Rellah!

Coach addresses the 3 freshmen, a bit, including Rellah, with about 1:08 left on the video. No earth shattering details, but very encouraged by this, as well as by seeing Rellah’s very positive-seeming interactions with the team in various videos, including post-game video. #HookEm.

 
I almost teared up when I saw Rellah in pre-game shoot-around not wearing warmups. And, it was great to see her come into the game in the first half. She even looked to be in better condition since the last time we saw her on the floor.
 
Moooooo said:
I almost teared up when I saw Rellah in pre-game shoot-around not wearing warmups. And, it was great to see her come into the game in the first half. She even looked to be in better condition since the last time we saw her on the floor.
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Mooooo I was at the game and when the crowd saw Rellah checking in at the scorer's table, they started cheering and some yelling "Booooooth" as she was waiting to come into the game. There was genuine excitement from the crowd to see her play again.

I think many shared your emotion of tears of joy.
 
Rellah is just fun to watch. I look forward to her getting better every year. She is a true shooter, and drills it in a beautiful motion. Lots of room to grow on defense, though. Probably never played defense in high school. If she can learn defense like Audrey-Ann, we are in business.
 
Moooooo said:
I almost teared up when I saw Rellah in pre-game shoot-around not wearing warmups. And, it was great to see her come into the game in the first half. She even looked to be in better condition since the last time we saw her on the floor.
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Definitely looked to be in better shape/condition. Just a thought that popped into my head, but I wonder if the coaches gave her some time to get in better game shape for her defense so she could get more minutes??!!

On another note, my seat mates and I noticed and talked about the fact that EVERY player was available to play for the first time this season!
 
jusme828 said:
Definitely looked to be in better shape/condition. Just a thought that popped into my head, but I wonder if the coaches gave her some time to get in better game shape for her defense so she could get more minutes??!!

On another note, my seat mates and I noticed and talked about the fact that EVERY player was available to play for the first time this season!
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Not quite, Destiny still out...but very close to "all in"!!
 
Yes! I heard the crowd start cheering when Rellah went to the scorer's table! Glad she is back and contributing. Loved seeing her and Joyner on the floor together.
 
Rellah to me is one of those players that makes a coach uncomfortable. She has either so much confidence.......or no conscious.........when it comes to aggressive shooting......that to play her a coach has to get less uneasy with that. She will either shoot you in a game or out of a game. She has to do more of the former before Aston overlooks defensive deficiencies. Not sure if that’ll be this year or next but if she doesn’t get discouraged it will come. At that time she will be a nightmare matchup for other power forwards. She certainly passes the eyeball test for us fans and makes her a fan favorite.
 
flash34 said:
defensive deficiencies.
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the good thing noted was her hustle in getting back on defense. Understanding the schemes fully will take time and practice. But no reason why she can't be a good defensive player. Her offensive game is quite good and will only get better under Tina's tutelage.
 
Rellah has what it takes to be adequate on defense. She can be a good rebounder as she has shown on offense end. With her strength and body that takes up space, a little better positioning and “want to” can help a lot. She will never be great further from the basket but can be better than matadoresque. Help defense is in need of attention. Her hands are wonderful and her passing is good. I can envision her doing some Holmes-type things with her good handle. She has a lot of upside.......when will it come together?
 
I watched the latest Karen Aston show on LHN and when it came to Rellah, she used the words "student-athlete" multiple times. And at one point she said, "And the emphasis on the student part". Hunh.
 
racerx5908 said:
I watched the latest Karen Aston show on LHN and when it came to Rellah, she used the words "student-athlete" multiple times. And at one point she said, "And the emphasis on the student part". Hunh.
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Early on I made the assumption that Rellah didn’t do well her first semester. Have no idea if that’s the reason, but it makes sense. And I can certainly sympathize as I blew my first semester at UT as well oh so many years ago. Worst grades of my educational career. Hope she comes roaring back and has a monster career at UT both as a student and an athlete - in that order. :bevo:
 
[This is after the K-State game at home]
Saw some pretty bad body language from Rellah. When the team was playing down on the other end of the court, the whole team was facing that direction to see the action, except Rellah who was looking down into her hands. And when some great play happened, the team - except Rellah - jumped up to clap and cheer. Man, I hope this is not a bad sign.
 
racerx5908 said:
[This is after the K-State game at home]
Saw some pretty bad body language from Rellah. When the team was playing down on the other end of the court, the whole team was facing that direction to see the action, except Rellah who was looking down into her hands. And when some great play happened, the team - except Rellah - jumped up to clap and cheer. Man, I hope this is not a bad sign.
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I had the same observations (unfortunately).
 
Yes, bad body language from Rellah tonight. I hate to launch back into these same old questions, but here I go. I guess we'll never know what the heck is going on. After all the nice talk about Rellah on KA's TV show, about how she may have the best offensive skills on the team and how her minutes would be determined by match-ups from here on out (all paraphrase), once again she doesn't even get in the game. Karen seemed to go out of her way to brag on how she had worked on whatever the issue was (I kind of assumed academics, too), now this. I assumed the issues keeping her from getting minutes must be cleared up, but no. Aborowa got a lot of minutes. She seems to be a great person, but does not have a natural basketball touch and I don't think ever will. You can't even compare her to Rellah. If I were Rellah, I would be thinking transfer. Frankly, I wouldn't blame any of the freshmen for doing that. Chas got 2 or 3 minutes. Destiny, none of course, even though we were 20 something points ahead for a long time. I'm mystified.
 
