From the Fans: Questions for Vic

racerx5908

racerx5908

2,500+ Posts
Hey all. I received an invitation to join Vic and team for the Fall "Meet the Team" dinner, which is held in the Touchdown Club in DKR. Most of each year, the Texas coaches have a luncheon where they provide finger sandwiches or they make it a pot luck where fans bring their own food and each player stands up (most are very shy) and introduce themselves.

But there's a part where he takes questions. I've already thought of my question. But most of you don't live in Austin and can't make this dinner. Post a question in the responses and I'll pick out ones and put them in a list and see if I've got the guts to ask Vic questions from a list.

My question to Vic is: "Vic, in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that purposeful?"
 
racerx5908 said:
Hey all. I received an invitation to join Vic and team for the Fall "Meet the Team" dinner, which is held in the Touchdown Club in DKR. Most of each year, the Texas coaches have a luncheon where they provide finger sandwiches or they make it a pot luck where fans bring their own food and each player stands up (most are very shy) and introduce themselves.

But there's a part where he takes questions. I've already thought of my question. But most of you don't live in Austin and can't make this dinner. Post a question in the responses and I'll pick out ones and put them in a list and see if I've got the guts to ask Vic questions from a list.

My question to Vic is: "Vic, in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that purposeful?"
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How about, "Talent-wise, coach, where does this team rank among other teams you've coached, and what did those other teams accomplish?"
 
racerx5908 said:
Hey all. I received an invitation to join Vic and team for the Fall "Meet the Team" dinner, which is held in the Touchdown Club in DKR. Most of each year, the Texas coaches have a luncheon where they provide finger sandwiches or they make it a pot luck where fans bring their own food and each player stands up (most are very shy) and introduce themselves.

But there's a part where he takes questions. I've already thought of my question. But most of you don't live in Austin and can't make this dinner. Post a question in the responses and I'll pick out ones and put them in a list and see if I've got the guts to ask Vic questions from a list.

My question to Vic is: "Vic, in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that purposeful?"
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I honestly just want to know who is our best shooter and who will be that go to shooter now that Matharu is gone.
 
We know the things he repeated such as transfer portal and what he brought in, people getting healthy, tougher more competitive schedule BUT what is something he would like us to know that hasn’t been said yet about this years team?
 
Sincerely hookem said:
We know the things he repeated such as transfer portal and what he brought in, people getting healthy, tougher more competitive schedule BUT what is something he would like us to know that hasn’t been said yet about this years team?
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We know Vic tends to hold his cards close to his chest. I like that about him... very wise tactic IMO.
 
racerx5908 said:
Hey all. I received an invitation to join Vic and team for the Fall "Meet the Team" dinner, which is held in the Touchdown Club in DKR. Most of each year, the Texas coaches have a luncheon where they provide finger sandwiches or they make it a pot luck where fans bring their own food and each player stands up (most are very shy) and introduce themselves.

But there's a part where he takes questions. I've already thought of my question. But most of you don't live in Austin and can't make this dinner. Post a question in the responses and I'll pick out ones and put them in a list and see if I've got the guts to ask Vic questions from a list.

My question to Vic is: "Vic, in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that purposeful?"
Click to expand...
That's a great question, racer. I noticed the same and would like to gain that insight. Don't know if he will say this, but I suspect in year 1 he finally gave up on Charlie being quick enough to deny the inbound pass to her assignment. Once the inbound pass is successful, breaking the press becomes much more manageable.

For year 2, I just don't know. For year 3, I wonder if he wants to get back to that with a much more athletic team (on paper).

I'm still thinking about my questions I will ask him.

brnkj said:
We know Vic tends to hold his cards close to his chest. I like that about him... very wise tactic IMO.
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True, but he is surprisingly forthcoming in this "private" setting. Probably knows us faithful will not create blackboard material.
 
