Danielle McCray has never played in the NCAA Tournament. "But I don't think you have to have been there to know what it takes to get there," the Kansas standout guard said this week. "We want it so bad, and I think we have it in us."McCray and her teammates are trying to break a 10-year NCAA drought for the Jayhawks women's team. Four returning starters and McCray's emerging status as the top player in the Big 12 Conference may finally be the ticket.
After a 22-14 season that ended with a defeat in the WNIT title game, the Jayhawks have been picked to finish second in the Big 12 by the league's coaches. McCray, who averaged 21.6 points a game as a junior, has been selected as the preseason player of the year.
The Big 12 race looks as competitive as it has been in a while, with the conference's power teams such as Oklahoma and Baylor in rebuilding modes.
Time for a change? Time for Kansas?
"I don't know if it's really a changing of the guard," Coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "But it's as wide-open as it's been since I've been in the league. I think there are easily more than a handful of teams that, if they can stay healthy and win at home, have a chance to win the championship."
Henrickson has been at Kansas for five years. This is as confident a team as she's coached.
"They are accountable to each other in a way that has been very positive," Henrickson said. "They are on each other for mistakes before I can even get to them. They expect more from themselves and from each other and you can see that."
McCray is the leader on the floor, parlaying her experience with USA Basketball this summer -- she was part of the World University team that won a gold medal in Serbia -- into newfound confidence and an improved game. She said she is unfazed by the preseason accolades.
"It's an honor, but it's just something to live up to," McCray said.
"She's always been the leader, she's a pulse for this group," Henrickson said. "When she's good, we're better and when she struggles, we can see that in the rest of the team as well. But she's the same kid. She's stayed true and she hasn't changed with her success. She's humble and gracious. She always was the first one on the floor every day and she still is."
McCray will be flanked by a new point guard, the leading candidate being redshirt freshman Angela Goodrich, who sustained an ACL injury in the preseason last year. Back are senior guard, Sade Morris, the team's second-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game, and the junior post tandem of Nicollette Smith and center Krysten Boogaard, who combined for 15.4 ppg.
Henrickson said her team is getting its timing down in these early days of practice.
"We don't have much rhythm offensively," Henrickson said. "We'll get there, but it might be painful."
Kansas' experience late last season, winning nine of 12 games and making a run to the final in the one-and-done WNIT format, has fortified the team's resolve to make it to the NCAA field for the first time since 1999-2000.
"But they need to understand that it's the process that's important, not the result," Henrickson said. "If all you are thinking about is, 'we've got to win', you lose sight of all the little things it takes to be successful. I won't browbeat them with that. It's much too far away.
"I won't say i won't use it, but I won't use it every day."
