Now that the dust has seemingly settled on portal signings the 24-25 outlook has come into focus it is
a good time to see where the program stands and what should be expected for the upcoming season.

Quick recap of 23-24 season:
Team finished 6-12 and tied for ninth in Big12. Overall record of 16-17. Team played hard and probably
had a better record than might be expected based on talent level and entrance into new league.
Only seven players saw significant PT. Team lost expected contributor when Nani Falatea left program
after returning from injury and playing three games.
Lauren Gustin continued to be a rebounding machine and easily led team in scoring.
FR backcourt of Amari Whiting and Kailey Woolston was everything that could have been expected and
more. Woolston proved to be one of the better shooters in WCBB.

Players lost:
Gustin. Significant loss. Brought a motor and toughness that will be hard to replace.
Woolston. Opted to serve a mission (props to her!). Leaves a huge hole in the program.
Kaylee Smiler. Experienced guard who often took assignment of guarding opponent's best scorer. Also
a very good percentage three point shooter although did not shoot a lot. Significant loss.
Rose Bubakar. Opted to enter portal following three years in program. Landed at Weber State in Big Sky.
Saw a near 30% reduction in Minutes per game from previous season. Career just never got traction
despite playing nearly 1300 minutes.
Ali'a Matavao. Opted into portal. Coaches tried to add her as eighth player but didn't pan out. Played
88 minutes.
McKinley Willardson. Played seven minutes. Serving mission (good for her!).

Players returning:
Whiting. Played her FR season coming off an ACL injury. Had an outstanding overall season. Very aggressive.
Great rebounder for PG. Did not shoot well for a guard. Expect improvement this season.
Emma Calvert. Only size on the team who played. 6"4". Played a lot on perimeter on offense as game plan
was typically to pound ball low to Gustin (this gradually became a lesser focus as season progressed).
Shot poorly from Three and FT after showing much promise previous season. Hope would be that she can
settle into a more natural role with Gustin graduated. Blocks a lot of shots but is not quick which often
results in foul trouble.
Lauren Davenport. Transferred into program from Boston U. Aggressive. Played over 23 MPG. Has a lot
of experience with over 1400 minutes at college level. Will likely be a contributor going forward.
Arielle Mackey-Williams. Sat out last season with torn ACL. Played over 30 MPG as Soph in 22-23. Good
shooter. Would expect that she will see significant playing time assuming her knee has recovered.
Heather Hamsen. 6'3". Will be her SR season per roster. Played only 37 minutes last year. Hard to expect
her to contribute significantly.
Marina Mata. From Spain. 6'1" forward. Played 39 minutes as FR last year. Unproven at best.
Kylie Krebs. Played one minute last year as JR. Not sure if she is on scholarship.

So the returning players do not provide a lot of hope without a significant infusion of talent.
Players returning provided 37% of points and 31% of the team's rebounds last year. They shot 45.7% from
two, 31.0% from three and 60.9 from the FT line.

Talent infusion:
Kemery Martin. Was a big recruit out of HS. Signed with Utah. Spent three years there and transferred to Cal,
where she played the past two seasons. Has played over 2700 minutes for two Pac12 teams so has a more
game experience than anyone in the program. Has not been a great shooter. 39% from two, 32.7% from three
and 63.4% FT are career numbers. Expect her to step in and play a lot of minutes and provide leadership.
Marya Hudgins. Transfer from Santa Clara which was a decent team at 25-9. Played over 20 MPG both of her
years at SC. Apparently a very good rebounder (9.7 per 40 minutes) and was a good three shooter last year
at 36.4%. Would assume she will get double digit minutes.
Hattie Ogden. Transfer from Buffalo which finished fourth in MAC. Played over 1500 minutes in two seasons.
Looks to be primarily a three shooter with 301 career 3PA vs 74 2PA. 31.7% from three last year is not good but
was 38.1% season prior. Would guess her PT will depend on how she is shooting.
Kendra Gillispie. Transfer from Arkansas State (10th in Sun Belt). Big recruit out of HS who signed with Baylor.
In two years there saw only 255 minutes of PT. At Arkansas State last year played 14.7 MPG (7th on team).
Under 40% career FG%. Excellent rebounder at 13.9 per 40 last year). Given the lack of inside players on the
roster expect her to see a decent number of minutes this year.
Delaney Gibb. Big time recruit. Expect her to play a lot. Hope is that she will be a replacement for Woolston in the
program. As with any HS recruit you really don't know for sure what you have until they get out on the court vs
D1 competition.
Sarah Bartholomew. 6'3" HS recruit from Lone Peak. No idea on her. Cannot see who might have been recruiting
her. Will be hard to step up to Big12 level from HS but she will certainly get the opportunity to show the coaches that
she can play due to lack of size on roster.
Brinley Cannon. Again, no idea about her. From Idaho. 6'1". Would be surprised if she plays much this year given the
number of more experienced players her size.
Kambree Barber. Again, no idea here. 6'0" from Idaho. Apparently recruited by Boise and St Mary's. Along with Cannon, I
would think she might be a RS candidate.
Naia Tanuvasa. Just added to roster. I think she is a walk on? Don't expect anything from her this year. Probable RS.

So that is what Coach Amber Whiting goes into the season with. The jury is obviously still out on her as a coach and
if the team performs poorly she may start to feel some heat. I think she has at least a couple of years regardless of
how the upcoming season goes. But with WBB getting more air time, media and print coverage, etc the AD's office will
want a competitive program on the floor going forward.

I think this team will struggle mightily. Heather will get them to play hard but the team has very limited size inside and
not a lot of proven outside shooting. Have to hope that Amari can take a step forward, Calvert is more comfortable and
can provide an inside presence, Gibb lives up to her press clippings, Mackey-Williams is fully recovered from her
knee injury and plays well, Martin is the player she seemed coming out of HS, Gillispie can give us 10-15 good inside
minutes and two or three of the other players exceed expectations and become solid contributors. That is a lot to ask.
I expect to see 8-10 players get double digit minutes early in the season as Heather sees what she has.