Picking up where they left off

Courtney Vandersloot was a "once-in-a-lifetime player" at Gonzaga, and her shoes are nearly impossible to fill.  But the Bulldogs have four viable options ready to step up and embrace the challenge of being Gonzaga's new point guard.

Six-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year Kelly Graves said the battle is among sophomores Jazmine Redmon, who backed up Vandersloot last season, Oregon State transfer Haiden Palmer, who was on the Pacific-10 Conference All-Freshman team, redshirt freshman Danielle Walter and true freshman Maiki Viela, who was named a PARADE magazine All-American in 2011 and a two-time Gatorade State Player of the Year in Hawaii.

"I have four candidates, one of them is going to win the position. I am not sure right now who, but I think we are going to be in good hands, regardless, we will have some depth there," Graves said. "I think that we all need to remember that they are not Courtney, she was a once-in-a-lifetime player. We are going to obviously miss her, but I think these players are capable of stepping up and having great years."   

The Bulldogs' roster has six upperclassmen: Kayla Standish, Katelan Redmon, Meghan Winters, Shannon Reader, redshirt junior Molly Anderson and Kelly Bowen.  Last season, Standish averaged 17.1 ppg, led the team with 8.7 rpg and became a force to be reckoned with in the paint with 59 blocks.  Standish is accompanied by Katelan Redmon, who averaged 16.1 ppg, dished out the second most assists on the team and, along with Standish, was named All-West Coast Conference.

Graves recognized Redmon and Standish as two of the top players in the nation, but said he believes that an increase of offensive production for Bowen is key to Gonzaga's success.

"It is going to have to fall collectively on those guys. In particular, I think that Kelly Bowen needs her role to be a little bit different this year in that we need her to score a bit more as well as continue to do a good job on the boards," Graves said. 

The Bulldogs' 2011-12 schedule is filled with an arsenal of impressive non-conference matchups. Nine of the 13 non-conference teams made an appearance in the postseason last year, including five who participated in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga's season starts with a familiar foe, a road game at Stanford. Last year, the Cardinal ended Gonzaga's miraculous season in front of a sold-out Spokane Arena. It was the first time the Zags reached the Elite Eight in school history. 

"Over the last three or four years we [Gonzaga and Stanford] have clearly been the two best teams in the West Coast, so they are always the standard which

everyone is judged by and that is how we judge ourselves, as well. So that is the team that we are chasing right now," Graves said.

Graves also noted the Dec. 4 game home against USC, a team he picked as his dark horse in the Pac-12.  Last season USC beat Gonzaga. The Bulldogs will also play in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic where the Zags will face off against Georgia and Dayton.

"It's a good schedule, not a whole bunch of glamorous names so to speak, but very good teams in women's basketball," Graves said. "It will be a real test."

The Bulldogs have dominated the WCC portion of its schedule, winning the past seven regular season titles, and crowned tournament champions four out of the last five seasons.

The Bulldogs' success has been rooted in an up-tempo offense and the ability to spread the ball around the court, but Graves said he is putting an even bigger emphasis on an all-around team effort, with every player contributing.   

"I think that more than ever it's going to have to be a collective attack. We are going to need a lot of different people to contribute," he said. "With Courtney, we always knew we had someone who was going to give you 20 points and 10 assists every night. We certainly have players that are very capable, but I think that we are going to have to do it collectively instead of relying on one, two or three players."