It’s my first time watching the team this year on tv and it’s a bit disappointing for me. The reality is that it looks exactly like the team they’ve been for 7 years. It’s no surprise that most of their success offensively has come in transition because their half court offense is atrocious. They also don’t seem to understand spacing very well. Defensively, they’re just not very good guarding on or off the ball and are undisciplined.
Overall it was a pretty ugly win, but there were quite a few good things I saw in individual performances. Celeste, Jo Ann, Joyner, Sug and Charli had solid games.... but the turnovers! I understand that things are liable to be a bit ragged after an extended layoff, but some of the experienced players need to do better in that area. I think we can compete with (and possibly defeat) Stanford if we clean up our act.
Best overall game for Celeste and she only had 2 of the 44 combined fouls called. Yes she had 5 turnovers but I’m 90% sure 3 of those came in the first 4 minutes of the game. For a senior, Joyner’s 7 turnovers are more troubling. Usually she gets a lot of hers on traveling violations but I don’t think she was whistled for that once tonight. I thought the guards were much more connected on defense than we were seeing prior to the Tennessee game (once they shook off the rust in the first few minutes of the game). As for beating Stanford...that’s a tall order even if Texas can keep the turnovers down in the 10-13 range. Consider me hopeful but not optimistic.
Disappointing to see us go back to our old ways with the turnovers. Tennessee was a fluke, you might say. Celeste was great. Joanne showing a lot of promise.
I've been hesitant to post comments on any game threads lately since, you know, everything devolves into mud-slinging by the most often commentators. [Cough, cough] Anyhoo, my thoughts about the Ohio game as I was there: The scorers table was awful. Twice I saw jump ball signaled and the ball assigned to the team (Ohio) due to the (correct) arrow and each time the scorers table DID NOT flip the arrow. This resulted in Ohio getting the ball at the start of the second and fourth quarters. A nit-pick, but I couldn't believe it happened twice! Their leading scorer #1 had 4 fouls heading into the 4th quarter and then...after a timeout suddenly had 3 fouls next to her name. Whaaa? Bad passes that aren't the result of any coaching, but just players. Joyner with the ball going down the court and trying to pass the ball to a teammate and the ball slipping out of the player's hand and out of bounds. That's basic basketball 101, regardless of coaching. Argh! Sometimes taking that one-extra-pass while under the bucket is not worth it ladies. I'm growing to be a big fan of Terry Nooner. I haven't seen that many swats at the ball in a long time, especially in the right way (not drawing a foul and focusing on the ball). And the multiple ally-oop tries? Bravo. Now if he would just teach them to shoot the ball once they got it rather than feeling they have to dribble first. Of course, that's always been Joyner's problem. My spouse said Tiffany did that as well. Exactly! I like that Aston (oh boy, here it comes) is substituting less in that "trying to find the combination" mode and pulling a certain PG when she screws up. At one point in the 3rd, Joyner was guarding a player and suddenly grimaced and pulled her left foot up and the player she was guarding went around here and scored. Then Joyner was somewhat limping and slow going down the court. Some of us were yelling for coach to pull her, but she didn't. Eventually she got a rest. I guess Joyner could have signaled she needed to come out. I know that early in her career, Joyner could be a little...ummmm, dramatic about perceived injuries on the court. What was the deal with the Ohio player who laid on the court for a while? The rest of the team huddled up with the coach and a trainer crouched next to the player while she was clutching her stomach, writhing in pain and crying. Then when she got up, she went towards the bench, to the trash can and stuck her whole head in there....as if she was throwing up. And then, back to the team. Odd. Refs were bad
I assume that was the play where Celeste went to the floor for the ball and got it to Sug for the break. They showed the replay and the player you're referencing also went to the floor after the ball but came down on Celeste's elbow while Celeste had her hand braced on the floor so the Bobcat basically fell with her entire body weight onto an unmoving, bony elbow, taking the blow to her midsection. Celeste was actually very lucky not to have been injured as well. ...and the refs were pretty bad all night but even worse in the 4th quarter.
I agree with your comments and was also wondering why Texas did not play more zone defense. It seems like when they played zone in the second quarter Ohio could not score, a lot of turnovers were forced, and Texas got a lot of easy buckets on the other end. I think this was also the point of the game when Texas had their largest lead. Then Texas went back to man-to-man and Ohio got back into the game. I don't think Texas played zone again until the last few minutes of the 4th quarter and once again Ohio had a difficult time scoring. I think Texas needs to play more zone in most of their games. Texas players overall are not quick enough to play man-to-man, can't or don't want to play help defense, and don't have a legit shot blocker under the basket.
They are all graduates of the Manu Ginobli School of Floor Polishing. The one that got me the most was the Bobcat trying to box Charli out, Charli just ‘pulled the chair out’ by sidestepping, girl hits the floor, Charli whistled for the foul. Ridiculous. That being said, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have had the same reaction as the girl who landed on Celeste’s elbow had...and she was just trying to make the same hustle play Celeste was just not successfully.
won't be no . 
