Florida State ??

So almost 3 hours after beating FSU, still no mention of it on ESPNW. I realize that they most likely had a bunch of UConn stories written in advance, but c'mon man!

There are schools out there besides UConn.

Chaps me.

 

This women's team may be for real. Shaka needs to take notes !!!!
Down big on the road they bounce back when they could have folded. Leading they are forced to OT by a 3 pointer at the buzzer...Again could have folded on the road.. went down 4 middle of OT....Had three of their studs foul out......Could have folded !!! But they hung tough and pulled it out against the #4 team in the country !!!!! Hats off to Aston and her girls....If only Smart could get his boys to play with half the sand these girls have !!!!
Way to go Lady Horns !!!!! They may just be good enough to make a run at the Final Four....at least Elite 8. Finally a team ( major sports ) Texas fans can be proud of besides volleyball.

 

100-0 with lots of Natties !!!! THEY are women's basketball; like it or not until someone can knock them off.

 

Just watching SportsCenter and they covered the Texas win with lots of film highlights including a bucket by Aborowa. Really made me smile to see her in the highlights even though they totally mangled her name.

 

Just seconds before, at the start of the offensive set when she scored, Mide was shouting and gesturing at Jordan to go set the screen. Nice to see her coming out of the shell that Karen said has held her development back - even better to see her make such a huge basket.

 

http://www.seminoles.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32900&ATCLID=211474222

Text of the post game press conference from the Florida State web site! Coach Aston had some great comments!!

 

Got to see the last five minutes of regulation and both OT's, what a tremendous effort! This team has an outside shot at a 1 seed if they can win out, not an easy feat since it would mean beating Baylor again Monday and then a third time in the Big XII tournament but it is in very real realm of possibility suddenly.

 

Texas at least got a mention in one of the articles discussing the UConn win...

"The Huskies instead haven’t missed a beat without the first three picks in the 2016 WNBA draft, cruising to a 25-0 record that includes victories over elite foes Baylor, Notre Dame, Florida State, Texas and now South Carolina."

Curious whether that mention occurs two weeks ago...

 

This is how you turn adversity into a positive...WIN in spite of the adversity. The BS Shaka spews about having to go through adversity ( losing ) to get where you want to be is just that.... BS. All losing does is begat losing. It doesn't build confidence and all it teaches you is how to lose. Winning when your offense isn't clicking early, the opponent nails a 3 to send the game to OT on their floor , rebound from 4 down with 2 minutes left in OT when you should have won in regulation, or you lose four starters to fouls....BUT you find a way to WIN. That makes you better. Because of the BU and FSU games the Horns know, in the back of their minds, they can handle an opponent, and overcome just about anything. They KNOW they can beat anybody ( other than UConn ), not just HOPE they can beat them....and on a "given day" and refs not cheat; they may have a shot at the Huskies. You never know. Hook 'Em....

 

Not our best game by any stretch, but we gutted it out. This is why you play these types of games. You can't simulate these types of games/adversity in practice. This is the type of things that teams reflect on come tournament time. The girls now know there is no situation they cannot overcome.

Someone mentioned earlier that we would have an "outside" shot at a 1 seed if we win out. We have a better than outside shot. We were a 3 seed in the last reveal. Since, we will have added 4 top 2-6 wins, and 2-3 more top 25 wins beating OU and K-State on the road. That resume stacks up against anyone in the country if we close this thing out the right way.

 

While I was disappointed by our 2-4 start (albeit against a Murder's Row schedule and let's not forget that this FSU team lost to UConn by 2), as a former player and coach I saw something that you only get to see right in front of your eyes a a handful of times in your life. And that is when a team, a staff and all of the ancillary people around the program, get better, every minute of every game. Which I would point out is consistent with what the last few year's under Karen have been. Get in the tourney, win a first round game, win a Sweet 16 game, advance to the Elite 8. Anyone see a pattern. I have have had a lot of 1980's flashbacks this season. I have to look to make sure that isn't Fran, or Clarissa or Kamie, or hell...even Ellen Bayer. This team still has a handful of potentional obstacles in front of them: seldom play well at OU, Baylor,at KSU. Upside is that if the win those games and advance to the finals of the Big 12, we are a number one seed with a Regional in OKC and a Final Four in Downtown Dallas.

No matter what happens and with the classes coming in, it sure looks like #DWD.

#DateWithDestiny
A kid.
A ball.
A dream.

 

This was a kind of national breakout game for Brooke McCarty. The commentators couldn't say enough about her truly brilliant performance. For the first time she's in the collective national sports consciousness, not as a good player but as a great one. I still think Karen Aston overestimated the speed with which her team would develop and be competitive at the top level at the start of the season. She surely didn't expect to lose all four of those early games. But the team did develop; our RPI is intergalactic; and we just beat two top four teams in seven days. So Aston is superbly vindicated. What is breathtaking about the Florida St. win is that we really did play badly, hardly better than mediocre, for much of the game; but we were still in it and grabbed it by the throat in the fourth quarter, and we did it on the road against one of the best teams in the country. We played the second overtime with the far end of our bench on the floor. Amazing.

 

only

I know it feels that way but when you take a look again, we shot 50%, out-rebounded them and recovered from early turn over issues. Brooke scored 29, Atkins 21 and Holmes added another double-double. We didn't foul out until OT. All-in-all it was actually a good game and a GREAT win. We saw mistakes from a freshman and a sophomore. That should be expected.

