New faces and a new season mean a new life for Bulldog Women’s Basketball

Truman State’s Athletic Department has had a lot of turnover within the last year, and the basketball programs have been no exception. For many teams, turnover is a negative thing — they lose key players from past seasons or are uncertain of how the new group of players will mesh in the coming year. On the contrary, head women’s basketball coach Theo Dean and his team feel quite the opposite. They believe the names they added to their roster this offseason, through transfers and signings, will give them a new and exciting look on the court and tremendous upside in the GLVC women’s basketball title race.

 

The Bulldogs women’s basketball team has nine new faces this year as they gear up for their conference schedule starting Nov. 29. Of those nine new names on the roster, six are by way of the transfer portal. Dean explained he had some clear holes to fill when he started his search through the portal early this spring.

 

”I think we filled voids of experience,” Dean said. “Going into this spring, whether we had players [going] into the portal or not, whatever the case may be, we were about to go into our third straight year being young, and that was something that I wasn’t going to allow again. So, when we went into February, March, I already had an idea of what I was looking for as far as the type of player. And I know we found exactly who we were looking for, filling the voids of experience, filling the voids of scoring, and filling the voids of playmaking. I would say this team has more playmakers than we’ve had in probably two or three years.”

Dean accomplished his goal, bringing in four new upperclassmen, including some senior leadership in the form of Neylan Vila Delicado from Limestone University. But,the highlight of the transfer class was junior guard Mariann Blass. Blass was a standout at Quincy University last season, averaging 11.3 points and 28.6 minutes per game while shooting 41.3% from the floor. Dean was deservedly excited about adding Blass to his roster.

 

“Mariann, in my opinion, was a top-three guard in the league last year. She was one of the most difficult players I’ve had to game plan against,” Dean said.

 

Blass didn’t end up at Truman by accident — she entered the portal with the intent of becoming a Bulldog. Blass explained that in her time at QU, she observed the energy created by Dean and his program. She noticed that the team was always incredibly supportive of one another, and she stated that the environment was something she wanted to be a part of, along with Truman’s pre-physical therapy program. Blass seemed excited about what the new season holds for this Bulldog squad.

 

“I think a lot of teams don’t really understand what we have here. And honestly, I don’t know that we do, because we are so new. But I think we’re gonna surprise a lot of people,” Blass said.

 

What wasn’t a surprise in the Bulldogs’ first exhibition game against William Woods on Oct. 26 was a freshman, Morgan Miller, in the starting five. Dean expects his freshmen to be ready to play when they arrive on campus and this year’s incoming class of Miller, Avery Rausch and Kennedy Retherford is no different.

 

Junior Captain Lexie White seemed very excited about this year’s freshmen and their playmaking abilities.

 

“It’s hard to come in as a freshman — you don’t know where you stand, where you fit, and you’ve never seen college basketball, so it’s been really impressive to see how they’ve come in just ready to be confident in themselves and push everyone else to be better as well,” White said.

 

There will also be a new face on the coaching staff this year following Assistant Coach Dajae Black’s departure to Northern Arizona University. Alexis Griffin was hired over the summer out of Columbia’s Hickman High School. She is a Kansas City native and a former Mizzou women’s basketball manager. In her time at Hickman, the program had back-to-back 20-win seasons and two district championship appearances.

 

Griffin has a unique perspective on the game — she has seen some of the game’s best pedigree in the SEC, all the way down to high school. But, she says she’s particularly grateful for this opportunity and excited about what Div. II women’s basketball and the GLVC have to offer.

 

“I’m just extremely blessed because I’m coming off of a time where I had to work four jobs for a living,” Griffin said.“Being a teacher was a full-time job, and then coaching was also a lot to be able to spread myself across all those areas. So it’s nice to be able to just focus on basketball. It’s my favorite thing. I pour everything into that, and then I’m just blessed for that opportunity in general, but most excited to just see my girls compete.”

 

Griffin’s title encompasses a few positions. Besides running practice and game planning duties, she is also the Bulldogs’ new recruiting & academic coordinator. The Bulldogs were a WBCA Academic Top 25 team last year, something they take great pride in.

 

Aside from the new faces, two returning Bulldogs find themselves in new leadership roles. Head Coach Theo Dean has named junior guard Lexie White and redshirt sophomore forward Mallory Ott as his captains for this season. Their leadership will be critical this year, as they try to bring all these new players together on and off the court.

 

Although a tall task, Dean seemed very confident in his captains’ leadership abilities.

 

“They know what it’s supposed to feel like, and they understand our standards, our core values,” Dean said. “They hold themselves accountable every day, so it makes it easier for them to hold their team accountable. They play off of each other as far as leadership goes, so well. I couldn’t have picked two better captains to lead. This has been one of the best preseasons we’ve had in about two or three years. But also the closest our team has been, about two or three years, and I attribute all of that to those two.”

 

Although the Bulldogs’ preseason has been great according to players and coaches, there is still some uncertainty about what combination of Bulldogs will be on the floor and how their offense will operate to start the season. They are working on a new offensive scheme after heavily relying on graduate guard Jordan Cunningham last season. Cunningham led the Bulldogs in nearly every tracked statistical category, including points, assists and rebounds.

 

The team is looking to shift to a more balanced, by-committee offensive approach that involves all of their playmakers this year. But that also involves figuring out who those playmakers are and how they work together, which will lead to a lot of lineup rotation in practice and early-season games.

 

The Bulldogs are making this change because Dean and his coaching staff thought their reliance on Cunningham last season made them too easy to scout and made it very difficult to win games when she was having an off night. Dean hopes to follow a model similar to that of last year’s Div. II National Champion Grand Valley State, which had a remarkable eleven players with an average of 15 minutes or more per game, which made them nearly impossible to game plan for because you never knew who was going to be the scoring threat on a given night.

 

While there may be some unease at the b this season’s Bulldog women’s basketball team believes in each other, and their energy on the court is infectious. This team has extreme upside and is a threat in the GLVC. Look forward to watching this team play exciting basketball every time they touch the court this year. Their combination of new talent and veteran leadership at the helm creates an

opportunity for great things to come.