It hasn’t taken long for the five newcomers to the Oregon’s women’s basketball team to make an impact. As part of an expanded playing rotation, all have gotten playing time this season, and four of the five are averaging at least 7.9 minutes per game.
Before the 2010-11 season started, the Emerald ran a feature on the new players, with comments from coach Paul Westhead. Now, with the season approximately half over, we look back at how head coach’s pre-season impressions of the five compare with their actual performance on the court.
Danielle Love
Pre-season coach’s comment: “We’ve only been practicing a handful of times and I don’t know what I expected, but we’re getting more than what I expected. She seems to be very comfortable in what we’re doing. I’m very surprised that she’s blended in so fast; she can shoot the ball and she has good skills.”
Westhead was on the mark with that statement. While Love only averages 7.9 minutes per game and saw the court in 13 out of 15 games, she’s made an impact, particularly lately.
In Oregon’s 68-64 win over Washington last Saturday, Love scored a career high nine points on 3-4 shooting. Already, Love, who shoots 50 percent from three-point land, has proven to be one of the Ducks’ best long-range shooters.
Ariel Thomas
Pre-season coach’s comment: “She is playing very well. She’s an explosive player, she has great speed and she can really shoot the ball. She’s kind of feisty on defense, so she has all the components. We have high expectations.”
Despite missing two games with shin splints, the speedy point guard has shown flashes of her enormous potential. Thomas was the highest ranked of Oregon’s four recruits.
She averages 4.7 points per game and 2.2 rebounds, and is second on the team in total assists. Although starting point guard Nia Jackson has been playing at an elite level lately, reducing minutes for Thomas, she has done an admirable job when called upon.
Deanna Weaver
Pre-season coach’s comment: “She’s already played a few different spots, so in baseball terminology, she’s like a utility player, but a quality utility player. She can really score and she knows what do when she has the basketball. If the shot clock is winding down, six seconds to go, she’d be a kind of player where you get it in her hands and she’ll figure out something for you and you like players like that, so she’s a skilled offensive player.”
In her brief time in an Oregon uniform, Weaver has been all that and more. She’s been one of the first players off the bench in almost every game, and is fifth on the team in scoring, third in rebounding, and fourth in steals.
Ashley Buis
Pre-season coach’s comment: “She’s a shooter. We brought her in to help supplement the loss of Taylor Lilley, and this young lady can really shoot the basketball.”
A junior college transfer, Buis has struggled at times but has also shown flashes of her shooting ability. Buis, who started all 15 of Oregon’s games, averages 7.8 points per game but is only shooting 32 percent from the field and 29 percent from three-point range.
Chynna Miley
Pre-season coach’s comment: “She’s an inside player who has a nice touch inside and we like her skill, we like projecting that she’s going to help us in the future.”
Miley has received the least playing time among Oregon’s five newcomers, only appearing in one-third of the Ducks’ games. With Oregon’s playing rotation relatively settled, it doesn’t appear Miley will have the opportunity to contribute much this year, though the jury is still out on her potential.
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