Miller previously director of operations for menâs basketball at Lamar University - which explains the red tie!
I was looking at the roster last night because itâs finalized, did you all know you have an international player on the team now? Venus Emusi is a 6â3 Center from Madrid Spain, she is a Fr.
I think this team will be quick to get up and down the court, some Fr, Soph, Red-shirt Soph, Jrâs, and Srâs. Iâm sure this was probably the hardest off season for the coaches considering what happened to coach Reed, the not knowing if she was going to live, but you still have to do your job and recruit, because that affects your job also.
I think that experience will be used to help with this group. Just waiting to see the non conference opponents, I think I remember someone posting a couple months ago that they are going to Texas Tech.
Looks like some good percentage three point players came, and I didnât realize Alana was hurt and did not play last season. I hope this team can avoid injuries and remain relatively healthy, itâs the nature of the game, you have to make due as best you can if it happens, but I think this team deserves a break.
Itâs just not a lot for me to go off of this offseason because of what happened to coach Reed, I know she said last years group practiced and did the offseason how she was used to, you see practices and such, but no extra information in that regard as to how she sees this group, which I think she is still evaluating them and seeing what they can do, coach Reed is just happy to be alive.
The only thing Iâm certain of is that they are working hard to prepare for the season, the one thing this years team needs to do is finish all games. I counted at least 6 to 8 games last season they should have won imo. I know that is just sports talk, but if they finish those games, even with the bad call the referee made at UTSA, they still win that game. That is the one thing that held them back last year from what I saw.
Just wanted to get some thoughts because Football has started, and the Stadium expansion looks really nice, I heard the Football coach talk about a new training table lounge as part of it, he said it during the media day, but that lounge/training table area for the student athletes seems like it will be really nice.
I was just wondering what everyoneâs thoughts were so far, any real early expectations thus far? There is a contest with another conference or two I read last night to start the season, it will be an annual contest going forward, it seems to be a pretty neat with the top two teams from the conferences last year, that seems to be the format will be used, donât know if anyone else read it earlier this month.
Everyone enjoy Football and have a Good Weekend!
6 Likes
Just realized that a blurb about some of the new players, as well as returnees, was âburiedâ in the recent announcement about the teamâs 2026-27 conference opponents.
Anyway, this yearâs squad includes 6 returnees, 6 transfers, and 2 freshmen. Among the returning players is Zoe Best, the 3rd leading scorer (9.2 ppg) and top 3-point shooter in 2025-26, as well as 2nd leading rebounder Janavia Gage (6.7 rpg).
Two transfers look like they will be joining the starting lineup - DaâBrya Clark, who averaged 13 ppg, 5 rpg, and 2 apg at Norfolk State, and Charish Thompson, who averaged 14.2 ppg and 5.3 rpg at Cal Poly.
As a high school senior, incoming frosh Mariah Sain led Muskegon HS to the schoolâs first Michigan state championship and was runner-up for Michigan Miss Basketball.
2 Likes
Charlottes non conference schedule is up, they host Richmond the first game of the year November 2nd. I was looking them up, they have 6 Basketball Coaches, two Associate Head Coaches, that is crazy for a mid major. The new coach comes from Vermont from what I just saw, with the previous coach now at Virginia.
They are also going to Florida Gulf Classic to play UCF & Texas A&M, I see Davidson again, but with that Coach leaving to go to North Carolina St as an assistant, I read on another board that they were spending less on Womens Sports, or whatever they were going to do was going to affect the Womens program, because they are shifting funds to other places, I donât remember what, but that was the talk for the sudden departures with several of their coaches this summer. EDIT UPDATE: I was thinking about Campbell, NOT Davidson, they are having problems. That coach left, not the Davidson coach, she is still there.
I was wondering how the schedule was going to be done all things considered this offseason. I think it has nice balance, but not as difficult as she would normally have scheduled. Her reaction to the non conference being shown today is she is just happy to be able to Coach this season, I think outside of dying, she may not have been able to do so, but her recovery was so good, that she is able to continue coaching.
