Tarr's Take: What to Expect From the Tigers on Opening Night
The day has finally arrived for fans of the Auburn women’s basketball program; the Tigers are finally tipping off their 2022-23 campaign. It could not be more fitting that the season opener falls on head coach Johnnie Harris’ birthday.
After delivering an emphatic victory over Tuskegee in their preseason scrimmage last Thursday, Harris and company no-doubt went back to work in efforts to prepare the young group for regular season competition.
With tipoff mere hours away, Tiger fans should anticipate a slew of notable changes when their squad takes the hardwood against Sam Houston on Tuesday night.
Rotation Construction
From the moment she stepped foot on campus, coach J got to work in constructing a roster capable of executing her brand of basketball. With the addition of three freshman guards and a pair of forwards, it’s reasonable to expect the orange and blue to try out numerous different rotations. Of course names such as Honesty Scott-Grayson, Aicha Coulibaly, Romi Levy and Sania Wells will remain mainstays; Harris just needs to see which rotations are going to set the group up for the long run.
Improvement From the Charity Stripe
Sania Wells led the charge in the free throw department across the 2021-22 season, sinking 90.5 percent of her shots from the stripe; without the standout guard, the Tigers made a mere 62.1 percent of their shots from the foul line. Knowing the brand of basketball coach Harris has implemented on the plains, it’s difficult to see a world in which there was little emphasis on both getting to the line and making other teams pay when the Tigers get the opportunity.
Showing Their Youth
As previously mentioned, Auburn is a remarkably young program in 2022; five freshmen have already joined the team with the likes of Oyindamola Akinbolawa set to join the squad after the first of the year. Sania Wells and Honesty Scott-Grayson stand alone as the only players entering their final seasons. There are going to be silly mistakes in the early going. This group is going to turn the ball over, commit unnecessary fouls and probably send coach J into more than one stress-induced headache.
Coach Harris has put together what should prove to be an exciting team that will keep itself in games on a nightly basis and – much like a year ago – will likely find a way to secure a handful of unlikely wins against high-caliber opponents.
This group’s ceiling is high; their first opportunity to prove waits for them inside of Neville Arena at 7 p.m. CT.
