Fans of college sports have always known and accepted that team identities are fleeting, especially so for sports with small rosters like basketball. That incredible team you cheer for one year may be gone the next, and at most you have roughly four years with even the best players.
Every season, it is up to the head coach to rebuild the team, find new talent to replace the departing, and blend the freshmen with the remaining seniors, juniors and sophomores to create a new squad. Some years, the number of seniors is small and the team identity stays largely intact.
And some years, it feels just like starting over.
Such is the prospect facing Mississippi State women’s basketball head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis, who must replace eight seniors from last season’s squad which made the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history.
However, at her preseason press conference last week, Fanning-Otis said the time to reflect on last season is almost over and a new journey with a new look is beginning, starting with tonight’s season opener at home against the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartans. She said three players from last year’s squad with experience in big games will build the core of the new team.
“Experience coming back, you look at Diamber [Johnson], Mary Kathryn [Govero and] Danielle [Rector],” she said. “We have to look to those players for leadership relative to this system and relative to what it takes to win in the SEC. The good thing about all three of those young ladies is that they are all going to be coaches. When you have a player that is going to be a coach on the floor, they usually play one play ahead.”
Govero, a versatile guard/forward, offers Fanning-Otis the most experience of all players, having started every game last season and playing over 1,000 minutes in total. The senior held a .418 shooting percentage from the field, and at .371 was Mississippi State’s most reliable 3-point specialist. At the line, Govero was the most reliable Bulldog of 2009-2010, missing only three shots for a .900 average. On defense, her tenacious coverage and fast hands combined for 46 steals and 14 blocks. Fanning-Otis cannot ask for a more solid anchor for her new team than the Clinton  native.
Not to be outdone, guard Diamber Johnson steps into a starting role this season after playing in all 33 games of 2009-2010, but starting only five. Johnson still played nearly 800 minutes to enter this season as Fanning-Otis’ second-most experienced player in SEC action. Johnson shot .346 from the field, hit 14 threes, and was second-best at the free throw line with an .800 shooting percentage. In MSU’s exhibition match last Sunday, Johnson improved on those numbers, shooting .438 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. The Pontotoc junior is poised to step out of the shadow of former point guard Alexis Rack and make this team her own.
Rector, who played in 25 games last season in a backup role, made the most of her minutes with a .433 shooting percentage from the field. Fanning-Otis spotlighted the 6’3″ forward/center as one of her key bench players in big wins on the road. The junior from Ringgold, Ga., looks to take on a prominent role this season using her size and strength to muscle in under the goal and score.
However, all the new faces on Fanning-Otis’ team does not mean they come with little or no experience.
Fanning-Otis said Catina Bett, a 6’5″ junior center from Gadsden, Ala, has been with the team for two semesters already, has SEC experience and knows how to win in the league. She also said three transfers from Jefferson College have experience working together.
“Three of the junior college players have played together in the national championship the last two years, so they are familiar with each other and they are used to winning,” she said. “Ashley Brown, Elyseia Dunn and Porsha Porter are the three that played together. Elyseia and Ashley will be the 4 and 5 positions, they could play together. Porsha is going to be in the lineup. Those young ladies bring some good experience to us.”
Judith Tabala is a transfer from Odessa College. Originally from Kinshasa, Congo, home of last year’s trio of Chanel Mokango, Armelie Lumanu and Rima Kalonda, the 6’5″ junior center could bring a similar shot-stopping presence to the court as Mokango, who in only two years set the all-time team record for blocks.
Also, looming on the horizon is Ashley Newsome, a 6’1″ star of MSU volleyball who is graduating in December. Newsome will begin a career in basketball while she attends graduate school.
Fanning-Otis said the diversity of the roster gives her the possibility of several combinations to try out early in the season.
“What we are trying to do right now is continue to learn a system, find ways to get them tougher and more consistent, but every day is going to be a new process. You may see different lineups,” she said. “One thing I think about this team is that there is a way we can win with several different combinations. That means there is some depth, maybe not in total numbers of people, but just in a variety of positions and people.”
Mississippi State had an opportunity to see what it had last Sunday when they hosted Montevallo in an exhibition match. Johnson led the Bulldogs with 21 points as they defeated the Lady Falcons 75-42, but Fanning-Otis was still not satisfied with her offense after MSU shot only 38 percent in the first half.
“At half time, we were only shooting 38 percent, but we made it to the 45-50 percent mark in the second half, which is where we need to be,” she said. “We will definitely be working on offensive boards this week and hopefully that will progress through the season.”
She said the defense had some communication problems to work out, but played well overall.
“We have to work on our communication, especially on defense,” she said. “In this exhibition game, I was hoping to score at least 80 to 90 points, so we have to work on our shooting percentages. Also, we have to collect more rebounds. If we are going to be a good team, we have to bring down more rebounds and create more opportunities in doing so.”
Johnson said with any problems, she also sees potential.
“I really think that we took a step forward today,” she said. “I think today gave us a look at what we really need to work on, but it also showed that this team has a lot of potential. We will be a good team by the end of the year.”
Fanning-Otis could have accepted the fact that by many accounts, this should be a year of rebuilding, of starting over. But she believes that she has assembled a roster of players who not only know how to win, but also to come together as a team, build on what they have through hard work, and create an identity of their own.
“You put a bunch of winners together, they are going to find a way to get things done,” she said. “That is what we are going to emphasize. I don’t want excuses. This is a new journey, what is your legacy going to be? What kind of team are we going to be as the season progresses? We want to be the most improved team in the league, and we want to be the hardest working, most consistent team. The wins and losses will then fall into place.”