Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes on the 2015-16 team currently

[kevinagee]

http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2015/oct/15/ua-has-options-this-year-20151015/

    Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes speaks during a press conference Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, at the Razorbacks' basketball practice facility in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Jimmy Dykes signed nearly as many players for his second season as Arkansas women's basketball coach as the team had on its roster a year ago.

The Razorbacks have added eight newcomers after getting by nine players last season, when they still made the NCAA Tournament and went 1-1 with a victory over Northwestern before losing to Baylor.

Arkansas opens this season with 12 players, including four returnees with senior forward Melissa Wolff, junior forwards Jessica Jackson and Khadijah West and junior guard Kelsey Brooks.

Jackson, Brooks and Wolff started for last season's 18-14 team.

"It's nice to be able to play five-on-five and scrimmage and have subs," Wolff said Wednesday during Arkansas' media day. "I think it really allows us to go our hardest because we don't have to go for two hours straight. We can go and then have a sub. We can really push each other."

Dykes said Arkansas practiced hard last season but rarely went longer than two hours. The team has been practicing for about two-and-half hours and sometimes longer.

"There is much more accountability now in our program," Dykes said. "No longer do I have to play anyone because I have to play them.

"I had to do that last year some. It's not what I wanted to do, but it was the best way for us to win. We don't have to do that now."

Dykes said there is competition at every position.

"If you don't come every day and earn where you're supposed to be, they know someone's right behind them to take their spot," Dykes said. "I like that. That's a healthy step of growth in our program right now."

Arkansas' key losses from last season were point guard Calli Berna and forward Jhasmin Bowen, seniors and three-year starters.

"We lost some great players, but I think we brought in even better ones," Brooks said. "I think they're all going to step up in their own way and play a good role for us."

The newcomers include freshmen Jordan Danberry from Conway and Malica Monk from North Little Rock. Both are expected to contribute immediately at point guard.

"They've got a different gear," Dykes said. "The challenge for those kids right now is understanding when to use that gear and when not to."

Other newcomers include freshman guards Briunna Freeman, Keiryn Swenson and Bailey Zimmerman and junior college transfer forwards Alecia Cooley and Tatiyana Smith and junior college transfer guard Devin Cosper.

"I think learning how to play with each other has been our biggest focus," Wolff said. "We've really tried to get to know each other on and off the court, which has helped. We know what makes each other tick, what each other's strengths are.

"As we grow closer as a team, I think that'll eventually help us play for each other when we get to the games."

Dykes said having eight newcomers means there is a lot of teaching in practice. He said plenty of mistakes need to be corrected, but lack of effort hasn't been an issue.

"I haven't left the practice floor yet thinking that we didn't fight our guts out," Dykes said. "That's so important. We'll miss shots and we can still go long stretches without scoring, but we haven't had a practice yet where they haven't fought each other.

"I love how competitive they are."

[nwahogfan1]

Good stuff.  We won't know what we have until the season starts because of all the new pieces but it sounds exciting.

Who will play PG and how good will that position be is the biggest question to me?

[kevinagee]

My guess at PG is Malica Monk. My biggest concern is the scoring and shooting. As we went long periods of time last season of not being able to convert on opportunities or hit a big shoot when needed. We lived and died on JJ shooting 3 or Kelsey Brooks driving to the goal. If they was cold. There was not many other options but a Mo Wolf rebound put in. So Scoring is a must improvement for 2015-16.

[flippinhogmana]

My guess at PG is Malica Monk. My biggest concern is the scoring and shooting. As we went long periods of time last season of not being able to convert on opportunities or hit a big shoot when needed. We lived and died on JJ shooting 3 or Kelsey Brooks driving to the goal. If they was cold. There was not many other options but a Mo Wolf rebound put in. So Scoring is a must improvement for 2015-16.

I agree basically with what you say, but not to be a contrarian, I would characterize it this way for structural reasons:  We generally lived and died as you said for the following reasons (1) because we didnt have any inside height to speak of most teams, particularly most SEC teams were able to clog the middle and deny us both inside passes, shots and rebounds.  (2) Most of them also had talented enough guards to deny Kelsey Brooks the drive.  She almost always drove to her left for some reason (she is right handed, so you'd think if she had a tendency it would be to her right).  Those two factors put pressure on our outside shooting.  JJ was capable of driving and doing the three, of creating her own shot, which is why in tough games she either came forward or we didnt fare well.  We just didnt have enough outside shooting consistently to make the other teams play 'honest', so they didnt.

This year and next (baring injury) we will have a legitimate inside presence as I have said before in Alecia Cooley (I also look forward to seeing Tat Smith).  Devin Cosper is a better driver than KB and nearly as fast some say as Malica Monk.  The one thing I disagree as expressed in the thread is about Malica-I dont see Malica as being the primary PG, but rather a backup.  I think height will be any issue, but more than that, and this will affect Danberry as well, is that THEY ARE FRESHMEN.

All that said, if the PG position is solved, if MW is healthy, and if the injury bug doesnt bite, we will be positioned better than last year. 

[flippinhogmana]

Consider this:  When some squad like South Carolina plays a couple of 6-3/6-4 girls down low to bully us, we couldnt come close to matching up last year...Powell was a rail and couldnt hold position and even JJ is a wing player despite being 6-3, but this year if we have to, we can match up with 6-3 Cooley (a true center, who could play power forward if she needed to since she grew a lot late and still has driving and ball handling skills), 6-3 Smith, 6-3 Jackson at small forward, 6-0 Wolff at off guard and 5-10 Cosper, 5-9 KB or Jordan Danberry at PG. 

I am not saying we would ever do that, but we definitely have options we simply didnt have last year.

[kevinagee]

Consider this:  When some squad like South Carolina plays a couple of 6-3/6-4 girls down low to bully us, we couldnt come close to matching up last year...Powell was a rail and couldnt hold position and even JJ is a wing player despite being 6-3, but this year if we have to, we can match up with 6-3 Cooley (a true center, who could play power forward if she needed to since she grew a lot late and still has driving and ball handling skills), 6-3 Smith, 6-3 Jackson at small forward, 6-0 Wolff at off guard and 5-10 Cosper, 5-9 KB or Jordan Danberry at PG. 

I am not saying we would ever do that, but we definitely have options we simply didnt have last year.

Totally agree with all you are saying.

I can see the excitement in your for this all to get started as well as I am. I'm still hopping Jimmy D will open a practice up so we can go watch as the men are now.

As much as I liked last years team. They had there week points on the floor and cold shooting at bad times. But you could not help fall in love with the fight and heart of last years team, to see past allot of the errors with there effort and Razorback pride on the floor for every play. I hope and have confidence we will see the same this year but with many new playing options and players.

[psycHOGlogist]

Yes - I absolutely LOVED Jhas Bowen as a player, but to see her go up against the trees that other SEC teams could put in the post was depressing. We had absolutely nothing in terms of interior offense against the upper echelon teams. That we took out Northwestern, who has some big girls, was a testament to tenacious defense and grit. We just couldn't overcome the superior size and talent of the bigger, better programs. It will be interesting to see what we can do this year with more personnel options, more interior size, and more depth overall.

I just hope that Cooley and Smith are not foul-prone!

[flippinhogmana]

besides the update on wholehog, there are two others ones (video interviews) that are interesting on arkansasrazorbacks.com   One is of the four returning players, the other is of JD previewing the season.