You can argue all you want about coaching. In the end, it comes down to the players. We all need to be realistic about that. Please, I AM NOT saying coaching doesn't matter, nor am I defending Aston. It is certainly possible that Karen Aston needs improvement as a coach. I tend to agree with the argument that her half court offense is too static. On the other hand, she's not a dummy; she's served under some great head coaches, including Kim Mulkey, and she's been around the game for a couple of decades. She did not take a bunch of winners and make them into losers. Texas main problem is the players, not the coach. If Kim Mulkey coached our players, how much better would they be? Ten percent? Twenty? Maybe, I don't know. I do know there's a limit to what coaching can do. Good coaching can make an average team better. It can help win championships and put a team over the top. It cannot overcome severe talent shortages. You can talk all you want about better screens and passing lanes. When your guards are missing wide open shots even though opponents don't bother to guard them closely, you are not going to cure the situation with a more sophisticated offense. Someone once suggested just copying plays out of the Connecticut, Notre Dame and Baylor play books. There's a problem with that. Those teams have the personnel to run those plays; Texas does not.
What's maddening about Texas is that the team has three players of certified high dollar talent. Fussell and Enemkpali are All-Conference material; Imani looks like a future All American. Every other team in the Big 12 would love to have them, including Baylor. Normally three players like that would guarantee a better record. But the Texas back court has been a black hole. Inexperience. Poor shooting. Poor passing, bad decisions, bad turnovers, bad defense in the clutch. The poor play at the 1 and 2 guard positions has allowed other teams to pack it into tight zones to constrict Enemkpali and Stafford-MaGee, while doubling up on Fussell. With the exception of the Kansas game, it's been a struggle for the Horns to score 60 points on any given night. Look at the season stats for our guards. It's a recipe for disaster. It will be better next season---how much better is a different question. We need more outside shooters.
Our player deficiencies are not the fault of either Goestenkors or Aston. I thought it was time for Goestenkors to go, but she did NOT leave an empty cupboard. Her recruiting was improving and she actually stocked a full cupboard that tragically proceeded to empty itself. First, lets remember, our three outstanding players are all her recruits. Unfortunately, over the last couple of seasons, Texas has had a run of incredibly bad luck with players. Goestenkors recruited Cokie Reid, rated the number five player in America by Hoopgurlz. Reid had a promising freshman year, missed the next season, and never really overcame health problems. Her playing time was limited and she was forced to retire this year. Chelsea Bass had a fine outside shot, was developing nicely, and would have provided a lot of depth at guard. But she missed most of the last two seasons with concussion problems and also had to retire. Tiffiany Moore, another guard, was rated the number 22 prospect in the country by Hoopgurlz, but she didn't even play the last two years because of severe allergies and had to leave the team. Forward Ronisha Major, also highly rated by HoopGurlz, suffered a pre season knee injury and has apparently left the team. Goestenkors brought in Cassie Peoples to play point guard. Again, very highly rated. But Peoples had a leg injury her freshman year, sat out most of the season, and transferred after Goestenkors left. She would have helped a lot this year. If Aston drove her off, then that was a terrific mistake; but I don't know what happened, and some players always leave after a coaching change. Aston does deserve a lot of credit for seeing there was a problem and doing what she could to correct it on very short notice. Though the 2012 recruiting season was essentially over for top players, Aston managed to bring in Rodrigo and Roberts to play the point. They didn't solve the problem at all, but God knows how bad things would be without their contribution. Then of course, more injuries came. Mazionyte missed the first half of the season. Now apparently Roberts and Hartung will miss the second half. We have no depth and the lineup has constantly changed. We had to play a lot of freshmen, whose inexperience compounded all our other problems. It was the perfect storm.
Now, how about the future? Well, things will improve next season. Everybody will be a year older. If Imani continues to develop at her present pace, she's going to be a monster. I'm not confident, though, about evolving from also-rans to contenders. Our problem is still a lack of speedy talented guards who can score. Rodrigo, Saunders, Roberts and Davenport (especially Davenport) will develop. I have to say, though, that they do not look like future championship caliber players. (I am talking "championship" caliber, not average-to-good). I've watched a lot of top ranked teams this year---A&M, Kentucky, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Baylor, etc. All of them have talented freshmen who are either starting or playing big minutes off the bench. And frankly, their freshmen guards are better than ours---they hit their shots. Imani could play for anybody. Our freshmen guards could not. As Gary Blair once said, "you win with guards." We've certainly learned that this year. Aston has a bunch of highly rated players committed for 2015, and an outstanding point guard coming in 2014. That's a long way off. If things don't improve dramatically, some of those stars may decommit (Remember Peyton Little? She's seeing a lot of minutes this year for A&M.) As near as I can tell, in 2013 Aston has recruited two centers, an unheralded three-star rated guard (not a four star), and a 5-11 Charles Barkley type combo guard-forward who is in the Hoopgurlz top hundred. These players may make us stronger, but they don't seem to provide the extra dimension of talent we need in the back court. If I were Aston, I'd be out scouring the Juco ranks again, hunting for guard talent that can shoot.
