DAYTON (OH) -- Moments after taking the microphone Saturday afternoon after his players wrapped up the annual UD women's basketball Red-Blue scrimmage, head coach Jim Jabir did something -- perhaps for the first time ever -- that resulted in 3,500 Flyer fans nearly falling out of their chairs: he showed unrestrained optimism.
For a head coach that makes Lou Holtz’s sandbagging persona seem like sunshine and rainbows, Jabir told the crowd, “
…as you can see, we may be a little better than last year.”
Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue; a man so excited at what he just saw that performing the same ol’ shtick was never going to fly. What did fly was a barrage of half-court passes, back-door feeds, and three-point bombs as the Blues defeated the Reds 41-40, helped in part by a 6-3 freshman that calmly stepped to the free-throw line and played string music with 0:00:00 on the clock to settle the score. Andrijana Cvitkovic’s demeanor at the charity stripe echoed the rest of her teammates over a pair of 10-minute periods: ‘we know what we’re doing, folks.’ The Top-50 recruit from Indiana was just one of 10 players that looked and played like a bunch of seasoned vets ready to unleash another season of Paul Westhead-patterned run-and-gun.
Jabir worries over everything, but the new worry may focus on his public optimism. It’s okay for fans to be impressed. When Jim Jabir admits things look hot-diggity however, something is cooking behind the scenes.
Detours can happen however. Look no further than last year’s preseason exhibition when D-II Ashland beat the Flyers at UD Arena. With a battalion of unproven frosh, fans assumed a rebuilding year was forthcoming after the loss of Justine Raterman & Company. Dayton opened the season by whipping #25 DePaul on their home floor however – where the Blue Demons are nearly unbeatable – and the rest was history. UD finished 28-3, ran the table in the A10 regular season, and topped St. John’s on their home floor in a memorable NCAA First Round 2OT thriller.
Everyone expects the Flyers to return to the NCAAs for a fifth year in a row, which is why most of the fans that showed up at UD Arena on Saturday arrived early to preview the women -- before Archie Miller’s squad held their own scrimmage an hour later.
What did they see?
Freshman guard Christy Macioce and 6-3 RS freshman forward Morgan Berry took the opening tip as a call-to-arms to organize their own three-point shooting contest. Sprinkled around their duel were a pair of stop-and-pop treys at the top of the key by Top-50 recruit Celeste Edwards. First Team All A10 junior Andrea Hoover called her own number on three different occasions, burying triples like Reggie Miller. Cassie Sant, the lone senior on the roster, showed fans there’s more than one 6-3 post player capable of stepping beyond the arc. Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova, standing 6-4, swished the only trey she took. When the scrimmage was over, the Flyers combined for 13-24 beyond the arc. Junior Ally Malott – a First Team A10 preseason pick in today’s conference voting – teamed up with sophomore defensive ace Kelley Austria to shoot a combined 1-12 from the floor.
Two of UD’s best players couldn’t throw it in the ocean and the Flyers never missed a beat.
Ten players saw the floor on Saturday. JUCO PG transfer Tiffany Johnson remained in warm-ups and 6-5 freshman center Saicha Grant-Allen was in a walking boot. Even without their services, it was hard to tell the starters from the bench players, newbies from the vets. The squads were split evenly among returnees and frosh and each side turn took turns tossing haymakers. Jabir loves interchangeable parts and this year’s team has it in spades. Everyone can shoot, most can put the ball in the floor, and they are all eager to run on a fast break.
Jabir, dressed casually in Flyer gear and sneakers, sat on the bench with his legs stretched out, absorbing the run of play and making comments as the product unfolded. He told Morgan Berry she wasn’t working hard enough. He told Andrea Hoover to make sharper cuts. He told Celeste Edwards the shot she missed was a good shot taken. As relaxed as he looked and as coachable as he ever was, Jim Jabir also looked confident. He had the look of a coach that nearly worked himself to death over the last 10 years to finally be in his happy place – coaching the kind of team with the kind of players that seemed beyond the reach of the Hubble telescope after a three-win season in his first year at Dayton. He’s built the program the right way, refused to take shortcuts, and coached a style that suited his seasonal personnel. But he’s always wanted to ‘release the hounds’ and last year was his first season that afforded Jabir the opportunity. This year will be no different, perhaps even faster and more diabolical.
