COLUMBIA, Mo. - You wouldn't know it from preseason hype, but there's only one basketball team at the University of Missouri to make the past two NCAA tournaments, and Robin Pingeton and company intend to make it three in 2018.
The men's team has received a lot of deserved preseason attention for its coaching change and freshman class, and the women are no doubt happy for their male counterparts. But with a strong freshman and transfer class, the return of Jordan Frericks, Sophie Cunningham, Amber Smith and Cierra Porter, and two years of tournament experience already under their belts, this team has a chance at a deeper postseason run than the men's squad.
Frericks hurt her knee before the 2016-17 season and took a redshirt a year after leading the team in rebounds and earning a second-team All-SEC nomination.
"It's going to be great to have her back on the court," Pingeton said. "I think any time you have a player that has been here for five years, just that maturity level, that understanding of expectations and the details, and the discipline that you have to have, day in and day out, she's always been a very good leader for us, and certainly an impact player on the court."
The Tigers are getting back a good rebounder and a strong and efficient back-to-basket scorer in Frericks, and the team will have a stacked front-court entering the season, factoring in redshirt sophomore Hannah Schuchts, Cierra Porter, redshirt senior Kayla Michael and French international student Emmanuelle Tahane.
The real question for this team is on the perimeter. Sierra Michaelis, Lindsey Cunningham and Lianna Doty together played more than 3,000 minutes last season alone, and all three have graduated. Missouri needs to replace its third, fourth, and sixth-highest scorers, Doty's distribution from point guard, Michaelis's rebounding talent and Lindsey's three-point shooting.
Smith, last season's co-SEC freshman of the year, will fill one of those positions. Pingeton said Smith came to her before the start of the season a year ago unsure of her ability to meaningfully contribute to the team, to which Pingeton responded, "You have to trust us on this one, we recruited you for a reason."
Smith played in all 33 games a season ago, starting in 10, racking up nearly 17 minutes per game mostly as the first one in off the bench. She hit 45.4 percent of her shots from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc to finish averaging just shy of eight points per game.
"Making that jump from your freshman to sophomore year can be a little bit challenging," Pingeton said, "but she's had a great offseason. I anticipate she'll play a little more on the perimeter for us, and she knew that going into the summer, so she's really worked hard at ball-handling and consistency on her perimeter shot. I think she'll be a huge factor for us, she's got great size and strength to play on the perimeter, gives us a chance to have a really big line-up out there."
Another perimeter slot will likely be filled by redshirt-junior Lauren Aldridge, who played on the scout team last season while sitting out the NCAA-mandated season after transferring from Kansas. A Marshfield native, she lead the Jayhawks in scoring her sophomore year before electing to transfer. Her year on the sidelines helped Aldridge develop her voice and approach as a leader. It also helped her graduate early, and she's now enrolled in law school.
"It's great that she had that year under her belt last year, and she was primarily with our scout team," Pingeton said. "So we played against her every day and we saw some really great things from her. She's really polished, she's got great court vision, really good handles, she guards really well, and can knock down perimeter shots. I think she has a chance to be really special for us, especially when you factor in that graduation of three perimeter players, and have that leadership."
The third guard position will have to be filled by an underclassman. Jordan Chavis and Jordan Rountree are both sophomores. Chavis averaged nearly 14 minutes per game and played in every one without starting, averaging 3.5 points a contest on 32 percent shooting, while Rountree played an average of four minutes per game across 26 appearances, averaging less than a point per game. It's also possible one of four freshman guards - Haley Troop, Kelsey Winfrey, Nadia Green or Elle Brown - impresses enough to take a starting role or play serious minutes off the bench.
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Cunningham, who helped to fill in for Frericks, had a stellar sophomore season, averaging 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 0.9 steals per game. Still, Pingeton said Cunningham missed a lot of practice time with her lower back injury and Cunningham said the season was miserable despite her high production level.
"Last year was miserable, honestly, looking back on last year I don't even know how I got through the season," Cunningham said. "But I'm feeling strong, I'm feeling really healthy and I'm ready to get after it."
The pain was enough to overshadow her best season as a Tiger, which included coaches and AP first-team All-SEC nominations and an AP All-American honorable mention. She lead the team in most scoring stats despite missing a significant number of practices.
"I know when to turn it on, and I had to be really smart last year," Cunningham said. "It killed me sitting out of practices. But when it's game time, just focus on trying to win the ball game. It's crazy, looking back, I'm serious, I don't know how I got through the season, but I've been doing a lot of physical therapy every other day, and I'm feeling very healthy."
Missouri has an unfortunate recent history with injuries. Outside of Frericks and Cunningham, Bri Porter has had an incredibly rough high school and college career, tearing knee ligaments five times. Her younger brother, Jontay, said Friday he figures Bri is done hooping in college, and Pingeton mostly agreed.
"She's been through a lot, and she means a lot to this program, regardless of whether she's ever in uniform again or not," Pingeton said. "After five ACLs, you think it's a no-brainer, but she's passionate about the game. But the direction that we're really trending towards is going for a medical hardship for her this year."
Pingeton said she understood Bri's desire to play again, but said it probably wouldn't be the best idea from a future quality of life standpoint. She'll still have a place on the team, attending practices and meetings, travelling with her teammates like a student assistant.
"It's making her realize her worth isn't from basketball," Cierra Porter said of Bri's injuries. "She has so much more to offer this world and this program, and I think she's accepting that."