Point Guard

[bluesooner17]

There has been talk about Gabby not living up to what was advertised or what we expected. Below is from ESPN for 2014, but it would seem we got a very good PG so it seems this is a classic example why the rankings are not always what they seem.

RANK NAME GRADE SCHOOL
4 Jordin Canada* 98 UCLA
5 Kelsey Mitchell* 98 Ohio State
13 Gabrielle Ortiz* 98 Oklahoma
15 McKenzie Calvert* 98 USC
19 Recee' Caldwell* 98 UCLA
29 Brooke McCarty* 97 Texas
35 Bianca Cuevas* 97 South Carolina
44 Mikayla Venson* 96 Virginia
52 Jamie Cherry* 96 North Carolina
54 Aisha Edwards* 95 Miami (FL)
56 Terriell Bradley* 95 Kansas
58 Natalie Romeo* 95 Nebraska
63 Morgan Green* 95 Northwestern
67 Paris Kea* 95 Vanderbilt
68 Katelynn Flaherty* 95 Michigan
74 Justine Hall* 94 Purdue
76 Shrita Parker* 94 Rutgers
79 Amarah Coleman* 94 Illinois
81 Mychal Johnson* 94 Notre Dame
85 Alliya Butts* 94 Temple
86 Taryn Griffey* 94 Arizona
89 Asia Doss* 94 Ohio State
94 Tia Elbert* 92 Marquette
95 McKynzie Fort* 92 Oregon

 

[sybarite]

Gabbi was pretty good as a freshman. This year---what happened?

 

[MisterF]

I would say we have a team full of girls who have not improved much.

 

[Sweetest OU Girl]

I would say we have a team full of girls who have not improved much.

I would say you are being pretty generous with that comment.

Some have gone way, way backwards. No idea what is wrong, but something seems to be.

 

[Hoopdreams79]

Rankings aren't always wrong generally 1-5 in each class belongs at the top somewhere between 1 and 10 but beyond that it's a lot of politics and what scouting events you pay to go to. It's part of the game and coaches can use it as a guide but they are not going to offer kids just becuase some mad that sits behind a computer tells them one kid is 22 and another is 43. Gabby is going through something I heard coach Coale mention it in a post game interview or maybe pregame but she saw something in her. We all saw it last year a lot of being a point guard is a mindset. It's a about running a team with confidence even when your own game struggles. Its about consistently making your teammates better even if your shots don't fall. Gabby has to get over her mental block. She can't be good enough one year and not the next physically. It takes. Strong minded player to be a point guard not just an athletic great shooter etc lots goes with the job.

 

[mikeareese]

I don't know many of the names on the list. Calvert and Caldwell are sitting a year. Cuevas and McCarty are up and down. Only one tearing it up is K Mitchell. Ortiz still has 2 more years. She might be the best of the bunch. I still think when you have a person thats well liked by everyone. That has a excitement about them. It can change people when they leave. IE: Nicole Kornet.

 

[Sooners4Life0101]

It's not completely fair to judge her cause the area she lacks the most seems to be to me, is that she is not a very good passer- I've never seen that from her, she just doesn't have great vision. Could be just very under developed cause she's always just been a scorer And she was was gone all summer, so I'm going maybe its fixable- not sure.

But the other thing is she just doesn't move fast enough. It kills u as a fan cause she is 100% all the time, but she gets torched at times... Plays good team d, but the team has to cover for her when she gets broken down. That can improve w awareness she'll never be great.

Then I think out of desperation, she tends to force some really bad shots. Sometime they from 30ft and go in, most the time they don't- ethier way- bad shot. Some really senseless drives too against KU... Her and Gioya and I would even add Vv have a real tendency to want to play 5 on 1 in the half court... It's mind blowing to me. We lost cause the refs got us in foul trouble, and cause of really bad shots. I think Gioya needs to watch a lot of Makayla Epps and model her game after her a bit.


I think we have the talent, within our offense to be a top 10 team next year- atleast. We have some players who really fit our system, we have a couple who could be truly great and we have some athleticism of some sorts potentially coming on. I think we're going to be really good- like one of the announcers said its hard when they all have to grow up together cause there's no one to show them how, but when they do they all do it at once and that's when great things happen. Next year, it happens.

 

[Mac]

#58 Natalie Romeo and # 68 Katelynn Flaherty have both been really good for there teams... I saw Romeo play a few times in high school and I didn't think she's turn out to be as good...

I wouldn't mind seeing Rich, Dunggee, Manning, Mulkey, and ViVi start some games together next year... It would be point guard by Committee, but it would also give us decent size at every position on the floor...

