Colorado State’s decision to place more emphasis on recruiting women’s basketball players from foreign lands was a no-brainer, Rams coach Kristen Holt will tell you.
The fact that CSU had struggled to compete in the Mountain West Conference for several years did not mean much to Kim Mestdagh of Belgium and a pair from the Netherlands, Natalie van den Adel and Chatilla van Grinsven. They just wanted an opportunity to play college ball in the United States.
“They gave us fresh blood and did not dwell on the past,” Holt said.
After becoming acclimated last season as freshmen, the foreign trio has helped to make CSU women’s basketball relevant again. Mestdagh, a 5-foot-10 guard with a deadly jump shot, ranks second among MWC scorers (16.4 points per game), and the 6-2 van Grinsven (11.4) is the Rams’ only other double-figure scorer, often coming off the bench to provide a spark. Van den Adel, a 6-1 guard, contributes 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds as a usual starter.
Colorado State (12-12 and 4-7 MWC) isn’t ready to bring back memories of the mid-1990s and early 2000s when Becky Hammon, Ashley Augspurger and other standouts led the Rams to five NCAA Tournaments. But in Holt’s second year as coach, CSU is miles better in the MWC than the 0-16 disaster of 2007-08 — perhaps 4,900 miles better, or about the distance between Western Europe and Fort Collins.
“With Kim, Natalie and Chatilla having played international basketball for their national teams, it gave us some experience,” Holt said. “And there is a level of maturity when foreign kids come that far away from home to play ball.”
Mestdagh, from Ieper, Belgium, grew up in a Flemish household but also is fluent in French (Belgium’s other official language) and English, which she speaks with hardly a hint of an accent. She followed a similar plan across the Atlantic as her older brother, Robin, who is a senior reserve guard at Eastern Kentucky.
“I wanted to keep playing basketball at a high level and also concentrate on studies at a university,” Mestdagh said. “Usually in Europe you have to choose one or the other.”
Feeling the heat?
A lot of people are pulling for Colorado women’s coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, being such a quality person. But McConnell-Miller must be considered officially on the hot seat.
Few coaches survive a prolonged losing streak in their fifth season, especially those without a prior NCAA Tournament appearance. The Buffs (12-12, 2-9 Big 12) have lost seven straight, and today’s game is at No. 3 Nebraska.
Props for Tad.
The fact that coach Tad Boyle has guided the Northern Colorado men to its first 20-win season in decades hasn’t been lost on Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon.
Boyle and Turgeon were backcourt teammates at Kansas in the 1980s under Larry Brown. And Boyle worked under Turgeon at Wichita State before the Greeley native returned home to take the UNC job four years ago.
“I’ve got Bear fever,” Turgeon replied when I asked him about Boyle during this week’s Big 12 coaches teleconference. “I follow them on the ticker and on my phone every time they’re playing.”
