Last year’s UMass women’s basketball team thrived on being the underdogs. Head coach Tory Verdi talked all season about earning respect. The players had a “chip on their shoulder” that gave them an extra edge.
Then they won an Atlantic 10 Conference championship, kept all five of their starters and brought in a number of high-end transfers.
Now all eyes are on them.
No longer underestimated, the Minutewomen were the undisputed No. 1 team in the A-10 preseason poll, which was released as part of the league’s media day on Oct. 18. Three of their players also earned preseason All-Conference honors — both Sam Breen, reigning A-10 Player of the Year, and Sydney Taylor were named to the All-Conference First Team; UMass was the only team to have a pair of players on the first team. Destiney Philoxy was also named to the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Defensive Team.
The respect is finally there for UMass, but the Minutewomen are also well aware that they’re going into the season with a massive target on their collective backs.
“We talked about that early and all summer long. We’re not the hunted — we’re hunting,” Verdi said. “That is our mentality. We’re not going to sit there and be like, ‘Oh, we’re waiting for everyone’s best.’ No, we’re giving everybody else our best.”
Though the Minutewomen will have a lot of expectations to live up to, they also have the lineup to pull off an even more remarkable season. In addition to all five starters returning, UMass picked up top-tier transfers like Laila Fair, an A-10 All-Rookie honoree from St. Joseph’s, UConn’s Piath Gabriel and Kristin Williams from Pensacola State College.
“On paper, you know this is the most talent that we’ve ever had here… and that means absolutely nothing,” Verdi said. “Yes, I’m excited about our roster, don’t get me wrong, but at the end of the day, we’re going to take each game for what it is. I expect our team to show up, I expect them to go out there and represent the University of Massachusetts and I expect us to win.”
Like Verdi, Breen and Taylor are excited about the expanded depth that this year’s team has. Last year’s group relied heavily on its starters and one or two main subs. This year, the group is much deeper, and there’s a lot of variety in the team’s skillsets.
“Our versatility, definitely (is where we’re different). We can just about do anything on the floor. There’s so many people who could do so many different things,” Taylor said. “We have people who can score the basketball a bit more than others and we have people who rebound just about every shot you take.”
On the flip side of that, it means that practices have looked a lot different as the team introduces its systems to its new players. The Minutewomen are relying on their coaches and veterans to help bring the transfers up to speed.
“The practices have definitely been different, lots of learning,” Breen said. “It’s difficult to come from another program and kind of reset and learn a whole new defensive system, offensive system.”
There was one name notably absent from the preseason All-Conference lists — Ber’Nyah “Fatty” Mayo. The junior has started every single game in her collegiate career, and has been praised by coaches and teammates for her talent and consistency. Her absence caused some outcry on social media.
“Ber’Nyah Mayo has been our starting point guard for the last two years, and going into her junior year, I think that she’s gonna have a breakout season for us,” Verdi said. “She’s somebody who was left off of all three all-conference teams, and that’s OK. She’s someone who’s ultra competitive. I think she’s going to use that extra motivation to put herself on one of those teams.”
It’s cool lol. I ain’t NEVER need a award to validate me. My game speak for itself EVERYTIME 🫡. + it will mean more anyway when they ain’t expect it from you. #Year3 🤫 https://t.co/0NjkLTYqcN
— FattySav (@bmayo_23) October 18, 2022
The A-10 is going to look a lot different as a conference this year. There’s a new program on the block, newcomer Loyola-Chicago, and four teams — Loyola-Chicago, St. Louis, Fordham and Dayton — all have new coaches. There’s also been a lot of turnover with teams graduating seniors and having players enter the transfer portal.
“I’m going to be honest — it was really, really difficult picking the rank and the order (of preseason poll). We have a lot of new faces, we have a lot of new teams that joined in, a lot of new coaches,” Rhode Island head coach Tammi Reiss said during her availability. “I think it’s going to be extremely competitive.”
Before Tuesday’s media day ended, Breen, a noted Big Time Rush fan, was asked to pick a song that she thought represented this year’s UMass squad. Her choice? A deep cut, ‘Superstar.’ A cursory look through the chorus seems to sum up the team pretty well: All eyes on you/It’s going down, down, right now/You can’t lose… Talk of the town now/And you already know that you’re a star/A superstar.
Her honorable mention was “Worldwide” because of all the travel the team will be doing this year (with an assist from Taylor for the suggestion).