24 Texas Longhorns at Texas Tech Red Raiders

I think it is a crock to say Coach G "needs her own recruits"...

We played Tech better last year, only lost by ONE because of a FLUKE play....so now are the naysayers going to come out and call for Gail's head like they did Jody's??

Press and Trap is great when it WORKS...but letting baseball throws down the court = uncontested layups, well, that seems pretty lame.....In defense of the defense, we did gets lots of steals, but the offense apparently had already left the Spirit Arena and was headed to Austin....What is up with the continuing misses right under or within 3 feet of the basket??

So now Coach G is just as frustrated with the players as Coach Conradt was.....Hmmmm, "the more things change, the more they stay the same"....

Kudos to Ashley, though, for playing very well...

Back to the drawing board.
The next game will be tough, VERY tough, and we'd better 'shape up', or we'll be 'shipping out' again this year.



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I also think it's a cop out regarding Coach G getting her own recruits in the system. Sure, it will be better when she's had the chance to make that happen, but the team we put on the court has a MUCH better pedigree than that JUCO-laden team that beat UT today.

I also think the poster who called the current roster a "bunch of losers" is off base and if I weren't southern and not in the mood to get banned, I'd have a lot more to say about that.
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I just hate this "SEE, we are not any better this year than last year" I wish you all would just STOP STOP STOP IT!

Texas is not playing well right now on the road - they execute much better in the confines of home - and yes, they played horrible today, and yes, they must play better, execute better, hit the chippies, etc etc. They will - but give them a break.

Please please please please don't bring up the past - what is past is gone and the future is bright. I'm still amazed when I look at the bench and see the coaching staff. I wish we were winning now, we are not, but I know we will be very very soon!

And that's all I have to say about that.....
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Damn, we suck!! I knew that hoping for a winning season this year was a lot to expect, and knew that it will take time to rebuild, yada yada, but losing to a REALLY BAD Tech team made me realize how much work there is to do. *sigh*
 
The concern I had throughout the game was the inability to take advantage of the TOs we kept forcing. We couldn't, except for Ashley and Kat, hit the side of a barn while standing next to it. And even Ashley missed several shots she normally makes. Kat didn't shoot enough. Brit's forte is running the court, not taking the 3. But with no one but Kat being a viable 3pt threat, Brit took six 3s and made one. She had made 0-7 in the three previous Big 12 games. Earnie and Ebay usually provide an additional 3pt threat. Earnie didn't play and Ebay misfired on both her 3s. Kat converted 3-5 3s. The Horns committed 17 TOs but forced 26. They were unable to make FTs, even our normally reliable FT shooters like Carla. 11-20 is really poor, when they usually make an additional 3-4 FTs given that many opportunties. The missed layups go without speaking.

This was a very winnable game and much closer given how poorly the team shot from the field and the FT line and how poorly they rebounded. Tech played probably their best game of the year.

There are still six home games and six away games to play. They will have to play better on both ends of the field to get at least an 8-8 record. It's hard to get a read on the team as they take a couple of steps forward and one backwards at unexpected times. The rotation is likely to be 8-9 players with around 6-7 getting significant (15 or more) minutes a game.

The team would have to have a complete meltdown to not finish with a winning record. I just don't see that happening. I do see a team that, occasionally, looks like they forgot how to shoot the ball. It's tough to win the game when that happens. Can't wait to see the Horns Wednesday against OSU.
 
just to clarify, my main point is that we just aren't playing right now and i still think it's going to eventually get better. we are still on a learning curve, and we have more talent on our team than most. we are simply in a slump. i don't think it's fair to call our players losers, they play with a lot of heart, they're a good group of young women, and they're a good team.

i also don't think it's a "crock" or a "cop out" to suggest that the consistent improvement in our program will come as our staff brings in more recruits. i don't think there are two coaches who look for identically the same things in players. even coaches who have been mentored by the game's greats have their own ideas, and put their own twist on things. this is not to say that we shouldn't be or can't be successful with what we have. we can and we will. but i think it's ridiculous for anyone who knows anything about team sports to suggest that different coaches JUST MIGHT recruit differently to fit their own individual coaching styles. and that is not to say that coach conradt didn't leave the new staff with some talented players. coach conradt did a great job of bringing in the group that we have. why compare conradt to goestenkors when they've both been remarkable coaches in their own rights? i don't see why this has to be an argument, when we're all just expressing our individual opinons and we're all for the same team.
 
Rexy, your optimism is wonderful and I agree totally that the future is VERY bright. At the same time, it is frustrating to see that our team still suffers from some of the same lapses we had last year--and there were some rabid posters on here calling for JC's head. They have "mysteriously" disappeared from the board this year...

It is abundantly clear that it takes two to tango and the greatest coach on Earth (which I believe we have--two of them, in fact) can't make up for these kinds of lapses.
 
Rexy I'm all for optimism whenever it's called for. But did you attend the KState game? We did not execute any better at home in our friendly confines than we have on the road, at least in Big 12 play. The Iowa State game was a win thanks to an intentional foul call at the end of the game that is all that separates us from 0-4. This group had a light switch flipped when we entered conference play and unfortunately it wasn't flipped to the "on" position.
 
Yes, I was at the K-State game and in my opinion, we executed much better in that game than this one at Tech - again, just my opinion. I also thought we executed better in the Iowa State game too - again, just my opinion - like you have yours.
 
