Big Ten Departure

Some of this is bound to happen with all of the new coaches, but this one is surprising to me - a kid who's been very successfull and only has one year left.
 
http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/sports_of_all_sorts/2008/04/11/bjork_leaving_illinois
 

Illinois junior guard Lori Bjork informed Illinois coaches this morning that she is leaving the UI program. 

Bjork, a third-team All-Big Ten selection, leaves the Illini as the school's all-time leader in three-point shooting.

"I was surprised, but really not surprised," UI coach Jolette Law said this afternoon. "I've got to be totally honest. She resisted me the whole year. Because I wasn't Marsha Frese. When she finally decided to buy in, she started playing better." 
  

Wisconsin loses an assistant
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/281550

Monday, their paths officially diverged, though, when Freitag -- citing the desire for a new challenge -- announced she's retiring from coaching when her contract expires at the end of May.  

Minnesota loses a part-time starter
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/04/15/sports/goph15.txt
 

Campbell says she's enjoyed her two years at Minnesota, but decided it's best for her to transfer and look for a new opportunity.
Campbell played in 65 career games for the Gophers. She started the first 19 games of the 2007-08 season, then came off the bench in a reserve role in the last 13.

And OSU loses a bench player
http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=489879&c=y

Mason-Cox, a 6-foot-1 forward from Cincinnati's Princeton High School, was considered one of the top players available in the region when she signed with the Buckeyes two years ago. She ended up playing in 38 games over two seasons, missing a majority of her freshman year because of academic problems. 

OSU has an assitant resignation
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/04/16/osuwomen.html?sid=101
 

Assistant coach Tamika Raymond announced that she is leaving the Ohio State women's basketball program after five seasons so that her husband can pursue a business opportunity in Irving, Texas.
 

"I thought I'd be at Ohio State for the next 30 years of my life," said Raymond, who joined the staff in 2003 and also is a forward for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. "I learned so much from coach (Jim) Foster. He gave me an opportunity at 22 that nobody else would have given me." 

ORIGINAL: mzonefan

Some of this is bound to happen with all of the new coaches.....

Rumor has it that Borseth is applying his own version of the "Out with the old, and in with the new" adage.
Apparently not by players' choice, but the sophomore class may be severly reduced in the near future.

ORIGINAL: Allaboutthewins

ORIGINAL: mzonefan

Some of this is bound to happen with all of the new coaches.....

Rumor has it that Borseth is applying his own version of the "Out with the old, and in with the new" adage.
Apparently not by players' choice, but the sophomore class may be severly reduced in the near future.

I hope that doesn't come to pass, but I wouldn't be too surprised.   Other than Krista Phillips, the sophomores saw little playing time this past season.

JWB:
Unfortunately, none of them had the opportunity to show the fans what they are made of.
AJ comes to mind, and what a pleasant showing of true athletic skill that was.

I look at the backgrounds of this class and am amazed that with their incoming resumes,
they were not called upon when scoring was at a minimum.
Looks like all three have some great credentials, just limited play time.
After being in the program for a year, now would be the time to harvest this untapped skill,
not discard it (IMHO).  As for Krista... getting rid of a 6'7" would be suicide.

ORIGINAL: Allaboutthewins

JWB:
Unfortunately, none of them had the opportunity to show the fans what they are made of.
AJ comes to mind, and what a pleasant showing of true athletic skill that was.

I look at the backgrounds of this class and am amazed that with their incoming resumes,
they were not called upon when scoring was at a minimum.
Looks like all three have some great credentials, just limited play time.
After being in the program for a year, now would be the time to harvest this untapped skill,
not discard it (IMHO).  As for Krista... getting rid of a 6'7" would be suicide.

I agree that all of these players could contribute.  Lack of playing time can have many causes, but it is a frequently given as a reason for transferring.  If they do lose members of the sophmore class, this will be a rather young team come the 2009-10 season.

I can think of a couple of long faces on the bench - ones I'd not be surprised at all if they left. Unfortunately, their very limited playing time seemed to make them try way too hard for the couple of minutes they saw, causing many TOs and forced shots. They regressed from their freshman seasons.

On my original thread, Wisconsin lost another assistant. Tasha McDowell was hired as WMU's new head coach.
 
According to a poster on RebKell, Illinois has lost four players in the last couple of months: Buher, Bjork, Gratton and Crutcher, but Law just signed four more in the late period.
 
 

From Windows via the Chicago Preps board, "The NU coach is as good as gone. Just a matter of haggling over the contract payout but she is gone by end of week or early next week. They were not allowed out to recruit last weekend."

Well, it looks like the NU staff departure is still nothing but a rumor. Combs is still listed as the HC on the NU site, and no more updates have come on any message boards.
 
In the meantime, IU lost a player, Georgia Follmer, who decided to stay in school but not compete: http://www.idsnews.com/blogs/abovetherim/?p=91.
 
Wisconsin hired Kathi Bennett, formerly Indiana's HC, to shore up the assistant coaching ranks along with Oties Epps. 
http://uwbadgers.com/sport_news/wbb/headlines/story.html?sportid=135&storyid=13887
http://uwbadgers.com/sport_news/wbb/headlines/story.html?sportid=135&storyid=13901
 
On a side note, Michigan pursued Jenn Rizotti last year, but she wasn't interested in us, PSU or Florida.
http://www.courant.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sports/hc-rizzotti0429.artapr29,0,6381280.story

Now it's official. Beth Combs is done at NU.
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-08-northwestern-womens-baskemay08,0,1161692.story
 

Northwestern women's basketball coach Beth Combs resigned Wednesday after a team meeting at which Combs' future and the future of the program apparently were discussed.

Sources said there have been concerns among players and fans about Combs, whose teams have gone 24-95 in her four seasons with the program. This season the Wildcats were 5-26 and last in the Big Ten at 1-17.
 

Word is Bjork will use her transfer year and playing year to get a masters degree somewhere else.  She has graduated from U of I......

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080605/SPORTS03/806050410/-1/SPORTS
 
Interesting... Miller was supposedly #2 in our process.
 

  Bowling Green State University women's basketball coach Curt Miller has become a candidate for the vacant head coaching position at Northwestern University.
 


The Blade has learned that there is mutual interest between Miller and the Wildcats, who have struggled for years in the Big Ten.
 


Beth Combs resigned from Northwestern on May 7 with a four-year record of 24-95 - a mark that included just seven league wins.
 


Should Miller leave for Northwestern, it will not come without penalty. According to the contract extension Miller signed in July, Northwestern is the only Big Ten program that is not protected by a buyout clause should Miller choose to leave BG. Colorado State and the University of Colorado are the only other schools exempted from the $100,000 buyout penalty.