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Zig72 said:
That's a great question, racer. I noticed the same and would like to gain that insight. Don't know if he will say this, but I suspect in year 1 he finally gave up on Charlie being quick enough to deny the inbound pass to her assignment. Once the inbound pass is successful, breaking the press becomes much more manageable.

For year 2, I just don't know. For year 3, I wonder if he wants to get back to that with a much more athletic team (on paper).

I'm still thinking about my questions I will ask him.


True, but he is surprisingly forthcoming in this "private" setting. Probably knows us faithful will not create blackboard material.
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Can't be careful enough... I remember a few years ago some IDIOT got on this board and talked about some things that were shared with fans at an open practice, even after KA's staff explicitly requested that it not be discussed publicly.
 
Coach Elliott has made it a point to talk about the growing game of Volleyball and trying to reach/break attendance record. Given that the NFHS reports show a decline in female basketball participation, how is Texas planning on continuing to be a part of throwing the game? Texas is a leader and should be. How are we growing the game at UT, in Austin, in Texas, and even the US?
 
Racer had a great question. I always imagined that the reason he pressed less late in the season was for four reasons depending on the teams. Some teams figured out how to manage the pressure better. Second, as the end of the season got closer, the better teams had guards/forwards that weren’t bothered by it. Third, Collier and then Ebo were liabilities in the press. Four, he was wearing out his key players. That’s just my opinion. Would be great to here Schaefer’s thoughts.
 
Blah. Blah. Blah. We just need to know one thing and one thing only. Should we buy our Final Four tickets now or later? :yippee:
 
These questions, from you, were given to Vic at the dinner and he answered most, but not all of them. Ones he skipped are in red:

in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that on purpose?

Talent-wise, coach, where does this team rank among other teams you've coached, and what did those other teams accomplish?

I honestly just want to know who is our best shooter and who will be that go to shooter now that Matharu is gone.

At this point who would be Starting 5.. And who would be your 6th Woman off the bench.

BUT what is something he would like us to know that hasn’t been said yet about this years team?

Coach Elliott has made it a point to talk about the growing game of Volleyball and trying to reach/break attendance record. Given that the NFHS reports show a decline in female basketball participation, how is Texas planning on continuing to be a part of throwing the game? Texas is a leader and should be. How are we growing the game at UT, in Austin, in Texas, and even the US?

Who would you consider the mentor who you modeled your defensive style of basketball after?​

The event was like 3 hours, so headed to bed and will have pictures and answers to those questions, the best I can remember and paraphrase tomorrow.
 
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The event was held at the Touchdown Club, which is the massive dining/bar area on the 8th floor of DKR, sandwiched between the two decks of the stadium. This is where big donors eat, drink and access their box seats for football games. Also, where official press conferences occur.

The setup:
YvGPR0i.jpg


We were told to get into one of two lines for the buffet and standing next to us was a young woman with the name tag "Sydney Carter". Well, hey. We could stand there awkwardly for 5 minutes waiting to get to the food or I could start pestering her for information.

So, introduced myself and let her know I knew who she was. I broke the ice by asking her the difference between Director of Operations and Director of Player Development (both jobs which Blair held at one time or the other). She confirmed that DoO meant you were on the track to be an AD and DoP was for those who wanted be a HC one day. She said, "I want to be a coach!" (our son is interested in being on the AD-track, which was another point of discussion).

She said she does coaching when allowed. On any day on any court, there can only be 4 coaches giving direct instruction to the team. So I said, "So on any days that one of the coaches can't make it..." She leapt in and said, "Oh, I'm there! I'm coaching!"

We talked about if it was weird to be wearing burnt orange and she said no. She said that now that she's a professional, none of that matters.

And then as we were starting scooping some food, I asked her if she wouldn't mind handing Vic some questions some of us had come up with. And she said, she didn't mind.
 
Vic gets up while we're having our dinner and talks about various things. But before he hands over the mic to his coaches, he says he's going to answer some questions and then he's looking down at the sheet of the paper I handed Sydney and starts reading questions out loud!

