College basketball play is less than two weeks away. Teams in the Big East conference will face stiff competition. Players and coaches shared their thoughts at Big East basketball media day.
An unmistakable fact is that there isn’t a lot of diversity among the conference’s head coaches. There are only two women—Megan Duffy of Marquette and Melanie Moore of Xavier—and one person of color—James Howard of Georgetown. Clearly, all the coaches care about the women’s game and are determined to provide their players with leadership and vision, but sometimes representation matters.
“With women’s basketball, I’m very prideful of representing women coaches,” said Duffy, who has some New York attitude, having played a season with the New York Liberty and served as an assistant coach at St. John’s for three seasons. “Being one of the younger head coaches coming up the ranks, I’m just making sure we find success in our work ethic. The greatest thing is being able to mentor these young women.”
The players of Providence are looking to continue the momentum from last year’s breakout season. “This year, it’s bringing that same mentality—change the view people have of us,” said forward Mary Baskerville, who said positive attitude is crucial
to success.
Georgetown coach Howard knows the team lost some valuable players to graduation, but is pleased with his returners. “I never put pressure on our freshmen to do much, but we had four last year and now it’s their time to shine,” said Howard. “They’re unknown now, but by the middle of the season people will know who they are.”
Forward Chante Stonewall is determined to have a great senior season at DePaul, which will take on Connecticut this year in a preview of UConn’s return to the Big East. “I’m excited for all the teams we have an opportunity to play,” said Stonewall. “I’m very excited to step up to the challenge and see what our team is made of.”
In professional basketball news, the New York Liberty made the announcement that NYC fans have been craving—starting in 2020 Barclays Center in Brooklyn will be the Liberty’s home court. After two losing seasons playing in Westchester, the Liberty will again be in a New York state of mind. Unfortunately, head coach Katie Smith will not be there. The Liberty announced Smith’s contract was not renewed. A search is on for the next head coach.