Boulder – The Colorado women were voted least likely to succeed in the Big 12 Conference this season, yet their coach and leader can’t wait to begin league play tonight against Nebraska (8-3) at the Coors Events Center.
“I think we’re ready,” Buffs coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. “I think it comes at a great time. I think we’ve made a lot of progress in the last couple of games. I think we need a fresh start as far as the transition from nonconference to conference.”
The Buffs (5-7) are coming off Friday’s 72-64 loss to Oregon, but might have learned more in that game than in the 11 that preceded it.
“I think it showed us what we’re capable of,” McConnell-Miller said.
Perhaps nobody has been more capable than Jackie McFarland, the 6-foot-3, do-it-all sophomore post player from Derby, Kan., who is averaging 19.9 points and 10.3 rebounds in the absence of starting center Kara Richards (broken foot).
“It changes a lot of things when you get into that conference mentality,” McFarland said. “It’s going to be more aggressive, more physical.”
Led by 5-6 junior guard Kiera Hardy (17.6 points), the top scorer in conference play (20.9) last season, the Huskers “were kind of the surprise of the conference,” McFarland said. Most of those players have returned.
McConnell-Miller knows what makes Hardy, who scored 32 points in her most recent game, such a dangerous player.
“She’s got the green light; she can do whatever she wants and stay on the floor,” the coach said. “That’s a player’s dream.”
Richards, who had the cast on her foot removed last week, will not play tonight but could be ready by next week, McConnell-Miller said.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
