BASKETBALL '08 SUPPLEMENT: Standing Tall

You’d think that back-to-back Ivy League titles would leave the Harvard women’s basketball team feeling a bit confident in its game strategy and complacent with its overall performance. But you’d be wrong: the Crimson is hungrier than ever and hopes that its level of play can be pushed to new heights to secure the league crown for the third consecutive year.

One of the chief goals for Harvard this season will be improving its offensive level of play, and that starts down low with its corps of forwards. Three-year starter Katie Rollins and Emma Moretzsohn—Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith’s first forward off the bench— will need some help on the block this season after the graduation of leading rebounder Adrian Budischak ’08. Sophomores Emma Markley and Claire Wheeler, both of whom got plenty of minutes last season, will compete to fill the void in the starting lineup and combine to make up the difference on the boards.

“Our sophomore class really had an amazing summer, they really stepped it up and worked hard, and they’re really valuable to this team,” Rollins says.

Though the sophomores have yet to reach their potential, Delaney-Smith has high hopes that both will play major roles on offense this season.

“We were not able to use either of those players to any great length last year because of injuries and experience,” Delaney-Smith says. “They’re both ready to go, and combined with Katie, who looks better than she has in three years, that’s going to be new.”

“We used last year as experience,” Markley adds. “We are definitely more disciplined and know what we have to bring to the court. We learned the system.”

Last year, the season ended with Rollins, Moretzsohn, Markley, and Wheeler on the outside looking in as Cornell represented the Ivies in the NCAA tournament. Even so, the mood right now for Harvard is anything but bitter. Rollins stressed that each player has not let the disappointing ending affect her morale, but instead used it as an impetus to improve her game.

Markley and Wheeler have taken this mantra to heart. With a summer of extensive training under their belts, the two forwards will pose a formidable new challenge for opponents.

The Crimson hopes that a new offensive strategy will give it a real advantage over the more predictable play of its rivals. The new offense involves fewer set plays and allows the young, athletic frontcourt to run the floor with guards senior Emily Tay and freshman Brogan Berry, who have the skill to push the ball off missed shots and turnovers.

“We took the favorite parts of last year’s offense and put them into one,” Delaney-Smith says. “It’s hopefully less predictable than what we were doing last year.”

While its slightly more chaotic nature will make it hard to implement at first, Harvard is sure it is the right way for the future of the team.

“It has a lot less structure,” Tay says. “I’m actually really enjoying this offense, because I’m not restricted to having to pass here, dribble this way.”

“I think we’re going to be able to use athleticism more, in that Katie Rollins looks great, and now we have [Wheeler] and Markley in the forward positions,” Delaney-Smith adds. “One’s explosive and powerful, the other’s just flat-out athletic.”

Whether the new offensive system will create a real advantage and provide definitive results rests on the shoulders of these two sophomores. Though neither player has started a game, Markley feels that the minutes the two picked up last year will improve their level of play this season.

It helps that the two sophomores are good friends, and their chemistry in practices has produced noticeable results. Each player knows her friend’s movements and mannerisms both on and off the court, and the two hope that their contributions will prove enough to lock up another championship come March.

“Claire and I work really well together, and I’m glad that she’s in my class and on my team,” Markley says. “My expectations are that we win the Ivy League championship again. We are a small team, and we need to keep everyone healthy. As long as we stay close as the Ivy League season comes, we will be successful.”