Texas Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 - We SEC Ready

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Man, Vic has a lot of trust in these FR.

Playing them in clutch moments.

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Winning this game inside.

WV has no answer for the big bodies inside between Oldacre, Moore, and Carlton. Does Jones have some type of injury? She hasn't played at all in the 2nd half but Oldacre deserves the minutes.

Edited December 2 by Rickylovesweed

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

We're just bullying them inside. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

A technical on Vic?

What the fuck are these refs doing? Vic is pissed because Rori has been hit in the head 3 possessions in a row. 

Edited December 2 by Rickylovesweed

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

That was dirty. WV took a clear swing at Rori. They better upgrade that to a technical on the WV player. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

What the fuck are these refs doing?

This is so bad. 

[Js1 86390]

This final 2 minutes is a mess 

[Js1 86390]

6-0 run on FTs has WV within 4

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

The technical was so bad on Vic. He was just trying to protect his player and they didn't even upgrade the foul. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Need these FTs Booker. 

[Js1 86390]

Booker the closer!

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Booker. ICE. 

Feels like a Sweet 16/Elite 8 game. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

We should foul now. 

Only 6.2 seconds. Don't let them shoot a 3. 

[Js1 86390]

Just now, Rickylovesweed said:

We should foul now. 

Only 6.2 seconds. Don't let them shoot a 3. 

Steal by Carlton works too 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Carlton!

[Js1 86390]

Texas wins 78-73 and stays unbeaten 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Nice win against #12 on a neutral court.

In a game where Harmon and Booker were both off. 

[Js1 86390]

Go home and rest up for ND on Thursday. Give those girls the day off tomorrow, Vic

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Harmon and Booker were only 8/24 from the floor today. Just off games for both but hard to play 3 games in 3 days.

This game was won inside with Moore, Oldacre, and Carlton. They abused WV on the offensive glass and shot a ton of FTs playing bully ball inside.

[Js1 86390]

#2 in the first NET, behind SoCar 

TCU a surprising #5 and WV at 10

ND is 13 and Ou is 16

aggy is 83 and tech is 70

[Js1 86390]

15 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

This game was won inside with Moore, Oldacre, and Carlton. 

Good, because our guards were kinda ass besides Booker. 

[perfectchaos007 6757]

I know they lost a couple games on the road, but we’ll get the best version of Hidalgo and Notre Dame in south bend. We need Booker and Harmon to find their rhythm that game or we could easily lose that one if we become one dimensional in the paint 

[Js1 86390]

2 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I know they lost a couple games on the road, but we’ll get the best version of Hidalgo and Notre Dame in south bend. We need Booker and Harmon to find their rhythm that game or we could easily lose that one if we become one dimensional in the paint 

I understand their loss to TCU - TCU did not let their post players do anything and just let their guards score, knowing it won't be enough. Sedona went for 20/20 in that game

The Utah loss was puzzling - Utah is not good. 

[86txex 178]

20 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Good, because our guards were kinda ass besides Booker. 

Vic said in his postgame comments yesterday that he is now blessed with guard depth and needs to figure out the rotation. Shay is a warrior but she is a defensive liability at times with quick guards. Hopefully Vic will start Phelia and insert a healthy dose of Preston and Lee on Thursday. 

[Js1 86390]

2 minutes ago, 86txex said:

Vic said in his postgame comments yesterday that he is now blessed with guard depth and needs to figure out the rotation. Shay is a warrior but she is a defensive liability at times with quick guards. Hopefully Vic will start Phelia and insert a healthy dose of Preston and Lee on Thursday. 

I am fine with moving Holle to first off the bench and Phelia starts over her. We need her quickness and offense 

Vic said preseason that Holle or Phelia could be SEC 6th player of the year, it’s just a matter of deciding who starts by conference play 

[perfectchaos007 6757]

Texas is back to #4 in the AP poll. 
Notre Dame wasn’t punished much at #10
WVU #15

[86txex 178]

38 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Texas is back to #4 in the AP poll. 
Notre Dame wasn’t punished much at #10
WVU #15

WV is better than #15, IMO.

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

49 minutes ago, 86txex said:

WV is better than #15, IMO.

Yeah, they have one of the best backcourts in the country. I think they’re gonna win the Big 12. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

I hope we continue to recruit players like Oldacre. 

