Or will the nonsense continue?

18 turnovers in one half of basketball with 4 of them from the PG. Bad.

Every Baylor TO today is from the PG position

Delmar... I don't know how you can't be disappointed in that game. What is the Baylor TO record? Did we break it? Kudos to WV though! I am trilled we only have 2 conference losses at this point in the season.

Marcayla had better poise and speed. Hustled.

Who said I'm not disappointed?

Jana, 69, Taliah, 67, and Dari 61, the next is 37. The 2 highest both pt. gds. Can't continue to win with this situation. Defense has kept us in each conf. game.

ctxbear said:

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Adriacus Peratuun said:

---

Delmar 2.0 said:

---

You must be thrilled. Pompous ass fake Baylor fan just giddy that the ladies are having a tough game. You've been waiting all season for this game because WVU playing at home makes just about everybody look terrible. You're probably rubbing one out every TO, it's your dream come true.

---

Get professional help. The juvenile "humor" screams about your need to grow up.

Professional people understand constructive criticism. They also understand that pointing out flaws is the key to improvement.

---

They also understand how ridiculous it is when someone "offers criticism," remains silent for weeks as great strides in improvement are made amid a month-long winning streak, then reemerges when there is a setback.

---

Nice misleading narrative.

From the outset of the season I have offered one primary thought: the team withers under ball pressure due to a lack of an athletic PG who can consistently win the dribble.
The past few weeks have featured games against teams that don't apply significant ball pressure.
As soon as WBB played a high ball pressure team they imploded…..same as what happened against Texas.
The team has not improved in the weakest area. The wins were primarily matchup driven not improvement driven.
Did the staff mostly abandon the dribble attack portion of the O? Yes.
Was that choice smart? Yes.

But the team is as bad against ball pressure now as it was during the meltdown against UT.

Not sure why you would expect ball pressure commentary when the team wasn't playing ball pressure opponents.

The team is who they are…..competitive against good teams playing reactive defense, bad against any form of ball pressure.

Roster construction failure.

If it makes you feel better to attack realistic opinions, have at it. But your attacks don't change the reality.

Maybe you and costume boy can share a drink and come up with some better attacks.

Big Bear said:

---

Jana, 69, Taliah, 67, and Dari 61, the next is 37. The 2 highest both pt. gds. Can't continue to win with this situation. Defense has kept us in each conf. game.

---

Don't the point guards handle/have the ball far more than the other players on the court? It stands to reason that they will have more TO's than the other players who handle the ball far less.

Thanks Delmar I did not know that since I played at BU and was also a HS coach. I am old school, most important position on the court is pg and the 5 player. Point is why did we not have a starting pg other than
Jana since she unproven and coming off an injury.

You're welcome, always here to help.

Did Ella have a setback with her injury?

I am wondering if coaches decided to redshirt Ella this year .

I didn't think you could RS if you had any game action in college basketball? Plus didn't she RS at SMU?

IowaBear said:

---

I didn't think you could RS if you had any game action in college basketball? Plus didn't she RS at SMU?

---

I don't know if she redshirted at SMU, but I do know that you can redshirt at any time if you haven't played in a certain number of games in a season. Jana played a partial game last year and redshirted the season for us.

I think you can play in 3 or 4 games and still red shirt. I think Kyla played in a game or 2 the season she red shirted,

ctxbear said:

---

IowaBear said:

---

I didn't think you could RS if you had any game action in college basketball? Plus didn't she RS at SMU?

---

I don't know if she redshirted at SMU, but I do know that you can redshirt at any time if you haven't played in a certain number of games in a season. Jana played a partial game last year and redshirted the season for us.

---

She qualified for a medical redshirt due to her season ending injury.That doesn't count against the 5 to play 4 seasons limit.

I do think we have to get a top tier PG for next season.

JVG is a delight and shows shooting skill and knowledge of the game. On her drives, however, I dislike the underarm wing fling. Perhaps she is trying to avoid a block, but she is only about 20 percent score on that seemingly futile toss up. I would rather she drive, make a conventional layup and get blocked 50 percent of the time and either fouled or make, or make and foul on the other 50 percent to increase her points in the paint. The toss from the waist and pray is not finding the basket.

fredbear said:

---

JVG is a delight and shows shooting skill and knowledge of the game. On her drives, however, I dislike the underarm wing fling. Perhaps she is trying to avoid a block, but she is only about 20 percent score on that seemingly futile toss up. I would rather she drive, make a conventional layup and get blocked 50 percent of the time and either fouled or make, or make and foul on the other 50 percent to increase her points in the paint. The toss from the waist and pray is not finding the basket.

