In a matter of days, Miami women’s basketball will hit the hardwood for the first time in the 2024-25 season. Given the fairly new NIL rules, the landscape of college basketball has changed dramatically. After a disappointing 2023-24 campaign with many players leaving, Miami brought in nine new players and has a new head coach to help lead this team back to the NCAA tournament.
It all starts with Tricia Cullop, who arrives at UM with a winning background. In the past 16 seasons as head coach of Toledo’s women’s basketball team, Cullop led her team to two MAC (Mid-American Conference) tournament titles and five regular season titles, including 11 postseason appearances. Cullop has a career record of 476-279 in 24 seasons, which is equivalent to a .681 winning percentage.
Another thing that comes with a new coach is a new culture. Her players have embraced the culture that Cullop has begun to establish at Miami.
“Building a new culture with a new coach, this year is going to be great,” senior guard Jasmyne Roberts said at Miami’s Media Day on Monday. “We are very very talented.”
Cullop agrees, saying that she’s, “very excited with the talent we have and helping them reach the potential they’re capable of.”
Talent is certainly an emphasis of this team, as the Hurricanes brought back Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who were important assets to UM’s 2023 tournament run. Both on the 2023 All-ACC Academic Team, Haley averaged 12.2 points a game for the year while eclipsing a 40% clip from deep. Off the bench, Hanna contributed when it mattered most, leading the team in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.3:1 and recording the fewest turnovers on the team with only 24.
“[Haley and Hanna Cavinder] are two of the hardest workers I have ever coached,” Cullop said. “They’re in the gym early every morning … They have an extreme hunger to want to be better.”
Veteran transfer forward Cameron Williams will bring her dominant post presence from the Big Ten to the ACC. She has a previous connection to Cullop, as Michigan (Williams’ former team) played Toledo for the past two seasons.
“She is one of the best post players I have ever had the opportunity to coach,” Cullop said.
Williams was thrilled when Cullop asked her to come play for her.
“It means a lot. I played against her twice in Michigan. It was always a super competitive game,” Williams said. “It was tough playing against them. They were a very well-coached team. I like her philosophy and what she is trying to do with this program.”
Graduate student Natalija Marshall will add more post presence this year. Marshall, when she was with Notre Dame last year, impressed Cullop in a closed-door scrimmage against Toledo.
Something that comes with wanting to win is bringing in winning players, and Marshall is certainly one of those players. She helped lead Notre Dame to winning the 2024 ACC tournament and making it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament.
From a preseason perspective, it looks like Miami can perform well this season. Having good team camaraderie and culture will help with this.
“The culture of my staff and my team is the most important thing I do daily,” Cullop said. “It all comes down to working hard, putting people in the right places, and everybody working cohesively together. I do think that all comes back to culture.”
“This team is going to be a scary sight to see,” Williams said. “I think it is going to be a very enjoyable experience. We have a lot of great pieces, and you are going to want to see Miami women’s basketball this year. It is not going to be something you want to miss. Being here, you are going to be a part of history, and we plan to do things that this program has never done.”
Miami will start its 2024-25 season off with an exhibition game on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Watsco Center against Palm Beach Atlantic.