— First-year Clemson women's basketball coach Cristy McKinney begins her initial practice Friday night searching to replace arguably the Tigers' best player.
Clemson announced last month that senior guard Reggie Maddox would miss the season to concentrate on academics. Maddox is not eligible academically to play this semester, McKinney said Monday.
"She could possibly get eligible in the spring, but we're taking the route that we'd like to have Reggie for a full year and not a half year, and she needs that fifth year to graduate," McKinney said. "So we see it as a win-win."
Maddox was the team's leading scorer with 9.5 points last season when the Tigers went 8-20. She also led Clemson in steals with 1.7 and ranked second in rebounding at five per game.
McKinney initially plans for Tasha Phillips and Julie Talley to play shooting guard, the position vacated by Maddox. Talley will back up point guard Tasha Taylor because freshman Christy Brown underwent surgery in July for a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
"If Christy can get back by the end of December, early January, we might play her this year since she's our only true backup at the spot," McKinney said. "But Julie can do the job."
"We can improve on the win total from a year ago, and that's something I really want to do," McKinney said. "I want to get out of the bottom of the ACC for sure. The big thing to me is being competitive every night."
This is cache, read story here