Texas Women's Basketball 2021-2022 - "Vic's Got It Going!!"

[LTtxfan 49,144]

 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

So for those who are knowledgeable about women's basketball who could Texas potentially hire as an assistant? 

 

[Js1 85,275]

1 minute ago, Rickylovesweed said:

So for those who are knowledgeable about women's basketball who could Texas potentially hire as an assistant? 

 

Texas needs 2 unless Blair is being promoted. Vic’s hires come out of left field, so truly zero clue 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

Oh, I thought Blair was already hired. 

[Js1 85,275]

3 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Oh, I thought Blair was already hired. 

Don’t recall anything but Lovato being announced?

Theres been some smoke around Jhasmin Player, who was hired at OK State by the new coach. Would be a power move by Vic, lol. But AP and Calamity were both pretty surprising hires a year ago. Vic really takes his time to search, vet and interview 

Mike filled his vacancy quickly, as did Burque and Joffe and Pierce.  Beard still hasn’t replaced Maligi 

Edited July 2, 2022 by Js1

[orangeut 212]

Hmmm, nothing about Shaylee Gonzales yet?   I thought Vic would have her wrapped up by now.   I'll try to be patient.   

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

30 minutes ago, orangeut said:

Hmmm, nothing about Shaylee Gonzales yet?   I thought Vic would have her wrapped up by now.   I'll try to be patient.   

She visited us, then North Carolina State. Today Rori stared following her in the Insta and she started following Rori.

Let's just call that a good sign.

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

Kobe to James Madison.

Wish her all the best.

 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

What???

 

[Js1 85,275]

I'm going to guess she feels slighted with Morris and Gonzales (if she is in).  Plus she has her degree (or should), so she should be able to grad transfer. 

Make me feel like Gonzales is definitely coming.  

Edited July 7, 2022 by Js1

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

11 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I'm going to guess she feels slighted with Morris and Gonzales (if she is in).  Plus she has her degree (or should), so she should be able to grad transfer. 

Make me feel like Gonzales is definitely coming.  

That was my feeling as well but still that's a hit, she was an important piece for Vic.

We've had a lot of people transfer out, 7 since the beginning of last year.

Gonzales for Matharu an upgrade?

[orangeut 212]

Disappointed that Matharu is transferring, she really impressed me with her improvement offensively and defensively last year.   Plus, she was another really good player off of the bench, she got  aggressive, and added depth.    Good luck to her, I hope we don't have to play her

Edited July 7, 2022 by orangeut

[Js1 85,275]

13 minutes ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

That was my feeling as well but still that's a hit, she was an important piece for Vic.

We've had a lot of people transfer out, 7 since the beginning of last year.

Gonzales for Matharu an upgrade?

Not shooting the 3 but Morris is a good 3P shooter and it opens up room for Hunter if she has committed to playing defense. 

[perfectchaos007 6,625]

Aren’t we passed the deadline to enter the transfer portal without possible penalty? She’s transferring knowing she may have to sit a year, so I guess she seriously wants out 

Edited July 7, 2022 by perfectchaos007

[Js1 85,275]

22 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Aren’t we passed the deadline to enter the transfer portal without possible penalty? She’s transferring knowing she may have to sit a year, so I guess she seriously wants out 

Possibly a grad transfer after the 2nd summer session. 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Not shooting the 3 but Morris is a good 3P shooter and it opens up room for Hunter if she has committed to playing defense. 

Hunter, the only player I thought would transfer..... 

[Js1 85,275]

For all we know, the Gonzales recruitment was in response to Vic knowing Matharu was planning to transfer.  Maybe he was hoping she'd change her mind.  She's been featured in a lot of the offseason videos, but part of that may be she was undecided and Vic was letting her fully decide/have her teammates try to sway her to stay because they have a history together.

There's been a lot of "how does Gonzales fit with this roster of guards" knowing Matharu had another year + a COVID year if she wanted it.  Gonzales will also have 2 years left, so she seems a natural replacement. 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

25 minutes ago, Js1 said:

For all we know, the Gonzales recruitment was in response to Vic knowing Matharu was planning to transfer.

 

Maybe but I think it was a blow-up. Vic said earlier happily "I may not be done" (getting recruits). They are taking forever to update the roster and staff on the website. It took a while to remove Kobe but Matharu is gone already. Furq.

[Js1 85,275]

1 minute ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

Maybe but I think it was a blow-up. Vic said earlier happily "I may not be done" (getting recruits). They are taking forever to update the roster and staff on the website. It took a while to remove Kobe but Matharu is gone already. Furq.

Do you have evidence for that? Claiming it was a blowup with no evidence is damaging.  We may never know the whole story. 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

1 minute ago, Js1 said:

Do you have evidence for that? Claiming it was a blowup with no evidence is damaging.  We may never know the whole story. 