Sniping on the board is so predictable. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Some are optimists, some pessimists. Some think Coach G is at another level and lays Jody in the dust. Others are nostalgic for Jody. I love the team and will support them whatever. We've got some real talent, but not that amazing talent where one or two players are simply at another level above others on the court. I think recruiting is a crap shoot. The recruiting services get it wrong a lot of the time. We had players very high on the recruiting lists that one year. None of these players are busts, but I believe, at this point, none of them are the knockout talents their placement on the recruiting ratings had us expecting. Who would have guessed, for example, that Andrea Riley would be the best guard in the conference?

I don't think there are as many differences in Jody's and Gail's coaching as many do. Gail obviously runs more defenses, with a lot more trapping (a double edged sword). But she and Jody both believe in pressure defense, going for the steal, and both place great faith in the transition game. How different from someone like Bill Fennelly or the KSU coaches, who believe more in percentage defense and want to play mostly a slower, half-court game.

I'm not surprised at all by our record so far. After all, we have almost the same roster as last year, except lacking our most outstanding player, Tree. I'd love to see what Erica could do, but it doesn't look like that will happen until next year. I think Nicky (sp) is exciting and I hope she gets to play a lot more. Ashley has improved greatly. (Credit to Gail and staff for that.) Cortijo is solid.

It is 80% or 90% in the recruiting and let's wish our coaches luck. Gail built her great Duke record with impressive recruiting, drawing in players who I guess liked her, liked the fancy Duke name and pretty Gothic architecture, or the perceived academic excellence, or who knows what. I agree with one of the commentators who said that, at this point, almost all the Big 12 coaches are very good.
 
The lay-ups that were blown were certainly frustrating, but even moreso is the woes from the charity stripe. It is becoming abundantly clear that free throws are going to be what makes a difference this season as that same issue has already been seen in other games in the conference that didn't involve UT. Free throws also contributed heavily in the earlier Baylor-OU game, especially once the bonus kicked in.
 
This was not a fun game to watch. It hurt to watch all those lost chances off the turn overs and the missed free throws.

However, I still see lots of good ball movement, lots of created turn overs, and players who keep shooting even when the rims aren't rewarding them. We all know those are tough rims in the United Spirit Arena... I also think I see flashes of "scrappiness", a factor I value highly in a team. I think that Kayla Bowers and Heather Schrieber brought scrappiness to the floor and that factor took their game to an entirely different level.

Am I disappointed? Undoubtedly. Am I hopeful? Still clinging! I guess I'm scrappy too.l
 
"We all know those are tough rims in the United Spirit Arena...

Don't both teams use the same rims?"
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same players.

different system, different matchups.

coach g will get it done. i don't know why people were thinking we'd have a "sweet 16", top 15 team type season in her first year, although i guess anything is possible.
 
Not the same rims, AR&BB. We have a guy who comes in at halftime and changes them out...
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Babhorn, I respect your insight very much but this was not even close to Tech's best game of the year.

I would say that Tech and Texas are in very similar inconsistent transition modes. The Lady Raiders play decent at home and terrible on the road, at least in B12 games. They played pretty well in road games prior to conference, but the games at Mizzou
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and K-State were not recognizable as being the same Tech team that played in any other game this year.

The best game Tech has played was against Baylor in Lubbock. Believe it or not, we had a legitimate shot to win that game with a lead part way through the second half.

I'm very much looking forward to what UT's defense can do against Riley. It would interesting to see if they can trap and pressure her and make OSU inside girls win the game. Fortunately for Tech, Seals and Roberson are very good forwards. I'm hoping someone can come up with a formula to slow down Riley. Just maybe Goestenkors and company can do that.
 
I like your thinking, DblT (took me while to figure out you are a Tech Poster)

YES, if anyone can figure it out, it will be Coach G.

BUT, that being said, the old adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink"....comes to mind.

Coach G and the other great coaches we have assembled can do all they can, but ultimately, it will be up to the players to live up to their potential, and play with the heart and passion they need to.

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Go, Horns...Beat OSU!!!
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"Not the same rims, AR&BB. We have a guy who comes in at halftime and changes them out... "
Same guy that does that shell game?
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Okay...so my phrase of "tough rims" is one with which these posters are not familiar. I am sorry to derail the thread. I used the phrase to refer to an environment which doesn't allow for many mistakes in the playing of basketball. I thought it was widely acknowledged that the USA is a pretty difficult environment for any opposing team, which is a tip of the hat to the Lady Raider Nation, by the way.

I suspect, however, that the thread went to my metaphor rather that discussing any posible positives of this team because folks who are posting right now are into the criticism stage. I'll just have to wait out the furor and keep hoping for more success in the way of WINS, so that we can talk about stregnths.

I'm glad coach G is here and I'll look forward to seeing more rewards of her system as time goes by.
 
As the author of the "loser" posts, I can tell you I was deleted by the mods. I remain optimistic about this team, but equally tired of excuses. Long term, I think the program is in excellent hands, but losing, like winning is a habit, and habits are hard to break. EDub not playing hurt us in Lubbock, but I saw an all too familiar mental collapse, even though we were within four with 5 minutes or so to play. Kat Nash is tough and Carla has clutch moments, but we are more than soft in the post at crunch time, and every other team in this league knows it by now. If we make the NCAA tournament this year, Coach G deserves Big 12 coach of the year award.
 
dang hornacopia do you have to be that rude. they dont suck, it is just taking them sometime to gel. the big 12 conference is no joke. on any giving night a team can lose. so to say these girls suck is not fair. they will turn it around, its a new coach and new system so they need some time to get use to it.
 
I take it back - we DON'T suck!! The team that beat OSU tonight was a completely different team that the one that showed up the last 3 games. Thanks, Horns, for making me eat my words!
 

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