By Joe Budzelek (@stf_ncaa)
Talent and depth for days. Bespoke position names. A powerhouse coaching couple.
Fresh off a historic 2023-24 season that featured a program-record 31 wins – highlighted with a 29-game winning streak and a MAAC regular and postseason championship – Fairfield returns nine players from their rotation, their top-five scorers and added talent in both the transfer portal and in their high school recruiting classes, making the Stags the most dangerous mid-major in the nation.
“We’re trying to be one of the best teams in the country – and I leave out “mid-major” intentionally,” says head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the reigning MAAC, All-Met and ECAC Coach of the Year.
Last season, only four mid-majors finished with higher NCAA Tournament seeds than Fairfield: Gonzaga, Princeton, Middle Tennessee and FGCU. Four of Gonzaga’s starters graduated while FGCU lost three starters. Princeton’s star guard Kaitlyn Chen is now a grad transfer at UConn while MTSU’s best player Savannah Wheeler graduated. On the other hand, Fairfield enters this season even stronger than last year.
Speaking on the team’s improved versatility, Thibault-Dudonis adds: “The scoring punch with a lot of different combinations has expanded. We don’t have to worry much about whether ‘if this is a scoring lineup or is this a tougher defensive lineup’ for us. Across the board, we have a lot of flexibility and that gap is closed.”
Returning nine regular rotation players not only sustains Fairfield’s depth and talent, but it also preserves the team’s moxie after a wildly successful season, but is still hungry for more after getting ousted by Indiana on their homecourt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It is a really tight knit group. We have a lot of really good players that sacrifice their role on any given night,” says Thibault-Dudonis, “When Nellie [Brown] was having a great night, that meant our other point guards would have taken a back seat and they were totally fine with that. If Emina [Selimovic] was having a big night, Meg [Andersen] was there to support her. We have a lot of different players step up at different times. The word we talk about in our values is being selfless and our team fully leaned into that from Day 1. There are only 200 minutes to go around, but we are able to harness each other’s strengths for the good of the group who want to achieve what we want to achieve. When everyone does their job, it turns into some amazing results.”
The foundation of the team is led by Long Island natives and All-MAAC First Team selections Janelle Brown and Meghan Andersen.
Brown, who was last year’s MAAC Player of the Year, returns for her fifth year of eligibility after averaging 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game last year. An ultra-efficient guard, Brown’s 57.2 field goal percentage ranked tops nationally amongst guards while her 45.1 three point percentage was a program record.
Named the MAAC Rookie of the Year and the All-Met Rookie of the Year, Andersen averaged 15.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game last season. At 6’1 Andersen made 66 three-pointers and converted 36% of her attempts, showcasing her versatility as Fairfield’s archetype for their “Road Runner” position.
“In our five-out system, we knew that our posts were going to be untraditional in how they played,” says Thibault-DuDonis, “They are going to spread the floor, shoot threes and have the ability to pass and create, so we wanted a word that exemplified that even more.” Assistant coach Blake DuDonis, the husband of Thibault-DuDonis, coaches the posts and tagged the name “Road Runner” to exemplify the position’s bespoke style on offense.
After starting her career at Siena, Emina Selimovic will reprise her starting role at road runner alongside Andersen. The All-MAAC Third Team selection averaged 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in conference play while also shooting an efficient 58.2% from the field and 74.0% from the charity stripe. In addition, the 5’10 Selimovic was a selection in the 2024 All-MAAC Tournament team after achieving double-doubles in both the semifinal win over Canisius and final victory against Niagara.
After starting most of her freshman season, incoming junior Lauren Beach will likely reprise last year’s role as the first road runner off the bench. The loss of playing time affected the 6’1 Beach’s per-game averages, but she demonstrated marked improvements in her shooting efficiency by improving her two-point shooting by nine percent and three-point shooting by eight percent.
The tallest player on the roster, the 6’2 returning sophomore Karly Fischer plays a more traditional post-play style as she is the team’s most efficient returning rebounder and also in the fact that Fischer did not attempt a three-pointer last year.
Grad transfer Raiana Brown arrives from the Division 2 level and will help replace the physicality and motor of the graduated Mackenzie Daleba. Starting every game last season for Texas A&M International University, the 6’0 Long Island native averaged 20.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game while also shooting an impressive 58.6 FG%, 34.6 3P% and 70.9 FT%. Brown’s unique skill set will allow her to not only fight for playing time at the 4, but also provide the coaching staff the ability to play with three road runners together on the floor.