---

The scoop shot takes a while to develop. For small players it is useful. Tony Parker employed it masterfully.

But like any "unique form" shot, it shouldn't be deployed until mastered.
Unfortunately for JVG she hasn't mastered it and her foot speed left her basic layups getting blocked at a 90% rate.

Baylor WBB desperately needs dribble drive capability to counterbalance the 3 point shooting and punish ball pressure.
But it really doesn't exist on the roster. Scott can "go left" but everyone now sits on her left hand since she can't go right. Buggs and Fontleroy are 1 dribble (max) penetrators. Second dribble results are statistically horrible. Little Johnson is a freshman that plays like a freshman.

Harsh reality but this year's roster has clear limitations and is hyper-dependent on favorable matchups.

Adriacus Peratuun said:

---

fredbear said:

---

JVG is a delight and shows shooting skill and knowledge of the game. On her drives, however, I dislike the underarm wing fling. Perhaps she is trying to avoid a block, but she is only about 20 percent score on that seemingly futile toss up. I would rather she drive, make a conventional layup and get blocked 50 percent of the time and either fouled or make, or make and foul on the other 50 percent to increase her points in the paint. The toss from the waist and pray is not finding the basket.

---

The scoop shot takes a while to develop. For small players it is useful. Tony Parker employed it masterfully.

But like any "unique form" shot, it shouldn't be deployed until mastered.
Unfortunately for JVG she hasn't mastered it and her foot speed left her basic layups getting blocked at a 90% rate.

Baylor WBB desperately needs dribble drive capability to counterbalance the 3 point shooting and punish ball pressure.
But it really doesn't exist on the roster. Scott can "go left" but everyone now sits on her left hand since she can't go right. Buggs and Fontleroy are 1 dribble (max) penetrators. Second dribble results are statistically horrible. Little Johnson is a freshman that plays like a freshman.

Harsh reality but this year's roster has clear limitations and is hyper-dependent on favorable matchups.

---

I'd add we also need a reliable three point shooter. Scott is great when she's on. But we don't have a second option that is reliant and a threat. It ruins the flow. JVG throwing up a three 10 seconds into the shot clock is something she did at least three times yesterday. Her percentages don't justify that and she shouldn't have that kind of green light.

bawitdaball said:

---

Adriacus Peratuun said:

---

fredbear said:

---

JVG is a delight and shows shooting skill and knowledge of the game. On her drives, however, I dislike the underarm wing fling. Perhaps she is trying to avoid a block, but she is only about 20 percent score on that seemingly futile toss up. I would rather she drive, make a conventional layup and get blocked 50 percent of the time and either fouled or make, or make and foul on the other 50 percent to increase her points in the paint. The toss from the waist and pray is not finding the basket.

---

The scoop shot takes a while to develop. For small players it is useful. Tony Parker employed it masterfully.

But like any "unique form" shot, it shouldn't be deployed until mastered.
Unfortunately for JVG she hasn't mastered it and her foot speed left her basic layups getting blocked at a 90% rate.

Baylor WBB desperately needs dribble drive capability to counterbalance the 3 point shooting and punish ball pressure.
But it really doesn't exist on the roster. Scott can "go left" but everyone now sits on her left hand since she can't go right. Buggs and Fontleroy are 1 dribble (max) penetrators. Second dribble results are statistically horrible. Little Johnson is a freshman that plays like a freshman.

Harsh reality but this year's roster has clear limitations and is hyper-dependent on favorable matchups.

---

I'd add we also need a reliable three point shooter. Scott is great when she's on. But we don't have a second option that is reliant and a threat. It ruins the flow. JVG throwing up a three 10 seconds into the shot clock is something she did at least three times yesterday. Her percentages don't justify that and she shouldn't have that kind of green light.

