt Seniors next season (assuming either of the first two doesnt graduate and move on)

Emily Frazier
Jasmine Gardner
Reagan Miller
Ellee Rollins

That's three guards and a post but with everyone returning, we certainly have a chance to be right back at or near the top again next year with everyone hungry to get back on top of the mountain next year. The starting lineup probably will not change but if Jasmine returns it will give us some significant depth at the post to go with Rettstatt, Rininger and Adams.

We need athletes.

Purple Haize wrote:We need athletes.

Coach played more of Brown, Sanders, Ellis and JFD in lieu of Frazier and Miller who couldn't keep up with the more talented quicker WU players. We have Gardner back and hopefully a healthier Kearney back to go along with Adams and Rinninger. I think guard play will have to pick up some next year. I think Miller and Frazier come off the bench next year. Our recruit coming in is a guard and wouldn't be surprised if we red shirted her given the numbers of 1s and 2s. We need athletic guards who can break down the defense, attack the glass and dish off. Ellis is getting better at this but plays with little confidence offensively, for now.

I thought we were overrated in the preseason given we lost 4 starters from last year due to graduation and Gardner's injury. Emily Frazier was preseason 1st team all conference preseason. HPU and WU had strong teams coming back this year and they each added two of the best freshmen in the league in Keys HOU) and Williams (WU). Talent wise we were the 3rd best team in the conference. Next year should be interesting.

Ellis had that injury against HPU that kept her out and she was starting to round back into form the latter part of the year. Frazier has had a couple knee injuries so she may have lost a step or two hence the move being made. I think her senior leadership along with Miller and Gardner will be key for us even if they do come off the bench. Kearney really started to show how good she can be in the last part of the season, but I agree that her health is going to be key for the depth in the post next season.

This next class (15-16) and the one after are going to be important with who we would be losing. Its also approaching Coach Green's 20th season and you have to think that thoughts of retiring have crept in or will begin to in the next couple years (because I personally think that Coach Green pretty much has enough capital to be able to step down on his own terms).

Chippy wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:We need athletes.

We need athletic guards who can break down the defense, attack the glass and dish off.

This what I said
This is what I meant

We need athletic guards who can score from outside and run the floor. We repy on inside gaem too much.

Brilliant minds think alike

I don't get to say this often but I agree with you ballcoach. We don't tower over everyone like we did in the days of Meribeth Feenstra Anderson and Katie Feenstra and we don't have the bevy of shooters that we had like in that era. we only had the one scholarship to give this year, so the classes to watch will be 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Everyone knows what I think. I don't even need to say it. Here's a hint:

I doubt its what youre thinking jbock but I don't think Coach Green is being fired or forced out. I have reason to believe that Coach Green has enough capital built up that he can pretty much set his own timetable.

I think this year's LU team had less talent than any I have seen at LU since I started attending games in 1997.

It has been a slow downward spiral in talent. Seems to be less each year the past few seasons.

I disagree. I think this team's year was quite talented but very young. In one or two years I think we may see one of the best teams ever at LU.

Im with flamehunter...you need to not speak in such extremes ballcoach. not everything is black and white

BJWilliams wrote:Im with flamehunter...you need to not speak in such extremes ballcoach. not everything is black and white

That's not what I was saying at all. I simply disagreed with his opinion, which he is certainly entitled to.

When you look at our close losses (eg. Asheville, UVA, etc) we did not have a "go to" player like we've had in the past. I've seen Ellis, Miller, Brown, Rinninger all have a chance and come up empty in the waning seconds. Devon Brown and Megan Frazee et al were given the ball in crunch time and either scored or got to the line. We don't have that type of offensively confident, aggressive and talented person on this team who can create their own shot, as of now. This really affects coaching decisions - we let a lot of games slip right out of our hands because of this. I think in games decided by 6 points or less I think we were 0-8. We got to win those games.

Also, HPU also has a nucleus of young players, 2 are McDonald's AA nominees and they can be a team to contend with over the next several years as well. While we may get better HPU will also get better - they beat us 2 times this year.

He is...I just think the rhetoric behind it could be toned down...we arent the greatest in the history of ever but we arent destined for a 5 win season either.

Chippy wrote:When you look at our close losses (eg. Asheville, UVA, etc) we did not have a "go to" player like we've had in the past. I've seen Ellis, Miller, Brown, Rinninger all have a chance and come up empty in the waning seconds. Devon Brown and Megan Frazee et al were given the ball in crunch time and either scored or got to the line. We don't have that type of offensively confident, aggressive and talented person on this team who can create their own shot, as of now. This really affects coaching decisions - we let a lot of games slip right out of our hands because of this. I think in games decided by 6 points or less I think we were 0-8. We got to win those games.

Also, HPU also has a nucleus of young players, 2 are McDonald's AA nominees and they can be a team to contend with over the next several years as well. While we may get better HPU will also get better - they beat us 2 times this year.

IMO, we plateaued a few years ago. Now other teams have caught up. Winning an NCAA Tourney game or two other than the 1 year would have helped.

BJWilliams wrote:He is...I just think the rhetoric behind it could be toned down...we arent the greatest in the history of ever but we arent destined for a 5 win season either.

Speak in extremes much? That's not what ballcoach said.

Where is that pot-kettle meme when you need it.

I was for purposes of my point. we arent one end or the other so we dont need to be described in those terms...we are more in the middle

BJWilliams wrote:I was for purposes of my point. we arent one end or the other so we dont need to be described in those terms...we are more in the middle

Which is a horrible place to be

I would concur PH...I was simply stating that while we are not the dominant force we were when I first arrived...we arent destined for a sub 10 win season either. ballcoach sounded like we were on our way to something along the lines of a 5 win season

BJWilliams wrote:I would concur PH...I was simply stating that while we are not the dominant force we were when I first arrived...we arent destined for a sub 10 win season either. ballcoach sounded like we were on our way to something along the lines of a 5 win season

No he didn't. He said we were declining. Which is exactly what you just stated.

Are we declining

BJWilliams wrote:I would concur PH...I was simply stating that while we are not the dominant force we were when I first arrived...we arent destined for a sub 10 win season either. ballcoach sounded like we were on our way to something along the lines of a 5 win season

Like I said before, we don't have a "go to" player, call it a dominant player as we have been blessed with over the last decade and a half. We have good talent but not on the level of Kisseleva, Frazee, Feenstra or even Devon Brown, the 2nd all time leading scorer in VA high school basketball. This is what has separated us from the pack up to now. It's not to say we can't win the big south but there is little margin for error now. What we have is depth but our starting 5 are not the best starting 5 in the league - Winthrop has that with HPU close behind.

Personally, I would like to see our conference with 2-3 top 100 RPI teams. That would help as far as seedings and chances for an at-large.

That said, we need to get back to where we are a top 100 RPI team. I did not get a chance to see them play this year, but we seem to lack that one dominant player that we've had in the past with Katie Feenstra, Megan Frazee and then Devon Brown. That's just based off reading recaps and looking at stats from some of this year's games.

LU has set a standard winning the BSC so many times, that when we do not win BSC, it seems like a bad season.


Several posters on here are correct in that "other teams have caught up". I agree and some have probably passed us.


(and they done it with the 1, 2 and 3 spots, not so much with 4 and 5.)

In other words we need a couple more athletic players/shooters.