2019 Big 12 Tournament

Perhaps that's your misconception in how you view us the previous 4 years. We aren't a "top" program like those programs, who have all won a national title the last 10 years, or at least played for two (like MSU); and, they have all reached the Final Four at least twice in the last 5 years, except for Baylor.

We have achieved three Sweet 16's, and one Elite 8. While that's very good, it's a step below the programs you listed.

 

Post game presser:

 

That's my point. We weren't a top program, but that's where we thought we were headed. The rest of the basketball world thought that, too. We just couldn't get over the hump. We were a step below the top programs, and we've stayed there. Others have actually moved past us. MSU was no top school when Vic Shaefer went there. They were below us in terms of potential. Now they've played in two Final Fours. The most disquieting thing about this season is that the Texas team didn't get better as it went along; it got worse. Teams we handled early, beat us late. Iowa State and West Virginia. Baylor crushed us in Waco. Kansas State beat us twice.

 

Top 16 in what? The Nation? No. This team is not a Top 16 team. I’m guilty of expecting more. Every year. Sort of like what happens 100 miles north in Waco.

 

Your sense of ENTITLEMENT is duly noted.

You really don't know what "Top 16" means? It means what we were the last 4 seasons thanks to Coach Aston and the players she brought into the program. I know good and well we are not Top 16 this season; but, that was my expectation going into this season. If you were expecting a Final Four this season, that's your prerogative; we've achieved that milestone only once in the last 30 years.

That team up north continues to do well in the regular season, and then underperforms based on their seed the last 5 seasons in the tournament. Their fans "expect" Final Fours, and they are aren't getting them even though they have the second highest-paid coach in the nation. Last year, they got bounced in the round of 16 by a #6 seed. If you you've ever visited their message board after their unexpected losses in the tournament the last 5 seasons, you'd see they are just as miserable and unappreciative of the results like many on this message board. Should their tournament expectations be higher based on regular season results? Absolutely. But, they haven't been getting the return on their investment, that's for sure.

 

Baylor isn't getting "the return on their investment" - says absolutely no one except you. We can argue all day and night on this board (and Lord knows people do) about whether Texas is underperforming or not. I believe based on Texas' resources and recruits, the program is in fact underperforming. That's my opinion - don't care whether it's yours or not. However, if you think for one second we wouldn't trade our success with the success Baylor has year in, year out, you're delusional. I'm not a fan of Kim Mulkey the person but she's one of the best coaches in the country, and her program is one of the Nation's best. Their fans are rabid and loyal. They have a shot at playing for a National Championship every year. When is the last time you honestly believed Texas looked and played like a team that could make it to the Final Four?

Final note - there seem to be several people on this board who think only a select few are worthy of having opinions about the program, players or coaches. If someone is critical of coaching or players, they're often vilified, attacked or told they know nothing about basketball.

I'm a Lifetime Longhorn. I'm a UT graduate. We attend almost every home game. We've had season tickets for 20 years. I follow most UT sports very, very closely and ALWAYS want them to succeed. But I try and remove my burnt-orange colored glasses from time to time. While we may not agree, and we have different opinions and perspectives, your (I use this term collectively) opinion is no more valid than mine. Or anyone else's opinion who posts. Nor is mine. This is a fan forum. Everyone has an opinion - some are B.S. but it's theirs.

Frankly it's more interesting when more people post than when it's the same half-dozen folks over and over - that's when it seems the program is dying from apathy.

 

That call was HORRIBLE.

 

One thing that is often lost in conversations about this years team is how different the roster is today vs what it was at the start of the season & what we expected in the offseason.

I think anyone who's ever read my posts will say is that I am typically not one to make excuses. But, the fact of the matter is that the loss of Lashann and Sedona hurt us BIG TIME. Feels strange to talk about preseason/early season injuries still hampering a team but those are two kids who would've been undoubted starters and would've solved many of our woes today (spacing, shooting & individual scoring). Should the team get better everyday, of course. That being said, we are still where I thought we'd be. Third in the standings, lacking leadership, deficient in the half-court and on the wings. Although it was WVU and not ISU whom I thought would be ahead of us in the B12 standings.

