UF gets fresh start with new coach, FSU’s Semrau returns from leave
The women’s basketball teams at the University of Florida and Florida State enter the 2021-22 season with compelling story lines.
The Gators are looking for a fresh start after former coach Cameron Newbauer abruptly resigned in July “for personal reasons” amid rumors of an abusive environment under his leadership.
In September, the student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, published a story detailing players’ complaints that Newbauer belittled team members, acted unprofessionally, made racially insensitive remarks and brought athletes to tears with profanity-laced tirades.
“There were concerns brought to our attention. Each time, additional information was sought, and these concerns were addressed directly with Cam as we required corrective actions and outlined clear expectations of behavior moving forward,” UF athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement at the time. “Ultimately, we did not see the required improvements, and following discussions with Coach Newbauer he made the decision to resign.”
Assistant coach Kelly Rae Finley was promoted to head coach.
The Gators went 12-14 last season and were picked to finish 11th in the SEC preseason poll of coaches.
The team is led by Lavender Briggs, who averaged a team-high 19.4 points per game last season. She entered the transfer portal in early summer but withdrew her name when Newbauer resigned.
“I had the opportunity to leave but chose to stay because I saw something in Kelly that is beautiful,” Briggs told reporters on a recent Zoom interview.
“The atmosphere is a lot different than it was last year. There’s a lot more energy, a lot more smiles and a lot more people happy to actually be playing with each other.”
Meanwhile, at FSU, coach Sue Semrau is back for her 24th season after taking a leave of absence last year to assist her mother in Seattle as she battled cancer. Assistant coach Brooke Wyckoff led the Seminoles in Semrau’s absence.
Now that her mother is cancer-free, Semrau is back on the sideline.
“It was painfully hard [being away], especially trying to explain to my mom what was going on, ‘Why do you keep saying, ‘Attack, attack, attack?’ ” Semrau told the Tallahassee Democrat before the team’s first practice. “So, I had to be like, ‘Basketball 101’ from the couch, basically.”
FSU returns a veteran squad that combined for 93 percent of the scoring from last year’s 10-9 team. The top three scorers are back — 5-11 redshirt senior guard Bianca Jackson (14.1 points, 3.6 assists per game), senior Morgan Jones (12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds per game) and 5-10 senior guard Kourtney Weber (11.8 points, 3.5 rebounds per game).
USF UNDER SCRUTINY
The USF Bulls, led by standouts Bethy Mununga and Elena Tsineke, are looking to repeat as AAC conference champions. They have everyone back from their NCAA Tournament team and were voted as the preseason favorite by the coaches. USF is also ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP national poll.
But the team has been dealing with distractions as the NCAA has just finished its 18-month investigation of the program and found there were irregularities at practices. As a result, USF is on probation for the next three seasons and loses some practice time.
USF has one of the most demanding nonconference schedules in the nation with a game against 15th-ranked Tennessee and a Bahamas tournament where they will play Syracuse, possibly Connecticut or Oregon, or South Carolina and Stanford.
TAY SANDERS LEADS UCF
The Knights have earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament two of the past three years, and the 2021-22 team is poised to get there again. Fifth-year senior Tay Sanders made first-team preseason All-Conference.