By Ryan Vermont (@Your_Pal_Ryan):
The San Jose State women’s basketball program ended its 2016-17 season a few shots shy of a massive upset over Mountain West goliath Colorado State.
It then lost one of its most promising and talented classes in recent memory to graduation in the following months.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” said SJSU head coach Jamie Craighead. “It’s something we can overcome, but playing at this level takes experience and it takes knowledge.”
The Spartans lost Jasmine Smith, the gritty, bulldog-type power forward who is now playing professionally in Germany. The team also lost its ultimate green-light point guard Dezz Ramos, who in just two seasons, stamped her name among the program’s elite scorers and is now playing professionally in Iceland.
The team also saw departures from forward Paris Baird and guard Rachol West who both came up big several times throughout their respective careers.
“We only have one starter returning from last year,” said junior forward Andrea Kohlhaas. “I think learning how to play together and put it on the court is going to be the most difficult thing.”
While it’s sad to see them go, nobody else in the Mountain West is going to feel bad. That’s how college athletics work.
Last year’s Spartans are quite different than this year’s version. This season, the team is young.
According to SJSU Athletics, it’s the second youngest team in Division I with 12 of the 15 players being underclassmen.
“They are going to make mistakes, they got a lot to learn, we got a lot to teach,” Craighead said. “I think that if they are just excited to be on the court, you learn more and you pick up things faster and it will allow their talents to kick in.”
One of the new additions to the team is freshman point guard Danae Marquez. With opportunity in the air, she is doing her best to make her mark.
“I’m kind of just looking forward to getting my feet wet, make some noise and hopefully put San Jose on the map a little bit,” Marquez said.
Craighead pointed to the team’s older players as the ones to guide the young team, most notably senior guard Myzhanique Ladd, senior forward Hallie Gennett and the aforementioned junior Kohlhaas.
“I think it’s just important to have people in the gym that talk that they (the younger players) can look up to,” Kohlhaas said. “If I talk in the gym, if I communicate in the gym, then I’ll set a good example.”
On tap for the young team is a number of tough games both in and out of conference that will really show what this year’s team is made of and what they could be.
Right out of the gate, the Spartans will travel to Socal to face off with UCLA for their season opener. The Bruins finished last season ranked No. 13 in the nation.
SJSU also has a game against Oregon State on the road and meetings with both the University of San Francisco and Southern Oregon at home. And that’s all before conference play begins.
“What you don’t know, you don’t know,” Craighead said. “Maybe our youth will help us overcome some things.”
The young team is looking forward to entering the season as an unknown commodity and is confident about the present and future of the program.