Texas

[SoonerNorm]

Texas started the year with a high ranking and they beat Stanford, UCLA, and Tennessee. They were rolling until they lost to ISU then to OU. Ever since Enemkpali was injured, they have been a mess. OU fans can certainly understand how devastating injuries can be but, they have fallen on their face lately as they have won only 1 game in the last 5. It's hard to explain how a team goes from beating Tennessee to not being able to beat TCU or KSU.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Texas started the year with a high ranking and they beat Stanford, UCLA, and Tennessee. They were rolling until they lost to ISU then to OU. Ever since Enemkpali was injured, they have been a mess. OU fans can certainly understand how devastating injuries can be but, they have fallen on their face lately as they have won only 1 game in the last 5. It's hard to explain how a team goes from beating Tennessee to not being able to beat TCU or KSU.

The first and easiest response is to say that it's all the coaches fault. :ez-laugh:

Honestly, i suspect that it's a coaching issue in that she doesn't have a lot of experience as a head coach dealing with these types of situations. I think getting the remaining players to step up their game when a team has to deal with injuries is probably one of the more difficult things they have to do. It appears that Enemkpali was the emotional and physical leader of the team and no one has stepped in to fill that void.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I think this group will help them but how much help they will be as freshmen remains to be seen:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/school/_/id/251/class/2015/texas

 

[SoonerNorm]

I took a look at the Texas roster. They only have 2 seniors, Enemkpali and Henderson and Henderson only played about 13 minutes per game.

Baylor only has 1 senior, Agbuke.

OU only has 1 senior. All three teams return a lot of starters next year.

 

[sybarite]

I think several things have accounted for the "fall" of Texas.

First, I don't know that an intact Texas team that had no injuries would beat Tennessee right now, certainly not anywhere other than in Austin. They played that game in Austin, and I think Tennessee has improved since then.

Secondly, I think they caught Stanford during an adjustment period. I have no idea how UConn lost to that Stanford team. But, UConn really didn't play well in that game. Stanford lost its interior, and they were destroyed by Texas on the inside. The two Texas bigs (Enempkali and Lang) scored 32 with 14 rebounds. The three Stanford forwards that started scored fourteen between them with 17 rebounds. Texas won the rebound battle 44-37. Three interior players scored a total of 14? Stanford is not the team of towers this year. They are not the Stanford of recent times, and they hadn't learned yet how to play without bigs.

Thirdly, I think that the Texas kids have been overrated all along. McGee-Stafford hasn't been the superstar that everyone predicted, but neither were the Texas centers immediately preceding her. Texas always seems to have the superstar center and superstar guard who just aren't what they are supposed to be. Remember Arrarian and Fussell?

They had so many great recruits that injuries shouldn't be affecting them that much. But, here they were, last place in the Big Twelve. Despite all of the injuries at OU, when was the last time OU was in last place? As someone did remind me, it was in Sherri's first year. Fans of OU women's basketball have become much too knowledgeable about ACL injuries. Yet, OU seems to survive and prosper.

I think Aston is good, but not great. She replaced someone who was pretty good. I just don't think Gigi learned what the Big Twelve was until too late.