Texas Women’s Basketball 2023-2024: Handing out ass whoopins and lollipops, and we’re all out of lollipops

[perfectchaos007 6626]

No surprises there 

[Js1 85287]

Not too surprised.  She could barely get playing time.  Don't think she ever regained her pre-ACL injury form from HS. 

Crowded backcourt - Harmon, Booker, Phelia, Preston can all handle the ball + Lee and Holle. 

Edited April 26 by Js1

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

1 hour ago, perfectchaos007 said:

No surprises there 

I'm not either, but definitely some surprises again this year. Would be nice to not have players that come to the team recovering from injury.

I'm hoping we end up with a bench full of players Vic trusts to play. Hate playing these deep teams while half our bench never gets out of warm-ups.

Do we pick up another player with Maul leaving?

[D3zii 3675]

1 hour ago, Texas Wahoo said:

 

 

seen that coming, 

[Js1 85287]

25 minutes ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

Do we pick up another player with Maul leaving?

Almost guessing no - as of now, our guards are Harmon, Booker, Jak, Holle, Phelia, Lee, Preston, Codio.  I'm surprised Codio is sticking around (for now, portal still open for a few more days)

[pyrohornIII 4814]

4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Almost guessing no - as of now, our guards are Harmon, Booker, Jak, Holle, Phelia, Lee, Preston, Codio.  I'm surprised Codio is sticking around (for now, portal still open for a few more days)

Could be she's waiting for at least one of her friends to join her here?  You alluded to that earlier.

[Js1 85287]

4 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

Could be she's waiting for at least one of her friends to join her here?  You alluded to that earlier.

She could be - I did mention that Vasconcelos (Baylor) and Barker (aggy) played at Montverde with Codio.  

[Lonestar88 4629]

2 hours ago, Texas Wahoo said:

 

 

Backcourt was too crowded, somebody was going to leave. Sucks that we never even got to see her play healthy here though.

[perfectchaos007 6626]

Vic will probably give Mauls scholarship to a deserving walk-on. He usually selects a player each year to give one too

[VirginiaLonghorn 4769]

3 hours ago, Texas Wahoo said:

 

 

That frees up one knee brace …

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

39 minutes ago, VirginiaLonghorn said:

That frees up one knee brace …

Total of two with Shaylee gone. But we added one for Harmon so...  

[Js1 85287]

1 hour ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Vic will probably give Mauls scholarship to a deserving walk-on. He usually selects a player each year to give one too

Well maybe, maybe not. 

15 scholarships were fully used in 2023-23
Graduated: Gonzales (14)
Transfer out: Faye (13), Gaston (12), Herron (11), Muhammad (10), Maul (9)
Transfer in: Phelia (10)
HS Signees: Carlton (11), Lee (12), Preston (13)

There's 2 open 'ships and Texas will be looking to fill those 2 spots with 2 bigs 

[Js1 85287]

Okay NOW HVL has officially committed to and signed with TCU

[Js1 85287]

Someone is visiting - team was at Vic’s last night. Blair made sure to block the visitor with an emoji 

[Js1 85287]

Iriafen to Southern Cal

[Js1 85287]

On 4/27/2024 at 11:46 PM, Js1 said:

Iriafen to Southern Cal

van Oelhoffen too

Preseason top 5 next year feels like

South Carolina
Texas
UConn
Southern Cal 
Notre Dame

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

13 minutes ago, Js1 said:

van Oelhoffen too

Preseason top 5 next year feels like

South Carolina
Texas
UConn
Southern Cal 
Notre Dame

I'd be feeling far more confident with another big or two.

Moore and Jones are certainly a good starting point but we need depth, thankfully Vic and the staff are obviously attempting to address the issue.

 

Hopefully, the guard challenges we faced from not being successful in the portal last year, will light a fire to address our big girl needs for 2024-2025

[Js1 85287]

Just now, TommysTinyTowels said:

I'd be feeling far more confident with another big or two.

 

My assumption is we are going to land 1 or 2 of the available bigs still in the portal - Vasconcelos, Oldacre, Barker, Gardiner, Cameron Williams

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

Gardiner and Barker are the best 2 bigs available. 

I think Gardiner is better but Barker is the better fit in Vic's system. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

Cameron Williams also seems like an ideal 2nd big to add. She's good but also wasn't a full-time starter at Michigan so maybe she would be cool in a more limited role at Texas. 

