2021-2022 Season

I thought he said "UCA", which I think would be Central Arkansas?

 

Well that was an ugly win that Vic will not be happy about. There are definitely bright spots such as Lattimore, and Harmon but we still have a lot to work on. Our biggest problems to me were like Vic said execution, and finishing. We also desperately need to rebound much better and get consistent shooting. On the defensive side of things we have to guard the ball much better and keep our defenders in front of us. I would go into detail but I’m very sleepy but those are just the general things. Excited about our upside though as we have some young talent to go along with veterans. Also need to see much more out of Ebo. Don’t know if she is dealing with an injury but she seems to be tired or just not trying.

 

I heard UCLA as well.

 

Although Deyona was mobile enough to go thru pre-game and half-time warmups, she was walking with a notable limp on the braced leg. Probably not too serious.

I still think she may start when healthy. But who knows?

 

While they were showing the bench, I said "Who's to the left of Deyona?" My wife said who? What? A new player on the team:

 

I enjoyed the game a lot! With so many new, inexperienced players, I was expecting it to be a bit rough, so I was not bothered so much by the errors and miscues. After last season, I believe Vic when he says his teams continue to get better as the season goes on. And this team has so much talent! I expect to continue having fun watching the team develop this season and beyond. Vic will have to tighten the rotation and I'll probably be a bit sad about the players who don't get to play much, if at all. Rebounding seems to be the biggest question mark. It would be odd to watch a Texas team that does not rebound well. Rebounding has been a staple of most of the Texas women's basketball teams I have watched over the years. Gaston out injured again! I hope she is back soon.

 

I agree with hoopsalot. Vic's teams get better as the season goes on. At forward, I thought Lattimore and Moore looked good. They will continue to improve. At guard, Ashley was good and Rori was better than I expected. We will have some challenges early, but I'm excited about where we'll be come February.

 

I will say one thing, Audrey Warren was the best player on the floor! Strong and mature! The team had To many missed shots from the middle of the free throw line and missed put backs. Looked like a bunch of freshmen mistakes, as it was. Coach got irritated with Kendall Hunter. She made some bone head plays. Femme got a lot of minutes in the second half. She needs a lot of work. Surprised how much playing time Kobe got. She was short arming a lot of her shots she missed. Overall a bunch of raw superstars were on the floor. And Coach Vic will bring them along! And agree Ashley does look bigger than last year but she got after it!

 

I agree with all comments. I was surprised Hunter started. Her outside shooting appears why. I’m thinking Schaefer was referring to her when he commented about good shooting being offset by poor defense. She doesn’t appear to have the quickness to stay in front of her player. Maybe fundamentally she can get better. The game was certainly disjointed. LOTS of improvement needed for all before Stanford.

 

After getting off work and flying home to get in front of LHN and also having to stay off Twitter and here. I’m done watching the first look at us. I think we will see several starting lineups before conf play just cause of youth and trying to figure the overall identity of this year team. To start at the top our srs JAT and AW were steady and outside eye might say JAT was off or didn’t play well cause she didn’t score but she a senior and I could tell she was holding back in the sense of being consistent just being a vet to the younger players. AW the stretch in the 3rd when just flipped a switch and was just playing harder than anyone else will be needed. So leadership we good in that category I’ll give it a 86 out of 100

 

In terms of our newbies I think Aaliyah is going to end up 6th woman of the year. She is maybe third fastest on this team in behind Harmon and holle and her defense will ramp up because although she is new to hooked nation she knows how to get on the floor for coach. Kobi and Femme looked like juco players. They so used to being the best but now they play with people on they level so they looked a half step behind. Once they catch up they will give some valuable bench minutes especially Femme who we will need to come around the mountain quicker.

