A (Good) Apple Doesn't Fall Far

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Wed, 05/14/2008 - 06:17 Her mother one of the nation's top women's college coaches, Theresa Plaisance has followed suit on the floor as one of the country's top 2010 prospects.

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STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

The image of toddlers in the gym has become so pervasive as to seem almost cliché. Except in the case of Theresa Plaisance, that is. Her gymnasium childhood was so literal, and at such high levels of basketball, it has become defining.

As in, watching Plaisance play, you'd swear she was a coach's kid. Which she is, by the way. Her mother, DoBee Plaisance, has earned Coach of the Year for two straight seasons from the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference for Loyola University New Orleans and in 2006 served as the court coach during the USA Basketball U20 trials.

At a very young age, Theresa was hauled to her mother's college camp, an experience that appeared to be thoroughly unimpressive as the toddler spent most of the time entertaining herself by rolling a basketball around the hardwood floor.

Still, Plaisance is a player built at least by association - or osmosis. A lanky 6 feet 4, she is as polished on the boxes as players several years her senior and can drill the 3-pointer with regularity. Such versatility makes her one of the top players in the 2010 class.

Plaisance says she doesn't have college favorites yet, only that she wants "a pretty campus." Tami Robertson, her Domino's club coach, says all the major programs - from LSU to Florida State to Connecticut - are tracking Plaisance. "Name the school," Robertson says, "and we've been contacted by them."

Whichever school lands her won't be getting much of a work in progress. Plaisance needs filling out, but only recently began working in the weight room. She says she is aiming to gain both upper and lower body strength. Even without an abundance of either, Plaisance understands how to gain leverage by adjusting her body, vis a vis the defender, and works hard and scrapes inside the lane.

Plaisance has worked out with her mother's players at Loyola, which she says "has helped out a lot. Playing against harder competition makes you better, and it's helped roughen me up."

The range on her jumper has been an evolution, Plaisance says. She has spent more time on the perimeter, she says, as she's grown older.

That development has been a bit of an issue, however. DoBee Plaisance has told her daughter that she'll likely play forward on the next level and, as such, will need to continue developing her post game. Further, her coach at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans has tried to extract the 3-point shot from her repertoire, which she has resisted.

"I enjoy shooting threes," Plaisance says. "I think it's a motivational shot. It gets the team going."

If that sounds like coach-think, it figures. DoBee Plaisance was a four-year starter in college, splitting her career between the University of New Orleans and the University of Southeast Louisiana. After serving as a top assistant at Tulane, she was head coach at St. Martin Episcopal High School, which she led to an unbeaten season and two state titles while capturing several coaching honors.

Plaisance also has coached the New Orleans Southern Belles and Domino's club teams, both of which Theresa has played for, and is an assistant on the current Domino's team for which her daughter plays. Not surprisingly, Theresa Plaisance does a lot of little things rare for her age or position. She, for example, communicates from the back line of defense - a coach's dream. She not only uses her left hand on the dribble, she uses it to shoot, including a quick-effective jump hook. She also often reads the defense, after a catch, particularly when being double- or triple-teamed, passes out of defensive stunts and shows for a return pass.

Theresa Plaisance, it seems, has been prepared for a lot of things.

She is extremely mobile for her size, but sometimes does not run with her team on fast breaks. She was asked if it was a matter of conditioning.

"We have such a good fast-breaking team, there are times I know I can't make it in time to be involved in the play," Plaisance explains. "So I run to halfcourt and see what happens. If they need me, I keep going. If they don't, I'm already halfway back on defense."

Perfectly reasonable.

Perfectly unexpected - unless, of course, coming from a coach's kid.

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee, Parade All-American Selection Committee, SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association, Online News Association, Society of Professional Journalists and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Glenn also founded and coached two select girl's basketball teams and previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com, a managing editor at Rivals.com, and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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