2016 recruiting

BabHorn said:
Moooooo, seems like most JC players sign in the spring after their season is over. I am just guessing that Audrey-Ann will follow that pattern.
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I would agree for the typical JUCO players who didn't first attend a prestigious academic school like Vanderbilt as a freshman.
 
BabHorn said:
Moooooo, seems like most JC players sign in the spring after their season is over. I am just guessing that Audrey-Ann will follow that pattern.

And I agree that Empress has a pretty good midrange game.
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I thought JUCOs couldn't sign until January but I was wrong. Seems only JUCO football has a set window separate from other sports. Based on the chart on this page, she could sign Wednesday but I assume she will do as @BabHorn suggested and sign in the spring.

http://www.nationalletter.org/signingDates/

When it comes to Empress, I remember her being a good jump shooter at the elbow/FT line last season.
 
Moooooo said:
Are you kidding? I recall plenty of mid-range shots from Empress finding nothing but the bottom of the net.
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Hi Moooo. May be our memories differ. My memory is that she struggled in the mid-range game where she lost confidence and started passing up wide open mid-range shots. This allowed her defender to sag in zone defense on our bigs.

Even discarding her 3/30 3-point shooting, rattfatt is correct, Empress still shot 84/221 in 2-point shooting for 38%. A lot of them on lay-ups.

Another example of her poor mid-range game is her poor free throw shooting. Free-throws are in essence mid-range shots at 15 feet without defenders. Sure, the circumstance is different, but the shooting mechanics is the same. She struggled at 69% free-throw shooting. As a guard. With a 28.5" ball. Typically a good mid-range player doesn't struggle at the free-throw line. And ideally you want your shooting guard to average around +80% free-throw shooting.

Her strength lies in her penetration and defense. I hope she worked on her mid-range game.
 
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Just my thoughts on Empress here... I recall her driving and having game tying shots against Stanford and then against A&M?? Was it A&M? I don't remember, but she's a gamer. No matter her percentages in other games, she seems to be a reliable source when we need it.
 
Moooooo said:
Not that this is gospel:

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In my opinion Joyner and Alecia will be the two best players at their positions that we've had at UT in over a decade. I think Jada is also going to make an impact at UT. I just hope that Coach Aston runs an offensive system that gets the most out of them, I can't wait to watch them play.

Also, if anyone ever comes across any of Audrey-Ann's videos could you please post them.
 
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jusme828 said:
Just my thoughts on Empress here... I recall her driving and having game tying shots against Stanford and then against A&M?? Was it A&M? I don't remember, but she's a gamer. No matter her percentages in other games, she seems to be a reliable source when we need it.
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Agree. Both on dribble penetration or cutting to the basket for lay-ups. Not mid-range shots or 3-pointers.
 
Agree she isn't a 3 point shooter, but her presence on the court for defense and penetration is a plus. Hopefully in her senior year, she can defend without getting into foul trouble. We will need her.
 
apropos the discussion of Ariel, I was a little disappointed in her, too,last year, to be honest. Whatever the reason, injuries or not, she wasn't the explosive impact scorer this team desperately needs. This is not a knock on her, by the way, just a reflection of what many of us wanted and didn't get. We're at the point where more good players aren't going to put us over the top. We need a great one or two. That's what Baylor always has. Ariel will improve this year no doubt. The question is how much? I hope she isn't injury prone. We don't need her spending more time recovering than playing. Meanwhile, let's see what Higgs does. We're not back until we can compete with Baylor. I'm tired of drubbings.
 
I think several posters are overlooking that this thread is devoted to 2016 recruiting. I understand that sometimes related topics take a life of their own, but I'd prefer discussion of current players on our roster be discussed in other threads.
 
Dr. D said:
We need a great one or two. That's what Baylor always has. Ariel will improve this year no doubt. The question is how much? I hope she isn't injury prone. We don't need her spending more time recovering than playing. Meanwhile, let's see what Higgs does. We're not back until we can compete with Baylor. I'm tired of drubbings.
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Nice try, Dr. D. Ariel will be fine, and had a great frosh season considering the injury. As far as the drubbings go, I assume you're also referring to the 2-point loss last season, after losing by a much wider margin in the first matchup of the year. And both losses coming after losing Nneka for the season. So many opportunities for Mulkey to show a little class considering those wins likely would not have happened had Enemkpali been playing, but instead she pulled yet another stunt with the manufactured drama about Texas keeping their starters in after the game had been decided. It was such a bizarre sequence of events, inexplicable in fact, until you realized it had all been orchestrated so she could (ridiculously) compare herself to a couple of the game's true coaching legends. No doubt she was tired of having her behavior, and character questioned, and had been looking for the first opportunity to let everyone know they were wrong, and that she was right up there with the classiest of them all. Except that the opportunity wasn't there, and her comments about the game made no sense to anyone. Ironically, and predictably, the entire episode only served to reinforce everyone's negative opinions. You don't elevate, or deem yourself 'classy,' or representative of a certain status or reputation. You change people's opinions by actually doing things the right way, and behaving in a manner that others respect. You'd think that would be easy for someone who has achieved the level of on-court success she has during her tenure at Baylor. But, sadly, it isn't, and likely never will be.
 
