Vic Schaefer pulls off another shocker

[jonson]

They had a player from Syracuse as their go to scorer? Now that's some amazing coaching. McPhee perhaps.

oops. My mistake (obviously). Yes, McPhee. I'll edit the post.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

For sure. Stanford launched 27 three-pointers today, and 7 of them (most of any player) were by their 6'5 post player Ashton Prechtel. Like seriously? Get yourself down low and use your size and strength to score 2-foot baskets.

I don't like to discuss this, ha.

 

[cancontent]

Main thing is Vic's contributors are always instant emergers. Jackson, Bibby, Howard, Danberry, Matharu. They didn't need much time before they became highlights (in their first year). I dunno about Celeste Taylor or Kyra Lambert, but my eyes tell me that Matharu and Harmon are more impressive players and there's probably actually an upgrade at the guard position for Texas tho they may lose a bit from the frontcourt with the loss of Collier.

I think Taylor was a recruit from the Aston period and Lambert was a transfer he recruited in from Duke. Technically you could say that they weren't players he identified, but leveraged well in his system last season.

 

[cancontent]

I think thou doth protest a bit too much. No doubt, Stanford has the overall best sports program in the country. I’m a UVA fan and I know that their target is to replicate what Stanford does. But the reality is that most of the sports you mention don’t get national attention. Football and basketball do. Baseball and soccer to a lesser extent.

I don’t know that ESPN being located in CT has anything to do with UConn athletics. And I doubt that Stanford athletics would get appreciably more coverage were Stanford located in CT. The reality is that UConn basketball is unique to the sports world over the past 25 years… and therein lies their publicity.

All that being said, I was surprised to see that Paige’s 34 points got more attention than Stanford’s upset loss. That was wrong.

Wasn't ESPN first in Bristol in like the 80s? That's like a decade well before UConn's women's program even became prominent. I don't know how that can be a possible link.

 

[militarydog]

I think Taylor was a recruit from the Aston period and Lambert was a transfer he recruited in from Duke. Technically you could say that they weren't players he identified, but leveraged well in his system last season.

Coach Schaefer has always been an effort guy first. Honestly it was only until his last couple of years at Mississippi State that he was able to get highly ranked players. Both Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians were ranked decently high, especially McCowan. However both had the advantage of playing with a chip on their shoulders from some perceived slight. McCowan had grade issues and I’m still not certain as to why Vivians was not more highly publicized. However his last year at Mississippi State he was having to deal with some of the headaches that come along with these highly ranked classes. He will do everything he can to get the best players but once they are on campus it’s either his way or the highway. He does not care if they win 1-0 as long as they win.

 

[southie]

Brink started off drawing fouls, but missed half of her FTs. She disappeared later. Belibi was in there for a while, don't think she did much either. I understand if a player is 6-5 you'd think they should try posting up, but that's not really her strength. They can always go w/ Jerome, a 6-3 player who shoots almost exclusively from deep.

Maybe it's a Pac 12 thing. 6-7 Sedona Prince (I know you know her, from her stop over in Austin) is more of a perimeter than interior player, 6-9 Nancy Mulkey isn't exactly a monster on the block from what I've seen so far.

That's kind of my point. Stanford failing to establish an inside game with its post players, and its 3-point shooting being unusually miserable, is a huge reason why they lost the game. But, no second-half adjustments seemed to have been made; just kept bombing away from beyond the arc.

 

[MilfordHusky]

One point about Matharu. She seemed like Vic’s next Itty Bitty at Miss State, then transferred to follow him. She played on a loaded Bishop McNamara team along with Jakia Brown-Turner (NC State) and Madison Scott (Ole Miss) in the DC area. A major opponent was Paul VI, who had Mimi Collins (Tennessee/Maryland), Ashley Owusu (Maryland), and Honesty Scott-Grayson (Baylor et al.). But the league champions were St. John’s with Carly Rivera (Columbia), Malu Tschinge-Mutombo (UNC), and our very own Azzi Fudd. I saw Matharu a couple of times and was very impressed.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Wasn't ESPN first in Bristol in like the 80s? That's like a decade well before UConn's women's program even became prominent. I don't know how that can be a possible link.

This is off topic but I think it no doubt helped UConn they were located in the backyard of ESPN, for both it's basketball programs.

ESPN publicized the Big East basketball gang early on and geography population density and the success of the programs fueled one another. Their men's programming was years ahead of the women's teams and the old school Big East had some amazing programs during that era.

