Lady Toppers: Ivy Brown Preseason Preview
If you haven’t seen the WKU Lady Toppers in person, I dare you to give it a shot and not be entertained. They have played the best…
If you haven’t seen the WKU Lady Toppers in person, I dare you to give it a shot and not be entertained. They have played the best basketball on the Hill since Michelle Clark-Heard took over the program after the 2011–12 season.
Finally, the Lady Toppers are back to the standard WKU fans expected in the ’80s and ’90s: Excellence and dominance. They play a fast-paced, pressing style of basketball that’s truly exciting to watch.
Lady Topper seniors Ivy Brown and Tashia Brown (no relation) are unquestionably the expected leaders of the 2017–18 version of the Lady Tops.
We’ll take an in-depth look the former of those two today.
Ivy Brown came to the Hill with plenty of hype; scoring over 2,900 points and 1,600 rebounds in her career at Larue County High School (KY), she was selected Kentucky Miss Basketball her senior year and was nominated for the 2014 McDonald’s All-American Game.
Frankly, Ivy struggled to find herself on the college level her freshman season, averaging only three points and three boards per game. In her sophomore season, she improved mightily, nearly averaging a double-double.
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Fast forward to last year, when Ivy finally showed her true potential, averaging 13 points, eight rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per contest despite being a focal point on the scouting report. She was a key cog to a Conference USA Championship-winning machine that nearly took out Ohio State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
Without her ability to score on the block in crucial moments, the Lady Tops wouldn’t have come close to a championship in 2017.
In 2017–18, the Lady Tops return without Hilltopper legends Kendall Noble and Micah Jones, and Ivy will be called on to pick up the slack. The Lady Toppers have won conference championships in three of the past four years, and flirted with NCAA wins in each of those tournament appearances.
Usually a very small team, the Lady Toppers bring in some new size to help the 6'1" Ivy and the rest of the frontcourt, but she is going to have to show the newcomers the ropes.
Last year, the Lady Toppers had four proven scoring threats coming into the season. They only have two this year in Ivy and Tashia Brown.
If the Lady Toppers are to continue their perennial dominance of C-USA, get back to the NCAA Tournament, and take that elusive next step of winning a game in the Big Dance, Ivy Brown must be a consistent inside presence.
What are your expectations for Ivy Brown and the Lady Toppers? What type of production would you like to see from her? What type of production will she need to have if the Lady Tops want to be successful? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.