When did she decide she was playing the point, she came in with Emily Ryan the point Guard. She came as an off guard. Fine if she wants to play point, but to say she can play or be the point at any school she wants is simply not true.
Lexi Donarski entering transfer portal
- Thread starter SaraV
- Start date
- Status
She needs a co-point who is willing to slide to the 2. She needs a coaching staff that knows how to build on what she learned here in 3 years. Work on her 25 foot 3. Her dad will help find what is needed, I’m sure. I don’t think she needs a top ten program to prep her for the WNBA.
It may not be a 1 for 1 replacement of Ashley, but a mindset that is focusing around particular players. This year, it was Ashley, for good reason, especially when we lost 2 posts. Next year, it is likely to be new player(s) in order to build for the future. That leaves Lexi and Denae somewhat on the outside looking in, once again not being the focal point of the offense. That's my theory.
If I recall correctly, Bill didn’t really decide who would be the PG until Emily and Lexi were on campus. Both were successful PGs in High School. It made sense for the team that Emily play PG and Lexi play SG, but that doesn’t mean that Lexi doesn’t desire to play PG now. I personally think Lexi is leaving to try and find a program that has better player development. By all accounts she is an extremely hard worker and driven to succeed. My guess is that her improvement from year one to year three likely wasn’t what her family hoped for so they are seeking a different staff to see if they can resolve that.
Lex was a highly ranked recruit but played in a very small class in WI. Other than games against Hopkins and Dowling (who other than CC was not a great HS team) she did not see much competition. McD AA is somewhat of a curse too due to the expectations. I saw a stat that 18 or 19 of the 24 McD AA in that class have transferred from their original school. You can say what you want about development but somehow this staff developed her to being 1st team all conference and defensive POY a year ago, the drop off was just that she could not make the same shots she did a year earlier. If she had repeated the year before results I think she would still be at ISU, someone had to be to blame and the staff was an easy target for her and her family.
I don't like arguing with fellow Cyclone fans as we all love the same team and just want them to do well. Having said that, the Fennelly apologists absolutely slay me! Bottom line - a school like ISU can't afford attrition like we've seen this year and CBF is ultimately responsible for building and maintaining the squad. For those of you citing the highly rated recruiting class as evidence we'll be OK, I heard one of the key pieces briefly wavered (based on the defections) before steadying after a phone conversation with one of the defectors. As for recruiting experienced players from the portal, I'll line up behind the Truman State Sharpshooter, but we're at a distinct net negative thus far in replacing Lexi / Denae. You simply can't spin this as a positive development and throwing shade at Lexi is a really bad look / take. I'm out...
Can’t agree or disagree. Bottom line is all of these posts are pure speculation on our parts. We just don’t know and unless the media gets a direct quote from Donarski, Fritz or Fennelly we won’t ever know.
My problem is while I do not always agree with choices the staff makes those who always blame the coaches have never coached a team before. I have coached and you can work with players, draw up great plays and put what you feel are the best people to run the plays but in the end the PLAYERS must perform. They must work to get better if they want more responsibility and playing time. I hope Lexi finds a place where she be happy.
With the college hoops environment with the portal and NIL, I feel like what we experienced this off-season is the new norm. As fans, we think if a player is starting, they should be happy both on and off the court. But the reality is there are a ton of ELITE WBB players in the portal, ISU just happens to have 2 of our best players.
I feel like BF needs to change his attitude toward recruiting 15 players. Why not take a bit of a risk on borderline Iowa HS players? Just looking at the success that Drake and UNI, there is overlooked talent in the state.
Lexi might want to play on a team that has an offense that can get her the ball when she has a shot instead of when the shot clock is about to expire
The incoming recruiting class is like the best Iowa State has ever had. And that includes 3 of the best players in Iowa.
I like BF’s attitude. Get great players, including the best in Iowa.
Can't disagree with the approach you describe. If it is foolproof.
