Linda Lappe

Position:
Guard/Forward
Height:
6-0
Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
Morning Sun, Iowa
High School:
Winfield Mt. Union

Barry on Lappe: "Linda has tremendous versatility. She will be a key offensive threat for us this season provided she stays healthy."

This Season: Her fifth at Colorado, and the first full year without surgery since her freshman year. Lappe was a marquee player as a freshman, and the Buffs will look to her to regain that playmaking ability as a senior. After spending 2001-02 as the leader of CU's much-heralded bench, she is projected to start at the small forward spot. Lappe could also see a lot of minutes at either guard position. Has great floor vision and understands offensive and defensive schemes better than anyone else on the floor. A likely candidate for a range of postseason honors, including All-Big 12, Academic All-Big 12 and Academic All-American. Should also receive consideration for several comeback awards including the Honda Inspiration Award and the V Foundation Comeback of the Year after overcoming four major career-threatening surgeries to compete at Colorado.

2001-02 (Junior): Lappe missed the first 11 games of the season recovering from her second surgery to repair the osteochondral defect in the talus bone in her left ankle; a condition which prevents the bone from growing properly due to poor blood circulation. After watching from the sidelines through November and December, she took to the court on December 21 at Florida. In her first game back, Lappe tallied four points, two steals and two boards - all in just four minutes of play during the second half. Her first big game of the season came against Kansas State when she totaled a season high 25 minutes and put up strong numbers including nine points, six rebounds and five assists in just her fourth game of the season, fourth in a row against a ranked opponent. Without taking a single shot, Lappe had a great game against Texas A&M dishing out seven assists and grabbing seven rebounds, six of them offensive. Two of her better games came against nationally-ranked Iowa State. She shot 6 of 7 from the field and finished with 15 points to help upset the No. 14 Cyclones in Boulder and later scored 11 points, gathered four rebounds and two steals and handed out two assists during Colorado's loss to Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. One of Colorado's better free throw shooters, Lappe finished the season hitting 32-40 from the line joining teammates Jenny Roulier, Mandy Nightingale and Tera Bjorklund among those who shot better than 80 percent. Lappe's success on the court carried over to the classroom as she garnered a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall, which helped her maintain an overall GPA above 3.5.

2000-01 (Redshirt Sophomore): Coming off a redshirt year due to a broken kneecap, Lappe slowly worked her way back into the lineup and by season's end was a key contributor to CU's turnaround year. Saw her first significant minutes in CU's comeback attempt against CSU. Despite the loss, Lappe saw 30 minutes of playing time, scoring eight points with six boards. Had one of her best games of the season against No. 16 Florida, earning the second double-double of her career with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Was huge defensively against UF guard Brandi McCain, holding the all-America candidate to four first half points. In Big 12 play, Lappe had a team-high 17 points in the loss to Oklahoma in 28 minutes of play. She then went for a season-high 22 points on 7 of 9 shooting off the bench against Missouri, her best scoring effort since her freshman year. Shot 15-15 from the free throw line at the Big 12 Tournament over a two-day span, a CU and Big 12 tourney record. Averaged 15.5 points per game in Big 12 tournament play. Was named first team Academic All-Big 12. Lappe led the Big 12 in free throw shooting at 85.9 percent on the season, and made 16 straight free throws to end the season. Underwent surgery to repair an osteochrondal defect in her talus bone in her left ankle on March 26.

1999-2000 (Sophomore): Colorado's returning leading scorer from 1998-99, and a team captain, Lappe redshirted the 1999-2000 season after she fractured her left patella bone with 8:30 left in the first half of Colorado's home-opener against Michigan on Nov. 21. She was dribbling the ball across the top of the free throw line and came to a jump stop when the injury occurred.

