As poorly as Texas is shooting FTs, they are not alone in the Big 12. Going into Saturday's games, only WVU (72.7%) and KU (70.8%) are over 70%. Horns' 57.9% from the FT line leaves them at 8th, ahead of BU (55.8%) and OU (50.0%).
With #10 South Carolina getting demolished by Maryland on Sunday, 85-61, Horns benefit by moving up to #10 in the AP poll. 2019 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 3 - ESPN
Doesn't mean right now but since most of the games played have been against "cupcakes", I found it interesting that Texas has the top FG defense (27.4) and 3pt FG defense (19.7%). On the other hand, Baylor is hitting 60.8% of their FGs and 46.4% from BTA, both leading the Big 12. It's pretty tough to be among the league's top distributors. Lauren Cox is at #15 with 3.8 apg. Kianna Ray of TCU tops the league with 7.0 apg. Gotta wonder if OU's Taylor Robertson can keep up her average of 6.0 treys per game. It has already dropped from the 8 treys per game she had after two games. She is seventh in the Big 12 in 3pt FG% at 51.4%. Good shooting abounds in the Big 12 early as Texas' Charli is tied for 15 with a FG% of 56.0%. The top shooter is Jordan Moore of TCU at 82.8%. Baylor's Ursin Moon is the other player over 80% at 82.4%.
We’ll obviously find out more about this Texas team with the better competition being played next. Perimeter shooting/scoring is something that I’m still a little worried about.
South Carolina was terribly overrated. I watched them struggle in beating a bad Clemson team, then get blown out by a very good Maryland squad. They're playing four guards and one center, and they can't rebound. They can't shoot (one for twenty from the three point line against Maryland); and they have trouble with unforced turnovers. Dawn must have overrated them herself, because she set up a murderous schedule against top teams, then the SEC. Gonna be a long season for SC....And frankly, Texas hasn't yet shown we deserve to be #10, though I assure you we are definitely better than South Carolina.
True, kurupt. But right now, we got four backcourt players shooting at least 47%. Three are actually over 55%. I expect both Audrey and Danni to keep improving. Actually, take out Audrey's 0-5 from BTA and she is making over 50% of her shots inside the arc. Danni hopefully had a breakout game against McNeese State. I would worry more about Sug's shooting except that she is averaging over six assists a game. The 3pt shooting is only a very average 32.7%. But both Lashann and Destiny are making over 45% of their threes. Danni has found her range and only Sug and Audrey are having trouble hitting from BTA for now. I expect both to be, at the very least, making at least a third of their 3pt attempts by the time conference rolls around. Sug certainly showed that ability when she connected on 35% from BTA last season.
wow, not as one sided as I had thought. Next best has a 12-1 A/TO ratio compared to Lashann's 13-1. Of course, the next best Big 12 player is KU's Lyons at 5.5-1, 14th best in the nation. College Women's Basketball DI Stats | NCAA.com
Gonna be a rough season for South Carolina. I just had to stop watching Clemson v. South Carolina in the middle of the game; it's akin to walking out on a movie mid-way. It was so ugly that both teams nearly combined for 60 turnovers, like a middle school game. As Dawn Staley acknowledged, she was embarrassed.
Looks like Iowa State will be a handful this year. I recall Coach Fennelly commenting last year that they had 1.5 scorers on their team with Emily Durr being the 1/2 to all-everything Bridget Carleton. This year, they have two additional scorers in Madison Wise and Ashley Joens. They were impressive in kicking Miami's butt and eliminated Beatrice Mompremier. Iowa State will make some noise this year in the conference race, which is a good thing.
I was saying the same thing about Iowa St. Bill is a good coach, and get more out of less talented player's.
A lot of people don't realize what a great coach Bill Fennelly is. He doesn't get NEAR the talent that a lot of others get (BU and UT) but he competes. He coaches his players up, and creates schemes that out them in situations to succeed by utilizing their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. He and Sherri Coale do that as well and any other coach in the country IMO. If they had HALF the top-tier talent that others get....
