Understatement of the Year, by Karen Aston

[chuck.r]

Texas coach Karen Aston criticized her team's shot selection and credited Tennessee's hustle. She said after the game that "we didn't look very well coached, and that bothers me."
Texas vs. Tennessee - Game Recap - December 10, 2017 - ESPN

Gee whiz, really?

Texas is a program I'd consider myself a "secondary fan" of, and I've generally been optimistic about the program's upward trajectory since Karen Aston took over from Gail Goestenkoers.

But today's game has really raised serious questions, in my mind, about the ability of its coaching staff to translate talented recruits into results.

People on this board often take shots at Mulkey's coaching ability, but Baylor at this point looks infinitely better coached than Texas.

"We're used to those shots going in with Brooke [McCarty, who shot 2-15]," Longhorns coach Karen Aston said. " ... If our shots don't go in, we don't quite know how to buckle down and do the dirty stuff. That's what I found out about our team today. So we'll go back to the drawing board and see who we can find in this mix of players that can really get down and dirty when the shots aren't going in. Because ultimately, if you're trying to win championships, you're going to go through games where the ball doesn't go in the net."
Fearless freshmen help Tennessee topple No. 2 Texas

 

[Plebe]

"We're used to those shots going in with Brooke [McCarty, who shot 2-15]," Longhorns coach Karen Aston said. " ... If our shots don't go in, we don't quite know how to buckle down and do the dirty stuff. That's what I found out about our team today. So we'll go back to the drawing board and see who we can find in this mix of players that can really get down and dirty when the shots aren't going in. Because ultimately, if you're trying to win championships, you're going to go through games where the ball doesn't go in the net."
Fearless freshmen help Tennessee topple No. 2 Texas

The "dirty stuff" -- hmmm.
You mean like boxing out for a rebound on a critical missed free throw by the other team?
Or how about just executing a simple inbound play so that the inbounder can at least pass the ball to someone?
Or how about not committing a dumb foul when you're down by 1 with 50 seconds to play?

 

[Bigpetunia]

No way will the Texas guards play that badly against UCONN. There have been players who were hitting 20% to 30% from three but against UCONN they got hot. Teams get up for UCONN and Texas will be sky high for the UCONN game, plus they will have Holmes. However, barring anymore injuries to their top seven, UCONN should win. I hope Booth does not play again until after the UCONN game because with her Texas will be unbeatable. Just ask her.

With respect, I think this misses the OP's point, and, more pertinently, Karen Aston's point. Yes, the Texas guards did, indeed, play "that badly." And yes, they may indeed play much better vs UConn. But the Texas team was shockingly out-coached...by Holly!!! Geno, who would have been too apoplectic to survive the experience of coaching the performance and effort of either of these teams, speaks often about how talented teams are sometimes required to "grind out" wins on occasions when lots is going wrong and the ball isn't dropping. What he means is that teams in such situations must return to basketball fundamentals, lots of movement, good spacing, crisp passing, aggressive rebounding and smothering defense, all in an effort to compensate for poor shooting. The idea is to use fundamentals to get one's team easier shots and force one's opponent into tougher shots. This is called coaching. Karen is right...her team looked terribly coached, and shockingly so. This wasn't just what folks charitably call an "off-night." Texas was a team looking lost, with nowhere to turn. Tennessee was only slightly better. Full disclosure: I tuned out at halftime...couldn't take it any more.

 

[Icebear]

So imagine you're a big time HS recruit like Charlie Collier. No practice or games on Sunday. A week a go you're watching TV to see UConn storm back to beat ND before a full house in Hartford. Today you watch your future school play really badly falling to TN. What are you thinking?

“I picked the right program, they won’t push me too hard or expect too much.”

 

[huskeynut]

Credit Aston for saying her team looked poorly coached. A couple of shots of her facial expression during the game told it all. Time will tell if Texas will improve. Time will tell if Texas will improve under her coaching.

ND without question should be the #2 team. I see Tennessee climbing into the Top 10 and Texas taking a big drop in the polls.

And that was the ugliest game I have ever viewed for WCBB. I know Tennessee is celebrating their win, but really.

 

[Sonny44]

So imagine you're a big time HS recruit like Charlie Collier. No practice or games on Sunday. A week a go you're watching TV to see UConn storm back to beat ND before a full house in Hartford. Today you watch your future school play really badly falling to TN. What are you thinking?

Renege.

 

[Sonny44]

3 last week, 2 this week.

Because the voters are too lazy to study anything but W/L records.

 

[iamcbs]

So imagine you're a big time HS recruit like Charlie Collier. No practice or games on Sunday. A week a go you're watching TV to see UConn storm back to beat ND before a full house in Hartford. Today you watch your future school play really badly falling to TN. What are you thinking?

She's probably thinking that next year Texas plays Tenn in Austin and I'll be there to help Texas win that game not sitting on the end of the bench with a coach that tells me Freshmen aren't doing enough in practice to play in games and it's a lot closer to home than Storrs, CT.....

 

[eebmg]

So imagine you're a big time HS recruit like Charlie Collier. No practice or games on Sunday. A week a go you're watching TV to see UConn storm back to beat ND before a full house in Hartford. Today you watch your future school play really badly falling to TN. What are you thinking?

I cant shrink. I can start from Day 1.

 

[Checkmate]

I dont understand how they are the 2nd team in the country... where is ND ranked?

neither team looked like they belong in the top 11. The game could have been the ugliest of the year..... terrible passing, shooting, and hard to watch

 

[JavaMan]

Texas post-game presser ...if you're interested.

​

 

[JavaMan]

Tennessee post-game presser ...if you're interested.

