Grit and Passion Permeating Basketball's Goals

It's never easy for a team to adapt to a new head coach. It's a culture change, and the adaptation to a new philosophy can be both daunting and overwhelming. It creates an entirely different set of expectations, and it can forever alter how athletes play the game at a certain level.

New Boston College women's basketball coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee knows that adjustment all too well, having just done it two years ago at Albany. When she accepted an opportunity to become the new head coach of the Eagles, Bernabei-McNamee immediately got to work with a familiar set of circumstances.

"I knew no matter how hard it was (for everyone), it always gets better," she said. "So I'm maybe more relaxed this time around. Within two weeks, I felt like I knew all the players and they knew me. There were only five returners, so it was really easy to get into what each of those players were like as people. I got to talk about what they wanted, not only in college basketball but in their whole college experience. I had some time to spend with them. It was nice."

It now represents the first step in her quest to bring Boston College back to its place in women's college basketball. Though the Eagles are coming off of a seven-win season in 2017-2018, they are incredibly young, with a bumper crop of seven freshmen set to join a returning core with no seniors.

"We brought in a plethora of freshmen," she said. "I knew Makayla Dickens because we recruited her at Albany, but as soon as I got the job, I put in calls once per week or every week or two to almost re-recruit them and see what they're all like."

McNamee knows how tall the order is to succeed in ACC women's basketball. Half of the conference advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season, including two No. 1 seeds. Of those teams, only one earned a seed in the lower half of a bracket, and three hosted First Round brackets.

Both Notre Dame and Louisville - the two top seeds who lost a combined five regular season games last year - advanced to the Final Four, and the Fighting Irish eliminated Connecticut in overtime in the National Semifinal. Mississippi State denied the league an all-ACC national championship game, but Notre Dame won by three to clinch its second national title.

"Any ounce of everything that we do gets this team ready for what's in store (in the ACC)," McNamee said. "We don't waste a minute of our practices or in film session. We've had two closed scrimmages that were great tests to see what our brand of basketball will look like. Every game, in and of itself, is going to be preparation and a great experience. Every team inevitably has bad experiences, but when we have them, I don't want them to be regrettable. I want us to give everything we have, and if the ball doesn't bounce our way, I don't want it to be because we came off the floor with more to give."

As a result, the Eagles are beginning to employ a style that will pressure teams with tempo. They intend to play harder and faster than opponents, though that doesn't automatically mean a "bombs away" approach to shooting or defending.

"I love basketball," McNamee said. "I love the beauty of the sport, so I never take away from it with my philosophy. My up-tempo is what I enjoyed playing and watching, so that's what I want to coach. That doesn't mean we're going to shoot in six seconds or pick up full-court man press (defense). We're going to play at an enjoyable tempo where our team is capable of hitting an open shot if it's in the first six seconds or last six seconds of the shot clock. There's a difference between playing fast and playing rushed. Shot selection is super important, even if we're playing fast."

It's a system that's required drills geared towards enhancing both basketball mentality and conditioning. McNamee stressed the need to develop all five players on the court as threats at any time as a way to enhance an offense that proved it could hit shots but needed, at times, to prove better consistency.

The major contributors from last year all returned, including Taylor Ortlepp and Milan Bolden-Morris. Both averaged over 12 points in over 30 minutes per game, with Ortlepp producing the last year's top individual scoring performance with 28 points against Syracuse. It was slightly better than Bolden-Morris' 20-point performance against Georgia Tech, which came at the tail end of the season-long breakout in her rookie year.

"We're just getting into shot selection (as a team) because it's taken us this long to get into the shape we want to be in," McNamee said. "I want all five people on the court to be a threat. Everyone's a threat in the rotation because everyone knows their role. They've got to create, within the offense, a way to get someone into their role to shoot. When everyone feels that way, it makes you harder to guard and scout."

That mentality is simply gritty, a word the new coach is looking to employ with regards to her defense. An opponent's athleticism can be neutralized by simply outworking as a team, and it stems from a desire to study, to learn and to digest how someone creates tendencies. BC then intends to attack that intensity with a meanness reminiscent of its old Big East reputation.

"It'll probably be my word as long as I'm here," she said. "I want us to play with that intensity and meanness that doesn't allow an offense to do what it wants. We might not be the fastest or quickest team on defense, but we're going to dictate what happens. All of our players have bought into coming in and watching film because that's where you learn your defense."

The Eagles are built from a proud foundation of success, and this is arguably one of the best eras in recent college sports history. Women's basketball wants in on the success, and it doesn't take a long walk for the coaching staff to discover why it's so important to win at Chestnut Hill.

"I spent all summer living right across the street from campus, so my kids, my husband and I fell in love with BC right away," McNamee said. "That opened my eyes that this was a beautiful place. I got to walk from Upper Campus to lower, and then in the evening, I saw the sunset behind Gasson Hall. It made me realize that I can recruit outstanding, young girls' basketball players who can help us get to where we want to be in the ACC. This university is so put together, and the ACC will already help.

"It's a challenge and a dream," she said. "As a coach, if you're in our profession, you want to be a coach at the highest level if the opportunity presents itself. I don't go out seeking opportunities because I want to be the best wherever I'm at. I only concentrate on that job. But the opportunity, when it was presented, it's a challenge but a dream. This is the best women's basketball conference in the country. That's the kind of challenge all coaches love."

Grit and Passion Permeating Basketball's Goals

Players Mentioned

Milan Bolden-Morris

Makayla Dickens

Taylor Ortlepp

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