North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Whittington Hopes Summer Diversion Helps Wolfpack
7/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
July 31, 2006
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - The way NC State junior forward Khadijah Whittington figures it, the work she has put in to making the 2006 US team for next month's FIBA U-20 Americas Championship for Women is going to be a huge boost for NC State this winter.
And it's not just because Whittington, a junior forward from Roanoke, Va., has been working to improve her overall game this summer in preparation for both the initial tryouts in May and the final tryouts, which began on Friday in Costa Mesa, Calif., and continue through the coming week.
It also has something to do with the fact that the entire Wolfpack team is following Whittington's off-season training regimen.
"I've put more into my summer workouts because I am trying to make this team," Whittington said. "Our strength and conditioning coach, Charles Stephenson, is pushing us all more. He has them all doing my workouts.
"I think that will be a big plus for us. I know it has helped me out, and I am going to be in better shape going into this season than I ever have before."
Added to that, there is a pair of incoming freshmen, Nikitta Gartrell and Amber White, both have USA Basketball experience. Both played in last summer's 2005 USA Youth Development Festival, and Gartrell was a member of the US team that won the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA games in early July.
That gives Wolfpack head coach Kay Yow - whose incoming six-player recruiting class was ranked 10th in the nation by All-Star Girls Report - a squad that will be loaded with players who have experience going against the best players in the nation and the world.
"We have an awful lot of athletic players," Whittington said. "It's going to be interesting to see how we put it all together. But there is a whole lot of talent. We have been playing pickup for a while now, and I am excited about our prospects."
First, however, Whittington would like to make a national team for the first time in her career. She survived the first cut for the U-20 team, as it was pared down from 38 invitees to 18 finalists. One finalist - Southern Cal's Camille LeNoir - will not participate in the tryouts because of injury.
The 6-1 Whittington, who was the Wolfpack's top rebounder last year, believes she has an excellent chance to make the final squad, which will travel to Mexico City Aug. 8-12 for the FIBA U-20 Americas Championship for Women, because of her ability to play inside and outside. The top three teams in the Americas Champion will qualify for the 2007 FIBA U-21 World Championships for Women to be held next summer in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
"I am a post player, but I can also play the wing," Whittington said. "I think my versatility will get me a spot on the team, because I am not just a post player. I can get to the rim from the wing."
The list of finalists includes only one other ACC player, North Carolina's Elana Larkins. The other 16 finalists are Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson, Auburn's DeWanna Bonner, Rutgers' Essence Carson and Kia Vaughn, California's Alexis Gray-Lawson, Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker, Stanford's Jillian Harmon, Michigan State's Victoria Lucas-Perry, Connecticut's Renee Montgomery, Ohio State's Marscilla Packer, Oklahoma's Ashley Paris and Courtney Paris, LSU's Erica White and Purdue's Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton.
The team is coached by Michigan State's Joanne McCallie.
 Gartrell helped the US win gold at the U-18 Americas Championship for Women.  |
|
While Whittington is still trying to win her gold medal, Gartrell already has hers, as a member of the national U-18 team that won the FIBA Americas Championships for Women. Playing international basketball was an eye-opening - and beneficial - experience, she said.
"It was very different, both in good ways and bad ways," she said. "The rules on fouls are so different. If you get bumped, tapped, whatever, it is not a foul. You actually have to get knocked out for it to be a foul.
"In college basketball, anything is a foul. If you look too hard, it is a foul."
The experience only reinforced Gartrell's ambitions for her college basketball career, which will begin in the fall. She expects there to be some adjustments in melding a team of veterans with the incoming freshmen, but the high-scoring guard from Atlanta's Mays High School is excited about the possibilities.
"First, we have to start with building the chemistry of this team," she said. "I have never played with these players before. I think it is going to be a great experience. I know the game of basketball, but not as much as my teammates. I am looking forward to having a great year here."
 Incoming freshman Amber White played in last summer's USA Youth Development Festival. |
|
White, a top five point guard and a top 25 overall player in the nation, scored more points than any boys or girls basketball player in school history, and was named the Philadelphia Player of the Year, the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year, the Associated Press Player of the Year in her home state and to the McDonalds All-America team.
But her best education came last summer when she played on the USA Youth Festival team, when she played on the same team as Tina Charles, the consensus 2006 High School Player of the Year who is now a freshman at Connecticut.
"For me, playing for USA Basketball in the Youth Festival was a wake-up call," White said. "Everybody who was there was good. Everybody could score. You have to do the little things to become a better player.
"I have always been used to being the best player on the team, but I was on the same team as Tina Charles at the Festival. She was getting most of the shots, and they weren't looking for me to score. So I spent my time doing other things, like playing defense and passing her the ball. It helped me improve all the other areas of my game, not just the scoring."
For Yow, the wealth of experience and talent should help when the 2006-07 season rolls around, as the Wolfpack looks for its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
You may contact Tim Peeler at mailto:tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