What does Jabir have in the tool shed this year?
All-everything Andrea Hoover is the swag that binds the entire team together. Probably the most-respected player in the A10 because of her ability to perform best in the biggest moments, Hoover is a gym rat that wants the ball in her hands when it’s ‘go time’. She can drive and shoot, hit treys, help push the ball up court, and is automatic at the foul line. She doesn’t make every shot but she makes the ones that matter.
Fellow junior Ally Malott, a former McDonald’s All-American, has been unfairly saddled with outrageous expectations since arriving on campus. She is the toughest matchup for opposing teams because few 6-4 forwards in the A10 can run the floor as well, or step outside and shoot the trey. She also improved her rebounding last year. Malott isn’t a banger; she’s a tweener that lets the game come to her. Like everyone else, she’ll never put up huge offensive numbers over the course of the season. There’s too many weapons and only one basketball.
Senior Cassie Sant is consistently consistent and the likely starter in the middle. The former Top-100 player from Fairmont HS is UD’s most experienced low-post threat and will be asked to do much of what Olivia Applewhite did a year ago – move the pile. While Sant still shies away from contact at times, she does well when she chooses to take the hits and can also step out and shoot the triple. Sant is also UD’s best defensive player inside the post.
Sophomore guards Kelley Austria and Amber Deane are different beasts, yet each offer a unique skill set to the lineup. Austria, a Carroll HS product, is a preseason All-Defensive team pick. Her long arms and terrific footwork make her a matchup nightmare on the defensive perimeter. Austria shot the ball poorly to begin last season but got hot late. She’s sneaky on offense and finds her points in unconventional ways. Deane, last season’s A10 Rookie of the Year and a 2nd Team A10 pick this year, led the conference in field goal percentage despite playing on the perimeter. Deane takes good shots and is the best finisher on the fast break. She hardly ever misses once she gets to the rim and is exceptional at taking contact or avoiding it altogether.
Cornelie-Sigmundova may have the most ‘upside’ of any Flyer and is just beginning to tap her potential. At 6-4, she has good hands and can dribble like most Europeans. She can also step out and shoot the jumper, although her tall frame affords her the biggest mismatch closer to the paint. Like everyone else, she runs the floor. Jabir often repeats that work-rate is the only thing keeping the French native from blowing up.
Ranked as the top non-BCS recruiting class in the country, Cvitkovic and Edwards are two Top-50 talents that look capable of contributing right away. Cvitkovic was a monster on the glass, pulling down 12 boards in the exhibition. She also showed a couple nice post moves on the interior. At 6-3, she has the body to knock people around and runs the floor like everyone else. Edwards could be the most athletic Flyer and has all the tools to be a future star. She can shoot the trey, drive inside, and is improving her ball-handling skills. There’s a point guard in her somewhere, but it might be a couple years away.
Christy Macioce, a 6-0 guard from Pickerington North, is a three-point shooter with emerging point guards skills at the college level. Fans and opponents may under-sell her potential this year. She more than held her own in the Red/Blue scrimmage and could be a back-up point guard to Tiffany Johnson or Kelley Austria.
Perhaps the most compelling newcomer isn’t a newcomer at all. Morgan Berry spent last season as a redshirt player, practicing with the team and bulking up. She has a high-ceiling and at 6-3 is yet another mismatch for most opponents because of her inside-outside skill set. Berry can nail the three or catch and shoot on the interior. Two years ago she posted gaudy HS numbers out of Napoleon HS in Brooklyn, MI.
