Kelsey is counting on one of her few "bigs'' — Cassie Rochel, a 6-4 sophomore from Lakeville, Minn. — to take another step in her development. Shannon Malone, a 6-1 freshman from Flower Mound, Texas, is also going to have to contrib- ute, ready or not, "because we're thin in the post," Kelsey said.
Also factoring into the rotation will be three
other sophomores: AnnMarie Brown from St. Pe- ter, Minn., Lindsay Smith from DeWitt, Iowa, and Jacki Gulczynski from Carol Stream, Ill. "AnnMa- rie lost 18 pounds,'' Kelsey said. "She's serious. She wants to play.''
Michala Johnson, a junior, also wants to play, but she'll have to sit this season after transferring from the University of Connecticut. "She's tearing us up in practice,'' Kelsey said. "You wish she could play now because she would make a huge differ- ence. The kid can flat-out score and rebound and run.''
46 » VARSITY NOVEMBER 1, 2012
The future appears promising, especially if Kelsey's freshman class pans out favorably. Big Ten Network analyst Jimmy Jackson, whose son Trae- von is a member of the UW men's team, was at a recent practice and he was impressed with Dakota Whyte, a freshman guard from Ajax, Ontario. "He didn't know who she was, but he knows who can play and who can't,'' Kelsey said of Jackson, a former Ohio State All-American and veteran NBA player. "She can play. But he could also see that she wasn't quite there yet. She has to learn American basketball. It's different from Canada.'' What about Kelsey basketball? What's this team going to look like? "We're going to be really perimeter-oriented, re- ally guard-oriented, as far as getting up and down the floor,'' she said. "But we're still trying to find our identity; we're still trying to figure out who we are, and what we're good at.''
All of which takes time, if not patience.
GREG ANDERSON
