Oct. 31, 2000
SAN DIEGO - After competing for the majority of the 1999-00 season with just eight players, the San Diego State women's basketball team figures the war shouldn't be as tough as it was last season when five starters each averaged at least 31 minutes per game.
Quality depth was in short supply on Montezuma Mesa, options severely limited.
However, a fully replenished roster and a coaching staff renewed by a contract extension have energized the program as the Aztecs head into the 2000-01 campaign.
Despite suffering three straight losing seasons for the first time since the initial three years of the program, coaches and players alike insist there is good reason for optimism regarding the upcoming 2000-01 campaign. Head coach Barb Smith, who enters her fourth year at San Diego State, returns four starters from last year's 9-19 squad, easily the most experience group of returnees since she arrived at SDSU. Add to that a pair of key cogs from the 1998-99 season who return after missing all of last year, and a talented quartet of recruits and the reasons for SDSU's enthusiasm regarding 2000-01 begin to take focus.
That enthusiasm began building during the second half of San Diego State's 1999-00 campaign, a season that saw the Aztecs rebounded from a 1-8 start to post an 8-11 record down the stretch.
Though the final result was a modest two-game improvement in the win column over '98-99, the progress could have been even more dramatic. Hidden in SDSU's 9-19 final record was a 5-10 mark in games decided by fewer than 10 points, including eight losses in which the Aztecs trailed by five or less in the final 5:00 of play.
Which begs the question: Can the Aztecs learn how to turn those close losses from a year ago into victories?
"We had a lot of very close games last year and in each instance our players grew through the experience," said Smith. "We were a much different team at the end of last year compared to the team that opened the season as we began to learn how to win the close game. This year, I expect that experience to carry over and translate into many more victories."
San Diego State's fortunes should also be bolstered by a 13-player roster that includes three seniors and five juniors, giving Smith the kind of depth needed to install the up-tempo offense and pressing defense she has always wanted to utilize at SDSU.
"I've always liked to play an up-tempo, full-court game," Smith said. "Last year we had to pull back because of our lack of depth. This year we have the numbers in our favor and our fans should expect a much faster and more exciting brand of basketball."
The Back Court
San Diego State's strength in 2000-01 should be its back court. After being forced to go virtually wire-to-wire with Jamey Cox and Shannon Lee a year ago, the Aztec backcourt appears to be an option-rich area for Smith this season with as many as six players vying for time at the two guard spots, including the return of senior Sophia Sledge and junior Claire Swinbank, as well as junior-college transfer Missy Schomaker.
"I think we have a great back court," said Smith. "The depth and talent we have at guard makes us much more versatile this season.
"The combination of Soph and Claire back in the lineup and the addition of Missy makes this our strongest position on the floor and I expect this added depth to allow us to get out and run much more effectively than we have in the past."
Coming off a stellar freshman campaign, sophomore Jamey Cox will see action at both the point and off-guard spots and figures to once again be one of the Mountain West Conference's top performers. The league's fifth-leading scorer at 13.7 ppg, Cox made 26 starts as a true freshman last year, finishing in double figures a team-best 21 times and setting an SDSU single-season record for three-pointers with 69. The '99-00 MWC all-newcomer team selection also ranked No. 1 in the league in free throw percentage (.819), fourth in three-point field goals per game (2.52) and ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.397).
Senior guard Shannon Lee finally found her niche in the SDSU program last season at point guard, evolving into perhaps the MWC's top playmaker. Lee, who bounced back and forth between the guard and forward positions as a freshman and sophomore, found a home last year running the Aztec offense and went on to captured the inaugural MWC assist crown with 166 assists (5.9 apg), including four separate 11-assist games. Lee also filled the roll of SDSU's late-game hero last season, knocking down game-winning baskets in the final seconds against both Montana and UNLV.
Sledge and Swinbank, a pair of key performers in '98-99, both missed the '99-00 campaign -- Sledge with a torn left ACL and Swinbank for personal reasons. The duo should provide the Aztecs with the kind of additional outside scoring punch SDSU lacked a year ago.
Sledge, like Cox, is expected to see action at both the point and shooting guard positions. SDSU's leading scorer in '98-99 with a 10.7 points per game average, she ranks second on SDSU's career list for three-point shots made with 70 after connecting on 36 as a junior.
A '98-99 all-Western Athletic Conference newcomer team selection, coaches believe Swinbank has the type of offensive talent to be a double-figure scoring threat on a nightly basis. A 10-game starter as a true freshman, she scored in double digits on seven occasions, including a season-high 18 points at BYU.
