In her second year at Arizona State, women’s basketball coach Molly Miller’s vocabulary has sunk in with her returners.
Whether it’s calling new players “freshmen” in her system or calling for bedtime at practices (before entry dialogue), Miller is happy others will be able to understand her.
“They finish my sentences, and I’m so happy because I have echoes behind me,” Miller said. “Last year, it was me and my coaching staff who had to dictate the next play. They’ll finish my sentences; they know what to do, so they’re on the sidelines coaching them up.”
It's more than that for Miller.
“I really think there’s value in not being a freshman in a system," Miller said. "Although they’re not freshmen, they were freshmen in a system last year. They’ve
got a year under their belt, and they know exactly their expectations. They can almost cover up some mistakes for us by talking it through with their teammates.”
ASU returns five players, including forward McKinna Brackens, from the 2026 NCAA Tournament team that went 24-11. Brackens was second in scoring with 14.4 points.
“I definitely feel like practices are going smoother as well,” Brackens said. “Because people can ask me or some of the other returners if they have any questions, because last year, we didn’t know what was going on. Now, I feel like because she does have me out there, it makes it go smoother.”
ASU brought in eight newcomers for the upcoming season, including five transfers. The transfer class was ranked in the top-five by USA TODAY and added significant guard depth with Tennessee guard Ruby Whitehorn, Michigan State guard Rashunda “Spider” Jones and Central Michigan guard Madi Morson.
Whitehorn was a top player for Tennessee in the 2024-25 season, while Jones has been an All-Big Ten defender. Morson was last season’s MAC Player of the Year in her sophomore season.
Miller added that Whitehorn is the best rebounding guard she’s coached in a while and likened her style to former guard Gabby Elliott, who led ASU with 15.8 points last season.
ASU finished ninth out of 16 teams in the Big 12 in rebounding (36.5), and returns its top two rebounders in Brackens and Heloisa Carrera.
“I just take great pride in rebounding,” Whitehorn said. “It’s always been something that I learned growing up was it took a certain type of toughness to be a rebounder, and you have to be intentional about it because not everyone cares about pursuing rebounds, especially from a guard perspective.”
Miller anticipates all three of those guards together on one of her rotations, but is also excited to see where her depth will go.
“It’ll be this rotating door of go out there, give it your hardest and when you come out and get back in, you got to turn it up a notch,” Miller said. “We got shooters, we got slashers, we got three-level scorers.”
The Sun Devils open the season at home with Jackson State on Nov. 2 and then will host Northern Arizona on Nov. 5.
“They have all bought in, and we have so many different weapons," Miller said. "Last year, we had to manufacture certain things for certain people at certain times. This year, we can kind of roll the ball out and play, and they can read and react and decision make. We’re giving them a lot more freedom in open court and in transition to make those plays, and we have a lot of playmakers out there.”
Reach the reporter or send tips for stories at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State women’s basketball found depth for upcoming season