No offense to her, but having a player big-bodied like that creates a ton of issues for other teams. She's just so big in the paint that you have to send multiple bodies to box her out and she shuts down driving lanes on the defensive end. 

We should have one of these space eaters on the team every year. 

 

[Js1 86390]

This week is a banger of a December week for women's hoops for ranked matchups (SEC/ACC matchup ft. a lot of ranked teams) 

14 Kentucky @ 16 UNC
4 Texas @ 10 ND
18 Ole Miss @ NCST
8 Duke @ 3 SoCar

Saturday
Tenn @ 17 Iowa
22 Louisville @ 2 UConn
6 USC @ Oregon

Sunday
22 Illinois @ 12 Ohio State
3 SoCar @ 9 TCU

And you can watch Ayoka Lee take belt to ass against aggy in CS on Sunday too 
 

[86txex 178]

Justice is a good one.

https://x.com/TexasWBB/status/1863993655419170853

Edited December 3 by 86txex

[TommysTinyTowels 816]

14 minutes ago, 86txex said:

Justice is a good one.

https://x.com/TexasWBB/status/1863993655419170853

Wow. That's great.

 

[Js1 86390]

Not a surprise! 

Totals for last week (3-0 week)

20 mpg
15.3 ppg on 61.2% FG
10-12 FT
5 rpg
1 block
4 steals (including a game sealing one against WV)
 

[86txex 178]

I would love to see a lineup of Rori, Layla, Booker, Carlton and Odacre. I think that could wreak some havoc.

[Js1 86390]

1 minute ago, 86txex said:

I would love to see a lineup of Rori, Layla, Booker, Carlton and Odacre. I think that could wreak some havoc.

I kind of feel like we are working towards it. 

Leila needs to start over Holle
Moore is at risk of losing her starting job to Carlton
Oldacre > Jones

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

48 minutes ago, 86txex said:

I would love to see a lineup of Rori, Layla, Booker, Carlton and Odacre. I think that could wreak some havoc.

Yeah, you can make a good argument our bench frontcourt is better than the starters. Good to have that depth. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

I think Vic is going to rotate a lot between Jones, oldacre, Moore, and Carlton. The idea being can you handle that type physicality for 40 minutes with all 4 of them as most teams will only have 1 or 2 quality frontcourt players.

[Js1 86390]

Second biggest test of the season so far tonight

[TommysTinyTowels 816]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Second biggest test of the season so far tonight

Volleyball at about the same time?

 

[Js1 86390]

Just now, TommysTinyTowels said:

Volleyball at about the same time?

 

6pm for WBB, 6:30 for VB

ESPN for WBB
ESPN+ for VB

Split screen 

[SamMan 1426]

Can’t wait for the ND game. Hannah Hidalgo is my favorite player to watch going back to her days as a recruit (another player I’ve enjoyed following over the years is Harvard’s Harmoni Turner, from Mansfield—also a fearless lead guard with plenty of swag). I absolutely love her game. If there is a player, outside of Rori, who exemplifies the type of player that Vic’s system demands, it’s Hannah, imo. She’s great.

You guys are going to call me crazy, but I view Hidalgo and Caitlin Clark similarly…just not how you think. Everybody wants to talk about “generational talents” and “can’t miss prospects”…in 2020, that player was Paige Bueckers. She was that player even after her freshman year, when she won National POY. In 2023, JuJu was that player. And she has gotten all of the ESPN love, which I am pleased to see because I was certain that the only black girl (also from Sierra Canyon) that would command Sabrina/Paige/Caitlin-level coverage tragically lost her life nearly five years ago.

If you go back and look, the superlative freshman campaigns that JuJu and Hannah had last year were very similar to what Paige and Caitlin turned in as freshmen. Though both were top five recruits, Caitlin and Hannah were mostly overlooked by stargazers. It’s why I am as excited for the Aaliyah C. Texas already has signed as the one whose commitment is still outstanding. And why (pedantically) I don’t particularly care for the Chavez-Clark comparisons—though they may be somewhat similar stylistically, it’s still not really fair to compare the two. Anybody looking for a “can’t-miss generational talent” would have likely missed Caitlin altogether, because Paige was considered that player by a wide margin (which was largely warranted, imo). Hell, there were some who thought HVL was the second best guard in that loaded class. I’ll admit that I was higher on Lexi Donarski than most if not all of the guards behind Paige and Caitlin (Turner was also in that class).

