I think Nikki McCray is gonna be our coach

[SECbbfan24]

Matharu posted McCray on her Instagram, so I’d guess she’s staying.

Seems like everyone but Jackson and Carter have announced they’re staying.

Rickea is the most critical player to keep moving forward. That would be a pretty devastating loss but I hope she stays

 

[G-Dawg]

She played for Nikki last summer in the 3 on 3 thing. So she would have a pretty good idea if she wants to play for her or not.

 

[MSUFan2003]

Madison Hayes is someone to watch too. Haven't heard anything from her..

 

[Plebe]

Plebe. You've said you watched some ODU games this year. Some people on an ODU board I read complained about the lack of offensive production, but admitted that they were very sound defensively. What, in your opinion, did they look like overall?

Strengths were guard play, defense and effort.
Weaknesses were 3-point shooting, free throw shooting, lack of size.

Old Dominion hung their hat on guard play, defense and effort. They did not have much size on their team. They had only one "starter" over 5'11, and I put that in quotes because she only played like 15 minutes a game and was a complete non-factor on offense. Their best rebounder was a 5'11" forward. Their scoring was very balanced, in the sense that their other 4 starters all averaged about the same amount of points.

However, ODU wasn't loaded with great shooters. They had one starter (Morris) who could get hot from 3 and one bench player who was decent from range. So overall was a bit of an odd combination -- a very guard-heavy team, but most of the guards weren't very good shooters.

Another problem ODU had on offense was poor free throw shooting. They got to the line quite a bit more than their opponents but only shot about 60% as a team, and (looking at the stats now) the two players who got to the line the most shot only 59% and 50%.

I mean, what little I saw didn't have me jumping up and down about what an offensive genius the coach must be. But considering their significant weaknesses in size and shooting, I thought they compensated well in other areas. McCray at MSU is inheriting MUCH more potent tools, in terms of size and skill, than anything she had to work with at ODU.

 

[triaddukefan]

I wonder who ODU is looking at for their head coach.... and should I send an email to their AD?

 

[Plebe]

Interesting article on ODU's site.

Minium: Even though Nikki McCray is Moving On, The Future Looks Bright for ODU Women's Basketball - Old Dominion University

Everyone at ODU should be grateful for what Nikki McCray did at ODU, and not just because she won 45 games the last two seasons. Her players were stars in the classroom and she also left the cupboard full. ODU returns all but two seniors and has a good recruiting class. This team has the...

odusports.com

"Selig surely will act quickly to hire a new coach. Days before Mississippi State made it official, he was hearing from many coaches eager to replace McCray."

 

[G-Dawg]

Weaknesses were 3-point shooting, free throw shooting,

Well, then do I have the perfect team for her! (Sarcasm). We were horrid last year behind the 3pt line until Matharu got going.

 

[Plebe]

Well, then do I have the perfect team for her! (Sarcasm). We were horrid last year behind the 3pt line until Matharu got going.

Lol I will say that for me was probably the biggest surprise watching MSU last year. I was expecting both Bibby and Espinoza to be major threats from deep, and neither could get it going.

 

[ScottCT]

I wonder who ODU is looking at for their head coach.... and should I send an email to their AD?

They're trying to build a program, not put it into eternal damnation.

 

[triaddukefan]

They're trying to build a program, not put it into eternal damnation.

You have no idea who I was gonna recommend

 

[G-Dawg]

You have no idea who I was gonna recommend View attachment 52960 View attachment 52960 View attachment 52960 View attachment 52960

Does it rhyme with Mow Anne Jakolly?

 

[SECbbfan24]

Lol I will say that for me was probably the biggest surprise watching MSU last year. I was expecting both Bibby and Espinoza to be major threats from deep, and neither could get it going.

Bibby simply was not the same player since the injury. I hope she gets back there eventually with her new team. AEH was one of the biggest shocks to me, her confidence took a major hit and it showed in her shooting. That said she was a fabulous teammate and cheered for her teammates success despite living on the bench the entire year. I hope she has a great senior year to cap it off. She needs to get her confidence back, if she can she can be a big help as a scoring threat.

Cooks will add a nice threat from outside as well. Vic didn't recruit a lot of pure shooters from deep but Matharu could stroke it. Rickea would take them occasionally but she is still really young so I can see her expand her game there a little more there. Mingo Young use to take 3 point shots but it seemed like Vic told her and other kids not to take those shots anymore.

I am interested in the type of talent McCray will be able to bring to MSU.

 

[garddog]

Nikki was Aja's recruiter at SC.

 

[Zanzman]

Nikki was Aja's recruiter at SC.

How hard was it to recruit her to stay home

 

[garddog]

How hard was it to recruit her to stay home

No idea, but she as much as Dawn and the staff put SC on the map.

 

[SimpleDawg]

How hard was it to recruit her to stay home

lol... exactly.

 

[triaddukefan]

Does it rhyme with Mow Anne Jakolly?

 

[militarydog]

Lol I will say that for me was probably the biggest surprise watching MSU last year. I was expecting both Bibby and Espinoza to be major threats from deep, and neither could get it going.

In my opinion one of the reasons MSU had a higher than average three point threat the two seasons before this one is the development of T McCowan. During her last two seasons MSU shot 39 percent with 5.1 shots a game and 38 percent with 7.1 in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively. This year it dropped to 32 percent with 3.9 shots per game. Prior to T McCowan it was similar. She took up a lot of attention and gave the shooters much more open looks.

 

[Jmsdawg]

In my opinion one of the reasons MSU had a higher than average three point threat the two seasons before this one is the development of T McCowan. During her last two seasons MSU shot 39 percent with 5.1 shots a game and 38 percent with 7.1 in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively. This year it dropped to 32 percent with 3.9 shots per game. Prior to T McCowan it was similar. She took up a lot of attention and gave the shooters much more open looks.

I think you may be right but I also think Vic discouraged this year’s players from taking 3. He was constantly asking them to drive inside to get easy shots. I believe that was one thing that hurt both AEH and Bibby, they passed on open 3 to drive the lane. The freshmen, Matharu in particular, appeared to have less fear taking the 3. Hope Nikki allows more freedom with the open threes.

 

[DefenseBB]

In my opinion one of the reasons MSU had a higher than average three point threat the two seasons before this one is the development of T McCowan. During her last two seasons MSU shot 39 percent with 5.1 shots a game and 38 percent with 7.1 in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively. This year it dropped to 32 percent with 3.9 shots per game. Prior to T McCowan it was similar. She took up a lot of attention and gave the shooters much more open looks.

It also had more to do with Victoria Vivians .404. Roshunda Johnson .418 and Blair Schaefer .413 who were effective at shooting the 3 as much as McCowan was inside. That type of shooting is rare and shows how special those teams were.