01-31-2025, 10:07 PM
I think we have to think of this as a multi-year rebuilding effort and we won’t be able to give a final grade until at least midway through the 2026-2027 season. That would be 2.5 years under Coach Paye. Agara, Clardy and Ogden will be seniors. The much heralded 2025 recruiting class will have had a year of college ball and we will see what 2026 recruits Coach Paye gets.
The one thing I am encouraged by is her willingness to make changes and adapt. Sometimes I felt Coach Vanderveer was too dogmatic in terms of starting and giving playing time to upperclassmen. The ACC is filled with guard-oriented, elite defensive teams and those are the teams that would tend to give us a lot of problems in the tournament. You need guards with the ball-handling and quickness to create their own shot (or pass if the defense collapses) because a lot of times all the passing lanes will be well defended. I am encouraged that Coach Paye made the relatively quick switch to starting Ijiwoye and Clardy because we will need both of them to develop offensively and defensively to be successful in this league over the next couple of seasons.
The one thing I am encouraged by is her willingness to make changes and adapt. Sometimes I felt Coach Vanderveer was too dogmatic in terms of starting and giving playing time to upperclassmen. The ACC is filled with guard-oriented, elite defensive teams and those are the teams that would tend to give us a lot of problems in the tournament. You need guards with the ball-handling and quickness to create their own shot (or pass if the defense collapses) because a lot of times all the passing lanes will be well defended. I am encouraged that Coach Paye made the relatively quick switch to starting Ijiwoye and Clardy because we will need both of them to develop offensively and defensively to be successful in this league over the next couple of seasons.