On the heels of the Big Ten Conference announcing that they will participate with the Big 12 Conference over at least the next two seasons in a conference challenge much like on the men’s side with the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, it is time to give the ladies their due and preview the season for the Spartans and Wolverines in the Big Ten and the Broncos, Eagles, and Chips in the MAC.
Last season four teams from the Big Ten Conference made the Sweet Sixteen in the Big Dance. This year could yield similar results with the cream of the crop in the conference being Ohio State who are currently ranked #3 in the nation. However, many other Big Ten teams are extremely talented this year including MSU who returns all five starters from last year’s team that went 22-11 and lost in the Sweet 16. Senior center 6 foot 9 inch Allyssa DeHaan anchors a team that will feature good defensive guardplay in Brittney Thomas, the scoring talent of Aisha Jefferson, and the solid all around talent of forward Kalisha Keane. The # 21 ranked Lady Spartans are currently 1-1 on the year after being upset in the season opener to Dayton and rebounding with a win against University of Detroit.
Michigan has a talented program that can surge offensively and produce points in a hurry. Their weakness is their defense who has the tendency to allow the same surges from their opponents at times. They are a program that is building a name for themselves in the women’s basketball arena and it is going to take some time. A 2-0 start to the season is making at least one pollster take notice as they recieved one vote in this week’s top 25 poll. Head Coach Kevin Borseth looks to continue this trend and the one he started last season engineering a 19-14 season with the team’s first postseason berth in six years.
The EMU Eagles look to reclaim their MAC West Championship something they lost last season after winning three years in a row and making it to the Big Dance in 2004. They are well on their way with a 2-0 start and their young talent should take them places this year as they mature and get acclimated to the college game. Expect Junior Cassie Schrock to lead a team that recruited five new freshmen faces to the roster this year.
WMU has had a rocky 0-2 start thus far this season. Expect them to experience more growing pains under the leadership of second year head coach Tasha McDowell despite the fact that the majority of the roster is upperclassmen. The team improved dramatically defensively last season and they could disrupt the play of MAC opponents by being a well conditioned team that plays well together. They’ll make some waves but not a big splash in conference play.
CMU is now 1-1 on the season giving then #17 ranked DePaul all they could handle in their last game getting within six points of the Lady Deacons with minutes to go. Following in the footsteps of many of their athletic programs are beginning to get talent in waves to play sports in Mount Pleasant. They will be somewhat dangerous in conference play this year but next year’s recruiting class is the real deal so if other teams want to win the conference, this year might be thier chance to do it because CMU may just own the MAC Conference title in multiple sports for years to come.
Posted 7:05 p.m.