Absolutely not. (no evidence)

Edited July 7, 2022 by TommysTinyTowels

[Js1 85,275]

2 minutes ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

Absolutely not. (no evidence)

“I may not be done” was probably about Faye. Bc she was late bc tech was holding her up. That was before Gonzales. 

[torre 1,285]

@someguy   any thoughts about Matharu ?

[Js1 85,275]

I mean, don't get me wrong, I will miss Matharu.  But she was prone to foul trouble and sat on the bench, a lot.  Our leading scorer only played 21 mpg, usually due to foul trouble. 

Gonzales had a better overall FG% despite shooting worse from 3PT% in 10 more mpg. 

[LTtxfan 49,144]

 

[Pato del Muerto 52,485]

Derka runs the womens basketball Twitter account?

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

On 6/29/2022 at 12:57 AM, Rickylovesweed said:

I don't even know how Vic is going to make the current guards happy if Gonzales comes here. 2 or 3 starting caliber guards will have to come off the bench but I guess it's a great problem to have. 

 

 

As expected not everyone was happy. 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

7 hours ago, Js1 said:

Do you have evidence for that? Claiming it was a blowup with no evidence is damaging.  We may never know the whole story. 

Even if it was a blowup what's damaging? 

If Vic thought he needed another good guard he knew there would be a risk of a transfer. I see a coach trying to build the best roster he can with all these transfers and if that leads to deflections so be it. 

I don't follow women's basketball closely but I can't see Vic turning down the WCC player of the year for a player that came off the bench and only averaged 21 minutes a game. Maybe these events are unrelated but the way Vic has been recruiting guards in the portal tells me he's not all that worried about any of the current players transferring other than Harmon. 

[someguy 1,508]

18 hours ago, torre said:

@someguy   any thoughts about Matharu ?

I don't really have much to say.  I've never heard anything regarding Matharu as a bad fit or looking to get out (unlike Lattimore and Kobe).  My guess is that it is a more straight forward situation where she wants more certain playing time than Texas can guarantee.  

 

[Js1 85,275]

33 minutes ago, someguy said:

I don't really have much to say.  I've never heard anything regarding Matharu as a bad fit or looking to get out (unlike Lattimore and Kobe).  My guess is that it is a more straight forward situation where she wants more certain playing time than Texas can guarantee.  

 

Truly what I figured.  I was hoping Vic could sell her on Big 12 6th Person of Year type of role.  If she could stop picking up cheap fouls, she'd be a favorite for that award.  With Morris in the fold, she may have weighed her options as "I'm coming off the bench, again, and I don't want that" and Vic went hunting for Gonzales. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,485]

There was also the backcourt size issues when Harmon and matharu were on the court together. It sure was nice having a good 3pt shooter out there though. 

[Js1 85,275]

11 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

There was also the backcourt size issues when Harmon and matharu were on the court together. It sure was nice having a good 3pt shooter out there though. 

Yeah to both.  Remember she was held scoreless against Stanford.   Even a bucket or two from her might have made the difference in making the Final Four.

Gonzales and Morris are both 5'10.  Morris is a mid-30% three point shooter (34.7, 36.2, 26.2, 29.4).  Gonzales was a good one her freshman year (35%) but only 22.7% last year.  But she still shot 50% from the field.  Morris was 46% from the field overall.  

Matharu shot 42% from three and 43% from the field.  I think Vic is looking for these guards who can run his dribble-drive and can score at different levels. 

We'll see what Hunter's growth is - but she 's also a 5'7 scorer; if she can figure out the playbook, she takes that same role Matharu had.  And she stuck it out after that really rough freshman year.  Talk about guts. 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Js1

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

19 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Matharu shot 42% from three

Ouch.

19 minutes ago, Js1 said:

We'll see what Hunter's growth is - but she 's also a 5'7 scorer; if she can figure out the playbook, she takes that same role Matharu had.  And she stuck it out after that really rough freshman year.  Talk about guts. 

She always looked pretty lost on D and had some silly turnovers in limited minutes but that's not unusual for a freshman. I don't think that shooting against New Orleans was a fluke - hard for a shooter to get into a rhythm with limited playing time but she still shot .389% from 3 for the year. Vic has a number of new pieces that need to get playing time at the beginning of the year but I really hope Hunter gets some burn. It did take guts to hang around and with the recent departures her staying should really endear her to the fan base.  Go Hunter.

[Js1 85,275]

7 minutes ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

Ouch.

