Is it me or does it look like she always gives up way to early. Once you see her sit on the bench you know game over. Don't get me wrong I think coach is awesome, but you can tell real quick when she throws in the towel.
We all saw what Higgs, McCarty, and Atkins did against UConn last season; they need to be starters and lead the offense.
Re: Higgs. I was really surprised that we didn't spread the floor and put the ball is her hands to attack the D... That was a very effective set at times last year... Most notably against UCLA and especially UConn.
Too busy jerking her out of the game the second she does something Aston doesn't quite like. You wanna announce to the world through your actions (that hashtag) and your deeds (the ridiculous schedule) you think you are a final four contender, start acting like it. Put the players on the court and give them the minutes to get you there. Making offensive and defensive adjustments in game might be nice as well.
Doesn't matter....Nobody losing to Baylor in conference. We will be middle of the pack. Talent ????? What talent ??? We are not very good compared to the Baylors of the basketball world.
We better start utilizing the skills that are present... ie Higgs attacking, posting up Holmes and letting her use her strength, skills, and athleticism to operate, letting Audrey pop out and take the 3.
After one game its amazing how quickly some have doomed our team/season. We are just as talented tonight as we were yesterday. We have only loss ONE game. Relax Longhorn Nation!! We are replacing 3 starters..3!! We are a young team with lots of upside. Lets give them time to grow a bit. I trust Coach Aston and staff to put these ladies in the best possible situation for success. It was a tough loss and we made mistakes but nothing we cant fix.
I'm definitely still very excited about the team. My main point is that the ones I've been excited about are going to be the ones who can get us where we're trying to go, and I'll be glad when the lineup and rotations change to reflect that.
I agree with so many of these comments. Nothing against Foman or Taylor, but Higgs is far more talented and needs to be a more central part of our offense. I am simply flummoxed as to why our coaches don't see it the same way. (I realize they know the players and I don't!) To me, it's got to be Ariel, Brooke, and LaShann as the core. They have to find a way to use Joyner as much and effectively as possible. It seldom looks like we are running plays. Stanford appeared to have actual plays. Since I'm in a complaining mood, others have said this, too, but here goes again --- We have a Plan A defense --- play super tight on the player, go for turnovers, and just pray for some help defense. Stanford killed us, going around our players at will, especially on the baseline side. For those who were taught that not letting players get around you is the most fundamental aspect of defense, it was embarrassing. Many things could be a Plan B --- backing off some to prevent the drive or playing an actual zone. But, hey, it was our first game. I bet we do much better next game. The schedule ahead is a little intimidating, but, we'll win some of those.
I was afraid we would take a step back this year without Imani. I just don't see any inside scoring and Brooke and Ariel can't do it all. Unless Holmes and Underwood develop real fast we're in trouble. I'm afraid Holmes may end up being too much like Nneka, great on defense but can't make a slam dunk standing under a 6ft basket. I sure hope she can develop some scoring and prove me wrong. I have seen nothing but regression from our upper class bigs. I don't see the athleticism needed to compete against the best from ACG.
A few of the games (USC & Uconn) were not originally intended to be on the schedule. But when you get offered prime time games, you don't turn them down. Even in a loss, that type of visibility helps your program overall.
I knew i'd get on and see some "Tuesday Morning Coaches" but geeze..........the doom and gloom is a bit over blown. While we're talking so much about what we did wrong, I feel like we aren't giving Stanford their due. They're a top 10 team that almost NEVER loses at home, so they did what they normally do. I would not be worried in the slightest to see them again down the road on a neutral court. As far as our team, I was surprised not to see coach go with the lineup we had against Tarleton, I thought our size would've given us a few more mismatches, but coaches probably saw something on tape/in practice that told them otherwise. I expected us to lose one of our first 2 games. I just wasn't sure which it would be. We have to realize that the things that happened to us tonight (Missed FT's and Backdoor cuts) take 1, maybe 2 practices to fix. I don't look for that to be a reoccurring issue. We're also still figuring out who we are, and who needs to fulfill what roles. There will be growing pains, but I can bet that no team will want to see Texas in their bracket come tournament time. And that's what our schedule is preparing us for. I will take 28-8 with a final 4 than a 30-2 season and an early NCAA exit
I'm very encouraged still... As bad as we played, take away the missed FTs and we have a very close game with a very good team on their home floor. My disappointment is in the veterans (aside from Ariel and Brooke).
