Yes, I recall Destiny running the point in the exhibition game. She ran it a lot on high school. Bringing the ball up the court gave her more opportunities to just stop and pop outside the 3-point line; and, she was effective. That would definitely not allow her defender to sag off her too much.
I remember the drama at the end of the year when rumors swirled that Destiny was considering leaving. I remember wondering, the few minutes she played last year, why she was so highly touted, how she could be the all-time CA girl's scorer. Last night was eye-opening about her potential.
Desinty admitted that she did not show up in the best condition summer 2017. I thought for sure both her and Rellah would make huge strides with our trainers and nutritionists each and every month leading up to the season; but, they did not. Then, she was injured. We heard rumors of "tendinitis"; but, nothing really definite. Some speculated that she would seek a medical redshirt; but, not even that made sense for one reason or another. What surprised me that most was her getting a 4.0 (both semesters?). When an athlete is injured and not able to enjoy the sport they love, that often affects their academics adversely. Huge props to Destiny for not falling into that cycle. The highlights of her high school play indicated she was a phenomenal shooter, especially from long range. Believe she is also stellar from the free-throw line. So happy to see her have success last night; hope there is more on the way, as we need her offense.
The team exceeded my expectations last night. Being the first game, there are certainly areas that require attention. However, we've got to remember that this team is without one of its core players/leaders in Joyner Holmes and another five star freshman in Sedona Prince. Those two would be match-up nightmares for most teams and they are sitting on the bench with injuries. Hopefully one or both will be ready for action in Dec/Jan.
I wonder if Chasity needs to be more vocal on the court, something that Brooke also had to learn. Otherwise, her play on offense has been pretty good as was her defense vs Duquesne.
I too thought Chaz should have gotten more PT. I thought she was as good if not better than Sug. Seems like she hustles her butt off, although I don't see the practices. The 3's may be a small sample size but I would think it should at least earn her more PT to see if she can continue to shoot like that for extended periods. Really like what I saw from Destiny. Hope she can continue to play like that. Great improvement from last year. Finally showing why she was so highly touted. I don't know why Jada is starting though. She may work hard, but I still don't see any basketball skills. The one thing I didn't like was the carelessness with the ball and failure to hustle to get a loose ball. Hopefully Karen gets that corrected quick.
I had to go back to check on this as this didn't jib with what I remembered. Ten TOs is taking pretty good care of the ball, imo. There was only one play that could fall into the not hustling that stood out to me. That was Sug getting the ball knocked out of her hands near half court and she hesitated a second before pursuing the ball. I get why Jada is starting and why she is likely to continue to start until coach decides to start Charli along with Jatarie or Joyner gets healthy and is ready to take over that spot. Effort is just part of it. Same reasons that Audrey is her primary backup.
Guess it is ok to admit I was wrong? I too couldn't understand how Littleton was so highly rated in high school last year. Heard the San Diego women's basketball was poor but still ?? This year, I have been pleasantly surprised so far, as her skills are more evident now. Jury is still out as let's see how she plays against quicker point guards. Warren is going to really help as she looks ready to play as a freshman. I am going to disagree on Patterson. I think she got about the correct number of minutes. She is playing better on defense and offense and seems more confident. Liked her stat line. I would love to say that I see where she deserves 15-20 minutes a night. She may prove me wrong just like Littleton has. But right now after 2 games and no insight into practices, Littleton is the better backup point guard and deserves the 15-20 minutes. Aston says she is still trying to find who that backup point is so things could change...……...but I don't see Patterson is it right now. We'll see more Monday night and I imagine it will continue to evolve. Players get better....sometimes drastically and unexpectedly so it just might be it takes another year for Patterson. And as far as turnovers...……...it hasn't been that long where we were having 25 (or more) turnovers per game and the point guards were just throwing it all over the place. I'll live with 10-15 every game.
I don’t get why some people like yourself continue to make the mistake of thinking every highly touted freshman is going to come in and succeed right away. It’s a big learning curve not only on the basketball court but also off the court with academics and time management. I’m not surprised at all that a Sophomore with more experience can have success. And we’lI just agree to disagree on Chaz. IMO she was the best on ball defender in the game along with Lashann and Texas is going to need her ability to score/shoot the ball.
I seem to remember there was speculation surrounding all three freshman from the 2017 season, as to who would return this year. I wish I’d screen captured it, but I’m pretty positive that shortly after, in fact almost immediately after, last season Chaz removed ALL evidence of association with Texas on Twitter, for a period of time. I twitter followed her at the time. I even texted several friends about it because I was so shocked. I was even more shocked when she returned. My “impression and opinion” has been that she’s never really been excited about being at Texas. It’s sad on several levels, so I hope all parties can move forward and be the better for it. I’m ecstatic that Destiny has stuck it out and I’m as stoked about what she had to say in her first post-game interview as what we witnessed on the court.