Well there’s one team I am positive the Horns won’t play any zone against, it is Iowa State. He loves long range shooters. Zone against Fennely’s team is asking for a loss. I agree that he is underrated and can really coach. Hard to get many top recruits to Ames. I like to watch his teams but hate to play them.
With their history, fan support, coaches' reputation, etc, why would it be hard to recruit to Ames or Norman? I understand that both are good coaches but to suggest that they do more with less, begs the question, at least to me, why do they have less?
Babhorn..........good points to make me think. Well for an old Horn, cold Ames and land-thief Norman seems like a hard sell to young folks...…...even with history, fan support and coaches rep. I have never been to either location...….and don't plan to. I am just going by hearsay that youngsters like the bigger places with more action.....and better education. I think that was one of the reasons that I migrated from rural east texas to Austin in 1967. Admittedly, I didnt have the "coaching factor" to influence me. That was my thinking then and guess it still is. Let's see...……..Austin or Ames? Austin or Norman? Guess I could have been wrong. Or not.
Fennely’s a good coach that does what all coaches should be doing and that’s recruiting players that fit his system. Because it’s difficult to recruit to Iowa St he runs a system and recruits good perimeter/3pt shooters because the 3 is the great equalizer. He’s also a good in game coach because he does what is obvious and that for some reason a lot coaches don’t do.Which is to try to take away the opposing teams strengths and make them beat you by having to play to their weaknesses. We all know that every time he plays Texas he’s going to play a sagging zone and dare the bad shooters on the team to shoot it while guarding the players that can shoot it well. You didn’t see a lot of it last year because Texas was a solid jump shooting team. I wish all coaches including coach Aston would adopt that simple philosophy of making a team have to beat you with their weakness and not being so stuck on just continuing to play the way you play regardless of the opponent.
Horns move up to #9 in Coaches Poll. 2019 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 3 - ESPN
I agree with everyone. Fennelly is a great coach, wonderful X's and O's. I wouldn't say Sheri Coale has had trouble recruiting players to Norman. Maybe there were a couple of years. She has had much good talent over the years. IMO, most players don't care that much about being in exciting places -- witness Waco, Starkville MS, Columbia SC, Lubbock in the past. South Bend is not exactly an exciting city. Neither is Storrs, Connecticut (though it is close to lots of attractions in the Northeast.) It's the team and the coach, not the place.
Half way through the 12 game out of conference part of the schedule, Horns are 6-0. Next up in the next two weeks are two big SEC matches on consecutive Sundays versus Miss. State and Tenn. Before that, though, comes UTSA Wed. Going to be interesting the next two weeks as we wait to see when Joyner is released to play again. It would be nice to see her get a couple of games under her belt before conference play. I am wondering if maybe Shae will be redshirted this year. Pretty sure I saw her in Florida on the bench.
I kinda thought with Shae on the bench in Florida that might be a good sign she was returning sometime soon.
Horns 10th in latest AP poll. Baylor is fourth and ISU checks in at 23. WVU with 59 votes just misses making the top 25. 2019 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 4 - ESPN
Here's to a speedy recovery for LaShann. She is a rare talent and it's so much fun to watch her play the game. As a silver lining, the article says she is expected to apply for a medical redshirt so she can play next season.
My thoughts go out to Coach Conradt for the loss of her mom. I always remember seeing her at the games when Jody was coaching.
Well, it's as bad as expected on Lashann's injury. Glad she is coming back. That will allow her to regain her skills after the layoff to recover.
BTW, we saw a bit of zone in earlier games but that zone we saw in Florida was a thing of beauty. The way the players moved together was great. Now that we know Coach is willing to play a zone when needed, the question becomes-will we see more than one type of zone? Loved the change of pace the zone provided. I doubt that was on the scouting report before.
