Drake now on the schedule

At the end of the 1st quarter, the TV camera's showed the Texas bench and I saw DeYona walking very gingerly on the sideline, but she was dressed in uniform shorts. No boot or brace of any kind.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that's Princeton's men wearing blue. Uncontested layups on back cuts!

 

Offense went stagnant and the D broke down. He'll hammer the team on that.

 

Gaston was not available to play tonight. The announcers referred to her and Celeste not being available. I assume injuries for both.

 

Yes both were unavailable due to injuries. It's a good thing we only have K-State on the schedule so Taylor should be back after our next game.

 

Lauren Ebo exceeded my expectations stat-wise. 14 points and 7 rebounds is a great Longhorn debut. Thought she ran the floor well, and did not appear winded despite the fast pace of the game. Seemed like she was establishing great position down-low in front of her defender and was demanding the ball, but our guards were late in looking her way and not feeding her the ball as quickly as they should have. Ebo could have finished with 20 points had the offense run through her a bit more; hope that will improve each game going forward.

She has a really soft touch around the basket, as well as a long wingspan (at least it looked that way to me). The high-low between her and Charli will be fun to watch. She is definitely a power player, which is a great compliment to Charli's style.

And, she didn't even pick up one foul tonight!

 

Our littles out rebounded our bigs tonight.

 

Did Karisma really play 35 minutes tonight?

Women's Basketball vs Drake on 12/18/2020 - Box Score - University of Texas Athletics

 

• How long does Ashley have to wear that facemask? Cause it's really crimping her game
• Ahhh, that's what Ebo brings to the game, great touch after receiving the ball. So many years of our bigs receiving the ball and for some insane reason having to dribble the ball once before they were willing to shoot. Catch and shoot, love that about Ebo
• But Ebo not the greatest passer
  
• For sure, tonight showed that Charlie not mean to be a Post. Not that she asked to be, and I know it was for the team. But I kept thing "Why can't Charlie get free and closer to the basket?" And then I see Ebo forcing her way into the paint in order to receive the ball. Body mass and strength.
• Doesn't it seem that every game Texas enters a 2-5 minute scoreless drought in the second half?
• Mind boggling how many consecutive free throws we made until the first miss
• Love the message to the guards to DRIVE TO THE BASKET
• But didn't love the free, unguarded baskets given up on defense. Whose got that one?!
• I know that Charlie was frustrated, didn't realize that she was in tears until I saw the reply on TV. Not sure if they showed it, but after play resumed on that long timeout where they were looking at the monitors, Vic walked over to Charlie's chair and spent some time talking to her
• 16 steals, definite emphasis on more harassment of the players. Loved the several pokes of the ball out of the hands of the other side
• I guess the Big 12 has an edict about watching for flopping, but to the detriment of true charges. Two players with their arms straight up and not moving called for blocking?
• Only one shoe stomp from Vic tonight

 

Injury, not serious, but she will not play tonight...

 

These bozos are not refs I have seen in the FEC before...they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel to find those who will ref in the pandemic...

 

Nooooooooo.......there is another reason.....

 

The most outrageous call was Audrey taking an elbow to the throat and being called for a foul. I also see that the women have adopted the off-arm-bar as they dribble...maddening. Drake did a great impression of the Princeton men's offense...all those uncontested layups off back cuts. Won't see that offense in the Big 12.

 

Coach Vic's post game presser

 

I wish we would see back cuts in our offense...they're very effective!

 

Especially against overplaying man-to-man defense.

 

One things for sure Jennie Baranczyk is a really good coach. If not for getting Vic she should've been at the top of the list. I suspect she'll be at a top P5 program soon.

I guess Audry has to get clubbed in the head to get a foul called. That was absolute BS. Vic should've called timeout and had the refs review it for an intentional foul.

I still don't know why everyone thinks Charli is a top 5 WNBA draft choice. She misses so many easy bunnies standing under the basket I keep looking for Enemkpali on the back of her jersey. It looks to be like Ebo has better touch under the basket and is a better rebounder too. Maybe on potential, but not results. And as we know, potential just means you haven't done anything yet.

 

Ebo definitely brings the muscle we need in the paint and has great hands and a nice soft touch around the basket. The thrill that I got out if her first offensive rebound and putback!... She's a beast on the boards and I love the authority that rebounds with.

Charli is definitely a great talent with a huge upside, but much better served at the power forward position. What we tend to forget is that she's only six games into her most important and formative season -- the junior season. The struggles we're seeing from her, both physically and mentally, are growing pains.

As talented as Charli is I think it's definitely in her best interest, in terms of continued physical and psychological development, to stick around all four years and continue to get the valuable and needed experience. I sure hope she stays. Having said that, the choice is hers to make and Coach Vic and his staff will put a winning product on the floor regardless.

