Column: Schneider making program exciting

By Tom Keegan     Jul 2, 2015

John Young
Newly named Kansas women's head coach Brandon Schneider introduces himself during the annual clinic for members of the Douglas County Special Olympics in May at Allen Fieldhouse.

Sure, Brandon Schneider knocked it out of the park at his introductory news conference, and, yes, he has won everywhere he has been, but he never had recruited against heavyweights for superstars, so didn’t it all just amount to talk or at best a potential upgrade?

Already, Schneider, Kansas University’s new women’s basketball coach, has raised the bar of expectations on himself and the program he heads. He has come out of the blocks like Usain Bolt, rocking the women’s basketball world with a pair of marquee transfers in less than a three-week span.

First McKenzie Calvert, a 5-foot-9 guard from Schertz, Texas, left USC, where she averaged 10.2 points as a freshman, for Kansas. Then former McDonald’s All-American Jessica Washington became the latest player to transfer from powerhouse North Carolina, where she averaged 7.3 points in 18.3 minutes as a sophomore.

Calvert is from Texas, Washington from Oklahoma, so they had plenty of attractive options even closer to home than Kansas, and they chose to join Schneider’s program.

“We felt both of these guys could come and really help us jump-start our program to get it going in the direction we want it to go,” Schneider said.

Specifically, and realistically, where does he want it to go?

“I’d like it to become that being in the NCAA Tournament is just a given,” Schneider said from his office that has a window overlooking the practice facility shared by the men’s and women’s teams. “Then the question is, what kind of run can we make? What kind of run can you make is relative to how much have you moved up in the Big 12. I mean, if you can compete for a Big 12 championship then I think that makes you an Elite Eight, Final Four participant. If you’re in the mix late February, early March, you have a chance to do big things.”

The transfers, per NCAA rules, must sit out a season before playing for Kansas, so their impact this coming season will be limited to how they can make teammates better in practice.

“Those are obviously lofty goals, but if we don’t expect that from one another then I think we’re selling ourselves short,” Schneider said. “But, yes, it’s going to take time. It’s not going to happen overnight. Even sometimes you go backward before you go forward. We did graduate 62 percent of the offense with Chelsea (Gardner) and Natalie (Knight) and Asia Boyd.”

The 1-2 recruiting punch landed by Schneider and staff lent credibility to his aggressive goals. And he put some thought into how the transfers will fit, making sure sophomore-to-be guard Lauren Aldridge is a big part of the future.

“We didn’t want to get into a situation where we couldn’t get all three to play together,” Schneider said. “We watched a lot of film. I watched a lot of film on Lauren, and then I watched a lot of film on both Jess and McKenzie and felt like we can definitely have those three out on the lineup at the same time.”

He didn’t hesitate in pinpointing what he likes best about them playing together.

“They all three can shoot,” he said. “The way we play, the ones and twos are interchangeable, and the threes and fours are interchangeable. We play more of a stretch four than a power forward.”

The staff is scouring the country to identify and recruit post players. Schneider likes what he can sell to a post player: “We can tell a big, ‘Look, you’re going to have four shooters around you. We’re going to try to make it so that you’re not playing against double-teams and a bunch of zones. We can keep people out of your lap a little bit.'”

Schneider likes what he sees when he looks into the horizon of KU basketball. The power of the men’s program, the historic figures after whom courts and buildings are named impress recruits, Schneider said.

“I just don’t see why we can’t build it into what we visualize it can be,” Schneider said. “You look around and try to think about, what do we lack? What do we not have? I’m hard-pressed to find anything. I’m hard-pressed to find any reasons why Jessica Washington wouldn’t want to come here. Why wouldn’t McKenzie Calvert want to come here? Why wouldn’t a top post player want to come here? McKenzie and Jessica canceled all their visits after coming here.”

He and his staff are off to a great start. It’s not easy generating interest in women’s basketball in June, and they did so twice.

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