---

The "play fast" coaching is fine if it doesn't lead to poor early jumpshots. Unfortunately with this team it often does. They desperately need to learn when to push pace and when to work for a better shot. Too often we see 6-7 straight possessions where the ball never touches the paint.

the three point shooting is such a mixed bag. Deng has two settings: On and Off. Fontleroy is having a terrible statistical year. JVG shoots open 3s well, contested 3s poorly. Scott clearly needs time to heat up. Unfortunately that amount of time varies. Opponents know to crowd Scott and JVG when they have the ball. Our ability to punish ball pressure is terrible. Every other player will simply be given the three with defenders keeping a foot in the paint. We lack the will/ability to consistently roll out three 3 point shooters. Until we do dribble drive will require quickness……and we are not quick.

We have significant talent assets. But we also have significant talent flaws.
Need to find a way to get the ball into the paint consistently and need to improve D rebounding.
And if someone can start waking Scott up about a half hour earlier so that her shots are falling from the opening tip that would be great. The slow starts will start to bite us on the ass as the quality of opponents increases.

bawitdaball said:

---

I'll be frank. Been a Baylor WBB fan for years. As a response, I've become an all around fan of the game. In most other conference, Baylor has several loses. A lot. Right now they are #15 because of the level of competition. I say the same for TCU. Face a Texas. SC, Vanderbilt, LSU, UCLA - the game isn't remotely close. We are not that good. The roster is an issue; the offensive scheme is an isssue - the predictability of our passes is an issue. We have players who have been in the system for four years and still do lazy passes that they do every time down the court. I root for the ladies every game - I simply don't feel they are getting any better. I've resorted to be satisfied with being a 15-25 team and never moving past the first weekend of the tournament. Just an annoying reality. A change is needed. Winning against meh opponents doesn't excuse the produce we all see on the court. I feel I watched a high school game today. We play to the level of our opponent. Unless our opponent is good.

---

If you don't want to read a long response, don't. I would rather not post something so long, but there are just too many factors that go into what we see today, as I see it. It would really be great if we could have a roundtable discussion on all of this. I am sure that all of us would learn from it. But we are left with typing.

The change that is needed that would really make a difference is being in a different P4 conference and plenty of money to spend on players. And neither of those are happening. You could bring Mulkey back and you would still have obstacles. She might be able to squeeze some money out of people, but can do nothing about the conference. Elite players want to be in a conference that is recognized as top notch and compete against elite teams in that conference. The XII ain't it.

I and some others have pointed out all season there is a tremendous gap between the top 5 - 7 or so and everyone else. I think some are just not truly understanding that the landscape and level of the playing field of WBB has changed tremendously over what it was 5 - 10 years ago, and by vast amounts since we won our first championship in 2005.

Parity had started to raise its head several years ago just because, I think, the sport was becoming more popular and many younger girls who would turn into really good athletes starting focusing on basketball rather than soccer. As such these women now can't all go to traditionally top 10-12 schools of a decade ago, which means that many teams that were really bad in the past are getting some of these and are now at least competitive with most teams in their conference.

Then NIL and free agency came about to add more good players to the P4 mix. There are some really good players that develop at the lower divisions, just like in football. With the ease of transfer now and the allure of good money, those players can jump into the P4 mix. This I believe also put a gigantic kink and ceiling in parity making its way to the top with the limitation being money that the elite programs can provide.

Those two factors alone, to me, have no other result possible other than making more teams being capable of competing where before they were just gimmees. If nothing else they can play better defense, which makes better teams look not quite as good because these schools can field teams that are more athletic.

The difference between what I would call the elite 5 - 7 is they can afford to shell out good money to pretty much the entire roster if need be or they have the allure of a HOF coach in a top conference. Others can't do that. That creates a sizeable talent gap between the two groups.....but also a smaller range of talent levels in everybody below that level resulting in competitive games that just a few years ago would have been blowouts.

I think too many are living in the past and not objectively observing what has happened, yet still expect that nothing should change as far as how competitive we can realistically be. I hated it as much as anyone, but when KM and MR had their snit and KM stormed out, we lost the magnet that made Baylor women's basketball. That relationship would have to come to an end at some point, but I think it should have been expected to be orderly and planned as it has happened at other elite programs. Those great players didn't come to the school, they came because of the coach. When she left, the program, the players, and the fans got thrown under the bus. To believe our history would make a difference is a false assumption

The reality is that is has become more difficult to get to the second weekend of the tournament because more and more teams can realistically compete with each other in round 2. But I suspect you might find other disgruntled fans who expect past results in a new environment if you go to the boards of TN, ND, and Stanford. TN and ND got completely obliterated by UConn. TN is ranked below us and ND and Stanford are not even ranked. The common denominator is that all three, plus us, lost their HOF coach. I had always thought that ND might avoid a dip because of the aura of the school's name, but that seemingly hasn't mattered. Baylor has actually weathered the storm fairly well, and even better considering we lost the only blue-blood names in our conference and the ability for top programs to buy players has further exacerbated the situation that we never had to deal with while Kim was here.