Q: in your first year it seemed you were running full court press from the inbounds from the start of the season until near the last quarter of the season, you didn't do as much pressing. In your second year, it seemed to me that the full court pressing wasn't used as often during the whole game during the entire year. Was that my imagination? Or was that on purpose?

A: No that was your imagination. [Laughter from the crowd]. As I said, we pick 'em up at the city limits and we drop them off at the end of the game.

Q: Talent-wise, coach, where does this team rank among other teams you've coached, and what did those other teams accomplish?

A: And this is where Vic goes into his "Listen y'all" speeches. He said we don't realize that what we have are 4 extremely, highly rated players. He talks about Rori, but then he pivots to talk about Shaylee being the 2-time WCC player of the year and then how Sonja is in the top 10 of top scorers ever at DePaul. And then he touches on DeYonna was the top recruit her freshman year in HS until she got hurt. Then later, he goes on very a long while about DeYonna's injury and that this year is the first year since her freshman year in HS she's fully healthy.
 
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Q: I honestly just want to know who is our best shooter

A: I honestly don't know. I mean you could put up 6 of those players and 4 of them might be the best. I'm sure almost all of them would say they're the best player. But I don't know who the best shooter is. Maybe that's a good thing or maybe that's a bad thing. I mean you sometimes need to know who to go to.

Q: BUT what is something he would like us to know that hasn’t been said yet about this years team?

A: He spends some time about how they are hard workers and stuff like that, but then goes into even more detail about DeYonna. He said that she had a cracked tibia that she'd been dealing with since high school. He says that in her freshmen year she went to Vic and said she just couldn't do it any more. That the pain was just too much playing on it during games. And he understood and (implied) shut her down for the rest of the year. And then he said she got a surgery that was to put a rod behind her shin. He said that she rehabbed but it still was giving her pain so after last year they consulted another doctor who told them that the first rod wasn't the right length and that he would fix her up. So she was opened up again and had a longer rod put behind her shin. And now, for the first time since her freshman year in HS she's feeling great.

[This isn't a Vic answer but from Blair later on when talking about things you didn't know]

Blair said: You don't know this about Anissa. But I remember seeing her hanging around the outside of Cooley for a few days. She was waiting for the right time to see all the coaches walking into practice. And when she did, she came up and handed each of them a hand written note saying that it would be an honor if they were to give her a chance to tryout for the team.

So at this point people are like stunned. And then Blair hands Anissa the mike and asks her to talk about it and of course Anissa is choking up trying to talk and said that she's always been a Texas fan and it was her grandmother's dream that one of her grandkids would make it to UT. She said that she was the last grandkid with the shot at UT and she made it. And of course, she's bawling while she's trying to get these words out and everyone is wiping tears away from their eyes and Vic comes up to hug her and comfort her.

Q: Who would you consider the mentor who you modeled your defensive style of basketball after?

A: He said his first coaching job was a HS coach (I assume boys) at Milby HS in Houston. He said it was one of the biggest schools at that time in Houston. He said that every year, they would play a neighboring school in Pasadena. It could have been Pasadena H.S.. He said every year they went there, the HC would be tossed during the game but Vic's team would get crushed by their players. He said he couldn't figure out how that team, with no one taller than 5'9" would consistent beat his teams. And when Pasadena HS would pay the visit to his home court, it would be a drag-out, knock-out game between the two.

He then said he went to Sam Houston State as HC and he was not prepared to be a college coach. He said he did very poorly. (looked it up and his first 3 years were 11, 9, and 6 wins). He said that something had to change so he looked up the old coach at Pasadena HS and by that time he had become the principal of Humble HS. And he went to talk to him and decided that was the type of player and defense he needed as a coach.
 
What a great function, largely due to Vic being Vic. The whole evening was very positive, so Vic just passed on providing a serious answer to Racer's first question.

