Octavia Blue

Octavia Blue
Kennesaw State Owls
PositionHead coach
LeagueC-USA
Personal information
Born (1976-04-18) April 18, 1976 (age 48)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight163 lb (74 kg)
Career information
High schoolNova (Davie, Florida)
CollegeMiami (Florida) (1994–1998)
WNBA draft1998: 2nd round, 15th overall pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Sparks
Playing career1998–2004
PositionForward
Number20, 31
Career history
As player:
1998Los Angeles Sparks
2003–2004Houston Comets
As coach:
2008–2009St. John's (assistant)
2009–2012Georgia Tech (assistant)
2012–2020Miami (FL) (assistant)
2020–2021Miami (FL) (associate HC)
2021–presentKennesaw State
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-Big East (1998)
  • Big East All-Freshman Team (1995)
Stats at Basketball Reference

Octavia Blue (born April 18, 1976) is an American former women's basketball player with the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played during the 1998, 2003 and 2004 seasons. She is currently the head coach for the Kennesaw State Owls women's basketball team.[1]

Coaching career

[edit]

Blues first foray into coaching was as an assistant coach at St. John's in 2008. she was responsible, among other things for development of post players, and St. John's Dashena Stevens earned the award as the Big East rookie of the year in 2008–09. She remained there for one season before taking a position as an assistant at Georgia Tech. After three years at Georgia Tech Katie Meier, called and offered her a position as an assistant coach at Miami.[2][3]

Working primarily with the post players, Blue has coached eight players to 10 total All-ACC recognition in her eight seasons at Miami, including six first-team accolades and two All-ACC Defensive Team honors. Over the last two seasons, the Miami alum worked closely with 2020 graduate Beatrice Mompremier, who earned AP and WBCA All-America recognition in back-to-back seasons. Mompremier was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award in both 2019 and 2020 and was tabbed ACC Preseason Player of the Year ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

During Blue's nine -year stint at Miami, five players have signed WNBA contracts, including Mompremier, who was selected 20th overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. In total, 14 Hurricanes who have benefited from Blue's tutelage have gone on to play professionally. She received a promotion to associate head coach in the fall of 2020.[2]

In April 2021, she was named the head coach of Kennesaw State.[1]

Playing career

[edit]

During her collegiate career, she played for Miami amassing 1,724 points on the court during 1994–98. Afterward, she went on to play professional basketball and was selected 15th by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 1998 WNBA Draft, becoming Miami's 1st WNBA draft pick.

Career statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

WNBA

[edit]

Regular season

[edit]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1998 Los Angeles 30 3 11.0 33.8 28.6 62.5 1.6 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.9 2.4
1999 Did not play (waived)
2000 Did not play (did not appear in WNBA)
2001 Did not play (did not appear in WNBA)
2002 Did not play (did not appear in WNBA)
2003 Houston 16 0 2.3 25.0 0.0 50.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3
2004 Houston 13 3 11.9 38.1 0.0 92.3 1.6 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.5 3.4
Career 3 years, 2 teams 59 6 8.9 35.0 24.0 70.7 1.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.6 2.1

Playoffs

[edit]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2003 Houston 1 0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 0.0
Career 1 year, 1 team 1 0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 0.0


College

[edit]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1994–95 Miami (FL) 24 - - 38.6 0.0 65.3 7.2 0.6 1.3 0.8 - 14.5
1995–96 Miami (FL) 27 - - 48.8 0.0 56.7 6.4 1.0 1.3 0.2 - 16.0
1996–97 Miami (FL) 29 - - 42.1 0.0 64.7 5.6 2.6 1.3 0.2 - 13.4
1997–98 Miami (FL) 29 - - 45.8 45.3 72.2 5.7 0.8 1.2 0.3 - 19.2
Career 109 - - 44.0 42.9 65.2 6.2 1.3 1.3 0.3 - 15.8
Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Kennesaw State Announces Octavia Blue as Women's Basketball Coach". Kennesaw State University Athletics. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  2. ^ a b "Octavia Blue". University of Miami Athletics. 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  3. ^ "Octavia Blue: Basketball and Beyond". University of Miami Athletics. 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  4. ^ "Octavia Blue College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2024.