By Sam Draut–
When head coach Jeff Walz and the Louisville women’s basketball team walked off the floor after an 82-66 loss to Dayton in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament last year, a major transition loomed ahead.
Five seniors exhausted their eligibility. Sara Hammond and Bria Smith came in as McDonald’s All Americans and finished their careers as 1,000-point scorers and ranked in the top 10 on several statistical categories in program history.
Jude Schimmel was a vital role player during the run to the National Championship in 2013 and started every game last season.
Shawnta’ Dyer and Sheronne Vails left as fifth-year seniors who played big minutes throughout their careers.
Then-junior Megan Deines and freshman Ariana Freeman elected to transfer. Forward Emmonnie Henderson decided to focus on track and field in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro .
Louisville returns just 34 percent of its minutes played, 38 percent of its scoring, 28 percent of its rebounding and 36 percent of its assists from a year ago.
Heading into his ninth season at Louisville, Walz finds his team ranked eighth nationally in the AP’s preseason poll.
A team built around two of the best sophomores in the country, the nation’s top rated recruiting class and a highly touted transfer, the transition from the departures of the 2014-15 team appears to have gone smoothly enough.
After four Sweet Sixteens in the past five years, Walz has built a consistent and stable foundation for one of best programs in the country.
This year, that foundation is strengthened by sophomores and former McDonald’s All Americans Mariya Moore and Myisha Hines-Allen.
As freshmen, Moore and Hines-Allen were first and second in scoring, respectively.
Moore is a pre-season all-ACC first team selection, while Hines-Allen is an all-ACC third team selection.
Accompanying the two standout sophomores are two other returners from the 27-7 team from last season.
Cortnee Walton is the elder statesman of team, returning for her fourth season in a Cardinal uniform. The junior forward appeared in four games last year, but redshirted because of a broken toe.
While Walton has done a tremendous job leading the young players, Walz is also excited to have her rebounding ability back on the floor.
“She is one of the best rebounders that I have coached, relentless and always going after the ball,” Walz said. “She’s going to help us in that area, especially with the losses we had with Shawnta’ and Sarah.”
Sophomore Arica Carter is the other returner from a team that finished third in the ACC with a record of 12-4 last season.
The point guard played behind Schimmel and averaged 16.4 minutes per game and dished out 52 assists in 2014-15.
The only other player with some familiarity with the program last season is redshirt freshman Sydney Brackemyre.
She missed the entire 2014-15 season after left knee surgery.
Battling back from two knee surgeries, Brackemyre has constantly rehabbed and received treatment to prepare her for this year.
“We have a great staff here that really helped me to just get back to where I needed to be for this type of pace,” Brackemyre said. “I feel really good though, and I’m ready to start playing some games.”
Five freshmen make up the best recruiting class in program history, led off by the highest-rated recruit in program history, Asia Durr.
Durr, a 5-foot-10 guard from Douglasville, Georgia was the top-rated recruit in the country by a multitude of recruiting websites and honored as a McDonald’s All American.
“Her ball handling skills are as good as any that I’ve been able to coach in my nineteen years of coaching,” Walz said. “She sees the floor. She passes the ball, sees the next pass. She understands that if she can’t deliver it to the person who is open she will get it to the player who can. She has an instinct for the game. Her instincts are off the chart.”
But Durr won’t be the only freshman that Walz looks for to make an impact early on in their career.
“It’s going to be a year when we’re going to count a lot on our freshmen to play, and they going to have to be impact players and not players who are going to go in there and just occupy time and space,” Walz said. “We’re going to need them from the get-go and be able to come in and play and produce. I believe we have a freshmen group who are going to able to do that.”
Taja Cole and Sam Fuehring were McDonald’s All American while Brianna Jones was rated a five-star recruit and Erin DeGrate was the ranked the 16th best low post player by ESPN.
Cole is a 5-foot-7 point guard who averaged 19 points per game her senior year of high school and was named Virginia’s Gatorade Player of the Year. Jones joins Cole and Durr in the backcourt. The 5-foot-9 off ball guard can light up the scoreboard, averaging 27.8 points per game in her final year of high school.
Fuehring and DeGrate bring two different styles to Louisville’s frontcourt. Fuehring’s versatility and lanky 6-foot-3 frame can stretch a defense from the four spot while at 6-foot-4. DeGrate’s imposing size and presence is a skill set the Cardinals haven’t had for quite some time.
With the diversity in skill sets and talent, the highly touted and talented freshman class is ready to make an impact on the floor.
“We’re excited. We’ve got to accept the hype and put that aside, because now it’s time to play,” Cole said. “We come to practice every day and try to get better, remain humble and all we want to do is win.”
The final big piece to the 2015-16 team was UCF transfer Briahanna Jackson. Walz said the 5-foot-6 junior wasn’t kept a secret from the college basketball world, but instead, the Conference-USA Freshman of the Year in 2012-13 quietly practiced with the team last year.
“She’s going to make an immediate impact. She scored 28 on UConn on her last college game,” Walz said. “I would expect her to be one of our top two or three rebounders. She has an unbelievable knack for going to get the ball with a great pull up jump shot. She gets to the rim. She can shoot the three.”
Jackson averaged 17.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in her final season at UCF.
The final member of the 2015-16 roster was on U of L’s campus last year, but just as a traditional student.
Dakota Weatherford played at Evansville and earned MVC All-Freshman honors, but transferred to Louisville with no intentions of playing college basketball.
But Walz met with Weatherford and offered her the opportunity to walk-on.
In late October, with a scholarship still remaining, Weatherford earned a scholarship for the 2015-16 season.
Last year, the Cardinals struggled to develop any perimeter consistency, shooting 30.7 percent from behind the arc, but with additions of perimeter scorers such as Durr, Cole, Jackson and Jones, Louisville should be able to extend defenses this season.
“We should have better outside shooting. It’s one thing we weren’t very strong in last year. We’re really looking to improve the shots we take,” Walz said. “Now we should have more players who are able to score so we don’t expect too many poor shots. We should see a lot of open shots and hopefully with that you’ll see our field goal percentage climb.”
With the wide variety of scoring options on the roster, Walz believes the team could easily have four to six players in double figures, but doesn’t necessarily see anyone averaging 20 points.
So, a team comprised of three sophomores and six freshmen will fight through growing pains while facing a difficult schedule that includes eight teams ranked in the AP preseason Top 25.
“Are we going to have our ups and downs?” Walz said. “Of course. When all is said and done and come January, February and March I would expect us to be playing good basketball.”
Louisville opens the year against Cal on Nov. 15, and also has a non-conference slate of games that include Michigan State, Kentucky and South Florida.
The Cardinals were picked to finished third in the ACC, which tied the SEC for the most teams ranked in the top 25 with five.
