Nicholls hoops hungry for more

With football teams from the high school, college and professional ranks all beginning their respective camps this week, and Major League Baseball’s post-trade-deadline pennant races heating up, college basketball may not be the first thing on the minds of sports fans in the first week of August.

But at Nicholls State, there’s no such thing as an off-season for women’s basketball coach Dobie Plaisance, and this past week, Plaisance continued to try and strengthen her program by adding a new member to her coaching staff in assistant Kris Goff, who previously held the same position at Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana.

Earlier this summer, Plaisance was able to add some new faces to the Lady Colonels’ program in terms of players such as true freshmen Ekiya Gray of Houston, Texas, and Tia Charles from New Orleans’ John Curtis High. The Colonels also nabbed a junior college transfer in guard Veronica Ryan, who spent last season at Palm Beach State College in in Lake Worth, Florida.

Plaisance said those three bring a great pedigree with them into the program, as well as lots of stability.

“Veronica and Tia are both guards, and (Gray) is in that 3-4 position,” Plaisance said. “But high basketball IQ and plenty of passion are what all three of them bring as far as wanting to be here. We’re really excited to keep going what we have.”

Those three, plus the return of 6-foot-4 Croatian Jovana Mandic, who had to sit out last season, and the returns of LiAnn McCarthy and Hope Pawlowski, who also missed last year with injuries, means there will be quite a few new faces in the Nicholls program next season.

“There is going to be a new complexion here and everyone is fired up about it,” said Plaisance.

REPLACING A LEGEND

Nicholls may need that complexion if it hopes to move on from the loss of KK Babin and Jasmine Scott, two of the school’s most integral players from a year ago, and in Babin’s case, one of the program’s all-time greats.

In four years, Babin averaged double figures in scoring each year and was in many ways the backbone of the team. Scott was a terrific defender and post player who fit in well with the Colonels’ schemes.

Plaisance said there isn’t a way the Colonels can replace those players per se, but that the team is going to have to rely on numbers and depth in their absence.

“The way we’re going to make up the numbers is by committee,” said Plaisance. “It’s going to take more than one person to make up KK’s numbers, but as long as the numbers are there, it doesn’t matter if it’s coming from two or three people; let’s just keep them the same. With Jasmine, she brought a lot of the intangibles and was such an incredible athlete that she was capable on any given day of saving the game.

“Between the two of them, there’s not any two players that are going to do what they did, but between our returners, including the ones that were injured last year and the incoming freshmen and the newbies, I really do believe we can make up those numbers.”

MORE EXPECTED OF HOT-SHOOTING WHITE

The Colonels’ best weapon is junior Emani White. As a sophomore last season, White led the Southland Conference in scoring with 19.6 points per game.

Now, Plaisance is looking for White to not only duplicate but exceed those numbers next year.

“I really challenged her after spring conditioning to make an even bigger jump,” Plaisance said. “You have to take it to another level. I told her, ‘If you come back and you did everything you did (last) year… you’re not doing yourself or this program any good because you’re not getting better.’ I think she embraced that challenge. She’s going to own it, and I think you’re going to see some really exciting basketball as we all feed off of what she’s able to create.”

“We will go as she goes in terms of what she creates. That doesn’t mean she’s getting all the shots. She has to get gaps. When she gets a gap, one of two things has to happen: they’ve got to come off and check her, or she’s going to shoot a layup.”

SCHEDULING PITS COLONELS AGAINST TOP-NOTCH FOES

While Nicholls’ 2014-15 schedule hasn’t been finalized as of yet, the Colonels have a good idea of who they’ll be seeing in non-conference action.

Among the opponents tentatively slated to be on the team’s schedule this season are: Arkansas, Tulane, Texas Tech, Houston, South Alabama and Louisiana Tech.

The Colonels will also travel to Tennessee State, a tough mid-major opponent from the Ohio Valley Conference.

“We’re real excited about it, especially opening up at Arkansas,” Plaisance said. “That’s going to be a great opportunity for us to face an SEC opponent early and really see where we are. It’s something to look forward to.”

DoBee Plaisance