Special to Callum McAndrew Post-Dispatch
Columbia, Missouri — Robin Pingeton When Lauren Hansen I haven’t forgotten March 13th.
Missouri’s women’s basketball coach and senior guard each expected the Tigers’ names to be called by the selection committee for that day’s NCAA tournament, but instead, they were demoted to WNIT’s berth. He then lost in overtime to Drake, ending the 2021-22 season.
Hansen said the cynicism was devastating. Pingeton said he still occasionally sprinkles memories of that unfortunate day in March for motivation during practice.
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Not that her players needed help learning.
“I think we packed it in, learning from all the experiences,” said Hansen. “We remind each other of how it felt. And this year we don’t want to be in the position of being in a bubble. is expensive.”
These goals: Top 4 placements in SEC tournaments. Advanced to the sweet 16 of the national tournament.
These are big ambitions for a team that struggled and failed to qualify for a tournament after an 18-13 season, finishing tied for eighth place in the conference (7-9). And those goals cannot be achieved without some challenges, old and new.
First and foremost, not every member of last season’s team is there to avenge the tournament snub. Aija BlackwellPlayed in several games last season while suspended from the programme. Radasia Williams, a 6-foot-4 forward, left for LSU. Freshmen Kiya Doro, Skyla Travis, and Izzy Higginbottom also transferred.
Despite the upheaval, Hansen’s first mention of the group’s identity was its “connectivity,” praising the team’s chemistry off the floor, which she credits with translating into chemistry.
It’s music to the head coach’s ears.
“The really cool part about it is that it’s very organic. I think that’s when it’s really worth it,” Pingetong said. “When that culture and chemistry is right and we have the right people on that (team) bus, we’ve been able to do some special things. I think that’s what characterizes this team.”
And while ditching the old doesn’t seem to derail the Tigers, embracing the new may have strengthened them.
Pingeton believes the team is “going deeper than ever” and believes players, from returnees to true freshmen to grad school transfers, are beginning to understand and embrace their roles. increase.
Missouri’s 2023 class is highlighted by Rock Bridge guard Avelli Kroenke from Colombia, who earned over 1,000 career points at Rock Bridge High School.
Next, Ashton Judd, a sniper from West Plains, Missouri, led the team to a Class 5 state title in his senior season.
And Pingeton may have replaced the double-double machine at Blackwell with another — Notre Dame transfer Katrin Gilbert.
The core of the repeater is also solid. Hansen, Hayley Frank, Mama Dembele and Hayley Troup averaged more than his 28 minutes per game on court last season. Frank led the team with 15.1 points per game, including 47.3% shooting from 3. Troup and Hansen averaged 8.6 each and he averaged 11.1 points per game, while Dembele’s 3.6 assists per game put him 10th in the conference.
First test of the new MU core: Monday’s not-so-home trip to Missouri (7pm, ESPN+) beat Missouri at Columbia last season. It will be followed by another road his series in Nassau, Bahamas against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, and in Tempe, Arizona where he will face UMass and Arizona State. The rest of his 13-game non-conference slate for the Tigers will be played at Mizore Arena, culminating in his Braggin’ Rights game against Illinois on December 18.
And from December 29th against Kentucky comes the SEC, which Pingeton called “The Gauntlet”.
She’s not wrong — it includes three ranked teams, including No. 1 South Carolina on Jan. 15, and five teams receiving votes in preseason polls.
For all the trying memories March 13th brought, there’s another day, another event from last season that stands out, and reason for hope when a tricky schedule beckons.
December 30, 2021 at Mizzou Arena vs No. 1 Gamecocks.
Hansen has seen her game-winning layups from overtime upsets numerous times during the offseason.
Still, she has a strong desire to experience it again.
“We bottled up the tension and the intimacy that we had and we’re going to pass that on to us,” Hansen said. Just making sure we can win more in the game is not the only thing we think we want more.
“I think if we stick together, we’ll just attack this season knowing that’s the kind of thing we can do.”