 

[Mac]

Gabbi was pretty good as a freshman. This year---what happened?

It looked to me like she couldn't dribble the ball up court without her head down... I think Kentucky really got to her..

 

[Oliver Hardy]

I don't really look at Maddie as a guard. However, what I know for certain is that the 1-2 spots for sure, and probably the three need new blood on the court right now.

Gabbi is a decent player, she's become Morgan Hook in Hook's sophomore year, and sadly Hook never got better.

Carter is just flat too erratic and foul prone. Penzo and Williams clearly aren't going to get a lot of time. They're going to be practice players.

Peyton is Peyton. She'd be able to shoot more and would be open more if our 2 and 3 where hitting regularly.


Edwards, if she could develop a 35-40 percent jump shot and BTA shot would be more effective, but while she can drive and is quicker than anyone we have and probably no worse than our second best defender, she is just too short.

If I were Sherri, I'd dump some kids and go out and get one more big and 4 guards.

Here are the kids I'd get scholarships somewhere else: Wiliams, Kellogg, Edwards, Penzo, Wyatt and I'd fill the roster with no one who can't play both ways and can't shoot lights out.

 

[atlantasooner]

The last 2 minutes of the 2nd qtr the possessions including the two shot clock violations were as bad a basketball as I think I've seen in a long time.
I'm not sure Ortiz is salvageable. I don't now what happened.
Players are confused about role/rotation/strategy??
Sherri needs to bring an outside evaluator/neutral observer to review every aspect of what's going on.
Ortiz and Peyton seem lost without Kornet.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

Wouldn't it be stunning if it was Kornet that was driving this team, partially or completely? Can't imagine that was the case though. However, it's not out of the realm of possibility that her departure negatively impacted the ladies throughout this season.

We are never going to know that for sure.

 

[SOONERGRAD]

I know for a fact if we don't sign a solid PG in the 2017 or 2018 class we will be back to square one. Not a shooter, but a Point Guard. Without good PG play, you are never going to win games against teams like UK. Their PG was the difference maker.

 

[bluesooner17]

According to ESPN below are the top PG's for 2017 and 2018. If you will notice Kentucky has a commitment from two of them in 2017.

2017
RK NAME GRADE COLLEGE POS SCHOOL
4 Chasity Patterson* 98 None PG North Shore H.S. (TX)
6 Alexis Morris* 98 None PG Legacy Christian Academy (TX)
10 Lindsey Duvall* 97 Kentucky PG Bullitt East H.S. (KY)
12 Dana Evans* 97 None PG West Side H.S. (IN)
16 Chelsie Hall* 96 None PG Seffner Christian Academy (FL)
17 Chennedy Carter* 96 None PG Timberview H.S. (TX)
20 Anastasia Hayes* 95 None PG Riverdale H.S. (TN)
21 Channise Lewis* 95 None PG Country Day School (FL)
23 Kiana Williams* 94 None PG Karen Wagner H.S. (TX)
39 Maria Paula Lopes Albiero* 93 None PG Neuse Baptist Christian School (NC)
51 Karissa McLaughlin* 92 Florida PG Homestead H.S. (IN)
54 Ashley Jones* 92 None PG Cheltenham H.S. (PA)
55 Bendu Yeaney* 91 None PG St. Mary's Academy (OR)
56 Kameron Roach* 91 Kentucky PG Lower Richland H.S. (SC)

2018
RK NAME GRADE COLLEGE POS SCHOOL7 Mykasa Robinson* 97 None PG Paul G. Blazer H.S. (KY)
8 Honesty Scott-Grayson* 97 None PG Blair Academy (NJ)
10 Katlyn Gilbert* 97 None PG Heritage Christian School (IN)
16 Destanni Henderson* 95 None PG Fort Myers H.S. (FL)
18 Jenna Brown* 95 None PG The Lovett School (GA)
19 Jazmine Massengill* 95 None PG Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (TN)

 

[j2d2]

I would say you are being pretty generous with that comment.

Some have gone way, way backwards. No idea what is wrong, but something seems to be.

I doubt there is anything specifically wrong but this year was a "mark-time" year which means we went backwards a bit.
Very disappointed in Ortiz who occasionally played defense, who occasionally hit an open shooter but ignored many others and isnt the greatest passer on the team or even the second best passer.

I continue to be impressed by many of the plays that Maddie makes - especially her passing.

 

[MsProudSooner]

I had an academic slump my sophomore year. At this point, we can only hope that this year was her sophomore slump.