I really didn't expect much from the other veterans like Brianna and Kelsey Lang. This team is going to really struggle with the non conference schedule. The lack of any consistent inside play from the veterans like Kelsey will be a big problem.
I think y'all need to relax. Yes, the team under performed last night but it was the first game of the season, and Stanford had a game before to work out nerves and kinks, something we didn't have. I wonder if Coach A. is tentative when it comes to Lashann because George is on staff, maybe she doesn't want the other players to think she is showing favoritism but I think Lashann is our most dangerous offensive player. I think she is one of the best if not the best one on one player in the country. I'm still excited about the season, we have a tough schedule but I think they will get some things cleaned up. We always seem to struggle with turnovers, hopefully we can clean those up this year too.
I was very disappointed with the offensive schemes we ran or lack thereof. With the exception of Higgs isolation and taking her man to the hole, nothing we did on offense looked like a Top 25 squad much less a final four contender. I was very perplexed with the use of Holmes in the second half on the offensive end. She was standing out by the 3 point line passing or holding onto the ball. We seemed to be locked in to running that inverted play with two posts at the top of the arc and two guards spread out at the baseline, but no one seemed to be able to execute anything out of it. The lack of adjustments made us look very inept on offense. The defensive lapses I'm not surprised about. I figured this team would struggle without Imani and even Empress' defensive efforts. Our love of man-to-man as a program from Condradt to Goestenkors to Aston is sometimes the death of us because we fail to realize that this is not the 80s anymore and we aren't overmatching teams at every position. When you don't match up in man to man and in fact have significant mismatches to the other team's favor you get what happened last night. We were lucky it was just 12 points. It was actually a more thorough beatdown than the score showed.
It is possible to still look good in a loss; I think FSU looked good in their loss to UConn. We didn't play very good at all, in any facet of the game. Winning on the road against a Top 15 team is not easy; but, that doesn't mean we can't execute better, and play fundamental basketball. The starting lineup used last night is not one I want to see again.
I am disappointed in all of them, in Ariel and Brooke primarily because of their FT shooting. They were two of our best FT shooters last season and they made less than 50% combined. It seemed like they didn't expect that type of play from Stanford. Our vets have seen that the last two years so their play was a surprise, not necessarily the outcome of the game. yes, I wondered why we went small against a big team. Certainly not my projected preseason lineup which had either Audrey or Khaleann and LaShann starting with Kelsey, Ariel and Brooke. They killed us not just with the backdoor cuts but with the mismatches inside. Well, live and learn. It will be interesting to see the lineup against Miss. State. I don't think it would matter if we started the same lineup against Houston Baptist. We should roll over them. Really looking for significant improvement in our shooting from the field and FT line as well more aware defense vs Miss. State. As many TOs as we had against Stanford (17), we forced 20. The difference: we got nine pts off TOs. They got 23 pts.
I don't mean do be negative. I think Karen has done a good job and I like the direction of the program. Especially when you consider what we had before. Gail's critical thinking skills were right there neck and neck with Charlie Strong's. It's not the errors and poor FT shooting that concern me but lack of talent at the C position IS something we can't fix. We will crush smaller teams with guard play, but there's a word I can't use here to describe what Brown and Monpremere are going to do to our bigs and I'm sick and tired of losing to that b*%& in Wacko. We need Jatarie and/or Sedona NOW!
But we dont have either of them now. So Im gonna trust the process, trust the coach and her decisions. I kinda see something in the Audrey Ann and Joyner that we will be stronger at the 5 as the season goes on. Either way lets play the season out. I may be alone here but I like our team and the potential to improve.
Well, maybe if Jamie were still allowed to play.. We don't seem to have a lot of quality height to throw out there. Lang is a decent starter but not a star and not very aggressive. Who else is over 6 feet and really athletic? Hosey?
