Your Connection to Longhorn Women's Basketball

Discussion in 'Women’s Basketball' started by flash34, Mar 18, 2017.

  1. flash34

    flash34 1,000+ Posts

    I love reading all the posters opinions and news on this site. Based on posts, sometimes I wonder your backgrounds as it relates to women's basketball. I am sure everyone has their own special reasons to support Texas Longhorn Women's basketball. At times, I feel I know some of ya'll real well although I have never met any of you. I value each and every comment made regardless of whether I agree with it or not. This thread is meant for us to know a little more about each other. Perhaps this thread will become "crickets" as no one cares except me. There are no rules for why you support this sport.........you don't have to have a UT degree or attended a class there. Well there is one huge rule......you have to support the team. I offer to bare my soul as to why I support women's basketball. 1. BSCE degree from UT-Austin; 2. daughter attended Coach Conradt's summer camps; 3. coached daughters' AAU and other basketball teams; 4. refereed girls basketball games year round from kindergarten to high school to college; 5. love the skill sets women's basketball brings that is not evident in men's ; 6. passionate about what being part of a basketball team can do for a young ladies' life; 7. been a fan since the 1986 team; 8. love being a Longhorn and rooting for all sports both women's and men's.

    You don't have to be as long winded as my response. Anybody else?
     
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  2. WCBBNUT

    WCBBNUT 2,500+ Posts

    1. My sister was friends with Clarissa Davis in HS
    2. Was a student at UT when we won the NCAA Title Game
    3. Raised a daughter to be strong and independent
    4. Coached said daughter to an undefeated season and tournament in 5th grade - then promptly "retired" from coaching because I couldn't handle the stress!
    5. Love that the women's game is still about a team and less about an individual "star"
    6. Been a season ticket holder for 16 years now
    7. Believe girls involved in sports do better in life
     
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  3. geewago

    geewago 100+ Posts

    I just like womens BB period. The TV can be full of mens BB, NBA or whatever but I will watch WBB if it's available. I travel around quite a bit and watch several different teams every year. Even JC and HS. I've have even driven down to Reed Arena and watched the Ags several times, so that proves there's no hope for me.
     
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  4. "Anna hook em"

    "Anna hook em" 250+ Posts

    Ive always been a Sports Nut especially womens basketball and my love for the game grew more if even possible when i was a Girls basketball manager in high school, have always loved the Horns, since the days of the Southwest conference , i got away from it for a bit but when my baby(dog) died of cancer i was really depressed pathetic i know but the day we put him to sleep i was crying and didnt want to be around anyone so i turned on the Tv and saw the team playing found the love again and now im hooked on horns. I went to my first game last year and plan on doing it again next year.
     
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  5. yelladawgdem

    yelladawgdem 2,500+ Posts

    Season ticket holder for many years. Back to halcyon days of the 1980's. Teams with remarkable chemistry, with great trust and love in one another. The wild atmosphere in the FWC when the women were drawing MUCH bigger crowds than the men. And it was a social event as much as a game. Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan on press row. With professor Jordan giving the stink eye to Sue Kennedy, the worst official in the game all game long. Jody walking down the ramp after the team had come out, looking every bit the Basketball Royalty that she is. The Ladies presenting a yellow rose to the opposing team's players when introduced. Clarissa, Kamie, Fran, Yolonda and even "one rebound" Ellen Bayer who grabbed the rebound that secured a 101-99 SWC title game over Arkansas. One of my favorite games ever.

    But most of all, playing the uniquely game of American basketball. And understanding that basketball is a thinking person's game. That the game is won and lost below the rim, not above it.

