Provo • In an ideal world, Amari Whiting could’ve eased into her freshman season on the BYU women’s basketball team. She would’ve come off the bench and grown accustomed the speed of the college game at a more methodical pace. She should’ve long recovered from her ACL injury before playing meaningful minutes.

But in the real world, there’s not much room for coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Nani Falatea, the presumptive starter heading into the team’s first Big 12 season, got injured and then abruptly left the program after starting in the loss to Utah.

Now Whiting is the starting point guard on a Cougars team with five freshmen.

“If I could rewind this year, that’s not ...,” coach Amber Whiting started to say before shifting course slightly. “I didn’t ever foresee Nani getting hurt. I didn’t foresee having to get [Amari] thrown in there.”

A four-star prospect, it seemed Amari Whiting was destined for a big role early in her career after following her mother to BYU.

But Falatea’s departure and Amari’s subsequent quasi-promotion will put the on-court dynamic between mother and daughter on display earlier than anticipated.

Amber Whiting refused to answer a question Monday asking for clarity surrounding Falatea’s departure, and whether the junior guard who started every game last season was entering the transfer portal or possibly returning at some point.

“I don’t really want to talk about that right now,” she said. “Sorry.”

Amber Whiting said later that losing Falatea was “a huge hit” for the team, and that everyone was “sad” when it happened.

So now it’s up to the freshman Whiting to lead the team into the future without the veteran presence of Falatea at her position to lean on. Whiting, however, seems to be taking the extra onus on her in stride.

“I’m just trying to help my team win,” Whiting said. “Obviously, when Nani was here, I didn’t have to do as much. I feel like now that she is gone and I have been starting, I feel like I have to do just a little bit more. ... I wouldn’t say that it’s necessarily a lot of pressure. It’s just me kind of seeing what we need and what I can help with.”

Whiting was on a minutes restriction to start the season to make sure her body recovered while returning from the ACL injury. But since the game at Wyoming, she said, there are no restrictions on her minutes.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Whiting will play as much as she wants. Amber Whiting made it clear that she doesn’t want her players logging the types of minutes they did last season. With her guards, she said, she ideally wants them to play between 30 and 35 minutes.

But Amber Whiting did send what felt like a light-hearted message to her daughter about how much she’ll get to play.

“I would say if she wants unlimited minutes, she needs to get in better shape,” she said.