I don't think we necessarily play to the level of our opponent. I think we do play to the level that the opponent will allow us to play, and I think that is different. I also think we have a target on our back and that increases the intensity level for opponents. I think you are discounting that the opponent is no longer a locked win because of their jersey front. We have seen individual players on some of these supposedly weaker teams that we would have liked to have years ago, but they are making the opponent more competitive.

I think that unless you want to be miserable all the time, the expectations of past glory is just that, the past and needs to be reset. This is not to say there cannot be breakthroughs, but we have money and conference working against us, especially conference, that we never had while Kim was here. The conference was not considered strong back then, but we did have a couple of blue-bloods that could attract players.

I enjoy watching the games and I yell at the TV as loud as anyone. But I don't agree that the team over the years hasn't improved since free agency has taken effect. I think the comment about "high school game" is way overboard and is demeaning to Baylor, ASU, Collen and Miller (Creme has ASU in the tournament). I do agree that any team in this conference barring a miracle will not get to the E8 and if they play one of those top 4, they are likely going to get blown away. And until those HOF coaches leave and something can be done about the overwhelming ability of teams that are able and if need be go overboard to buy whatever players they want changes, that scenario is not going to change. Unfortunately, our conference affiliation is an albatross that we have little control over.

I have no disrespect for your opinion and understand your disappointment in not reaching the level we frankly......took for granted. I think we all miss that. I just think it doesn't take in the full picture and certainly doesn't explain why Baylor's path after the loss of the magnet that made the program elite should be any different than those other teams mentioned.

Could we have a better coach than CNC, perhaps, but I don't discount the obstacles she is up against in having a better roster that wouldn't make the mistakes that can be so frustrating. And with those obstacles I also don't see a coaching change significantly changing the situation and certainly isn't even on the distant radar, unless it is her decision to ditch this insanity that has been forced on coaches and go to something else over which she has some control. The players seem to love her and we frequently have been on the short list of 2 or 3 to get truly elite HS players, but lose them to the SEC of B1G or ACC. If people in the industry did not see her in a good light, we would not be seeing that interest and coaches encouraging their players to pay a visit.

Anyway that is the way I see it and won't take up any more of your time.

.

blackie said:

---

bawitdaball said:

---

I'll be frank. Been a Baylor WBB fan for years. As a response, I've become an all around fan of the game. In most other conference, Baylor has several loses. A lot. Right now they are #15 because of the level of competition. I say the same for TCU. Face a Texas. SC, Vanderbilt, LSU, UCLA - the game isn't remotely close. We are not that good. The roster is an issue; the offensive scheme is an isssue - the predictability of our passes is an issue. We have players who have been in the system for four years and still do lazy passes that they do every time down the court. I root for the ladies every game - I simply don't feel they are getting any better. I've resorted to be satisfied with being a 15-25 team and never moving past the first weekend of the tournament. Just an annoying reality. A change is needed. Winning against meh opponents doesn't excuse the produce we all see on the court. I feel I watched a high school game today. We play to the level of our opponent. Unless our opponent is good.

---

If you don't want to read a long response, don't. I would rather not post something so long, but there are just too many factors that go into what we see today, as I see it. It would really be great if we could have a roundtable discussion on all of this. I am sure that all of us would learn from it. But we are left with typing.

The change that is needed that would really make a difference is being in a different P4 conference and plenty of money to spend on players. And neither of those are happening. You could bring Mulkey back and you would still have obstacles. She might be able to squeeze some money out of people, but can do nothing about the conference. Elite players want to be in a conference that is recognized as top notch and compete against elite teams in that conference. The XII ain't it.

I and some others have pointed out all season there is a tremendous gap between the top 5 - 7 or so and everyone else. I think some are just not truly understanding that the landscape and level of the playing field of WBB has changed tremendously over what it was 5 - 10 years ago, and by vast amounts since we won our first championship in 2005.

