USD coach Carrie Eighmey on constructing a transfer-heavy roster that has led to year two success

Last year, South Dakota women's basketball coach Carrie Eighmey led the Coyotes to an 11-20 record (5-11 in the Summit League) in her first season, mostly with players she inherited from her predecessor.   The Nebraska native, adept at turning sagging programs into national tournament qualifiers (Hastings in NAIA, then Nebraska-Kearney in Div. II), drilled down on her roster, signing a slew of transfers from all over the country.   All five of this season's starters and each of USD's top seven scorers came from another school, including point guard, leading scorer, and Denver transfer Angelina Robles, who led the Yotes to a 73-54 breakthrough win over three-time defending league champion South Dakota State on Saturday.   There's a method to Eighmey's roster-building madness similar to Curt Cignett's at Indiana that led to a College Football Playoff national championship: Experience and fit. Four of those top seven players are seniors who have logged in multiple full seasons of college hoops from all levels.   Eighmey does a deep dive into how and where she found all the players that have powered the Coyotes to a 16-7 record and 7-2 mark in the Summit League, good for second place with seven regular season games remaining.   Hint: It wasn't willy nilly. Eighmey has "types" that fit her style, and she explains how the winning and chemistry have all come together in such a short time.