Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: McConnell-Miller's Team Picks Up The Pace
December 01, 2009 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
For the first time since the 2003-04 season, the Colorado women's basketball team is 4-1, and McConnell-Miller, in her fifth season coaching the Buffaloes, is calling on a roster of her own making.
To borrow a now-infamous catch-phrase from another sport on campus, this is a season for "no excuses." And through five games, McConnell-Miller hasn't had to make any; her team, although still developing, has shown enough early grit and cohesion to accomplish a couple of things its predecessors could not.
"We've got a lot of pieces . . . we've got some players," McConnell-Miller said. "Some youth, some experience with Bianca (Smith), (Brittany) Spears with her leadership. We've got a lot of pieces to this puzzle. Right now they're just lying on the table and we're just trying to put it all together. Sometimes it's very visual and I can see exactly where they should be. We're just taking some time getting there.
"It's a great start for a lot of reasons. We've got two new players (Chucky Jeffery, Meagan Malcolm-Peck) who have come in and stepped up the intensity. They've elevated the intensity and given us some offensive firepower and some relentlessness on the boards - some really good things.
"The addition of some players, the depth of our guards, has really helped us. Last year we were very limited with our options. We had to have people play through fatigue, through foul trouble, a struggling night . . . we don't have to do that anymore. That's a luxury as a coach I haven't had."
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Buffs claimed their own holiday tournament - always an early season pick-me-up - with wins against Georgia Southern (62-50) and Harvard (67-65). The difference in the championship game of the Omni Hotels Classic was a great, late layup by Jeffery, a celebrated in-state signee (Sierra High School) whose right upper bicep is adorned with a tat reading "Only The Strong Survive," and one boasting "I Hold My Own" occupying the opposite side.
Believe both messages; the still-formative freshman guard is a player. But McConnell-Miller has others, too. Her roster is short on seniors (Smith, Courtney Dunn) but brimming with guards (nine, but three are considered swing players).
And although a carryover to the court is a work in progress, this is McConnell-Miller's most cohesive team.
"Their chemistry off the floor is exceptional; on the floor, they're not there yet in understanding the next play," she said. "There's a lot of room for improvement - offensively, in the next play, in transition, which side we're going to; defensively, talking when we're switching. There are some really good things evolving, but it's not consistent now throughout the game."
What is becoming more consistent, according to Smith and Jeffery, is an understanding that execution is critical and wins aren't earned with part-time effort. Who in the coaching world wouldn't rate those among their Top Three Keys For Success?
Said Smith: "After the Minnesota game (an 87-78 loss in the championship game of that school's holiday tourney), we realized if we come out and execute our offense, the plays coach draws up coming out of time outs or on out of bounds plays and get those points, it makes the game a lot more winnable for us - especially on the road or facing a hungry, tough team like Harvard.
"That's what put us over the edge (against Harvard) - execution. It happened both times, at halftime and at the end of the game, Chucky executed the plays that coach drew up. At halftime, Chucky went (to the basket) a little too soon, but coach went right back to her at the end of the second half.
"Chucky not only learned from her mistake, but executed and hit the shot to end and win the game."
Flattered and surprised to be called on to take a potential game-winner, Jeffery had to remind herself after hitting the layup to curb her celebration and get back on defense. It was another lesson pointing to playing 40 minutes - not 39:57.
"We're starting to play the length of the game instead of a hard six minutes and having to make a comeback," Jeffery said. "When we played Minnesota and Harvard, we played hard almost a full 40 minutes . . . we're starting to realize nobody is going to roll over for us and let us win. I think we're getting better at that every day."
Smith believes Jeffery's game-winning shot accelerated the freshman's confidence in herself and her coach's confidence in her: "She knows she can hit that kind of shot and coach is going to look to her to make game-winning plays. And I think Chucky is the kind of player who wants the ball in those situations."
Jeffery, said Smith is "beginning to realize her role. That's one of the hardest things for freshmen when they go from not starting to starting, from playing 15 minutes to 33 minutes, sometimes you kind of lose sight of what your role on the team is.
"I think in the beginning, Chucky wasn't used to coming off the bench. When she came off the bench, she kind of struggled and then coach put her in the starting lineup and she responded. I think that shows her mental toughness and a sign of her maturing, even though we've played only five games. You can see that she's becoming more knowledgeable and recognizing what she needs to be doing."
Jeffery has gotten into the flow of hoops at this level quicker than she expected. Starting has been a bonus, but she concedes she still needs work on her perimeter game: "I've got to get more shots up in practice. I'm becoming more coachable, so that's a good thing. I just have to stay consistent within myself."
More coachable? Asked to clarify that, she said, "Coach has told me not to think so much, just play. Don't think about the play that just happened, move on to the next one. I think I'm getting better at that; I've got to do something better to make the next play work."
Some of McConnell-Miller's players are being asked to take on different roles this season, and as a result, "They're very concerned about performing their individual role, when they should be concerned about performing it within the team.
"When that happens, we'll be a more cohesive group. It's not a negative thing, it's just something we've identified as an area where we need to grow."
A favorable December and early-January schedule should benefit the Buffs. Of their next nine games, only one (Dec. 11, at Colorado State) is away from the Coors Events Center. The Big 12 Conference opener (Jan. 9 vs. Missouri) also is at home.
Two upcoming home games - Wednesday vs. the University of Denver (7 p.m., FSN Rocky Mountain) Sunday vs. Seton Hall (1 p.m.) - should help CU tune up for the trip to Fort Collins.
With two of the Buffs' next three games against in-state opponents, McConnell-Miller is emphasizing the importance of winning against "neighbors."
"Anytime you play anybody in-state, they've recruited some of our players, we've recruited some of theirs . . . anything can happen," she said. "They know it, we know it.
"There's an excitement, an energy to it; it'll mean a great deal to both programs, it's a game that is very significant in the big picture at the end of the season."
Winning last weekend's tournament provided a push for the Buffs and, hopefully, said Jeffery, will help draw more fans: "We've got a good record now, and by the time we get to conference play, I think we'll be ready - more than ready."
Winning the Omni Hotels Classic stopped a two-year losing trend in CU's holiday tourney, which for a couple of decades was called the Coors Classic.
When Jeffery's late layup nestled into the net and a last-second fling by Harvard went awry, Smith had an explanation for the success in CU's re-named tourney: "If all it took (to win) was a name change, maybe we should have done that two years ago."
Nice line, but there's more to the Buffs' sweet start than that. Their coach knows it; her players are learning it. And that's what matters.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
