Members of the Oregon women’s basketball team were visibly excited at last week’s media day, and why wouldn’t they be?
Three starters — point guard Nia Jackson, forward Amanda Johnson and center Victoria Kenyon — return from last year’s squad that made the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Key rotation players Nicole Canepa and Jasmin Holliday also return. Head coach Paul Westhead and his staff brought in five new players — four freshmen and one junior-college transfer — to build for the future.
Of course, just as noticeable was who will not be returning.
Taylor Lilley, the program’s all-time leader for three-point field goals made and a vocal leader, is now with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. Micaela Cocks, the program’s all-time leader in free-throw percentage and a leader by example on the practice floor, is now playing professional basketball in France.
“Who eventually replaces Taylor Lilley? I don’t know,” Westhead said. “She might not be here, she might not be anywhere.”
“I think everybody (steps up and fills in for them),” Jackson said. “The scoring is really going to be distributed around the team. Everybody can score. Everybody’s in really good shape last year.”
Oregon, the Pacific-10 Conference leader in scoring offense and the national leader for much of last season, must do more than just fill a starting lineup.
It must replicate the pace and precision of last year’s offense, along with the pressure of last year’s defense, that made the Ducks (18-16 last season) such a threat.
The players are fully committed to improving on their test run of Westhead’s fast-break system in year two.
“We definitely have better knowledge of what he wants us to do. We’re more familiar with it,” guard-forward Tatianna Thomas said. “How hard it was for us to adjust last year, we kind of know what’s expected (this year) as far as how much effort we have to give.”
“Last year, I would be the one saying, ‘No, you need to go faster,’” Westhead said. “The veterans have done a terrific job of helping the younger players. Where they go, how fast they have to go — usually the last word is, it has to be faster.”
Those young players will receive trials by fire this season.
Last year, Westhead committed to a seven-woman rotation, sometimes using senior guard Kristi Fallin as an eighth player with steady minutes. Oregon’s second-year head coach said he would entertain an expanded rotation this season, with playing time available for the younger players.
“The young players, the four freshmen — we’re going to use them,” he said. “They’re going to be in the mix. How much, how fast, how soon, I don’t know. But they’re going to be playing. We brought them in to play, and they are going to play.”
“I think it’s going to help a lot,” Jackson said. “Everybody can bring something on the court. It’s going to help our legs, help us get more rest, help us tire teams out.”
Jackson expects herself to help fill the leadership gap left
by Lilley and Cocks, along with Johnson, who enrolled in graduate school after completing a double major (psychology and sociology) this summer.
“She is a graduate, so we’re working on borrowed time. It’s kind of an interesting twist. Thank goodness she didn’t graduate and leave,” Westhead said. “We do have a handful of veterans that played quite a bit, but she is our standard bearer of those returning.”
For the veterans around the program, optimism is high as the system becomes refined.
“A major goal is to go to the NCAA Tournament,” Thomas said. “Me being a senior, having not done that yet, it would be an unbelievable thing to do. It will just show that we will be a force to be reckoned with, and a continually growing program.”
[email protected]