Since the UALR women's basketball team began practice five weeks ago, it has been picked third in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll and has earned two votes in the preseason USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll.
Coach Joe Foley isn't as optimistic as the voters.
"Those people haven't set one foot in this gym, they haven't seen one practice," said Foley, who is regularly pessimistic about the start of each season.
Foley's opinion might be well-founded this year. Since practice has started, two players with returning experience -- guard Sharde' Collins and forward Keanna Keys -- have missed significant time with injuries and the six freshmen still haven't played in a college game.
Foley said he's bracing for about anything during the early part of the season, beginning with today's season opener against Tulane at 5:30 p.m. Central in New Orleans.
"Any time you have freshmen you're going to have peaks and valleys," Foley said. "I think that's what you're going to see with us. Especially early, you're going to see some peaks and valleys."
UALR has some experience. Senior forward Shanity James is UALR's leading returning scorer at 10.7 points per game and has started 76 career games, while guard Alexius Dawn started every game last year and Kaitlyn Pratt averaged 23.9 minutes in 22 starts.
Keys and Collins will add depth, too, but Foley said he isn't sure what to expect early.
Collins, a junior, hadn't practiced because of a stress fracture until she had a boot removed from her right foot this week. Foley said she'll likely play today, but how much will depend on her conditioning. Keys, a junior who averaged 4.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in 16.2 minutes recently returned to practice following a broken wrist.
Foley said Collins and Keys "will be the keys to the season."
"They've been here for two years, and they know what it takes and they're very capable of doing it," Foley said. "If those two fill their spots like they're capable of, then we can be pretty decent by the end of the season."
All the newcomers and the absence of Keys and Collins have left much of the veteran direction to James, UALR's lone fourth-year senior. She said practice has been slow going with so many new players trying to learn UALR's motion offense and how Foley wants them to play man-to-man defense.
"It's coming along," James said. "Very slowly, but it's coming."
Foley said he doesn't think all seven newcomers will be major contributors by the time the Sun Belt schedule begins Dec. 30, but that's what the first nine games are for. It won't be an easy road, either. After opening with Tulane, which played in the NCAA Tournament last year, UALR hosts LSU next week and plays Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M -- all of which made the NCAA Tournament last season.
James understands it might be rocky start but hopes progress can be seen.
"We're going to make a lot of mistakes," James said. "They're a good team, and we're a new team. So just seeing people make mistakes and overcome, don't let those mistakes happen over and over again."
Sports on 11/13/2015