As much as it pains me to say "coach deserves a pass" because it reeks of a program destined for eternal mediocrity, the facts are the facts. Idk if there are many or even any teams in the country that can lose 2 of their best 3 players and still finish in the top 1/2 of the 1st or 2nd (pending what region you're in) best conference in the nation. If this team did not meet your expectations, I am curious as to why your expectations were still that high to begin with.

Next year will be the first season in a long time that we should have realistic expectations of beating BU and competing amongst the nations elite. If KA puts a team on the court that matches those expectations or not, is a horse of another color.

 

I believe Lashan's presence in the lineup would have indeed gotten us to the top 15 or so. Her loss was devastating. She is a slasher, can penetrate and plays good defense. she would have made everyone better. If she can return next year, it will be a tremendous addition.

 

If you say so. The threads on the Baylor message board from THEIR fans complaining about not getting to the Final Four the last 5 seasons despite being a #1 seed more often than not are there any time you want to go read them. Their anguish is no different than any other fan message board when a program isn't living up to THEIR expectations come tournament time.

 

I certainly never said that; their success has been unmatched by anyone in our conference, and most schools nationally.

But, based on the kind of ENTITLED "fan" you have displayed to be on here, you'd be crying bloody murder at the top of your lungs if we were a #1 seed 4 out of the last 5 seasons and having reached zero Final Fours. Because your expectations would be that much higher, and they weren't achieved by an HOF coach.

 

Our injuries hurt. However that's not the only factor. The lineup actually improved when Joyner rejoined the team, but overall performance did not. As I said before, the most disquieting thing about this season is that the Texas team didn't get better as it went along; it got worse. Teams we handled early, beat us late. Iowa State and West Virginia. Baylor crushed us in Waco. Kansas State beat us twice.

I'm an optimist about improvment next year with the addition of LaShann and Sedona. How much we improve is another question. Sedona has potential obviously, but she's still an unknown factor. Collier will have to make a big jump upward if we are to be a contender, though she certainly has star potential. The real need is at guard. You win with guards, and we lacked consistent shooting. Shug started coming into her own this season as an offensive player, and a full speed Higgs will help, but that's not enough. Last year we had Higgs, McCarty and Adkins in the same backcourt, but we still got beat by every high ranked team we played. We need more. Maybe Warren will fulfill the early promise she showed before tailing off in the second half of the season. Maybe LIttleton will be more consistent. In my opinion what we really need is a big contribution from one of the two guard recruits arriving in the Fall. That, as we have sadly learned, is hard to predict. Then there's that little matter of our offensive scheme.

 

Very thoughtful assessment of our team.

I appreciate this post - thoughtful and opinionated without the need for childish message board bullying that's frankly become a bit tiresome. Anyway - here's what nobody ever says or maybe even realizes - even if we DID have LaShann and Sedona - we still don't know that we would've been better. There's no way to know that. Injuries are what they are - and you have to be soooo good as a staff that you get enough people ready to overcome injuries and the ebbs and flows that come with coaching 17-22 year olds!!!! it's just a part of the life. Get your athletes ready to play so that when you need them they're already gassed up, confident, skilled and prepared for the battle. You can't throw folks into a war without making sure they're battle-tested. No excuses for anyone. Nobody gets a pass. Every coach in America gets paid to do what I just described. That's why they get paid the big bucks. To handle all facets of getting their teams ready to play...and win.

 

Fans who want excellence - who want to compete for championships - are entitled? Fans who dare to criticize deficiencies in coaching are entitled. Got it.

Gosh I hope CDC and the University feel equally entitled otherwise we’ll be stuck with products like the men’s basketball program. Or the past decade of softball, which is a perfect example of what happens when you hire one of the best coaches in the country.

