BabHorn
10,000+ Posts
so this year, I decided to do this. Believe me, it's a pain with so many things changing even as it was being written. Anyway, time to kick off the discussion.
This year’s team is going to be very young. Thirteen players will make up the roster: three seniors, six sophs and four freshmen. Shanice will miss the season as she recovers from an ACL injury, otherwise, there would be 14 on the roster and 7 sophs. The team will be young but the nine coming back are experienced, with four of last season’s five frosh each playing in at least 28 games. Cokie is a returning part time starter coming back from surgery. Her full recovery from last season’s surgery is critical to the post play as she is the best offensive minded post on the roster. Kayla only played in seven games at South Carolina before transferring to Texas in the spring. But she averaged double digit minutes. She will be eligible to play after the end of the first semester. A young team but an experienced one. It will be the most talented and deepest team Coach G has had at Texas.
My breakdown of the roster: five that will see the majority of action in one of the post positions, five that will play primarily on the wings, and three that will split most of their time at the guard spots. Look for Cassie to the starting PG by the time conference starts, if not sooner. Of course, this is dependent on her recovery from stress fracture surgery in late July. Competition for playing time should be fierce, not to mention for the starter spots. Those may change from game to game depending on matchups and practice production. Four starters return. Ashley in the post, Chassidy, Ashleigh, and Yvonne on the perimeter and Cokie did start some during her frosh season. Some of these players may be coming off the bench, depending on how the frosh play and how some of the others step up. This season, imo, the one player that needs to stay healthy: PG Cassie Peoples.
Five of top six scorers return, including 3 of top 4: Chassidy (16.2 ppg), Yvonne (11.8 ppg) and Ashleigh (11.7). Three of the top five rebounders come back as do 4 of the top 5 players in steals. Two of 3 top shotblockers in Ashley and Anne Marie return. Five of the top 6 3pt shooters are back. With all those returning, Texas brings back 73.4% of their 16th nationally ranked offense; 69.78% of their rebounding; 67.5% of their 3pt shooting; and shooters that made 76.9% of their FGs. Ashley was the fourth ranked shot blocker nationally last season at 3.5 bpg. Without Cokie, the Horns relied heavily on the 3pt shot, ranking 13th nationally in 3pt FG% and averaged 7.0 3pters per game. An improved post scoring game will lessen the dependency on the outside game but should also make it easier to get open looks for the 3pt shooters. Chassidy and Yvonne are the top 3pt shooters returning. I would expect Ashleigh, Cassie, Tiffany, Chelsea and Brady to also hit their open 3s.
The biggest leap the team will need to make is defensively. They ranked 12th in the league in scoring D, allowing 68.5 ppg. They were 12th in FG D at 40.6%. And 10th in rebounding defense, allowing 38.6 defensive rebounds. Taking care of the ball will be critical. The team had 558 TOs while forcing only 563. Ideally, the gap between the number of TOs given up and the number forced is at least an average of plus 5per game. FT shooting is another major area of improvement to looked for. They ranked 6th in the Big 12 for the season with a percentage of 68.9%. That’s okay, but certainly could be better. It would have made the difference in a couple of losses this past season.
After a half a season with only two true posts and one of them, Anne Marie, a frosh, and the last half with three posts with the return of Kristen, the team will have a glut of posts, including some wings capable of playing in the paint. Look for Ashley, Cokie, Anne Marie, Nneka and Kayla to log most of their minutes in the post. The ability to hit the 12-15 jumper and the quickness to defend an opposing wing could allow some to play on the wing at times, depending on matchups. When talking about posts in the Big 12, you hear about BU’s Griner and A&M’s Bone. People seem to forget that Cokie was ranked right there with them coming out of high school and had a very good frosh season before missing last season. Right now, the question is how many minutes can she play? If she can contribute around 20 a game, it will be awesome. Ashley’s difficulties in finishing around the basket also contribute her being overlooked as a top post in the Big 12. I think that will change this year as she continues to improve offensively every year. There is no question about her defensive game.
Cassie is likely to be limited in playing time the first half of the season although that depends on how she heals from surgery. Ashleigh has started most of her career at the point with Yvonne also playing there quite a bit, especially last season. Given that Cassie will be coming off surgery, I expect Ashleigh to start at the point. Both Ashleigh and Yvonne should get plenty of PT at the wing positions in addition to minutes at the point.