1998-99 (Freshman): Lappe quietly orchestrated one of the most impressive freshman campaigns in recent CU history. She was the team's offensive MVP after she led the team in scoring (10.7), free throws made (91) and percentage (.827), assists (110/3.8), starts (29), minutes (32.3) and steals (49/1.7). She was the first CU freshman since Lisa Van Goor (1980-81) to lead the team in scoring and with 110 assists her first season she became CU's fourth all-time freshman assist leader. Ranked in several Big 12 categories, she was 27th in the league in scoring in all games (10.7), 23rd in conference-only games (11.8), 13th in all games in steals (1.69), 11th in overall (3.79) and league (3.75) contests in assists and became sixth all-time among freshmen in that category. For a period of time was the league's most accurate free throw shooter, and ended the season fourth in 29 games (.827) and 16 league contests (.844). She was also 15th in conference games in three point field goals made (1.06). It took Lappe only four games to hit her first double figure scoring slate (14 vs. Idaho) and six games later her first double figure rebounding game (12 vs. Stanford). During the preseason she was named to the Coors Classic All-Tournament Team with 23 points, 10 boards, 8 assists, five steals and only 4 turnovers in 66 minutes in CU's wins over Idaho and Miami (Ohio). She backed that performance up a week later with Cougar Shootout All-Tournament Team distinction when she averaged 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and six assists in a 90-70 win over previously unbeaten American and a loss at Washington State. Lappe registered a career high 23 points against then-No. 14 Iowa State off 7-16 field goals, a career high 5-11 three pointers, 4-4 free throws while adding five assists, three steals and a blocked shot to round out the game. She earned Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors during the last week of the regular season when she averaged 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists in a loss to No. 11 Texas Tech and overtime win at Texas A&M. Against Tech she registered 14 points, nine rebounds and a career-high eight assists, putting her a rebound and a pair of assists shy of a triple-double. At A&M she scored a field goal with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to send the regular season finale into overtime where she would score seven of CU's 11 extra session points, including the game?s last point from the free throw line for the 71-69 win. Against the top four teams in the league, Lappe averaged 14.2 pts, 4.0 reb., 4.0 ast., shot 51 percent from the field (25-49), 57% from three-point range (12-21) and 96% (27-28) from the line. She scored 91 points from the charity stripe during the season. Not afraid of the top competition, she averaged 14.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 86% from the line in 34.8 minutes against nationally ranked opponents. She ended her collegiate initiation as an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 pick and was a second-team Women's Basketball News Service All-Freshman selection.

High School: Entering the 1997-98 campaign, Lappe was listed as an honorable mention Street & Smith's All-American. The 6-0 guard graduated with prep records in career points (1,987), steals (402), steals in a season (111), steals in a game (10), career assists (652), season assists (208), single game assists (14) and a 110-3 (.974) career record. She was a first-team Class A (the smallest classification in Iowa) all-state selection from 1996 to ?97 and a second-team all-Iowa pick following her freshman year. Her Winfield teams were the Class A state champions in 1995 and ?96 and her 1997 team went 28-0 before being upset in the state semifinals, snapping an 80-game win streak. An all-around athlete, Lappe was also an all-state selection in 1997 in volleyball (middle hitter) and softball (short stop), where she was also offered scholarships, and anchored the 4x400-m relay team in addition to running the 100-m, 200-m, 400-m distances and competing in the long jump.

Off the Court: Born February 26, 1980 in Burlington, Iowa, on the Mississippi River bordering Illinois. She is the second of Tom and Jean's three children. Her older brother Burt is a graduate of Northern Iowa where he played basketball and her younger brother, Jake, is a junior at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Lappe's aunt, Donna Wick, was the head coach at Texas Tech from 1980-1982 and went 31-29 and advanced to the AIAW State Tournament in '81 and Regional Tournament in ?82. Her school (Winfield-Mt. Union), consisted of 500 kindergarten to 12th grade students and her graduating class was an intimate 44. A business major, her fall 2001 gpa of 4.0 was the only 4.0 on the Big 12 Academic team.