Coatney's Call: Welcome to A New Season

Happy Basketball Season Husker Fans! 

And, yes, basketball season is officially here!  New NCAA rules allow women's basketball teams to utilize a 40-day window to practice 30 times prior to their first game, thus the first day of practice for the Huskers was Monday, Oct. 4. 

I trust you are as ecstatic as I am to get this season underway!  We had a tremendous showing of support for the pre-season Sneak Peak/Alumni Appreciation luncheon last weekend here in Lincoln.  It was a great way to tip-off the 2010-11 season.

As we look forward to the upcoming campaign, it's easy to want to hold on and reflect on last year's magical ride.  It's somewhat unreal to believe Nebraska went 32-2, earning the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in school history, a conference championship, the entire starting five earning post-season conference recognition, Coach Connie Yori receiving five National Coach of the Year awards and a plethora of other notable achievements. 

Yet it's time to move forward and not forget what was accomplished last season, but to build on the successes that team had.

I get very excited when I look at this season's edition of the Huskers.  It's easy to get fired up when you have the entire starting backcourt returning.  Senior Dominique Kelley has started every game in her career and was named honorable-mention All-Big 12 at the end of last season.  'Nique became an offensive force last season, using her strength to get to the rim time and time again.  She scored in double figures the last five games including back-to-back career high 22-point games to close out the season.   Look for the senior from Lincoln to become more of a consistent scoring threat for the Huskers this season.

While the 5-7 Kelley may not have previously came to mind as a first scoring option, consider this: only seven of the top 20 scorers from 2009-10 in the Big 12 Conference return this season.  'Nique is fifth on the list of returning scorers from last season in the league and is fifth on the active career scoring list in the conference.

Big 12 Conference Active Career Returning Scorers

1. Brittany Spears, Colorado - 1,533
2. Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma - 1,496
3. Kelsey Bolte, Iowa State - 1,082
4. Kathleen Nash, Texas - 1,056
5. Dominique Kelley, Nebraska - 938

Big 12 Conference Active Returning Scorers from Last Season's Top 20 (only 7 of top 20 return)

3. Britney Griner, Baylor
4. Brittany Spears, Colorado
5. Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma
7. Danielle Adams, Texas A&M
17. Dominique Kelley, Nebraska
18. Kelsey Bolte, Iowa State
20. Brittany Chambers, Kansas State

The other returning member of the Husker backcourt is 5-9 sophomore Lindsey Moore.  Often when you're in the heat of the middle of the season, you don't fully appreciate the accomplishments you're witnessing until you have time to reflect. 

Over the summer I did some research and I found this fact astounding:  Moore is the only freshman point guard in the history of NCAA Division I Women's Basketball to start every game for a team that went undefeated in the regular season.  Not only that, she is the only freshman to start as the primary point guard for any of the 14 teams that have gone undefeated in the regular season.  That is truly remarkable. 

A member of the All-Big 12 Freshman team, she set a Husker freshman record for consecutive starts (34).  Coach Yori said last weekend that Lindsey is the best passer in the Big 12.  It's hard to argue with her, especially if you watch last season's highlight reel.  There are some hum-dinger passes that 'Zeros' made.  Yori is counting on Moore to become more of an offensive force this season. 

It's not just Kelley and Moore that make me excited about this season.  Obviously there are five tremendous freshmen who will see significant playing time with this edition of the Huskers.  But I know that finishing in the upper half of the ultra-tough Big 12 Conference usually comes down to one key statistic:  which team has the most experience. 

It's not a 100 percent gauge, but it's a pretty accurate barometer when forecasting the league race.  I can't believe more people don't look at it.  For example, before the 2007-08 season, Kansas State was picked eighth in the pre-season conference poll.  The Wildcats returned a team that had players with a combined 258 career starts and won the regular season league title with a 13-3 record.  Oklahoma returned players with 227 career starts and won the 2008-09 regular season conference race.  

Most of you know that last season Nebraska returned a very veteran team.  Even though the Huskers came into the season with players who combined for a whopping 300 career starts, the pre-season pollsters only picked NU sixth.  Those players with the 300 career starts helped the Huskers run through the league undefeated and gave Nebraska their first Big 12 regular season crown. 

It's pretty clear that having at least 200 career starts on your roster puts your team in a pretty good position to compete for a Big 12 Conference title.  Here's a look at how many starts each team in the conference returns heading into the 2010-11 season:

Big 12 Career Starts Per Roster

1. Baylor - 208
2. Missouri - 188
3. Kansas - 178
4. Oklahoma - 176|
5.  Nebraska - 175
6. Colorado - 163
T7. Iowa State - 157
T7. Texas A&M - 157
9. Texas - 141
10. Texas Tech - 112
11. Kansas State - 99
12. Oklahoma State - 82

I'm sure Baylor will be picked by most pre-season prognosticators to win the league.  They have almost everyone returning from their Final Four team, plus they are the only Big 12 team to return a roster that includes at least 200 starts.  This makes me think the conference race will be wide open this year.  Combined with the loss of 13 of the top 20 scorers from last season, there are eight teams in the league with a roster of more than 150 career starts, including Nebraska's 175. 

The return of veterans Catheryn Redmon and Kaitlyn Burke, who have 43 combined career starts, give Nebraska a good blend of experience with their youth.  Additionally, freshmen Rebecca Woodbury (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Jordan Hooper (Alliance, Neb.), will join Kelley and Moore to give the Huskers four players on the roster who were their state High School Players of the Year.

Some of the most frequent questions I get from fans are, "Whatever happened to..." or, "Is (name) playing or coaching anywhere?"  Here is an update on the whereabouts of some recent Husker Women's Basketball players:

Former point guard Jina Johansen became the head women's basketball coach at the University of Dallas and is very excited to begin her first season running a program.  Another former Husker point guard, Ashley Ford, is beginning her first season as an assistant coach at the University of San Diego under former NU assistant Cindy Fisher. 

Chelsea Aubry recently completed another summer of competing on the international scene with Team Canada's Senior National Team in the World Games in the Czech Republic.  She plans on returning to play in the Australian Professional League with the Bendigo Spirit again this winter. 

Danielle Page and Kelsey Griffin will both be playing professionally in Europe this year.  Both 'D' and 'Mo' are in Hungary, but playing for different teams in different towns.  Page was recently named Eurobasketball.com Player of the Week after leading the league in points (24.0 ppg) and blocked shots (2.0 blocks per game) after the first week of games.  

Cory Montgomery is playing professionally in Spain and Vonnie Turner is in Germany this winter on the pro circuit after spending part of the summer playing basketball in Australia with former Husker Steph Jones.

The first exhibition game is only a few weeks away!  The Huskers will face Pittsburg State on Halloween afternoon (10/31) at 2:05 p.m at the Devaney Center.

Go Big Red!

Matt