Information not available anywhere else researched by poster northcoastrocket if Grumpy would be kind enough to link it. Lol
https://csnbbs.com/thread-1011835.html
You will have to scroll the entire thread as there are comments interspersed between analysis.
Miami (5th in 24-25)
Miami was a bit of a surprise last year, finishing with the 5th seed after being picked 8th. They took a big jump in Coach Box’ 2nd season in large part due to the performances of 2 transfers, Enjulina Gonzalez (Mercer, All-MAC, 17 ppg) and Maya Chandler (SMU, 12 ppg). Both of them are gone now, as Chandler graduated and Gonzalez has transferred to Georgia. In addition to 3 graduating, they had 7 players transfer out, despite the successful season. They lost almost 65% of their scoring and return only 4 players, so hitting the portal was crucial.
And hit the portal they did as Miami clearly won the portal among MAC schools. Box signed 5 DI players, all of whom are experienced and contributed to their old teams. The top signee would appear to be Amber Scalia, 5’9 Jr G from St Thomas, who averaged 15 ppg last year. She’s an 1100 point career scorer and 34% 3-point shooter. Three other adds were all at least part-time starters and averaged at least 8 ppg last year: 5’7 So Macie Taylor (Wright St), 6’0 So Brooke Blumenfeld (NIU) and 5’8 Jr Clara Gonzalez Planella (Jacksonville St).
They also added high scoring JUCO PG Mio Sakano (South Georgia Tech, 15 ppg) who is from Japan. And they will have incoming freshman 6’3 Emily VanTimmeren (Jenison, MI) who did not play her senior year in HS as far as I can tell, but enrolled early at Miami in January. She was honorable mention All-Michigan her junior season.
Their additions should all be able to help out honorable mention All-MAC returnee Amber Tretter (11 ppg, 9 rpg) who is the last remaining Hendrix recruit on the roster. But Box has chosen to go with a short roster of only 12 players, one of which is a walk-on. This could be a risky posture based on recent MAC history where 5-6 times a team had a run of injuries and added walk-ons, mid-season. That includes Miami in Box’ 1st year where he added a field hockey player mid-season.
The Redhawks are a team with a ton of new faces, but one that definitely has a lot of talent. They are almost all Box recruits now, so he should have the roster that he wants for the 1st time. They can compete for the top of the MAC this season if they stay healthy and if Coach Box can get all the new pieces molded into a team that plays the way he wants to.
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