MU Women's Basketball Thread

[Marquette Fan]

I got an email this week that basically said they're waiting to see what happens with the season.  I also got an invite today for a zoom meeting with Coach Duffy in a couple weeks - looking forward to that.

[Marquette Fan]

Last night's zoom meeting with Coach Duffy was a fun thing they hosted for season ticket holders.  Although it made me sad thinking about an upcoming season that might not happen either...

[YoungMUFan4]

Beat out some B12 schools for a 2021 commit

https://wbbblog.com/kendra-gillispie/

[shoothoops]

Beat out some B12 schools for a 2021 commit

https://wbbblog.com/kendra-gillispie/

An Oklahoma 6A High School State Champion as a Junior, (16 and 15 in title game) .....committed to Ole Miss when MU assistant Tony Greene was there. She decommitted in the Spring when at the time Greene left Ole Miss. And now she has committed to MU.
.

[Marquette Fan]

Beat out some B12 schools for a 2021 commit

https://wbbblog.com/kendra-gillispie/

It's fun to watch the commitment video when the person is committing to 'your school' .

Welcome to Marquette!

Nice pick-up for Duffy

[4everwarriors]

Any y'all surprised Duffy draws a $485,000 salary, hey?

[Marquette Fan]

Update on the Marquette players in the pros:

https://gomarquette.com/news/2020/10/27/womens-basketball-muwbb-in-the-pros-update-oct-20.aspx

[shoothoops]

Former MUWBB commit, Shemera Williams, has decided to transfer from Virginia to USC.

https://twitter.com/_swilliams10/status/1322604820075847681

[Marquette Fan]

Selena Lott was named to the Preaseason All-Big East Team and Marquette is picked by the Coaches to finish 3rd:

https://gomarquette.com/news/2020/10/28/womens-basketball-selena-lott-named-to-all-big-east-preseason-team.aspx

I was expecting UCONN and DePaul to be picked first and second as they were and UCONN of course was a no brainer pick for the top spot - nice to see MU picked 3rd.  This is a lot better than last year when they were picked to finish 9th behind an awful Xavier team - yes I'm still mad about that poll .

Also - the first 4 BE games have been announced:

https://gomarquette.com/news/2020/10/30/womens-basketball-four-muwbb-big-east-games-announced.aspx

That's a definite change with no travel partners.  The rest of the league schedule will be announced later.  They also haven't announced any non-conference games yet.  And I have no clue if fans will be able to attend games or not.  At this point, I'm assuming no fans and will just be pleasantly surprised if they decide to allow fans.  Hopefully the Big East continues to have online broadcasts of all their Women's games available for free.

[Billy Hoyle]

Any y'all surprised Duffy draws a $485,000 salary, hey?

That probably inline with the rest of the BE

[shoothoops]

The above coaching salary reference was possibly in reference to the MU Student Newspaper article that same week. The article had a link to MU financial statements from the 2018-2019 year.

The financials showed that Carolyn Kieger's listed final year MU compensation was just over $485k. 

Kieger was set to increase this compensation significantly at Penn St. (Penn St. had roughly $165 million, in athletic department revenue that same year, down slightly, and a previous coach making signficantly more than Kieger's MU salary)

For MU league comparison, DePaul's Doug Bruno has been getting higher but roughly comparible compensation (north of $500k) to Kieger's for much of the past decade. Bruno has 15 straight NCAA appearances at DePaul in the BIg East, 4 Sweet 16's and 6 regular season Big East Titles. Kieger had 3 NCAA's in 5 seasons at MU.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Why not us? 3 Big East teams who could end UConn's conference unbeaten streak
By Doug Bonjour Updated 11:01 am EDT, Thursday, October 29, 2020

https://www.nhregister.com/uconn/article/Why-not-us-3-Big-East-teams-who-could-end-15680054.php?src=%20nhrhpspt


The balance of power in the Big East for women's basketball isn't a mystery. UConn likely will be favored, perhaps unanimously, when the conference releases its preseason poll Thursday morning at its virtual media day.

The Huskies, even with six freshmen on their roster, figure to be legitimate Final Four contenders in 2020-21. Again.

But that doesn't mean they won't run into a few tests along the way, maybe even in conference. The Big East — which ranked sixth in RPI last season, behind the Power Five — figures to be significantly stronger at the top and deeper than the Huskies' former home, the American Athletic Conference.

The Huskies made a mockery of the rest of the AAC over the last seven seasons, going 139-0 in league play. And most of those games weren't even close.

To find the last time UConn lost a conference game, one must go all the way back to March 12, 2013 — the Big East championship against Notre Dame.

Will that change anytime soon? Will anyone from the Big East beat the Huskies? Odds are, probably not. But here are the three teams that stand the best chance.

DePAUL

For starters, the Blue Demons have one of the game's most venerable coaches and a winning pedigree. They've been the class of the Big East since UConn left, averaging 27 victories over the last seven seasons to go with three straight conference championships.

