LISA BLUDER: Welcome, Hannah, our new women's basketball SID to the program, and look forward to working with her all year.
Obviously we're coming off a pretty historic year, and the excitement of our team is still there. You might think that's kind of crazy, considering what we lost, but when you have that type of success, you just want more, and you know what it takes to get it now.
This team has a mission to make people -- prove people wrong. They have an opportunity -- again, they've kind of got a chip on their shoulder a little bit. We know what we lost. We lost three key ingredients, three terrific starters that had tremendous experience for our basketball team, but this team is not ready to throw up the white flag.
The cast of characters may have changed. But the culture is the same, the joy of playing, the work ethic, all those things remain, and it all really begins with Kathleen Doyle. Kathleen, a four-year starter for us, captain of our team, has had such a great career and coming into her senior year. She had a pretty spectacular summer, as well, playing for the Pan-Am team, earning a silver medal for USA Basketball, and then also being named a preseason all-Big Ten selection unanimously. I believe there's only one other woman that was named unanimous all Big Ten, so that's quite an honor for her.
But you all know she leads this team with her enthusiasm, with her love of the game, just her -- she's a competitor. She's one of those kids that you kind of are glad you have on your team and you don't want to play against her. She's just a real emotional leader for us, and I think we really need that.
Makenzie Meyer, again, another four-year starter for us, somebody that has had so much experience, one of our best three-point shooters, and we're really going to be counting on that. Obviously our style is going to change a little bit this year and our point of emphasis is going to change, and so Makenzie's three-ball is going to be as important as it ever has been for us.
Amanda Ollinger, coming into her senior year, hasn't maybe played as much her first three years as she would have liked, but she's ready in her senior year, and I'm seeing her play her best basketball. In Spain she had two terrific games over there. Her offensive rebounding was so important to us, her size, her mobility, and so I'm really excited about what Amanda is going to bring to our team this year.
Lexi Sevillian, a redshirt junior, she's been around this program also now for four years and has had a tremendous experiences, an on-again off-again starter for us, another really good three-point shooter, and that's, again, something that we're really going to be counting on. Lexi has that experience to really provide that for us.
And it kind of brings me to Monika Czinano. Monika is going to be our starting center this year. Please do her the favor of not comparing her to Megan Gustafson. She's not Megan, she's her own person. She's better in some things than Megan was. But I think that's going to be something that really is holding her down all year if people keep trying to make that comparison because they're two different people.
Monika has an amazing work ethic. She has an incredible attitude. She soaks up information like a sponge, and she loved playing behind Megan all year and learning from Megan, and I'm excited about Monika because she embraces contact, she doesn't back away from it. There's so many post players -- I know we haven't seen them here because Megan did enjoy that contact, but there's so many post players around America that don't enjoy that, and she does. She gets down there and she'll rebound and she'll seal hard, and I think that we're all going to fall in love with Monika through her amazing attitude and work ethic through time.
We have several freshmen that I think are really going to contribute, but I just want to touch on all four of them. We do have four this year because Kate Martin was a redshirt last year, medical redshirt after tearing her ACL the prior June, so she is a freshman on our team and somebody that I really look to this year as being a major contributor, even as a freshman. She's that big guard. She's 6-foot, 6'1", can shoot threes, she rebounds well. She can take it to the hole really well and finish around there. I think Kate Martin, even as a freshman, is going to contribute quite a bit for us. She did take her high school team to two Final Fours, her junior and senior year in Illinois, so she's a winner, and she has a coach for a dad, and so she knows how to be coached.
Also Gabbie Marshall, freshman point guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, won a couple state championships at Mount Notre Dame high school, played for one of the best AAU programs around, Ohio Sports City U, and shot over 50 percent from three-point range her senior year in high school when she was MVP of that team. Will play point guard for us, will also play off guard for us, and that's another freshman that you can see a lot of right off the bat.
And then we have McKenna Warnock, who was Miss Wisconsin Basketball. McKenna, again, is that kind of big guard like Kate Martin, that 6'1" guard that's strong that has the capability to go inside or out, and I like that versatility from her, as well.
And then Megan Meyer, the sister of Makenzie, so it's going to be interesting having a sister duo on the team. Again, it's kind of unusual, and Megan is a lot like Makenzie as far as her three-point shot capabilities, and I just maybe have to keep them away from each other sometimes, but it'll be fun to have both of them there. The Meyer family is just a tremendous family.
Our schedule, once again, is going to bring a lot of excitement to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I just have to take a second and talk about our attendance last year. Leading the Big Ten in attendance, ninth in the United States; those are some really remarkable numbers when you think of the size of our community. And it just shows you how this state got behind the team, and I'm hoping that we can keep that excitement going and keep bringing those people back to Carver because I think they did fall in love with the women on our team, and I think that it'll happen again this year. The attendance was spectacular. Our fans are the best in the country, and we appreciate that.
We have some great games in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, including Drake University with the state series will be coming in. Drake is expected to have one of its best teams for a long time, so we're excited to bring Drake in and glad that we didn't have to go over and play them in Des Moines. And then we'll also be bringing in Princeton, a team predicted to win the Ivy League, a team that's always in the NCAA Tournament. It has one of the best centers in America on the team. They're going to be tremendous. And then we bring in Clemson for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Clemson also in the NCAA Tournament last year, and an ironic twist to that is that this summer we placed Tania Davis there as a graduate assistant, not knowing that we were going to be playing Clemson in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Maybe you don't want your starting point guard from the last four years on an opposing team, but that's the way it is, and it'll be fun to welcome Tania back to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Big Ten is as good as ever with five teams right now in some early polls being ranked in the top 25, so again, some great match-ups here in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I'll be glad to take questions if you have them.