It's going to be difficult to convince somebody to come here in a frontcourt including Jones, Moore, Carlton, and potentially 1 of Gardiner and Barker. 

[Js1 85287]

Beers to OU

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Beers to OU

She must be really attached to that assistant. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

Beers also seems like a really weird fit at OU. 

Baranczyk runs most of her offense on the perimeter with bigs running a lot of high-screen action. Beers lives in the paint and that's not really her game. I'm sure with her talent you can make it work though. Still a very weird fit IMO. 

[Js1 85287]

Texas lands 6'6 Kyle Oldacre from Miami 

I hope this our backup 5 because I don't love her stats

5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.9 bpg, 57% FG, 58% FT

 

Oldacre was not the recruit in Blair's video over the weekend.  Way different body types. 

Edited April 29 by Js1

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

11 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Texas lands 6'6 Kyle Oldacre from Miami 

I hope this our backup 5 because I don't love her stats

5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.9 bpg, 57% FG, 58% FT

 

Oldacre was not the recruit in Blair's video over the weekend.  Way different body types. 

Makes sense to me if we add one of Gardiner or Barker. No other legit big would be willing to come here if we add one of those players. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

Weird decision. Oregon has some major turmoil and have missed the tournament the last 2 years. Muhammad must want a guaranteed starting spot. 

 

[Js1 85287]

That was a very quick decision by Amina, but they've been decimated so I think she starts right away. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

6 minutes ago, Js1 said:

That was a very quick decision by Amina, but they've been decimated so I think she starts right away. 

Yeah, I think that was always the biggest issue at Texas.

Can you convince somebody like Muhammad to be the 3rd option at PF and essentially the 4th to 6th "big" on the roster? It's a tough sell. 

[Lonestar88 4629]

Amina’s transfer only made sense if it was because she wanted to start. She went somewhere she’s definitely going to start.

She’s got a cousin on the football team there too, just like she did here.

 

5 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Yeah, I think that was always the biggest issue at Texas.

Can you convince somebody like Muhammad to be the 3rd option at PF and essentially the 4th to 6th "big" on the roster? It's a tough sell. 

Keeping depth is going to be harder than ever in the transfer portal era. It’s probably good for WBB as a whole though. There will be more competitive teams.

[Js1 85287]

2 minutes ago, Lonestar88 said:

Amina’s transfer only made sense if it was because she wanted to start. She went somewhere she’s definitely going to start.

 

I think her transfer was quite obviously "I want to start"

Texas was bringing Jones and Moore back, with Carlton coming in.  It was pretty obvious Texas was going to dip into the portal for 1-2 bigs, and the way Vic raves about Carlton, that she was going to play a lot. 

She had decent improvements in some areas with her minutes increasing from 18.6 to 19.5 this year (3.9 ppg to 6.1 ppg, 0.7 steals per game to 0.8 steals per game, 1.5 TO per game to 1.1 TO per game, 48.4% FG to 52.6% FG and 44% FT to 57.6% FT)

But there are much better options in the portal than Amina. If we hit on any of the remaining 4s, we upgraded.  If we don't hit on Barker or Gardiner, I'm not sure we are going to come out ahead. 

[Js1 85287]

I'm not going to hate on the Oldacre pickup too much, because Vic did some really good work with Lauren Ebo.  She's not going to start this year, but could be our starting big in 2025-26

Ebo year 1 playing behind Charli Collier: 17.7 mpg (1 start), 4.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.2 apg, 02. spg, 0.4 bpg, 45.8% FG, 62.5% FT
Ebo year 2 as the starting big: 26.5 mpg (30 starts), 8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, 48.1% FG, 66.1% FT

Some of these big girls need time to just develop their skills besides being tall humans - Ebo was really good by the time she finished her career at ND (9 and 7, 1 assist and 1 block per game, 50% FG, 74% FT) 

[Gut Wagon 8065]

If Oldacre can be a bit of a presence around the rim and absorb some of what otherwise would be Jones fouls, that's a useful role. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

7 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I'm not going to hate on the Oldacre pickup too much, because Vic did some really good work with Lauren Ebo.  She's not going to start this year, but could be our starting big in 2025-26

Ebo year 1 playing behind Charli Collier: 17.7 mpg (1 start), 4.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.2 apg, 02. spg, 0.4 bpg, 45.8% FG, 62.5% FT
Ebo year 2 as the starting big: 26.5 mpg (30 starts), 8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, 48.1% FG, 66.1% FT

Some of these big girls need time to just develop their skills besides being tall humans - Ebo was really good by the time she finished her career at ND (9 and 7, 1 assist and 1 block per game, 50% FG, 74% FT) 

I think the big thing with Oldacre is she has potential and only played 16 minutes a game at Miami. Plus, she's upgrading programs. 

