University Southern California Trojans
Women's Basketball Set To Kick Off 2000-2001 Season
October 10, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 10, 2000
Fourth-year USC women's basketball coach Chris Gobrecht has a special formula she plans to reveal to hoop fans this year.
Only this isn't a concoction she designed in the lab. It's one she created in the gym.
Start with a batch of returning players that overachieved last season. Mix with perhaps the nation's top incoming talent. Add those ingredients to a program rich in tradition.
Voila, you get the 2000-2001 Women of Troy.
It took her three years at the helm of the women's basketball program, but Gobrecht has jump-started a program that had been burdened with inconsistency over the past 10 years. In 1999-2000, USC recorded its first winning record (16-14), posted its best Pac-10 finish (fifth) and received its first post-season invitation (the WNIT) since 1997.
Now the Trojans are looking to build upon that momentum.
"It was a very gratifying experience for the players and coaches last year because we were definitely able to turn the corner by midseason," said Gobrecht, who has been a collegiate head coach for the past 21 years. "From finishing last in the Pac-10 two years ago to going 7-2 in the second half of the conference season last year was an unbelievable achievement. Our record very well could have been 9-0 down the stretch."
In 1999-2000, the Women of Troy featured six returning letterwinners and five newcomers. Although the 11-player squad began the Pac-10 season with a 3-6 record, USC came into its own and was regarded as one of the NCAA's hottest rising teams by year's end. Among the victories, the Women of Troy posted upsets over then-ranked Oregon, Arizona and UCLA.
"I enjoyed seeing the improvement and how everyone pulled together throughout the season," said Gobrecht. "At one point, the players decided that enough was enough and they began to play as a team. They came to realize that they can be good and they can win."
The success of last season and the expectations that have been laid for the upcoming year are testaments to Gobrecht's dedication to the USC program. That dedication helped her and her coaching staff sign arguably the nation's best recruiting class of 2000.
USC will welcome the country's top post player in 6-2 forward Ebony Hoffman from Narbonne High in Harbor City, Calif. She will be joined by 5-10 Aisha Hollans, a Top 25 two-guard from Berkeley (Calif.) High, 5-7 Ryane Alexander, a highly-touted point guard from Copperas Cove (Tex.) High and 5-9 Jessica Cheeks, a prep All-American point guard from Narbonne. Also entering her first season as an active player with the Women of Troy will be 6-4 redshirt freshman center Portia Mitchell.
The team lost three seniors from the 1999-2000 campaign - guard Erica Mashia, forward Danielle Golay and center Tiffany Washington. Those three started in nearly every game for the Women of Troy and accounted for 26.3 points and 13.8 rebounds per contest. Golay, who played only one season at USC after transferring from Seton Hall, earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention honors.
"We lost three good players who were true leaders on this team," said Gobrecht. "They contributed a great deal to our strong team chemistry with their leadership and motivation. You can see the effect it had on the returners. This summer, I've seen a stronger sense of commitment and a lot more desire from the players."
Seniors Tashara Carter, Denise Woods and Ayeshia Smith hope to follow in their footsteps by becoming the team leaders both on and off the court.
Carter, a 6-0 forward, is the only three-year returning starter for the Women of Troy. For the second time in her career, she earned All-Pac-10 honorable mention honors after once again proving to be the team's most well-rounded player. She averaged 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game last season, while posting career highs in points (21) and assists (6).
"Tashara has always been a jack-of-all-trades for us and we will need her to continue to excel this season," said Gobrecht. "We need to be able to count on her for points, rebounds, steals, assists and defense. She really improved her consistency last year so her senior year should be exceptional."
Woods and Smith are also important to the team's success. In her first season as an active player, the 6-2 Woods made a strong impact as the squad's only true center. She led the team and finished third in the Pac-10 with 44 blocks (1.47 bpg) on the year. Smith's promising season was cut short when she injured her hand against Washington State in the opening weekend of conference play. Her scoring ability was missed as the team's productivity at the point struggled at times.
"Players like Tashara, Tiffany (Elmore), Camille (Norwood) and Carmen (Krause) all drastically improved their game last year," said Gobrecht. "If these players continue to improve this season the way they did last year, then we'll be a much better team."
Elmore, a 5-10 junior and a two-time All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection, has been a tremendous contributor in her first two seasons as a starting guard. The team's returning scoring leader (she averaged 10.6 points per game last year), Elmore came up big in many of USC's crucial wins last season. A 5-8 junior point guard, Norwood proved to be one of the team's steadiest performers, also contributing to many of the Trojans' breakthrough victories last year. Krause, a 6-1 junior forward, has been a student of Gobrecht's defense and attacking style of play. According to Gobrecht, her toughness, attitude and intensity are unmatched and crucial for the team.
The Women of Troy also return sophomore guards Lauren Smith-Hams (5-7) and Erin Young (5-11), and sophomore forward Tennille Grant (5-10).
