Texas travels to West Virginia Monday (02/05/18)

The game really was close until the final few minutes, but I just realized Boothe didn’t play tonight. I think even Underwood got a minute or two.

 

Not much to add. For me, Jatarie, Audrey, Sug and, obviously, Ariel were outstanding. Lashann not quite up to here usual sharpness lately. Joyner working hard, hope her lay-ups will start going in.

 

I've noticed the same thing... hope she comes out of it.

 

Joyner seems to be getting her legs, but is pressing offensively and rushing her shot. Hopefully she'll settle down and start knocking down those shots around the basket.

 

I'll be honest. Whatever Joyner's practice program was during her suspension, it does not seem to have included shooting. Over the last few weeks I've seen her hit a couple of good shots, but most of the time around the basket she just kind of slings the ball up there. Defenders sag off her when she's more than 8 feet away from the basket; and usually she won't shoot from there. She will really hurt her career if she never develops a good outside jump shot.

 

Aston mentioned wanting to play more players in order to "close stronger" so I imagine this is what the game plan was. She saw spots to rest Ariel so she could be at 100% coming down the stretch, and we see what happens when she is. Hats off to coach

 

I've recently had a similar conversation with some of my basketball buddies. Joyner seems like she kept herself in good condition during her suspension but did not play/practice much basketball. I know it's harder than it looks but she has been missing a few "gimmies' underneath the basket that I would expect her to make if she had been a member of the team for the full year.

With that said, I'm optimistic that Joyner is getting her swagger back and is going to finish the season strong.

 

During her time away, she held down a job and regularly played in "pickup" games. Those two things are never going to lead to any progression in formal high level basketball environment.

 

Just love the Statesman, don’t you know!

 

It went out over the AP. Even sadder? This quote was the second sentence after the error:

“I think this definitely looked like our third game in five days,” Aston said.

 

for looking to expand the rotation, Coach Aston didn't do that in this game as only seven players got significant minutes (Alecia & Joyner off the bench). Jada (3 minutes & Jordan 5 minutes) were the only others to play. I am really surprised that we did not see at least Rellah for about ten minutes. Maybe that was because of her defense and the tightness of the game.

That lack of using the bench though really negates our advantage in depth that can overwhelm others, especially teams with short benches such as WVU.

 

I agree with that overall.

But, Coach A stated that she expects a level of play from those who come in off the bench. I think we see that level from Sug more often than not, and Joyner gets the benefit of the doubt based on her play last season, and her needing minutes to help her get back in sync between now and the post season.

After that, the results are mixed and inconsistent. Coach A seems to insert Hosey and Underwood without much hesitation; but, there is definitely a drop-off offensively. But, the starters do need to catch their breath every now and again, or need to see the bench if the encounter foul difficulty.

I thought we'd see Rellah in the game for sure; but, that didn't happen.

So, it seems like those will be the 10 players we go with down the stretch more often than not. Doesn't seem like the others will see the court unless some games become blowouts.

 

Maybe. And, if that was the strategy, it worked; but, not until late in the fourth quarter.

Ariel hit her first jump shot to score the first bucket of the game, and that was a very good sign for the type of shooting game she might have. She did not pick up her first foul until the fourth quarter. So, if she had played a bit more in the second and third quarters, perhaps we would have put the game out of reach much earlier; no way to know for sure.

Ariel is a player who rarely leaves the floor unless it is due to foul trouble. I think we all agree that we are a much better team with Ariel on the floor, and the team has gone stagnant offensively without her in prior games. When Sug comes in for her, we still do okay. But, when Jada comes in for her, we lose a lot offensively.

 

The entirety of the discussion of depth, playing freshmen and "good players" is fun. It is fun if you have good choices. Not so much if you don't. Listening to the post-game with Coach Carey, he doesn't pull any punches. He says "we have to get better players". He admits that he has some good players but not enough of them and those good players like Muldrow need to "step up" their performance. And he then says that Texas goes nine deep with good players and they can't. Admittedly WV has had injuries, new players that haven't shown they can play and other issues that limit the team. At least Aston has a core of 7 she trusts considerably with 2 that other coaches see as good players that are at least serviceable. She has options to substitute. Plus there is the hot issue of our fan base wanting to go to 10 or 11 or 12 or more deep with "good players" that produce. Love to be in this current position rather than where the Ladies were a few short years ago.

 

In a post game interview, Ariel said she wasn’t playing well early on. She made some mental adjustments while on the bench realizing that, as a senior, she needed to step up and lead her team. She felt she did that in the fourth quarter.

 

By the way, we blew them away in the second quarter, outscoring them 19-7. I am not sure how much Ariel was in during that quarter.

