2018 ISU Womens Basketball

IOWA STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Hometown hero.

Cyclone superstar.

Future Olympian?

Carleton ‘has a chance’ to be one of best in ISU history SEE PAGE 9

AMES TRIBUNE NOV. 4, 2018

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The Cyclones are asking a lot of Alexa Middleton this year — and that’s exactly what she wants

By Hayes Gardner

Staff Writer hgardner@amestrib.com

When coach Bill Fennelly hits the road to recruit, there are always some players he likes, but, for whatever reason, can’t get.

Maybe those players are only looking at the top few colleges in the country. Or they already have a connection to one of the premiere programs nationally.

Perhaps they aren’t considering Big 12 schools. Or schools in the Midwest.

In the summer of 2013, Murfreesboro, Tenn., native Alexa Middleton was one of those recruits.

“Recruiting is about who do you like and who can you get?”

Fennelly told the Ames Tribune.

“You’re not gonna get a Tennessee kid from Tennessee. No one is that good.”

It’s true.

Middleton, a McDonald’s AllAmerican out of high school, played on the Nike Circuit before her senior year and showed why she was one of the most highlyregarded guards in the nation.

“I remember watching her play in the summer, thinking she was my favorite player of the summer,” Fennelly said.

Other coaches had the same thoughts. And schools, from the Pac-12 to the SEC, were chomping at the bit to sign the 5-foot-9 five-star.

Middleton didn’t give Iowa State’s limited recruiting efforts much of a thought. Born in Tennessee and raised a University of Kentucky men’s basketball fan, she knew she wanted to play in the SEC. So, the elite guard signed with one of the most storied women’s basketball programs in the country: the University of Tennessee.

But things never felt right in Knoxville. After three years, she decided to call it quits with the flagship university in the Volunteer State.

When ISU caught wind of her transfer, Bill Fennelly and his son and assistant coach, Billy Fennelly, wasted no time.

“I think Billy was on the phone in 15 minutes,” the elder Fennelly told the Ames Tribune.

Head coach Fennelly was recruiting when he heard the news of Middleton’s decision to leave Tennessee. He promptly walked out of the gym and called her high school coach.

See MIDDLETON on page 4

Iowa State guard Alexa Middleton, who transferred from Tennessee, will start at point guard for the Cyclones this season. PHOTO BY NIRMALENDU MAJUMDAR

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MIDDLETON: It started on a basketball court in Nashville in the summer of 1982 Continued from page 3

“Look, I know this is crazy …” he started.

“No, it’s not crazy,” came the reply.

Soon enough, Middleton was in serious talks with the Cyclone coaching staff. And after an official visit, she signed to play her final year of college eligibility for the Cyclones.

“I left here like — not in a bad way — but I was surprised at how much I liked it here,” Middleton told the Ames Tribune of official her visit to ISU. “Because I was thinking, I’ve never been to Iowa, I don’t know. But the people here were just amazing.”

So, in the summer of 2017, for the first time in her life, Alexa Middleton moved away from Tennessee. To Ames, Iowa. To be an important piece in an important puzzle.

••• It started on a basketball court in Nashville in the summer of 1982.

Not Alexa Middleton’s life, of course, but the courtship of Celeste Peacock and Michael Middleton.

Celeste, a basketball player at Lipscomb University in Nashville, met Michael, a pickup-playing

student at the school, at a court on campus.

“That’s what we would do on dates. We would go play basketball,” Michael told the Ames Tribune.

Their daughter, Alexa, was bound to grow a liking to the sport.

But they didn’t realize how quickly she’d become enchanted by the sport until they attended her kindergarten graduation.

“So they’re going on stage, and it’s the end of the year, and she has her pretty little dress on, and they go one by one and to the microphone,” Celeste recalled. “And they say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be’ and she said, ‘When I grow up, I want to play in the WNBA.’” At five years old, Alexa was one year older than the newly-founded professional women’s basketball league.

Sitting in an Ames Starbucks in mid-October and decked out in ISU cardinal and gold prior to the West Virginia football game, Celeste continued to chronicle Alexa’s childhood with photos.

In one, a tiny Alexa leans over, whispering to her mother, who is coaching her at the time.

“Look at that, she’s calling plays in that little league right there.

She’s telling me what plays we need to run,” Celeste said, her Southern accent sticking out among the

Iowan patrons.