    With acknowledgement to the great John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood:
    " A kid.
    A ball.
    A dream"

    :bevo::texasflag::usflag:
     
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  6. DFW_Horn

    DFW_Horn 2,500+ Posts

    • Father is from Nazareth, TX, and I lived there a few years as a young kid so appreciation for women's game was instilled early.
    • Went to as many home basketball games as I could when at UT - atmosphere for women's games was so much more electric than the 'Runnin' Horns under Pender.
    • In personal life, always found the 'sports' girls more attractive - tended to be more self-confident, seriously competitive and usually kept any games being played to the court/field/gym.
     
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  7. brnkj

    brnkj 2,500+ Posts

    Grew up following girls basketball in Oklahoma and Texas (lived in small towns on both sides of the Red River and there was not much else to do)

    Been following this team since I was a kid... back in the days of Jackie Swaim, Cheryl Hauglum, Terry Mackey, Esoleta Whaley, Nell Fortner, Cheryl Hartman, Joy Williams etc.

    Played basketball all my life until age 38.

    Wanted nothing more than to be a girls/women's basketball coach but life (and the military) got in the way.

    Love the women's game because it is, at its highest level, perfection of the way Dr. Naismith intended it to be played.

    Coached women's basketball and softball at a highly competitive rec level for years.

    Love ALL Longhorns sports but WBB is my #1 team... always has been, always will be.
     
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  8. yelladawgdem

    yelladawgdem 2,500+ Posts

    The reason that in his later years, John Wooden stopped attending most of the men's games at Pauley Pavilion, but seldom missed a woman's game, believing what the women were playing was the kind of basketball that won him 11 National Titles (and he got robbed in 1974 playing N.C State).

    Should be noted that when UCLA wanted to slap his name on the court at Pauley, he balked. He wanted his beloved wife, Nell's name on the court. He and the University compromised, and today, the UCLA women and men play on the "Nell and John Wooden Court".
     
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  9. HornView

    HornView 1,000+ Posts

    My Mom's family is from Oklahoma and Dad's Texas. I grew up about 30 miles south of the Red River in a one blinking redlight town off the beaten path. Spent a lot of my childhood days in OK and bragging rights were precious with so many cousins around.

    My dream was always to attend UT, but economics, fate, distance you name it, it wasn't in the cards but I never lost my allegiance to Texas.

    Developed a love of women's basketball before I was in the first grade watching my older cousins playing jr high and high school ball. It was half court then and the final year of "6 on 6" was my senior year in high school. The All-American Redheads came through town to play once and a girl from my hometown made it on the Flying Queens team, so I've not only enjoyed the game but truly intrigued as well.

    Women's basketball didn't get much coverage but they couldn't ignore Jody's teams and accomplishments so I was easily hooked. Got chances to watch their games in Lubbock, Fort Worth, Dallas and Austin on many occasions. SWC & Big12 tourneys in Dallas. (Witnessed Swoopes record setting game against Texas in the SWC tourney which was a phenomenal game to watch considering the loss)

    I will always pick watching a WBB game over the men even though a fan of both. The women's game is just so much purer and interesting to watch to me.

    I'm so glad the program is back I can't hardly stand it.
     
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  10. JoeDallas

    JoeDallas 1,000+ Posts

    flash34 -- What a great idea for a thread. Each of these stories is really special. I'll try not to write a book.

    I grew up two houses down from Jody Conradt's family. My family followed the local high school team (which Jody was on until she graduated in about 1960) more or less religiously. I was in the first grade when she was a Senior. When I was a little kid, I would hear her and/or her brother playing on the great cement court their dad put in their backyard. Jody had a 40 point game average. (Of course, it was 6 on 6.) She had a jumper from about the free throw line to the top of the key that almost always went in. Nobody did jump shots back then. I don't know how she figured it out. She had the greatest parents. Her mom is still going. Her dad passed away a good many years ago. I certainly see where she got her character.

