AMHERST — Paige McCormick has played with 6-foot-5 players before, but none of them left her with the impression Maeve Donnelly has this offseason.
McCormick came to UMass as a guard but has made the transition into a stretch forward this offseason. And even she can’t believe sometimes just how tall and active Donnelly has been in the post. The freshman center from Binghamton, New York, has slid effortlessly into the middle of the Minutewomen’s systems and given her teammates confidence that she’ll be able to produce right away.
“I’m so impressed,” McCormick said. “She’s working really hard and we’re working with her after practice most days and just hammering her. We know she needs to get stronger — that’s just a freshman thing — but we’re really excited for her. I’m excited to see what she’ll do, she’ll make an impact and I don’t think people will be ready for it.”
The frontcourt was a major weakness for the Minutewomen last season and became a focal point in coach Tory Verdi’s recruiting efforts. Penn State transfer Sam Breen joined the team midway through last season after Verdi signed Donnelly and forward Angelique Ngalakulondi during the November signing period. The fourth-year coach then recruited Siena transfer Maddie Sims to join the squad this summer.
But with Breen not eligible until after fall semester and Sims ineligible this season due to transfer rules, the attention has turned to Donnelly to be able to produce early inside. That early playing time and responsibility was a major selling point for Donnelly when deciding to attend UMass.
“That was really exciting to me,” Donnelly said. “I’m really excited to be able to step up and have the opportunity to not just part of the program but actually contribute to the program (right away).”
She arrived during the ideal summer with UMass scheduled to take an overseas trip to Portugal. That allowed the Minutewomen to hold 10 extra practices in Amherst before the August trip and then play three games while touring Portugal during their weeklong stay.
Donnelly said those 10 practices and three games were vital to helping her get up to speed with the college game and ease her transition to the next level. Still, she said she feels like she has a lot to learn before UMass tips off the season against Merrimack on Nov. 5.
“I thought I knew the game of basketball when I came in then I come here and it feels like I’m a little kid,” Donnelly said. “It was crazy how much I didn’t know. Now just coming in every day, we try to work hard and get better and I learn a new thing everyday, so it’s a lot of fun.”
In the three weeks before the opener, Verdi said he wants to continue to instill confidence in Donnelly that she belongs on the court as a freshman. And the Minutewomen are counting on Donnelly to be a rim protector and ferocious rebounder for them, two of the attributes she described as the strengths of her game.
“She’s long, she alters a lot of shots defensively,” Verdi said. “She’s that second defender that if our guards get beat off the dribble, they’re running into someone who’s 6-5 and long. That obviously helps our ability to rebound both on the defensive end and on the offensive end. We want to be able to get second-chance opportunity points and having someone with her ability and her length, she’s able to move around and gobble up rebounds for us and help get us second-chance opportunity points.”
Donnelly said her new teammates have motivated her throughout the difficult parts of the preseason when her confidence might start to wane a bit. She said that support helps her deal with the pressure of having so much responsibility being thrust on her as the starting center and continues to help focus her on improving.
“My teammates help a lot,” Donnelly said. “Every time I get down, they’re always there to pick me up. My coaches have also been so great, they’ll coach me hard but at the end of the day, it’s like they’re my family. They want me to do good, but they need to work me hard to do so.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.