Rounding up the frontcourt is Cyanne Coe, a 6’0 athletic forward from Canada who is noted for her athleticism and defensive versatility. John was named the Ontario Basketball Association Defensive Player of the Year after finishing last season with 63 steals and 32 blocks. Fairfield’s frontcourt is deep, so it will be hard for John to earn immediate playing time as a freshman, but her potential is sky high.
Joining Janelle Brown in the starting backcourt is returning sophomore Kaety L'Amoreaux, who aims to take the next step in her development after averaging 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. “Kaety was a MAAC All-Rookie Team selection for us last year. If it hadn’t been for the unbelievable season Meg had for us last year, in most years Kaety would have been right there for Rookie of the Year,” says Thibault-DuDonis. “She’s continued to get more efficient at the rim and from three, but her leadership as a sophomore has been really fun to watch. She’s gotten more vocal and she understands the expectations and holds others to really high standards, as well. I’ve loved watching her blossom this summer.”
On the defensive end, L'Amoreaux and Brown make up an effective pair. A steady, on-ball defender, L'Amoreaux makes it hard for opponents to take quality shots while Brown is more of a risk-taker and turnover generator. Reflecting on the team’s defense, Thibault-DuDonis adds “our offense gets all the hype, but in reality, one of the reasons we’ve been able to do what we do is that we’re a really good defensive team as well. In our first year, that’s what we had to hang our hat on since we weren’t as versatile.” With a deep rotation and no player averaging more than 30 minutes per game, the Stags’ coaching staff can afford to demand a lot of intensity on the defensive end.
Providing depth in the backcourt is fifth-year senior Izabela Nicoletti Leite and senior Kendall McGruder. Both guards averaged over twenty minutes-per-game and started sixteen and eleven games, respectively. Nicoletti Leite is a classic pass-first point guard while McGruder is Fairfield’s most potent three-point shooter in the backcourt.
The Stags converted on exactly one-third of their total three-point attempts, so bolstering their perimeter efficiency was essential and the two guards Fairfield added on the transfer portal should improve the team’s shooting depth. “We were looking for players who could stretch the floor and that’s one of areas we thought we left some points off the board last year, especially shooting the ball from the wing position,” says Thibault-DuDonis.
Fairfield’s headline transfer addition is Jillian Huerter, a 6’0 incoming sophomore from Rutgers. Starting thirteen games and averaging 6.9 points and shooting 37% from three, Huerter led Rutgers in both three-pointers made and three-point percentage. “We first recruited Jill out of high school,” says Thibault-DuDonis. “She’s very versatile, shoots the three at a great rate and is very smooth. She doesn’t need to be our primary ball-handler, but she’s very comfortable handling the ball coming off ball-screens and is a great creator.” Even though all three guards will play major roles, Huerter will compete with Nicoletti Leite and McGruder for a starting role.
A career 35% three-point shooter at Marshall, incoming junior Sydni Scott provides Fairfield with another steady perimeter weapon. Says Thibault-DuDonis: “Sydni comes from a system like us where they played five-out and played with pace. She has already transitioned smoothly to the style and pace we play.”
A consistent winner at St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel, New Jersey, incoming freshman Julia Karpell is a heady 5’11 guard who is known for her clutch shooting ability. Similar to fellow freshman Cyanne John, it is unlikely that Karpell will earn many minutes right away, but her development will be exciting to follow.
Despite entering the 2024 NCAA Tournament with the second best record in the nation, the Stags were tagged with a 13-seed. While, in general, mid-majors tend to get the short end of seeding by the committee, it was essential for Fairfield to fear no one and strengthen their non-conference schedule.
As a result, Fairfield worked hard to set up their most difficult non-conference schedule in recent memory as the Stags open the season traveling to Arkansas and also have away matchups at Oklahoma State, Wake Forest and St. John’s. Fairfield’s first home game is against Richmond. Like Fairfield, Richmond were a double-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament after having a historic 2023-24 season, finishing with a record 29 wins. Fairfield will also host Villanova. The Wildcats have won at least 22 games in each of the last three seasons.
Projected to be the standard bearer in the MAAC and now armed with a non-conference slate that will better battle test the Stags, Fairfield’s chances are as good as ever to sustain a top-25 ranking and win their first NCAA tournament game in program history.
Great expectations!
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