I don’t know what (if any) official pronouncements have been made. The program tends to keep quiet about this sort of thing. But rumors abound and that’s mainly what the BY trades in.
As far as I can guess, the core players returning from last season’s final four run are all ready to go:
Paige KK Ash Ice Qadence
Of the other returners,
Jana seems likely to be ready now.
Ayanna hasn’t said she won’t be ready now.
Caroline says she’s ready to go.
Azzi hasn’t showed up in practice videos but seems optimistic about returning earlier rather than later, perhaps in early December, maybe sooner.
Aubrey is not likely to return before January.
Of the newcomers,
Kaitlyn can be seen in the recent practice videos and I can’t think of any reason she wouldn’t be ready now. The same goes for
Allie. It may be a slightly different story for
Morgan who had nagging injuries in her last two HS seasons and hasn’t been in the practice videos. Fears abounded this summer that
Sarah might get injured in her summer FIBA activities, but these seem to have been unfounded, thank goodness! Still, she is not prominent in videos.
Therefore, I assume we will have the following back on a schedule sort of like this:
- October-November: Paige Kaitlyn Ash KK Qadence Ice Jana Allie Sarah
- November-December: Azzi Ayanna Morgan Caroline
- January-February: Aubrey
I tried not to be overly optimistic with this list. And even in this cautious view, the team that practices all October and is ready to go for the first game in November looks to be a powerhouse as is. I’d suspect the team will get even stronger each month as experienced veterans and one freshman return. The return of Aubrey when the conference schedule is in full swing could be triumphant if all goes well.
I can’t help thinking November and December will be a heady time for
Jana Ice Qadence Allie and Sarah since they’re likely to get a lot of minutes and plenty of opportunities to prove themselves. The other four,
Paige KK Ash and Kaitlyn are all fully proven talents. They will provide the structure and the example for the others