“I don’t think you ever replace a player like Lynn Pride easily, and you don’t do it with just one player,” Washington said. “We feel very fortunate that we had Lynn in the program. She’s an outstanding young person and a great player. She did just about everything for us. She scored, played great defense, was always on the boards and had tremendous cat-like quickness. She so often made the difference for us.”

Last season, Pride a 6-foot-2 guard-forward led the Jayhawks in points (17.4 per game), minutes played (32.4), rebounds (7.9 per game) and steals (75) and was second in assists with 83.

She parlayed those numbers into a full-time job in the WNBA.

Now Washington, in her 27th season, has to find a way to make do without Pride not to mention graduated three-point bomber Suzi Raymant and defensive specialist Heather Fletcher, a reserve center.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

What, Washington worry?

“Between Lynn and Suzi, we lost 34, 35 points a game,” Washington said. “But we signed some young people who can put the ball in the basket. What we don’t have in this class, maybe, is that exceptional athlete like Lynn, but I really think we have a tremendous class that was ranked 13th in the country to go with a good, solid core of players. We should have wonderful balance.”

Washington has good reason for optimism. It starts with her senior class guard Jennifer Jackson and forward Jaclyn Johnson, who have been at least part-time starters since their freshman year, and Brooke Reves, the speedy forward who transferred from Wichita State and, as soon as she sat out a year, immediately began scoring points.

Reves was KU’s third-leading scorer last season with 12.2 points, and she added 6.6 rebounds a game. Johnson contributed 11.5 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds per game. And Jackson added 8.2 points and had a team-best 93 assists with just 67 turnovers.

“This senior class is somewhat like Tamecka Dixon’s class,” Washington said of the point guard who’s playing in the WNBA. “Tamecka’s class had to come in and contribute right away, and they stayed together four years. Jennifer Jackson and Jaclyn Johnson’s class was similar. We really had to depend on those two freshmen especially to come in and contribute.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

“Now, here they are, two wonderful players, two players we’re expecting a lot from. I really feel that with all the success we had last year, our leadership could be stronger this year, and we’re counting on the senior class for that.”

While Pride was the obvious centerpiece for most of her four years on Mt. Oread, this year’s women’s team should be more balanced.

“What we won’t have next year is that exceptional athlete,” Washington said. “I’ve had several in this program four to be exact that really stood out. But this year we have a good, solid core of players and wonderful balance.”

Outside the core, though, is a marked lack of experience. Beside the regular five starters, just two other players averaged more than 10 minutes a game reserve point guard Selena Scott (13.3 minutes per game) and the departed Fletcher (10.7). Posts Kristin Geoffroy (8.4 mpg) and Nikki White (7.9) are the only other returning players that averaged more than five minutes a game.

And Washington will rely heavily on a recruiting class that one service ranked 13th in the country.

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

Thus, the Jayhawks will depend on a bunch of players with little or no Div. I experience.

“It only worries me in that I’ll have to be very patient with them,” Washington said. “Everybody will have to be patient. But they’re courageous, they work hard and they’re going to be the kind of people who come in here wanting to take advantage of the opportunity. They’ll make some mistakes, but I think they’ll really respond.”

Washington is tickled with her newcomers. It’s a big group seven players in all if you count Sharonnpencer, a 6-foot-2 forward who sat out last season under academic partial-qualifier rules.

The rest of the newcomers:

Fernanda Bosi, 6-0, guard, San Pablo, Brazil/Western Nebraska Junior College. Bosi averaged 15 points and 16 rebounds last year and played for the Brazil Junior National Team.

Dalchon Brown, 6-5, center, Virginia Beach, Va./Independence CC. A junior college preseason All-American as a sophomore, Brown averaged 14.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 8.0 steals as a high school senior.

Rodneikka Freeman, 6-5, forward, Stone Mountain, Ga. Freeman averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks as a senior at Redan High.

KC Hilgenkamp, 6-0, guard, Arlington, Neb. /Hutchinson CC. Hilgenkamp averaged 14.5 points, 7.5 assists and four rebounds at Hutch, where she was ranked the 12th best juco player in the country and third best point guard.

Shanell Law, 5-9, guard, Los Angeles. Law averaged 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals as a senior at Washington Prep.

Leila Meguc, 5-7, guard, Sweden. Meguc averaged 20 points and six assists as a point guard at Sanda Gymnasium. She was a member of the Sweden Junior National Team.

“We’re expecting a lot out of this class, especially the junior college players and especially Dalchon and KC,” Washington said. “We think Dalchon will help with size and agility in the paint. KC will definitely help on perimeter shooting, and Fernanda is also an outstanding shooter.

“Looking at this team on paper, we are a team that definitely should be able to shoot the ball fairly well. On paper, we should be a lot deeper. We might not be as athletic at the small-forward spot, but our guard play should be a lot stronger, and we have several players who can shoot the three.”

Despite all the questions, Washington remains confident.

“We want to remain in the top half of the conference,” she said. “There’s no question about that. I really think if everything falls into place, we could really surprise some people.”