    I love all basketball, but have a special place for WBB, I guess because I was raised on it. For some reason, my family never stayed for the boys' game, which immediately followed the girls' game. They weren't sexist. I think it was because the town always had good girls' teams and lousy boys' teams. Embarrassing now that we got up and left. Maybe the whole town did. The first time we stayed for the boy's game, I remember being surprised that boys played this game, too. My dad got my sister and I playing games in the living room when I was really young, probably 5 or 6. She was older, so usually beat me, but I wasn't bad. My most core beliefs about the sport come from my dad.

    I got started going to Jody's games in 1976, I believe, the one year they played in Gregory Gym before the FEC opened. Linda Waggoner, Kim Basinger, Retha Swindell formed the core of the team. I was avid in the 70's, flew to Oregon, Virginia, Oklahoma to see them. I lived in other parts of the country in the 80's and most of the 90's, and then came back to Texas. It's a lot of fun following the team again, and this board is really fun, too.
     
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  11. Rexy

    Rexy 1,000+ Posts

    I grew up in a no-stop light town in Oklahoma and basketball was the only sport played at our school. I played 6 on 6. I played forward and was a pretty good player. I even have the blown out ACL to prove it. Anyway, I have always loved the women's game and when I came to Austin in the fall of 1985, well as you can imagine, I was hooked on Texas women's basketball. I've had season tickets since 1987 (I think). I do like men's basketball, but certainly not as much as the women's game. I don't like the NBA as much, but did make it to San Antonio to see some of the stars play, including Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal. I enjoy the WNBA and have had season tickets to the Stars and made many trips to Houston to watch Tina and the Comets. Anyway, back to Texas women's basketball. I'm so glad to see them back on track. I started watching in the heyday, suffered through the 90's, hoped GG would turn it around, and am so happy to see the program improve and progress. Now we just need to get more butts in the seats!!!
     
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  12. BabHorn

    BabHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Huh, thinking about that made me realize that I have been watching WBB a long time before I started following the Longhorns. I started following girls BB back in junior high cuz our high school team was very good. All through junior and my first two years of high school, before my parents moved, I followed the Abernathy Antelopes girls BB team. Still remember those great games versus Floydada, Friona, Hale Center, New Deal and others in the mid and late 60s. Great atmosphere. Easy step to also start following Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders who played 30 minutes down the road.

    After moving, I stopped following sports until I graduated high school and attended Pan American (not yet renamed UT Pan Am & now UT Rio Grande) where I started following the Lady Broncs, taking action shots during the games.

    My transfer to Texas in 1979 led me to start watching the Longhorns ever since. Loved the “sit anywhere there’s an empt seat” times. Didn’t get season tickets until 2000 when I returned to grad school. It was either student tickets or general admission before I decided to spring for season tickets. Good timing too. I don’t remember when I found Hornsfans nor when I started posting but sure remember before there was WBB forum and WBB posters had to put up with followers of MBB complaining about the WBB posts.
     
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  13. flash34

    flash34 1,000+ Posts

    Ya'll are even more interesting than I thought ! I appreciate every insight offered. If I could be so presumptious, I would like to offer an addendum to my initial comments. These new thoughts are all a result of listening to your experiences. I have concluded that coming from a small town has real benefits to understanding women's bball and its influence on lives. I had completely forgotten the 6 on 6 but have to admit those flashbacks from a teenage boy perspective. I went to the girls games because I just loved those shorts! I too went to a small high school......certainly not as small as Nazareth....but small. My claim to fame was being a defensive specialist in high school (2.2 ppg scoring average) and holding Super Bill Bradley of Longhorn QBack fame to 34 points! When I got married and had a family, I was blessed with 3 wonderful daughters. I thought my sports days were over and my efforts would be relegated to dance recitals, etc. Boy was I wrong. I got the dance and piano recitals but found out quickly that girls love sports too. I got to coach many years of their softball and bball teams. Girls love to compete. One observation I had from refereering was that boys dismiss an elbow or a shove quickly. Girls don't forget.......they return the favor later in the game! Half my life was spent in gymns and sports fields but I balked at being asked to coach volleyball too. What a way to bond with your daughters.........never a second of regret. All three became aggies and love sports..........yes.........makes for interesting times. I met Coach Conradt when my daughter's high school coach introduced my daughter at a Arlington HS Tournament as someone Conradt might want to look at as a recruit. Conradt was everything you have heard about her.....what a special lady. Later Aston called me to ask about a couple of recruits on our AAU team. I remember getting off the phone and thinking........wow what a sharp recruiter.......some day she will make a terrific head coach. It has been easy to root for our ladies as those involved have always made me proud of the UT women's basketball connection. Hook Em !