Okay, I’m excited about this team. Lots of size inside, on the wings, lots of players to rotate and mix and match. Playing time will be earned the hard way on the practice court. That should make all of the players better. A young team with plenty of experience to go with that youth. A very talented PG who will be able to sit and learn for a bit before taking over. The team lost Kat, one of the best 3pt shooters in UT history and a player that did so many other things well. But they will have a number of experienced players capable of stepping up and a frosh coming in that can also hit the 3 in Brady. And Chassidy has a year’s experience. She will be even better. Her experience at the USA U19 trials can be nothing but a positive experience for her. Same thing for Cassie who joined her at those trials. Even more importantly, Cokie should be healthy and will provide a solid offensive threat inside as well as a good defender in the paint. Ashley has improved offensively each season, gaining new moves and becoming more of an offensive threat each year. This season, she should have that short, turn around jumper down pat. Where she tended most of the time to shot put that shot, she should be able to use more touch to nail it. Given her steady increase in scoring and rebounding, it would be no surprise to see her average 10-10 in pts and rebs. As an old post player, I can’t wait to see how tough this team is going to be inside on both ends. Anne Marie and Nneka may be the most complete post players on the team and could be coming off the bench due to the depth at that position this season. It would be awesome to see AG and Cokie playing together. Cokie was limited in her playing time during the European trip but I don’t know if that will also continue during the season.
I loved the chemistry the team displayed while helping out at the summer elite camp. Chas and Brady are really vocal. The others are more so than previously, a good thing to see. I am really glad that the team is going to Europe this August. As young as they are, it will provide more practice time, more time to bond, and more time to learn to play together. I think they get ten days practice before leaving and ten days for practice and games while overseas. That’s almost half a month extra to play together before the season starts. Of course, that first game is going to be a bit tough as they host the Stanford Cardinal. The snippets we were treated to from the European tour showed a team with a lot of scoring options from the perimeter, inside, and slashing to the basket. Very good passing was on display, an indicator of knowing where your teammates are going to be and what they are going to do.
From the looks of the vets, Edwina is really having a positive impact on the team. And the pain of that last loss is probably helping the players in staying focused on improving, bothas individuals and as a team.
The next chance to watch the team is in October, when Coach G has had one or two open practices. It doesn’t look like there will be any exhibition games this season. Therefore, I am guessing that they will have one or two scrimmages during late October or early November before Stanford comes to town. Gotta love that first game. This is the best OOC home games I recall in some time. Hopefully, this type of scheduling will continue. Looking at the out of conference schedule, I see 8 very likely wins, two probable losses and two tossups. A 10-2 record is quite possible while 8-4 could also be in the cards. Stanford and Michigan State are the highlight teams coming to Austin while ex Texas assistant coach Karen Aston brings her new team, the North Texas Mean Green, to Austin on Dec. 17. Teams from the West Coast (Stanford) to the East Coast (Delaware State) are coming to Austin. Fans will get a look at some teams that haven’t come to town before or anytime recently. Stanford and Tennessee are the only two losses I am willing to concede and I think the team has a very good chance to pull the upset in both, especially against Stanford. Of course, I could be eating crow after that first game but I think the Horns have improved more than is expected by many.
I am predicting a 22-8 season based on a projected 13-5 conference record and a 9-3 OOC record. I f they can land no less than a six seed in the NCAAs, they should have a decent road to the Sweet Sixteen. Not a guarantee, but a good shot at it. Success in the NCAAs is the biggest indicator of overall success fans and recruits will be looking for.
This is the last hoorah for Coach G’s first recruiting class: seniors Ashleigh Fontenette, Yvonne Anderson, and Ashley Gayle. They have led Texas to three straight NCAA trips. Ashley will end as the best shot blocker ever in UT history. She enters the season with 280. That leaves her nine blocks from tying Ellen Bayer for the #1 slot as the career leader in shots blocked. The 60 blocks she got as a freshman are the fewest she has accumulated as she has reached 100+ blocks a season the last two years. No reason not to expect her to shatter the record her senior year. Imo, she has a chance to hit 400+ blocks if she averages 20-25 minutes a game. This group has played a strong role in helping Texas get back into the NCAAs consistently. Now, with help from their teammates, they have a chance to lead the team past the first round of the NCAAs, a place they have not reached in their career to date.
