The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Women's Basketball Season Preview
10/18/2006 | Women's Basketball
There is a special feeling in the air surrounding the 2006-07 edition of the Ole Miss Women's Basketball team. Rebel head coach Carol Ross is entering her fourth season at the helm of a program clearly making moves on the national scene. With Ross' signature firmly in place on a program she once played for and now leads, the Rebels are a team looking to do some exciting things.
Leading the way for the Rebels in 2006-07 will be the talented and dominant senior class of Ashley Awkward, Jada Mincy and Armintie Price. With Awkward and Price keying the backcourt and Mincy patrolling the paint, Ole Miss will field its best class of leaders since Ross' return to Oxford.
"This is the first class who has come through with this coaching staff from start to finish," said Ross, who owns a 53-39 overall mark as the head coach of the Rebels. "They have a firm grasp on what playing at Ole Miss, playing in the Southeastern Conference and playing in the NCAA Tournament is all about.
"They are strong leaders. They are vocal, they have high expectations for themselves, and therefore they can impose those expecations on the underclassmen. I don't think they would ever put themselves in a position to ask someone else to do something they would not do themselves, and that's a true sign of leadership."
Awkward is back to guide the team as the veteran of a deep group of point guards. The Memphis native started 25 games as a junior turning in a career-best 9.7 points per outing, while also collecting 85 assists and 37 steals on the season.
"Ashley brings experience," said Ross. "She brings knowledge of playing in the SEC and leading a ball club. She understands her teammates' strengths and weaknesses and knows how to put them in a position to be successful."
Awkward will be joined at the point position by junior Tasi Worsham and freshman Shantell Black. With Worsham you get a powerful point guard, one who is physical and aggressive in taking the ball to the basket. Black is more of a water bug' point guard who arrives at Ole Miss from the highly touted Collins Hill High School out of Georgia.
"You have three different point guards who each bring something different and good," said Ross. "It will be by far the deepest we have been at the quarterback spot since we've been here, which is comforting because the point position is so critical both defensively and offensively."
A good battle is brewing for playing time at the two-guard position where incoming freshmen Alliesha Easley and Bianca Thomas will vie for playing time with returning juniors Carla Bartee and Lindsay Roy.
While Easley is quick and explosive with the ball in her hands, Thomas arrives at Ole Miss with the reputation of being a big-time' scorer.
"We have a couple of freshmen who are capable of anchoring that spot," said Ross. "And with our returnees a competitive battle should be brewing."
Bartee showed signs of being able to pour in the points in her inaugural season with the Rebels after transferring from Western Kentucky. The 6-1 guard-forward averaged 9.6 points per game last season as Ole Miss' sixth woman. While mostly playing in the power forward position as a sophomore, Bartee connected on 51 three-point baskets and also pulled down 3.6 boards per game.
"Carla certainly has the fire power and the ability offensively to do some exciting things," said Ross. "She just has to know when to pull the trigger and when to pass. She also needs to improve her ball-handling if she is going to play the two spot."
Roy is another player who can shoot the ball, but along with Bartee, Ross is looking for improvements from her in other aspects of her game.
"Lindsay came in as a shooter," said Ross. "Hopefully she will continue to develop into a more well-rounded guard, where she can put the ball on the floor, she can defend and she can be a secondary ball handler."
There will be no competition for the three-guard position as the Preseason All-American Price has it wrapped up. The Wade Trophy Player of the Year candidate led Ole Miss in scoring (17.7), rebounding (9.6), steals (3.4) and assists (3.4) as a junior, one of only three players in the NCAA to lead her team in those four categories. Price is currently on pace to become just the fifth player in NCAA history to record over 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 300 steals and 300 assists in a career.
"Armintie brings so many intangibles," said Ross. "What she brings is well documented. She can score it, she can drive it, she can handle it, she can pass it, she can steal it and she can rebound it. She's done all of that, not only leading our team, but she's also leading the SEC in several of those categories. She just has to bring her smiling face and her game."
