Nebraska women's basketball confident in NCAA return

Lincoln Journal Star

09 October 2023

Nebraska women's basketball confident in NCAA return

MINNEAPOLIS — Jaz Shelley wants more.

Nebraska’s star guard could have turned in her scarlet No. 1 jersey last season to begin her professional basketball career. She actually leaned toward leaving but ultimately changed her mind and decided to come back for her fifth collegiate season and third for the Huskers.

It’s not that the first-team All-Big Ten guard wants more personal accolades either. No, she wants to help boost Nebraska back to the NCAA tournament — something NU had aspirations of last year but its 16-14 wasn't quite enough to earn the nod on Selection Sunday. The Huskers did make a deep run in the WNIT, but they were open about how that wasn't where they wanted to be.

“I feel like we fell short of our goals last year,” Shelley said at Big Ten Basketball Media Days on Monday at the Target Center. “I want this team to go to the NCAA tournament. I want us to be a top-three team in the Big Ten. I really think they’re genuine goals that I think we can achieve if we remain consistent and stay together and play how I know we can play. That’s what I really want out of this year.”

Having Shelley return wasn’t the only major roster move.

Nebraska lost stalwarts Sam Haiby and Isabelle Bourne and assistant coach Tom Goehle. The Huskers hired assistant Julian Assibey and added freshmen Logan Nissley and Natalie Potts before NU’s Greece trip and Australian freshman Jess Petrie came into the fold after she finished representing her home country in the FIBA under-19 Women's World Cup in Madrid, Spain.

The Huskers retained All-Big Ten forward Alexis Markowski and fellow starters Maddie Krull and Allison Weidner, the latter of whom is working back from an ACL tear she suffered in December. Then there are role players Annika Stewart, Callin Hake, Kendall Moriarty and Kendall Coley, who have all taken big jumps from last year to this year. And, of course, two-sport player Maggie Mendelson, who will join the basketball squad in December after she finishes out the Nebraska volleyball season.

Having that healthy balance of newcomers and established veterans is part of what helps Nebraska in its belief that it can achieve those lofty goals.

“We have an outstanding blend of some really experienced, talented players, and a great mix of some newcomers that bring some attitude and spunk and complement our returning players very well,” coach Amy Williams said. “It’s just an exciting time.”

Darian White, a graduate transfer who was the two-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year for Montana State, is expected to be a shot in the arm for the Huskers’ backcourt. Last year, in her third-straight first-team All-Big Sky season, White averaged 14.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In 2022, she boasted a stat line of 18.3 points, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game during Montana State’s NCAA tournament season.

“Darian, she is such an energizer little bunny out there,” Markowski said. “Her pace is so fast. She’s just a fun player to play with — a true point guard.”

The three freshmen — Petrie, Potts and Nissley — all earned their props from their teammates, too.

Petrie, before joining the Huskers, averaged 6.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 14.5 minutes per game in the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in July. That’s on top of the 17.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals she averaged while playing for her semi-pro team in Australia.

Nissley, a freshman guard out of North Dakota, is the state’s three-time Gatorade Player of the Year and was the No. 91 overall rated recruit in the 2023 class after she averaged 20.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.9 steals as a senior.

Potts, a forward freshman out of Missouri, was the state’s two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and closed out her high school career on a 100-0 win streak. While in Greece, Potts averaged 11.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a team-high 3.7 steals.

“It’s fun when you can bring on four new kids and it feels like there isn’t a beat skipped and everybody just meshes together personality-wise,” senior guard Maddie Krull said. “That’s why I’m really excited about this group. I feel like their personalities fit right in with us. Their goals fit right in with us, and they’re hardworking people.”

Williams added: “It’s just been awesome to see the way those kids have joined in.”

As far as returners go, Williams credited not just Shelley and Markowski for their leadership, but Krull and senior forward/center Annika Stewart, too.

Krull instituted “sister dates” — something she adopted from her time at South Dakota — this summer, pairing teammates up with one another for them to go grab lunch or coffee, go for a walk or spend time together doing any activity of their choosing.

“I’ve seen what building connections off the court can do for what happens on the court,” Krull said. “Strengthening those relationships is important so that we’re able to communicate with each other in a positive way that can impact us going forward so that we can be in those games down the stretch.”

With Nebraska’s blend of established players and new faces, the Huskers hope they’ll exceed the general public’s expectations of them.

Despite Shelley and Markowski being named to Big Ten preseason All-Big Ten teams, the Huskers didn’t make either the media’s or coaches’ top five for the Big Ten preseason rankings.

“Everyone sees us as an underdog team,” Shelley said. “No one expects anything from us this year, especially because I feel like we fell short of our goals that we set for ourselves. So now, it’s like, we’re out of people’s expectations. We love that, but we want to be consistent. We want to be consistently good.

“We know we’re good. We know we’re talented. We believe in ourselves. We want to be consistently that throughout the whole season.”

Nebraska hosts Dakota Wesleyan for an exhibition game on Oct. 29 and begins the regular season with Northwestern State on Monday, Nov. 6 at noon.