Obviously we're coming off a pretty historic year, and the excitement of our team is still there. You might think that's kind of crazy, considering what we lost, but when you have that type of success, you just want more, and you know what it takes to get it now.
This team has a mission to make people -- prove people wrong. They have an opportunity -- again, they've kind of got a chip on their shoulder a little bit. We know what we lost. We lost three key ingredients, three terrific starters that had tremendous experience for our basketball team, but this team is not ready to throw up the white flag.
The cast of characters may have changed. But the culture is the same, the joy of playing, the work ethic, all those things remain, and it all really begins with Kathleen Doyle. Kathleen, a four-year starter for us, captain of our team, has had such a great career and coming into her senior year. She had a pretty spectacular summer, as well, playing for the Pan-Am team, earning a silver medal for USA Basketball, and then also being named a preseason all-Big Ten selection unanimously. I believe there's only one other woman that was named unanimous all Big Ten, so that's quite an honor for her.
But you all know she leads this team with her enthusiasm, with her love of the game, just her -- she's a competitor. She's one of those kids that you kind of are glad you have on your team and you don't want to play against her. She's just a real emotional leader for us, and I think we really need that.
Makenzie Meyer, again, another four-year starter for us, somebody that has had so much experience, one of our best three-point shooters, and we're really going to be counting on that. Obviously our style is going to change a little bit this year and our point of emphasis is going to change, and so Makenzie's three-ball is going to be as important as it ever has been for us.
Amanda Ollinger, coming into her senior year, hasn't maybe played as much her first three years as she would have liked, but she's ready in her senior year, and I'm seeing her play her best basketball. In Spain she had two terrific games over there. Her offensive rebounding was so important to us, her size, her mobility, and so I'm really excited about what Amanda is going to bring to our team this year.
Lexi Sevillian, a redshirt junior, she's been around this program also now for four years and has had a tremendous experiences, an on-again off-again starter for us, another really good three-point shooter, and that's, again, something that we're really going to be counting on. Lexi has that experience to really provide that for us.
And it kind of brings me to Monika Czinano. Monika is going to be our starting center this year. Please do her the favor of not comparing her to Megan Gustafson. She's not Megan, she's her own person. She's better in some things than Megan was. But I think that's going to be something that really is holding her down all year if people keep trying to make that comparison because they're two different people.
Monika has an amazing work ethic. She has an incredible attitude. She soaks up information like a sponge, and she loved playing behind Megan all year and learning from Megan, and I'm excited about Monika because she embraces contact, she doesn't back away from it. There's so many post players -- I know we haven't seen them here because Megan did enjoy that contact, but there's so many post players around America that don't enjoy that, and she does. She gets down there and she'll rebound and she'll seal hard, and I think that we're all going to fall in love with Monika through her amazing attitude and work ethic through time.
We have several freshmen that I think are really going to contribute, but I just want to touch on all four of them. We do have four this year because Kate Martin was a redshirt last year, medical redshirt after tearing her ACL the prior June, so she is a freshman on our team and somebody that I really look to this year as being a major contributor, even as a freshman. She's that big guard. She's 6-foot, 6'1", can shoot threes, she rebounds well. She can take it to the hole really well and finish around there. I think Kate Martin, even as a freshman, is going to contribute quite a bit for us. She did take her high school team to two Final Fours, her junior and senior year in Illinois, so she's a winner, and she has a coach for a dad, and so she knows how to be coached.
Also Gabbie Marshall, freshman point guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, won a couple state championships at Mount Notre Dame high school, played for one of the best AAU programs around, Ohio Sports City U, and shot over 50 percent from three-point range her senior year in high school when she was MVP of that team. Will play point guard for us, will also play off guard for us, and that's another freshman that you can see a lot of right off the bat.
And then we have McKenna Warnock, who was Miss Wisconsin Basketball. McKenna, again, is that kind of big guard like Kate Martin, that 6'1" guard that's strong that has the capability to go inside or out, and I like that versatility from her, as well.
And then Megan Meyer, the sister of Makenzie, so it's going to be interesting having a sister duo on the team. Again, it's kind of unusual, and Megan is a lot like Makenzie as far as her three-point shot capabilities, and I just maybe have to keep them away from each other sometimes, but it'll be fun to have both of them there. The Meyer family is just a tremendous family.
Our schedule, once again, is going to bring a lot of excitement to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I just have to take a second and talk about our attendance last year. Leading the Big Ten in attendance, ninth in the United States; those are some really remarkable numbers when you think of the size of our community. And it just shows you how this state got behind the team, and I'm hoping that we can keep that excitement going and keep bringing those people back to Carver because I think they did fall in love with the women on our team, and I think that it'll happen again this year. The attendance was spectacular. Our fans are the best in the country, and we appreciate that.
We have some great games in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, including Drake University with the state series will be coming in. Drake is expected to have one of its best teams for a long time, so we're excited to bring Drake in and glad that we didn't have to go over and play them in Des Moines. And then we'll also be bringing in Princeton, a team predicted to win the Ivy League, a team that's always in the NCAA Tournament. It has one of the best centers in America on the team. They're going to be tremendous. And then we bring in Clemson for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Clemson also in the NCAA Tournament last year, and an ironic twist to that is that this summer we placed Tania Davis there as a graduate assistant, not knowing that we were going to be playing Clemson in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Maybe you don't want your starting point guard from the last four years on an opposing team, but that's the way it is, and it'll be fun to welcome Tania back to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Big Ten is as good as ever with five teams right now in some early polls being ranked in the top 25, so again, some great match-ups here in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I'll be glad to take questions if you have them.
