In sports it is always good to sip from the fountain of youth, but a casual glance at the Wildcats this season might cause concern that Northwestern has a drinking problem. Only five members of this year’s squad are returning from last season. Only two, senior Ifeoma Okonkwo and junior A.J. Glasauer, are upperclassmen.

“Ifeoma and A.J. really need to step up and be leaders,” coach Beth Combs said. “They don’t have the luxury of taking a day off, but we made that clear to all of our team. When we recruited these freshmen coming in, we told them they were not going to have the luxury of being freshmen.

“Everyone is aware of their roles, and the importance of their role going into the season.”

The Cats’ youth movement includes four freshmen, and sophomore transfer Nadia Bibbs is also new to the system.

Okonkwo, who led the team in scoring last year, and Glasauer have embraced their position of sheparding their new teammates through the growing pains and agree the sheparding must be done quickly.

“It is my job to help them and to guide them through,” Okonkwo said. “We need them to step up and have that confidence.”

A chief concern is avoiding the fate of another young team of recent memory. Last year, Michigan featured seven freshmen and finished with a 5-23 mark.

The Cats find little resemblance between them and last year’s Wolverines. While half the roster is in its first year, Okonkwo notes the freshmen began practicing with the team well before the start of the school year.

“I remember Michigan,” Okonkwo said. “They didn’t even look like they knew what they were doing. I feel like we’re a little more organized in our game – (The freshmen) already have a feel for our game, so I’m not really worried about that.”

While the team’s remaining three players are young as well – Melissa Miller, Sara Stutz and Kelly Rae Finley are all sophomores – all three were starters at some point last season.

The hope is their experience from last year, along with the guidance of Okonkwo and Glasauer, will help the newcomers and the team round into shape.

“We have experience, it’s just young experience,” Stutz said. “Hopefully, with our leadership from (Ifeoma) and A.J., they can help the freshmen out and kind of guide them along as they go.”

Glasauer also will be dealing with more than just an increased leadership role. While she saw time in 28 games last season, only two were starts.

She has gotten rave preseason reviews from Combs and is expected to fill an expanded role on the court as well as off.

So far Glasauer likes what she sees from the young team.

“There’s a good atmosphere in practice,” Glasauer said. “Everyone’s fun, everybody’s laughing. So that’s good.”

Because of their youth, the Cats are not expected to do much in a tough league. This has only added more incentive.

“We can come from behind,” Glasauer said. “Nobody’s expecting anything from us. We can just work hard in practice, come out and surprise everybody.

“It’s a good feeling. It’s exciting.”

Some things are still not set for the Cats. As Combs said this week of the starting lineup, “We’re still working on that.” But NU is hoping its infusion of youth may be the key to changing the fortunes of a program that has not won a Big Ten championship in 16 years.

If the Cats are to turn around their recent history, freshmen Julie Bielawski, Kristin Cartwright, Erin Dickerson, and Lauren Roberts have a large task in front of them. Fortunately for them, Okonkwo, Glasauer and the other returning Cats are ready to pull them through it.

“They all have so much experience that they know what they’re talking about,” Dickerson said. “We just have to listen and take everything in stride.”

Reach David Kalan at [email protected].