Once upon a time in the 80s we pulled in some of the best recruits in the nation year in and year out. When other programs started doing more with less while we (aside from '86) did less with more, the recruiting pendulum swung away from Texas. Here we go again, get ready for it: 2019 Women's Basketball Class Rankings
The coaching certainly needs to improve but who else don’t you see on the list? As I’ve stated numerous times throughout the 2019 recruiting cycle Texas really didn’t have any important needs for 2019. It’s the same reason you don’t see Baylor on the list. If Texas isn’t at the top of that list next year then I think you might be on to something.
I agree that our needs weren't that great for 2019. Until... Hopefully we'll see things pick back up in 2020.
Very astute observation - and the reality is, unless players get better once they get to Texas, would-be great players are not going to come here. Great hs players pay attention to what happens when great players go to college. They want to win championships or at least get close to it. Great hs players avoid going to programs where talent is wasted.
IMO, that's probably the #1 reason why Mack Brown's career ended at Texas. I sure hope the same thing doesn't happen to Karen, but she has yet to prove she can coach em' up at Texas. A perfect example of one of the most basic skills is where to put the ball on the backboard standing right under the basket so the ball will fall through the hoop. Some of the Texas players never seemed to learn this in 4 years. In fact, I think this could be said for a number of Texas coaches including, Shaka Smart, Jerritt Elliott. Great recruiters but still get beat too often by much less talented teams. I'm not sure who at Texas really does a great job of coaching them up, maybe swimming. I do think we finally have to right person for softball, we'll see, but no one was better at coaching them down that CC. She owes about 90% of her income to Cat Osterman. Recruiting finally began to suffer and then it was all over. Again, I hope Karen can get it turned around, but there's a reason why a horrible witch keeps out recruiting her.
IMO I would rather have a head coach in college that’s a great recruiter than great at X’s and O’s. It’s very rare to have a coach in college that can do both really well. The majority of the the coaches at Texas have been thought of as more recruiters. But I also think that Texas gets a lot of athletes in Football, M&W Basketball, volleyball, etc that get overrated by the recruiting services because that athlete is going to “Texas”. The main reason that I stopped paying attention to Football recruiting rankings was because during the Mack Brown era a lot of athletes were considered great by the recruiting services and the fact of the matter was that many of them just weren’t very good. It wouldn’t have mattered who the coach was.
Well lookee here - all of my favorite "experts" right here on one thread. From whence cometh all of this knowledge that you impart? Surely it's not just from sitting on the sofa, watching games on tv. Do you attend practices regularly? Do Karen and the other coaches call you on a regular basis to discuss coaching techniques and strategy? Perhaps you should submit your resumes to the UT Athletics department because, lord knows, we could sure use some good coaches. I'm pretty tired of the negativity I see on this forum (basketball and football). Why can't we just be "Hornfans" and support our teams? Sure, comment on the games, good and bad, but all the darts being thrown are not helpful to anyone.
I am going to offer my fair and biased opinion on the basic or fundamental skill of shooting the ball under the basket. That skill(s) is taught from the first practice when young players pick up a ball. The correct angles, where to hit the square, spin, softness, adjustments, which hand to use, using body to shield shooter, and other. There aren’t many if any new secrets to it. All or most coaches know them and practice them. Can you get better at.......absolutely. One observation/hypothesis I want to offer is..........a lot of it has to do with DNA. Before I get roasted......hear me out. There are lots of reasons players miss the bunnies......such as having a larger defensive player on em, being a pass-first player, going too fast to slow down momentum from a driving layup, body bumped not called by refs, etc. I think a lot of the frustration I have and perhaps others do.......is the ones where there is no obvious reason. The poster child for this is Holmes. She is tall, strong, skilled and most times should have easy scores when 4 feet from basket. But there has always been more of a tendency to throw the ball up there and hope it goes in. She was that way as a freshman and still had that propensity last year. Until shown differently, I think we’ll see it again this year. Will she improve some....I think so but it’ll always be there. I don’t think that is a huge reflection of our coaches. I can’t imagine they skip those drills. There have been others that have similar issues. My theory is it has to do with anxiety associated with some fear of failure that close.......leading to rushed/hurried attempts........it is in their DNA. My Doctor flash34 theory is free.......not even 5 cents thank you Lucy. I am giving the coaches a pass on being poor fundamental coaches based on this issue. There are many more pressing areas of coaching improvement needed. I get it. I too get frustrated with missing the bunnies. When we fix the help-side defensive issues, the possible use of zone to change momentum, the pick and roll fundamentals, the back-door defense, etc. I’ll be happy. And the coaches seem to be doing better in those areas. My contribution to over-reaction Monday is done. Got to go work on my daughters car. Feel free to tell me I’m crazy. Need some good reading material tonight.
I agree with Flash. The frustration I feel when a Texas player misses a bunny taken without impediment comes from knowing that skill should have been learned a long time before coming to college. It should be ingrained by the time they show up at the college of their choice. It can still be learned but should have already been learned. So who's at fault here? The player for not practicing a basic skill? Or her early coaches, including her HS & AAU coaches for not stressing the importance of that basic skill?
First of all, I don't know about the others on this thread, but I'm truly not here to gain your approval... and don't give a fat rat's butt about what you don't like about others' opions or points of view. Furthermore, if you can't respect others' RIGHT to have and express such opinions and refrain from attacking anyone whose opinion different from yours, then perhaps you should put yourself in a little timeout. You don't see us attacking your posts... instead we just let you babble while we laugh silently. Please do us all a favor and give us the same courtesy in return. Thank you.
Coach John Lucas rants about this quite a bit - too many players working with trainers on impractical dribbling drills (moving with 2 balls between cones and/or chairs), taking step back fade-aways from the arc, etc. but can’t hit a layup or make a free throw. One of the reasons I really liked the few practice videos of Sedona and Charli. I only remember one of Charli’s and it was a footwork drill and, in Sedona’s, she was working on finishing through contact in the paint.
Triple like Brnkj!! I couldn't calm down enough to write a reply to Creaky's ridiculous rant! Very well stated and you really kept your cool!