    Hope other posters will share something about their interest in Longhorn BBall.
     
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  14. DINO22

    DINO22 1,000+ Posts

    Texas Women's Basketball fan since 1983
     
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  15. JoeDallas

    JoeDallas 1,000+ Posts

    We're a dyed-in-the wool bunch. The small town theme is striking. (Mine had a full stoplight, not blinking, now has two.) Think of the accumulated hours of WBB enjoyment in this group. And a lot of basketball knowledge. I hope more will post. I can think of more posters I'd like to know something about.
     
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  16. Dr. D

    Dr. D 250+ Posts

    On a personal note, my little third grade daughter attended the Longhorns summer camp last year. She met many of the stars and players on the U.T. team, and they were uniformly affectionate and kind. Kelsey Lang treated her like a little buddy; and Karen Aston and Jamie Cary were more than happy to pose for pictures with her. The players, both current and exes, were strong positive personalities who were delightful to talk to. It was a very warm experience.
    I'm a UT grad and have been a sports fan all my life. I followed baseball, basketball, football intensely. As I grew older, though, the other sports gradually dwindled in interest, and the only one I now follow avidly is women's basketball. I haven't even watched the men's tournament bracket the last couple of seasons, but I try to catch every game of every team on the women's side. I don't know exactly why. Maybe because the women's game is still more down to earth, not totally dominated by the hype machine. Money hasn't overwhelmed it yet. The stars stay in college all four years. There's more of a family feeling, more ordinary human warmth. The women's skill level has evolved to a very high level and you see plenty of thrilling plays, but it's still more human scale. It's not as super fast and spectacular and pro-like as the best of the men, but somehow that makes the women more enjoyable for me.
     
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  17. brnkj

    brnkj 2,500+ Posts

    What town are you from Rexy? I followed the Colbert Leopardettes all over Oklahoma growing up.
     
  18. justabbfan

    justabbfan 250+ Posts

    I blame Pat Summit. I grew up in a football crazed small city in East Texas. My family were Longhorn football fans and I remember watching the games on television from a young age. We had no history with UT other than supporting the football team. At this time in my youth, girls were cheerleaders, on the drill team or in the band. I was in the band. I don't even remember if there was a girls bb team at my school. I never played any team sports and didn't have any interest in basketball. I went on to college, worked a few years and then got a master's degree at LSU graduating in 1981 and headed back home to Texas. I vaguely recall hearing talk of the UT women and their win streak and playing for the National Championship. Somewhere during this time Pat Summit was making her mark in Knoxville. I saw her interviewed a time or two, was hooked by her charismatic personality and began following the Lady Vols during their championship seasons. Jody Conradt was often mentioned so I started watching the Longhorns. I was still loyal to the Lady Vols but the Longhorns were winning me over. In the early 2000's I remember watching a Ut vs Ut game and found myself cheering for the Horns and it's been that way since.
    One of my greatest regrets is I did not go to a game in Knoxville when the two teams were playing. My niece had moved there and I was visiting for the Christmas holidays. The teams were in town and I could have easily gone to the game but didn't. I could have seen Pat and Jody up close and personal!

    I don't care to watch mens' basketball at any level - dunk, dunk, dunk - who cares. I have much more appreciation for the women's games - actual team offense and moving the ball around can be a thing of beauty, defense as well.