This is the type of player you can convince to be an 8 to 15 minute role player next season. 

[Js1 85287]

2 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

If Oldacre can be a bit of a presence around the rim and absorb some of what otherwise would be Jones fouls, that's a useful role. 

Basically how we used Ebo her first year, and then she became our starting center the next year.  I'm coming around to this, as long as we do indeed add another PF

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

7 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Basically how we used Ebo her first year, and then she became our starting center the next year.  I'm coming around to this, as long as we do indeed add another PF

I'm not even sure Oldacre will be the 2nd option at the 5 if we add Barker. 

Barker will be the starting 5 IMO. She can also play the 4 but she's a really good option at the 5 in a full-court press system. 

[86txex 165]

Oldacre was a 2022 McDonald’s all American and the #22 ranked recruit in the country. She’s had some medical issues: her freshman year at Miami she had abdominal surgery ams missed 11 games and her sophomore year she has a knee issue. 
 

I think this was a good pick up. She’s athletic and really big. 

[86txex 165]

https://miamihurricanes.com/news/2024/02/27/wbb-feature-oldacre-standing-strong/
Interesting article about Oldacre.

[perfectchaos007 6626]

Surely now between Oldacre and Boutillier, one of them will develop into a player that can give the team 15-20 minutes per game by the time they are seniors. They can challenge each other in the practice gym

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

I think the thing to keep in mind at the 4 and 5, is we want Alliyah Moore playing 30+ minutes a night. 

I don't think people realize how good Moore was at the end of the season once she was fully healthy. In the final 7 games (Big 12 tourney and NCAA tournament) she was averaging nearly 15 points and 8 rebounds a game. That's against quality competition. 

She was the #6 recruit in the country for a reason and that's what she can do when healthy. 

[Js1 85287]

It is kind of wild how half of these transfers, no one knew they even visited.

Other than TVO putting out a top 4, it is all mostly social media clues (Phelia) or someone being seen at a baseball/softball game (Beers).

Oldacre was out of left field - I think Blair followed her back in March, and it was completely silent until she committed. 

There hasn't been one single mention of a visit for Barker or Gardiner, like, at all. 

[Js1 85287]

 

[someguy 1508]

19 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Surely now between Oldacre and Boutillier, one of them will develop into a player that can give the team 15-20 minutes per game by the time they are seniors. They can challenge each other in the practice gym

I think it is more likely that Oldacre is the replacement for Boutilier as developmental big.

[Js1 85287]

Texas is currently #6 in Creme's Way Too Early Bracketology. 

South Carolina
USC
UConn
Notre Dame
UCLA
Texas

LSU is 7, Baylor is 9, ISU is 12, OU is 13

I think landing one of Gardiner or Barker would put us back into the top 4.  But we'll see.  Charlie "no way Texas is a #1 seed" Creme isn't always right. 

[86txex 165]

52 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Texas is currently #6 in Creme's Way Too Early Bracketology. 

South Carolina
USC
UConn
Notre Dame
UCLA
Texas

LSU is 7, Baylor is 9, ISU is 12, OU is 13

I think landing one of Gardiner or Barker would put us back into the top 4.  But we'll see.  Charlie "no way Texas is a #1 seed" Creme isn't always right. 

Plus Crème is a tool. He definitely has anti-Texas bias it seems.

[Js1 85287]

Faye transferred to Pitt.  Good spot for Hadi after they lost Liatu King

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Baylor is 9, ISU is 12

Who?

 

[TommysTinyTowels 785]

3 hours ago, Js1 said:

I think landing one of Gardiner or Barker would put us back into the top 4. 

Did anyone ever figure out who visited over the weekend?

Everybody getting sneaky these days.

[Js1 85287]

8 minutes ago, TommysTinyTowels said:

Did anyone ever figure out who visited over the weekend?

Everybody getting sneaky these days.

Nope, but I have a guess.  And it was not Oldacre

[Js1 85287]

Timea Gardiner to UCLA

[MuellerHorn 4228]

Alright, Texas really needs to land Barker now.