There are four fundamentals in the game of basketball according to Oakland University women’s head basketball coach Beckie Francis. Together they play a large factor in determining the success of her team.

 

“If we out rebound the other team, shoot a better field-goal percentage, make more free-throws than they shoot and commit less turnovers than the other team then we win the game by 20 points,” Francis said. “If we do three of these things, then we win by 10-15 points and if we only do two, then the game is close.”

 

Disappointing end

 

Last season, Francis’s team played a lot of these fundamentally sound games and had, by all accounts, a very successful season as they set a Division I school record with 26 wins. OU also had four players earn All-Summit League selection awards.

 

The Grizzlies were one game away from the NCAA tournament, but lost to South Dakota State in the Summit League Championship game. The loss put OU at the mercy of the NCAA selection committee, which opted not to send Oakland to the big dance and instead cast them into the NIT. The team could not get past Dayton in the first round and lost back-to-back games to end the year — just the second time all season.

 

Last season featured record-breaking highs and disappointing lows for the Grizzlies, but Francis refuses to dwell on the past.

 

“I have seven new players this year,” Francis said. “This year is only about this year.”

 

Season schedule

 

While coach Francis, in her 11th season at OU, chooses to treat every game with the same preparation, junior Brittany Carnago and senior co-captain Riika Tereva said they will be looking forward to a couple dates on the schedule in particular.

 

Both players are looking forward to Jan. 23, when they face South Dakota State for the first time since the Jacks beat the Grizzlies by 10 points in the championship game. Both players and their coach think that South Dakota State has become one of their rival opponents.

 

Tereva also said she is excited for the Penn State game Dec. 21 and for the non-conference schedule as a whole.

 

The Grizzlies will take on several Big Ten schools, as they will travel to Penn State and Illinois this season and will also take on Purdue at home.

 

The team opens up their schedule Nov. 1 against Ferris State in a home exhibition game and Francis said she’d use that game as well as the following exhibition against Western Ontario to fine-tune a line-up for the regular season.

 

“Right now I have no idea who is starting,” Francis said. “The exhibitions will be used to plug in different player combinations and figure that out.”

 

Comings and goings

 

While five of the team’s top seven scorers will return from last season, the team will be without two of their most prolific scorers in recent memory.

 

The Grizzlies lost guards Jessica Pike and April Kidd, their best offensive and defensive players, respectively, from last year, to graduation.

 

In losing the team’s starting backcourt, the presumption might be that Oakland will have difficulty replacing them, but Francis said she disagrees.

 

Tereva, one of five co-captains, missed all but four games last year due to injury.

 

“Kidd was our defensive stopper last year, but Riika is also a defensive stopper and has not lost a step from where she was last season,” Francis said. “Getting her back is huge.”

 

Adding to the defensive depth of the team is sophomore guard Sharise Calhoun, who according to both Carnago and Tereva dramatically improved her defense over the summer.

 

Another reason Francis has reason to feel confident in her backcourt is the return of All-Summit League Second Team selection Melissa Jeltema. The 5’9″ senior was second only to Pike in scoring last year. Though listed as a guard, Jeltema uses her strength to be effective around the rim, and led the team last season with 8.2 rebounds per game.

 

Carnago acknowledged the significance of losing some talented players to graduation, but is as confident that new players will step up.

 

“Those were two very big roles that will have to be replaced, but we have a lot of really talented guards, all of whom are really stepping it up,” Carnago said.

 

Pike’s shooting will have to be replaced this season though, and to do that Oakland has four true freshmen with their fingers on the trigger. Carnago and Tereva said they’ve been impressed with the freshmen class in practice, in their ability to put the ball in the basket from long range.

 

“Now that Pike is gone we need a shooter,” Tereva said. “A lot of players are stepping up and they all shoot.”

 

The two co-captains are also very impressed with the athleticism of the freshman class and believe that their speed will help add another dimension to the Grizzlies.

 

“Our game plan will always be fast paced,” Carnago said. “We will always try to run teams out [of the gym].”

 

Carnago set a women’s basketball school record with 89 blocks, the most ever recorded in a single season. She is the second leading returning scorer and will again have to handle the bulk of the work near the basket.

 

Junior Anna Patritto and senior Hanna Reising should see a significant increase in playing time in Oakland’s frontcourt. They each saw minutes off the bench last season, playing in over 30 games apiece.

 

Goals and expectations

 

According to Francis, this season will not be defined by the number of wins Oakland earns.

 

“We will define success by whether we achieved the four factors,” she said.

 

Francis’s attitude toward success has rubbed off on her players.

 

Like her coach, Carnago said she won’t measure the team’s achievements by the number of wins. She is determined to not let this season end like last.

 

“We want to win the Summit League this year,” Carnago said, “but a success would be winning the first game of the NCAA tournament.”

 

The Grizzlies could assure themselves of an automatic trip to the NCAA Tournament this year if they accomplish what they could not last year and win the Summit League Championship game.

 

Oakland was voted as the second-best team in the preseason Summit League poll behind South Dakota State, who received 25 of the 27 first-place votes. Francis downplayed the significance of the preseason rankings, saying she doesn’t use them as motivation.

 

“One time we were ranked sixth in the poll and I used it as a motivator because I thought we were way better than that,” Francis said. “Usually though, the rankings don’t matter because it is where the team finishes that is important.”

 

Oakland’s five co-captains have a goal this season that they believe is attainable and in their own hands.

 

“Our focal point every game will be to come out hard and get a win every night,” Carnago said. “I think that last year we let a few games slip through our fingers.”

 

— Ryan Hegedus contributed to this report.