5 Likes
Thinking at least 2 more OOC TBA. Right now there are 29 total games including the league slate of 18. Like the menâs side, women can schedule up to 32 regular season contests beginning this year.
2025-26 metrics for this seasonâs OOC foes.
NET# - team w/overall + conf record
Postseason if applicable
#40 Richmond 26-8 (15-3 A-10) NCAAT
#32 Texas Tech 26-8 (12-6 Big 12) NCAAT
#223 Longwood 21-12 (11-5 Big South)
#233 Wofford 16-13 (10-4 SoCon)
#73 Davidson 21-12 (12-6 A-10)
#149 UCF 11-19 (3-15 Big 12)
#64 Texas A&M 14-13 (7-9 SEC) WBIT
#249 Kennesaw St 13-17 (6-12 CUSA)
#240 VCU 8-23 (4-14 A-10)
#304 Winthrop 15-17 (7-9 Big South)
#247 ETSU 18-13 (10-4 SoCon)
1 Like
Who is going to the open practice on the 21st? I would like to hear your thoughts on what you see.
A new open roles was shared today by Coach Reed, itâs Director of Recruiting & Scouting and Assistant Womenâs Basketball Coach.
So they need to fill in that role to complete the staff, not sure if it was unfilled until now, or if they are opening the role again. Whatever the case, that is the open job for the Womens team currently.
Associate HC LaShonda Cousin has also had the title of Recruiting Coordinator, so sounds like something is happening there.
There are also departmental openings for:
Assistant AD for Compliance
Assistant Director of Athletic Facilities and Event Operations
Assistant Director of Ticket Operations
The schedule does not list any exhibition games, I see some teams playing two of them this month, maybe it will be updated in the next couple of weeks, just none listed currently.
Could also be that they are participating in closed scrimmages in lieu of any public preseason contests.
1 Like
I watched the American Media Day last night, I watched a few different conference ones that were streamed and I could look at later.
An interesting note on the Mens side was listening to Penny Hardaway HC of Memphis, he said they had $5 Million in NIL, and he put an additional $2.6 Million of his own money to add to that, truly fascinating to hear.
I heard the Commissioner speak at the end, they are expecting multiple bids this year, at least on the Menâs side they were talking about possible 4 teams. Really fascinating conversations you might find of interest.
Getting to the Womens Team with Coach Reed as I watched her interview last, I watched on The Field of 68 on youtube if anyone wanted to hear everything or just parts, there are timestamps for you to use to for a specific team interview.
One thing I thought that Coach Reed talked about is that this team is fast, so that was a nice confirmation because it was only a thought in my head. They are really excited about the Fr Mariah Sain, so she will be a player to look out for, even though she is a Fr.
She said they had everyone in by June and July, which was a first for her, and because she didnât know if she would be able to Coach again, she told Coach LaShonda Cousins to recruit players she could coach herself if she had to end up leading the team.
She said Coach Cousins and her Staff did a really good job recruiting players, because she was not able to. She could not speak to the team until June due to the FMLA, but that the new players felt like they knew her from what the returning players and staff had told them during the recruiting process.
Her Goal this year is to have a top 3 team when it is time for the Conference Tournament, I know they she would want to Win Regular Season & Conference Tournament, because no one has done that the past few years.
She said they are currently trying to get the consistency to be constant, because this years team is Stronger and Faster, but that they need the consistently good play throughout the season to get to the results she is after.
Really good interviews by Talia Goodman if anyone is interested in seeing what the Mens Coach thought, the American format I think due to time was the same schools, with the Women being interviewed then the Men after, the other formats were all Mens teams went first, then the Womens teams, if they did both Women and Men interviews, some they only did the Men.
Here is the link to those interviews if you had not listened to them yet.
Seems like I heard the same thing from another coach and that to date hasnât turned out very well.
Still trying to make sense of Hardawayâs NIL contribution comment that Memphis AD only made murkier with his follow-up.