    I also followed the Houston Comets during their heyday and was thrilled when Coach Aston "recruited" Tina Thompson. She was my favorite Comet player.
     
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  19. Rexy

    Rexy 1,000+ Posts

    Taloga (population 350) in northwestern OK
     
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  20. UTExinPDX

    UTExinPDX 1,000+ Posts

    I grew up in Oklahoma as well. Went to school at Lookeba-Sickles (two towns that consolidated schools in the 1960s). I remember Anita Lyons and the Leopardettes from Colbert knocking our girl's team out in the semis of the state tournament. You undoubtedly spent quite a bit of time at the state fairgrounds arena!
     
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  21. flash34

    flash34 1,000+ Posts

    I think some of ya'll are making up small town names
     
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  22. HornView

    HornView 1,000+ Posts

    You forget it's Oklahoma :ousucksnana:
     
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  23. brnkj

    brnkj 2,500+ Posts

    Anita was my favorite. I had some good friends who played for Colbert including the only two players from Colbert ever named HS All-American... Laquita Smith (SMU) and Bettina Turner (Long Beach St).
     
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  24. overseasbbfan1

    overseasbbfan1 1,000+ Posts

    I saw my first game in the early 80's just after getting out of HS, during the Jackie Swaim era. I didn't attend UT but went a few miles up the highway to SU in Georgetown. But I always followed the program, and still have my Statesman from when the team won the NC in 1986. And it wasn't just BB, though Conradt and company were certainly my favorite team. I was drawn to Longhorn women's sports in general, much moreso than the men's teams, perhaps because they seemed to come out of nowhere to become the top women's athletics department in the country. Football was king in Texas, and UT seemed like such an unlikely place for women's athletics to take hold as quickly as it did. I recall a Conradt interview where she talked about women's BB players still wearing skirts well into the 1970's, yet less than a decade later her program had become a very big deal, and was drawing crowds that dwarfed those showing up for the men's games. By the late 80's we led the nation in attendance, and the last time I checked current NCAA attendance a year or two ago, only 4 programs were averaging as many or more fans as the Horns were three decades ago. For all the talk about the explosion of the game, and growth in popularity and talent and attendance, Texas was ahead of where most teams are today 30 years ago. During the 80's, under the leadership of Lopiano, and others, Texas was the athletic department all others looked up to, and followed as they built their own programs. I had this image of a brash, NY feminist showing up in Austin and bulldozing her way through the old boys network, and demanding things be done a different way. Of course I don't know if that's how it really happened, Donna was probably much more diplomatic in her approach, but I loved the idea that she'd come in like a wrecking ball and turned the place upside down. During the 80's our women's athletic department won the NC in basketball, and also made the championship game during the final year of AIAW play. And won 8 national titles in swimming, 4 in indoor track, 2 in VB, 1 in outdoor track, 1 in cross-country, and then added several more in track and 2 in tennis during the early 90's. There were a lot of firsts also. Obviously, the first undefeated season in BB, but in 1986 we won the outdoor, indoor and cross-country titles in the same season. No other program has ever done that, in any combination of seasons, much less in the same year. Oh well so much for the history lesson. Let's go make some more history tonight!
     
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    Last edited: Mar 27, 2017
  25. brnkj

    brnkj 2,500+ Posts

    I loved Jackie Swaim! After her graduation from UT, she played on a women's league team (Austin Hoopsters... IIRC) that played in the TAAF State Tournament which was hosted by my city's Parks & Rec Dept (Denison, TX) and held at my high school during my senior year. Needless to say I made her acquaintance and tagged along behind her the whole weekend.
     
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  26. dawood

    dawood 25+ Posts

    Jody Conradt heavily recruited a very good friend of mine and they had an open practice in Dallas that I attended and I've been following UT every since.
     