In another, Alexa is shooting hoops on an outdoor court in Bermuda, wearing a shirt that says “Any Gym Is Home.”

Making foreign gyms Alexa’s temporary home was customary for the Middletons. Whenever they went on a family vacation, a court had to be located, much to the bemusement of the family friends they vacationed with. Sometimes Michael would drive an hour to find a place to train.

“We had to search everywhere in Bermuda where there was a gym so she could go shoot. We found a little school, so we caught the city bus and went across to the other side of the island,” Celeste said.

That’s the obsessive determination Alexa has modeled throughout her basketball life. Like when she skipped prom for a national basketball showcase in California.

Or when she broke her right wrist at the age of five, but still attended a week of basketball camp with a cast, developing her left hand early.

But her determination was evident from even younger days.

At the age of three, the Middletons had an adjustable outdoor goal. Her brother, four years older, could score on it, but Alexa — remember, three years old — could not.

“She wanted to do whatever

he did,” Celeste recalls, shaking her head as mothers do. “And she would not come in one time for dinner until she could throw that ball over the rim.”

Of course, she finally made it.

••• As she got older, Middleton made more and more of those baskets. She became a can’t-miss prospect.

One ESPN evaluation from 2012, her 10th-grade year, reads: “The talent this point guard possesses has been well-documented since her first wicked crossover as an eighth-grader playing up.”

She got her first scholarship offer, from North Carolina State, during her freshman year. Others, like Tennessee, followed.

But unlike many youth basketball players in Tennessee, Middleton didn’t grow up with orange and white posters aligning her bedroom walls. Mostly a follower of the men’s college game, she liked the Kentucky Wildcats. To this day, her favorite player is former Kentucky point guard Rajon Rondo.

“I didn’t like Tennessee men’s basketball,” she plainly stated.

But still, the familiarity and prestige of the home-state program drew her. So, she signed with the Volunteers.

For the first year and a half, things were fine. But then, she started having second thoughts, and after her sophomore year, she considered leaving the program.

Her parents, however, encouraged her to give it another year — things

would be different, they advised.

Things weren’t different.

“It always felt like something was missing,” Alexa told the Ames Tribune. “It never felt right. That’s the best way I can explain it.”

During her junior year, she averaged 26 minutes per game. But still, she was unhappy.

It wasn’t necessarily about playing time, and it wasn’t that she despised coach Holly Warlick or her teammates. It was about her role and how she was valued in the program.

“She felt like she has so much more she can offer. Just the dynamics at Tennessee, it never gelled,” Michael said. “And so I think that’s the big thing for her is to be able to say, ‘Look, I love to play the game, I love basketball, and I think I’m still pretty good at it.’”

A leader on excellent teams during her illustrious prep career, Alexa was almost an afterthought on a crowded, talented team at Tennessee.

“I didn’t feel like I was being pushed to the best of my abilities in several different ways,” she said. “I think I wanted (Warlick) to expect more from me, and I think she put those expectations on other players.”

She wanted a leadership role.

She wanted to be held to a highstandard. She wanted to matter.

••• Unlike her recruitment out of high school, Alexa’s recruitment, part II, was more open. She did not

IOWA STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

limit herself to any one conference or region, and instead considered schools on the West Coast, in Nashville and one the East Coast.

When she heard from assistant coach Billy Fennelly and ISU, she immediately made a connection with him.

And when head coach Bill Fennelly told Alexa they planned to play her at the point (“that’s a coach on the floor, basically,” she said) — and she would be an indispensable member of the team — she was drawn to the Cyclones.

Fennelly laid out a detailed plan for Alexa and her parents. What she would work on during her transfer year. What precisely her role would be once she was eligible. How very integral she would be to the team’s success.

“We recruited her in a way, where we really presented her a plan from the day she came to Iowa State to the day she left. Not just, hey, come here and play,” Fennelly said.

“They had a very good plan,” Michael remembered.

When she committed to Tennessee, Alexa said she had made the choice based on feeling. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

With logic and reason— plus a dash of intuition — she wrote down what it was she wanted out of her final year of college basketball, prayed, and spoke to family members and former coaches about her big decision.

At ISU, she felt a lot would be asked of her, which is what she wanted. She signed with the Cyclones.

Initially, sitting out a year, as mandated by transfer rule, appealed to her. It would give her a chance to reset.

