The Missouri bench shouting in excitement during a home game in February 2024. | Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation

The new players are real, folks! And they’re pretty swell!

The sounds of basketballs, the squeaking of shoes, the sound of a perfect swish. These instantly recognizable sound bytes graced my ears once again as Mizzou center Lucija Milkovic continued to put up shots in the paint before media day.

Myself, along with various other reporters from the Columbia area, walked onto the court, first for a press conference with Coach Robin Pingeton then a speed-dating style questionnaire with players from up-and-down the roster.

For those who read my five questions about Mizzou WBB earlier this week, you know what sorts of questions I wanted answers for. Some of them were answered, while some where left dangling. But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to talk about.

So after an hour at Mizzou Arena, here are five takeaways I have from the Mizzou women’s basketball media day.

Whoops! All Centers!

Entering media day I felt very confident in Mizzou’s center position; Tionna Herron and Angelique Ngalakulondi battling for the starting job, Hannah Linthacum sliding to the four and Lucija providing any depth that’s needed.

But after asking Coach P, turns out I was completely wrong. Let’s start with Hannah. I asked Pingeton if she envisioned a Linthacum move to the four but she said no, meaning that Hannah is unlikely to play alongside Herron or Ngalakulondi. With three players who are all qualified to fit in the rotation but only one position to split, minutes to prove yourself will be a hot commodity in the non-con.

The other major takeaway was the way she talked about Tionna, aka Tree. Pingeton obviously talked about how good of a player she was becoming and mentioned her high upside, but it had an undertone that Tree isn’t at the point of being the “day one” starter. By no means do I think that she’ll be cut from the rotation, but I think there will be a lot less of Herron early on compared to preseason expectations.

“She’s still coming along,” Pingeton said. “I think she has an incredible upside…really good feel…she can stretch from the basket, defensively I think she can alter shots. But she’s still kind of getting back into shape and into that rhythm. And so I think her trajectory keeps going like this *motioning upwards*, she’s got a chance to do special things for us.”

So with all that said that makes Ngalakulondi your projected starter down low. It’s been nearly a full year since she suffered her wrist injury, and the way she and Pingeton talks about it, I feel confident that there are no lingering affects.

“I definitely came back stronger [than] the time where I was off,” Ngalakulondi said. “I just made sure that I was gonna do everything that I needed to do to make sure when I got back I’d be able to help my team as much as I could.”

Point Guard Correction

Alright, second take I have to retract. In my questions I mentioned that De’Myla Brown would likely serve as the primary ball handler with her experience and the fact she was listed as a point guard on the website. I also mentioned briefly that Nyah Wilson MAY be able to run the point, but that she wasn’t a frontrunner. Boy, was I wrong.

Let’s start with De’Myla. While yes she should still be a part of the rotation, turns out she’s expected to play more off-the-ball, being able to work without the ball in her hands at all times.

“Offensively, she’s got the ability to really put up a lot of points in a hurry,” Pingeton said. “I see her more in the off-guard spot, potentially some point, but I think she’s gonna be more of an off-guard for us…it’s gonna be nice to have her back.”

When first looking at Nyah Wilson’s stats at New Mexico, two assists per game don’t really scream starting point guard in the SEC. But Pingeton sang of her intangibles— the way that she can direct and move traffic that may not show up in a finished box score.

“I think [she] has the ability to push the ball in transition and make sure we’re playing at the tempo we want to,” Pingeton said. “She’s got that skill set, and I think she’s still settling in.”

Rounding out this discussion is the duo of Tilda Sjökvist and Averi Kroenke. The two provide different skillsets with Tilda’s steadiness and Averi’s defensive prowess. With the mentions and praises from Coach P, I’d expect them both to come off the bench and see serious minutes, at least in the first couple months.

Freshman PG Londyn Oliphant did not get a Coach P shoutuout, so the side of my brain that loves psychology tells me that Pingeton is not expecting her to play her first season. But when I got the chance to speak to Londyn she wasn’t too concerned with playing time, simply filling a role in the team; whatever that may be.

“My goals are what I can do when I don’t have the ball,” Oliphant said. “As far as being a good teammate and things like that, because that’s a non-negotiable.”

Looks like the Tigers will be rolling three deep in the PG position.

Defense wins championships. Pretty badass.

Last year the Tigers struggled with defense on various occasions, finishing 12th in the conference after allowing 74.6 points per game against SEC opponents.

They allowed 80+ points on seven seperate occasions, losing all of those games. In fact, the Tigers didn’t win an SEC game when their opponent scored more than 65 points. With these numbers and the departure of SEC-steals leader Mama Dembele, Coach Pingeton realized it was time for a change.

“We’ve talked a lot about what we want to do on the defensive end, that’s the biggest area that I felt like we needed to have some growth,” Pingeton said. “We want to get out in the passing lanes more than we have…get up in that full court [press]…we want to be a defensive team that applies pressure, and you feel it for 40 minutes…with the depth that we have on our roster, we can maintain that pressure.”

Seems like there’s plenty of defense talent brought in through the portal, as the incoming transfers combined for 155 steals and 34 blocks.

Hop on the Laniah Randle hype train

Laniah Randle led the incoming transfers in steals (63) AND blocks (21) last season. Laniah was an impact player who was notably absent from my piece earlier this week.

Coming from Southern Illinois she averaged 18.3 points and 8.6 rebounds at 5’ 11”, not afraid to play with the big dogs inside. But hey, Pingeton argues that she belongs in that dogfight.

“She’s a dog,” Pingeton said. “The girl competes at a high level, fierce competitor…potentially [she is] our best on-ball defender, she’s very athletic…really good rebounder, really good with her first step. Everybody knows she’s a driver and she’s still got the ability to play downhill and get to the rim.”

With Slaughter expected to play more as the three and Linthacum staying at the five, that gives Randle a perfect place to slide in and start from day one as the four. The forward position is really the only area where Mizzou lacks depth I’d say, but with her defense and rebounding ability, I see a world where Laniah could play 30 minutes night-in and night-out for this team.

So why ARE they going to Vermont?

If you look at the schedule, there’s a head-puzzling start to the season. Mizzou travels to Vermont despite having no previous matchups and no shared history that jumps out on paper.

When asked by my colleague Quentin Corpuel, Robin Pingeton explained that it was to give Angie Ngalakulondi a chance to play close to her hometown in Manchester, New Hampshire. Pingeton always makes it an effort to go to play games close to a senior’s home town so their family can come and watch (Larissa Anderson did something similar for Jenna Laird and Maddie Gallagher last year with the NY trip).

The rest of the seniors are all relatively close or will have games in the SEC that are a stones-throw from their hometowns. And with such few teams in the northeast, the options were pretty limited.

“We tried some other schools [and] it’s not as close as we’d like, but we always try to bring those players back where their families can see them if they can’t make trips to Columbia,” Pingeton said.

However, her explanation for the trip to Macon to face off against Western Illinois wasn’t as solid.

“Western Illinois was a team that the date fit, the right time, the right place,” Pingeton said. “You want to be competitive, you want to be challenged, but you also want to build confidence and chemistry.”

That Vermont trip will open the season on Monday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. on ESPN+. But before that the Tigers are at home for an exhibition, as we get to see the new team in action at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in an untelevised affair against Truman State.