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Message: [QUOTE="Dillon77, post: 3310656, member: 6620"] Trying to figure out where the Irish are at the start of this year is like teaching neophyte dancing students the cha-cha: a few steps forward, a few steps back, maybe even a step or two sideways. Most of these not in any syncopated order. - There's virtually no floor experience from last year, outside of Mik Vaughn and Abby Prohaska. - Not a lot of rebounding options, compared to last year. - Two of the guards expected to score -- Katlyn Gilbert and transfer Destinee Walker -- either just got cleared to practice and are certainly catching up on conditioning, team-building, etc. - And five members of the team are walk-ons. Maybe senior guard Katie Cole (who earned a scholarship this year) will contribute some minutes, but not a lot. Still, as Kara Lawson pointed out following the blow-out loss to Louisville in 2017, "there's talent there." It will just take awhile for it to get there and gel. Things I'm looking for: - 6'3" center Mik Vaughn is another year removed from her ACL and is supposedly moving freely and with some burst speed again. - Anaya Peoples. McGraw is already calling her the best defender on the team. Not suprising. How will she contribute offensively? - Sam Brunelle will be counted on a lot; not only offensively, but in the lane on defense and rebounding. - Gilbert and Walker. Gilbert showed glimpses before her shoulder injury. Walker's been out for years. Can both return and be effective? - Prohaska is the prototypical pest, supplying energy and defense (see Brittany Mallory, Hannah Huffman). Can she score a bit like Mallory? The Irish will need it. and - Rebounding. In their championship year and last year, rebounding led directly into offense via the fast break. Without Jess Shepard, Bri Turner or Kat Westbeld, there are no established rebounders now, so the whole team will have to hit the boards. If Brunelle can approximate Kat Westbeld's peformance on the boards, that will be a plus. Vaughn will have to excel at wiping the windows and/or clogging up the middle on defense. So, lots of cha-cha's. I'll see the first recital at Fordham next Tuesday. We'll see how it starts and progresses. Interstingly, as a former coach and the husband of a long-standing teacher, I'm looking forward to it. MM loves the practice floor...she'll need to! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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