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I agree with overseas about Ariel. Realisitically, it would not surprise me to see her and LaShann starting together by conference play.
 
[QUOTE, "Nice try, Dr. D. Ariel will be fine, and had a great frosh season considering the injury. As far as the drubbings go, I assume you're also referring to the 2-point loss last season, after losing by a much wider margin in the first match up of the year."

I don't know what the "Nice try, Dr. D" means, and the narrow two point loss was a good effort, but what I was actually thinking of was the 9 straight games we lost to Baylor over the last 4 seasons by an average margin of 18 points a game. We won't win a Big 12 Championship until we beat them. That's why I hope our new players give us the lift we need. Maybe it will happen this year.
 
Dr. D said:
[QUOTE, "Nice try, Dr. D. Ariel will be fine, and had a great frosh season considering the injury. As far as the drubbings go, I assume you're also referring to the 2-point loss last season, after losing by a much wider margin in the first match up of the year."

I don't know what the "Nice try, Dr. D" means, and the narrow two point loss was a good effort, but what I was actually thinking of was the 9 straight games we lost to Baylor over the last 4 seasons by an average margin of 18 points a game. We won't win a Big 12 Championship until we beat them. That's why I hope our new players give us the lift we need. Maybe it will happen this year.
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Everyone is aware of the losing streak. Your post questioned Ariel's contributions, said 'injuries or not' that she wasn't explosive, and questioned whether she was 'injury prone' (the second or third time you've dropped that into your posts). All while saying "this is not a knock on her, by the way..." Why would Ariel be any more injury-prone than the hundreds of other players who've been hurt at points during their career? And you didn't say we had a good effort vs. Baylor, just as in another post you said we never beat elite teams, and referenced the Vols....only to have it pointed out we beat them last season, one of three wins vs. top 5 teams in a span of three weeks. And on another thread you questioned the signing of Khaleann and wondered whether this indicated Texas thought they'd be unable to get any more top 20 recruits in future classes. A bizarre post considering we've had 6 recruits in that range in classes 2014-2016. You spend a lot of time putting down the team, and certain players, all the while saying that's not your intent. Almost as much time, in fact, as you spend talking about Baylor.
 
overseasbbfan1 said:
So many opportunities for Mulkey to show a little class...
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I remember this. Mulkey was upset after she pulled her starters in the game in Waco with a minute or two left up by 20 points or so but Texas did not and pulled it within single digits.

But does anyone know why she singled out Empress and grabbed her arm to talk to her during the "good game" line?
 
overseasfanbb1, relax. I I didn't say Atkins "wasn't explosive." I said Atkins wasn't the "explosive impact scorer" some of us wanted last year. That's the truth. It's no more critical than all the other posters who point out that some of our guards didn't shoot the three well. She had injuries last season and surgery this summer. So I don't think it's negative to say "I hope she isn't injury prone." Many people have commented that Imani has been slowed by injuries during her career. That doesn't make them anti-Imani. I think Ariel is a very good player who, as I also said, will get better. I confess to talking about Baylor, the way a lot of folks used to talk about the Aggies. I'm not going to go into all the other stuff. You could go through all my posts over the years and paint a portrait of praise or criticism, wisdom or folly, hope or despair, depending on which sentences you choose to pick. That's fine with me. Let's move on.
 
I'm plenty relaxed, just responding to what you said. And I'm not 'picking' sentences or painting a portrait. That's easy enough to see, except I notice the post about Ariel is no longer present on the thread. You can delete posts, or re-phrase, or backpedal, but your original meaning, and intent were clear. Let's move on indeed.
 
Just came across this companion piece to the All-American announcement above talking about the state of Texas' dominance in girls' high school basketball. Some points from the article:
  • Five of the 20 players on the American Family Insurance ALL-USA preseason girls basketball team are from Texas.
  • Three of the past four No. 1 WNBA draft picks played their high school ball in Texas
  • Three of the top 15 teams in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll are from the Lone Star State: No. 4 Baylor; No. 8 Texas; and No. 12 Texas A&M.
  • In the past 10 years, only once (2013) has there not been a player from Texas on either the American Family Insurance ALL-USA girls basketball first, second or third teams.
http://usatodayhss.com/2015/texas-h...ce-preseason-all-usa-girls-basketball-players
 
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