I thought that the press conference yesterday to introduce Coach Brooks as the new Lady Hokies' BBall coach was as equally exciting as the ones for Buzz & CJF. His style of play bodes well for the future of women's basketball. Here we go again - it will be up-tempo with a lot of three pointers (but not chaotic or out of control) combined with tight defense. But he said that absolutely there will be no press - "don't ask me to press"!!! He said that the women would work extremely hard and would sacrifice for the betterment of the team, for the family. It was also confirmed that his daughter-recruit Kendyl will be released from JMU & will play for VT.
In reviewing the JMU stats from this past season, his style seemed to be evident. The up-tempo style allowed them to out score their opponents by 14 per game, they nearly doubled their opponent's 3-pointers made (averaging nearly 7 per game), they out-rebounded by 10 per game, averaged 7 steals per and what I really liked was that their average attendance was 2600 per.
If he can achieve with the women what Buzz has done with the men, good times might be had down the road.
When trying to win over Kendyl about the move, she went out for a mani-pedi and came back with her nails painted orange- game, set, match!!!
Comments
yes, but will they be able to stay within 50 points of UConn?
UCONN is in a different division. It's a bizarre thing, I don't think people appreciate that the single most dominant era in sports history continues every March in Storrs, CT. There is nothing like it. Not the Yankees in the 20's. Not the Bulls in the 90's. Not the Patriots or Tiger, Federer or Serena.
I guess it depends on what sport. Trinity College winning 252 consecutive games including 13 consecutive national championships in Racquetball is pretty damn dominant. I realize it might be something more likely to be in "Obscure Sports Quarterly" but still they DOMINATED a NCAA sport like never before.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/sports/trinitys-record-winning-streak-...
While I agree UConn Women's Basketball has been dominant, if we are really talking about all sports history, then there is one period of dominance that far exceeds all others and it belongs to the Kenyon College Men's Swimming & Diving team. They won the Division III Men's Swimming & Diving National Championship for 31 consecutive years. That is a ridiculous feat that nobody in any sport at any level is going to touch. (FWIW, the 2nd longest NCAA championship streak of all-time is 17 years ... and belongs to the Kenyon Women's Swim Team.)
Women's Volleyball at PSU has been dominant for quite some time, but not quite at this level.
I'd like to go OT here, and congratulate Coach Brooks for coming, and Whit for a great hire. Now, can we get JMU's softball coach to come on down too?
Read somewhere VT's softball schedule was toughest in the country.
Here's a really eye-opening Q&A with Kenny Brooks:
http://ladyswish.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-chat-with-va-techs-kenny-brooks-on.html
Just watched press conference. Not only a great hire, but another "he was my first and only choice" hire.
That sounds good in the press conference, but I'm skeptical. Whit's track record tells me that he probably keeps a list five-deep of candidates for every position in the department, just in case.
(Well, Brooks is highly successful, and at Whit's alma mater, so he probably was head and shoulders above any other candidate. And given the timing, Whit could have been negotiating terms in February, and had Brooks' verbal agreement in hand before firing Wolff.)
I agree it makes for a good press intro and he probably has a lot of "contacts" in case his top guy is off the table, but he made the same type of comments during the Fuente hire. Either way, the fanbase (once again) wasn't subjected to a lengthy "search committee" process or outside firm involvement and the process was quick and free of embarrassment.
And so far, none of us are griping about the choice. No controversy, no second guessing, just a lot of "atta boy"s.
Looking for someone with better google fu than me. It looks like JMU under Kenny Brooks after this years WNBA draft will have had 3 players drafted. Have the Hokies had anyone ever been drafted by the WNBA?
Ieva Kublina was drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2004
Precious Hall ended up not getting drafted. However, girl can straight ball. I was in attendance of all 3 of JMU's WNIT games and she put up 23, 28, and 36 respectively, including a game-tying 3 at the buzzer to put their eventual loss to Villanova into OT. The last 3-4 mins of that game, she put them on her back and willed them into OT. She may get on a roster as a FA, but either way, she will easily make a roster in Europe and likely be their star. JMU placed a ton of emphasis on her for scoring and she responded, but she is prone to and can go through spurts of hero ball and force some shots. But when she is able to get into a groove, they scored at will as a team. She would be a lethal asset off the bench for some or a consistent scorer for others. Regardless, she's a pro.
Still Coach Brooks seems to have an ability to recruit and coach talent.
Agreed! Her development as a 2x Conference POY (probably would have been 3x had she not sat out 2015-16 due to injury) and unanimous Conference ROY as a Fr., is definitely a testament to Brooks' coaching acumen and eye for talent.
According to Hokiesports.com these are the only four to be drafted by the WNBA from Tech
Year Name Position Round Pick Overall Team
2007 Nare Diawara C 3 4 30 San Antonio
2006 Kerri Gardin F 3 6 34 Chicago
2004 Ieva Kublina F/C 3 5 31 Indiana
2001 Tere Williams F 3 13 45 Phoenix
Kerri Gardin
://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/draft/2012/virginia_tech.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerri_Gardin
EDIT: Reply to Fireman above