She always looked pretty lost on D and had some silly turnovers in limited minutes but that's not unusual for a freshman. I don't think that shooting against New Orleans was a fluke - hard for a shooter to get into a rhythm with limited playing time but she still shot .389% from 3 for the year. Vic has a number of new pieces that need to get playing time at the beginning of the year but I really hope Hunter gets some burn. It did take guts to hang around and with the recent departures her staying should really endear her to the fan base.  Go Hunter.

She sustained that injury that really kept her out for a long stretch and never really regained a rhythm and struggled with the playbook, defensively.  Moore also with the injury, but she came back much strong by the end of the season/NCAAs. 

But yeah, I have the utmost respect for her sticking it out.  She clearly wasn't happy with her freshman year and an early season injury really fucked with her conditioning and ability to practice/get reps.  38.9% from three even with everything that happened bodes well.  

Edited July 8, 2022 by Js1

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

I just realized Gonzales was named an All-American by a couple publications last season. If she ends up at Texas, the backcourt court could have two All-Americans in Rori and Gonzales. 

I wonder where Gonzales will be ranked in the transfer rankings? She has to be near the top if not at the very top. An All-American with 2 years left? 

 

 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Truly what I figured.  I was hoping Vic could sell her on Big 12 6th Person of Year type of role.  If she could stop picking up cheap fouls, she'd be a favorite for that award.  With Morris in the fold, she may have weighed her options as "I'm coming off the bench, again, and I don't want that" and Vic went hunting for Gonzales. 

Would she have even been the 6th man? If Gonzales ends up at Texas, Sonya Morris might not even be starter wouldn’t you guess? 

 

 

 

[Js1 85,275]

24 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Would she have even been the 6th man? If Gonzales ends up at Texas, Sonya Morris might not even be starter wouldn’t you guess? 

 

 

 

Harmon-Gonzales-Morris-Moore-Jones probably.  

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

15 hours ago, Js1 said:

Harmon-Gonzales-Morris-Moore-Jones probably.  

You don't think Shay Holle will start? Wasn't she starting at the end of the year? 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

It does say a lot about the roster upgrades when 2 starters from the NCAA tournament could come off the bench next season. The most impressive part of Vic is he isn't satisfied with the Elite 8.

 

 

[Js1 85,275]

3 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

You don't think Shay Holle will start? Wasn't she starting at the end of the year? 

Unless Holle significant upgrades her offense, no. She’s your defensive stopper but Vic has talked about the lack of scoring. Morris and Gonzales appear to pretty decent enough defensive players that they should start with their offense. But regardless, I think minutes are the 2-3-4 spots will be pretty evenly distributed. Unlike the 1 or 5

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

Shaylee Gonzales is in according to instagram. 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

The timing of the Matharu transfer can't be coincidental. Gonzales likely scared her off. 

It was still a move Vic had to make. Texas could have 2 All-Americans in the backcourt next season. 

[Js1 85,275]

She's in.  Matharu knew.  I've read on TOS about a video that came out and was deleted where Matharu was dogging the program, not taking things seriously.  She may have been pushed out in favor of Shaylee.

Huge pickup. 

He's been one step ahead of almost every departure.

Ebo -> Faye
Lattimore/Warren -> Jones
JAT -> Morris
Matharu -> Gonzales

Edited July 11, 2022 by Js1

[perfectchaos007 6,625]

4 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

The timing of the Matharu transfer can't be coincidental. Gonzales likely scared her off. 

It was still a move Vic had to make. Texas could have 2 All-Americans in the backcourt next season. 

Good luck to Matharu if she leaves, but entering the portal also could have been a knee jerk retaliation move once Vic went for Gonzales. Sour grapes are part of the process in building the best team. She may end up staying once emotions settle or if she doesn’t find a better situation at another program 

[Js1 85,275]

1 minute ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Good luck to Matharu if she leaves, but entering the portal also could have been a knee jerk retaliation move once Vic went for Gonzales. Sour grapes are part of the process in building the best team. She may end up staying once emotions settle or if she doesn’t find a better situation at another program 

She gone.

The youtube video that already came down was summed up on TOS:

Quote

The video was an instagram live session that appeared to be hosted by Andrea Espinoza-Hunter, with Aliyah and another former MSU player whose name I can't recall. It occurred sometime in early April. My first thoughts after viewing the video was: (1). there is absolutely no way in hell Aliyah or anyone else in the video consented to it being recorded; (2). it was pretty careless to say some of the things that were said in a non-private forum; and (3). This could be an indication that we weren't going to see Aliyah play for Texas again. In the video, she dogs several of Vic's drills, admits to trying to get out of them (like saying she has to use the restroom), laughs with the other former players about the alleged lack of ingenuity in Vic's offense (but curiously, the Big12 tournament final against Baylor was an example raised by one of the former MSU players, and if memory serves me, we won that game easily - right?), says she tells Blair “girl, I don’t play that”, and if I remember correctly, wasn’t too fond of Vic's frequent religious references and things like having to sign his door every day. 

