I wish Rellah great success. She is a special talent. I enjoyed the infectious spirit she showed at times.
This is a Junior College. I don't like speculating but this might confirm that the academic rumors were true. I think another post on a different thread mentioned that Rellah may have already left school at UT. Since she is going the JC route, I wonder if the staff is open to having her transfer back after next season assuming everything else is in order. Anyway, I wish her the best of luck and hope she achieves everything she sets out to do.
I am sad about this, but happy for her. I think she will do super well and I hope she comes back here when the time comes.
Surprised we (Texas) didn't put out an official release that she had requested her release to transfer. Obviously, it had to have happened several weeks ago if she already is signing with a JUCO. If she really did leave school mid-semester, then she fails all four classes. Not sure she can ever overcome that to become eligible at a Division I school. Her main focus would be to have to graduate from JUCO, but she's gonna be short 12 credit hours when it's time to be a Junior after one year in JUCO. Unless she got ahead of the game and completed 12 credit hours in the summer of 2017 at Texas. Oh, well. Good luck to her. Very talented player.
Disappointed that it did not work out with Rellah. She has immense potential and it always stings to lose a player like that. Wish her the best of luck.
Now retweeted by Raoul. Best wishes to her. Like many others, I really her happy attitude and enjoyment in playing. I don't know if she will return to Texas but there is always that hope.
Which may have been happening anyway. I liked Rellah a lot. I hope she gets everything back on track, and does well with her new team.
The news on Rellah will likely subside after a day or two. Rellah was a McD AA and a consensus top 5 recruit in the 2017 class. Her transfer is newsworthy in women's college basketball. Hopefully, all the Tweets will be respectful towards her. However, Rellah needs to concentrate on what she can control and being her best self and let go of the things she can't control. She's one of my favorite Horns and one who I'll always wonder, "what-if".
Yep, agree 100%. I stopped by the Boneyard this morning and the news of her transfer had made it there. When you are a top recruit, experience some unexpected issues during the year, and then make a big change, it is news and folks are going to talk. Primarily because most (and fans of your former team in particular) have been waiting for resolution. But the chatter won't last long. Plus, I think it's fair to say no one did more talking about Rellah than Rellah; that's one of the things I loved most about her, actually. I'm just sorry we never got to see those prognostications realized, but hopefully they will be elsewhere. I will say almost every comment I have seen posted anywhere have been along the lines of how much she was liked, and is going to be missed.
That is very unfortunate but I believe Texas can close the book on Rellah. She was a tremendous fan favorite of the Longhorn fans as well! She had an infectious personality and was what she called on her twitter account a "partner in crime" with Chastity Patterson. I am sure that Texas offered her all the help possible with her classes which would have included study halls and tutors. I wish her the best. If you ever met her you couldn't help but like her. Northwest Florida State Community College has a good program and finished in the elite eight at the 2018 NJCAA national tournament. I hope she will be able to reset her priorities there to realize she is a "Student" Athlete first and not just a basketball player.
This is a very important message. Listen to what she has to say. Think about it. Imagine being a young college student, and adults are posting for all the world to read that maybe you aren't smart enough to succeed in school.
First I need to state that I wish Rellah the best as she moves forward. With that said, the main thing that stands out in Rellah's twitter post to me is: “ that it was obvious I was very unhappy with playing time”. Through the season, many here were very upset with the lack of playing time for the freshman. Most had hoped we would not lose players due to this, however, I think this is the MAIN reason for Rellah leaving. She wants to play. If KA doesn't start giving her freshman more playing time, we can see more of this in the future. This particularly happens when you start recruiting great players - can't keep all of them happy. Most freshman should know that they will only play a small % of the games the first year. I just don't think KA has given our freshman the "small %" that they deserved this year.
Just can’t disagree with this post anymore than I do. Nope. You have to earn playing time on the Texas Longhorns team it’s as simple as that. You do it through hard work in practice and making sure your house is in order. This is not a secret to any incoming recruit to Texas. I’m glad Rellah posted her feelings and I was truly looking forward to her next three years and wish her the best. I think she will realize her WNBA dream, so I’ll look forward to that!
I do agree with your statement in that all players need to earn their playing time. I said she deserved a small percentage of play, meaning she, along with others, should have had more opportunity to play during non-conference in blow outs. Trust me when I say that I completely understand that you need to show what you have in practice, however, incoming freshman have a lot to deal with. Throwing them a bone every once in a while never hurts.
