Good stuff, Jon. Keep 'em coming!
Photo by Southland Conference
Stephen F. Austin Women's Basketball
We're talkin' about (Ladyjacks) practice
Roughly four months after the 2016-17 season ended in a postseason loss to UTRGV, Stephen F. Austin's women's basketball team is back in the gym - and with four new team members.
A lot will change in the months between now and when the 2017-18 season starts, but it’s never too early to see progress. To quote Malcolm Gladwell, “practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good, it’s the thing you do that makes you good."
And so, Ladyjacks fans, in the words of NBA great Allen Iverson, “we’re talkin’ about practice.”
The Ladyjacks’ coaching staff was nice enough to recently extend The Sawmill an invitation to observe some summer sessions. It's a new team with a very different look but the early product has been encouraging.
The intangible meshing of a new team -
With Taylor Ross, Adrienne Lewis, and Brentney Branch moving on from their collegiate playing days, the Ladyjacks are in the midst of forming their new identity. Communication has been surprisingly smooth between new teammates - and where it wasn't, quick corrections were made. Assistant coaches Jessica Grayson and Leonard Bishop have joined head coach Mark Kellogg in emphasizing the need for the players to be more vocal on the court.
Of the newcomers, Imani Johnson led the way in articulate on-court communication in both practices observed. She will likely play a big role for the team this year, looking to fill a void in the post left by the departure of Lewis. Defense and rebounding were two of the areas that Kellogg pointed out as major areas in which the Ladyjacks are looking to improve, and communication, primarily from post positions, will be a huge part in that.
The freshmen seem to be getting into the swing of things well, just a few weeks into their time on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus. The quartet of Brionne Burns, Marissa Banfield, Alyssa Mayfield, and Johnson still have a lot to learn in all areas of DI basketball and will certainly face challenges, but they look less like newcomers than one might expect. Banfield, specifically, who will be counted on as a scorer and floor general, talked after practice about her early appreciation for SFA, that she’s happy to finally be in Nacogdoches and to practice with her new teammates (though entering college during the Summer II semester can be tough).
Building the right culture among players has been a focal point for the staff, as well as a challenge for this program, over the past couple years. Chanell Hayes, now a junior, who arrived at SFA during Kellogg's first year, believes headway has been made. “The team that we have this year has bonded very well together," she said. "We’ve only known each other for a few weeks now, but I feel like it’s only going to continue getting better and better."
Relationships off the court count for the play on it. Making the transition from a young role player to a program leader, Hayes recognizes that significance. "This is the most we’ve ever bonded," she told me after practice. "On weekends and even during the week, hanging out and getting to know each other more. It’s really exciting and we’re really excited for the season.”
Taylor Jackson and Stevi Parker will lead the team as seniors should, but the emergence of other positive leaders is a welcomed sight. In Kellogg’s third year, most of the players on the team are now his recruits and not holdovers of the Brandon Schneider regime. The development of team camaraderie will be an underrated story line all season, as the stress and physical toll of a long season tests it again.
As it stands now, there are not any planned redshirts for the upcoming season. It means every player on the roster will be asked to contribute productive minutes.
It would not be unlikely to see the freshmen slowly worked into the action, probably contributing more extensive minutes by the beginning of the conference schedule while giving them time to adjust to the tempo of the game. Coach Kellogg emphasized the learning curve during our discussions, primarily citing the speed and style of play that takes place at different levels of the game. We will know more about how prepared the newer talent is on the squad come closer to November, but for now, I’m left with notable levels of optimism based on what I saw personally.
Forget preseason projections; the Ladyjacks want to be conference champions now -
A 25-win season was nice, but the Ladyjacks and coaching staff believe this team can do more. Taylor Jackson and Stevi Parker both agreed that the goal for this season is no less than to win a conference championship.
They won't be the favorites. Missing arguably the league's best player from last season in Taylor Ross, SFA will be doing it with a very different looking squad. This team doesn't care.
The coaching staff and players seem to be thriving together, and the additions made leading into the 2017-18 season will continue to cement a winning culture. It's been the biggest handicap in the past couple years and the early showings this summer have been very encouraging. Everyone around the program knows the interal expectations - and they aren’t shying away from them.
That goal is entirely reasonable, given the magnitude of losses of athletes to graduation by other contending teams across the conference. With Abilene Christian now eligible for postseason play, the task becomes even taller, but I wouldn’t put it past this team to bring back the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament Championship to Nacogdoches for the first time since 2006 - currently the longest such drought in program history.
The season won’t begin for some time, but there will be plenty of buzz around the program between now and then. This will undoubtedly include what is to come of the fact that at least one former Ladyjack is looking to sign a professional contract, following in the footsteps of Ross who signed with a team in the Czech Republic about a month ago. Recruiting for beyond the upcoming season will also bring some headlines over the coming months.