“Going into it, she was kind of looking forward to the idea of, ‘OK, I can get back to me, get back to doing some work, get some things done that I wanna do,’” Michael said. “Then as the

the season started, it was just, ‘I wanna be out there so bad, it’s just driving me nuts.’”

Alexa got the chance to learn the ISU system, build some confidence, and rest.

But a year of rest made her restless.

Added Celeste: “She thought that was the longest year of her life.”

As a kid, Alexa dabbled in other sports such as softball and gymnastics, but not very seriously. It was always, always basketball; for essentially her entire life, she had played competitive hoops year-round.

Then, she had to sit.

Alexa felt like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” experiencing a recurring pattern, without the thrill of a game.

“It sucks,” Alexa said. “It was really hard last year, sitting out, just living the same day over and over.”

••• That repeated day will come to an end soon, when Middleton takes the court for ISU for the first time.

Having a true point guard will be a welcome change for the Cyclones, who last year, operated with a point-guardby-committee. Sometimes, that left the offense searching for identity.

With a playmaker such as Middleton, that shouldn’t happen this season. A slick ball-handler and penetrator, Middleton will do plenty of creating this season.

“She makes great passes every practice,” junior Adriana Camber told the Ames Tribune. “Sometimes I don’t know how it gets there, but there I am, wide open.”

A fifth-year senior, Middleton’s experience allows her to see the game well.

“She’s not a blazing athlete, but I think because her basketball IQ is so high, she’s quicker than she looks because she thinks the game better than most,” head coach Fennelly said.

And although she will frequently look to pass,

Middleton is also just as likely to score herself.

“She’s got the green light.

Absolutely the green light.

So, you’ll see them going up there. She’s not shy,” Fennelly said.

When deciding where she would spend her final year of college, Middleton considered the offense she would join. The Cyclones’ style appealed to her.

She said she’s seen plenty of offenses where teams search for very specific shots within their playbook.

They want a certain look at a certain time, with limited flexibility outside of the design. Middleton likes that ISU encourages open shooters to shoot, especially from deep.

“Here, if the offense breaks down, and you have an open look halfway through the play, he wants you to shoot it,” Middleton told the Ames Tribune. “I’m not gonna say we shoot the ball quickly, but we kind of do. That’s our thing.”

Soon, Middleton will aspire to be a professional basketball player who is able to travel the country and world through her passion.

But for now, she’s focused on running point in Ames.

Middleton has played point guard — the position Fennelly believes is her natural one — on and off throughout her career. At Tennessee, she mostly played off-ball, but the combo guard is excited to run the point for ISU. It makes sense. Just as she yearns to be an essential part of a team, she similarly enjoys being the one in control of the tempo. After all, the point guard is a vital position on any team.

Said Alexa: “I like having the ball in my hands. I like feeling like I have to take care of things.”

After an anticlimactic three years in Knoxville, plus a long year of sitting in Ames, that time has finally come: Middleton will have a chance to take care of things this season.

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Ashley Joens, the reigning Miss Iowa Basketball after a stellar prep career at Iowa City High, is expected to contribute as scorer this season. PHOTO BY NIRMALENDU MAJUMDAR

Making the arc an ally

By Hayes Gardner

Staff Writer hgardner@amestrib.com

By Bill Fennelly’s estimation, a made 3-point basket gives everyone reason to celebrate.

“I jokingly tell people, ‘Even the officials get excited. They throw their arms in the air,’” Fennelly told the Ames Tribune.

That thrill is part of the reason that, from the moment he arrived on Iowa State’s campus as head coach in 1995, Fennelly has been a proponent of the 3-point shot.

He took over a program that had won just one conference game the year prior, while making fewer than two 3-pointers per game. That changed swiftly.

During his first season in Ames, 1995-96, the Cyclones made more than seven 3-pointers per game — nearly double that year’s national average of

3.8 — and finished with a 17-10 record. In part, he encouraged the 3-point shot because it generates enthusiasm for a sport that has been historically overshadowed by the men’s game.

What’s more exciting than a highly-valuable shot heaved from deep?

In each year since, the Cyclones have made considerably more 3-pointers than the national average. And since NCAA team stats were recorded in 2001, ISU has led the Big 12 in 3-pointers per game 14 out of 17 years.

That’s no accident.

It’s a calculated effort by Fennelly.

“We’re not gonna get the talent level that Baylor gets and Texas gets and Oklahoma gets,” he said.