Agree. And the players also need to do a better job with their parents of researching the team. If you’re Rellah and the reigning Freshman of the year is at your position in Joyner, it’s probably safe to say that you’re not going to get a lot of playing time. The same can be said for Chasity and Destiny. If you want a lot of playing time right away as a freshman don’t go to a program where the players at your position are very good and are returning starters. Instead, go to a program where the players aren’t very good at your position or a senior graduated before you got on campus.
skilled - using a selective snippet of a tweet from a player that is obviously dealing with some issues, and hurt feelings, is unfortunate. I have no idea what you mean by "throwing them a bone" but your posts are completely off-base. Stating that KA doesn't give her freshmen playing time is simply untrue. Last year Joyner played in 34 games and averaged 26.5 minutes per contest. She was third in scoring on the team. That's more than double the minutes Lauren Cox averaged at BU, and almost double Megan Walker's total from this season with UCONN- both #1 recruits, by the way. As freshmen, Ariel averaged 24 mins, and Brooke over 23 mins while playing in 35 games. Other frosh played less, but still saw significant minutes (Higgs 34 games at 13.2 mins, Hosey 35 games/9.4 mins, Sutton 34 games/13.6 mins, Hosey 35 games/9.4 mins). Looking at Lauren's improvement for the Bears this season over last, would you say her development, or playing time should have been handled any differently during her freshman year? As has been clearly stated elsewhere, every situation and and every recruit are different. On average you'll find our freshmen have played as much, or more than those at other top programs. Let's see if our current freshmen see the same type of change from this season to next that Lauren experienced this year with the Bears, and that no doubt we'll see with Walker and the Huskies this fall. Then let's have a conversation with how things were handled this year. At this point it's probably not appropriate to discuss individual players, or circumstances, but you should be careful before making blanket statements that are clearly inaccurate, and easily disproven.
Karen has played her true freshmen extensively over the last few years; 2017-18 was definitely the exception. We have no idea if that was due purely to roster depth, injury, discipline, game situations, or earning playing time based on practice and other team requirements/rules. For Rellah, she has so much skill. She played the most of our freshmen. She should have the attitude of wanting to play as much as possible; but, that didn't occur for whatever reasons. From what I recall, someone posted that she did not participate in the Fall scrimmage against UCLA in Colorado; forget if she didn't make the trip or if she did, if she even suited up. Bottom line is that issues may have been present way back for the season even started.
"Throwing them a bone": To give someone a little praise, recognition My statement was and is not negative against any player. Simply - every player is different. Rellah has always struck me as someone who needs extra praise, etc., and as we can see by her twitter post and the horrible issues she's had, she would have the right and reason to need the extra praise. My statement of KA throwing her a bone, basically meant that I think KA should have given Rellah more attention and play time. For all I know, KA did give her praise, but we all saw the amount of playing time was slim. Great coaches figure out what makes a player tick (play better). Sometimes it's the simple gestures or extra praises that really raise a young girls confidence. I just wonder if there was something else that KA could have done that would have kept Rellah happy and not leave UT... I'm not going to argue about playing time and what other teams have done (I don't care much about other teams). I fully agree that "most" freshman will not see the court until their 2nd or 3rd year. HOWEVER, Rellah was top of the class - what I think #2 or 3?? I just think she needed more time on the court. My personal opinion, which doesn't mean much.
But it was negative against the staff, and implied a situation existed that clearly did not. You didn't say that. You made a sweeping statement about KA not giving freshmen playing time, when that clearly hasn't been the case. With respect to Rellah, she actually got significant playing time at points. And as the season progressed I think she was becoming a contributor, and many of us felt that would continue, and hopefully increase during NCAA play. Yet another suspension occurred. I don't think any of us would ever question a decision as serious as a suspension, given how seldom they occur. If it happens, there is a good reason for it. And, unfortunately, it happened twice with Rellah. It is difficult to build momentum, and develop key relationships when you are are out for that much time, on multiple occasions, during the season. I trust that our staff made every effort, and then some, to do what was best for Rellah, just as they do for all student athletes. I hope that Rellah is happy and productive in her new home. She has the opportunity to start over, and achieve great things at the JUCO level. She should be one of the best among those ranks next season. I look forward to following her progress, and will be rooting for her every step of the way.