Six sophs make up the next class after the seniors. This includes RS Soph Cokie. Shanice, who would have been the seventh, will be taking a RS year after her ACL injury earlier this summer. This class will be counted on for offensive firepower from the perimeter (Chassidy, Tiffany & Chelsea) and in the post (Cokie, Anne Marie & Kayla). Along with their offense, they will need to provide defensive pressure & rebounding.
The four frosh will provide depth, rebounding, scoring and defense. Cassie will be counted on for PG duties, whether from the start or by conference play. Brady’s ability to shoot the trey will help offset the loss of Kat. Nneka and Ronisha are strong enough to provide additional depth inside and should be able to play on the wing as well, adding height to a wing position. Both will be expected to rebound well.
Coach G has shown a preference for shortening her rotation in tight games and once conference begins. She will have a deeper bench this season—12 players in the first semester and 13 in the second when Kayla becomes eligible to play. It will be a talented group that will allow her to have players rotate in throughout the games without worrying about fatigue. While four players last season averaged over 31 minutes a game (two were at 35 mpg), there should be enough talent that most will not average over 25 mpg. Of course, in really tight games, the best are still going to get the most minutes. But, in most games, those should be able to get more rest. Again, ideally, just in my opinion.
In preseason, the only player I would think has a starting spot locked up is Chassidy. But she’s not the type that will slack off because of this. From what was seen in the videos from Europe, she has been really working hard to improve. Since this is part of it, my starting five at this point: Cassie, Chassidy, Ashleigh, Ashley, & Cokie. A couple of those are dependent on how they have recovered from injury (Cassie & Cokie) and if they are deemed ready by the staff to play every game. Especially during the out of conference games, I would expect to see a lot of different combinations on the floor. I would not be surprised to see pretty much everyone get a start during these games.
Yep, I am looking at this with orange tinted glasses, same as I do the start of every season. But I do try to be realistic, mainly due to my training in my profession. I have to be optimistic but realistic in helping to set goals. Injuries could easily hurt the team as they did last year. So, I hope for no injuries, at least no major ones. The team has already had one—Shanice’s season-ending ACL injury. So, here we go. Classes start Wednesday. Practice starts again after the Europe trip. And the countdown to the Stanford game and the new season has begun.
This year’s team is going to be very young. Thirteen players will make up the roster: three seniors, six sophs and four freshmen. Shanice will miss the season as she recovers from an ACL injury, otherwise, there would be 14 on the roster and 7 sophs. The team will be young but the nine coming back are experienced, with four of last season’s five frosh each playing in at least 28 games. Cokie is a returning part time starter coming back from surgery. Her full recovery from last season’s surgery is critical to the post play as she is the best offensive minded post on the roster. Kayla only played in seven games at South Carolina before transferring to Texas in the spring. But she averaged double digit minutes. She will be eligible to play after the end of the first semester. A young team but an experienced one. It will be the most talented and deepest team Coach G has had at Texas.
My breakdown of the roster: five that will see the majority of action in one of the post positions, five that will play primarily on the wings, and three that will split most of their time at the guard spots. Look for Cassie to the starting PG by the time conference starts, if not sooner. Of course, this is dependent on her recovery from stress fracture surgery in late July. Competition for playing time should be fierce, not to mention for the starter spots. Those may change from game to game depending on matchups and practice production. Four starters return. Ashley in the post, Chassidy, Ashleigh, and Yvonne on the perimeter and Cokie did start some during her frosh season. Some of these players may be coming off the bench, depending on how the frosh play and how some of the others step up. This season, imo, the one player that needs to stay healthy: PG Cassie Peoples.
Five of top six scorers return, including 3 of top 4: Chassidy (16.2 ppg), Yvonne (11.8 ppg) and Ashleigh (11.7). Three of the top five rebounders come back as do 4 of the top 5 players in steals. Two of 3 top shotblockers in Ashley and Anne Marie return. Five of the top 6 3pt shooters are back. With all those returning, Texas brings back 73.4% of their 16th nationally ranked offense; 69.78% of their rebounding; 67.5% of their 3pt shooting; and shooters that made 76.9% of their FGs. Ashley was the fourth ranked shot blocker nationally last season at 3.5 bpg. Without Cokie, the Horns relied heavily on the 3pt shot, ranking 13th nationally in 3pt FG% and averaged 7.0 3pters per game. An improved post scoring game will lessen the dependency on the outside game but should also make it easier to get open looks for the 3pt shooters. Chassidy and Yvonne are the top 3pt shooters returning. I would expect Ashleigh, Cassie, Tiffany, Chelsea and Brady to also hit their open 3s.
