After an up-and-down 2021-22 season, Duke returns to the hardwood this year with a handful of fresh faces and true grit. In this series, the Blue Zone analyzes the new signees’ film for the 2022-23 season. We previously looked at Kennedy Brown. Next up is Taya Corosdale:
This year’s Duke team will look very different from the last. The squad lost six players from the 2021-22 roster, but gained a frontcourt of fresh faces, including graduate transfer Taya Corosdale. The forward is one of two former Oregon State players moving to Durham this season, alongside fellow forward Kennedy Brown.
The ex-Beaver was a five-star recruit entering her freshman year and earned a starting spot by the ninth game of that season. After an injury made her miss most of her junior season, Corosdale returned for two more years with Oregon State. Last season was her most productive in black and orange, where she shot 43.3% from the field and averaged 7.4 rebounds per game.
At 6-foot-3, the Bothell, Wash., native is a versatile option for the Blue Devils and can double as a combo forward if needed. Her off-ball movement and offensive vision are two strengths evident in the following clip, where she dumps the ball to Brown at the top of the key, quickly loses her defender and receives a pass back before draining the shot.
That basketball IQ is one of the reasons Corosdale is such a strong rebounder; she knows where to be at the right time. She is always at the rim boxing out her opponent, fighting for every board. In the clip below, she cuts under the basket to grab teammate Noelle Mannen’s airball and fire it to a wide-open AJ Marotte, who knocks down the shot.
Corosdale's diverse skillset will be a beneficial addition to a Duke team that is beginning to take shape after losing many of its senior stars this spring. While the roster is not short on experience, the transfer's veteran mindset and hustle will carry over well to this new-look Blue Devil squad.
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Rachael Kaplan is a Trinity senior and a senior editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.