Please don't misunderstand me. Nobody will be happier if Rodrigo finds a shot and learns how to score, while Davenport develops into a star. I hope it happens. I'm not sure it will. We may go from horrible to average, and hopefully better than average, but our guard delimma threatens to keep us out of the elite rank.
What's maddening about Texas is that the team has three players of certified high dollar talent. Fussell and Enemkpali are All-Conference material; Imani looks like a future All American. Every other team in the Big 12 would love to have them, including Baylor. Normally three players like that would guarantee a better record. But the Texas back court has been a black hole. Inexperience. Poor shooting. Poor passing, bad decisions, bad turnovers, bad defense in the clutch. The poor play at the 1 and 2 guard positions has allowed other teams to pack it into tight zones to constrict Enemkpali and Stafford-MaGee, while doubling up on Fussell. With the exception of the Kansas game, it's been a struggle for the Horns to score 60 points on any given night. Look at the season stats for our guards. It's a recipe for disaster. It will be better next season---how much better is a different question. We need more outside shooters.
Our player deficiencies are not the fault of either Goestenkors or Aston. I thought it was time for Goestenkors to go, but she did NOT leave an empty cupboard. Her recruiting was improving and she actually stocked a full cupboard that tragically proceeded to empty itself. First, lets remember, our three outstanding players are all her recruits. Unfortunately, over the last couple of seasons, Texas has had a run of incredibly bad luck with players. Goestenkors recruited Cokie Reid, rated the number five player in America by Hoopgurlz. Reid had a promising freshman year, missed the next season, and never really overcame health problems. Her playing time was limited and she was forced to retire this year. Chelsea Bass had a fine outside shot, was developing nicely, and would have provided a lot of depth at guard. But she missed most of the last two seasons with concussion problems and also had to retire. Tiffiany Moore, another guard, was rated the number 22 prospect in the country by Hoopgurlz, but she didn't even play the last two years because of severe allergies and had to leave the team. Forward Ronisha Major, also highly rated by HoopGurlz, suffered a pre season knee injury and has apparently left the team. Goestenkors brought in Cassie Peoples to play point guard. Again, very highly rated. But Peoples had a leg injury her freshman year, sat out most of the season, and transferred after Goestenkors left. She would have helped a lot this year. If Aston drove her off, then that was a terrific mistake; but I don't know what happened, and some players always leave after a coaching change. Aston does deserve a lot of credit for seeing there was a problem and doing what she could to correct it on very short notice. Though the 2012 recruiting season was essentially over for top players, Aston managed to bring in Rodrigo and Roberts to play the point. They didn't solve the problem at all, but God knows how bad things would be without their contribution. Then of course, more injuries came. Mazionyte missed the first half of the season. Now apparently Roberts and Hartung will miss the second half. We have no depth and the lineup has constantly changed. We had to play a lot of freshmen, whose inexperience compounded all our other problems. It was the perfect storm.
Now, how about the future? Well, things will improve next season. Everybody will be a year older. If Imani continues to develop at her present pace, she's going to be a monster. I'm not confident, though, about evolving from also-rans to contenders. Our problem is still a lack of speedy talented guards who can score. Rodrigo, Saunders, Roberts and Davenport (especially Davenport) will develop. I have to say, though, that they do not look like future championship caliber players. (I am talking "championship" caliber, not average-to-good). I've watched a lot of top ranked teams this year---A&M, Kentucky, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Baylor, etc. All of them have talented freshmen who are either starting or playing big minutes off the bench. And frankly, their freshmen guards are better than ours---they hit their shots. Imani could play for anybody. Our freshmen guards could not. As Gary Blair once said, "you win with guards." We've certainly learned that this year. Aston has a bunch of highly rated players committed for 2015, and an outstanding point guard coming in 2014. That's a long way off. If things don't improve dramatically, some of those stars may decommit (Remember Peyton Little? She's seeing a lot of minutes this year for A&M.) As near as I can tell, in 2013 Aston has recruited two centers, an unheralded three-star rated guard (not a four star), and a 5-11 Charles Barkley type combo guard-forward who is in the Hoopgurlz top hundred. These players may make us stronger, but they don't seem to provide the extra dimension of talent we need in the back court. If I were Aston, I'd be out scouring the Juco ranks again, hunting for guard talent that can shoot.
Please don't misunderstand me. Nobody will be happier if Rodrigo finds a shot and learns how to score, while Davenport develops into a star. I hope it happens. I'm not sure it will. We may go from horrible to average, and hopefully better than average, but our guard delimma threatens to keep us out of the elite rank.
