Yes. Early on in this tournament I started paying attention to Louisville and it was apparent that they had that little extra something - they were willing themseves to win - to beat better teams. I really believe we have been missing that "certain something" for a few years now. I hope we find it again.
Don't know if that front and back will work on Griner. Coach G and the rest of the Big 12 no longer have to worry about CP. But Horns should have the height to try that front and back on Griner.
I think Stevenson could have taken a step or two closer but there were three UL players closing in on her and she did have a wide open three well within her range. And she is one of the top 3pt shooters in the league. I can't really double quess her.
I think she knew that time was running out and she had an open look. You do the best you can given the situation. It really was halfway down the basket and came back up.
Everyone says the Paris twins are great women - hard to keep that in perspective when you are a Horn fan and they play for OU but I am sure they are good people despite their choice of college. That said, if OU can't win with those two then the OU program has problems. I can only imagine how upset daddy Paris is at this point. It will be interesting to see what he says to the press.
i think Stevenson was just taking the best shot she could. if it would have gone in, she would have been the hero. but it didn't, and it will probably haunt her for a while.
did anyone think AP stepped out of bounds though, when she recovered the loose ball off the rebound at the end? it sure looked like she did. obviously it doesn't matter now, but it sure would have mattered if Stevenson had made the 3 to win the game.
yes, it is definitely water under the bridge now, but i feel almost certain the twins would have won a title at texas. i don't know if many remember just how close we came...i recall the story after their signing stating the horns had been ashley's first choice, but of course cp carried the day. put me in the camp of those who figured an ncaa championship was a done deal during the twin's career at ou; still hard to believe it didn't happen (not saying i'm sorry, just surprised!).
I wonder when Courtney will start paying back the value of her ou education as she promised. Nevermind, a box of used condoms and a pack of Marlboros would cover that.
Remember UT athletes we don't want you to give back your scholarship money. We just mainly want you to do your best here in your sport and in the classroom and stay out of trouble.
CP seems like a nice kid to me . . . if she had gotten into the kind of shape Ashley did, I think they could have been a true contender.
She should have gone to the gym and given up the burgers to show the depth of her commitment -- the money to OU is not an issue.
I agree 2duckfan - if Court and Ash would have started shedding pounds their sophomore year and continued to shed 10-15 pounds or so each year - they would have been a GREAT force. I know shoulda, coulda, woulda.
Courtney needs a hard nose no nonsense coach to get her into shape. If this happens she will only get better.
Ash has already made steps towards this and that young lady has some moves. She needs to be groomed and she's going to be deadly. For some reason she reminds me of Tina Thompson.
Just curious how the fans over at OU are taking it. Anything interesting coming from their fan site? I wouldn't know where to look but I know some pf you monitor other sites.
Well, WCBB, I don't often go to the other fan forums....now I remember why....but your question about how the Sooners felt brought me to Soonerfans.com......OMG, what a bunch of complete idiots...stupidest thread I ever read...all they could do was ***** about the reffing (ok, that was not way off) and mostly, taking very nasty potshots at the physical aspects of McCaughtry, and Rebecca Lobo....they are saying that at least they were spared the humiliation at the hands of UConn......yep, got that.....they are calling L'Ville "Loserville".....what does that make OU?
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.