Kansas Jayhawks
Overall rank: #16
Conference rank: #3 Big 12
Kansas Team Page
Although the Kansas women’s basketball program ran into its fair share of difficulty in Big 12 Conference play, it was still a fairly successful season for the Jayhawks. It may not have been as successful as, say, the men’s team that also shares Allen Fieldhouse and got to play on the final Monday night of the season, but Kansas basketball isn’t just for the men anymore. Kansas has some work to do but last season was a decent one for head coach Bonnie Henrickson, who is four wins shy of 300 in her career.
2011-12 record: 21-13, 8-10
2011-12 postseason: NCAA
Coach: Bonnie Henrickson
Coach Record: 296-183 overall, 138-121 in eight years at Kansas
Strengths:
While the Jayhawks do take a scoring hit, it comes from the bottom half of the double-digit scoring crew. The top two point scorers from last year’s team, Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich, both return for their final seasons in Lawrence. Since Goodrich was far and away the team’s leader in assists, someone still exists on this team to pass the ball and share the glory of the offense. When it comes time to commit grand theft basketball, Goodrich (the team steals leader) is also there. The Jayhawks will want to have a strong start to the season as Henrickson is just four wins away from 300 for her career and 12 wins shy of 150 at Kansas.
Weaknesses:
While senior Aishah Sutherland was a big scorer at 13.9 points per game, her 303 rebounds (including 220 on defense) were far and away the most on the team. Sutherland averaged 8.9 rebounds per game, just over one away from a double-double. Keena Mays, the fourth-leading scorer on the team, quit at the end of the fall semester so her scoring presence will be sorely missed. Mays transferred to SMU and won’t be on a court again until the spring semester starts in 2013. A lot of players on the team averaged between two and four points per game, which isn’t enough to get the job done.
Final Projection:
The loss of Sutherland and Mays will hurt, but a pair of guards, Lamaria Cole and Markisha Hawkins, will start the season as players to watch or newcomers to the team. Losing Sutherland takes away a ton of rebounds, and how soon Kansas can recover from the loss of scoring will dictate how good a season this is. Kansas starts off play with eight of its first nine games at home, and there aren’t many solid opponents in that mix so a fast start is possible.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
Projected Starting Five:
Carolyn Davis, Senior, Forward, 16.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game
Angel Goodrich, Senior, Guard, 14.0 points, 250 of the team’s 496 assists
Monica Engelman, Senior, Guard, 7.8 points
Natalie Knight, Sophomore, Guard, 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds
Markisha Hawkins, Junior, Guard, transfer from Tyler Community College
Madness 2012 WNBA Draft Rankings:
#6 Carolyn Davis
#10 Angel Goodrich
Madness 2012 Women's Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#143 Lamaria Cole
