Second season should be easier for UW women's basketball coach Tia Jackson

A season removed from the most notable exodus of freshmen in Washington women's basketball history, one thing is certain.

Toughness won't be an issue.

"Yeah, she's tough," junior Lydia Young said of Washington coach Tia Jackson. "But I don't want an easy coach."

The approach players took to the game was a concern in Jackson's first season, as the passionate former Duke assistant began to change the atmosphere from the June Daugherty regime. But four of Daugherty's six highly touted recruits didn't like the new tone, transferring by the end of their freshman season.

Jess McCormack, a 6-foot-5 center, signed with Connecticut. Katelan Redmon, a 6-foot wing player from Spokane, returned home to play for Gonzaga. Kali Bennett, a 6-5 center, transferred to Arizona State. And Candice Nichols, a 5-10 guard, enrolled at Loyola Marymount.

Replacing those players and three graduated seniors are eight new faces, including Young — one of two junior-college transfers. Talk to that group and Jackson's toughness — holding players accountable and working them hard in practice so games feel like a breeze — is welcomed.

"I respect her and anything she wants, I'm going to do it," Young said. "She's been where I'm trying to go to. She's been in the WNBA, so I think, 'Well, she knows more, so why wouldn't I want to listen?' "

While the transfers might have cleared out clutter in the system Jackson desires, it did knock some luster off the program. The Huskies are projected to finished seventh in the Pac-10. With McCormack, a New Zealand Olympian, and Redmon, last season's leading scorer (11.8), Washington likely would have been pegged higher.

Regardless, Jackson was curt in stating it would take all 15 current players to fill the void and improve on last season's 13-18 finish. And she was certain the exodus would help her program grow.

"I think keeping players who didn't want to be here would have set us back," she said. "That [them leaving] allowed us to move forward."

Jackson wants to have a set rotation by Tuesday, when Washington opens its exhibition season with a 7 p.m. game against Love & Basketball at Edmundson Pavilion. With so many new pieces, she was hesitant to name potential starters.

During a practice open to the media, sophomore guard Sarah Morton, freshman guard Kristi Kingma, senior guard/forward Michelle Augustavo, freshman Mollie Williams, junior guard/forward Sami Whitcomb and Young were working as the "gold" team on half the court while the rest wore purple practice jerseys on the other end.

Jackson said with a group of seven returning players who understand and accept her style, continuing to implement her system has been easier this season.

The style of play has been tagged "running under control," with the defense hopefully setting up the offense.

The Huskies have more size than in past seasons and various scoring capabilities with players like Kingma, who averaged 23.1 points in the Washington Class 4A state tournament last season.

"We're really getting to redefine ourselves," said Whitcomb, who averaged 11.2 points and 4.1 rebounds last season. "Over the summer and spring season we got to work on roles and the makeup of this team and it's due to the fact that Coach J is trying to change the culture of this team.

"At first, a lot of us felt it was going to be another rebuilding year. But I really feel that we all feel we've come a long way since last spring, really quickly. So, I don't think any of us are anticipating having a year that once it's over we can push it aside and say we were rebuilding. We have very high expectations for this year. We want to go far and have a good time doing it."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com