Comparisons, in sports, can be a double-edged sword.
They can be harmless. Saying two players have a similar looking shot is one such example. But comparisons can also be unfairly saddled with
expectations, forcing a player to
become something they are not.
So when a freshman on a Division I college basketball team is compared to a senior ending her illustrious
career, it can add a lot of pressure.
Freshman Kristen Forristall has heard talk of her possibly becoming the type of player senior Cathrine Kraayeveld has been.
But that’s fine with her.
Because she isn’t focused on
becoming the player Kraayeveld is.
She’s focused on the player Kristen Forristall can become.
“I think I see similarities,” Forristall said. “We’re both aggressive, tall players that play inside and outside, but you never want to see yourself as a younger someone else. I want to be a better passer than
Corrie (Mizusawa), I want to be a better rebounder then (Andrea Bills), I want to be a better scorer than Cat. It’s always wanting to be the best that you can be.”
In the beginning
The hype didn’t begin right away. Before, it was Forristall experiencing life as a freshman at the University.
“In the beginning, it was really tough,” Forristall said. “I came in, and it was like, bam, you’re thrown right into the fire. Conditioning was hard; running was hard, and I felt inferior playing with the girls. It was a big step. Then everything progressed.
(I) just kept hitting the grind everyday, and it finally paid off.”
Her decision to come to Oregon was a tough one. Ever since she
was a kid, Forristall had a desire to
attend college somewhere east of the Mississippi River.
“The summer before my senior year was huge … I was looking at Vanderbilt really seriously, Boston College really seriously, Indiana and Oregon,” Forristall said. “It came down to Vanderbilt and Oregon and I just felt that I had a better fit at
Oregon — the players, the program, the coaches. I felt like the coaches had nothing to hide. They weren’t playing with me all the time; they weren’t trying to build my ego, and they weren’t telling me stories of how I would play all the time.”
Forristall indeed saw limited minutes for the first few games of the season. Then again, the lineup
included three seniors, a junior and a sophomore.
“(Coming in) there were seniors that knew they were seniors,” Forristall said. “And there were underclassmen that were fighting for spots, and I was just another player, and I knew I was going to have to work my butt off if I wanted any time.”
For the first eight games of the regular season, Forristall averaged
12 minutes of playing time and just over two shots per contest. In addition, there were the inevitable freshman mistakes, the most infamous coming against George Washington in the Papï