Tell Us About KSU

[35TangoTango]

I notice a fan poll on the Big XII site has KSU picked to win the conference, and I realize that other than Koehn, Wecker and Ohlde I don't know much about them? Who are the other projected starters? Is there someone who can play point and let Koehn be the shooting guard? Who have they recruited? Can KSURon or someone give us a rundown?

[KSUron]

Thanks for your interest. I haven't got the time to do this more justice so you will have to take this without proper homework for now. We have had State & Federal inspections this week plus we are installing a new high resolution spiral CT scanner to replace our existing conventional third generation scanner as I write this. In a shop this size we don't do that everyday so I am involved. I have a class reunion in Nebraska tonight and a Jayhusker race Saturday so it would be next week before I could do this justice, so off the top of my head;

In addition to Ohlde at the 5, Koehn at 2, and Wecker at 4, we have 6' Megan Mahoney at the three. She is from a rodeo family from the black hills area of South Dakota and is not only an excellent basketball player but also a tough kid. She is a good defender with a very good three point shot that she does not shoot often enough. She can also drive well and is a good passer. If I were to criticise her game its that she could stand to be a little more agressive on offense. She was a freshman last year and has started every game since she came to Manhattan.

The point postion is of course the question mark. We had two freshman last year who were expected to compete for the job against Shalondra Booker who started her Junior year and was returning for her senior year. Kari Hanson won the job in the fall and started in our first game. She remained the starter and was doing well until she suffered a Knee injury before the start of the conference season. Chelsea Dominico was the other freshman point candidate. She was expected by many to win the starting job but she suffered a hand injury in the fall that took her out of her game. The injury did not heal well and she then suffered a bad infection in that hand. She still filled in somewhat after Hanson's injury but you never saw what she can do. The injuries pretty much killed both Hanson and Domenico's year. As a result Coach Patterson moved Koehn over to the point a lot and started senior Kristin Rethman at shooting Guard (and even had her play point some). Kristin was a tough and smart player with excellent character and a great three point shot, but not really quick enough to do the point justice. As a result when she was at point we had great shooters all over the floor but not real sharp ball movement skills and we were hurting a little on defense. Sometimes if the match-ups would alow, Patterson even moved Mahoney to the point but again point is not Mahoney's natural position.

So! Whats to come in 2002-03? Well we did sign a very good 6'3" power forward type who's name I forget, out of a Kansas high school. She obviously does not figure to start unless Patterson has some strange surprises in mind. I expect Hanson or Domenico to start at point and am very comfortable that we will be in good hands with either. Koehn should be at shooting guard. Mahoney should be back at the wing. Wecker will be at power forward and Ohlde will be the post.

For back-ups we will have pretty decent options at most positions so we should be able to get into a better rotation than this past year, barring another rash of injuries.

Ohlde and Koehn are in the final group of 16 players for the USA junior womens team with a cut down to the final 12 due July 11th. If they make the team both of them will be getting some more good international experience which should help them to improve their games. (They will be getting some of that good Marsha Sharp coaching you know.) http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

I am really looking forward to the season but to tell you the truth, while this can work out great a lot can go wrong. In addition I see several other conference teams that I think will be very tough, including Texas. We may have to work very hard to finish where we did this year. Go Big XII.

[KSUron]

OK, here's an update on my earlier post.

The losses from last year are:
Guards Kristin Rethman and Shalondra Booker to graduation. Forward Danielle Hutton to career ending injury and post Andrea Armstrong to transfer.

The new recruit is a rising freshman, Jessica McFarland of Derby Kansas. Derby is a 6A school so it must be fairly large. McFarland is a 6'2" center who averaged 16.3 points and 11.2 rebounds and shot 55.4% in her junior year of high school. She is described as a post player, not a forward. She is said to have a "tremendous work ethic", "soft hands" good ball handeling and passing skills and good defense. She is ranked number one in her HS class academically. She holds her school's season scoring and rebound records. ASGR ranked her the 76th best center in her junior year. She is also a trackster as a two time state gold medalist in the shot and one state championship in the discus. She is said to be an intense, agressive player who is a fighter for rebounds. She will be a back up at post unless creative shifts like Ohlde to forward occur. Jessica McFarland is the ONLY new player we have. Patterson has said she would rather keep spots open than recruit someone who can't become a Big 12 starter. I think she expects next years class to be strong.

I won't spend any time talking about Ohlde. You all already know about her.

Brie Madden is a 6'3" rising soph. She is a reserve at center and does play the 4 on occaision. Toward the end of the year she was showing signs of very good quality as a back-up to Ohlde and some times Wecker.