But it seems like our bench has been lacking the last couple years. Look at the minutes our starters have played. Could we have filled the 14th/15th scholarship spots with instate players who didn't have P5 schools knocking down their doors. I look at Drake and UNI's rosters and there are Iowa HS kids who are among their best players. If Bill offered a scholarship to Maya McDermott, Grace Boffeli, etc. would they have chosen to play in Big12 vs MVC?
Recruiting is a numbers game. No staff is going to bat 1000%. In fact if a staff bats better than .500 they are doing a great job. So using all 15 scholarships increases the chances of having a solid bench.
Another way to look at it. We have had Mary Kate King as a walk-on then scholarship player the last 2 years. A great story. But if we are going to have walk-ons, why not recruit a higher level player and give them a scholarship day 1?
Even if he had a bench with more talent, Bill probably still wouldn't use it properly to reduce starter PT and fatigue. There were multiple blowout games this past season where Bill needlessly played Ryan, in particular, over 35 minutes. And of course, there have been multiple losses in the NCAAs to mid major teams in recent years who do effectively utilize their less or equally talented bench depth.
Last edited:
Pretty simple-- eligibility is finite. She had plenty of time to reach the decision Iowa State wasn't where she wanted to spend her last couple years. If you stick around one more year to see if it improves, that's one less year you have to play college basketball.
I think he was talking about how Bill completes the backend of his roster. Spots 7-15 have been very weak and rarely included Iowa kids.
We have three recruits from Iowa for 2023, only Crooks is top ranked and she is still a bit of a project. Prospects Nation has Jackson and Joens as four star Top 150, their general rating after numbering the top recruits. So not players I think of as a big "risk" or a "flyer" but still way enough for kids from Iowa. Not sure why we would want to add anyone outside of the good recruit realm just because they might be good enough to play at Drake or UNI.
Iowa (since they are the other P5 school in the state) had five Iowans on their roster last season and only Clark and Stuelke played. Of course they were the best players in Iowa in their recruiting class. Of the other unranked borderline players, those three played about as much, or less, than our bottom three and one, Wetering, is leaving. The answer to a deep roster is not borderline kids from Iowa. Iowa's "flyer" on unranked Iowa native Sharon Goodman looked like it might pay off as she looked better than her not regarded recruit status as a freshman (saw a few games and thought "Whos' that? She doesn't look bad for a freshman I never heard of.") but she hasn't been able to come back from her ACL is buried at the end of the bench.
As I was watching Katie Dinnebier of Drake matching Hailey Van Lith play for play in a riveting NCAA tournament game, I wondered if ISU even recruited her in HS (Waukee). There is significant talent in Iowa HS girls basketball and both Drake and UNI do an excellent job of identifying it!
My question about this player to you (as I watched her in HS) is do you think she is tall enough ? There have been a number of posters who have asked is our portal player Hannah Belanger tall enough for D1 play. I have thought for years we need to use our bench more but if in practice the staff sees that they are not able to handle the position you don't put them in and then have fans complain about how bad the choice was,
Then why aren't other Power 6 schools recruiting these players if they are so good? If Katie Dinnibier and Mya McDermott are Power 6 talent, why are they playing at Drake and UNI? Why haven't they put their names in the portal to go to bigger schools? I have yet to see a Drake or UNI player go into the transfer portal over the last two years and move to a Power 6 school, so that tells me all I need to know.
2021-2022
Drake had no transfers in/out
UNI - 1 in from Green Bay, one out to Coastal Carolina
2022-2023
Drake - one in from Loyola Chicago
UNI - none
When Dinnebier signed with Drake in 2020, we had the following:
Emily Ryan - freshman
Lexi Dornarski - freshman
Denae Fritz - same class as Dinnibier
Aubrey Jones - freshman
Kylie Feuerbach -freshman
Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw - sophomore
So, we didn't have a need for another guard, so why would you recruit another guard?
Last edited:
- Status
