One week from today! Should be interesting to see who cracks the starting lineup and who gets significant minutes off the bench. I’ll take a guess at:
Weiss, Page, Rafiu, Broom & Henderson
with Avlijas and Arrebola first off the bench.
I heard that Page’s goal this year is to average a double/double… that seems ambitious, but if she can pull that off, it would be huge for the Lions.
Expect Shippen to get some time, maybe the Greek player Vas to see time.
2 Likes
Agree with Callie. I expect Shippen and Vas to make an immediate impact as Coach G seeks to find replacements in the scoring column for Henderson and Collins. It will also be interesting to see who emerges as a star player up front.
1 Like
It’s obviously critical for a few of the women not named Riley to become effective scorers. Until that happens, teams will force those other players to beat them. I know I’m stating the obvious here but we really need a few people to step up.
1 Like
Couldn’t agree more, but I don’t expect that to be a problem (for other players to be a threat to score)… just a matter of who that will be.
I think Broom, Page, and Arrebola are the most likely candidates, but maybe others can step in and surprise us… am anxious to see if at least two of these players can make a significant contribution: Shippen, Vas, Jaama, Tor, Simmons, and Feldrappe.
1 Like
Did anyone see the open practice? I always see Henderson in practice pictures wearing beige instead of white or blue, which they use to differienciate practice teams. That makes me think she is still not 100%, so we might not see her the first games.
I am very much convinced the starting lineup will be
Broom, Weiss, Page, Rafiu and a 3/4 for which I have no clue.
My bold guess would be Arrebola, as Coach G said we were going to see very unusual lineups this season, sometimes playing with three bigs. I could also see Feldrappe or Shippen in that position.
Bench will probably be Avlijas, Shippen, Jaama, Feldrappe, Tor, Vas in order of minutes. I expect Jaama to be Rafiu’s replacement and have significant contributions, as she looks fully recovered. Who I don’t think is fully healthy right now is Erinugha, as she was wearing some type of knee splint around campus. I don’t think she is fully recovered from her injury yet
1 Like
Okay, just watched the Press Conference and it looks like we got a ton of things wrong
Main takeaways:
Team is still not were we are supposed to be, but things are going well, they just need some time
Avlijas (1st) and Henderson (2nd) as main PG (Vas will also be but still needs some time to adapt),
Broom will probably be the most improved player. She got way more physical, she will be the third ball handler, probably will run a bunch of plays and take a lot of shots (she is been playing the most out of the bench(?) in scrimmages)
Weiss, Broom and Shippen as the main SG or scoring threats (as we expected, we will probably see Shippen have an immediate impact)
A lot of size and a lot of versatility: Page will be a 3/4, Feldrappe a 3/4, Tor a 4, Rafiu, Jaama, Eriny and Alicia as 4/5.
Freshman class is really well adapted. We will see them a lot.
I guess this means the starting lineup will be something like
Avlijas Weiss Page Rafiu + Jaama/Feldrappe/Tor?
Interesting… if Broom is the most improved player, I don’t see how she’s not in the starting lineup. She was arguably the best player on the floor for short spurts last season.
Good win for the women. Page and Rafiu provided the additional scoring we will need this year.
Really good it ended up as a win, but was a pretty bad game overall. Really good it happened at the first game of the season, so it doesn’t hurt potential comitee decisions in the future.
Really impressed by Page’s step up. Best game she has ever played at Columbia I believe. Riley is the same as last season, which is good. Rafiu was quite good but keeps getting into fault trouble too easily.
We have to minimize at all costs having both Henderson and Avlijas on the floor. We cannot have two guards playing at the same time that struggle that much to make a shot. Give Broom more responsability, she looks ready to deliver. And I really want to see more than 30s of Shippen at Ohio. Should be an easy game, perfect for giving her a real chance to prove herself
Agree on all your points … good to get the win, but it was kinda ugly. Fliss and Avlijas were a combined 1 for 15 from the floor, but many were from close range, so I expect a few of those to fall in the future… they’ll be okay.
I was most impressed by the D tonight… relentless pressure really gave Butler trouble, forcing 29 TOs. Perri Page is on another level… she reminds me of Elle Mitchell in terms of her impact on the defensive end of the floor… a complete nightmare for the other team. She had a career high in ‘points + rebs’ (29), added 6 steals, took a charge and forced at least two jump balls with her aggression.
Broom looks great and will only improve her decision-making with more playing time.
Riley scored 27 and made it look rather easy (only 2 of 7 from deep). I expect her to average over 20 ppg this season. Her defense looks improved too… quick hands, good anticipation.
A couple of surprises (for me) tonight:
- Fliss brought the ball up the floor often. While she’s a good ball handler, she’s going to have trouble against quicker players, so I’d rather see Avlijas and/or Broom in that role.
- No minutes for Arrebola… she got a fair amount of playing time as a freshman last season.
What an exciting game! The game was a classic! Two outstanding teams giving their all. Riley Weiss, Perri Page and Susie Rafu all played great. Avlijas, Henderson and Broom all came thru when needed. Coach Griffith is a master chess player. Always makes the right moves. Credit to the Butler announcers for their astute impartial commentary.