"One of the biggest factors for our performance last year was that most everyone was healthy and stayed healthy," said Gobrecht, who now boasts a 367-251 career record and remains the second winningest coach in Pac-10 history. "We had depth and that's a factor that is going to help us even more this year.
"We definitely have a lot more talent on this team than in the past years, but we also have a lot of new faces to integrate in a short period of time. There are still many question marks remaining due to the number and significance of our newcomers."
And as is the custom of the USC women's basketball program, another challenging schedule lies in the path of the 2000-2001 squad. Ranked teams such as UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 24), Texas Tech (Dec. 22) and Notre Dame (Dec. 28) are all on the Trojans' non-conference slate, giving USC the opportunity to make a strong showing for the Pac-10 at the start of the season.
"This is another brutal schedule and probably the most difficult we've played since I got here," said Gobrecht. "Hopefully we can come out of the blocks strong enough this season to help our record and help the conference. The Pac-10 struggled last year in the non-conference schedule, I think we need to make a strong statement in November and December."
This season, the Women of Troy expect to resume their quest for a Pac-10 title and an NCAA berth after a three-year drought. For a program that has seen the likes of some of the nation's greatest talent, has won two national championships and currently has eight players and coaches active in the WNBA (the nation's second most), USC is looking to return to the forefront of women's basketball in a big way this season.
"We want to challenge for a Pac-10 title this year," said Gobrecht, who won three conference titles while at Washington. "We believe that we are once again an upper division conference team and we should remain in the hunt from now on. We expect to contribute to the overall strength of the conference this season and we would certainly be disappointed if we did not compete in the NCAA Tournament."
After USC's end-of-season surge last year, the Women of Troy earned an unexpected win against Santa Clara in the WNIT first round, then were eliminated by Colorado State in the second.
"Last year we competed as the underdog for much of the year, which really makes it easier because people don't have very high expectations of you," said Gobrecht. "But this year we're going to go from being the hunter to the hunted. Teams are going to be looking at us differently and it's a challenge we are going to have to be prepared for."
Perimeter Players After three years of hardship due to injuries and lack of depth, USC's guard position is deep, talented and prepared to contribute significantly this year.
"Our guard play has taken a huge jump this season," said Gobrecht. "We will be focusing a lot more of our offense through our guards. We may even use three on the court at one time."
Though boasting a strong group of talented players, the 1999-2000 squad struggled at the perimeter. While averaging 66.6 points per game, the Women of Troy shot above 50.0 percent from the field only once and shot 39.4 percent on the year. The squad managed to contain its opponents with tenacious defense, holding teams to an identical 66.6 scoring average and forcing 22.8 turnovers per game. USC led the conference in turnover margin (+2.5) for the third straight year. With that type of defensive talent and the addition of improved offensive firepower, the Trojans will be hard to contain.
"The most exciting thing about our corps of perimeter players is that we'll have the ability to fast break on a more consistent basis," said Gobrecht. "We'll be able to open up the floor a lot more to help our post players because of the ability these perimeter players have to create scoring opportunities... not to mention their improved shooting abilities."
Mashia, last season's starting point guard, surely will be missed on the perimeter because of her natural scoring ability (40.4 career shooting percentage and 10.1 points per game). In big game situations, she proved to be the player to rely on. Gobrecht hopes to replace her with returners Norwood, Smith, Smith-Hams and newcomer Alexander. In order to excel, the team will need to get solid point contributions from both the starters and the bench in the backcourt.
At the two spot, Elmore, Young and newcomer Hollans all possess the qualities of great wing players. While Elmore is an experienced and proven guard, Hollans' skills will add a different dimension to the game at the collegiate level.
A valuable asset both on the inside and outside, Carter is expected to make major contributions at the perimeter and in the post.
Post Players USC outrebounded its opponents by nearly two boards a game a year ago. Despite losing its 1999-2000 rebounding leaders (Washington at 6.5 rpg and Golay at 5.1 rpg) to graduation, the Trojans have a group of five highly-talented and physical post players.
"This year we have a tremendous amount of versatility in the post," said Gobrecht. "They are all strong shooters who are as much a threat from three-point range as they are in the paint. When we lost Tiffany (Washington), we lost the heart of our offensive rebounding. By losing Danielle (Golay), we lost a player with versatile scoring ability that created a lot of opportunities. But this year's players will keep opponents guessing. They'll be an integral part of the fast break, allowing us to run a more explosive offense."
The addition of newcomers Hoffman and Mitchell add size and strength in the paint for the Women of Troy, who finished second in the Pac-10 last season with 16.2 offensive boards per game.
"By having Ebony and Portia in the lineup, it allows us to play the power game which we were not able to do last season," said Gobrecht.
Woods, who returns at center, provides offensive power in the post. Last season, she was second on the team with a 46.2 shooting percentage while averaging 4.3 rebounds per game. Also returning will be Krause, who shot 36.8 percent from three-point range in 1999-2000, and Grant, a player who will transition this season from the perimeter to the post.
