Claire Johnson Transfer

[19D Cav]

I love this pick up the young lady has the ability to be a scorer and still has three years of eligibility. Hopefully this will help take some of the pressure off of Britt Prince having to be a big scorer and ball handler. If Claire is scoring it frees up Britt for better looks at the bucket and drive's to the Hoop

 

[bugeaters1]

 

[SWVAHusker]

I love this pick up the young lady has the ability to be a scorer and still has three years of eligibility. Hopefully this will help take some of the pressure off of Britt Prince having to be a big scorer and ball handler. If Claire is scoring it frees up Britt for better looks at the bucket and drive's to the Hoop

Amy has been doing some work in the portal this offseason, much more than in previous years. She's signed Johnson, Emily Fischer (Maryland), Eliza Maupin (KSU) and Hailey Weaver (Northwestern) from the portal plus HS incoming freshman Alanna Neal. IMO, Amy seems to want to get a little bigger at guard. Fischer's a 6-0 G/F combo, Weaver's 5-11 and Neale's 5-10.

The question for me is, who's not returning that we don't yet know isn't returning? The Kendalls (Coley & Moriarty), Rimdall and Markowski all graduated. That's four open spots for five incoming players.

I really hope this doesn't mean Allison Weidner has had a setback in her rehab and decided to retire from basketball. If she isn't able to continue her career, me and much of the rest of the fanbase will be absolutely crushed. Allison is one of the toughest Husker athletes I've ever seen, regardless of sport. She deserves, at minimum, one full season on the court with her teammates in front of fans who have loved her since she got to Lincoln (and some of them even before that.) Life, and injuries, aren't ever fair of course, but what Allison has had to deal with really "just ain't right."

Maybe Kennadi has decided to focus on softball? She hasn't gotten a lot of playing time for the Red Team, but from what I've seen, IMO that kid is fast.

 

[bugeaters1]

Amy has been doing some work in the portal this offseason, much more than in previous years. She's signed Johnson, Emily Fischer (Maryland), Eliza Maupin (KSU) and Hailey Weaver (Northwestern) from the portal plus HS incoming freshman Alanna Neal. IMO, Amy seems to want to get a little bigger at guard. Fischer's a 6-0 G/F combo, Weaver's 5-11 and Neale's 5-10.

The question for me is, who's not returning that we don't yet know isn't returning? The Kendalls (Coley & Moriarty), Rimdall and Markowski all graduated. That's four open spots for five incoming players.

I really hope this doesn't mean Allison Weidner has had a setback in her rehab and decided to retire from basketball. If she isn't able to continue her career, me and much of the rest of the fanbase will be absolutely crushed. Allison is one of the toughest Husker athletes I've ever seen, regardless of sport. She deserves, at minimum, one full season on the court with her teammates in front of fans who have loved her since she got to Lincoln (and some of them even before that.) Life, and injuries, aren't ever fair of course, but what Allison has had to deal with really "just ain't right."

Maybe Kennadi has decided to focus on softball? She hasn't gotten a lot of playing time for the Red Team, but from what I've seen, IMO that kid is fast.

You are allowed to carry 15 players. If the roster holds we would at 14

 

[Farmer Jake]

I'm not certain, but I thought Kennadi redshirted last year. I, too, hope that Allison Weidner gets a full season. She always played with such determination that she deserves that chance for a complete season. With her, Britt Prince, and Natalie Potts back on the floor at the same time, just WOW!!!!

 

[SWVAHusker]

I'm not certain, but I thought Kennadi redshirted last year. I, too, hope that Allison Weidner gets a full season. She always played with such determination that she deserves that chance for a complete season. With her, Britt Prince, and Natalie Potts back on the floor at the same time, just WOW!!!!

Yes, Kennadi redshirted last season.

She had a knee injury that required surgery her senior year. I'm not sure the extent of it, I just recall her HS photographing her on the sidelines as "Coach Williams" and tagging Amy on social media. Then Amy subequently mentioned on social media that Kennadi was going through "something new" for her, which I apparently correctly assumed was knee surgery. Amy and her husband both actually "liked" my post where I told Kennadi that Husker Nation had her back, wished her well during surgery, and we knew that if she worked hard during her rehab (like I know she always did, because you don't survive playing two sports and earning the accolades she earned in HS without having a good work ethic) everything was going to be okay for her.

The surgery/rehab must have been really extensive, because not only wasn't she able to play during bball season, she started off softball season wearing a IMO pretty large brace on her knee. It was such a bulky brace, she had to wear it on the outside of her softball uniform pants. IIRC she's since been able to either not wear a knee brace at all, or at least wear a much less bulky one that fits under her softball uniform.

I don't know if what I've seen from Kennadi on the softball basepaths will neccessarily transfer over to the court, or not. But if it does, IMO she's got the speed to be the small, speedy guard who beats everybody on the fastbreak. The Huskers really IMO haven't had somebody like that since Sam Haiby, pre-knee injury.

 

[SWVAHusker]

You are allowed to carry 15 players. If the roster holds we would at 14

Awesome, I didn't know that! I always thought the roster limit was 12, not including walkons or players redshirting.

I'll be interested to see if the rules in the proposed House settlement end up helping or harming programs like Amy's, and whether fan donations to collectives like 1890 will be more or less impactful, or don't have much of a difference.

There was some chaos within Penn State women's basketball team that caused a bunch of players to enter the portal after last season. I was *really* hoping the Huskers could get their 6'6 C Gracie Merkle. Merkle initially committed to Maryland in April, before inexplicably changing her mind, getting a scholarship release from the Terps, and returning to Penn State 10 days ago. UMD also signed the #7 and #11 players from the portal. According to a recent article I read, wbb players say UMD is "competitive" in NIL. (Judging by comments made by former UMD Head Men's BBall Coach Kevin Willard, Brenda Freese's wbball program may be more competitive in NIL than the men's program!) I wonder how much $ Amy's program will have once the House settlement is approved, and if the new rules will actually constrain wbb programs that have been big NIL spenders in the past few years.

I generally agree with how Amy's built her program with an emphasis on culture both on and off the court, and trying to find the best players who fit into that preexisting culture. The *last* thing any program wants is in-season drama like Rutgers had with G Kiyomi Miller during the 2024-25 season (or something like the Scoggins drama!)

I just wonder if an emphasis on lrelaionships and culture is going to work going forward, because every year we're seeing more wbb players enter the portal, not fewer as I expected would happen. I thought we'd see portal numbers in many sports start to "settle down" by now as players realized it's a numbers game, and many of them could end up "out in the cold" as coaches fill up their rosters with new/better players from the portal rather than spending an inordinate amount of time trying to re-recruit players who aren't sure they want to be at that school, or want more $ or opportunity.