After a weekend of Cardinal jubilation, Monday brought stunning news. JJ Hones, a women’s basketball fixture and a rising redshirt senior, had been dismissed from the team for a violation of its rules; the Athletic Department offered no further explanation. On Tuesday, Fanhouse reported that Hones was arrested for a DUI on May 2, although a direct correlation between the incident and her dismissal has not been fully confirmed.
On the surface, before the drunk driving episode came to light, it was puzzling that there was the need for an announcement at all. Hones had a year of eligibility left, but is an academic senior and could have graduated without playing her final season. Plenty of players in a variety of sports do this, including Hones’s team and classmate Michelle Harrison, who will not exercise her fifth year option. Given the Athletic Department’s generally demure approach to punishment, it would not have been out of the question for Hones to exit quietly.
That is in theory, of course, but not in practice, because eventually, questions would have been asked, as Hones was expected back for another season and was seen as widely important to Stanford’s 2010-11 plans. This point remains salient: Hones was not simply a rotational player but rather, a veteran with a serious role to play next season.
With the graduation of Ros Gold-Onwude, Stanford was left with a hole in its starting lineup at the guard position. Enter Hones, who started 43 games in her Stanford career despite tearing her left ACL — twice. Indeed, Hones was limited often by her injuries, but when she played, she was frequently a force. For example, she was seen as one of the “x factors” of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, as her play as the starting point guard helped power the Cardinal to an Elite Eight win over Maryland (in which she scored a career-high 23 points) and a Final Four victory over Connecticut.
After sustaining a season-ending injury in early 2008-09, she returned this year as the sixth man, a three-point threat and a spot starter. Even then, she existed as the lone true point guard on the Cardinal’s roster — Jeanette Pohlen has held down the position since Hones’s injury in the fall of 2008, and has done an admirable job of acclimating herself to the role, but the “one” is not her natural position.
This in turn meant that in 2010-11, with Hones having a chance to get into the lineup next to Pohlen, it was entirely conceivable that the Cardinal could have eased both into more comfortable and fitting jobs. It is worth noting that Hones would likely not have made it back before December, but regardless of her return, the eventual option, now, is out the window. The question becomes: who replaces Hones?
The question is two-fold. Not only must her play be accounted for, but so too must her leadership. Both Gold-Onwude and Jayne Appel were enthusiastic, charismatic leaders; Hones, too, fell into this category. Suddenly, there is a void. Who will lead the pre-game huddles and rally the team in the midst of competition? Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen are both seniors, and Melanie Murphy returns for a fifth year — certainly, the onus will be on them to fill that now-empty space.
The on-court issue is even more interesting. Murphy has a knack for big shots in big spots, but has had her own battles with injuries throughout her career and recently underwent knee surgery of her own. Her quick first step would add a nice element to the Cardinal offense, but with an extensive rehabilitation looming, she likely would not be able to contribute immediately.
Beyond Murphy is Lindy La Rocque, who, through her first two seasons, has been almost exclusively a three-point specialist and little more, but has demonstrated some nice passing ability when called upon. Other than La Rocque, the only other guards on the roster are the little-used Hannah Donaghe and Grace Mashore.
That means that incoming freshmen Sara James (ESPN’s No. 18 recruit overall and No. 3 shooting guard) and Toni Kokenis (No. 60 overall, No. 18 point guard) may have a large role to play early in their careers. James in particular is deft at both the point and shooting guard positions, which may fit in well with the versatile Pohlen. But that being said, it is almost always difficult to calibrate just how well a high schooler’s game translates to the collegiate level — it is thus hard to set in stone any predicted contributions.
Stanford does have some options, but each comes with questions, and the depth is limited. The guard position is now in a precarious spot. Make no mistake: losing Hones is no small matter.
There are no off-seasons in Wyndam Makowsky’s world. Send applications for a travel visa to makowsky “at” stanford.edu.