wow, lots of potshots. The team doesn't have anyone stepping up because those that have been stepping in previous games are missing their shots. Horns have played more than just man on man although that is their primary defense. And Coach Aston does use more than the starting five. Most games, at least eight to nine players get double digit minutes. Brooke does play a lot of minutes, I agree. I don't agree that the awards suddenly caused a "me first" change in the players. Joyner seems to have run into that freshman wall, except for spurts like she showed for several minutes in the WVU game. There were a lot of shots coming up short in the WVU game. Maybe it's more mental fatigue combined with physical fatigue instead of just one. I do know that not one of the players or the staff would have been satisfied with their play. There was nothing wrong with the offense earlier but the defense was also outstanding. Neither has been stellar the last six games during the losses. Except for Brianna's 2-3 from the field, the other four starters went 12-39 (30.8%). Not gonna win a lot of games when your starters can't hit the basket. And that's been the trend during our losses since the FSU game, for whatever reason. tired legs, freshman wall, over scheduling, etc. pick one. Even against OSU, the team played better in the first half than in the second. Perhaps they are just tired. I am hopeful that the next two weeks will help the team regain their mojo. Get some rest, bust through the freshman wall, whatever's needed. Looking forward to the first two rounds of the NCAAs to get a better idea of how this team responds to the rest and the adversity. I bet the team and the staff figure it out.
Not sure if Coach said this or someone else, but these McDonalds All Americans want to play these big non conference games. That it is one of the reasons they come to Elite programs/Texas. They want to play those "Big Monday" games.
I don't know why we've lost these games. It not as if we've been blown out. Every loss went down to the wire. I don't know if it's tiredness. Maybe mostly bad luck. These things ebb and flow. We obviously could use another great 3 point shooter or two. We have great slashers. I hope they'll all work intensively during off-season on jumpers and three's. If Lashann or Sug could get a more reliable three, that would be great. For all her gifts, I worry about Joyner's shot. Her free throw shooting has gotten so much better. Now if that can generalize to other shooting....Man, that it good news that Rellah Booth set a record in 9 of 9 free throw shooting in the championship game last year. It's just a fact that Aston's philosophy is the same as Jody's --- pressure defense and transition game. That's more a good thing than a bad thing. Jody was no slouch. Our problems lately have been more in shooting, but I will always be unhappy that we have no defensive variety. The pressure defense is often great. But I can't think of any other teams that don't at least have a zone in their arsenal, even if they don't use it much. On to the final four....
Oklahoma made our WV loss look really bad, but so far BU is making it look much better. Let's Go, Mountaineers! Up 20 with 3:00 to go in 3Q
Baylor not looking good. Well hell, at least we gave them a game. This let me know,this was Texas year to win the Big 12 Title.
For some reason I got the song Country road take me home to the place where I belong West Virginia!!! Starts singing Country Roads take me home to the place i love West Virginia mountain mama.
I actually pin pointed next season to be "our year". BU loses a ton and we lose Kelsey and Bri while arguably replacing them with more talent. WVU was not a bad loss and they're proving that right now. They're a load. Giving Baylor more than they want. Just glad I won't have to hear her take pot shots at us in her post game
Wait there is another game tonight, nah just watching a very good game between the Number 1 ranked team led by a sheriff and a just a team led non-sheriff.
Now one thing I like about K.Mulkey, she changed defense.And went to a Zone. Then she started pressing.And it changed the game a little. But the hole is so deep for Baylor. But the hole was not deep for Texas. Think about that. Hookem'
Guarantee Mulkey does not switch to a zone if it were as close as ours. They were down 21 for the desperation move
But Hornview look at what the changed did. Yet again our hole was not deep. Change to throw a team off.
You were inferring Mulkey would have gone to a zone in the same situation in your praise is what I'm pointing out.
Congrats to WVU --- fantastic tournament. We played them better than anyone else, even with our subpar shooting. Case in point (to Coach Aston): Baylor nearly came back from 21 down with their ZONE. It totally changed the nature of the game and basically shut down WVA. They had just enough to hang on the rest of the game. That was fun.
I eat crow. Never thought WVU would be Baylor. Never. Shoot threes successfully - that's one way to do it obviously.
Glad WVU was able to end Baylor's streak. WVU has really no bench to speak of, and that doesn't lend itself to winning three games in three days. Yes, that can be overcome when you have one player scoring 30 points a game.
Yes. I know I even mentioned our team being tired, but when you have a team playing 3 games in 3 days with only 7 players, there's no tired excuse for Texas. Congrats to WVU, they were fantastic!
This loss could also knock Baylor down to the #4 overall seed. I'm sure the committee was watching, and being down 21 points to start the 4th quarter won't go unnoticed.
Coach Aston is a very rigid coach but West Virginia only shot 35 or 36 percent from the field and only scored 62 points. So there wasn't really the need to try something different.
It was deliciously satisfying to see the arrogant and entitled fall. The fans poured out of the arena with a shocked look and complaining about the bad calls. This was an old fashioned whipping. The game was not as close as the 11 points as WV stopped trying to score against the zone. All they wanted to max out each possession. The fans were not consoled when we told them we shared their pain!!
Even the announcers said tonight it was funny to see Baylor in a zone as they always go man to man. If you are going to criticize Karen then criticize the one at the top of the conference too.
Gotta say that WV beating Baylor kinda took the sting out of yesterday. Still hope our girls can find their game again. Need our Freshman to believe in herself again so that Higgs can go back to being our X factor.
In my opinion, Kim has shown a little more willingness to use the zone than Karen. It's still rare, but I've seen her make that change a few times in the past when the game demanded it. In fact, in her first national championship in '05 or whenever it was, she played zone nearly the whole game. Said she didn't think of herself as a zone coach, but when asked by reporters, said "Gosh, I wanted to win the game." Anyway, it is a rare thing, but does show some flexibility. It seems like I remember Karen going to a zone once for about 5 or 10 minutes last year in a non-pressured situation. I didn't see one minute of it this year, which, of course, has worked fine for the most part. I would like to have seen it in a couple of games when we were killed by the back door and old fashioned drive (Stanford, Iowa State).
