Coach Jody Wynn era begins, but can Wynn win?

Washington Women’s Basketball is undergoing a similar transition as the Men’s program. But new head coach Jody Wynn is following a very successful season. Can Wynn win this year?

New beginnings are thrilling from the very existence of the unknown. First dates, vacation trips, new additions to the family yield thrills to the person or family. Why? Well, the human mind plays out each possible scenario from your experiences and tries to apply what you know against what you did.  In the case of a new experience? The human mind fills in the blanks with happy thoughts.
Or, if you must walk down a dark path, scary thoughts.  In either case, Adrenalin kicks in. Such is the season for the Washington Women’s basketball team under new head coach Jody Wynn.

But I had mixed emotions over the news. Melancholy was the term I’d used. Not because I anticipate failure for Coach Wynn. But the new head coach of the Washington Women’s Basketball Team has a tough act to follow.

So long Neighbors!

After all, former coach Mike Neighbors routinely had the Washington Women’s Basketball Team competing in post season play.  Of course, he benefited from the play of Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor.

When they graduated, Neighbors left as well. Now, its a new chapter for the team.  That new chapter is authored by new head coach Jody Wynn.

So what can we expect?

Similar to Men’s Basketball: Scheme and D alert

Coach Wynn talked at length about her basketball philosophy in 2015  in an interview with Medium.com’s Alley Whoops:

":”AW: What are the chief tenets you’ve implemented within your Long Beach State program?JW: Versatility. Being able to keep teams off balance, and mixing it up nearly every possession. The unselfishness comes on the defensive and offensive ends; you don’t care where you are in our sets. Forwards, guards: with us, you’re a basketball player. You play hard.“"

She goes on to discuss mixing up offensives to meet opportunities.  She continued to stress playing at a high energy level in that interview.

Look for the new UW WBB team to pass frequently. Wynn loves assists, and so the ball will move back and forth until an open shooter sinks a basket.  Meanwhile, the team will stress steals too.  Both are areas of weakness from last season per Pac-12.com Statistics. In fact, Washington was 11th of 12 teams in each category.

So that will take a lot of work for this team.

Media day!

And then, a recent Pac-12 Media Day revealed some more clues:

The team depth chart has not yet been released, but the team roster is available now on the gohuskies.com website.

Warming up to new Washington Women’s coach

Coach Wynn likes to play upperclassmen because it takes a while to truly comprehend the scheme and system she uses on the basketball court. Right now, the team has just five upperclassmen, and none have played in her system until now.

She interviewed at length for the Pac-12 Media Day.  Her rotations will make use of the entire roster. Recall how the UW effort in the NCAA Tournament ran aground of a great rotation scheme of Mississipi State.

That team made full use of the entire roster, a point I amplified prior to the game. Neighbors remained with his scheme of sticking with his five starters. Ultimately, the Huskies tired and the game was lost.

Next: Washington Basketball Coach Hopkins discusses upcoming season

So it will be a challenging season for Washington. The team will win some games, and the team will lose some games.  Can Wynn win? Yes. But how many will Wynn win this year?

We will soon find out.