Big 12

[ladybears4eva]

i'll wait and see how the league runs this year, I thought that Kansas might actually be good this year, and Texas as well, but maybe it has something to do with coaching more so than with veteran teams.

both teams have good players who have matured and should be ready to compete well, considering Reed from Texas and Davis/Goodrich from Kansas are healthy and mature.

 

[alexrgct]

ETT, you're correct. Swoopes committed and enrolled at Texas, but left without playing a game. Transferred to a JUCO where she played two years before transferring to Tech. Her reasons at the time for leaving UT were rumored to be around discomfort with a lesbian-friendly environment, which if true might have belied that she was dealing with (or avoiding) her own sexual identity issues at the time.

 

[mgood1]

Texas Tech may very well be the second best team in the conference. They are very fast and athletic and probably better that a lot of people realize.

We'll see how they do against Missouri tomorrow. The Lady Raiders have traditionally played poorly in Columbia, even some of the better Lady Raiders teams against otherwise unimpressive Mizzou teams. Missouri may actually be good this year, or maybe not. Too early to tell much of anything yet. Then Tech plays at Oklahoma, where they usually play good, even when OU was really good and Tech was not. It'll be an interesting week.

I agree that right now you've got Baylor, and then below them you have all the other Big 12 teams bunched too tightly together to see who's going to do what. When everyone's played 3 or 4 games, we'll have a clearer picture.

The Big 12 has been very evenly matched, top to bottom, for most of the last decade or so. There just aren't usually any really bad teams in the conference. So we beat each other up and get lots of "upsets."

 

[Bayareahusky]

Didn't GG broom the entire Conradt coaching staff when she came in, including one who was key with respect to contacts with the TX high schools..... and then hasn't since then made superlative inroads to reestablish those lost contacts? That's what I heard.

 

[ThisJustIn]

that there are lingering "lesbian program" issues that schools like A&M and Baylor don't have to deal with

Somewhat ironic, considering who scored 19 pts to help Baylor to the 2005 championship...

 

[alexrgct]

that there are lingering "lesbian program" issues that schools like A&M and Baylor don't have to deal with

Somewhat ironic, considering who scored 19 pts to help Baylor to the 2005 championship...

Indeed, and Kim herself is certainly not homophobic. The issue is more about where smaller town girls and their parents feel more comfortable with: Baptist school in Waco, small-town, conservative school in College Station, or openly lesbian-friendly program/school in liberal Austin. I don't for a moment think Kim and Gary negative recruit against Texas with that angle, but this is very much an issue.

 

[alexrgct]

Didn't GG broom the entire Conradt coaching staff when she came in, including one who was key with respect to contacts with the TX high schools..... and then hasn't since then made superlative inroads to reestablish those lost contacts? That's what I heard.

Clarissa Davis is who you are thinking of. She was a superstar player for Texas in the 1980s. But she was not a great assistant coach. Really, the entire staff did deserve to get axed based on Texas's performance prior to GG's hiring. Unfortunately, that was not without consequences, and DeMoss was a square peg in a round hole as far as your big assistant hire.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Thank you. I knew it was someone Gail got rid of who had formed good relationships with the TX high school network.
Hasn't been replaced since.

 

[DaddyChoc]

that there are lingering "lesbian program" issues that schools like A&M and Baylor don't have to deal with

Somewhat ironic, considering who scored 19 pts to help Baylor to the 2005 championship...

interesting... after a lil research I found Emily Niemann had 19pts and after a lil more research I found her college bio to be very interesting. thanks

small story

 

[VAUConnFan]

That could well be part of it. Other theories are that she made her involvement with the Olympic team a priority over gladhanding with Texas HS coaches when she came aboard, that Clarissa Davis was upset about her dismissal and bad mouths Coach G at every opportunity, that Mickie DeMoss was just a poor hire at the time, or that there are lingering "lesbian program" issues that schools like A&M and Baylor don't have to deal with. Note: all of this is speculation and may or may not reflect my actual opinion on the matter.

You might be on to something here. Still, it is asking a bit much to expect immediate results. Turning a program around takes time.

 

[speedoo]

You might be on to something here. Still, it is asking a bit much to expect immediate results. Turning a program around takes time.

Of course it takes time. But you are not suggesting GG needs MORE time are you? She has been there for four years already, and has shown zero progress.