WBB Preseason Primer: Bring on the Major Leagues

The concept of timelines in sports is inherently silly. They don't exist, but they control us anyway. They set our expectations, manage our hopes, and serve as the basis for all of our best laid plans. Timelines are mostly for GMs and podcasters, not the ones suiting up every night. Podcasters (and GMs, for that matter) are famously often wrong.

One thing that is very real, though, is The Leap. We all know it when we see it: it's that feeling that everything has very quickly changed, that all of our hopes have come to fruition, and that whatever timeline we created is out the window in favor of Winning Now. I got that feeling watching Victor Wembanyama on opening night of his third NBA season a few weeks ago, much like how I got that feeling watching Luka Doncic early in his second season.

The biggest mistake we make in sports is assuming that things will happen linearly. We can time the Leap about as well as we can time the stock market. One thing I do know, however, is that time in beats timing, and good things come to those who wait.

So while it may be inherently silly to say Davidson WBB is ready for Showtime, it's hard to argue otherwise. Those of us who've followed this team religiously the past few seasons know we're seeing the makings of something. We haven't quite seen the ultimate leap, but the feeling is very close. And if anyone has earned our trust, it's this coaching staff and this group of players. So now we reach the age old question: Is This the Year?

With all the hype this preseason, it's easy to forget that this Davidson team has only one senior on the roster. Granted, that senior is Charli Dunn, and she is the star that this roster orbits. The truth is that this is somehow, once again, a team mostly filled by young talent. Kyra Bruyndoncx and Candice Lienafa, as good as they were last year, are still just sophomores. Katie Donovan, the second half of the "Dunnovans" duo on the wing, is a junior. Then there are other talents who've undohbtedly made huge strides in the offseason. Sienna Dauer will slide into a bigger role as a ball handler while remaining a defensive demon, Edina Strausz will have an opportunity to establish herself at center after a great Eurobasket, and Sylvie Jackson has a chance to remind everyone of the sniper she was right away as a freshman 2 years ago. From Emilie Bessell to Jasmine Timmerson to Eliza Buerk, Davidson's bench is deep and will make an impact. With the roles underclass players had to fill last year, the Cats feel like they have about 7 returning starters.

Davidson certainly lost a lot. But the players coming in will certainly soften the blow. Ines Garcia Monje might somehow be the most athletic player to ever enter the program -- and she is a 6'2" point forward. I fear for the rest of the A10. Asha Nightingale aims to continue the pipeline of Australian bigs. Elena Alvarez can be an instant impact with her speed and tenacity, giving the Cats a great change of pace option at guard. Then there's Angeliki Ziaka, an all-WCC freshman for USF just last year. She gives the Cats 3 players who were on all-freshman teams last year, and instantly brings experience playmaking and defending at a very high level of hoops.

Again, it's quite difficult to plan things out nicely in sports. Anyone who watched a shot at glory fall apart tragically in the 2023-24 season will understand. No one could have expected a team that barely had a real offseason to come back so strong so quickly the following year, though. So while keeping expectations within reason is good, this team and this coaching staff have set the bar high. As the nonconference schedule will tell you, the goal is the NCAA tournament.

The projections are pretty high too. Davidson is favored against every non-P4 opponent in the noncon and in 14 of 18 A10 games. The Cats only need to steal a few -- such as the season opener, where they're only 5.5 point dogs to Mississippi State, or the massive home tilt against NC State right before Christmas -- to put themselves in the conversation.

Those projections, by the way, don't factor in the freshmen I just told you about. With the youth on the roster, this might not even be the year after all, but it sure does seem to be coming quickly. This program is competing regularly for power conference recruits and pulling in elite transfers like Charli or Angeliki or Elle Sutphin once a year. Davidson's time in the sun is approaching, and I'd advise you to hop on board while there's still room.

There are plenty of things that mean less and less as I get older. Perhaps everything is just getting less authentic. I couldn't even watch my childhood favorite CFB team take a crushing home loss to Oklahoma this weekend because of corporate gree-- er um, some TV dispute. Meanwhile, one of arguably the greatest baseball games ever played was soured for me by the victor's stranglehold on every prestigious free agent in the sport the past few years. (I can't wait for a year without baseball in 2027.) The closest I got to seeing something that felt real this weekend was Bugonia. We're lacking it in droves right now in the wide world of sports.

The antidote for my authenticity deficiency in recent years -- at least on the sports end of things -- has come from Davidson WBB. Everyone involved just gets it, and I don't really know what it is. Maybe it's the special something we all associate with Davidson that even our great slogans like "TCC" or "Share Shoot Stifle" fail to capture. However, in a sports landscape dominated by greed and sell outs and poseurs, they are the oasis.

More than anything else, I want this team to get all the recognition and success they deserve. Maybe this year is the one with the Leap. It's always just a pleasure to watch this team have fun out there, though. I can't wait to see what the next 4+ months brings us. In the words of the great Stephen Malkmus: Bring on the major leagues.