Deacs Ready for Year Two of Gebbia Era

10/12/2023 9:30:00 AM | Women's Basketball

“We’ve had some emerge here as leaders. I feel like we’re taking a big step forward.” - Megan Gebbia

By: Les Johns

Two ACC Tournament wins in Greensboro was enough to earn an WNIT bid for Wake Forest Women's Basketball in the first year of the Megan Gebbia era, as the Deacs finished the season 17-17 — setting a program record for most wins for a first-year head coach while also grabbing the most number of victories since the 2011-12 campaign.

With a top-25 class joining a talented group of experienced returners, Gebbia believes the Deacs could continue to make strides this season.

"It was 100 miles per hour after the season ended, with the transfer portal, NIL and all that stuff coming to a head," Gebbia said. "We had the players report back early in June. We just completed our eighth week of summer workouts. We've been working a lot on defense. We worked on the foundation of our defense last year, but we didn't do what we wanted on that end of the floor.

"In individual workouts this summer, we've been focusing on their weaknesses and trying to find some extra scoring. We need to put the ball in the basket more often. We worked on weaknesses, our fundamental defense and communicating better on the floor at that end. We spent some time on transition, and then focused on our motion offense. One year in, the ball is moving better and we're looking at the right things. Now I feel like we're getting a lot better at the offense."

With the departures of Jewel Spear and Olivia Summiel via the transfer portal, the Deacs not only need to find more scoring — they were also on the lookout for the next group of leaders to help instill the systems that were introduced last summer.

"We sent a couple players to a leadership retreat a couple weeks ago and they've come back with some great ideas," Gebbia said. "We've had some emerge here as leaders. I feel like we're taking a big step forward.

"Having the summer here without Jewel and Olivia will be helpful, because they can see what their role is moving forward and understand how they can step up to the plate and add to the team scoring wise and defensively."

In late April guards Kaia Harrison and Alexandria Scruggs announced they were returning for a fifth season. Junior guard Elise Williams is the leading returning scorer, averaging 10.3 points a game last season while leading the team by connecting on 37.7 percent of her 3-point shots.

"Elise Williams looks great," Gebbia said. "She has taken on the role of the best player. She knows she's going to have to do a little bit of everything, and it's fun to watch. She's in shape, showing mental toughness and becoming more of a leader. Her teammates are listening and love playing with her. She will get you the ball in the right spot, on time. It's not all about her scoring herself."

Six-foot-two senior forward Demeara Hinds led the team with 6.5 rebounds a game last season, while scoring 5.7 points a game, connecting on nearly 50 percent of her field goal attempts.

"Demeara is looking good, and is trying to expand her perimeter game more," Gebbia said. "She's also focusing on the leadership piece.

"We have some kids returning who are out to prove something. They want to show that we can be better than we were last year. We have a lot to experience returning with Alex, Demeara and Elise. We have some people who have played a lot of minutes, and know what to look for. Now their roles have to change and they need to add more to the offensive end of our game."

Gebbia is also expecting big things out of guard Kate Deeble, Alyssa Andrews, Scruggs and Raegyn Conley.

"It's nice to see Katie back on the floor. She knows how to run the show, and has a different skill set than Kaia," she said. "Alyssa is wanting to be more of a leader and scorer. She's a great defender, but there's a wide variety of guards in the ACC. You can't just check one type of player, so she will need to expand her range defensively.

"Alex can't defer anymore. Her and Elise, in particular, have to put up points. The offense looks better than it did last year. There are little things here and there that I'm seeing with everyone."

Freshmen Madisyn Jordan, Makaela Quimby and Rylie Theuerkauf reported to campus the first week of July and have already started turning heads.

"We had a good four weeks of work without the freshmen, then four weeks with them," Gebbia said. "Now we've put everything together and went five-on-five last weekend. That was really fun. The three of them have worked their way in relatively easily. They're smart and pick things up quickly. They aren't hesitant. When they're open, they're going to shoot, which is nice. They can all score, which will really help us, because we were missing some perimeter scoring last season. The offense suits them well, so it's really just teaching them the system. They're learning a lot.

"I've heard from the team that they're playing well. It's good and provides healthy competition among the team. They all want minutes, so to get that you have to compete."

The infusion of young talent is part of what has Williams excited about the upcoming season for the Demon Deacons.

"We largely have the same team from last year, but the freshmen are obviously the new additions," she said. "I'm excited to play with them. They're doing a really good job, learning and taking everything in. I want to see how they develop.

"Our offensive and defensive systems are complex, but they came in seeking to learn. They look pretty good."

Gebbia plans to get the freshmen a lot of early opportunities to show what they can do in the two preseason scrimmages.

"The freshmen bring a youthful energy to the group," she said. "It's helpful. They just want to learn and help — they want us to win. We only have 12 players on our roster, so they will likely get a shot to contribute. How well do they do when they're in there? We might have to live through some of the freshmen mistakes to get them experience.

"We still have a couple of spots open, but you can't play 15 people. I'm hoping with the 12 on the roster, if we stay healthy, we can play more and establish a deep rotation."

While the motion offense, particularly, tends to be complex in nature, having another full year to implement it has meant execution has improved infinitely versus where the Deacs were a year ago at this time.

"When I go back and look at what we looked like at this time last summer, we're heads and tails better than we were a year ago," Gebbia said. "We're moving at a faster pace, we're moving at game speed and we know what to do. They know now, and that's helpful. You see the ball moving better."

Just 14 months on the job, Gebbia has already signed a contract extension at Wake Forest.

"I really love it here," she said. "I love the college, the campus, the staff and the players we work with. I love the support we get from the administration. We just want to put our stamp on Wake Forest Women's Basketball and see what happens. We're going to really do a great job of recruiting locally, within five-or-six hours. I'm thrilled to be here and see what year two brings.

"The administration sees good things are happening. We just need to get some wins in the conference. The idea is to have this keep happening."

So far only two games have been officially announced — the season opener against Wofford on Nov. 6 and the ACC/SEC Challenge contest at home against Texas A&M on Nov. 30.

"We have a solid non-conference schedule, then we'll see how the league plays out," Gebbia said. "Texas A&M used to be a perennial power. They recruited a kid out of the portal who we were trying to get, so we'll see her anyway. It's great to get the home game this season, but I'm sure they're going to be a challenge. You want those matchups to help see how we're going to respond when we get to ACC play. "

The Deacs were right on the cusp of causing more damage in conference play a season ago, a feel they are just a handful of possession away from being right in the thick of the ACC race.

"These games are so competitive, and a couple of possessions can potentially change the outcome of any game," Gebbia said. "We're very analytical, and there's some areas of weakness that we're going to focus on. It was completely different styles of what they used to do here and what we're asking them to do now. It's that flip of styles that takes some time, and we didn't completely understand that last year. We were in almost every game last year and it was our first year learning everything. It's going to get better and better as time progresses."