If that’s your definition, I’d much prefer to be an entitled fan than one that is okay with mediocrity and just waits until next year. And the next. And the next.

 

Well said and, for what it's worth, I agree with you 100 percent. I've pretty much said the same thing several times, but always get attacked by the same two or three people because my observations and or opinions (we all have them) aren't in line with theirs. In response to those attacks I've engaged in senseless heated exchanges that got out of control and off topic, which I refuse to do going forward... It's not worth it. Thanks @Hornzupp for your obviously qualified contributions to this forum. I'm hoping for the best for the team and the program as a whole.

Hook 'Em!

 

And there we have it.

 

Preach

 

FACTS

 

Yes, you are entitled because the achievements you seem to "expect" have not been realized in over 30 years. And, only once at that. The only basis you seem to have that we can realize that excellence in women's hoops is because we have money, and wear "TEXAS" on our jerseys.

Have we made the investment, financial and otherwise, to "expect" excellence in women's basketball? Plonsky tried hiring a head coach with multiple ACC championships, conference tournament championships, and Final Fours at a cost of $1 million per season; the best we got was round of 32 for our investment.

So, Plonsky then does an about-face and decided to go the opposite extreme and hire a head coach with limited head coaching experience, let alone tournament success, at about $600k. When have you ever known Texas to hire a new head coach at 40% less than the outgoing head coach? Plonsky was probably facing pressure to hire a head coach on the cheap in order to offset the wasted financial investment on Gail Goestenkors. Did she do a national search for a head coach? Sure didn't seem like it. She hired someone who was familiar with Texas, has a love for our University, and wanted desperately to coach at Texas and restore some of the glory days Jody Conradt enjoyed in the late 1980's.

The only success we've enjoyed in the last 30 years has been because of Karen Aston. You say you have attended games for the last 20 years. Other than 2002-03 (when Karen was an assistant and responsible for the recruits on that roster), when else have we had a season better than what she's achieved the last 4 season prior to this season? Were you enjoying the seasons before that? Did you enjoy not making the tourney under Jody, or getting bounced in the first round when she did in the 90's and 2000's?

The person you should be upset with is Plonsky. Karen has way overachieved based on the pay for which she was hired. Based on success in the NCAA tourney, she was given a raise up to somewhere in the $800's a couple of years ago. Guess what? That is still $1 million less than what Mulkey is earning. Aston is not being paid a Top 16 salary nationally despite being a Top 16 program the last 4 seasons; but, "entitled" fans expect more. Schools that have shown the financial commitment and have their women's hoops head coach higher-paid than Aston (off the top of my head) are: UConn, Baylor, Notre Dame, Stanford, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Miss. State, Louisville, South Carolina, Tennessee, Duke, Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa State, Rutgers, Oregon State, and Kentucky; I might be wrong about one or two, but I probably also failed to include one or two who fit the bill.

 

Yes, Karen's success over the last 4 seasons has caused the expectations of our fans to rise; nothing wrong with that. We all want to get better results, and get to the top sooner rather than later. We all want our team to get better over the course of the season, and peak at the end. Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen, not just for our team, but for others, as well.

In your comments, you are kind of being disrespectful to Iowa State and West Virginia; shouldn't you expect their teams to have gotten better over the course of the season, too? West Virginia took Baylor to the wire last week and only lost by 6 points, I believe. Iowa State has a very potent offense and has annihilated some teams, both at home and on the road.

You bring up MSU. They are an exception; props to Coach Schaeffer. Who else can you name in addition to Schaeffer's team that falls in that category?

Even though Dawn Staley won the national title two seasons ago, last season she "only" made the Elite 8. This season, her team lost so many non-conference games early; Baylor killed them in Columbia. They turned things around during the conference season. But, as the #2 seed in the SEC tourney, they lost this weekend to #10 seed Arkansas who had an RPI in the 100's. Staley struggled for several years getting her team beyond the Sweet 16, despite being a #1 national seed.