 

The freshman looked real freshman like tonight. Poor Moore she couldn’t catch a break with the fouling tonight we need to get that nipped quick because you can she what she brings motor wise. She needs to stay outta foul trouble but I feel like tonight might be some foreshadowing for her a little bit but she is most def a hooper. Hunter is a bucket and reminds me of a mix between danberry and Blair in the sense of they both were good enough early on but had to figure out the right way to play and how to play for Vic. Once she figure that out she will lead this in scoring cause she scored effortlessly. Think about it he sat her the 2nd&3rd quarters and she didn’t come into the 4th until like 3:30 and was 2nd in scoring. AW needed a whole 3rd to her 16. I could be wrong cause I’m not a fortunate teller but mark my word Hunter is the Jewel of this class. Harmon was really good and is going to be special in this program because she got the keys early. She is a dream PG if a coach could hand make a PG I think it would be her. Other than freshman PG mistakes that she will fix I think she will be great and on the BIG 12 team. Lattemore is going to be a problem once she is healthy and adjusted. She reminds me of South Carolina’s Ahimere. Long, agile, and freakishly athletic. She will be good or ok this year but by her Jr year All American. I see why his face lights when he talks about this class cause they are going to special. Just think by they jr. year and I know that’s far off but a lineup with Harmon, Hunter, Codio or Nat, Moore, and Lattemore.

 

Just in case people didn’t see the postgame press conference, Vic said Gaston is not injured but her not playing was a result of a personal issue that resulted in disciplinary action. He stated that she is not in trouble and will be ready to go on Tuesday. He also stated Lattimore missed an entire week last week due to an ankle sprain.

As far as the team goes I’m very excited about what we have at the four position. Vic said Audrey won’t be playing much of the four this year so others can get reps. Although Moore didn’t score a lot I believe she will be key to the season outside of our seniors. I was very impressed by what I saw from her in the paint. Lattimore is also a special player that will be a scary matchup when she gets fully healthy and into the flow of things. I was impressed with Harmon as I said before she was going to be a special player.

A lineup of….
1.Harmon
2. Allen-Taylor
3. Warren
4. Moore
5. Gaston
I’m hoping will be the starting lineup. Can’t wait until Tuesday!!

 

Takeaways...Harmon, Hunter, Moore and Lattimore are ALL going to be special. Lots of raw talent but little experience. By the end of this year, we could be really good... Lots of work needed. I bet you Vic practiced them hard yesterday. They looked tired....

 

• Yes, Harmon looks like she will be good but she needs to slow down a little and not play so much out of control. Ashley did that last year but she seems to have calmed down just a bit.
• Warren and Taylor will need to carry this team until the youngin's figure out what it is all about. Hopefully that will not take until the end of February.
• Rebounding is a concern. Nobody wants to do it.
• Shooting is not a concern. Everybody wants to do it.
• We need Gaston but she has to be a team player.

 

Shooting is definitely not a concern, but making it certainly is. Maybe that's what you're implying. JAT, Kobe, Mathura, Masuda combined 7-30 and pretty low FT % certainly isn't going to get it done against top 25 teams. I was wondering if Joyner had come back to the team in the 2nd half last night. Vic seemed really frustrated with the jacking up shots with 18 sec on the shot clock vs running the offense.

 

All true! Particularly the part about rebounding and shooting, lol. I was impressed by Ashley. Her added maturity showed.

 

I, too, was impressed by Ashley. I think, at this juncture, she is heads above Rori. I think her year's experience shows.

 

This was a slick move by Audrey!

 

All this talk about the lack of determined rebounding (which I don't disagree with) had me thinking about Texas' style of play. It's always been defense first, and fast break second. I went through the last few years of Texas stats and it was interesting. Ball handling (turnovers) and defense (turnovers) seem to be what we need to concentrate on. Green indicates Elite Eight teams. But yeah, I'm worried that there's no one who is determined to grab the ball under the rim.

 

I am moderating my reactions, both positive and negative, to last night's performance but the rebounding and dribble-drive defense has me worried.

