2023-2024 Season

A-Mo officially a redshirt sophomore now.

 

ESPN's article ranking the Top 25 players:

14. Rori Harmon, Texas
Guard | 5-foot-6 | junior
2022-23 stats: 11.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 7.4 APG

A tenacious defense-first mentality makes Harmon the perfect point guard for her intensely competitive coach, Vic Schaefer. Despite injuries throughout the roster, those two helped drive the Longhorns to a share of the Big 12 championship. Harmon was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year and set a school record with 7.4 assists per game. If Harmon can take the next step with the consistency of her jump shot (31.9% on 3-pointers last season), she could challenge Bueckers and Clark as the top lead guard in the country.

Who are the top 25 players in women's college basketball?

 

No big revelations, but another good interview with Coach Vic, by Howard Megdal:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/texas-coach-vic-schaefer-talks-about-his-always-fascinating/id1174389272?i=1000634289181

 

Does those stats include Abby?

 

After 2 games, team has a lot of promise. Until Moore and Gaston are back we’ll see some inconsistency. Seeing somewhere that Horns are the tallest team in college, it’s interesting to think back to Schaefer’s first team here. We were worried about matching up with big guards. Now I am slightly concerned with matching up with a team with 2 or 3 really good small guards. Other than Harmon, Horns don’t have a really good option. Maul is a bigger guard and with her knee and conditioning, keeping up is a challenge right now. Muhammad might be the best option for that…..kinda strange though. With UCONN falling to NCState yesterday, perhaps we can beat ‘em in Austin. It’s all about matchups and getting healthy. Good start to season with lots of room for improvement.

 

Texas has moved up to # 11 in the AP poll and South Carolina vaulted to #1

LSU dropped to 7th and UCONN 8th after their upset losses. Oklahoma moved in at #25 and the only other B12 team ranked is Baylor at #21

 

I watched Land Thieves in a game last week and was impressed. I like their coach and think they’ll continue to improve over the years.

 

Surprising about LSU down to 7 since they beat their next two teams: 112-55 and 109-47. Granted they were, uhhhh, lesser colleges. I guess Kimmy lost a lot of voter good will and they're not going to give her the benefit of the doubt (which kinda actually plays into her martyr syndrome)

 

Taylor Jones video interview

 

UConn's Azzi Fudd not playing tonight against Maryland as she suffered a knee injury in practice. Time will tell if she heals in time for the UConn game at Texas in 2.5 weeks . . .

 

I’m watching the game….kinda. It’s hard to watch. Physical but not pretty ball. I thought Maryland might hang early but false hope. Trying to figure out how Horns match up with UCONN.

 

Was Maryland just that bad or is UConn that good? Because a 32 point blowout for a top 20 matchup suggests rankings are way off this year, especially with the other recent upsets.

 

Maryland tried to play up tempo with UCONN. And play physical. UCONN is simply better than Maryland in those areas. I thought TERPS were undisciplined and let the game get away from them. UCONN also played without Fudd.

 

My gut tells me that when Amo and Gaston are healthy, we will be a very hard team to beat, but my Aston PTSD of underperforming is acting up right now. Got to remember that Vic normally does more with less and last year the injuries were just too much to overcome. The B12 seems to be underrated this year and I am hopeful that applies to us as well. UConn will be the tell… but Amo and Dee will be newly back if at all so… Will be an interesting season I am sure. If you look back at Vic’s MState Final Four teams, they had a similarity to what we now have.

 

great news

 

texas vs louisiana tech postgame

This is a great Thanksgiving Day (11/23) gift to the entire program. Amo was cleared for contact in practice on October 31. My too optimistic take earlier in this thread was she could be available for Liberty on 11/12.

Going forward, we probably should use 3 weeks as a baseline for the time our players need for unrestricted practice conditioning before playing.

DeYona, you're next!

 

Moore is such a huge emotional part of the team, her inclusion simply has to uplift the players. I’m smiling on an overreaction Monday. Has ANYBODY provided the slightest tidbit on Gaston? Announcers? Was she in a boot? Foot or high ankle sprain or ? High ankle sprain is typically 4-6 weeks. Or ?

 

Gaston is practicing with the team now. She has been for over a week now it appears from various Instagram stories.

 

Yesterday at the La Tech game, they showed a social media video, that I haven't been able to find yet. It was DeYonna interviewing Madison as they were walking slowly down the practice court. This is the very first question and answer:

DeYonna: So, what is the best compliment that anyone has ever given you?

Madison: Compliment. Oh wow. I think someone complimented me on my dimples.

DeYonna: Hmmm, well. I think we're going to have to change that question because that's obviously a lie.

 

I wore #60 (HS Football) 'cause...you know...Tommy Nobis.

 

Rori is an awesome player but she is not the scorer that those other 2 are. Not a dig, just different skillset that is awesome for Texas.

 

Awesome news. Can she stay healthy and get meaningful minutes?

 

Moore is a dominant player so she will definitely find her way into the lineup with meaningful minutes. She looks really good as well I remember seeing on Blair’s story last week her getting a rebound, taking it full court down the floor on the fast break and finishing with a euro step layup. It may take a while to get in the swing of things but her ability to rebound and finish at the basket will be enough for her to see the floor.

 

So, dominant... Who will get less minutes when Amo is back? I'm thinking Amina. And I really like Amina's game.

 

Gaston and Moore are more polished and experienced offensively, but there will definitely be minutes for Amina also with her high level motor and scrappiness.

 

No way Amina gets sidelined with the way she’s played this season. I believe Mwenentanda and Faye will lose out on minutes once Gaston and Moore return. We have a very deep team so minutes will be hard to come by.