Preseason Fact Sheet #1

YEAR TWO OPENS THIS WEEKEND: Susie Gardner begins her second season as the head coach for the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Saturday with a pair of first-day practices. Returning four starters but losing the top scorer and the SEC Player of the Year, the Lady’Backs are focusing on the team as a theme for 2004-05.
PRACTICE SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEKEND: Arkansas starts full practice at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning for two hours. The staff has two practices set for Saturday returning at 3 p.m. for another two hour slot. One practice is set for Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Then it’s on to regular business hours on Monday, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. For the first weeks of practice, Tuesday is the off day.
HOW MANY STARTERS? A pretty good argument can be made for five returning starters with redshirt sophomore Sarah Pfeifer back on the hardwood after her season-ending shoulder injury. The 6-0 forward started the first three games of her shortened first sophomore year, and when the partial game with Oregon State is factored out (only two points in 14 minutes) Pfeifer is one of the top returning scorers with 10 ppg.
RED-WHITE RETURNS: After a one-year hiatus, the Lady Razorbacks host a Red-White Game on Thursday, Oct. 28. The coaching staff will set the 14-player roster into teams after practices the next week and a half.
SMALLER, FASTER LADY’BACKS: Expect an emphasis on the open court this season from Arkansas, starting with preseason practices. Susie Gardner indicated the team will press more this year, and might start practice sessions working defense first to take advantage of the team’s enhanced conditioning and 14-player roster.
HOME SWEET HOME: After a year that was dominated by the road — one game in Fayetteville for almost the entire fall 2003 portion of the schedule — Arkansas enjoys a home-dominated pre-conference schedule for 2004-05. After preseason games with Everyone’s Internet and Athletes in Action, Arkansas hosts a pair of games at Walton Arena to begin the year. Arkansas opens with Alabama State on Nov. 19, then hosts Centenary on Nov. 21. The Lady’Backs have only two road trips before Christmas — at the Flint Resources Islander Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas, for a Thanksgiving tournament then at Memphis on Dec. 7. That’s nothing like last year’s road warrior slate that racked up six road trips and five-figure frequent flyer miles.
ORIENTATION WEEKEND: The Lady’Backs welcome six newcomers to the practice floor at Walton Arena: two freshmen in Brittney Vaughn and Christina Lawrence, three juniors in Melissa Hobbs, Sheree Thompson and Kristina Andjelkovic and one senior in Allison Singleton.
NOT SO NEWCOMERS: Half of the "rookies" have plenty of experience with Gardner’s system. Shree Thompson tore her ACL in the opening week of practice last year, and heads into 2004-05 as a redshirt JUCO transfer. Melissa Hobbs joined the team at mid-term from Colorado, and has the benefit of working out with the scout squad all spring. Not unlike Adrienne Bush last season, Hobbs is eligible after the close of the fall 2004 semester. Allison Singleton fulfills her dream of walking on to the squad after three years as a manager and part-time practice player.
KEEP YOUR CH(K)RISTINA’S STRAIGHT: Joining Arkansas’ Kristins are a pair of Christina’s — two-sport freshman Christina Lawrence and junior college transfer Kristina Andjelkovic. While the first names sound the same, take a little time to work on your Serbian — an-JOH-ko-VIC.
SEPARATE YOUR VAUGHNS: Sisters Rochelle and Brittney Vaughn suit up for the Lady Razorbacks this season, and while freshman Brittney is wearing her junior sister Rochelle’s rookie season number (25) they are very different personalities on and off the court.
NEW TRAINER ALREADY HARD AT WORK: This season, the Lady Razorback training room made some assignment changes and joining the basketball team this year is Phil Vardimann. Vardimann’s already had some preseason work with previously reported visits to the doctor by Adrienne Bush (appendix) and Ruby Vaden (minor arthroscopic knee), but both are ready for practice this weekend.
NEW STRENGTH COACH WORKING EVEN HARDER: J.C. Moreau joined the Lady’Back staff in the summer as the Women’s Athletics Department’s new strength and conditioning coach. Susie Gardner has been impressed with Moreau’s preseason workouts, and sees his effort as critical to the team’s success this fall.
SEC MEDIA DAY DOUBLE-HEADER: Arkansas begins the morning of Oct. 28 at SEC Media Day in Birmingham, then jets home to prepare for the Red-White Game at Walton Arena.
TICKETS ARE ON SALE: Season tickets for the 2004-05 season are on sale. Prices are $90 for reserved, $80 for student/senior citizen reserved and are available by calling 877-LADYBACK or 57-LBACK, or for new season ticket sales available on-line at LADYBACKS.COM. All season ticket renewals must be processed by the Lady’Back Ticket Office, but the season ticket form for renewals can be downloaded from the website.