The biggest leap the team will need to make is defensively. They ranked 12th in the league in scoring D, allowing 68.5 ppg. They were 12th in FG D at 40.6%. And 10th in rebounding defense, allowing 38.6 defensive rebounds. Taking care of the ball will be critical. The team had 558 TOs while forcing only 563. Ideally, the gap between the number of TOs given up and the number forced is at least an average of plus 5per game. FT shooting is another major area of improvement to looked for. They ranked 6th in the Big 12 for the season with a percentage of 68.9%. That’s okay, but certainly could be better. It would have made the difference in a couple of losses this past season.
After a half a season with only two true posts and one of them, Anne Marie, a frosh, and the last half with three posts with the return of Kristen, the team will have a glut of posts, including some wings capable of playing in the paint. Look for Ashley, Cokie, Anne Marie, Nneka and Kayla to log most of their minutes in the post. The ability to hit the 12-15 jumper and the quickness to defend an opposing wing could allow some to play on the wing at times, depending on matchups. When talking about posts in the Big 12, you hear about BU’s Griner and A&M’s Bone. People seem to forget that Cokie was ranked right there with them coming out of high school and had a very good frosh season before missing last season. Right now, the question is how many minutes can she play? If she can contribute around 20 a game, it will be awesome. Ashley’s difficulties in finishing around the basket also contribute her being overlooked as a top post in the Big 12. I think that will change this year as she continues to improve offensively every year. There is no question about her defensive game.
Cassie is likely to be limited in playing time the first half of the season although that depends on how she heals from surgery. Ashleigh has started most of her career at the point with Yvonne also playing there quite a bit, especially last season. Given that Cassie will be coming off surgery, I expect Ashleigh to start at the point. Both Ashleigh and Yvonne should get plenty of PT at the wing positions in addition to minutes at the point.
Okay, I’m excited about this team. Lots of size inside, on the wings, lots of players to rotate and mix and match. Playing time will be earned the hard way on the practice court. That should make all of the players better. A young team with plenty of experience to go with that youth. A very talented PG who will be able to sit and learn for a bit before taking over. The team lost Kat, one of the best 3pt shooters in UT history and a player that did so many other things well. But they will have a number of experienced players capable of stepping up and a frosh coming in that can also hit the 3 in Brady. And Chassidy has a year’s experience. She will be even better. Her experience at the USA U19 trials can be nothing but a positive experience for her. Same thing for Cassie who joined her at those trials. Even more importantly, Cokie should be healthy and will provide a solid offensive threat inside as well as a good defender in the paint. Ashley has improved offensively each season, gaining new moves and becoming more of an offensive threat each year. This season, she should have that short, turn around jumper down pat. Where she tended most of the time to shot put that shot, she should be able to use more touch to nail it. Given her steady increase in scoring and rebounding, it would be no surprise to see her average 10-10 in pts and rebs. As an old post player, I can’t wait to see how tough this team is going to be inside on both ends. Anne Marie and Nneka may be the most complete post players on the team and could be coming off the bench due to the depth at that position this season. It would be awesome to see AG and Cokie playing together. Cokie was limited in her playing time during the European trip but I don’t know if that will also continue during the season.
I loved the chemistry the team displayed while helping out at the summer elite camp. Chas and Brady are really vocal. The others are more so than previously, a good thing to see. I am really glad that the team is going to Europe this August. As young as they are, it will provide more practice time, more time to bond, and more time to learn to play together. I think they get ten days practice before leaving and ten days for practice and games while overseas. That’s almost half a month extra to play together before the season starts. Of course, that first game is going to be a bit tough as they host the Stanford Cardinal. The snippets we were treated to from the European tour showed a team with a lot of scoring options from the perimeter, inside, and slashing to the basket. Very good passing was on display, an indicator of knowing where your teammates are going to be and what they are going to do.
From the looks of the vets, Edwina is really having a positive impact on the team. And the pain of that last loss is probably helping the players in staying focused on improving, bothas individuals and as a team.
