Does coach G have what it takes?

The season started without Kristen so at that time there was one senior, Kat, and three juniors, AT, AG, and Yvonne. I don’t think there was a problem with their leadership. I know I saw one of them grab two freshmen simultaneously by the front of their jerseys in the middle of a game and, ummm, clearly express their feelings about how the game should be played. The difficult part was that there were FIVE freshmen plus a senior walk-on who hadn’t played since high school. Those players accounted for 40% of total minutes during the season. Over half of the 2010-11 team was freshmen and a walk-on. You can’t hide that kind of inexperience. Every time anyone got into foul trouble, every time anyone was injured, every time anyone was sick, every time anyone just had a bad day, the only option was to go to a freshmen. That ISU game was one that hurt. But, did you notice Kat playing in OT with a freshly re-broken nose, or AT playing with a freshly broken bone in her right hand? The upperclassmen continued to play because they had to. I thought this was a great freshman class. But, still freshmen. One of my favorite JC stories was about a Big 12 coach who called JC for advice about dealing with an incoming freshman class of five. The advice she got was to immediately call two of them and tell them to stay home…. Next season brings four more freshmen, but they will be a much smaller percentage of the overall team.

I don’t take those TexasSports videos too seriously. I mean, what are they going to say? I like to watch them, but the purpose is to function as a sales pitch. Anne Marie averaged 10.6 MPG. I guess it is a matter of definitions and opinion to determine if that is significant. My perception is that she is going to be very good. I like her rebounding, and she has a quick shot with a soft touch. What held her back, IMO, was a tendency to have some freshman defensive moments. Sarah Lancaster was a walk-on who had not played basketball since high school. I think she made valuable contributions to the team, but I never expected her to play a significant role against elite teams. Shanice McCoy seems to have some talent, but did not seem ready for this level of competition. The game seemed too fast for her. I did think that I saw improvement later in the season. We’ll see if she can make the adjustment. No one ever said so, but I wondered if she wasn’t a late signee in an attempt to replace Lauren Flores.
 
I know that every team wins and loses close games.

Seems like some posters on here would have been happier if we had won those close games at Mizzou and Iowa State. While that would have been 2 more victories in the win column, would that really "change" your perception of the season?

Perhaps it would have calmed the waters for those saying we didn't "deserve" an NCAA tourney bid.

Perhaps a conference-opening win at Mizzou would have had a positive psychological effect on the team's mindset, and they would have been able to pull out a home win a few days later against OU.
 
Moooooo, it's definitely the latter. No question that a win @ Missouri would have started the season on the right foot, with momentum to possibly defeat Oklahoma at home. I bet most did not expect to lose with a 6 game winning streak into Columbia.

The little things do add up. Great teams win games they are supposed to win.
 
Why rely on five freshmen? because three players projected to be on the team were not at the start of season: Lauren was dismissed; Kristen decided not to come back; and Cokie was injured. That was one, maybe two starters not available. And a solid backup. The depth would not have been an issue if that had not happened. Kristen returned but not the other two. And Tiffany missed a lot of games due to her broken wrist. The roster would have been around 13 if everyone had come back/not been injured/dismissed. Nor there have been the need to rely on freshmen so much. Just my thoughts.
 
I hear you Babhorn. Some circumstances made it much worse than expected. You know I believe that results would have been much different with only Cokie available. For the most part I am fine with the job GG has done, and there could be reasons for the roster decisions that I don’t know about. I don’t mean for it to sound like a huge gripe, it isn’t. I also see that the planning for this past class and the next has been going on for several years.

I just think there was room for more scholarships in the past. Had they been used we would have been less exposed. This may well work out for the best. But, there are risks to leaving seats empty.

Probably some of my reasoning comes from the perception that GG prefers to play with a short bench. I don’t even know that is true. Regardless, I am happy with where we seem to be going.
 
I'm not certain we should have used more scholarships previously; I guess it would all depend on who they would have been used for. Obviously if another top 5 recruit had been inerested, and filled a need, it would have made sense. But taking other players previously may have impacted, or limited our ability to bring in the 2010 and 2011 classes, which we all agree boasts some great players. As it is we only have a spot of two still open for 2012 and 2013, and some of the top players in those classes considering the Horns. So, while I think we would have signed another big time player sooner had that been possible, I think we did the right thing if the option had been taking someone we were less than thrilled about just to have another body available. In any event, it doesn't matter now. What does matter is that we will have had two very good back-to-back classes, and a top 5 recruit returning from injury. I'm looking forward to the next dew seasons.
 
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