They must replace Chante Stonewall, their leading scorer and Big East Defensive Player of the Year, but guards Lexi Held and Sonya Morris are experienced and should help fill the void.

DePaul coach Doug Bruno has never beaten his good friend Geno Auriemma. In fact, the Blue Demons are 1-17 all-time in the series dating to 1983.

Again, the odds are stacked against DePaul, but all it takes is one hot shooting day to put UConn on the ropes. Only one team shot — and attempted — more 3-pointers than the Blue Demons last year.

MARQUETTE

This much we know about Megan Duffy, Marquette's second-year coach: She's been on the right side of history before against UConn.

Specifically, Duffy played on the Notre Dame team that snapped UConn's 112-game Big East home-court winning streak in 2005. She was also an assistant under Kim Barnes Arico when St. John's shocked the Huskies in 2012, ending a run of 99 straight victories at home.

That's not to say, of course, that Duffy is any sort of miracle worker. But she does happen to have a pretty good program on her hands.

The Golden Eagles won 26 games and made a fourth consecutive Big East final last season and would've been in the NCAA Tournament if not for the coronavirus. They return their No. 1 scorer, senior guard Selena Lott.

ST. JOHN'S

Losing Tiana England to Florida State was a huge blow. The graduate transfer — and Stamford native — has 509 career assists, most among active Division I players.

But St. John's — which, as previously discussed, has traditionally played UConn tough — was able to retain some offensive firepower, including Big East Sixth Woman of the Year Leilani Correa.

dbonjour@ctpost.com; @DougBonjour

[Marquette Fan]

Have they announced yet if they're allowing fans for Marquette Men's Basketball home games this season?  I haven't heard anything about the Women's Bball games yet for this season and was wondering if they'd announced anything for the Men's team yet.

Edited to add - got my answer on this today - not surprising that there are no fans for games until the end of 2020.  I'm kind of figuring on fans not being allowed for the whole season (assuming they get to play a whole season of course).

[Marquette Fan]

Destiny Strother who transferred from Marquette to Pittsburgh after this past season was granted a waiver by the NCAA and is immediately eligible to play for Pitt during the 20-21 season - she'll have 3 years of eligibiltiy at Pitt - https://pittsburghpanthers.com/news/2020/11/4/womens-basketball-destiny-strother-granted-ncaa-waiver-immediately-eligible-for-2020-21-season.aspx

[Marquette Fan]

It's 15 days before the season is supposed to start - is Marquette going to even have any non-conference games???

[shoothoops]

Preseason Women's Rankings:

Connecticut 3
DePaul 19
Marquette not ranked, and are the 7th team beyond Top 25 getting votes.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/associated-press

[Marquette Fan]

Preseason Women's Rankings:

Connecticut 3
DePaul 19
Marquette not ranked, and are the 7th team beyond Top 25 getting votes.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/associated-press

Sounds fair enough to me - wouldn't expect them to be ranked at this point

[Marquette Fan]

One week until the season is supposed to start and still only 4 December BE games announced .  At this point, I'm going to assume they will have no non-conference games and that the December 4th BE opener will be their first game.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Milwaukee is at MU on 12/2

[Marquette Fan]

Milwaukee is at MU on 12/2

Thanks for the info - I see the game is at noon - I know when I'll be taking my lunch break that day

[Marquette Fan]

Here's the schedule for the first month:

https://gomarquette.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule

Release about the schedule:

https://gomarquette.com/news/2020/11/19/womens-basketball-muwbb-releases-first-month-schedule.aspx

BE games will be streamed online - streaming availability for non-conference games still to be determined.

[Macallan 18]

Had not seen this posted in the thread. In September The Big East announced the women's tournament is moving to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., beginning in 2021. The agreement spans three years and includes the 2021, 2022 and 2023 postseasons.

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2020/9/1/mohegan-sun-arena-to-host-big-east-womens-basketball-tournament.aspx


Anyone think they ever leave Mohegan Sun Arena when the contract is up?

[Marquette Fan]

Had not seen this posted in the thread. In September The Big East announced the women's tournament is moving to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., beginning in 2021. The agreement spans three years and includes the 2021, 2022 and 2023 postseasons.

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2020/9/1/mohegan-sun-arena-to-host-big-east-womens-basketball-tournament.aspx


Anyone think they ever leave Mohegan Sun Arena when the contract is up?

Not as long as UCONN is in the Big East.  I figured the Women's tournament would go back to Connecticut as soon as UCONN came back to the Big East.

[Mr. Nielsen]

 Mohegan Sun would easily have the best attendance numbers. $$$$$

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Had not seen this posted in the thread. In September The Big East announced the women's tournament is moving to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., beginning in 2021. The agreement spans three years and includes the 2021, 2022 and 2023 postseasons.

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2020/9/1/mohegan-sun-arena-to-host-big-east-womens-basketball-tournament.aspx


Anyone think they ever leave Mohegan Sun Arena when the contract is up?

I shated back in March.  Only other location is Hartford in place of Mohegan Sun.