Monarchs Blog and Q&A

Bee staff writer Melody Gutierrez grew up in Twentynine Palms. At 14-years-old, she decided to combine her two passions -- sports and writing -- when she became a special assignments reporter for the Desert Trail, her hometown weekly newspaper. Melody headed to Northern California in 2000 to attend Chico State and has remained in the region ever since. She earned an internship with The Bee and subsequently became a staff writer in 2004 and has covered virtually every sport, starting with high schools, up through college and then the pros. Melody took over coverage of the Monarchs last season and chronicled the team's pursuit of a second straight league championship -- a quest that fell just short.

Melody welcomes your questions and will answer as many as she can as the season progresses.

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April 25, 2007

Defining 'new'

Question: I keep hearing the players talk about "newness," but in my estimation, the Monarchs still have eight core players from the 2005 championship squad, including Chelsea Newton. How much is the new coach influencing the newness, and will we see some changes in the team's philosophy?

I am a die-hard and cannot wait for the season. The Monarchs add so much interest into what would usually be a boring summer.

- Donald, Sacramento

Answer: You're right. To a degree, this is not a very new team. The entire starting roster that won the 2005 WNBA championship is returning, and the Monarchs are working to replace role players such as Erin Buescher and Hamchetou Maiga-Ba from last year's team that finished a game shy of repeating.

Coach Jenny Boucek has emphasized that she doesn't want to mess with something that isn't broken. She plans to keep former coach John Whisenant's signature defense. But - here comes the change - offensively, Boucek has been tinkering.

As Yolanda Griffith said today: "I'm adjusting to the new offense. I haven't had (new) offense in what, three years? So I think it's a good step."

From what I've seen in a few scrimmages and drills, Boucek looks to set more screens and plans to push the ball more.

- Melody Gutierrez

Posted by Brian Blomster, April 25, 2007 06:02 PM

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