Tiffany Johnson started her career at Drexel then transferred to junior college (Louisburg College, NC) before arriving in Dayton. At 5-8, she’s the most-prototypical point guard on the team, looking to pass first and shoot second. She sat out the scrimmage and her status is unknown at this time. Grant-Allen is the tallest Flyer at 6-5 and many HS recruiting scouts pegged the Canadian as one of the best under-the-radar interior prospects.
Overall, Dayton has just three players under six feet tall and enough bodies in the 6-3 range to block out the sun. It’s hard to defend a three-point shot taken by players that tall, but even more compelling is the attention they will draw when pulling defending post players out of the paint. UD is just too good for opposing defenses to dare the Flyer bigs to shoot.
Now is a good time to tap the brakes, un-hitch the horse from the cart, and let things play out on their own timetable. Chances are the Flyers won’t win 28 games again this year, but this might be a better team when March Madness rolls around. If Dayton runs into trouble throughout the season, turnovers and defense will probably take the blame. As fast as UD likes to play, sloppy turnovers are sometimes unavoidable. Pressure teams don’t usually like to be pressured. The Flyers must avoid the unforced gaffs that result in easy baskets in transition. There’s a good chance the point guard job will be handled by committee. Dayton loves to throw the outlet pass which means whomever catches the ball must be prepared to put it on the floor and make a basketball move. Fortunately, UD has the players to do that in the open floor. The greater challenge is half-court ball security. Defensively, UD has the size to be terrific. Jabir’s 2-3 half-court matchup zone can be suffocating and is a great change-of-pace to ordinary man-to-man. Dayton has the bad habit at times of choosing to trade baskets – especially twos for threes. When shots aren’t falling on offense, getting stops on the other end will prove critical. The ceiling for this team will be at the defensive end of the floor. In most cases, Dayton will have enough offensive firepower to win games.
The Red and Blue game was an eye-opener for fans eager to sink their teeth into the hottest athletics program at Dayton right now. Looking for their fifth NCAA appearance in a row, the Flyers have outstanding potential and secured 12 of 13 first-place votes in the A10 poll released earlier today. UD should also be nationally-ranked in every preseason poll. That said, fans should back off and let this team forge its own identity. More importantly, don’t judge progress on wins and losses only.
Jim Jabir likes the trajectory though. Perhaps the Freudian slip on Saturday told us too much. Whether he said it or not however, we saw it with our own eyes: this will be a pretty darn good UD women’s basketball team. The sandbagging has probably returned to preseason practice, but that’s okay; it’s what his players know and what Jabir is good at. There’s a rainbow of optimism pervading the team and any ceilings standing in their way are purely self-imposed. Everything is in focus now, and you no longer need a giant telescope to see it. A happy place indeed.
2013-14 Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll*
1. Dayton - 168 (12)
2. Saint Joseph’s - 146 (1)
3.
Duquesne - 136
4.
Fordham - 135
5.
George Washington - 115
6.
Richmond - 107
7. VCU - 92
8.
Saint Louis - 72
9. St. Bonaventure - 59
10.
La Salle - 58
11. George Mason - 40
12.
Massachusetts - 29
13.
Rhode Island - 26
2013-14 Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Teams*
First Team
Wumi Agunbiad, Duquesne
Andrea Hoover, Dayton
Ally Malott, Dayton
Robyn Parks, VCU
Erin Rooney, Fordham
Second Team
Natasha Cloud, Saint Joseph’s
Amber Deane, Dayton
Kristina King, Richmond
Erin Shields, Saint Joseph’s
Orsi Szecsi, Duquesne
Third Team
Danni Jackson, George Washington
Genevieve Okoro, Richmond
Samantha Clark, Fordham
Jessica Pellechino, VCU
Becca Wann, Richmond
All-Defensive Team
Kelley Austria, Dayton
Natasha Cloud, Saint Joseph’s
Chakecia Miller, George Washington
Robyn Parks, VCU
Erin Rooney, Fordham
*Provided by the Atlantic10.