Freshman Elizabeth Robertson will be asked to provide some depth behind Price. Robertson, a 5-10 guard out of Alabama, is a good outside shooter who can spread the defense with her ability to hit the long- range jumper. Rebounding will be the key to Robertson getting minutes behind Price according to Ross.
"Elizabeth, depending on her rebounding abilities, has the potential to back Armintie up in that spot," said Ross. "If Elizabeth does not rebound as well as we need her to, we might move her to the two position and let Bianca or Carla get some back-up minutes at the three."
Mincy will team with junior Danetra (Dee) Forrest to provide a hard-nosed one-two punch at the power forward position.
"Jada and Dee are both prototypical power forwards," said Ross. "They are strong and aggressive. They don't mind getting hit and they don't mind hitting other people. It's our tough spot, and we have two really tough players battling there."
While Mincy has a stronger face-up game and can hit the mid-range jumper, Forrest is a little more physical down inside to provide a perfect skill set to keep opponents on their toes.
The center position is another position that is the deepest in Ross' tenure with the Rebels. Sophomore Shawn Goff came on strong late in her freshman season to provide an inside presence. Goff started the final six games of the 2005-06 season and averaged 7.0 points and 9.0 boards per game in the WNIT.
"Hopefully Shawn can pick back up where she left off," said Ross. "She was playing with a lot of confidence at the end of the season. She was rebounding the ball well, scoring well with her back to the basket. She's got great potential and hopefully she can keep building and growing from her rookie campaign."
Ross felt like the Rebels were lacking in height down low so the coaching staff made a concerted effort to get bigger. In doing so they brought in highly touted 6-foot-5 Daphnee Frieson out of Mobile, Ala.
"We recruited Daphnee, who much like Shawn Goff is going to come along slowly like big girls tend to do," said Ross. "Hopefully by SEC time she will be used to the physicalness and aggression of playing inside, so she can really be a factor as we go into league play."
Joining Goff and Frieson in the middle will be sophomore Brandi Tipton. A skilled player with the ball in her hands, Ross likes the versatility Tipton provides in the post.
"Brandi is kind of the wildcard in the group," said Ross. "She can play a little bit with her back to the basket down low. She also has the versatility to play that forward spot facing the basket."
A traditionally tough schedule awaits the Rebels as defending national champion Maryland is a possible opponent in the Junkanoo Jam, a Thanksgiving Tourn-ament in the Bahamas. Ole Miss will also host Big Ten powers Illinois and Penn State in December, as well as make a return trip to perennial power Rutgers, a team the Rebels upset in Oxford last season. SEC road trips to Knoxville, Lexington, Athens and Gainesville are on tap for the Rebels in addition to hosting LSU, who has made a trip to the Final Four in each of the last three seasons.
"Last year we had a very tough non-conference schedule. In hindsight I think we were not mature enough to handle the demands of nonconference in addition to the always tough SEC schedule," said Ross. "Maybe we were not deep enough to handle the physicalness that we had to play with in November and December. It left us a little bit weary heading into league play. I think this year's team is more capable mentally, physically and emotionally to handle a competitive schedule from start to finish."
Ross' confidence in her team stems from knowing she has a senior class full of leaders prepared to guide their teammates into battle. With a fourth-straight postseason appearance waiting in the wings, Ross and her Rebels are ready to make the 2006-07 season one for Ole Miss fans to remember.
"This is as deep a group as we've had," said Ross. "It's a fairly experienced group of returners and five enthusiastic freshmen, who have shown to be focused on stringing together a highly successful 2006-07 campaign.
"So much of our success in league could come down to one rebound, one steal, one made free throw. Every game is could be tight. We know that. That's the nature of league play, you are always going to be in games where a bounce here or a bounce there determines a win or a loss. We have to win the ones we are supposed to. We have to steal a few that we are not supposed to, and hopefully we can position ourself for a successful postseason run."