I can only assume that Rellah is back in the doghouse. I hope things get resolved because she's very talented and could be a valuable part of the team in the next three years.

Destiny has great body language on the bench. She and Jordan are the cheerleaders for the team. I thought someone mentioned that Destiny might be seeking a medical redshirt this year.

It's a shame Chaz didn't get more minutes tonight with a 20 point lead. Chaz needs playing time to improve and she should have had more opportunities tonight.

Watching the replay of the game on TV, one of the players said that Karen breaks you down and then builds you back up. I assume that's what we are witnessing with our freshmen.
 
Watch the TV people. A couple of great shots of her laughing and smiling with Destiny. Good mood running into the tunnel at half. She’s fine.
 
Yes, Destiny looks really happy. Chas I can't tell. Like LutherIsMyDog, I also guessed the "breaking you down, and then building you up" process is what KA was doing with Rellah, until she sounded so complimentary on TV. Maybe that was part of the build up effort. Fran Harris and the other announcer alluded to how Jeff Mittie is changing the way he treats players, using more positive reinforcement than negative. I think there are a lot of players these days who are not willing to be "broken down." That's what Rick Barnes tried to do with Sheldon McCullen, and Sheldon left and had a great career at Miami. Geno appears to be staunchly in the "break them down" school, which works for a lot of his players, others not so much, like Andra Espinoza. I have no idea if any of this applies to KA and Rellah, but it would not surprise me. There was a quote from KA earlier in the year to the effect that freshmen would not play just as long as they insisted on being stubborn (bungled quote, but it was something like that.) I'm sure it would take a lot of savvy intuition to know how to treat all those different personalities. Wouldn't be easy I'm sure, but I'm also sure all players do not need the same thing psychologically.
 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The coaching staff has ALL the information about players and we have very little as far as playing time, I trust the coaches to do what is best for the team and players. Pretty sure that’s their goal. To win games as a team...what other motivation would they have?

Whoever said they wouldn’t blame Rellah for transferring based on absolutely nothing but playing minutes, is off and glad you’re not an ambassador for the program. I just don’t get that kind of thinking at this point in the season. Seriously do you want the freshman in charge of the program or the coaching staff?
 
LutherIsMyDog said:
Watching the replay of the game on TV, one of the players said that Karen breaks you down and then builds you back up. I assume that's what we are witnessing with our freshmen.
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This happens at most top programs. Certainly, as referenced above, it happens at UConn and it certainly happens at Texas. Doesn't mean the coaches don't care about the players and helping them reach or exceed their potential and goals and that the players don't understand this.

While I would love for Chasity to get in earlier in the fourth quarter of blowouts, if not sooner, she does have two other experienced PGs in front of her. At this point of the season, prepping for the playoffs has started. It's unlikely that our frosh are going to play a lot in the next few games or in the playoffs.

With Audrey-Ann possibly out for the next game or two (just my guess), Rellah stands a better chance of getting some minutes, assuming she is showing she can handle things in practice, where PT is earned.

Trying to guess whether someone is happy or unhappy based on their demeanor on the bench is pretty tough. Not everyone has expressive behavior on the bench during games. Doesn't mean they are unhappy, though.

We did win by 20+ pts. Tough first half but the team separated themselves in the third quarter. Time to savor this win for a day or two.
 
HornView said:
Whoever said they wouldn’t blame Rellah for transferring based on absolutely nothing but playing minutes, is off and glad you’re not an ambassador for the program. I just don’t get that kind of thinking at this point in the season. Seriously do you want the freshman in charge of the program or the coaching staff?
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Really?...:rolleyes1:
 
I could tell as soon as the game started that Rellah wouldn't see the court against KSU. Rellah was occupying the last seat on the bench, even after Destiny Littleton who has not played all semester due to tendinitis. Coach A seats her bench players in the order of them most likely playing; at least that's always been my interpretation.
 
I'm am not on this board to be an ambassador for the program. I'm just an interested fan who observes and wonders what is going on. I like the coach and results overall, of course, but doesn't mean I can't speculate and wonder what is happening behind the scenes. The odd part last night was the disconnect between all the bragging about Rellah on KA's show, and then the lack of any minutes, even as Aborowa, a lesser player, got a lot, and Rellah sitting at the end of the bench with a very disgruntled look on her face. Doesn't look promising for the future to me. I hope I'm wrong.
 
Not rooting for Rellah to leave the team at all. Maybe mentally preparing myself for the possibility. I remember starting to really dig Nekia Jones as a player and then, suddenly she transfers to North Texas (she was there one semester and then transferred again to Louisiana Laff). I hope she stays and this will be one of those, "I had to learn [blah, blah, blah]" quotes she gives in her junior or senior year about dealing with being a freshman far away from home.

But Karen's been a coach long enough to know how far you can push a player, so leave it to her I guess. We just watch.
 
So, Rellah played early in the second quarter against TCU one week ago; and, she did well in all areas. Not perfect. But, to me, she made an impact in her strong areas.

On Monday at WVU, she did not play at all. In our home game against WVU on 12/31, she was great.

Last night against KSU, she did not see the court. In our game at KSU in early January, she made a huge impact and was the reason we gained some momentum and separation right before halftime.

So, all I can conclude as to why she has not played in the last two games is that she is not doing what the coaches are asking of her, whether that be in practice, in workouts, or in the classroom.
 
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