Sat practice

[BabHorn]

First practice I have gone to in about six weeks. Man, the fight for playing time is going to be tough. The practice scrimmages and drills were physical. I was wondering who would help replace the 3pt shooting we lost when Chas graduated. No problem. In addition to Brady, Empress, Nekia, Celina and Krystle, throw in Brooke and Tasia. Nekia and Brooke have unbelievable range from BTA. Lots of spirit and enthusiasm on display. Watched the split by position during drills. Four post players for now: Nneka, Kelsey, Nneka and Lilley.

Saw Imani at the practice. It was good to see no brace, bandage or walking boot. She was doing leg exercises and walked without any noticeable problems. Looks like the projected return date of early January is going to be pretty accurate.

Looks like our wings will be Empress. Brianna, Brady and Ariel with Nekia sliding over at times. PG/SGs: Celina, Krystle, Tasia and Brooke. Didn’t see Diani and Imani was on the sideline.

I am quite interested to see how much Lilley gets to play in the first few games against Stanford, UCLA and Tenn which will test our post depth. Lilley is the only player with any height behind Kelsey. Horns did go small at times with Nneka the main post.

Nice to recognize a couple of recruits: 2016 PG Amber Ramirez and 2018 commit W/G Shae Routt. Noticed Amber talking to Coach Aston about one of the drills the W/Gs were running. Amber is a player I really hope decides to come to Texas.

Brooke and Ariel may or may not start but they, along with Tasia, should play a lot. Those three are tough defensively and can shoot the 3 and penetrate. Can’t wait to get another chance to watch the team practice this Tuesday.

 

[TEXASMADE]

Really appreciate your info bab. Can't wait for the season to start

 

[DINO22]

Ariel will start at the 3 Spot.
Hookem'

 

[BabHorn]

Dino, Ariel may well start. I won't be surprised if she does, but neither will I be surprised if she comes of the bench initially. Given her skills and abilities, I expect her to start sooner rather than later. There's just some really good players she competing with for PT.

Found this on girlzprepreport while browsing. Has an excellent pic of our w/e visitors. Nice to see all of the HS players visiting. Left click on the pic to enlarge. Nice height on some of those recruits.

'18 Ott joins other stars at Texas over the weekend

 

[Moooooo]

Thanks for the practice report and other tidbits.

I, too, am expecting Ariel Atkins so start; based on what we've read and seen, she is a tremendous defensive player, and coaches seem to love that. And, she is a very polished offensive player with length. Whether she is at SG or SF doesn't really matter to me as long as she is on the floor a lot.

Something tells me that one of Brooke or Tasia will redshirt. We already have Senior, PG, Krystle Henderson and Junior, PG, Celina Rodrigo fighting for minutes. Unless both Brooke and Tasi are up for the challenge (especially on the physical end), not sure there is enough playing time for four PGs under 5'6.

As for Lilley, she may get some minutes due to Imani's injury, but I'm not convinced she is ready to bang down low in the Big 12. Not having Imani for the first few months really brings to light that we still need more quality depth in the front court. Really glad we will be signing Christina Aborowa next month for 2015.

Hopefully, we have no other pre-season injuries other than Imani. Crossing my fingers that Nekia Jones put in the work over the last few minutes to be able to play extended minutes; she does so many things well, and her 3-point shot is so effortless.

As for 2016 PG Amber Ramirez, glad she was visiting; I just don't know how she would fit with all the guards we will have on the roster. Luckily, that's for the coaches to sort out.

 

[BabHorn]

well, in 2016, we will be down to two 5-4 PGs. Higgs may also be a PG but I think of her more a SG/SF type. Amber should fill a need for PG depth and is one that has height and compares favorably physically (by look only) right now with some of our bigger guards.

 

[Moooooo]

It will be interesting to watch the point guard play the next two seasons, that's for sure.

Come 2015, we could have a very athletic backcourt combination of Lashann Higgs, Ariel Atkins, and Jordan Hosey. That's great size, speed, offensive skill, and defensive prowess.