practice

Ahh, the first open practice. Good to see some folks I hadn¡¦t seen since the dinner in August and good to know that the season is basically right around the corner.

Well, guess what. This team is going to be awfully young.
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There are ten players that will be suiting up for the Horns. Five are freshmen, one is a senior that will be playing her first season of college ball. Add three juniors and a senior and you have our roster of ten.

Considering that there are ten players on the roster, it was a bit alarming to see three held out of the practice. But all ten should be ready to go by the start of the season. Two will be back in a few days and another will be ready soon.

As for the ones that played: Kat has increased her range, making several 3s beyond the men's 3pt line. Ashley looked stronger and looks to have worked on catching the ball. She finished strong inside several times, either by taking a strong drop step or taking to the basket from the FT line. It was strange seeing Coach Hughey working with only Kat and Ashley as the post players this session. Coach Hughey and Coach Malone were very active in teaching position defense to the team, especially the frosh. Gotta think about what is going on around you so you know what to do. They will be looking to convert TOs into points by getting into the passing lane. They were pretty good for a stretch at intercepting passes.

Lots of focus on running and making layups. No doubt in my mind that we will run as often as possible. Nor that Kat will spend a lot of time inside. Nor that she will be popping out to drain a 3. Chassidy and Sarah have pretty outside shots. Pretty much every wing and guard (and these are going to be the same this season) took a shot from behind the arc. I expect even AG will take a shot at a 3 sometime this season.
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The frosh can look forward to getting a lot of playing time.

The practice players are really physical. A good thing, considering how physical the Big 12 is. There were several collusions that ended up with players from both sides on the ground, rather like a scrum. I liked the hustle the players displayed. Chelsea had no qualms about diving for a loose ball. The others had a similar attitude. They may be few but they are tough. Sarah was the fastest every time the team had to run up and down the court because of a mistake or missed FT. Chassidy was right behind almost all of the time. Kat missed one FT that I can recall but didn't miss any others. Chassidy was also pretty good from the FT line.

When AG took a breather, the team really got small. She will have to play smart on D to stay out of foul trouble. She looks ready to go 25-30 minutes a game. So does Kat.

Pretty much all looked like they can handle the ball. Didn¡¦t see any hesitation in making a decision on the court from the players. They didn't always execute but they had no hesitation.

I really was looking forward to seeing Anne Marie play but she, Tiffany, and AT were held of practice. Coaches appear to be really high on Anne Marie. Cokie was on crutches and said that she would be on them for quite a while.

Asked Cathy McDonald about a possible second open practice. They are working on the logistics and hope to have another one before the exhibition game but it’s possible that things won’t fall into place to allow for a second open practice.

Well, seems pretty skimpy for a couple of hours watching. The team looked relaxed and having fun as a group when off the floor. They looked really intense on the floor. It was a good, solid practice. Hope we get another chance to see them in a week or two before the exhibition game. It would be interesting to see how they have improved.

It was a great way to spend a couple of hours before heading home to watch Texas beat Nebraska.
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I was not at the practice, but I guess I have to be a little wary about any predictions that we will finally run the ball...we've seen that in previous early open practices only to have the schedule get underway and we go into the boring sets that tended not to showcase the talents of the squad.
 
I thought that McKoy looked very solid @ the PG spot and it should be fun seeing her and AT in the back court this year. Good to have a pure PG on the team. I liked how aggressive the freshmen played. I think we will be a better defensive team this year. As mentioned before we will be looking to run more in transition. Looks like lots of points will come in transition. My concerns are we will be small in a conference that has lots of bigs, so I guess the run em off the court approach is a good one to take, hats off to coach G and staff for that. When you have 5 freshmen on your team you have to realize that there will be a learning curb, expect lots of turnovers early. With AT moving to her natural position as shooting guard will help with scoring. I think that AG will have a better year offensively I was anxious to see Ann Marie.
My projected starters are McKoy @ PG, AT @ SG, Chassidy @ 3, Kat @ 4 and AG @ 5
 
Yvonne looked good. She hustled all over the court, created some TOs.

As for running game, that's just my idea of what we will see. Didn't talk to any of the coaches about their offensive scheme. But given that we got 8 guards and two posts, I don't really see much choice but that is also dependent on rebounding and/or creating TOs. I'm not sure that we will dominate on the boards, but they can create TOs.
 
This team needs to stay injury-free from this point forward; and, well, the practice report listing some non-participants doesn't give me the feeling that will be the case.
 
I'll go a bit different from Dino. I don't think Ashleigh will move from PG, if she does, I think Yvonne is more likely to start at PG. At any rate, my starting lineup for the first game:

PG: Ashleigh
SG: Chassidy
SF: Chelsea
PF: Kat
P: Ashley

There's a chance that Anne Marie could start at PF which would move Kat to the 3. That would be my ideal starting five but I doubt that happens, simply because then all three players that can play inside would be starting with none available to come in for relief.

One has to remember that starting lineup will change before conference play.

More to the point, I think we see Ashley and Kat playing 30+ minutes a game, especially once conference starts.
 
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