 

You make some excellent points, so I thought I would be statalyzer for once to see who is earning their minutes and who is not. Below are some key KPI's, certainly not all and I know there are other vaiables, but I think some of the key ones that should determine who should get more min and who should get less. This is all players with over 100 min season to date. I'm not going to put the names in though, I thought it would be more fun to guess. But, so I don't get accused of singling out poor performance and show some good, the one thing that surprised me was ACG. Not because the numbers are so different than expected once analyzed, but that she's been much better than I ever predicted at the beginning of the season.

TO/Min Stl/Min FG% RB/Min
0.077047 0.102729 0.547 0.211878
0.072727 0.067273 0.568 0.136364
0.059593 0.049419 0.409 0.113372
0.081349 0.013889 0.517 0.267857
0.081028 0.041502 0.407 0.120553
0.079365 0.007937 0.444 0.396825
0.047009 0.044872 0.469 0.241453
0.173913 0.01087 0.309 0.375
0.083333 0.035088 0.474 0.149123
0.07438 0.033058 0.37 0.181818
0.08536 0.01626 0.37 0.199187
0.058511 0.005319 0.456 0.281915

 

Great idea but oh so hard to read.

I think the first line is Higgs and the 2nd Ariel. But that might be switched.

 

Yeah, I think people under estimated what Audrey-Ann brings to the team. I do expect Joyner to eventually claim a starting spot but at this point I am wondering if that will be next season. That starting five has some really good chemistry and Joyner has brought excellent energy off the bench.

 

I don't think Joyner will be a starter this year. Jatarie and Audrey-Anne are too good. Hopefully she will get lots of minutes coming off the bench. I guess she does this, but Joyner needs to practice for hours and hours on her lay-ups and put backs, just repeating over and over until the touch is there. When (if) that comes, she will be a nightmare for opponents. I am bummed that Audrey-Ann is a senior. She has gotten to be such a fine player.

 

Thanks, I thought about reformatting with borders last night, but you did it for me!

 

Yes, I'll go ahead and say it. No way should Joyner get min over AA. She has the worst FG% on the team and a turnover rate twice the 2nd worst on the team. If anything it should be Rellah who has the best rebound rate, a high FG%, and average turnover rate. Which is pretty darn good for a freshman.

 

I'm just glad we're seeing our post players battle every game since the Baylor loss. Even if it's post-play by committee, I will take it as each one of Jatarie, Audrey-Anne, Joyner, and Rellah bring different skills to the table.

As others have said, Audrey-Anne has been very under-appreciated for all she does on the court. Yes, there have been times when she gets out-played by bigger, quicker post players. But, I have learned to appreciate her for her effort and fight, even when it seems she gets hurt, she battles through it to help her team.

We are starting to see Jatarie really come alive offensively. As much as I loved Kelsey Lang, there is no question we are better in the paint offensively and defensively thanks to White transferring to Texas; might be one of Aston's best recruiting jobs to convince Jatari to leave the Carolina area and come all this way to find her niche.

Joyner is still a work-in-progress as it pertains to finding the right spot on the court, and making the right decision on when to shoot and when to kick the ball back out. I think she runs the floor the best among our post players, but is the least effective perimeter shooter. She jumps the best and is the most naturally athletic of our post players. As others have noticed, she is still not finishing around the basket as well as we want, but she is improving, and that is great sign for us.

Rellah is my wildcard. I think she has the ability to really raise our team to the next level, but she needs to put it all together and gain the trust of the coaching staff to be more of a factor down the stretch. She can really help spread the floor and maybe force one of the opponent's post players outside to guard her and open things up for our other players to attack the rim.

Fingers crossed that the chemistry and play continues to improve as we approach the post-season.

 

Amen Mooooo. Well said.

 

I dont know about "NO WAY" at this point I am comfortable with either or because they provide different things. And the other will bring their skill sets in the game as a sub. When Joyner is in the game, they're playing faster and they're ridiculously athletic. When AA is in the game they're incredibly fundamental. Different strokes for different folks I guess

 

I know squat about reformatting. But I did learn how to use screenshots.

 

I agree with the comments about AA. One of the things I think she does very well that can go unnoticed is screening out the opposition post players when one of our guards are driving to the hoop. What would be at least an attempted shot block by the defense becomes an uncontested layup for us.

 

I think I'm just going to have a different opinion. It doesn't matter how fast and athletic you are if all you do is throw the ball to the other team. If it's Ariel, Brooke and Lashann, sure run them into the ground, but our backups have shown no ability to play fast without turning it over. I think it's the main reason we tend to slump in the 2nd Qtr and it kills momentum.

I also think it's why the men just lost. We have a lot of athletic guys, but they play out of control and just give it to the other team. They lose momentum, can't score and bam, game over.

 

Nothing like telling your entire team they just aren't good enough and the first thing he wants to do to get good is to replace you all with better players. Sounds like it would be a Pointy-Haired Boss speech from a Dilbert cartoon.