She may have been headed out the door. 

[Rickylovesweed 14,262]

1 minute ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Good luck to Matharu if she leaves, but entering the portal also could have been a knee jerk retaliation move once Vic went for Gonzales. Sour grapes are part of the process in building the best team. She may end up staying once emotions settle or if she doesn’t find a better situation at another program 

It could but I really don't see how you make this work. 

Gonzales played 30 + minutes the last 2 years at BYU, Morris played 30 minutes the last 2 years at Depaul, and Harmon played 30 minutes last year in her freshman season. Then you still have Hunter. I don't know how you can make these minutes work and Matharu transferring starts to make sense when you look at the minutes. 

[Js1 85,275]

26 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

It could but I really don't see how you make this work. 

Gonzales played 30 + minutes the last 2 years at BYU, Morris played 30 minutes the last 2 years at Depaul, and Harmon played 30 minutes last year in her freshman season. Then you still have Hunter. I don't know how you can make these minutes work and Matharu transferring starts to make sense when you look at the minutes. 

Minutes for the 3 guards last season:

Matharu 21.9
Harmon 30.0
JAT 34.5
Backups 20.9 (Hunter 8.1 and Chevalier 12.7) 

Vic would probably be pretty thrilled if he can get some of those down and split up minutes in the backcourt better between Morris, Gonzales, Harmon and Hunter

Shaylee averaged 4.5 assist per game, Morris averaged 3.1 and Harmon 5.0.  
 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Js1

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

Love to see Hunter doing work on her game. Looks like she's focused and hopefully will make a big leap this year.

 

[Js1 85,275]

The only thing Texas seriously lost with 3PFG% and 3PM (lost 118 makes at a 38% clip and gained back 64 makes at a 29% clip), but Gonzales has been a better 3 point shooter than she was last year.   But this is where you'd expect Hunter and Harmon to step up - Rori got much better shooting it towards the end of the season and we know Hunter has unlimited range. 

Jones and Faye are great shot blockers.  Jones is such a better shooter/finisher than Ebo and both shoot FT at a similar clip to Ebo.  They rebound about the same as Ebo.  Both Morris and Gonzales are better rebounders than JAT/Matharu and shoot better overall.  They also facilitate and play defense (steals). 

We really did get better scorers, better rebounders and better shot blockers.  

 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

3 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

It could but I really don't see how you make this work. 

Gonzales played 30 + minutes the last 2 years at BYU, Morris played 30 minutes the last 2 years at Depaul, and Harmon played 30 minutes last year in her freshman season. Then you still have Hunter. I don't know how you can make these minutes work and Matharu transferring starts to make sense when you look at the minutes. 

I hear your point but the better players you attract to your program the more you run into "Dream Team" problems - how to get all these good players minutes. I think these are the problems we want to have and I guess we have to get into the frame of mind that players are going to leave at times to get more minutes elsewhere. You just hope the players you keep are the top players you want.

The one area I think we could have an issue with is our 3 point production. That's where the loss of Matharu hurts. Girl could shoot. But with Vic's defense, better production inside, and just a general upgrade for our whole offense that may not hurt us that bad.

Harmon's 3% may go up with a season under her belt and we know her 45 foot shot is golden. She's close to ok at .319%

Holle is going to get some looks so she needs to get that .273 up.

Morris is good at .350 and Gonzales is a better shooter than .227 (I know, you are what your record says you are), she seemed to drop her 3% every year for some reason but I trust Vic to sort that out.

And Hunter is a possible diamond from 3 if she can just take care of the rest of her game and get some playing time. Great to see her working on her handles.

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

8 minutes ago, Js1 said:

The only thing Texas seriously lost with 3PFG% and 3PM (lost 118 makes at a 38% clip and gained back 64 makes at a 29% clip), but Gonzales has been a better 3 point shooter than she was last year.   But this is where you'd expect Hunter and Harmon to step up - Rori got much better shooting it towards the end of the season and we know Hunter has unlimited range. 

Jones and Faye are great shot blockers.  Jones is such a better shooter/finisher than Ebo and both shoot FT at a similar clip to Ebo.  They rebound about the same as Ebo.  Both Morris and Gonzales are better rebounders than JAT/Matharu and shoot better overall.  They also facilitate and play defense (steals). 

We really did get better scorers, better rebounders and better shot blockers.  

 

Ha! Right there with you on the three point production.

That inside game is going to be pure entertainment, so many problems for opposing coaches to try and prepare for but the whole thing opens up with we can knock down some timely threes. This inside is so good I keep forgetting about Gaston. Will be nice not to have to worry about Ebo running out of gas, and foul trouble won't be such an issue with our depth. Can't wait.