Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Juniors In Grade Only
December 20, 2018 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
BC's veterans might only be juniors, but they have the poise of professionals.
A sense of continuity always exists within sports programs. It exists largely because of the players, who indelibly link one generation to another. There's a lineage that stems from one generation of player to another, especially in college where student-athletes enter a school as freshmen under the tutelage of upper-class veterans. They inevitably become upperclassmen, in turn providing leadership and guidance for a new group of freshmen that will become the next group of veterans.
It's a cycle that exists even as coaches come and go. A coach can remain in place for decades or come and go quickly, but the cycle of players and leadership is always there. So, what happens to a team that brings in a new head coach, only to discover it doesn't have any seniors there to provide the continuity of the cycle?
In the case of Boston College, it's a 9-2 start to the season. A unique roster with seven freshmen and no seniors is playing with the blissful ignorance of its youth, allowing head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee to lay a foundation on top of a blank slate.
Stepping to the head of the line are the team's three juniors: Emma Guy, Georgia Pineau and Taylor Ortlepp, all of whom have become invaluable pieces of the team's early-season chemistry and subsequent success.
"Our team has been a lot closer, which you wouldn't have expected with seven freshmen," Guy said. "You would've thought there could be some sour apples, but that doesn't exist. It reflects in the way we play the game and, in our confidence, out on the court."
It's a process that accelerated when the new coaching regime took over this past summer. The roster already knew it would be unique in its overhaul, and the juniors knew they would have to take on more of a leadership role. It became enhanced almost immediately by Bernabei-McNamee's goals and objectives, all of which were introduced during the initial conversations with the returning players.
"Everybody was unknown at the beginning and didn't know what to expect," Ortlepp said. "But Coach Mac set ground rules from the beginning and gained our trust right from that start. She gave us a guideline of where she saw us and how we could get there. That gave us goals through the preseason and into the year, game-by-game."
The expectations and goals laid bare in front of them, but they still had to translate to the incoming class. That created a unique situation where the trio looked to communicate expectations, even if they were learning what exactly that meant for themselves.
"It was a lot of responsibility to take on in the summer," Guy said. "We had to show the freshmen the new ways while we were learning from a new coach ourselves. But we all had two years under our (careers), so we all understood how BC works and how the ACC works. We could give (the younger players) some type of background and give them some form of experience that could lead to their success here."
"Our preseason was so much more different than anything we had to do in the past," Pineau said. "We worked so much harder as a team, so by the time we stepped in for a game together, we were all just so excited to play. We saw how much we'd all improved and how far we'd come, and I know how excited everyone was for that first game. Everyone is still excited now because we've seen how far we've come through non-conference play and to see what we can do in ACC play."
That success is a 9-2 record entering Friday, two wins more than last year's cumulative total. It's the best start since the Eagles opened the 2015-2016 season with an 11-1 record, but it's come with a roster that, for the most part, hadn't completed a single semester's worth of school work. It harkened back to the team's objectives in practice, which Coach Bernabei-McNamee constantly describes as "grit."
"We were really competitive in practice from the get-go," Ortlepp said. "Even the people who don't play as much in games bring it to us in practice every day. That stems from Coach Mac's discipline. She told us in the beginning that we would work hard and together, and we've been able to do that to go out and get some wins in this early play."
All three have played an intricate role in that start. They have collectively started every game and, through this weekend, amassed almost 40% of BC's minutes on the floor. Everyone is doing something different, from Guy and Pineau dominating the paint as rebounding or block machines to Ortlepp's ability to hit outside shots while distributing assists.
Against Campbell, Guy had a career-high 25 points, including 12 in the paint. She went 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter, hitting half of BC's field goals as the team pulled way with 24 points. Both her and Pineau had seven rebounds, while Pineau and Ortlepp combined for 10 assists.
"We've played some big games, and we've played some easy games so far," Ortlepp said. "I think it's important to remind everyone that a win is a win. It's better to learn from a win than from a loss, so we have to take what we can from our good games and continue to improve. We want to take this to the next level, and keeping ourselves accountable in the roles that we have, it's going to be huge. Everyone is in the right mindset."
That has led the Eagles through an incredibly competitive first half where they caught potential power basketball schools off guard. An electric win over Houston book-ended a near-upset of Minnesota, Friday's game against Campbell represented the penultimate battle before ACC play opens in January.
The league is likely to remain an absolute monster. Notre Dame is the reigning, defending national champions, and Louisville joined the Fighting Irish in the Final Four last season. Both teams are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 nationally, but they are hardly the only titan playing in the league ranks.
Three other teams - NC State, Syracuse and Miami - are all ranked entering this weekend, and the Wolfpack are one of four undefeated teams inside the Top 25. Florida State, Duke and Virginia all went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and Virginia Tech is still yet to lose a game. The league's combined record, including BC, is 130-37, and only two teams have won less than two-thirds of their games.
Still, the Eagles are undaunted, and these last two games against Campbell and Dartmouth will likely only whet their collective appetite more for the chance to bang with the biggest teams in the nation.
"I feel like we've tried to scare (the freshmen) a little bit because you can't understand what it's like to play Notre Dame or Louisville until it happens," Pineau said. "But we want to prepare everyone as much as possible. We know there will be players somewhere that might be more naturally talented than we are, but we can be successful with our grit. It comes from our rebounding and running the floor really hard. We have to make sure that we have to know we can win, even if someone is more athletic."
"We really take our pre-conference games as a way to make our team better," Guy said. "It's going to be our learning curve to get ready for the ACC. It's time for us to fix what we can fix before we hit those games."
