Women's Basketball Adds Three New Faces to Coaching Staff

Seventeen years ago, the Harvard women’s basketball team cemented its spot in basketball history by defeating top-seeded Stanford in the first round of the 1998 NCAA tournament. It’s the only time in NCAA basketball history a No. 16 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed.

For three of Harvard’s new coaches—Mike Roux, Heidi Banks, and Jasmine Sborov—the opportunity to join such a legacy with head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith was one they simply couldn’t pass up. Far removed from the legacy of the ’98 team but still under the helm of the winningest coach in Ivy League history, the Harvard women’s basketball team is looking to rebuild that legacy with the help of these three faces.

Coming off an up and down season last year, Delaney-Smith is positive about the changes in the coaching staff.

“They’ve already made an impact,” Delaney-Smith said. “They’re perfect fits for what we do and for my philosophy, so I couldn’t be happier with them. But your first year anywhere comes with a learning curve.”

For a coach who’s been at the helm of one of the most successful programs in the Ivy League for 33 years, keeping a competitive program with three new coaches and seven new freshmen is no easy task.

“I think the Harvard student-athlete is different than the rest of the world, so I think there’s that comfort zone,” Delaney-Smith said. “They have to get comfortable there, and again I couldn’t be happier with where we are, and I think we’re all going to grow together.”

Following the departure of Temi Fagbenle ’15 and Erin McDonnell ’15, who averaged 14.4 and 12.9 points per game last year, respectively, the new coaching staff is hoping to develop the young core of 10 underclassmen.

Banks, the new director of basketball operations, is excited for the opportunity to work with this young core. Coming off four years as assistant coach at Amherst with a team that had two Final Four appearances, Banks is hoping to make an impact.

“We do have a lot of young kids and we do know that there is going to be a learning curve,” Banks said. “It’s just kind of helping our kids grow into their roles, helping them know their roles, and making them comfortable in their roles. We understand we have a young team, and we know what that means, but we’re ready for it.”

Being responsible for guard development at Amherst, Banks is hoping to bring consistency to a position left open by the graduation of Ali Curtis ’15.

“[I’m] looking to bring consistency to our team, trying to work with our guards to get them comfortable so that we’re able to have a specific role at the guard position,” Banks said. “Just making them feel comfortable and helping them take on their roles.”

With five of the squad’s seven freshman starting at the guard position, developing the team at the one and two will be imperative given that the team had the second worst turnover margin in the Ivy League and averaged 17.6 turnovers a game.

After three years as associate head coach at the University of New Hampshire, Roux is also excited about what Harvard’s seven freshman bring to the mix.

“They bring some offensive explosiveness. They bring some defensive tenacity that I think will help us on the perimeter,” Roux said. “They’re all growing and learning and developing as we go, but I think they’re going to have great freshman years, and I think their careers are going to be very bright here.”

Despite the young core, the Crimson’s upperclassmen are still imperative to the success of the team, with co-captain AnnMarie Healy averaging 13.4 points a game last year and both co-captain Kit Metoyer and senior Shilpa Tummala averaging at least five.

“I think that the upperclassmen here at Harvard are solid,” Roux said. “The structure, the foundation that is here, is great. AnnMarie, Kit, and Shilpa are all really good players and great leaders for our program, for our young kids.

Roux, who led a senior-heavy squad at UNH to its third-highest win total in 2013, is excited about developing a young squad as he eases into his new position.

“I think that our freshman will learn and grow from them, and I think that’s all you can ask for when you step into a program and ask what your upperclassmen can do for your young kids—just teaching them the culture and the ways Harvard has been successful for so many years,” Roux said.

Also joining the coaching staff this year is Sborov. Having graduated this past year from the University of Colorado where she lettered for four years, Sborov is the youngest member of the coaching staff.

Despite the recent change from player to coach, Sborov believes being a recent grad is an advantage as she begins her coaching career.

“Being not so removed from [basketball], I understand exactly what the players are going through just because I was there not long ago at all,” Sborov said. “My memory as far as the experience is really fresh, so I can really relate to them a lot.”

Coming from a Colorado team where she averaged 6.5 points during her senior season in a tough Pac-12 conference, Sborov is excited to work with a young Crimson squad.

“This team is hungry,” Sborov said. “They have such a strong desire to learn and to grow, and they’re hungry to get better. They’re hungry to learn more and to feel what it feels like to win and to go to a championship.”

—Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at tboccelli@thecrimson.com.