Oregon is trying to get to the level of MSU. Guess, what? Hasn't happened. A few weeks ago, Oregon killed Stanford at Palo Alto by like 40 points. And, last night, Stanford beat Oregon in Las Vegas for the PAC tourney championship. I guess that means one of those teams got worse and the other got better according to your logic. Oregon has Sabrina Ionescu -- the probable NPOY and possible #1 player in the upcoming WNBA draft -- and, still no Final Four.

My point? It's hard to get to he Final Four. It's hard to win a national title. And, it's hard to maintain that level of success year in and year out. Many teams have off years; some rebound, others do not. We'll see which kind of team we are.

 

This I totally agree with. That technical on Mide was pretty bad. Seems like the umps were being preemptive, not calling what happened but calling to prevent what might happen in the future. Bad call by the umps on Mide. Hope that gets reviewed by the conference.

Yep, Baylor totally dominates the conference then fails to get past the Sweet 16. You have to reach the final four to have a chance to play for the national title. Baylor hasn't gotten there. I admit that I expect them to get there this year but I will wait to see if they actually do.

And this is what really frustrates me. Especially when they fail to actually look at the evolution of the coaching staff and players and keep harping about things that have changed, like our offensive and defensive schemes, especially this year.

Every one has an opinion and a well thought out and written one, even if it does not agree with mine, is interesting and informative to read. The ones that degenerate into passive aggression or outright name calling are pretty hard to take and leave an bad impression about the poster that is hard to change, at least for me.

 

So because Texas hasn’t been a championship program in decades we should lower our expectations, otherwise we’re “entitled” in your opinion?

Sounds like a perfect strategy for sustained mediocrity.

 

Great job of putting the program into perspective. I too have had the thought process that Texas should be amongst the nations elite in WBB and there isn’t anything wrong with that. But when someone like you gives an objective view of the history of the program you realize that although Coach Aston has her faults and needs to address them she has absolutely exceeded expectations as a coach at Texas.

Now, does that mean that we should except mediocrity absolutely not but it does make you take a step back and realize that the high expectations are a result of what Coach Aston has been able to do. And I hope that she can take the next step with the program. And hiring an offensive coordinator would go a long way in doing that IMO.

 

I do laugh (hard) at those posters who feel "attacked" on here. Here's how it goes:

- (new) poster comes on this board simply to criticize (and sometimes "attack") our program, coaches, and/or players; no one forced them to; they did that of their own free will, and based on different agendas; half of them aren't even Longhorn fans. To them, they have the right to express their opinions. These posters typically only post when we lose; you will rarely see them post when we win. They rarely ever contribute anything positive to this board; they won't even congratulate our players or recruits who earn accolades for their hard work and achievements on and off the court. So, a reply to their post that is in disagreement or not well-received (like the one poster who falsely claimed that our players had given up) is considered an "attack" in their book.

- other posters reply to those posts (opinions); guess what, it's a message board for Pete's sake! If you don't expect replies, then don't post your opinions. You cant' be that naïve to think your posts and opinions will go without rebuttal. If you post, you will often get a reply; it's pretty simple. Can't believe I'm wasting my time having to explain how a message board works to the thin-skinned snowflakes.

- some posters use profanity and name-calling. I don't think that's necessary, although I've probably done it a couple of times in the heat of the moment when emotions run high. I try very hard not to do that, and our moderators have clearly indicated that is not allowed on this message board. Differences of opinions can be expressed easily without personal insults, vulgarity, profanity, or name-calling.

- posters claiming to be "attacked" seem to want everyone to agree with their opinions and jump off a cliff with them when we lose a game, especially against Baylor; if you do, you are delusional. For every "like" you get from one poster, you get a "poop" from someone else. For every "agree" you get from one poster, you get a "disagree" from someone else. Why is that? It's because we all have different perspective.