And the players:

Lady Vol players post-game vs. Texas

​

 

[Florida Fan]

She's a step ahead of some coaches. The first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem. Tennessee's win will only serve to continue to mask their fundamental issue.

Interesting game. Some in Vol Nation remarked at the Tennessee intensity. Certainly the Vols did not give up but we noticed what some people have described as "sloppiness." Alan Iverson was once quoted as saying "Practice" many times, and the announcers had to return to "December", reminding viewers that what they were watching had to be reflecting early-season breakdowns, not indicative of what will be happening in February or March. Thankfully, nobody mentioned discipline, or coaching. No, No.

 

[Dillon77]

I will say that Tennessee has some nice parts... Westbrook has a great "basketball attitude"! Watch out for these "Baby Vols" but they haven't played against a buzzsaw like UConn. Do Tenn play Notre Dame this season?

Yup. January 18th. South Bend. Very much looking forward to that game, as are the Irish, who are still ticked about their late-game collapse in Knoxville last winter.
BTW, Evina Westbrook looked good yesterday for the Vols....

Switching my attention to UT, the other team in orange. I think a lot of it's early-season rankings came from the way they ended up playing last year. What's changed is a (the?) key component of that team -- Joyner Holmes -- is still on suspension. Joyner certainly could'be been used in the paint yesterday. Texas simply didn't have enough horses to keep up there.

 

[oldude]

Yup. January 18th. South Bend. Very much looking forward to that game, as our the Irish, who are still ticked about their late-game collapse in Knoxville last winter.
BTW, Westbrook looked good yesterday....

Switching my attention to UT, the other team in orange. I think a lot of it's early-season rankings came from the way they ended up playing last year. What's changed is a (the?) key component of that team -- Joyner Holmes -- is still on suspension. Joyner certainly could'be been used in the paint yesterday. Texas simply didn't have enough horses to keep up there.

In addition to Holmes, TX misses graduated seniors Kelsey Lang, a solid post player, and Brianna Taylor, the Big 12 DPOY last season.

 

[Bigboote]

The "dirty stuff" -- hmmm.
You mean like boxing out for a rebound on a critical missed free throw by the other team?
Or how about just executing a simple inbound play so that the inbounder can at least pass the ball to someone?
Or how about not committing a dumb foul when you're down by 1 with 50 seconds to play?

Those two rebounds at the end -- it's like they were back in grade school when you go to the ball with no consideration whatsoever that the opponents are trying to do the same thing.

 

[UConn82]

Tennessee plays SC twice this year.

 

[chrissaran]

Mercedes Russell is incredibly slow, and Z could run her to death. Also, Mercedes got away with one yesterday. She knew exactly where she was and that there was a player behind her, so she just stopped. Ariel Atkins being out after that shot affected Texas. She was the only consistent scorer.

 

[meyers7]

Well I guess the silver lining to the debacle of yesterday is that Warlick will probably be able to keep her job for a few more years.

 

[Tonyc]

As was once said its tuff to play at Tenn. For example 3 Texas players fouled out. Foul trouble makes it hard to play defense and dribble drive.

 

[eebmg]

Interesting game. Some in Vol Nation remarked at the Tennessee intensity. Certainly the Vols did not give up but we noticed what some people have described as "sloppiness." Alan Iverson was once quoted as saying "Practice" many times, and the announcers had to return to "December", reminding viewers that what they were watching had to be reflecting early-season breakdowns, not indicative of what will be happening in February or March. Thankfully, nobody mentioned discipline, or coaching. No, No.

To me, it comes down to 'Would Pat Summitt have been happy with a win like this where they won mainly because their opponent provided enough entertainment for 30 minutes of blooper reels'

 

[Shades]

BTW, Evina Westbrook looked good yesterday for the Vols....

The 7 turnovers were somewhat reminiscent of DeShields.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

So imagine you're a big time HS recruit like Charlie Collier. No practice or games on Sunday. A week a go you're watching TV to see UConn storm back to beat ND before a full house in Hartford. Today you watch your future school play really badly falling to TN. What are you thinking?

I suspect the loss did not give her an ounce of regret. In changing her mind (again) she emphasized the ability of her family to be in the stands and watch her play. She placed more weight on relationships than potential professional development. This is part of the deal.

For every Katie Lou there is a Charli.

"Current leading scorer Katie Lou Samuelson made it clear that her belief that she would be pushed to play at a level she never thought was attainable was one of the reasons she left her home in California to play at UConn.

“I knew coming here I would become a different player. I have been pushed to points that I didn’t think I could get past,” Samuelson said. “There are some days when I didn’t think I would be able to be consistent at all. You can see clearly in the development in people and that is why people want to keep coming here because they (the coaches) know what they are doing. They know how to get the best out of each and every player.”

UConn’s Auriemma, Dailey, always pushing to get the most out of their players

And, don't forget, all those recruit visual aides are in Storrs, not in Austin. Charli hopefully knew what she was trading off.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Yes, they'll play in January.

The 18th on ESPN.

 

[bbsamjj]

1. If Charlie Collier is a competitor (and I bet she is) I bet she watched yesterday's game and was dying to get out there and help her future teammates. Alston is the first to admit her team looked terrible yesterday but most would say she's still a very good (though unproven) coach who expects a high level of play from her players. I'm sure SC sometimes looked awful before A'ja Wilson got there and she's done just fine.

2. I wonder how much yesterday can be attributed to Texas's fairly pedestrian schedule before yesterday's game. Coming into today, they had only payed two teams inside the RPI top 100, and no one ranked higher than 48. Even when you win, playing better teams reveals your weaknesses much more clearly than playing teams far inferior to you does.