“We’re just not gonna do it because of where we’re located and a lot of things.

So we need kids that are skilled, can spread the court. We’re a very

matchup-based team. The three has been very good to us. We like kids who can shoot it.”

Fennelly does like to recruit capable shooters, such as freshman Ashley Joens and senior Bridget Carleton, but 3-point prowess is often developed while in Ames.

Last season, Adriana Camber knocked down 50 treys (compared to 17 two-point field goals), but that wasn’t how she played during her prep career.

“I was not really a shooter coming in here, but trying to fit into the system and getting the looks we get, threes became natural for us,” she told the Ames Tribune.

“I think that we have an advantage because all 1 through 5 can shoot threes, so it’s really hard to guard us.”

See THREES on page 6

6 Iowa State’s Adriana Camber sank 50 3-pointers last season — almost three times as many 2-point field goals she had (17). PHOTO BY

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NIRMALENDU MAJUMDAR

THREES: In practice, everyone ... practices their 3-point shot every day Continued from page 5

In practice, everyone — point guards to posts — practices their 3-point shot every day.

Opposing teams often have big, capable interior forces, which the Cyclones can’t always match up with. That’s where the arc becomes an ally.

“You better be able to spread the court out because you’re not just gonna ram it down their throat on the block,” Fennelly said.

For the past two decades, 3-point shooting has been a point of emphasis. It may be emphasized even more this season.

“I anticipate this year, we’re gonna shoot it even more than we have in the past. We’re gonna try

to play faster and shoot it more and see how it works out,” Fennelly said..

The expected increased shooting from deep is largely due to personnel. Starting at point guard for ISU will be redshirtsenior Alexa Middleton, who transferred from Tennessee.

In her final season with the Lady Volunteers, she led the team in 3-pointers made and percentage. She’ll get her fair share of looks from deep this year.

ISU also added Joens, who led the state of Iowa in scoring as a senior at Iowa City High, with 30.7 points per game on 59.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Joens could easily score at all three levels in high school, but

has obviously yet to be proven at the college level.

Still, transfer guard Jade Thurmon — the leading juniorcollege scorer in the country last year — said that, in practice, she tries to get the ball to Joens whenever she can for easy points.

“If I see her on the wing, I’m trying to create and dish out,” Thurmon told the Ames Tribune.

Add in established shooters Camber, Bridget Carleton and Madison Wise, and ISU should have plenty of long-range options.

When Fennelly started at ISU, his teams were ahead of the curve, shooting threes much more frequently than their counterparts.

Oftentimes, the Cyclones would rank in the top-10 nationally for treys made.

But over the last 2 1/2 decades, the 3-pointer has become more commonplace in all levels of basketball.

Now, women’s NCAA teams average twice as many made threes (6.0 per game), as they did in the early 1990s.

“It’s just become one of those things in the sport that has become bigger than most people thought. When they changed the rule, it was like, ‘Oh, that’s a cute little idea,’” Fennelly told the Ames Tribune. “It’s gotten bigger and bigger. It’s always been big for us and there’s no question more and more teams are using it.”

When Middleton was considering ISU, she was drawn to the Cyclones’ free-flowing offense and propensity to shoot from deep.

“I like how we shoot the ball when we’re open. The three ball is big here,” she told the Ames Tribune. “If you get a good look, (Fennelly) wants you to take it.

If you don’t shoot the ball when you’re open, he’s gonna take you out. Whereas, a lot of offenses I’ve seen, they want you to get that certain look and you’re gonna have to run the play until you get that look.”

Last year, a hefty 39 percent of ISU’s points came on shots from behind the arc. With an arsenal of sharpshooters, don’t be surprised if that already-high number increases a bit this season.

“We’ve added people that can shoot it,” Fennelly said, “so why not see where that takes us and open up the court a little bit?”

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2018-19 IOWA STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 11 Jade Thurmon 13 Adriana 5-8 Guard, Jr. Camber Lancaster, Texas 5-10 Forward, Jr. Lund, Sweden

1 Madison Wise 6-1 Forward, Soph.

Greenfield, Ind.

4 Rae Johnson 5-7 Guard, Soph.

Albertville, Minn.

10 Nia Washington 5-7 Guard, Jr. Stafford, Va.

24 Ashley Joens 6-0 Guard, Fr. Iowa City, Iowa

25 Kristin Scott 6-3 Center, Soph.

Kasson, Minn.