  27. overseasbbfan1

    overseasbbfan1 1,000+ Posts

    I'm glad we have the Hall of Honor, otherwise we wouldn't know about these early players.The first game I saw was in Jackie's last year. She and Cathy Self (legendary Westlake and Duncanville coach, who was already on the team when JC arrived in 1975, or maybe even gone by then....not sure) kind of book-ended that early era, but that was way before the age of the internet, so no one knew much about what had happened previously at whatever point they started following the program. But there were a lot of great players in those early days....in addition to Cathy and Jackie there was Kim Basinger, Retha Swindell, Linda Andrews and Nell Fortner. And I'm sure I'm missing a few of the other standouts from the 70's. I should also mention that those national championships I mentioned above came in the era before we had soccer, softball or rowing programs. So in the span of just over a decade we had won the NC in 7 of the 8 sports we fielded teams, and multiple titles in a majority of those disciplines. And in the one where we didn't win a NC (golf) we were near the top of the rankings, had multiple NCAA individual champions and National POY winners. Great stuff!
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2017
  28. cynt

    cynt 1,000+ Posts

    Thanks for starting this thread! I love it!!!

    I'm originally from KS, basketball country. I grew up following JUCO basketball because my small town Hutch, host the JUCO national championship every year. Moved to DFW in '86 and man were we in culture shock to be dab smack in the middle of football country. So my love switched from basketball to football.

    In college I fell in love with the TN Lady Volunteers when the "Meeks" were in their hayday. I am a die hard TN fan and because of Pat Summit I began following WCBB. My love for WCBBB is a small obsession. LOL!! And then I started attending Final 4's! If you have never gone you must put it on your bucket list.

    My baby sister, 16 yrs younger than myself started playing AAU ball and attended high school with Britt Raven. I became a huge BRaven fan and started following her. BRaven committed to UT and that's where my love for the Longhorns began and continue to this day.

    I was super happy when they hired Coach G and super sad that things didn't work out for her at the 40 Acres. Glad to see Coach Aston leading the team now and wish her well.

    My friend's son received a football scholarship to UT football a couple of years ago so I continue to support and love the Longhorn family.
     
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  29. STHAustin

    STHAustin 250+ Posts

    My daddy coached girls and boys basketball teams in various small towns in west Texas. I remember sitting on the bench with him when I was a child, and I think I learned the rules of basketball the same way I learned language--just by watching and listening. By the time I was in high school, I was keeping his bench scorebook.

    When I was in high school (Ropes HS, about the size of Nazareth, near Lubbock), we were still playing half-court basketball. As a student athlete, I was a great student and a lousy athlete, but I still played basketball because everyone did. I've had UT baseball season tickets for over 30 years, but I'm a relative rookie when it comes to UT women's basketball. Although I followed them and went to some playoff games in earlier years, I didn't start going to the games regularly until about 5 years ago.
     
  30. Ellis21d

    Ellis21d JediHorn

    I grew up in a small North Texas town right on the Red River and graduated from High School in 1969 when Texas owned the College Football world. I fell in Love with anything Texas. I never was a big basketball fan until the early 80's when myself and a group of friends started going to the Boys state tournament as a social event and it became an annual event from then on.
    My wife and I had 2 girls who I never imagined would be basketball players. I started coaching them in club basketball in the mid 90's when they were in Middle school and they both turned out to be very good players. As a result of my daughters interest it became an annual family event to go to the Girls State tournament. During this time we lived in the Houston area so a friend of mine and I got together and started an AAU team, the Houston Hotshots, and got the AAU association going in Houston so we could have a format for tournaments in the Area. I ended up coaching an AAU team for 14 years. We were a traveling team and went to tournaments all over the country and that included AAU nationals.
    That was a really fun time in mine and my family's life. As a result I have a passion for Women's basketball especially the University of Texas team who I always followed but never was able to attend many games. We had many of our girls from our AAU teams go on to play division one. Now we live in Austin and I attend every game I can. Hook'em!
     
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