WCBBNUT, I will post my general ramblings below. I made this post on our b-ball forum at soonerscoop.
Courtney's weight is an issue. Yes, we all know it. But I don't think it's an issue in the way people make it out to be. Her dropping 40lbs. wasn't going to transform her game into something it isn't. Her game is under the basket. It has been her whole life, I'm sure. She would be better-conditioned. She would be more athletic, too, but not to the degree people assume. She isn't a great athlete and losing 40lbs. won't make her jump 6in. higher. The main result of such a dramatic weight-loss would be a risk of turning her into a small-forward trying to play the game of a center. The risk of it backfiring would be more latent than people realize. Her place is under the bucket. If she had the touch to develop a 12-foot jumpshot, she would've refined it by now. Losing weight isn't likely to be the magic formula to trigger that development.
This may be a bad analogy, but we have a guy here at work who had the gastric bypass surgery. He weighed about 400lbs. pre-surgery, and now weighs 200lbs. He wasn't a naturally gifted person -- physically speaking -- either as a kid or now as an adult. He is healthier. He moves around better, but he still holds many of the same inherent physical characteristics as he did before.
Ashley lost weight. Awesome. How did her game change? Folks keep harping on this w/o much regard for the true impact. She was improved as a result of her ability to run the floor in transition. From watching her play over the course of the last 4 years, I feel confident in saying that has been the major difference. She still has no perimeter game. In the half-court, she was essentially the same calibur of player. Her losing weight didn't improve OU's half-court offense all that much, b/c she was still confined to an 8-foot circle, right next to her sister.
People are missing the overriding point. The ONLY girl who gets significant minutes who we can pencil in as a true outside shooter is Hand. Stevenson is vastly improved, but still developing. Vining was awful last season, and didn't see enough minutes this year to make an impact.
All the other guards/wings are bad shooters.
That's why I contend this team, as it has been built over the last 4 seasons, had zero identity. Are we a slow-tempo team? Do we want to run? How can we do both, given the personnel?
I just had to laugh when the announcers made such a point that Louisville was so 'out-manned' in beating OU. Absurd. The best player on the court was McCoughtry, regardless of her high school ranking. The next best player was Danielle, followed by Courtney/Ashley, then Hines. The talent disparity was not near as severe as people would have you believe.
We may have been recruiting good players during the Paris era, but those players did not provide a good fit, given what we already had. Sherri doesn't even have to admit it. Her inability to go with one style of play over another says it all.
We somehow pulled it off throughout this season, and made it to the FF. Great accomplishment, indeed. I'm not trying to take that away w/my comments, even if it may appear that this is the case. I'm just miffed at how the team was structured, and how anyone with a brain couldn't see how disjointed we were much of the time.