In addition to SDSU's four returning letterwinners, 6-1 guard/forward Missy Schomaker will also be called upon to play a prominent role in both the Aztec guard rotation as well as at the small forward spot. An excellent ball-handler and outside shooter, the Lincoln, Neb., product was a Region 6 honorable mention selection and first team all-Jayhawk Conference honoree as a sophomore at Hutchinson Community College. Schomaker averaged 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and dished out an amazing 9.0 assists per game during '99-00.
Providing depth at the position will be sophomore Nicole Bemi-Morrison. A native of Ipswich, Australia, Bemi-Morrison joined the Aztecs in time for conference play a year ago and saw action in six games off the bench.
The Front Court
San Diego State's front court made huge strides during the '99-00 campaign in both scoring and rebounding. However, much of that improvement came from second team all-MWC selection Mary Apiafi, who averaged 12.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
"It will be interesting to see what happens in the paint this year with the loss of Mary inside," said Smith. "I expect Anita Bundage, Tanisha Knight and Atim Otii to solidify the front court, especially early on, with newcomers Nicolette McCartney and Morgan Vargas developing into solid contributors as the season progresses."
Like the guard positions, the Aztecs will not lack experience up front in 2000-01 as SDSU returns a pair of starters in Bundage and Otii and to the mix have added junior college transfers Knight and Vargas.
Bundage, who has averaged 142 rebounds per season during her three-year Aztec career, enters her senior campaign just 109 caroms shy of SDSU's all-time top 10 in rebounding. A 26-game starter last season at the small forward position, Bundage was the MWC's sixth-leading rebounder (6.6 rpg). She also chipped in on the offensive end with an 8.4 points per game average.
A proven scorer who also plays strong defense, Knight could develop into a go-to player on the offensive end at the power-forward position. A product of one of the nation's top junior colleges, Central Arizona College, Knight averaged 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds for the No. 5-ranked Vaqueras as a sophomore, leading CAC to a pair of National Junior College Athletic Association final fours.
Also figuring in the mix at power forward is McCartney, a 6-2 freshman from Chicago. An all-Illinois selection as a senior, McCartney prepped at Hersey High School, where she was a three-time all-Suburban League honoree. The conference's player of the year as both a junior and senior, McCartny averaged 17 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks last year and set an Illinois state record for rejections in a season with 177.
Otii, a junior who started all 28 games a year ago and averaged 8.1 points and 5.0 rebounds, will open the season at center, but should also see plenty of action at the power forward spot. One of the Mountain West's top offensive rebounders, Otii is also considered by coaches to be one of the Aztecs' toughest defenders.
Behind Otii, SDSU will look to Vargas and sophomore Andrea Kiesling. The Aztec coaching staff is excited about Vargas, a product of New Mexico Junior College who figures to possess one of the MWC's most imposing frames at 6-4. The team's only natural center in terms of size and strength, she averaged 9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds as a sophomore.
Kiesling, a 6-3 sophomore, saw action in 14 games in a reserve role as a true freshman before suffering a broken right fibula against BYU in January and being forced to the sidelines. She and 6-3 walk-on freshman Julie Wood, are expected to provide the Aztecs with solid depth off the bench.
The Schedule
San Diego State's 2000-01 schedule will be similar to last season's with six of 13 non-conference opponents back from last year's slate. The going, though competitive, should be less rugged however as USC and UCLA are replaced by California and Cal Poly.
The Aztecs begin their 2000-01 season with exhibition games on Nov. 3 and 12 at Cox Arena before opening non-conference play at defending Big Sky champion Montana, in Missoula, Nov. 18. SDSU opens its home season Nov. 24-25 when the Aztecs host Illinois State, Gonzaga and Chattnooga in the second annual Pacific Bell Classic. In all, SDSU plays eight of its 13 non-conference games away from Cox Arena, traveling from Montana in the north to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the south and as far east as Missouri.
"One of the areas where we struggled last season were road games," said Smith. "I honestly believe that the only way to improve that is to actually go on the road and learn how to win. Hopefully our non-league schedule of road games will pay dividends during the conference season."
Last year, the Mountain West Conference sent four teams on to postseason play. League champion Utah and runner-up BYU both received at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament, while Colorado State and New Mexico advanced to the Women's NIT.
All indications point toward the MWC being just as competitive nationally this year as all but two players from the league's '99-00 first and second teams return.
"The Mountain West has more potential right now than any other conference in the country," Smith said. "Most of the league's best players from last year are back. Those players will continue to improve, making the league that much more competitive across the board."
SDSU's Mountain West Conference season opens on Jan. 11 when the Aztecs host Brigham Young at Cox Arena in the league lidlifter for both schools. The regular season concludes with the conference tournament, March 7-10, in Las Vegas.
"I'm truly excited about the direction the SDSU women's basketball program is heading," Smith concluded. "The future is bright and I believe we are closer than ever before to achieving our goal of reaching the postseason."