BC will remain at home to play Dartmouth on December 29 at 2 p.m. before opening up conference play against Georgia Tech on January 3 at 7 p.m. That game can be seen via ESPN's ACC Network Extra.
It's a cycle that exists even as coaches come and go. A coach can remain in place for decades or come and go quickly, but the cycle of players and leadership is always there. So, what happens to a team that brings in a new head coach, only to discover it doesn't have any seniors there to provide the continuity of the cycle?
In the case of Boston College, it's a 9-2 start to the season. A unique roster with seven freshmen and no seniors is playing with the blissful ignorance of its youth, allowing head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee to lay a foundation on top of a blank slate.
Stepping to the head of the line are the team's three juniors: Emma Guy, Georgia Pineau and Taylor Ortlepp, all of whom have become invaluable pieces of the team's early-season chemistry and subsequent success.
"Our team has been a lot closer, which you wouldn't have expected with seven freshmen," Guy said. "You would've thought there could be some sour apples, but that doesn't exist. It reflects in the way we play the game and, in our confidence, out on the court."
It's a process that accelerated when the new coaching regime took over this past summer. The roster already knew it would be unique in its overhaul, and the juniors knew they would have to take on more of a leadership role. It became enhanced almost immediately by Bernabei-McNamee's goals and objectives, all of which were introduced during the initial conversations with the returning players.
"Everybody was unknown at the beginning and didn't know what to expect," Ortlepp said. "But Coach Mac set ground rules from the beginning and gained our trust right from that start. She gave us a guideline of where she saw us and how we could get there. That gave us goals through the preseason and into the year, game-by-game."
The expectations and goals laid bare in front of them, but they still had to translate to the incoming class. That created a unique situation where the trio looked to communicate expectations, even if they were learning what exactly that meant for themselves.
"It was a lot of responsibility to take on in the summer," Guy said. "We had to show the freshmen the new ways while we were learning from a new coach ourselves. But we all had two years under our (careers), so we all understood how BC works and how the ACC works. We could give (the younger players) some type of background and give them some form of experience that could lead to their success here."
"Our preseason was so much more different than anything we had to do in the past," Pineau said. "We worked so much harder as a team, so by the time we stepped in for a game together, we were all just so excited to play. We saw how much we'd all improved and how far we'd come, and I know how excited everyone was for that first game. Everyone is still excited now because we've seen how far we've come through non-conference play and to see what we can do in ACC play."
That success is a 9-2 record entering Friday, two wins more than last year's cumulative total. It's the best start since the Eagles opened the 2015-2016 season with an 11-1 record, but it's come with a roster that, for the most part, hadn't completed a single semester's worth of school work. It harkened back to the team's objectives in practice, which Coach Bernabei-McNamee constantly describes as "grit."
"We were really competitive in practice from the get-go," Ortlepp said. "Even the people who don't play as much in games bring it to us in practice every day. That stems from Coach Mac's discipline. She told us in the beginning that we would work hard and together, and we've been able to do that to go out and get some wins in this early play."
All three have played an intricate role in that start. They have collectively started every game and, through this weekend, amassed almost 40% of BC's minutes on the floor. Everyone is doing something different, from Guy and Pineau dominating the paint as rebounding or block machines to Ortlepp's ability to hit outside shots while distributing assists.
Against Campbell, Guy had a career-high 25 points, including 12 in the paint. She went 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter, hitting half of BC's field goals as the team pulled way with 24 points. Both her and Pineau had seven rebounds, while Pineau and Ortlepp combined for 10 assists.
"We've played some big games, and we've played some easy games so far," Ortlepp said. "I think it's important to remind everyone that a win is a win. It's better to learn from a win than from a loss, so we have to take what we can from our good games and continue to improve. We want to take this to the next level, and keeping ourselves accountable in the roles that we have, it's going to be huge. Everyone is in the right mindset."
That has led the Eagles through an incredibly competitive first half where they caught potential power basketball schools off guard. An electric win over Houston book-ended a near-upset of Minnesota, Friday's game against Campbell represented the penultimate battle before ACC play opens in January.
The league is likely to remain an absolute monster. Notre Dame is the reigning, defending national champions, and Louisville joined the Fighting Irish in the Final Four last season. Both teams are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 nationally, but they are hardly the only titan playing in the league ranks.
Three other teams - NC State, Syracuse and Miami - are all ranked entering this weekend, and the Wolfpack are one of four undefeated teams inside the Top 25. Florida State, Duke and Virginia all went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and Virginia Tech is still yet to lose a game. The league's combined record, including BC, is 130-37, and only two teams have won less than two-thirds of their games.
Still, the Eagles are undaunted, and these last two games against Campbell and Dartmouth will likely only whet their collective appetite more for the chance to bang with the biggest teams in the nation.
"I feel like we've tried to scare (the freshmen) a little bit because you can't understand what it's like to play Notre Dame or Louisville until it happens," Pineau said. "But we want to prepare everyone as much as possible. We know there will be players somewhere that might be more naturally talented than we are, but we can be successful with our grit. It comes from our rebounding and running the floor really hard. We have to make sure that we have to know we can win, even if someone is more athletic."
"We really take our pre-conference games as a way to make our team better," Guy said. "It's going to be our learning curve to get ready for the ACC. It's time for us to fix what we can fix before we hit those games."
BC will remain at home to play Dartmouth on December 29 at 2 p.m. before opening up conference play against Georgia Tech on January 3 at 7 p.m. That game can be seen via ESPN's ACC Network Extra.
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