I've been highy impressed with Chou since Ifirst spotted her as a freshman at the Duncanville Tournament a few years ago. Wish she'd have chosen Texas, but she's got to go with what feels right for her.
Honestly... I'm not so sure that it's really a big deal to us that she chose Baylor. On the other hand, had they lost that recruiting battle to us it would have further signified what those in Waco are already well aware of -- Aston & Co and the UT program are on the verge of pulling up along side of BU. It's gradually happening on the court and in recruiting as well.
Sure... we're still behind Baylor and we're going to have to start winning some games against them before we can even THINK ABOUT putting ouselves up there with them. However, each of the past few years the pendulum is starting to swing more . When we finally do catch them, it'll be all she wrote - and they know it.
Aston seems to try to assemble recruiting classes based on personnel needs, with the goal being to have quality depth yet not be too overloaded at any position in any class. On the other hand, Baylor seems to try to stockpile every top rated recruit they can get without regard to personnel. They're very much like Tennessee in that aspect.
I can tell you one thing... with the freshman class at Baylor now combined with the 2016 class, the transfer from Duke, and all the relatively young returning players from last year.. there's going to be some unhappy campers in Waco.
Now... about us. I see Aston bringing in players who can play a highly up-tempo style. With Ariel, Brooke, Higgs, Holmes, Sutton, Hosey and the twins we will good and deep at every position other than the five. Not that we couldn't use a dead-eye pure shooter or two, but they would play roles if they couldn't keep up with pace.
Our 3pt shooting hasn't been real good.. that's no secret. But where we have failed miserably is with our mid-range game. If Higgs is all that I hear she is (and I'm certain she is) we now have that element that we've been missing for what seems like a decade... a player that attacks and causes breakdowns in the opponent's defense. When that starts happening and defenses have to rotate, switch, adjust and move then you'll see our ball movement improve which will lead to our being able to get and take shots in the FLOW of an offense. If you don't attack the defense, all they have to do is stand, hold their ground, jam up seems and passing lanes, and clog up our half court offensive sets. Attacking the defense and making it collapse will also allow our long-range shooters to relocate and be ready for a kick-out pass...again, all in a FLOW.
I can't believe that a person would say that Ariel didn't show anything last year as a freshman. Before that injury, she showed PLENTY. Don't know if you know much about a double (high AND low) ankle sprain, but it's very serious, painful, and slow to mend. It also completely messes up your mobility. I believe she even underwent surgery over the summer because it was still not 100 percent. She'll be fine once she gets back to full strengh, alrhough I don't know how long that might take. Believe me... Ariel is a very special player... and she's a winner.
We're in good shape folks. We're just going to have to let Karen continue to get her recruits into her system and let them get some experience over the next couple of seasons. Now we need to work on getting two or three bigs with Imani graduating after this season and Kelsey the next.
Hook 'Em!
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