Femme was the most aggressive rebounding post last night. Too often the bigs would give up an offensive rebound just waiting/watching for someone else to grab it.

We all know what Stanford can do to a team with just slight penetration into the paint - cutters seemingly emerge from the stands and fall from the rafters.

 

Yeah, we’ll SEE about that, for sure…NOT a CC fan here…

 

CC being Charlie Creme?

If so, I agree. But that particular poll, like anything preseason, is pure speculative click-bait.

 

I would love to get used to that; but, if last night's scrimmage is any indication, that's just not gonna happen. Shay played 11 minutes which was the least of any player; and, she may have been last or close to last off the bench. In those 11 minutes, she had one nice dribble drive to the basket for a layup, and picked up 3 fouls.

Even when TV commentator Andrea Lloyd was talking about those comments from Vic that Shay was the fastest player on team, you could hear it in her voice that she didn't believe Shay was faster than Rori. Seeing Aliyah Matharu (for the first time) and Chevalier, I just don't see Shay being faster them baseline to baseline; Shay did run the 400m in high school, she might be the fastest at that mid-distance run.

 

Women's college basketball 2021-22 - Final Four picks, player of the year predictions, biggest storylines (espn.com)


Who will be newcomer of the year?
Barnes: Azzi Fudd, UConn
Creme: Aaliyah Moore, Texas
Hurd: Jersey Wolfenbarger, Arkansas
Voepel: Azzi Fudd, UConn

 

I guess Aaliyah has a goal in sight, now!

 

Based on who started the scrimmage, how they played, their conditioning and health status, and any off-the-court issues, here's how I see our depth chart going into the first game of the season:

PG: 1. Rori Harmon, 2. Ashley Chevalier
SG: 1. Joanne Allen-Taylor, 2. Aliyah Matharu, 3. Kyndall Hunter
W/SF: 1. Audrey Warren, 2. Kobe King-Hawae, 3. Shay Holle
PF: 1. Aaliyah Moore, DeYona Gaston
C: 1. Latasha Lattimore, 2. Lauren Ebo, 3. Femme Masudi

And, then my thoughts on my above depth chart:

- several players can play multiple positions, and will based on the opponent matchups

- we are deepest (and most talented) at shooting guard

- scary that I have 3 true freshmen as potential starters

- the front court was more difficult for me to rank our players. I think Lattimore and Femme give us the best chance to win the opening tip, but that's not the most important reason for who starts at Center

- Ebo's experience and strength are reasons for her to see a lot of court time; but, conditioning and speed are reasons why she might not see a lot of court time

- I still think it's going to be tough for Holle to get many minutes based on the talent in front of her at SG/SF. She's fortunate she has height and speed; if our smaller guards are getting posted up a lot, Shay's height might get her on the court to provide much needed defense; but, I don't see Shay's offense being better (yet) than those I have listed in front of her

- when I see Moore, Gaston, and Lattimore, I think 2 of the 3 could be on the floor together a lot (in a 2-PF type offense); each brings something different to the frontcourt, and that's good

If the players can stay healthy, improve in practice and do what Vic asks them to do in games, it's going to be a fun season, especially come conference play

 

I think her minutes will be heavily influenced by the opponent's roster and style of play. She will be an asset against other inside players who primarily rely on power and strength, not so much against inside players like Lattimore, who primarily use quickness and athleticism.

 

True, and we're weakest at W/SF. Despite how hard Audrey plays, the athleticism just isn't there against the best teams. What I hope is Ebo/Femme step up so we can see this:
PG: 1. Rori Harmon, 2. Ashley Chevalier
SG: 1. Joanne Allen-Taylor, 2. Aliyah Matharu, 3. Kyndall Hunter
W/SF: 1. Aaliyah Moore, 2. Audrey Warren or 2. Kyndall Hunter
PF: 1. Latasha Lattimore, 2. DeYona Gaston
C: 1. Lauren Ebo,/ Femme Masudi