- some of us are here during the good times and the bad times; some like only being here during the good times; and, we certainly know who the posters are that only come here during the bad times

 

If you are that passionate about things, go contact Chris Del Conte or Chris Plonsky with your expert strategies. Do you really believe your complaints on here and demands for excellence are gonna change anything? All the time and energy you've spent on this thread could have been better used to compose an email to our AD. SMH

 

In any event, the team played much better in the second half yesterday. Better passing and decision making. It appeared to me that Sug took on a little more responsibility and that resulted in better offense.

 

And, it's great that the team never stopped fighting, and our execution got better in the second half. Unfortunately, as Coach Aston said in the post-game interview, we dug ourselves into too deep a hole in the in the first half (again).

 

I attribute a lot to bad luck. I am one who believes we would have been a much stronger team, very possibly another Sweet 16 team or better, if we had had LaShann and Sedona. (Who knows? We may make the Sweet 16 or better this year.) Even without them, we were as good, IMHO, as everyone in the conference excepting Baylor. I think if we played ISU several times, we would split the wins. If it weren't for the bogus technical on Mide, I think we may well have won yesterday. I agree with Karen Aston, in recruiting, other than a very few obvious top players, you don't really know who you are getting until they get to campus and start playing. So happens, we are lacking in great shooting this year. Had to make up for it in other ways. I think our offensive schemes have gotten better through the year, better passing and movement, fewer turnovers in the last couple of games. Of course, other teams have also gotten better. Next year will be interesting. We will miss Jatarie a lot. That is my biggest worry. I love Danni, but hopefully Celeste and the Australians will be able to fill that spot well. If LaShann comes back close to full strength, we could be a pretty dangerous team.

 

@Moooooo ......I'd like to OPENLY reply to the TWO nasty personal messages you sent to me in my inbox. First Message.... "YOU ARE SUCH A COWARD." Second Message..."No guts to even post your opinions, just "poop" on others. Probably because they are worthless drivel. Thanks for not posting." While I may vehemently disagree with people on this board and state so openly, I have never, not even once, sent a nasty private message to anyone on this forum, including you.

I won't even bother reiterating what others have said in response to your ridiculous assertions on here, including your famous "victim routine" when others have a different opinion than you do. I think Texexted and Dr. D took care of that nicely. As a season ticket holder, I have attended most home games since 1996 and have driven 400 miles roundtrip to and from home games from Dallas, Texas all in the same day. If I were to total the miles driven it would be close to 100,000 miles put on my vehicles to support this program, through the good and bad years. I think that gives me the right to have an opinion, even if it differs from yours or others.

The one thing that every person on this message shares is the desire to see this program, including coaches and players, be as successful as possible. Just because someone made an observation or came to a conclusion that you don't agree with in no way means they are "attacking" anyone. I know how much you enjoy performing your persecution routine, but it's really pretty lame at this point. Perhaps some practice in front of a mirror while watching "Gone with the Wind" could help your chances at winning that Academy Award YOU SO DESPERATELY LONGED FOR AS A CHILD!!!!!

I don't know about your personal background or if you were ever even an athlete yourself. I was. I played in 21 ASA Softball World Series in the "A" Division . Thus, I know alot of people in the sports community in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, including some of our former womens' basketball players, their parents, as well as some well known players that chose other colleges, including some in our conference. Because of my work, I also know and work with a few AAU coaches as well, two in particular. I see and hear alot that I don't repeat for obvious reasons. While there are others on here that I'm sure know more about the womens' game than me, like everyone else, I am entitled to my opinion and thus will continue to voice that when I feel the need. I rarely post on here anymore, nor have I been able to attend as many games this year due to some health challenges, but I remain a solid fan and supporter of this program.

You CYBER-BULLY anyone who disagrees with you. So the next time you get that sudden rush of KEYBOARD COURAGE, I sit in Section 21, Row 6, Seats 7 and 8. Please come down and introduce yourself sometime, have some conversations face to face, and I think you'll recognize for yourself just HOW MUCH OF A COWARD I REALLY AM..........NOT~~~