The next chance to watch the team is in October, when Coach G has had one or two open practices. It doesn’t look like there will be any exhibition games this season. Therefore, I am guessing that they will have one or two scrimmages during late October or early November before Stanford comes to town. Gotta love that first game. This is the best OOC home games I recall in some time. Hopefully, this type of scheduling will continue. Looking at the out of conference schedule, I see 8 very likely wins, two probable losses and two tossups. A 10-2 record is quite possible while 8-4 could also be in the cards. Stanford and Michigan State are the highlight teams coming to Austin while ex Texas assistant coach Karen Aston brings her new team, the North Texas Mean Green, to Austin on Dec. 17. Teams from the West Coast (Stanford) to the East Coast (Delaware State) are coming to Austin. Fans will get a look at some teams that haven’t come to town before or anytime recently. Stanford and Tennessee are the only two losses I am willing to concede and I think the team has a very good chance to pull the upset in both, especially against Stanford. Of course, I could be eating crow after that first game but I think the Horns have improved more than is expected by many.
I am predicting a 22-8 season based on a projected 13-5 conference record and a 9-3 OOC record. I f they can land no less than a six seed in the NCAAs, they should have a decent road to the Sweet Sixteen. Not a guarantee, but a good shot at it. Success in the NCAAs is the biggest indicator of overall success fans and recruits will be looking for.
This is the last hoorah for Coach G’s first recruiting class: seniors Ashleigh Fontenette, Yvonne Anderson, and Ashley Gayle. They have led Texas to three straight NCAA trips. Ashley will end as the best shot blocker ever in UT history. She enters the season with 280. That leaves her nine blocks from tying Ellen Bayer for the #1 slot as the career leader in shots blocked. The 60 blocks she got as a freshman are the fewest she has accumulated as she has reached 100+ blocks a season the last two years. No reason not to expect her to shatter the record her senior year. Imo, she has a chance to hit 400+ blocks if she averages 20-25 minutes a game. This group has played a strong role in helping Texas get back into the NCAAs consistently. Now, with help from their teammates, they have a chance to lead the team past the first round of the NCAAs, a place they have not reached in their career to date.
Six sophs make up the next class after the seniors. This includes RS Soph Cokie. Shanice, who would have been the seventh, will be taking a RS year after her ACL injury earlier this summer. This class will be counted on for offensive firepower from the perimeter (Chassidy, Tiffany & Chelsea) and in the post (Cokie, Anne Marie & Kayla). Along with their offense, they will need to provide defensive pressure & rebounding.
The four frosh will provide depth, rebounding, scoring and defense. Cassie will be counted on for PG duties, whether from the start or by conference play. Brady’s ability to shoot the trey will help offset the loss of Kat. Nneka and Ronisha are strong enough to provide additional depth inside and should be able to play on the wing as well, adding height to a wing position. Both will be expected to rebound well.
Coach G has shown a preference for shortening her rotation in tight games and once conference begins. She will have a deeper bench this season—12 players in the first semester and 13 in the second when Kayla becomes eligible to play. It will be a talented group that will allow her to have players rotate in throughout the games without worrying about fatigue. While four players last season averaged over 31 minutes a game (two were at 35 mpg), there should be enough talent that most will not average over 25 mpg. Of course, in really tight games, the best are still going to get the most minutes. But, in most games, those should be able to get more rest. Again, ideally, just in my opinion.
In preseason, the only player I would think has a starting spot locked up is Chassidy. But she’s not the type that will slack off because of this. From what was seen in the videos from Europe, she has been really working hard to improve. Since this is part of it, my starting five at this point: Cassie, Chassidy, Ashleigh, Ashley, & Cokie. A couple of those are dependent on how they have recovered from injury (Cassie & Cokie) and if they are deemed ready by the staff to play every game. Especially during the out of conference games, I would expect to see a lot of different combinations on the floor. I would not be surprised to see pretty much everyone get a start during these games.
Yep, I am looking at this with orange tinted glasses, same as I do the start of every season. But I do try to be realistic, mainly due to my training in my profession. I have to be optimistic but realistic in helping to set goals. Injuries could easily hurt the team as they did last year. So, I hope for no injuries, at least no major ones. The team has already had one—Shanice’s season-ending ACL injury. So, here we go. Classes start Wednesday. Practice starts again after the Europe trip. And the countdown to the Stanford game and the new season has begun.
