When Bev Smith took over as the Oregon women’s basketball coach in June 2001, words like “pressure” and “healing” were mentioned at a rate that would make most basketball players blush.
But now, after 22 wins and a Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship, there is one word Smith can use with confidence: “Progress.”
“I think that’s what this year was all about,” she said.
So big deal that the Ducks didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. Who cares that they finished tied for sixth in the Pacific-10 Conference?
Smith does, but she understands the importance of any form of postseason play.
Granted, the NCAA was the desired postseason destination, and a better finish in regular season play would have given Oregon a better seed in the conference tournament, but overall, success followed wherever the Ducks went.
“I’m just now realizing the fact that there are two teams that end their season with a win,” Smith said after returning from the women’s NCAA Final Four in San Antonio.
Many of Smith’s players agreed with that sentiment.
“At the end of the year, there are only four national champions,” junior Shaquala Williams said of both men’s and women’s tournaments. “Maybe it’s not the Big Dance, but it’s a start towards what we want to accomplish next year.”
Four seniors ended their Oregon careers with a WNIT championship. Edniesha Curry, who averaged 9.8 points and 3.25 assists per game in her only season as a Duck, and two-year starter Jamie Craighead will leave the Oregon backcourt.
Alyssa Fredrick, a valuable reserve for the Ducks this season, and Ndidi Unaka, a starter for part of the season, leave the already bare Oregon frontcourt.
Of the four, Craighead may be missed the most. The Elma, Wash., native is second all-time in three-pointers made at Oregon with 182, only seven behind program leader Missy Croshaw.
However, as a unit, the four provided a veteran presence that helped initiate four Oregon freshman into collegiate basketball.
“It was a transition year that was probably toughest on them,” Smith said. “They really left a pretty good legacy. They are part of a foundation that will be continuing.”
But looking at the Oregon roster for next season gives an impression that the seniors will be missed, but won’t necessarily be a debilitating loss.
For one, Williams, the 2000 Pac-10 Player of the Year, will be back. That’s about the only thing Duck fans need to know, as the 5-foot-6 guard was at her best this season.
When asked about her play this season, Smith immediately said “it was just solid.
“She didn’t shoot the ball well sometimes, but she always came up big when we needed her to. It’s very exciting to have her next season.”
Then there is the diminutive sophomore forward Cathrine Kraayeveld. Diminutive only in the sense that her 6-foot-3 stature was much smaller than the way she played. Her 10 points and nine rebounds per game in Pac-10 play suggests her final two seasons in an Oregon uniform are going to be better than the first two.
That’s a pretty hard thing to do, especially considering her contributions in the postseason.
Two game-winning shots, one against Oregon State and the other against Houston in the championship game, etch Kraayeveld’s name into Oregon history.
“She is becoming a force to be reckoned with,” Smith said. “Her rebounding ability was as impressive as anything.”
You can’t do much worse for an inaugural season than what Smith did for the Ducks. One season coached, and one championship won.
But now, it’s time to look forward to next year.
“I think the things we are doing are the right things,” she said. “We just have to do them better and with more consistency.”