Striegler Promises "Hell" This Year for LIU Women's Basketball Opponents

After recovering from a miserable 0-8 start last year that she admitted was “as tough as anything I’ve ever gone through,” LIU Brooklyn head women’s basketball coach Gail Striegler plans to give Blackbird opponents misery of a different sort—courtesy of former Arkansas men’s basketball coach Nolan Richardson.

Call it “40 Minutes of Hell” Brooklyn style.

Unlike last year, when LIU struggled with a short bench due to injuries, this season the Blackbirds plan to run 12 deep, allowing Striegler to employ the full-court pressure defense that Richardson made famous in leading the Arkansas Razorbacks to the 1994 NCAA Men’s Basketball title.

Describing her preparation for the upcoming season, the Fayetteville, Arkansas native mentioned in her distinct Southern twang that she consulted last summer with Coach Richardson. The outcome of those discussions should come as no surprise to fans of the Razorbacks’ suffocating style of play.

“We’re going to press after every made basket and try pressing off some missed baskets, which is something people rarely do,” said Striegler.

“We’ve spent quite a bit of time working on it. We’re probably going to give up some layups doing that but it will speed the game up and make people take quick shots and hopefully get some easy baskets.”

The LIU coach, entering her seventh year at the downtown Brooklyn school, has a staunch supporter back home.

“First of all Coach [Striegler] is a student of the game,” said Nolan Richardson, speaking by phone earlier this week. “That’s what I noticed when we were having our conversations about pressure defense.”

Richardson’s system, which he described as “a riot I have control of” is predicated on players making lightning-quick decisions, a situation that sometime can be hard for a coach to stomach. Richardson understood the dilemma this might presents for Coach Striegler.

“When you take a coach that understands the game like she does sometimes it’s tough to watch because you’re giving players more control of the defense. They’re on the floor and they need to make decisions.”

The winningest basketball coach in Arkansas history and, most recently, the head coach of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock, Richardson was matter-of-fact about what he’s learned over four decades in basketball. “Defense is kind of like life. You make good decisions, good things happen. You make bad decisions, bad things happen.”

Defense, however, was not exactly LIU’s biggest challenge last year as the Blackbirds held opponents to 64 points per game. The problem was that they averaged less than 60 points per game on offense, led by top scorer Cleandra Roberts (18.2 points per game) who graduated last spring.

“We realize that with Cleandra gone it gives us a hole in scoring,” said Striegler. “There may be somebody who pops up that’s going to be able to give us 20 a night but we think we’re going to have to do it by committee and find easier ways to score.”

LIU is returning only one starter from last year’s team that rallied from their woeful start to win almost half of their remaining games and finish at 9-21, including 7-11 in the Northeast Conference (NEC).

Luckily that lone returner is Letava Whippy, who Striegler jokes will probably play every position on the court this season. A natural shooting guard or small forward, Whippy does all the little things that make a player indispensible to a team’s success—including defense, of course.

With Jolanna Ford, a 6-0 junior transfer from New Mexico Junior College, Shanice Vaughan, a 5-7 transfer from Paris Junior College, Shanovia Dove, a returning 5-8 sophomore, and junior Sophie Bhasin, the Blackbirds’ second-leading scorer last year, joining Whippy in LIU’s starting five, the Blackbirds will look to make last year’s dismal start a distant memory.

Opening their season this weekend in Orono, Maine, LIU took an experienced University of Maine squad to overtime before falling 65-59. Despite failing to break the 60-point barrier, LIU rotated through 12 players and forced 33 Black Bear turnovers.

The Blackbirds committed 36 turnovers of their own, so fans will suffer through growing pains as LIU adjusts to the up-tempo style of their new system, a reality that Striegler’s experienced mentor knows all too well.

“Patience is a virtue,” quipped Richardson.

With the Blackbirds set to open their 2014-15 home slate against Monmouth tonight at the Steinberg Wellness Center, LIU fans will get a chance first-hand to see just how quickly the team’s seven new and eight returning players have absorbed their lessons.

Coach Richardson said that surprise is perhaps the greatest benefit of LIU’s new style of play.

“It’s a game that your opponents don’t normally work on. Opponents would have to practice for [Striegler’s team], prepare for her while all she has to do is get her team to do the things they’re doing and not worry about the opponents that they’re playing.”

This is a milestone season for the LIU head coach: not only is Striegler about to become the longest tenured coach in program history, 86 career wins puts her in striking distance for most victories in program history. Stephanie Gaitley tallied 95 wins from 2002 to 2008.

For now, Striegler will settle for an NEC playoff berth for her squad and the chance to get LIU back to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2001, the last time the Blackbirds won a conference championship.

Coach Striegler, whose team was picked eighth of ten teams in a recent NEC preseason coaches’ poll, can’t fret about her team starts its ranking ; it’s all about how the Blackbirds finish. Given her experience with the 2013-14 campaign, the LIU coach understands what it takes to win a NEC title this year.

“You have to figure out a way for them to show up every day and get better,” said Striegler. “[T]hat’s the key to winning championships.”

Nolan Richardson couldn’t have said it better.

PHOTO CAPTION: LIU Brooklyn Women’s Basketball Coach Gail Striegler
PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Dea