Last season was a continuation of a tough decade in Wilmington. In the face of uncertainty, because of the virus and otherwise, and a lack of experience, it looks like it might again be a long season for the Seahawks.
2019–20 Record: 10–20, 6-12 CAA (9th place)
Last season saw a return to form for poor UNC Wilmington, which struggled to keep its head above water, find success and achieve a winning record year after year throughout the 2010s.
The Seahawks certainly declined last season from their breakout year in 2018–19, but it wasn’t unusual for them to finish with a losing record once again at the end of another heartbreaking season — a basketball season with an abrupt ending like no other.
With the exception of the 2018–19 season, in which the Seahawks (18-12, 11-7 CAA) miraculously finished fourth in the conference after seven seasons below .500, the 2010s were not kind to UNCW, and neither was last season, capping off the decade with a bust as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the sudden cancellation of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
For UNCW, I imagine, the cancellation hit the Seahawks especially hard. The coronavirus was the party crasher no one expected when the ninth-seeded Seahawks drove north to Elon, N.C., to play in the CAA Tournament.
Going home because of a novel coronavirus must have seemed unthinkable for the Seahawks, who beat eighth-seeded Charleston (13-17, 6-12 CAA) a day before the announcement to cancel was made Thursday, March 12. And as UNCW prepared to play its next opponent — Drexel (23-7, 16-2 CAA), the No. 1 seed — in the quarterfinals, the decision to call off the tournament altogether must have felt unreal.
I sincerely doubt whether UNCW would’ve slain the Dragons that day, but I’m sure the spirit, the confidence and the enthusiasm were there in that Seahawks locker room to challenge Drexel and were absolutely crushed and devastated by the announcement to cancel, although undoubtedly coupled with some understanding.
So ended UNCW’s 2019–20 season. Not with a bang but with a buzzer. An empty arena and a shot clock being switched off.
Perhaps the 2020s will be better for UNCW — a kinder, friendlier decade to the Seahawks as they strive to achieve a rare, much-coveted winning record. And perhaps the 2020–21 season will be the start of something new and better for the program.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, UNCW’s talented senior class now graduated and head coach Karen Barefoot’s employment status in question, the decade ahead looks bleak for the Seahawks, and so does next season.
Perhaps the most frightening and destabilizing issue for the Seahawks — besides the obvious, ever-present risk of COVID-19 for all the teams — is the mystery surrounding Barefoot’s status as head coach. While Barefoot is still listed as head coach on UNCW’s website, the athletics department quietly named assistant coach Tina Martin as “Interim Head Coach” and senior associate athletic director Joe Browning refused to comment, calling it a “personnel matter.”
Who’s running the show down at UNCW? Barefoot or Martin? I guess we’ll find out Wednesday, Nov. 25, once the season begins.
I doubt UNCW will have a winning record this year, much less meet last year’s low expectations. Unless the Seahawks manage to perform miracles in the midst of a basketball season unlike any other, one sure to be marked by the pandemic, I think the Seahawks will win only a few games at best.
(I’d given you a specific number, or range of numbers, but the schedules are still being finalized, and I’m not sure how many games UNCW is going to play in addition to the 18 scheduled CAA games.)
I’m not sure how many of those few Seahawk wins will be conference victories, but I predict UNCW will finish toward the bottom of the conference, either ninth (again) or 10th (dead last).
It’s not going to be a good year for UNCW.
Hofstra, whose ruinous collapse Brendan rehashed in his 2020–21 Hofstra Preview, will undoubtedly improve after a rock-bottom season (3-27, 0-18 CAA). After going winless last year in conference play, the “Pride” (humbled as they were and are) have only one place to go this season, and that’s up, possibly to UNCW’s detriment.
In addition to the likelihood of Hofstra improving and surpassing the struggling Seahawks, UNCW also has to contend with the loss of GiGi Smith, Lacey Suggs and Ahyiona Vason, the Seahawks’ three star senior guards, now graduated.
Smith, who averaged 34.3 minutes per game last season, averaged 14.3 points (eighth in the CAA) and 4.5 rebounds per game, making her UNCW’s leading scorer. She also converted 76.8 percent of her free throws, putting her 10th in free-throw shooting in the CAA.
Suggs, UNCW’s second-best scorer, averaged 12.8 points and a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game last season. She also averaged a team-high 34.7 minutes per game.
And Vason, UNCW’s third-best scorer, averaged 10 points and 3.3 rebounds per game on an average of 26.6 minutes per game. She also finished sixth in the CAA with steals (55 total in 29 games started) and seventh in field-goal shooting (47.5 percent, or 113-of-238).
With Smith, Suggs and Vason now graduated, leadership within the Seahawks locker room will likely turn to Paige Powell and Carol-Anne Obusek, UNCW’s two towering senior forwards.
The two are listed at 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3, respectively, making them the tallest players on the Seahawks besides sophomore forward Nya Mitchells at 6-foot-4.
For Powell and Obusek, guiding the Seahawks to the CAA Tournament, in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and a coaching crisis, will be a true test of leadership.
However, despite all the challenges ahead, Powell, Obusek and UNCW do have some bright spots to look forward to this season. The Seahawks have several talented guards coming in as freshman this year: namely, Mary McMillan, Taylor Webster, Evan Miller and Sallie Vick.
McMillan, a 5-foot-6 guard from Apopka, Fla., averaged 13.5 points, three rebounds, and three assists per game during her senior season, and guided Apopka High School to a 24-4 record and a district championship.
Webster, 5-foot-10 from Washington, D.C., led Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School to a 100-25 career record and four Independent School League Class AA championships during her time with the Cubs.
Miller, 5-foot-10 from Charlotte, N.C., won all-conference honors last year and was nominated for the McDonald’s All-America Game after averaging 18 points, six rebounds and three assists per game as a senior.
Vick, 5-foot-9 from UNCW’s home base of Wilmington, N.C., served as the three-year varsity captain (and student body president) at St. Anne’s Belfield High School, helping the Saints win three conference championships and reach the state semifinals twice.
Assuming all goes well with training, practicing and playing together at a collegiate level, these incoming freshmen guards should be able to give Powell, Obusek and the bigs the support they need from the perimeter, either by shooting the three or distributing the basketball.
All in all, this upcoming season will be unlike any other for UNCW — there are many challenges ahead for the Seahawks with only a few bright spots — and unless something miraculous happens soon with the coaches, the seniors and the freshmen, I don’t foresee 2020–21 being the best of years for UNCW.
Maybe 2021–22 will be different once COVID-19 (hopefully, fingers crossed) subsides and once the freshmen gain some experience with the Seahawks — but for now, times are tough down at UNCW.