Huh, calm down the world isn’t coming to an end. I think the next game against Florida State is going to tell a lot about this team and Coach Aston.
I would venture to say the freshmen defense acumen is what kept them out of a very close game. Brooke will never have a game near that bad again. No way
The bad thing is the freshmen are the ones whose skill sets were NEEDED in the half court game they forced us into. Sure, their defense has not been up to par, but maybe I "zone up" and allow them into.the game for at least a little.... after all I don't see how they could've done much worse (if any) than some of the ridiculous mistakes that were made at critical moments by those who DID see action.
As Karen said during the mic'd up the game is there for the taking, but instead we decided to give it away. Brooke just has an average game we win easily, or with Joyner. It does show just how weak PF is w/o Joyner against a good team. AGC is a foul and turnover machine and Hosey can't make bunnies that most Jr. High girls don't miss. Jatarie got abused too by what might be the ugliest girl in college BB. Hopefully this is a learning experience to get the weaknesses worked out. I don't know how much the freshmen could have helped but Rellah certainly couldn't have been any worse at rebounding that what we had.
As I alluded to earlier, Tennessee's bench DID match our depth and exposed some big weaknesses for us. They out scored our bench 20 to 18, but played with more intensity and were simply more poised. I was very disappointed that Rellah did not get any minutes as she is very physical down low and an excellent rebounder. I also think Littleton and Patterson could have possibly helped our Offense playing against a zone, but they never saw the floor!!! I certainly hope this scenario changes, because if we are truly going to have QUALITY depth, we are going to need these freshmen to contribute big time,!!!
And after all... what kind of superb defense was played when three players fouled out sending them to the line 37 times?! I'm sorry, but I would've HAD TO have put Rellah in and tried to challenge them in the paint with her offensive skills and rebounding prowess.
My last post for today. TN deserved the win. Their defense was great against the Horns, and we couldn't figure out how to score against it. We've been too use to playing fast and having fast break points. TN always had someone back to break up our fast break points that we're use to. Kudos to them. Also agree that Brooke will probably NOT have another game as bad as she did today.
Good points. I’ve always felt that Coach Aston has the tendency to be very stubborn when it comes to making adjustments such as maybe changing the defense or offense during games.
One of the top teams in the nation with 9 HS All-Americans on the roster.... FIGURE OUT A WAY to get them in the game some so that they can contribute what they can at this stage in their careers. I can guarantee you they will not get any better or have their confidence boosted the way things are being done now. As justme said... the team that deserved to win today came away with the "W"
It's almost unanimous among these great basketball minds --- Rellah Boothe needed to play. Luther made the point that we have made so many times on this board ---why not go to a zone from time to time? They seemed to be practicing it this year. Nell Fortner, for one, commented on what a good move that would be. It's disheartening that some things never change. I thought we had learned better how to go against a zone, but the zone threw us badly today, just like so many times before. Florida State will show whether we can bounce back and tell us a lot about the Big 12 play ahead.
TN played 2 Srs and the rest freshman, except for C. Green, 12 min. who is a Jr college transfer and setout last year. So I'm still puzzled why Coach didn't put in our freshman. If we have AA freshmen play them against TN AA freshmen along with our Srs and Jrs and let the chips fall where they may. KA can't coach up our freshman to play on par with TN freshman!?!?! AAARRGGHHH!!! KA still drives me crazy by not having in game adjustments. It's like she refuses to change because she believes what she scouted and prepared for will work. I'm glad we lost early in the season. Now everyone can learn, recover and go kick some butt!!! HOOK'EM HORNS!!!
Pretty much all that I was thinking during and after the game has already been posted by others. If I was our head coach and had to select opening comments for the post-game presser, they'd be: "Well-deserved loss".
Our veterans were constantly making freshmen mistakes; so, might as well have put in a freshman here or there during the game, especially when no one else could hit a three point shot.
Yes, Brooke was awful. Sadly, there is no guarantee she won't have a game like that again. So, we need to have another guard ready to step in when she's struggling so Brooke can maybe regain her composure on the bench a few minutes. Would have liked to have seen Destiny or Chasity come in for a bit and maybe help bust that zone defense.
In the post game comments Coach Aston said that they didn’t look like a well coached team which obviously falls on her. The struggles against the zone is disappointing because we knew that was a weakness from last year. Coaches will always talk about players getting better and working on their weaknesses. But Coach Aston needed to get in the film room and get better as a coach this offseason and unfortunately it looks like she didn’t do that.
I stated during our Georgia game thread last Sunday that if Coach A wouldn't feel confident playing a freshman or two with a minimum 23 point lead in the second half, then when would she? Yes, Rellah came in for a few minutes mid-way through the 3rd quarter, but that's just not early enough, IMO. Playing our freshmen for mop-up duty in only the last two minutes of a blowout doesn't help the team at all.
I know Audrey-Anne gives her all; but, she was also awful. She looked like the player she was last season who struggled and fouled continuously against tall, athletic post players. I have no doubts that Joyner will take her starting position sooner rather than later.
My biggest fear is that Coach A's "defense first" mentality will kill the players' offense, just like Rick Barnes did to his team in 2009-10. For those who don't recall, his team was #1 and was rolling offensively. But, stubborn Rick decided he was gonna break our freshmen by making them play defense to his standards; team fell apart and barely made the NCAA tourney, and then quickly exited in the first round. It was the beginning of the end for Barnes.
My biggest fear is that Coach Aston becomes Rick Barnes in general when it comes to coaching offense and making in games adjustments.
While the sky isn't falling, this team only gets a handful of opportunities to notch non-conference victories over Top 25 teams. This loss could hurt in seeding come tourney time and our quest for one of the four #1 seeds. Based on this performance, the chances of beating UConn are very slim unless we improve dramatically in one month (and UConn will be improved, too). That leaves one non-conference game against FSU; not enough marquee victories if teams like Tennessee, Notre Dame, Miss. State and South Carolina have two or three non-conference wins against Top 25 teams. So, that leaves us very little room for error in conference play. Chances are that only three other Big 12 schools are ranked (Baylor, WVU, OSU) during the season. So, that's six victories if we're perfect (not counting the conference tournament).
Well it is early in the Season. Glad Texas got to see a couple thing's. The biggest difference's to me, was taller guards from Tenn. And playing hard by Tennessee. Texas look like they had forgot what they have been doing all Season. Now I was surprise K. Aston did not pull that Team together. That was a winnable game on the road. Hookem'
I, too, was thinking that the freshmen should have played. But, after some reflection, I believe Coach kept the starters in because the chances they could pull out a win were greater than with the freshmen. Most likely they could have scored some points but Tennessee would have scored more since there would have been even less defensive effort.
Rellah is the most logical freshman to play ..Patterson seems most unlikely- small and Sugg will be your new PG after Brooke is gone...yes Brooke was small but Brooke has something special you don’t see often does so many of the little things that normally other than this game when the shots don’t go she still produces. Making this point it’s crazy Patterson was chosen preseason big 12 freshman?? But back to Booth..did anyone think they just know they are going to go back with Joyner and no reason to throw Rellah in the fire and possibly get her discouraged?
At this point, I'd pretty much call J. White for K. Lang an equal substitution. That said, the team that's seeing the floor is pretty much the same as last year's team minus Joyner.
