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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 97 f PURDUE 22-9 OVERALL, 11-5 BIG TEN A lthough Purdue loses three key pieces to its suc- cess of the last three seasons, in Courtney Moses, KK Houser and Dee Dee Williams, the Boilermakers feel they have plenty of talent remaining. And they get the addition of five freshmen that should help fill holes. But it's returnee Whitney Bays, a senior forward and the Big Ten's Sixth Player-of-the-Year that might give the Boil- ermakers their biggest source of hope. "She's our emotional leader on the floor," Versyp said at media day in Chicago. "She's that performer." Bays has frontcourt help in fellow senior Liza Clem- ons, along with a talented freshmen trio. But it's in the backcourt, where Moses and Houser thrived for years, that Purdue has questions. Point guard April Wilson, who was great while Houser was out late last season, takes on a bigger role. But she'll need scoring help from the 2 guard spot, where Purdue has a couple options. "Two years ago, no one thought that we could replace Sam Ostarello and Drey Mingo and their scoring and re- bounding, and we were able to do that collectively," Ver- syp said. "Now we have to make up for about 30 points and a lot of guard play. So we're going to have to do it by committee. But very excited about the challenge ahead." MINNESOTA 22-13 OVERALL, 8-8 BIG TEN N ot many first-year coaches find themselves with the Preseason Player-of-the-Year on their rosters, but that's the situation that Marlene Stollings walks in to at Minnesota. Rachel Banham is the Big Ten's premier scoring guard, coming off a season in which she averaged 22.1 points per game while being named an honorable mention All-Amer- ican. Banham has enjoyed tremendous individual success during her three seasons, with the 5-9 guard being only seven points shy of 2,000 for her career. But what she's missed is team success. The Golden Go- phers last made the NCAA Tournament in 2009, a drought that eventually led to Pam Borton's dismissal as head coach after last season. But Stollings — and Banham — might have enough help to get back to the Dance this season. Four starters re- turn to the Gophers this season, including 6-5 sophomore center Amanda Zahui B., a preseason All-Big Ten member who averaged 15.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. Stollings, who spent the last two seasons at VCU, brings an offensive mindset to the Gopher program. "I think one of the biggest challenges in taking over any program is just implementing your style and your system," she said. "But our young ladies have been ex- tremely coachable. They've been a real joy to coach and our system is very different than what they're used to. We've challenged them as much on pace of the game, fitness level and things of that nature as anything. And they've responded very well thus far." PENN STATE 24-8 OVERALL, 13-3 BIG TEN T he Nittany Lions have lost a ton of talent. Namely, Maggie Lucas, a star in the Big Ten, with multiple league Player-of-the-Year awards, since she set foot on campus. But three other seniors are departed as well, leaving Penn State to replace its top four scorers from last year. Get this: Lucas, Ariel Edwards, Dara Taylor and Talia East — the four departures — combined to average 56.1 points per game. The eight returnees totaled 19 per game, leaving plenty of holes to be filled now. "We're trying to find our identity," Coach Coquese Washington said. "We'll definitely be a different team. When you lose the four seniors we lost and the con- tributions that they gave to the team, the leadership that they provided for the team, you know we're clearly going to be a different team. We're really young." The Nittany Lions will lean a little more heavily on se- nior captain Tori Waldner, a 6-5 center who averaged 4.8 points per game last year, the top returning scorer. And their interior game, rather than the Lucas-led perimeter, will come more into focus. "The vision is very similar to what we've done in the past," Washington said. "We still want to be up tempo. We still want to get up and down the floor. Just how we do it may be a little bit different. "We probably will focus and emphasize post play a little bit more this year than maybe we have in the past. And the biggest thing for us is going to be experience. So we've got to get on the floor."