Agnew is ready to play after sitting out last season as a redshirt (Spomer / WBR)
There aren’t any new faces other than Illinois transfer Brooke Kissinger on the Creighton women’s basketball roster as the team rolls through preseason practice. However, there is one new addition — outside of Kissinger who has to sit this season out due to NCAA tranfer rules — who hopes to earn some playing time during the 2016-2017 season. That is redshirt freshman, and ESPN Top 100 recruit, Jaylyn Agnew.
With a crowded and experienced group at her positions, the 5-foot-11 forward sat out last season to develop her skills after averaging 17.4 points per game as a senior at Andover High School in Kansas. After a full year of helping her teammates prepare in practice she’s getting herself ready to now help them in games.
“I definitely have a different mindset knowing that I could have playing time this year,” Agnew said. “Rather than knowing you’re just going to practice you’re able to push yourself knowing that you’re competing for playing time. That’s mainly what’s different about my mindset.”
In high school, Agnew starred in several sports. Aside from her performance on the basketball court, she finished as her school’s all-time leader in solo blocks and kills on the volleyball team, while also becoming just the third person, and first since 1996, to win four state high jump titles.
It’s that athleticism and versatility that has the Bluejay coaching staff excited about Agnew’s potential impact not only this season, but in the years to come.
“She has well above average quickness, but it’s her length and ability to get off the ground that’s the biggest thing, and she does a good job of using it,’ Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “I think some kids have length and don’t use it. She’s a kid who uses it and stays on the floor until she has to get off the floor. She’s definitely near the top [of the most athletic kids we’ve had].”
“After we lose a lot of kids this year, her ability to put on imprint on us in the future is even greater.”
But Agnew isn’t thinking about her future right now. All she’s worried about is finding a role on a team that returns 14 players, including all five starters after reaching the championship game of the Big East Tournament last March. That postseason run led to the Bluejays being picked as co-preseason favorites in the league along with reigning regular-season champion DePaul.
“We all are talking about it,” Agnew said of the expectations surrounding this season. “This is our year. We have so many people returning. Flan tells us that there isn’t anyone on this team that hasn’t played college basketball, so that’s a big part of why our expectations are so high.”
So how can Agnew earn playing time on a team that returns 97% of it’s scoring output from a season ago?
For Jim Flanery, it starts on the defensive end of the floor where last year the redshirt freshman spent the entire season in practice matched with up her teammate Audrey Faber, who led the Bluejays in scoring, rebounding, and 3-point shooting while earning a selection on the 2015-16 Big East All-Freshman Team.
“One of the things that we really like is her length defensively,” Flanery said after a year of watching Agnew take on one of the best young players in the conference. “I mean, you see the number of times that Audrey drives it, sees Jaylyn on her, and has to alter her shot because she’s had it blocked enough times.”
“She’s guarded Audrey and [Sydney Lamberty] a lot. That’s made her better, and if she can guard them, she can guard a lot of people. And she’s helped Audrey become a better player, too. The fact that you have to pay attention to Audrey every possession, I think that’s been huge [for Jaylyn]. We told her that from a practice situation last year she had it good, because she got to guard somebody good every day.”
Agnew has worked on her shooting during her year off (Spomer / WBR)
Agnew echoed the coaching staff’s sentiment when it came to those practice battles against some her of more skillful teammates.
“It helped tremendously,” she said. “I pushed them, they pushed me, and hopefully that can carry over to this year. Being able to guard them and get the feel of how it is to play in an actual game during practice helps a lot.”
A lot of time spent in the weight room has also paid off for Agnew. She saw up close last year the type of physicality she’ll have to deal with in the Big East, and as preseason practice has gotten underway even her teammates have noticed the strides she’s made in the strength department.
“Last year I was getting pushed around a lot,” Agnew said. “Now this year Bri Rollerson jokes with me about it — she’ll bump into me and say, ‘oh, I see you’ve been in the weight room.’ It’s helped a lot. I feel like I’m a little quicker and a little stronger.”
The added strength, experience guarding one of the top offensive threats in the Big East, and the raw athleticism she brought to campus on day one have all given the young forward the confidence that she can make a meaningful impact where the Jays need her most — on the defensive end of the floor.
“I think defensively I can try to guard a big person or a smaller guard,” Agnew said. “I think my length would probably deter the smaller guard a little bit, and against the bigger person I would try to use my strength and fight with them.”
As for what she might bring to the other end of court? Well, with the team’s top nine scorers back, Agnew just kind of shrugged her shoulders and smiled when asked about her role offensively.
“Anywhere I can help, I guess. I’ve put in a lot of work on my jumper. That’s one of the things the coaches told me was to develop my outside shot a little bit more this offseason. I’ve tried to do my best to do that, and it’s carrying over into practice.”
Given Jim Flanery’s propensity to utilize a deep bench, especially early in the season, Agnew’s long-awaited Creighton debut is likely now fewer than 30 days away as the Bluejays open their regular season at South Dakota State on November 11th.