Lady Toppers: Tashia 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 at the latter of those two today.
Tashia (Pronounced “TAY-zhuh”) Brown is a force from the elbow in the Lady Toppers’ motion offense. She has one of the most consistent and pretty looking mid-range jumpers you will see in college basketball.
Tashia joined the Lady Toppers in the 2014–15 season, and she immediately became a valuable role player in her freshman campaign, averaging 8.5 points per game and earning first team all-conference freshman team honors.
She came out for her sophomore year and absolutely killed it. She was fourth in the conference in scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game. She was the absolute go-to pure scorer, and the WKU offense flourished when she was productive.
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…medium.com
In 2016–17, her statistics took a dip. She only averaged 13.4 points a game, and this was partly because the offense, for whatever reason, just wasn’t as explosive. Also, defenses keyed on Tashia and shaded to her in the middle of the lane. They bumped her around and tried to make her uncomfortable, and the strategy worked.
Tashia is already an all-time great on the Hill, having amassing 1,331 points in only three years. If she can average 20 points per game this year, she could breach the 2,000 point club.
The Lady Toppers need Tashia to step up this year and be the superstar she was in 2015–16. From a statistical perspective, Coach Michelle Clark-Heard would love to see her dropping 20 points on a consistent basis, grabbing some rebounds, and contributing in other areas. If she could develop some moves to get her to the basket and improve her outside shooting, she would be unstoppable.
It’s time for Brown to put it all together and leave her mark on the Hill. The Lady Toppers have come close to winning NCAA Tournament games of late. The next step is to find a way to get it done.
If the Lady Toppers are going to finally put it all together, repeat as champions, and make a run in the NCAA Tournament, Tashia Brown must be a versatile scorer in 2017–18.
What are your expectations for Tashia 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.