31 Morgan Kane 32 Meredith Burkhall 6-3 Forward, Fr. West Jordan, Utah 6-3 Forward, Sr. Urbandale, Iowa

2018-19 Schedule Nov. 9 Niagara* Nov. 11 Yale/Northern Illinois* Nov. 13 TBD* Nov. 18 TBD* Nov. 21 E. Michigan# Nov. 28 at South Dakota Dec. 2 Arkansas% Dec. 5 at Iowa

Dec. 9 North Dakota Dec. 16 Drake Dec. 19 Prairie View A&M Dec. 29 Bucknell Jan. 2 Kansas State Jan. 5 at Kansas Jan. 9 TCU Jan. 12 Texas Jan. 16 at West Virginia Jan. 19 Oklahoma

33 Alexa Middleton 5-9 Guard, Sr. Murfreesboro, Tenn.

14 Lauren Mills 6-2 F/C, Fr. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

15 Ines Nezerwa 6-3 Forward, Sr. Bujumbura, Burundi

21 Bridget Carleton 6-1 Guard, Sr. Chatham, Ontario, Canada

23 Maddie Frederick 6-0 Guard, Fr. Tipp City, Ohio

Bill Fennelly Head coach RECORD: 645306

Jodi Steyer Assistant coach

Latoja Schaben Assistant coach

Billy Fennelly Assistant coach

Jan. 23 at Baylor Jan. 26 at Oklahoma State Jan. 29 Texas Tech Feb. 2 at Kansas State Feb. 9 West Virginia Feb. 13 at TCU Feb. 16 Oklahoma State Feb. 20 at Oklahoma Feb. 23 Baylor Feb. 26 at Texas Tech

March 2 at Texas March 4 Kansas March 8-11 Big 12 Tournament (Oklahoma City, Okla.) * Preseason WNIT # in Chatham, Ontario, Canada % SEC/Big 12 Challenge

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From a hometown hero to a Cyclone superstar, Bridget Carleton now eyes the Olympics

By Hayes Gardner

Staff Writer hgardner@amestrib.com

Situated on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, just outside of scenic Rondeau Provincial Park in Ontario, sits a basketball hoop.

It’s not ritzy, by any means.

Rickety would be a more apt descriptor. Or “not regulation,” as Iowa State senior star Bridget Carleton deemed it. With a shaky base typical of most driveway baskets, plus an atypical plywood backboard and old rim, it’s not glamorous.

But in spite of its shortcomings, the hoop formed the foundation of Carleton’s basketball education.

Raised in Chatham, Ontario, Carleton and her extended family would spend a month each summer and several weekends each year at a cottage on Lake Erie, half an hour from their home. For a sports-obsessed kid, that was a long time to be away. During their stays at the secluded spot, Carleton wanted to keep practicing.

“I was like, ‘I need to shoot, I need to do something-basketball related,’ because I loved it so much,” Carleton said.

When she was five years old, her father and grandfather adopted a dilapidated basketball goal with a broken backboard that had been discarded by a neighbor.

They installed a plywood backboard and painted it green, creating a serviceable, if imperfect hoop.

It started its rejuvenated life in their yard, blending in with the surrounding trees and accompanied by a ping pong table, horseshoe pits, a sandbox, and a tetherball pole. As Carleton spent more and more time shooting, the hoop was moved to the road.

“She would be shooting out there while we’re just sitting around, getting dinner ready, or sitting in the cottage. People are playing ping pong and she’s out shooting baskets,”

Bridget Carleton, who averaged 19.2 points and 3.4 assists per game last year, may not be required to score quite as much for a more well-balanced ISU offense this year. PHOTO BY NIRMALENDU MAJUMDAR

Carleton’s mother, Carrie Carleton, remembered.

A two-time unanimous all-Big 12 honoree and a member of the Canadian senior national team that competed in the FIBA World Cup this summer, Carleton

has shot on rims all across the Americas, Europe and Asia. But that green-painted hoop is a memorable one.

“I would (practice) on that on the street, dribble a little bit, shoot on that, play some games against

my cousins and uncles. It’s really fun,” she said.

During the family’s long stays at the cabin, Carleton spent much of her time shooting. Part of it was just for fun. After all, she was typically on her summer vacation

from school. But oftentimes, it was focused and driven: an intentional effort to improve her game on the green, plywood hoop.

