Drury Panthers

[crazznewt]

.........one more thing: There is a big difference between saying "in your face" when you are in your own space across the court from someone versus repeatedly getting in someone's face while mocking them on national TV. If you know, you know.

[crazznewt]

**conclusion edit:**

In 1997, we had the unexpected pleasure of being among the first in Springfield to play basketball against the future (and temporary) leading scorer in NCAA D1 history in Jackie Stiles. This was at the old outdoor basketball courts at then Southwest Missouri State University the summer before her freshman season. This took place at about 12AM the week she showed up on campus. (We were playing basketball while our peers were "socializing")


It was immediately obvious to me that she would break Melody Howard's (who we had played with several times) all time SMSU scoring record before she graduated, which she did before the end of her junior season!
The season she broke the NCAA record, she scored over 30 points a game at 56.6% from the field, making 265 free throws out of 301 for 85% as a 5'8" guard! She would have shot a lot more free throws if players could have kept up with her.


The road games were brutal, as teams resorted to fouling her hard. The play was very often dirty. These visiting teams did not get away with this tactic at Hammons Student Center, where an average of 8,445 very loud and biased fans (6 times over 9000 people were in attendance) intimidated opposing teams.

All that to say this: Great players are still being targeted when they can't be stopped fairly. This type of play was employed by the Detroit Pistons against Michael Jordan back in the early 90's. Fouling to make a player earn their points at the stripe is basketball, cheap shots meant to intimidate a player is garbage. I dont blame players who are targeted when they start talking trash as I would probably carry a chip on my shoulder too. I dont tolerate bullying.

[crazznewt]

Molly Miller is still proving she is one of the hottest coaches in America. Her success has opened doors to be able to rub elbows with the who's who in the sporting world. The latest is in New York, pictured with Tom Brady and Spike Lee:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaV8ouyG...VjYWlhdmQ1c252

[crazznewt]

The women get to travel a little bit this season with a pre-season "training trip" to Puerto Rico and a trip to Miami in December. They play at home 7 of their first 8 games. The men play at home 8 of their first nine.

[Bballfan]

Agreed Mendel has a real shot at conference POY and make All-American.

[crazznewt]

The Drury basketball teams posted their rosters and schedules early this summer. Both schedules look challenging and should contribute to a good strength of schedule assessment when March rolls around.

The Juco forward transfers, on paper, should have a great impact on each program respectively:

JUCO All-American Elijah Edosa alongside Keshaun Thomas is an exciting thought for Drury fans who are paying attention. Elijah's numbers from last season: Ppg: 19.4, Rpg: 9.4 , Apg: 2.5, Spg: 1.2, Bpg: 1.2, Fg%: 62.3%

Elijah appears to be not only a good athlete, but like Thomas, also a smart player who uses his strong body to get the position he wants on both sides of the ball. Those numbers above support this. Keshaun's numbers were 15 points, 8 rebounds at almost 50% from the field as a true freshman. They appear to be the perfect bookend forwards at 6'5" and 6'6" and strong.

Candela Roy Ibaibarriaga's numbers from JUCO suggest she will be a slasher, athletic rebounder and defender. Hopefully will take some pressure off of Rhi Gibbons, who is arguably the Lady Panther's most physical player who very often ends up on the floor. She won't back down from rough play, the Lewis game last season is a perfect example.

Sara Mendel should also benefit from the addition of the hopefully productive forward. She will be on All-American watch after a great junior season for Drury

[Bballfan]

The Drury women's schedule is out. Some decent MIAA teams they are playing (although Fort Hays State will be without the national player of the year who transferred to D1).

The Oasis Classic. Saginaw Valley will be absolutely horrendous. This past season there was a lot of controversy over the coaching staff who got suspended. Saginaw Valley ultimately reinstated the head coach. With that, a number of players hit the portal and left. Three ended up at Ferris State!

Union is always pretty good. However, they will have a new coach as the prior coach retired after many seasons. The assistant got promoted though (in a move planned for months) so perhaps their style will remain the same. Be prepared for a track meet!

[crazznewt]

Paige Robinson!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ-WP...ZpcXNxcWZhNw==

[crazznewt]

Looks like Avante Nickels has decommitted from New Mexico Highlands.
"Commit" is a word that needs to be retired from the basketball world vocabulary. Maybe it needs to be replaced by more accurate words like "probably" and "maybe".

[Bballfan]

Coker is another one of those schools now in "rebuilding" mode after the departure of their coach.

I had mentioned it earlier I believe, but in the GMAC, 5 schools will have new women's basketball coaches. Two of those schools (Tiffin and Malone) don't even have a coach yet, and it is almost July! Pretty crazy.

[crazznewt]

Looks like the rosters are posted. If I read them right, the men got nine transfers. The women one.

It seems like D2 men's programs have a lot more churn than the women's, although I know the portal is crazy for both men's and women's basketball.

I'm not sure what is different about the men's and women's portals, specifically inside players, but if Sara Mendel suffers an injury, the Lady Panthers will be up crap creek without a trolling motor. That being said, I think there is enough talent on each squad to challenge for a conference championship.

Also, Sophie Hessler will play for Coker University in South Carolina, another D2 school.

[Bballfan]

Looks like the rosters are posted. If I read them right, the men got nine transfers. The women one.

It seems like D2 men's programs have a lot more churn than the women's, although I know the portal is crazy for both men's and women's basketball.

[crazznewt]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZtWc...hxcmEycDFocQ==

Molly Miller continues to take Phoenix by storm!

[Bballfan]

Southwest Baptist is definitely out there trying to grab some elite recruits. The new coach is wanting to make a splash.

Might be hard to get a Drury legacy though if they are interested in her.

[crazznewt]

Lockwood High school Junior to be, Asa Lasiter, received a scholarship offer from Southwest Baptist University. Asa scored her 1000th point late in her sophomore season.

Asa is the Daughter of Kara Rutledge Lasiter, who is one of the top guards in Drury Lady Panther history. Kara is 7th in Drury career points, 9th in rebounds, 2nd in assists, and yes, first in career steals over Daejah Benard.

Kara played in an era when the Lady Panthers were fighting for regional respect. They finally broke through in the fourth season (2004) of the program's existence after earning the right to host the regional. If I remember right, Drury won every regional game and the first two elite 8 games by double figures, eventually losing the championship game by 3 after holding the lead in the last 90 seconds.

All that to say this: There were some great individual performances for Drury during that post season, but the one that stood out to me was Kara's in the second game of the Elite 8 against Seattle Pacific. Drury was the underdog despite being 35 -1 coming into this game. The local media in St Joseph, Missouri the site of the tournament was brutal against Drury. This was because Drury beat Missouri Western like a drum in the opening round of the regional. The beat writer for the St Joseph News Press stated in print that Seattle Pacific was going to crush Drury. Kara put on one of the greatest performances in Drury history in that game, 26 points on 8 of 10 from the field, 9 of 11 from the line and had 8 steals while completely dominating the backcourt. "Lightning Quick" was used to describe Kara in the opening sentence describing the game in the papers the next day.

Maybe Asa Lasiter will be the third generation player after her mom and grandfather Steve Rutledge to suit up for Drury.