The temperature is dropping on campus meaning it’s almost time for basketball to return to “Hoop Township”. After the making trips to Indianapolis last season, both the men’s and women’s Basketball programs will be looking to build off their successful seasons last year.
Following the historic season, the women’s program has been awarded with two selections to the Horizon League pre-season second team in returner Noa Givon and Pitt transfer Aislin Malcolm and were picked to finish second in the pre-season poll. RMU also received one first place vote.
The second place selection ahead of this season comes after last year when the team were picked to finish last in the conference.
With plenty of coaches gearing up for games beginning in less than a month, none have seemed to be more vocal than second year Colonial coach, Chandler McCabe.
McCabe, who took her team all the way to the Horizon League semi-finals last spring, produced a 15-16 record with an even 10-10 conference record in her first season.
The performances were very impressive considering the team finished 2-18 in the Horizon League the year prior. It was also the first time the program appeared in the semi-finals and the first time the team hosted a quarterfinal game.
The Orlando native is hopeful her team can achieve much more success this year, but will face multiple battles, both on and off the court.
The Colonials lost 13 players in the offseason, ten of which were seniors. This year, the team adapted, recruiting both freshmen talent as well as from the transfer portal.
With only three returners in Givon, Jennica Suggs, and Jada Lee, the Colonials now find veteran talent in transfers Malcom, Bailey Kuhns, Eva Levingston, Ava Leroux, Mallory Daly, and Myriam Traore.
RMU will also look to develop freshmen Sanai Troutman, Layke Fields, London Creach, Dania McClain, and Markeli Jones-Tynes.
During Horizon League media day last week in Indianapolis, McCabe spoke on the impact the freshmen are making, saying “I tell everyone I’m young in this profession, but I’m gonna have grey hair after this season because of our five freshmen. They are hilarious. One of them tried to come to practice in flip-flops the other day. But having a large group of freshmen is fun, to say the least, and we rely heavily on our senior leadership to bridge that gap for them.”
With a new team comes potential for new stars to emerge, both in the short and long term for the Colonials, something McCabe acknowledged, as well.
“Our motto this season is “we have the future and the now” with our four seniors who are ready to play a college basketball game today.” McCabe said. “But those freshmen are gonna be our future. They have the potential to be extremely good. All five of them. We have had some injuries through the entire five freshmen, so we haven’t got a ton of examples to take from to see who’s really going to step up. But I think Sanai [Troutman] has been playing really well for us.”
McCabe and her team will travel to Chicago for their season opener against UIC on November 3. They’ll return home on the seventh for a matchup versus Akron at the UPMC Events Center.