“Something inside of her just wanted to play and get better at a young age,” Carrie said.

••• Like any good Canadian, Carleton spent her childhood winters playing travel hockey, as well as basketball. She played travel soccer, too.

But from a young age, it was obvious to Carrie — a Hall of Fame basketball player at Grand Valley State — that hoops would be Carleton’s future.

“I knew she should be playing basketball before she knew,” said Carrie, who was also Bridget’s high school coach.

By grade seven, Bridget had hung up her hockey skates to focus solely on the hardwood. And focus, she did.

James Clark, the athletic director at John McGregor Secondary School when Carleton attended the school, remembers her as profoundly hardworking.

“During season, outside of season, she’d be here (in the gym),” he told the Ames Tribune.

“I usually came in at 7:00 in the morning. There would be mornings when she’d come in: ‘Can I get the keys to the gym?’ She’s in there shooting for an hour, hour and a half before school, she’s shooting at lunch, she’s shooting after school, during the offseason.”

Nicole Quigley coached Bridget’s club team, the Chatham-Kent Wildcats and was an assistant for the high school team.

“She was always in the gym.

You almost had to kick her out of the gym. Every day, she was there,” Quigley told the Ames Tribune. “She had that determination that is hard to find in kids.

You knew that something special was gonna happen.”

See CARLETON on page 10

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CARLETON: This year, the legend will return

Continued from page 9

Something special did happen. In grade seven, she started playing for Team Ontario, and a few years later, she was on Team Canada’s U16 squad.

Her senior year, she led the John McGregor Panthers to the provincial basketball championship, averaged 28 points on her club team, had traveled and competed for Canada Basketball on their U16, U17, U18 and U19 teams, and was awarded the Jack Parry award, given to the top athlete in Chatham-area.

By the time she headed to Ames to become ISU’s first Canadian women’s basketball player, she’d become a Chatham legend.

••• This year, the legend will return home.

On Nov. 21, Iowa State will travel to Chatham to play against Eastern Michigan at a small college gym in Carleton’s hometown.

It may be a more spectacular setup than the plywood hoop Carleton grew up with, but not by much: the main gymnasium holds just 800 spectators. An elevated track rings the court, which will give 200 more attendees a bird’seye-view of the NCAA action.

With 1,000 strong in attendance, the game should make for an intimate madhouse.

“I think it took about a week to sell out the main gym,” said Quigley, one of the event’s organizers.

It was not easy to get a ticket to watch Chatham’s favorite daughter.

After all, Chatham residents are such fans that, each year, dozens and dozens of them join Carleton’s parents on a bus trip from Ontario to Ames to watch an ISU game.

For the special event, people reached out to Carrie for help getting advance tickets, but, realizing how hectic being a ticket baron could be, Carrie put her foot down.

She decided to handle the purchase of tickets for only her family members and for anyone who has joined her and her husband on the annual bus trip. That’s it. No one else.

After she was named an AP honorable mention AllAmerican as a junior, ISU coach Bill Fennelly expects a big senior year from Bridget Carleton.

“Bridget has a chance to be one of the best players to ever play here,” he said. PHOTO

BY NIRMALENDU MAJUMDAR

She ended up needing to purchase 160.

“We have a pretty big family,” she said.

For a moment, the city of Chatham once again will have Bridget Carleton to celebrate. The game will feature a childhood teammate of Bridget’s singing the national anthem, ISU-colored T-shirts worn by current members of Bridget’s old club basketball team and a halftime scrimmage between local girls.

“It’s really special to play in front of my family and friends again, who haven’t been able to make it down here (to Ames),” Bridget said. “It’ll be really emotional and exciting and energizing, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

••• Last year, Carleton had an outstanding season. She averaged 19.2 points per game and was named an AP honorable mention All-American. However, with a 14-17 record, it wasn’t the most ideal season for the Cyclones. At times, she was a one-woman show.

“We had a few games where it was like Carmelo Anthony,” ISU coach Bill Fennelly told the Ames Tribune. “The ball got to her and just stuck. And we all stood around and hoped she made a shot. We can’t play that way and be successful.”

This year, Fennelly hopes for big things from Carleton.

Very big things.

“Bridget has a chance to be one of the best players to ever play here,” Fennelly said.

But for that to be true, he knows the Cyclones need to win.