 

I'm not going to stir up yet another hornet's nest questioning Charli's skill or pro prospects. I think that this experiment with her at true post shows that she's a true PF. Looking back she had Joyner to pair with her and really Joyner was the muscle that did the work in the paint to take the load off of Charli having to be there. And two years before it was Joyner and Jatarie sharing that load allowing Charli to be free from the scrum underneath the bucket. Oh yeah, there was that true freshman named Sedona Prince that was the obvious future Post for Texas. [Cough, Cough]

Anyways, gonna need a healthy Ebo for the entire season to take the heat off of Charli so she can work concentrate on her strength as a scorer.

 

The slip Ebo took on the baseline was scary; glad she got up quickly and stayed in the game.

Sedona Prince also considers herself a forward; so, I always wondered how she and Charli were going to co-exist on the court at the same time. Joyner, kind of like Tiffany Jackson for a while, seemed to think she was better-suited to take jump shots than planting herself in the paint and using her strength and athletic ability to just dominate down low.

When you look at the different college teams, there just aren't a lot of true Centers out there. I think Ebo has the size, strength, and power to be an All-Conference caliber Center. She is gonna help this team in so many ways; so happy to have her and that she worked hard all these weeks/months despite not knowing if she was going to get to play. If she can just focus on learning all that Vic and Johnnie have to teach her, she will have a great career at Texas (hopefully, for two more seasons after this one).

 

I did want to give a shout-out to Shay Holle. Finally hit her first 3-pointer this season; and, her stop-and-pop jump shots penetrating the zone looked effortless; we need her to take that shot more often, especially with Celeste out a couple more games.

 

No. 22 Women’s Basketball hits century mark in 101-80 win over Drake - University of Texas Athletics

 

Really fun game to watch. Drake plays at Iowa State on Tuesday. It will air on ESPN. It was a revelation to see Lauren Ebo work down low on offense. I think she has a ways to go on defense. Charlie does a great job defending the paint. And while Vic is excited about having more options for Charlie to on offense, he has more than once mentioned that learning to defend the four presents challenges. This may be particularly true since a number of Big 12 teams and other college teams play almost a 4 guard line-up or the 4 is more like a small forward than an old fashioned power forward. This is fun!
Edit- meant to say ESPN+ for the Drake at ISU game.

 

[QUOTE="Run Pincher, post: 1794899, member: 135295" ...I still don't know why everyone thinks Charli is a top 5 WNBA draft choice. She misses so many easy bunnies standing under the basket I keep looking for Enemkpali on the back of her jersey. It looks to be like Ebo has better touch under the basket and is a better rebounder too. Maybe on potential, but not results. And as we know, potential just means you haven't done anything yet.[/QUOTE]

Not sure what your expectations are but the woman is averaging a double double on the season 25 pts and 11 rebs pg.

 

If you get a chance to rewatch the game, you’ll see we had a few of those on our end as well. Not nearly as many as Drake who clearly thrives on it.

 

This is what happens when she’s doubled every game. The narrative becomes what you and your counterparts are saying. Egbo wasn’t doubled. And guards are definitely free to roam because there is one less man on defense. I’d say Charli is a great decoy right now so our guards can score and our other bigs can go one on one. It’s funny that y’all fall for the narrative presented when she is down low and doubled. Maybe she should smile next time while 2-3 defenders only target her and handle it with grace. Lol. Bad refs don’t help either. But.... it’s a blog and that’s what we do.... analyze based on ?. So actually it opened up around the 4th after Charli asked to be moved around. She was told to stay down low and get banged up so people like y’all can analyze her frustration. And so you can see her try to score while struggling to get the ball. And to get blocked out by 2 people on all rebounds. Yep.. that’s exactly what you saw. But neither of you, maybe a few said she should be moved out to add dimension to our team and to add more versatility. All we need is for her to be doubled so guards can dribble drive. Just take it Charli. You can’t look like this is easy for you so you better stay longer to learn to take it and be the best doubled post in this life. Yep that was the tears you saw. And obviously hitting outside jumpers opened up some opportunities for the high low you mentioned during the 4th qtr. Now that can only get better. I told you earlier, they are trying to create this narrative so she shouldn’t look like top 5, she should stay, ... and all of what you guys are saying. It’s actually all good, at least we know they have SUPPORTIVE fans . Y’all really do entertain your selves with these kids lives.

 

They had alright stats, I’d say.

 

Anyway, numbers don’t lie!

And Enemkpali was too short for the inside too. Her game should have been expanded. She was definitely a stretch 4 or possibly 3 caliber athlete. But... y’all like banging snd double teaming and finesse guards running around dribble driving layups. Hey, if we can get points let’s double Charli every game. Sacrifice for the team. Struggle Charli all night in that one spot soevery one can see how frustrated you can’t get. Coaches dont you dare use her outside of the paint oron that dang block, because we need you too look well coached all night! And we will show them that wedon’t have to change our positions on the court andstill win! This is our go to strategy now.

 

“To help take the load off Charli”. What load? She averaged a double double last year. She had more rebounds than Joyner? What do you mean? She did what was expected of her and more.... lolololol

 

Sure you’d like to see 100% of all shots made. Have you checked the players field goal percentage. I’ll just stop addressing this ignorance. Opponents do understand that if she goes one on one down low.... it’s a rap! You do know that right!