From BTN WBB analyst Meghan McKeown

[DocRon]

Maybe a little optimistic but we can hope...

 

[Hausta01]

I think we see a few wins more than last season - which seemed better than any season over the last 10 or so even without an NCAAT berth.

Thanks for posting this stuff Doc... about WBB AND WVB!

 

[JeffBoiler]

Who is her other dark horse?

 

[charlespig]

Who is her other dark horse?

Rutgers.

Anyway, I won't put too much stock to it. She was tweeting EVERY team that was at the Media Day yesterday, and finds something nice to say about each team. Remember, as BTN analyst, her job is to promote the league.

 

[rapapathanasiou]

This team is going to be sneaking good, our transfer additions are better then what most people let on! Just keep raining those three balls! Will be a fun team to watch!

 

[illiniboiler]

I think Katie is on the way to making us competitive in the BT. That has to be the first step. You don't go from the bottom rung to the top very often and usually that is by an established program. Of course key injuries can derail any team, but if that does not happen I think we are going to see a better product, which may produce the better recruiting we need. That is the hope and we just have to wait and see. But Katie's energy and positivity are refreshing. We need to be patient. If she is a bust we will know, but we are not there yet at all.

 

[DavidBoiler]

View embedded media

Maybe a little optimistic but we can hope...

Why is this optimistic? What did she say? She just said that they have depth, they play hard under Katie, she's changed the culture, and that they could be a dark horse... They won more games last season than the season before and were competitive against teams like IU, and now they have more depth, hopefully quality depth. The biggest key to me is the growth and development of Jayla Smith... They need a star in the worst way. This team could surprise some people but that tweet didn't really sound overly optimistic more than it was just facts. Darkhorse to me just means that the team is still a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team that might surprise a little bit due to the increased depth. Which should be expected as Katie gets more and more experience and brings in better players and better depth.

 

[DocRon]

Why is this optimistic? What did she say? She just said that they have depth, they play hard under Katie, she's changed the culture, and that they could be a dark horse... They won more games last season than the season before and were competitive against teams like IU, and now they have more depth, hopefully quality depth. The biggest key to me is the growth and development of Jayla Smith... They need a star in the worst way. This team could surprise some people but that tweet didn't really sound overly optimistic more than it was just facts. Darkhorse to me just means that the team is still a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team that might surprise a little bit due to the increased depth. Which should be expected as Katie gets more and more experience and brings in better players and better depth.

The most common definition of "dark horse" is "a usually little known contender (such as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing." (Miriam-Webster) To me that implies a "Win/Place/Show" finish but I suppose some people would say any team that does significantly better (however that is defined) than expected would be a "dark horse."

Purdue's WBB team was not projected to finish in the top five by either the media or coaches, nor were any of its players picked to be in on the All-Big Ten Teams. I guess by that measure any finish in the top half of the league might be considered a team that was a "dark horse" but I think a "dark horse", at the least, needs to contend for the title and frankly, Purdue does not have the "horses" to do that this year. To say so is, IMHO, "overly optimistic". I hope it happens but doubt it will.

I have supported Coach Gearlds since she was named HC and I am optimistic about the long-term future of the team for which we all root. But I expect this year we will still be in the middle to lower half of the league due to our lack of a "go-to" star. But as I often say, I could be wrong and would love it if I am.
_____________________

 

[Russ Ford]

The most common definition of "dark horse" is "a usually little known contender (such as a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing." (Miriam-Webster) To me that implies a "Win/Place/Show" finish but I suppose some people would say any team that does significantly better (however that is defined) than expected would be a "dark horse."

Purdue's WBB team was not projected to finish in the top five by either the media or coaches, nor were any of its players picked to be in on the All-Big Ten Teams. I guess by that measure any finish in the top half of the league might be considered a team that was a "dark horse" but I think a "dark horse", at the least, needs to contend for the title and frankly, Purdue does not have the "horses" to do that this year. To say so is, IMHO, "overly optimistic". I hope it happens but doubt it will.

I have supported Coach Gearlds since she was named HC and I am optimistic about the long-term future of the team for which we all root. But I expect this year we will still be in the middle to lower half of the league due to our lack of a "go-to" star. But as I often say, I could be wrong and would love it if I am.
_____________________

I don't know Doc.....I'm kind of optimistic about a 20 plus win regular season and at least one win in the Big Dance. I guess we shall see.....

 

[DavidBoiler]

I don't know Doc.....I'm kind of optimistic about a 20 plus win regular season and at least one win in the Big Dance. I guess we shall see.....

Baby steps... 3 more wins from last year's total to get them to a 20-win season doesn't sound like a lot but if it gets this program back to the Big Dance those 3 more wins will be huge. Would love to see more than just one win in the NCAA tourney but just getting there will be nice and further progress for Katie and this team.

 

[MichaelRR]

Baby steps... 3 more wins from last year's total to get them to a 20-win season doesn't sound like a lot but if it gets this program back to the Big Dance those 3 more wins will be huge. Would love to see more than just one win in the NCAA tourney but just getting there will be nice and further progress for Katie and this team.

I don't think 20 winds on our schedule gets us to the big dance. We play zero away games in ooc and a pretty soft schedule outside of tournaments and acc challenge games. I think we need to get 22 to be safely in, and at least 1 game above .500 in conference play. Doable, but difficult with the roster we have.

 

[illiniboiler]

None of us have any idea what this season will be. Sometime the whole is bigger than the parts. Teams surprise both ways every year. Did anyone think Illini FB would be this good or Wisc struggle and fire their coach. Let's see what happens and then judge. There is so much unknown about this year's team I am anxious to see what they do. Most important to me is if they are competitive in most of their games and appear to know what they are doing. They play exciting basketball. No more passing around the edge for most of the shot clock. Hoping for a fun season and then see what the future might hold.