At various parts of last season, Jeff Harada looked down his bench and counted his substitution options with one hand. This doesn’t sound so bad on its face. Harada had five starters and five subs. Where’s the problem?
No, it doesn’t sound so bad. Until you realize when Harada counted his options, he had fingers to spare.
Three of them, to be exact.
“There were games we had seven healthy players,” the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball coach said about the 2022-23 season. “We had issues last year. We lost all three of our point guards, and that was tough. It was one of those weird years.”
That Harada and the Titans were in for “one of those weird years” could have been foreshadowed in their Big West Conference opener against UC Santa Barbara. On the first play of the game, 6-foot forward Kathryn Neff went up to contest a shot, came down awkwardly without any contact — and tore her ACL. That deprived the Titans of a minutes-eating inside-outside threat who was 7-for-17 on her 3-pointers in the 10 games she played.
The crystal ball could have foreshadowed it during an October practice when graduate transfer Shyla Latone — whom Harada looked to for major point-guard minutes and scoring — tore her ACL. Latone was expected to replace Lily Wahinekapu, the reigning conference Freshman of the Year, who transferred to Hawaii.
No problem. Right? Harada had Anniken Frey, who didn’t play the 2021-22 season due to nerve damage. But during the 2020-21 season, Frey started all 22 games, averaging 9.2 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per game. Until he didn’t have Frey, who missed all but 12 games battling that recurring medical issue.
And we haven’t mentioned then-freshman Kaliana Salazar-Harrell, who tore her ACL in her last high school game — the Hawaii state title game — in the late winter of 2022. Harada said he’d thought Salazar-Harrell would return for conference play. Instead, she wasn’t ready, and Harada redshirted her.
“We had to make do with two other guards who had to play point guard,” Harada said, referring to Fujika Nimmo and Una Jovanovic. “They had to play 38 minutes a game and share point guard duties. We had no depth at that position.”
Nor does Harada have Jovanovic anymore. The second-team All-Big West selection transferred to TCU after leading the Big West in field-goal percentage (.425), finishing second in average minutes (37.9) and averaging 14.6 points and 3.8 assists.
You develop them, get them good, and they decide they want to leave,” Harada lamented.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Harada spent an offseason fixing leaks on the recruiting trail, starting — not surprisingly — at point guard. The 2023-24 Titans, who lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, are as deep as they’ve been since before the pandemic. Including Nimmo (more on her momentarily) and Salazar-Harrell, Harada has four point guards at his disposal and 14 players overall.
This is why Harada is the most optimistic he’s been since the pandemic wiped out what would have been his most talented team. Barring another conga line of players heading to the trainer’s room, Harada needs more than one hand to count his substitution options.
“This year, we have a good mix of players, a good balance of classes: seven upperclassmen and seven underclassmen. We have depth at every position, which is really important for us,” he said. “All we’re trying to do is stay healthy and keep a full roster through a whole season.”
If there was one positive Harada took from last year, it was Nimmo, who enjoyed a breakout year during her enforced stint sharing the point with Jovanovic. Now a senior, Nimmo averaged 14.5 points and 3.1 rebounds a game. She joined the 1,000-point club early in 2023 against UC Riverside, set career highs in points (26 against Santa Clara), 3-pointers (five against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), minutes (45 against UC Irvine) and free-throws (nine against San Jose State). A second-team All-Big West selection, Nimmo’s ability to create her own shot at all three levels and find teammates — she averaged 2.7 assists a game — just needs acclimation to a new group of players.
“Last year was a breakout year where it all came to fruition for her,” Harada said. “She was able to understand our offense and understand the league a little better than before. She was able to make plays and she knows how to score the basketball, she can create, and she can create for others. She came from Florida and is getting used to playing with a new system, a new team, a new conference and a new style of basketball — everything that comes with transitioning from across the country.”
Nimmo has some familiar players to play off. There’s Neff, 5-10 guard Gabi Vidmar and 6-1 post Ashlee Lewis. Vidmar led the Big West in minutes played (39.1), averaging 8.1 points and five rebounds a game while leading the Titans with 53 3-pointers on 35.3% shooting. Lewis averaged 10.3 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds a game — the No. 2 total in the Big West.
“Gabi is arguably one of our best shooters, but she excels on both ends of the floor,” Harada said. “She can knock down threes and she’s just so consistent defensively. She led us in steals last year and her ability to read things on defense is due to her great timing. She is someone who can make a difference on both ends.”
The next huge thing could be freshman Hope Hassmann. The 5-8 guard was a three-time conference MVP at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Wash. who passed up UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and Cal Poly, among other suitors. This meant Harada not only out-recruited three of his conference rivals, but in so doing, brought him a player who made the all-tournament team in her first college tournament — the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu. Hassmann averaged 19 points a game in the two games and six games into her college career, averages a team-best 13.8 points on 46.4% shooting.
“Her work ethic is off the charts. She wants to be good,” Harada said. “She’s super-competitive, does everything the right way, and when she makes mistakes, plays through them. She has this edge to her that sets her above the rest and her motor is nonstop. … I watched her play in summer club tournaments and when I watched her compete and play, she stood out. She literally willed her team to win. I said, ‘This is the player I need.’ ”
When it comes back to what the Titans need this year, Harada had the answer before the question was asked. The preseason coaches poll picked the Titans fifth, a two-spot jump from their seventh-place finish last year, and Harada understands better than most what can vault the Titans beyond that.
“No. 1 is staying healthy. That’s always No. 1,” he said. “Our depth is a huge bonus for us, but in order to take advantage of that, we have to stay healthy. The biggest key on top of that is that our players understand and accept their roles. When you have a lot of depth, it’s a blessing and a curse. Everyone wants to play, but you can only play five at a time and only so many players in 40 minutes. It’s important that our players play selflessly and understand they have to make sacrifices.”
It’s a problem Harada is happy to experience.
