Syb, et. al,
I haven't gone through the stats in a long time, but when in the love of the Lord have we had a good shooting night as a team? It seems like everyone is off more than they are on.
For the life of me I can't explain how a team can be good for four or five minutes and then stink it up for 10 or 15 minutes -- and be that way all season.
There is something going on with these girls and I can't really even fathom what it is. Some believe this is the continuation of a problem that has been building for two or three years, certainly since Morgan was a junior. I don't know. All I can tell for sure, as someone who has been involved in determining people's motivations and convincing them to do certain things, is that something is up.
The type of kid Sherri's recruiting -- or not? The program? The practices? The staff? Playing time? Favorites? Religion? Standards?
It has to be something.
Sadly, what I'm beginning to believe is that the program is on a downward trend. It's never going to get as bad as it was when Sherri took over, but it never going too be as great again as Sherri once made it.
Whenever we have a loss, a lot of experts seem to have the answer. Let's see if we can arrive at some perspective.
---the program has been to sixteen straight NCAA tournaments.
---it had been to one prior to Sherri.
---the program is still one of the better programs in the NCAA.
---with people like Rich, Mulkey, Dungee, and Llanusa coming in, improvement is likely.
I admit that I am somewhat disappointed in this team. We lost one player, and I thought we would be a lot better. The loss of Gioya for the early part of the season may have been more staggering than we thought, if only for the inability to develop a chemistry with her not in the lineup. It isn't that I am disappointed in a player as much as with the failure of all to maintain at least the level to which they played last year. I still think they may do it this year. I do see some positives from the Iowa State, WV, OSU games.
No one player has stepped up their game all that much. Vivi has improved. I think Maddie's all-around game has improved dramatically, but her shooting has declined. Gioya is still suffering from an injury. Peyton looks like she did as a freshman at A&M. Gabbi regressed. Last year, she was a sophomore at the end of the year. Then, she won gold and became a freshman again. Sherri keeps saying that Kay Kay gets better every year. I haven't seen any progress this year, especially in key games. It's not bad. It's just not as good as it should be.
Our losses: North Texas by four, A&M by six, Baylor by ten in Waco, OSU by 31 in Stillwater, Texas by seven in Austin, and three to OSU in Norman. Only one was a wipeout, and it was a wipeout. But, we have also won some games. We may well win more.
Right now, I wonder if we won't improve as we integrate Gioya, Peyton, and Maddie together. These seem to be our driving force, the people who can make us go or not. But, they really haven't had the opportunity to work together in the absence of injury that much. Last year, it was Maddie. This year, it was Gioya, although Maddie missed a game. Even with everyone missing shots yesterday, it seems that these three are learning how to make each other threats. They are learning to play off of each other. How often are those long passes from Maddie to Peyton missed? They connect every time, and it gives Peyton time to run down without the ball, too far ahead for them to catch up.
At any time, I expect that Gioya will become healthier, and all three will actually begin to hit shots. If they just improve to somewhere near their performances of last year, this will be a good team. They work together better now.