Said Fennelly: “It’s like the debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James, one of the caveats and one of the boxes you have to check off, is you have to win. And I think for Bridget, it’s, can she have a statistical year like she can, impact winning and bring the other guys with her?”

Carleton is likely to carry less of the load this season — she averaged 16.8 field goal attempts per game last year — in part because she’ll have more help around her.

One advantage the Cyclones will have this year, is a new point guard in Alexa Middleton, who is prepared to shoulder some of the offensive weight.

In October, Middleton watched a video of Los Angeles Lakers’ point guard Rajon Rondo discussing how he’s looking forward to playing with LeBron James and alleviating some of the offensive pressure that he carries.

“I sent (the video) to Bridget and I was like: ‘This is me talking about you.’ And that’s what I want to do, because she’s really good. She’s a great player, and I just want to make it easier on her because there were a lot of times last year, where she had to create on her own,” Middleton told the Ames Tribune.

Carleton didn’t indicate her role

will dramatically shift this year, but with a catalyst in Middleton, a freshman scorer in Ashley Joens, plus a more experienced Madison Wise, the Cyclones havethe looks of a more well-rounded offensive team this season.

It’s likely Carleton will score less, but assist more.

“We have a variety of weapons that can score in a variety of ways, so we’ll see. I want to be steady, I want to be consistent, so whatever that means I’m doing, I’ll do,” Carleton said.

Because she is a truly multiskilled player, Fennelly likes to brainstorm on a legal pad the different ways he can use Carleton.

The permutations are aplenty.

“It’s interesting because she’s so versatile,” he told the Ames Tribune. “I have a set of stuff where she’s the point guard, she’s the 5-man, we can use her as a decoy, we can use her as a screener. It’s fun.”

Whatever Carleton’s role is this year, one thing will not change.

Something that hasn’t changed since Carleton’s pee-wee days.

When Fennelly heads into his office at the Sukup Basketball Complex, at any hour, he can often expect to see Carleton shooting hoops.

“She lives in the gym. She loves it,” Fennelly said.

••• Despite her impressive résumé, Carleton has played in just one NCAA Tournament game during her three years. She’s hoping to return this season.

“You want to be in the top four of the Big 12,” Carleton said of her goals for the team this season. “We want to make the NCAA Tournament, we want to have a run and do well in that aspect, but I think we have a really good group, and I think if we can work together, good things can happen.”

As she finishes her storied career at ISU this season, Carleton will also have one eye on the future.

Like many elite college athletes, she is planning to move onto the professional ranks once she graduates, but that’s not her main focus.

Her biggest hope lies two years in the future, in Tokyo, Japan.

Carleton hopes to spend the summer of 2020 there, as a member of the Canadian Olympic team.

“Play professionally after this,” she said of her post-ISU goals. “Not sure what country or anything, but play professionally and hopefully make it to the Olympics one day.”

There’s nothing covert about her aspiration, and Fennelly wants this season to further launch her in that direction.

“I hope that she has the kind of the year that will allow her not only to finish her career as one of the best players to ever play here, which she is, but do our part to give her one more step, one more leg up to her ultimate dream of making the Olympic team in Canada,” he said.

Participating in the FIBA World Cup this summer with Team Canada was a huge step in the right direction for that goal to become a reality. And although Carleton played sparingly, her Team Canada coach, Lisa Thomaidis, indicated that she’s very much in the mix to make the 2020 team.

“She’s certainly in our plans, and someone that we have a high level of anticipation around her abilities, especially a couple of years down the road,” Thomaidis told the Ames Tribune. “She just keeps elevating her game every year, and that’s the part that we’re pretty pumped about.”

Thomaidis has been impressed with Carleton’s ability to, each year, add a dimension to her game.

“She’s just scratching the surface of her potential,” she said.

Her potential very much could lead to a spot on the Olympic team, but for one more season, the Chatham legend turned Cyclone superstar will wear the ISU uniform. After that, Carleton’s basketball future is up in the air.

Said her mother, Carrie: “As long as she continues to be passionate about it and love the game, then she’s gonna continue to play.”

If a rickety, plywood hoop on the Canadian side of Lake Erie is any indication of her passion, then Bridget Carleton will be playing basketball for a long time.

IOWA STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

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Sunday, November 4, 2018

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IOWA STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

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Sunday, November 4, 2018