Kendra Wecker you know about at the 4. Her back-up options in addition to Madden are a rising junior, 6'0" Amy Dutmer. She is a tough player with some good skills but she is not at a starter level and may never be considering who she is playing with.

Megan Mahoney a 6'0" rising soph. is the starter at the 3. She was described in my post above. Her back-up is? Most likely a shift-out of Kendra or one of the other players mentioned above.

Laurie Koehn at 5'8" is of course the starter at the 2. (or maybe 1) Her back-up is Kimmery Newsom, a 5'6" rising Junior or Kari Hanson a 5'8" rising soph who is a combo 1 or 2 guard that I discussed above.

Chelsea Domenico is a rising soph and a true point player at 5'6". She has first rate skills but was contained by injuries last year. I am told she is in great shape now and looking forward to a good season. She better be, because I hear things are NOT going well for Kari Hanson. We REALLY need Domenico to step up big.

There you have it. Nine healthy players and one big question mark. Outstanding skills in all front line players, but I lied above. We are mighty thin in some spots after that especially if Hanson is limited. There are, however, some very good back-ups, and both the starters and some of the back-ups can play various roles as needed (and it sure could be needed). Ohlde back at guard anyone? http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif

Without any more injuries this can be a first rate ball club. One or two key injuries and we may be hurting BIG TIME. All available players are working out together including McFarland and things look good for now with McFarland fitting right in.

I would love to see reports on all the other teams.

[KSUron]

Another little detail about KSU. I just saw the ticket brochure for next year. Reserved season chairbacks go up from $50 to $99 plus a $50 "donation" to the Mike Ahern fund. Parking was free and will now cost you $40 for the season. Ahh, the price of success! I wonder if a tub of popcorn will go up from $2.50 to $3.00?

[This message has been edited by KSUron (edited 06-18-2002).]

[35TangoTango]

Good work, Ron! I feel like I'm soon going to know a lot about several of these girls!

I agree that it would be nice to see a similar analysis of other teams (it's a long time until October 15!)

On the subject of ticket prices, this was posted on a the Raider Power bulletin board.

"We just got our season ticket renewals in the mail today. It is gonna cost us $234 a seat which is an all time high. Now, I only counted 16 home games so that would make the tickets $14.62 a game."

[mred]

Originally posted by soonerman:

I agree that it would be nice to see a similar analysis of other teams (it's a long time until October 15!)



I'm counting the days! Then again, that also happens to be my birthday... http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[RaiderPower1]

Talking about ticket sales prices going up. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/rolleyes.gif Texas Tech's went up from $187 (15 games a season ago) to $234 (16 games for this coming season). While we will buy them no matter the cost, my concern is for the people that were barely able to fork out the $187 and now they'll have to pay almost $50 more a ticket. In most cases that is $100 more for tickets. Even general admission prices went up from $6, though I'm not to sure what they went up to.

As for parking: "General Admission" parking has been free for the past two years but of course it is further away from the arena than PSL an Season ticket parking. Season ticket parking is $70 a season. PSL parking is only available to those who buy PSLs.

So how are other schools handling success? OU, ISU, Baylor?

[swok34]

a tub of popcorn will go up from $2.50 to $3.00

WHAT.....ksuron, OU already charges $3.00 and it's lousy popcorn
http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

I haven't heard anything about OU's prices, though last year a reserved seat/season ticket was $48.00. I've never seen OU double their prices; this year will be interesting, though.

[CYMAN]

I haven't seen ISU's ticket prices for next year , but have heard Fennelly say many times that he will fightlike crazy to keep the ticket prices reasonable in order to continue the atmosphere that has been built in Hilton.

[KSUron]

I am replying to this thread to move it up to the front of the line since another question has come up about K-State's depth or lack thereof. I stand by my earlier comments.

The Wildcats ARE thin at guard with Domenico, Koehn & Newsom but don't get out a crying towel for me just yet. I would love to have Kari back but I still like our starting five against almost anyone and we do have some very interesting options.

Remember we played last year without ever having both Hanson and Domenico healthy at the same time. The loss of Rethman is huge, but we have more options, skills and expirience up front this year which will liberate the coaching staff in the moves they can make.

Now I would also say that Chelsea Domenico, and Laurie Koehn better be assigned a [b}squad[b] of secret service agents because we can ill afford anyting to happen to either of them.

I would love to see some of you do postion breakdowns on the other teams. How about it HoopScoopers. Lead me out of the darkness.

[elfdenmom]

Parking for the Lady Raider games has gone up to $96.00 plus $5 handling fee. This is for both season ticket and PSL ticket holders. Guess I will be riding the bus this year!