The infamous 1995 MLK day matchup was created by ESPN to televise. UConn was an ascendent program with success from the previous year and no doubt was going to be a major contender. UNC wanted a home game. ESPN apparently wasn't interested in going to Chapel Hill for whatever reason. If ESPN was doing it purely for the best interest of the game they would have easily gone to Chapel Hill, who were the defending national champions, and followed UConn there. For whatever reason the game was to be played in Storrs so UT agreed to make it happen.

UConn's program didn't become successful because of the location of ESPN but I won't pretend that it wasn't a mutually beneficial relationship for both during those formative years.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Coach Schaefer has always been an effort guy first. Honestly it was only until his last couple of years at Mississippi State that he was able to get highly ranked players. Both Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians were ranked decently high, especially McCowan. However both had the advantage of playing with a chip on their shoulders from some perceived slight. McCowan had grade issues and I’m still not certain as to why Vivians was not more highly publicized. However his last year at Mississippi State he was having to deal with some of the headaches that come along with these highly ranked classes. He will do everything he can to get the best players but once they are on campus it’s either his way or the highway. He does not care if they win 1-0 as long as they win.

Vivians likely didn't get any benefit of the doubt being from a tiny, rural high school in Mississippi. Recruiting rankings would tend to favor those programs in large areas or players who were able to get on AAU teams that would be highly visible. That's always my tendency to think why Vivians didn't get on more radars but she allegedly picked MSU over Louisville, which had already reached some pretty high level of success.

Vic will continue to do great things at Texas as long as he can get players to buy into his system. I don't really know what was going on his final year at MSU but they certainly played well enough to be in the finals of the SEC tournament and would have been a host seed in the NCAA tournament.

 

[cancontent]

This is off topic but I think it no doubt helped UConn they were located in the backyard of ESPN, for both it's basketball programs.

ESPN publicized the Big East basketball gang early on and geography population density and the success of the programs fueled one another. Their men's programming was years ahead of the women's teams and the old school Big East had some amazing programs during that era.

The infamous 1995 MLK day matchup was created by ESPN to televise. UConn was an ascendent program with success from the previous year and no doubt was going to be a major contender. UNC wanted a home game. ESPN apparently wasn't interested in going to Chapel Hill for whatever reason. If ESPN was doing it purely for the best interest of the game they would have easily gone to Chapel Hill, who were the defending national champions, and followed UConn there. For whatever reason the game was to be played in Storrs so UT agreed to make it happen.

UConn's program didn't become successful because of the location of ESPN but I won't pretend that it wasn't a mutually beneficial relationship for both during those formative years.

Appreciate the clarification. Some of the earlier comments threw me off. I remember the Big East connection as that helped ESPN and the Big East when they started up.

Proximity is definitely a benefit but what network wouldn't try to do the same if it gets them ratings? I see it as no different to sports media fawning over the same players every year even though there are others just as good, or possibly better but not getting the attention.

 

[JellyBean]

Great win by Texas and Coach Vic. Well crafted game plan by the coaching staff.

 

[southie]

Great win by Texas and Coach Vic. Well crafted game plan by the coaching staff.

That's it in a nutshell. Vic was able to outcoach Tara, and put his players in a position to win despite being smaller at every position.

 

[SimpleDawg]

Coach Schaefer has always been an effort guy first. Honestly it was only until his last couple of years at Mississippi State that he was able to get highly ranked players. Both Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians were ranked decently high, especially McCowan. However both had the advantage of playing with a chip on their shoulders from some perceived slight. McCowan had grade issues and I’m still not certain as to why Vivians was not more highly publicized. However his last year at Mississippi State he was having to deal with some of the headaches that come along with these highly ranked classes. He will do everything he can to get the best players but once they are on campus it’s either his way or the highway. He does not care if they win 1-0 as long as they win.

What headaches are you talking about?

 

[militarydog]

What headaches are you talking about?

He spoke about it in a few of the post game press conferences his final two years. Basically he stated that in his previous squads he would recruit players that were good at something such as defense or setting screens or something that would contribute to the team success. He said that he was having difficulty getting a player who is used to being the main scorer to accept certain roles that were needed for the overall success of the team but might be considered the dirty work.

 

[visitingcock]

Vic's success makes me wonder who A&M is going to hire.