 

Just an observation.......I thought it was fantastic that we got to see how a really good team will try and disrupt the offense. The hard, aggressive hedge was the best I can remember this year. It contributed to our inability to reverse the ball and get into our usual inside/out sets in the first half. Made us do things fast contributing to rushing and missing and turnovers. They for sure were trying to take McCarty out of her role. I thought it was effective early. It did make her work hard and they constantly tried to be physical with her on the double team/hedge. However, she lit it up to the tune of 29 and 8 so that for sure needs to be adjusted by teams. Maybe teams will have to rethink that but from a defensive perspective I like to see teams use that strategy as most teams dont have a McCarty. I think other good teams will do something similar in the playoffs so it was good to see it now. I thought Higgs figured it out by splitting the hedge and going up the middle. Unfortunately, she had some misses/turnovers doing that. She has the key to beating the hard hedge.......don't always try and go around it.....split it and then score or dish to a post for a layup. Just absolutely invaluable information that will help the ladies get ready for the Dance.

 

You're certainly right about final totals. Mainly I was thinking of the difference between first and second halves. We shot about 35% in the first half, 70% in the second. They killed us on the offensive glass in the first; we out rebounded them in the second. We were 10 behind at the end of the third and blitzed them 22-12 in the fourth. Mediocre to great in 50 minutes.

 

Sorry Car but I disagree. I'm hard core, in that win or lose, no matter the sport, I'm proud to be Longhorn Nation. Volleyball, swimming & diving, softball, soccer etc...I'm all in. I love the way Coach KA says "people want Texas to win". We are everyone's big game, no matter the sport.
We Are Texas!!

 

This team deserves all the good things that have been said about them. It is an exciting team to watch. Heck, they've even been talking about women's basketball on local sports talk radio.

 

You are looking at the entire game when you say we played pretty good. We played pretty poor in the first quarter, shooting 5-16 (31.3%) with five of the 21 TOs in that quarter. The only thing that kept it close was FSU being worse from the field, 6-25 (24.0%). Horns had 8 TOs in the second quarter. That’s 13 of the 21 TOs in the first half. Plus only hitting 10/28/ (35.7%).

We owned the 3rd, shooting 76.9% (10-13). The fourth was pretty good too (62.5% on 10/16).

Any way you slice it, the first half, especially the first quarter, was really bad. Two outstanding quarters in the 3rd and 4th gave the Horns the chance to pull out the win.

And in the end, that’s what matters. But I would bet the coaches are going to harp on that first half and what caused it.

Both OU and BU are going to be gunning for revenge and the Horns don’t want to repeat that first half in either of those two games.

It was great to see our bench play so well when called upon. I was really happy to see Jordan have such a productive nine minutes in a pressure packed game against a player like Thomas. That was a tough matchup.

 

But we made the adjustment and got the win so all-in-all I have zero complaints. We took the #4 team and held them to under 40% shooting and our key players ended up with key numbers.

 

Seriously. Played every minute, shot 69% from the field, ended up with 29 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds. That's freaking badass.

Also impressed with the team as a whole to play their best in the 4th quarter and OT even when only 2 subs played double digit minutes. Our conditioning coaches have earned their pay.

 

Barring a Norman or KSU collape, the team that wins at least 2 of the 3 Baylor games will be a #1 seed.

And from my earlier post on 1980's flashbacks I had to make sure that that wasn't Yolanda, also.

#DWD
#Date With Destiny

A kid.
A ball.
A dream.

 

In Case You Missed It: "#AroundtheRim", a women's basketball podcast with LaChina Robinson had Brooke McCarty and Joyner Holmes on.
Good interview, this team is really getting some exposure!!

 

We are quite capable of letting a road game get away against K. State or Oklahoma, two good shooting teams that can get hot. They both played us pretty close in Austin. The good news is that our less than stellar play in the first half against Fla St. should be a pretty good antidote to over confidence. Posters keep predicting our poor free throw shooting will come back to bite us. It almost did in Tallahassee. If we had shot better from the free throw line, we would have another 3-5 points of separation at the end of regulation and the three pointer couldn't have tied it up.

 

Comments like this one make me think people are really underestimating the road games we have left. Both of these games were nailbiters in Austin. I think in particular the OU game is a trap game. We are coming off a double overtime win on the road this week and they are coming off a week of rest. VPL had her way with us. Combine that with some hot 3 point shooting from them in their own gym and this will be a very difficult win to pick up.

 

The good news is we have played tough on the road especially recently. Several teams have played OU close in Norman so, while I don't take it for granted, I think we can get another W on Saturday. We beat them solidly in Austin with five players in double digits and held them to 35% shooting compared to our 49%. Even with a bad first half we shot 50% in Florida.

We'll win. Just ask Malcom.

 

Never a doubt....We Are Texas!!

 

Hell yeah We Are Texas and LONGHORN NATION and LONGHORN NATION NEVER LOSES!!

 

FSU lost tonight at Virginia, 60-51

 

sic transit gloria mundi

You never know, do you? Thomas went down with a shoulder injury and sat out much of the game. When she went out, Fla St never recovered. Our game took a lot out of them.

Tennessee also lost to Alabama, a bad team. Diamond DeShields was hurt early, a neck injury, and she went to the hospital in a neck brace.

 

And #23 Aggie went down to unranked LSU