You heard it all before, but aside from being great kids who enjoy being around each other, Vic could not emphasize enough what a special group this team is as players. He was surprised how well they played against DePaul offensively and the energy level they gave. Prior to DePaul, he had not seen that energy level at practice. With 19 turnovers, he talked about how that was a lost opportunity to score 38 points, yet they still scored 105. He mentioned the 19 turnovers were addressed at practice this week.

He warned us to appreciate and support this team while we can, they are so special and will be gone in such a short time.

Bottom line: my expectations for the season were ratcheted up a notch.

Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton ("Wis") and Blair made it very entertaining with their own questions for each player. Each player was asked to give their favorite Vic-ism. Hilarious.

From a coaching standpoint, they think of the players as Forwards or Guards.

Wis coaches the forwards: DeYonna, Amina, Khadija, Aaliyah, Femme, and Taylor.

Blair coaches the guards: everyone else, including Ndjakalenga, who is in my opinion the 3rd tallest player, shorter only than Femme and Taylor. (And Jordana is truly her reported 6'1.)

Gisella is joining the team at Christmas after completing her HS requirements this semester (I thought she was already enrolled).

Hadi really appreciates Femme as a teammate. They speak together in French until Blair scolds them to speak English. In speaking of Hadi, Vic used the expression "that team that will not be named" a couple of times.
 
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Zig72 said:
What a great function, largely due to Vic being Vic. The whole evening was very positive, so Vic just passed on providing a serious answer to Racer's first question.

Gisella is joining the team at Christmas after completing her HS requirements this semester (I thought she was already enrolled).

Hadi really appreciates Femme as a teammate. They speak together in French until Blair scolds them to speak English. In speaking of Hadi, Vic used the expression "that team that will not be named" a couple of times.
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Yeah, when he answered the first question that way, I was like "Hmmmm." And my wife thought that was an idiotic question - of course they have been running press the entire time! Hmmmmm.

I had read somewhere that Maul was enrolling in January but it didn't dawn on me that she would be joining the team and could possibly playing in the same month! But would it be a good thing or a bad thing? Use up one year of eligibility by playing a handful of games?

Listening to the coaches and players refer to each other:
Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda - pronounced like "Jacques-a-linga" and they just call her "Jacq"

And all this time I thought Femme Musadi was pronounced Fem, it's actually "Faam"
 
Two items that Vic brought up himself, unprompted, about recruiting.

1. Said that Blair and Sydney watched the transfer portal like hawks. After they identified someone, it was Elena's job to talk to the parents of the player.

2. Said that the girls do the recruiting. Said there was one player who came during the Alabama game and that the girls on the team represented Texas to this player, who he didn't think had Texas seriously in mind as a destination. He said he was surprised to get her commitment - but that it was due to the current players presenting Texas in the best light. Please validate me here, was that player Madison Booker?
 
racerx5908 said:
Two items that Vic brought up himself, unprompted, about recruiting.

1. Said that Blair and Sydney watched the transfer portal like hawks. After they identified someone, it was Elena's job to talk to the parents of the player.

2. Said that the girls do the recruiting. Said there was one player who came during the Alabama game and that the girls on the team represented Texas to this player, who he didn't think had Texas seriously in mind as a destination. He said he was surprised to get her commitment - but that it was due to the current players presenting Texas in the best light. Please validate me here, was that player Madison Booker?
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100% Madison Booker.
 
racerx5908 said:
Yeah, when he answered the first question that way, I was like "Hmmmm." And my wife thought that was an idiotic question - of course they have been running press the entire time! Hmmmmm.

I had read somewhere that Maul was enrolling in January but it didn't dawn on me that she would be joining the team and could possibly playing in the same month! But would it be a good thing or a bad thing? Use up one year of eligibility by playing a handful of games?

Listening to the coaches and players refer to each other:
Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda - pronounced like "Jacques-a-linga" and they just call her "Jacq"

And all this time I thought Femme Musadi was pronounced Fem, it's actually "Faam"
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Gisella has previously stated she would be using her time next semester to rehab, not play.
 
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