Tamika Raymond - Women's Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks

Tamika Raymond

TITLE Assistant Coach

Bio

Tamika Raymond, who has experienced success on every level as a basketball player and also in the collegiate coaching ranks, is entering her second season with the Jayhawk program.

Raymond works with the KU post players, including 2008 All-Big 12 Rookie Team member Krysten Boogaard. In addition, Raymond was instrumental in the spectacular development of Aishah Sutherland, who made a big splash in Big 12 Conference play during her freshman season. Sutherland completed her rookie season averaging 5.9 points and 4.7 boards after getting off to a slow start.

Raymond joined the Jayhawk staff after serving as an assistant under Jim Foster at The Ohio State University for the past five seasons. Raymond spent an additional year with Foster, serving as a student assistant in the Buckeye women’s basketball office in 2002 while she was pursuing her master’s degree in sports management.

During her time in Columbus, the Buckeyes experienced great success as OSU finished the 2007-08 season as Big Ten champions for the fourth-straight season. Raymond was part of an Ohio State staff which produced the program’s first-ever three-time All-American in Jessica Davenport and during the 2007-08 season freshman sensation Jantel Lavendar was tabbed as, not only the league’s Freshman of the Year, but also the Big Ten Player of the Year. Behind the play of Davenport and Lavendar, OSU has had the Big Ten Player of the Year on its roster in each of the last four seasons.

The Buckeyes competed in the NCAA Tournament in each of Raymond’s seasons in Columbus, advancing past the first round in four of those six tournaments, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2005. OSU received a sixth seed or better in each of its last five NCAA Tournaments, including a No. 1 seed in the 2005 tourney.

The Dayton, Ohio native, arrives in Lawrence after her stint at OSU and is also preparing to begin her seventh season playing in the WNBA. She is currently in her first season with the Connecticut Sun after suiting up for the Minnesota Lynx for the past six seasons.

Raymond played in 185 games for the Lynx, including 139 starts. She owns career averages of 6.7 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 55.9 percent from the field. In 2005-06, Raymond started 30 of 31 games and topped the Lynx in rebounds at 5.6 per game. She battled injuries and played in a reserve role last season, but connected on 60 percent of her field goal tries for the Lynx.

In 2005, Raymond played in all 34 of Minnesota’s regular-season contests and led the Lynx in field goal percentage (.551) for the second consecutive season. She also contributed more than five points and five rebounds per game, which ranked third on the team.

The sixth pick overall in the 2002 WNBA draft, Raymond started in 33-of-34 games in 2004 and averaged 7.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. At the end of Minnesota’s 2004 playoff run, Raymond was leading the league in field-goal percentage with an overall .540 (102-of-189) average. The Lynx have made appearances in two of the last four WNBA Playoffs, which account for the only two in franchise history.

Raymond was a standout college basketball player at the University of Connecticut. She completed her four-year collegiate career with averages of 10.6 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. As a member of two Connecticut national championship teams (2000 and 2002), Raymond claims her favorite on-court moment was winning the 2002 NCAA National Championship and watching her three fellow senior classmates (Sue Bird, Asjha Jones and Swin Cash) enjoy the moment.

An All-Big East selection three consecutive seasons (2000-2002), Raymond also was an Associated Press All-America honorable mention honoree and Naismith Player of the Year candidate for the 2001-02 season. Besides playing under the direction of head coach Geno Auriema, a former Foster assistant for three years, the dean’s list student also served as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Connecticut and majored in interpersonal communication.

Raymond, the 1997 and 1998 Ohio Player of the Year, attended Chaminade-Julienne High School (Dayton, Ohio), where she garnered a wide-range of awards while under the direction of head coaches Ron Russo and Frank Goldsberry. Among the accolades, Raymond was a Street & Smith, Naismith, USA Today and Parade national high school Player of the Year.

The former Tamika Williams, Raymond married Ben Raymond in April of 2007. Ben played collegiate basketball at Minnesota-Duluth.