They won't let themselves be outspent, so some headline coach is gonna get a heck of an offer.

 

[SimpleDawg]

How much is A&M willing to pay for a women's basketball coach? Gary Blair makes a little more than McCray did and he has a national title. Not saying they won't go all out for a top coach but I'm wondering if all that money they spent for football has made them a bit frugal. I'm sure they'll be able to find a way to come up with the money regardless, but again... will they pay big money for a women's basketball coach? Not easy to get a top coach anyways in women's basketball since there aren't that many.

 

[ConwayGmck]

Wow, Geno's averaged 55 wins per season over his career. That's really impressive.

That's per a source at ESPN......

 

[ConwayGmck]

How much is A&M willing to pay for a women's basketball coach? Gary Blair makes a little more than McCray did and he has a national title. Not saying they won't go all out for a top coach but I'm wondering if all that money they spent for football has made them a bit frugal. I'm sure they'll be able to find a way to come up with the money regardless, but again... will they pay big money for a women's basketball coach? Not easy to get a top coach anyways in women's basketball since there aren't that many.

I imagine to compete with most anyone else.....not too much. To compete with Texas, regardless the sport....they will pay what they need to......

 

[southie]

How much is A&M willing to pay for a women's basketball coach? Gary Blair makes a little more than McCray did and he has a national title. Not saying they won't go all out for a top coach but I'm wondering if all that money they spent for football has made them a bit frugal. I'm sure they'll be able to find a way to come up with the money regardless, but again... will they pay big money for a women's basketball coach? Not easy to get a top coach anyways in women's basketball since there aren't that many.

For those who have forgotten, Vic Schaefer graduated from Texas A&M, as did many from his family.

So, while none of us at Texas want to lose him, any overture from Texas A&M is one he'd probably listen to.

On the other hand, many at A&M believe they will hire from within and promote Kelly Bond-White. I found it odd when one of A&M's assistant coaches left for Auburn in the offseason, and their recruiting coordinator left for Oklahoma. Perhaps the transition from Blair has already started, and those who aren't part of the post-Blair era got a jump start with their careers.

 

[southie]

They

I imagine to compete with most anyone else.....not too much. To compete with Texas, regardless the sport....they will pay what they need to......

Tough to know for sure.

A couple of years ago, A&M went cheap and hired an assistant coach from Kansas to become their new women's head volleyball coach despite Texas being a volleyball power the last 15 years.

Many years ago, A&M broke the bank to poach legendary T&F multi-national champion head coach Pat Henry away from LSU.

 

[TC22]

Coach Schaefer has always been an effort guy first. Honestly it was only until his last couple of years at Mississippi State that he was able to get highly ranked players. Both Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians were ranked decently high, especially McCowan. However both had the advantage of playing with a chip on their shoulders from some perceived slight. McCowan had grade issues and I’m still not certain as to why Vivians was not more highly publicized. However his last year at Mississippi State he was having to deal with some of the headaches that come along with these highly ranked classes. He will do everything he can to get the best players but once they are on campus it’s either his way or the highway. He does not care if they win 1-0 as long as they win.

Wasnt Vivian’s from Mississippi? Thought it was a big deal that she stayed home to play.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Wasnt Vivian’s from Mississippi? Thought it was a big deal that she stayed home to play.

Getting Vivians to stay home was a big deal to those in the state who knew how good she really was after watching her dominate since she was in the 8th grade. Nationally she wasn't ranked that high in the big picture and also wasn't a McDonald's All American. She averaged somewhere around 40 points per game in high school but again, played in the small school ranks and just didn't have the same level of national press as those who are from big cities, played on big AAU teams, or had connections with recruiting rankings.

I recall reading she picked MSU over Louisville so she did have some recognition but she didn't have the same national hype as some of the later recruits coming in after their back to back NC games.

 

[militarydog]

Getting Vivians to stay home was a big deal to those in the state who knew how good she really was after watching her dominate since she was in the 8th grade. Nationally she wasn't ranked that high in the big picture and also wasn't a McDonald's All American. She averaged somewhere around 40 points per game in high school but again, played in the small school ranks and just didn't have the same level of national press as those who are from big cities, played on big AAU teams, or had connections with recruiting rankings.

I recall reading she picked MSU over Louisville so she did have some recognition but she didn't have the same national hype as some of the later recruits coming in after their back to back NC games.

Sorry. Just saw the earlier post. What MSSportsGuy said is correct.