Can I say I called Neveah Thomas?Having Wong, Dowell, and Bullman all back would give us a chance no matter who we lost. We’re going to need to bring in another post. We have good FR talent coming in at PG and SG, but a combo guard who can run in both spots would be helpful.
I’d be a-ok going after some Valley talent in the portal, starting with Naveah Thomas from UE.
Nevaeh Thomas - Women's Basketball - University of Evansville Athletics
Nevaeh Thomas (22) Forward - PREP • Played four years for Mary D. Bradford High School • Named to the WIAA Southeast all-conference team each of her four prepgopurpleaces.com
What is interesting - we have 4 players departing as seniors. We then lose 2 FR and 2 SO. Boles was expected, but to lose all 3 of Lenz, Coffey, and Aalsma is surprising.
Maybe these 2 slots are freshman commits Trista Fayta (Green Bay Notre Dame) and Grace Nelson (Altamont).I hate to lose Aalsma, especially to Drake, but Coach Gillespie continues to demonstrate why she is so outstanding: reloading with incredible talent. And I believe she still has two slots to fill.
Returners-Maybe these 2 slots are freshman commits Trista Fayta (Green Bay Notre Dame) and Grace Nelson (Altamont).
I remember Thomas’ father Wilson at Nebraska. He is one of their most athletic guys they had, a WR at a time when they didn’t pass as much, but he also saw limited basketball for them. He could have also been a college track star. It sounds like De’Shawnti is super athletic, so I wonder if she fills a role we have seen with T’Shonna Wright-Gaskins or Daijah Smith with incredibly athletic forwards.The De’Shawnti Thomas commit could signal Coach G is done assembling her 2024-2025 roster. My questions would be:
On paper, do we look improved from a year ago’s roster? Can our DIII POY from Millikin do a Paige Robinson repeat? Can our platoon of new bigs fill the gap upfront left by the departure of Wilson and Bullman?
I’m excited!!