Nobody expected Hannah to win the Staley Award (sure, they didn’t want to give it to Clark four years in a row, but still), ACC POY, and be the best perimeter defender in the nation last year. Likewise, nobody expected Madi B to be the best Texas freshman to take the floor since my friend, Tiff Jackson (RIP), much less for her to win B12 POY. If you watched the SC-ND game, it would be hard to argue that Hannah wasn’t the best player on the floor (particularly in the first half), despite the presence of JuJu, plus three other gals predominantly mocked to go in the top five-ish picks of next year’s draft (Kiki, Miles, Citron), and all the pregame fanfare. I guess my point is that the strength and quality of the women’s game has grown exponentially over the past decade, and it has been great to see the depth of talent increase year after year…and Hannah needs more love.

As for Notre Dame itself, they laid an egg vs Utah, but as stated previously, I think Texas will get their best version. They are a very good guard-oriented team, who are still missing Westbeld. Gonna be a great matchup.

On 12/2/2024 at 9:03 PM, Rickylovesweed said:

I hope we continue to recruit players like Oldacre. 

No offense to her, but having a player big-bodied like that creates a ton of issues for other teams. She's just so big in the paint that you have to send multiple bodies to box her out and she shuts down driving lanes on the defensive end. 

We should have one of these space eaters on the team every year. 

I’m of the opinion that a talented two-way big (Stewie, A’ja) is still way more valuable than an offensive dynamo (Diggs, Plum) at guard currently. At least until the skill level reaches the threshold where pace and space are more ubiquitous, which is where things are moving, albeit not as quickly as the men’s game. They just have an outsized effect on the margin for error on both ends of the floor at present, which I think is kinda what you are getting at.

Most college teams can’t score consistently away from the basket, and don’t move the ball efficiently enough to get good shots (NC State could). Cardoso/Boston, Reese, Brink, Cox/Brown are a huge reason why their teams have gotten rings the last five tourneys. They are efficient scorers, effectively suppress the opponent’s ability to get high percentage looks around the basket, and eliminate second chance opportunities.

I think Vic would tell you that as good as Victoria Vivians was, and how great Morgan William’s shot was, his teams made back-to-back finals because McCowan was down there cleaning shit up on both ends. When you have two really talented bigs that contribute on both ends, your gunner can go 1 of 19 in a winner-take-all championship final and still walk away with the trophy.

I really like the team Vic has put together. Jones is an efficient big. I think Oldacre has all the tools to be dominant inside if she keeps working. I’d like to see those two stay out of actions away from the basket as much as possible, where they don’t have to extend and move laterally too much. I love what Moore and Carlton bring overall, they can move a little bit, and I might be the higher than anyone around here on what Jordan Lee can be. I’ve been super high, maybe too high (I don’t know), on her for a long time. She and Justice are only going to get better. We know what the other guards can do. Great squad. 

Apologies for the length of this. I didn’t mean for it to be a dissertation. I don’t post in here a ton, but I appreciate the updates and discussion.

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

ND is an interesting match-up.

They are loaded with guards but they are really small. Oustide of Koval, they don't play anybody over 6'0 in the frontcourt. Koval is only a FR too. Not sure how they're going to handle our bigs inside. 

 

Edited December 5 by Rickylovesweed

[torre 1291]

52 minutes ago, SamMan said:

Can’t wait for the ND game. Hannah Hidalgo is my favorite player to watch

https://eu.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/womens-basketball/2024/12/05/texas-notre-dame-basketball-madison-booker-hannah-hidalgo-rivalry/76764977007/

(may hit paywall)

 

AAS has a story today about the close relationship between Booker and Hidalgo from their Team USA (2x World Champs) and AAU days. "That's my bestie",  said Booker.

 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

ND going zone early. Trying to offset the size advantage. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Need to hit some 3s in this one the way ND is defending. They know they can't guard us inside. 

[Js1 86390]

Our ball movement has been really good.

[Js1 86390]

Holle with a couple 3s already 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Jones needs to finish some of these. Good looks but missing. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Jones can score all day in the paint if she takes her time. 

[Js1 86390]

22-19 Texas after 1