As we grow here at The Sawmill and prepare to enter the fall sports season, we'll be adding beat writers for each sport. I'm proud to offer my coverage of the Ladyjacks basketball program to that arsenal and look forward to watching the future of Mark Kellogg's program and the development of his players.
A lot will change in the months between now and when the 2017-18 season starts, but it’s never too early to see progress. To quote Malcolm Gladwell, “practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good, it’s the thing you do that makes you good."
And so, Ladyjacks fans, in the words of NBA great Allen Iverson, “we’re talkin’ about practice.”
The Ladyjacks’ coaching staff was nice enough to recently extend The Sawmill an invitation to observe some summer sessions. It's a new team with a very different look but the early product has been encouraging.
The intangible meshing of a new team -
With Taylor Ross, Adrienne Lewis, and Brentney Branch moving on from their collegiate playing days, the Ladyjacks are in the midst of forming their new identity. Communication has been surprisingly smooth between new teammates - and where it wasn't, quick corrections were made. Assistant coaches Jessica Grayson and Leonard Bishop have joined head coach Mark Kellogg in emphasizing the need for the players to be more vocal on the court.
Of the newcomers, Imani Johnson led the way in articulate on-court communication in both practices observed. She will likely play a big role for the team this year, looking to fill a void in the post left by the departure of Lewis. Defense and rebounding were two of the areas that Kellogg pointed out as major areas in which the Ladyjacks are looking to improve, and communication, primarily from post positions, will be a huge part in that.
The freshmen seem to be getting into the swing of things well, just a few weeks into their time on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus. The quartet of Brionne Burns, Marissa Banfield, Alyssa Mayfield, and Johnson still have a lot to learn in all areas of DI basketball and will certainly face challenges, but they look less like newcomers than one might expect. Banfield, specifically, who will be counted on as a scorer and floor general, talked after practice about her early appreciation for SFA, that she’s happy to finally be in Nacogdoches and to practice with her new teammates (though entering college during the Summer II semester can be tough).
Building the right culture among players has been a focal point for the staff, as well as a challenge for this program, over the past couple years. Chanell Hayes, now a junior, who arrived at SFA during Kellogg's first year, believes headway has been made. “The team that we have this year has bonded very well together," she said. "We’ve only known each other for a few weeks now, but I feel like it’s only going to continue getting better and better."
Relationships off the court count for the play on it. Making the transition from a young role player to a program leader, Hayes recognizes that significance. "This is the most we’ve ever bonded," she told me after practice. "On weekends and even during the week, hanging out and getting to know each other more. It’s really exciting and we’re really excited for the season.”
Taylor Jackson and Stevi Parker will lead the team as seniors should, but the emergence of other positive leaders is a welcomed sight. In Kellogg’s third year, most of the players on the team are now his recruits and not holdovers of the Brandon Schneider regime. The development of team camaraderie will be an underrated story line all season, as the stress and physical toll of a long season tests it again.
As it stands now, there are not any planned redshirts for the upcoming season. It means every player on the roster will be asked to contribute productive minutes.
It would not be unlikely to see the freshmen slowly worked into the action, probably contributing more extensive minutes by the beginning of the conference schedule while giving them time to adjust to the tempo of the game. Coach Kellogg emphasized the learning curve during our discussions, primarily citing the speed and style of play that takes place at different levels of the game. We will know more about how prepared the newer talent is on the squad come closer to November, but for now, I’m left with notable levels of optimism based on what I saw personally.
Forget preseason projections; the Ladyjacks want to be conference champions now -
A 25-win season was nice, but the Ladyjacks and coaching staff believe this team can do more. Taylor Jackson and Stevi Parker both agreed that the goal for this season is no less than to win a conference championship.
They won't be the favorites. Missing arguably the league's best player from last season in Taylor Ross, SFA will be doing it with a very different looking squad. This team doesn't care.
The coaching staff and players seem to be thriving together, and the additions made leading into the 2017-18 season will continue to cement a winning culture. It's been the biggest handicap in the past couple years and the early showings this summer have been very encouraging. Everyone around the program knows the interal expectations - and they aren’t shying away from them.
That goal is entirely reasonable, given the magnitude of losses of athletes to graduation by other contending teams across the conference. With Abilene Christian now eligible for postseason play, the task becomes even taller, but I wouldn’t put it past this team to bring back the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament Championship to Nacogdoches for the first time since 2006 - currently the longest such drought in program history.
The season won’t begin for some time, but there will be plenty of buzz around the program between now and then. This will undoubtedly include what is to come of the fact that at least one former Ladyjack is looking to sign a professional contract, following in the footsteps of Ross who signed with a team in the Czech Republic about a month ago. Recruiting for beyond the upcoming season will also bring some headlines over the coming months.
As we grow here at The Sawmill and prepare to enter the fall sports season, we'll be adding beat writers for each sport. I'm proud to offer my coverage of the Ladyjacks basketball program to that arsenal and look forward to watching the future of Mark Kellogg's program and the development of his players.
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