Ole Miss women's basketball putting more emphasis in this year's summer trip

When a basketball team takes a summer trip overseas it is usually a time to enjoy some sightseeing while also getting a handful of games and competition under its belt without major consequences. But for the Ole Miss women’s program this year’s jaunt is carrying more weight than usual.

Ole Miss is heading to Italy for a nine-day tour from July 30 – August 8 where it will play in three games. Every four years teams are allowed to take an overseas trip.

Prior to the invention of the transfer portal these summer trips were nothing more than the chance for extra practice and taking part in playing against international competition. But now these nine days and three games provide an opportunity.

Next month Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin will have her new additions, including the three transfer players, on campus and eligible to take part in the late-summer trip.

Ole Miss has the ability to mesh new faces with returning players in a live-game environment prior to preseason workouts in October.

“We’re excited about going to Europe and I’m just going to throw them out there,” McCuin said on Monday. “Throw out different lineups and kind of see. I’m excited about our roster because we’re going to be able to look different in a lot of ways and not because we have to but because we want to.”

The transfers KK Deans, Kharyssa Richardson and Kennedy Todd-Williams get a head start on integrating into the Ole Miss system.

Getting the new Ole Miss trio mixed in with Madison Scott, Snudda Collins and Marquesha Davis along with other returners this summer helps McCuin see what she can put out on the floor come November with a sample size already in hand.

Very similar to how mid-year football enrollees get four weeks of extra practices by participating in spring these nine days will serve a similar purpose for the women’s basketball team.

“We can go incredibly big and sometimes have (Davis) at the point and move Kennedy Todd over and put Maddie at the three and expose her to the wing,” McCuin said. “We can really be big or we can go small and have Snudda at the four. So there are a lot of different ways we can look at this, or we can be young and I can play all my freshman.

“We’re going to use our foreign tour, those three games, to look at a bunch of different lineups.”

McCuin has the desire to play bigger this year and bringing in 6-foot-2 Richardson at the forward to pair with Scott does just that. The addition of Deans at point guard also helps with playing bigger more times than not this season.

“I would’ve loved to have played bigger at a lot of points but it was hard to keep Angel off the floor,” McCuin said. “But when we were able to play her the point it opened it up, for sure, and it gave us an incredible amount of size. One of the things we’re going to have with KK is a scoring point guard. She’s going to be able to fill that thing up and that’s what she’s comfortable doing and that’s what I want her to do.

“As far as length is concerned we’re definitely going to have that. I think we will be as athletic, maybe a little bit more. But one of the things that I’m looking forward to is the skill level improving. We focused on bringing some offense in and we’ve been known to be a defensive team and that’s always going to be our staple but you’ve still got to be able to score the ball. Having players that are natural in doing that is exciting for us.”