Parity had started to raise its head several years ago just because, I think, the sport was becoming more popular and many younger girls who would turn into really good athletes starting focusing on basketball rather than soccer. As such these women now can't all go to traditionally top 10-12 schools of a decade ago, which means that many teams that were really bad in the past are getting some of these and are now at least competitive with most teams in their conference.

Then NIL and free agency came about to add more good players to the P4 mix. There are some really good players that develop at the lower divisions, just like in football. With the ease of transfer now and the allure of good money, those players can jump into the P4 mix. This I believe also put a gigantic kink and ceiling in parity making its way to the top with the limitation being money that the elite programs can provide.

Those two factors alone, to me, have no other result possible other than making more teams being capable of competing where before they were just gimmees. If nothing else they can play better defense, which makes better teams look not quite as good because these schools can field teams that are more athletic.

The difference between what I would call the elite 5 - 7 is they can afford to shell out good money to pretty much the entire roster if need be or they have the allure of a HOF coach in a top conference. Others can't do that. That creates a sizeable talent gap between the two groups.....but also a smaller range of talent levels in everybody below that level resulting in competitive games that just a few years ago would have been blowouts.

I think too many are living in the past and not objectively observing what has happened, yet still expect that nothing should change as far as how competitive we can realistically be. I hated it as much as anyone, but when KM and MR had their snit and KM stormed out, we lost the magnet that made Baylor women's basketball. That relationship would have to come to an end at some point, but I think it should have been expected to be orderly and planned as it has happened at other elite programs. Those great players didn't come to the school, they came because of the coach. When she left, the program, the players, and the fans got thrown under the bus. To believe our history would make a difference is a false assumption

The reality is that is has become more difficult to get to the second weekend of the tournament because more and more teams can realistically compete with each other in round 2. But I suspect you might find other disgruntled fans who expect past results in a new environment if you go to the boards of TN, ND, and Stanford. TN and ND got completely obliterated by UConn. TN is ranked below us and ND and Stanford are not even ranked. The common denominator is that all three, plus us, lost their HOF coach. I had always thought that ND might avoid a dip because of the aura of the school's name, but that seemingly hasn't mattered. Baylor has actually weathered the storm fairly well, and even better considering we lost the only blue-blood names in our conference and the ability for top programs to buy players has further exacerbated the situation that we never had to deal with while Kim was here.

I don't think we necessarily play to the level of our opponent. I think we do play to the level that the opponent will allow us to play, and I think that is different. I also think we have a target on our back and that increases the intensity level for opponents. I think you are discounting that the opponent is no longer a locked win because of their jersey front. We have seen individual players on some of these supposedly weaker teams that we would have liked to have years ago, but they are making the opponent more competitive.

I think that unless you want to be miserable all the time, the expectations of past glory is just that, the past and needs to be reset. This is not to say there cannot be breakthroughs, but we have money and conference working against us, especially conference, that we never had while Kim was here. The conference was not considered strong back then, but we did have a couple of blue-bloods that could attract players.

I enjoy watching the games and I yell at the TV as loud as anyone. But I don't agree that the team over the years hasn't improved since free agency has taken effect. I think the comment about "high school game" is way overboard and is demeaning to Baylor, ASU, Collen and Miller (Creme has ASU in the tournament). I do agree that any team in this conference barring a miracle will not get to the E8 and if they play one of those top 4, they are likely going to get blown away. And until those HOF coaches leave and something can be done about the overwhelming ability of teams that are able and if need be go overboard to buy whatever players they want changes, that scenario is not going to change. Unfortunately, our conference affiliation is an albatross that we have little control over.

I have no disrespect for your opinion and understand your disappointment in not reaching the level we frankly......took for granted. I think we all miss that. I just think it doesn't take in the full picture and certainly doesn't explain why Baylor's path after the loss of the magnet that made the program elite should be any different than those other teams mentioned.

Could we have a better coach than CNC, perhaps, but I don't discount the obstacles she is up against in having a better roster that wouldn't make the mistakes that can be so frustrating. And with those obstacles I also don't see a coaching change significantly changing the situation and certainly isn't even on the distant radar, unless it is her decision to ditch this insanity that has been forced on coaches and go to something else over which she has some control. The players seem to love her and we frequently have been on the short list of 2 or 3 to get truly elite HS players, but lose them to the SEC of B1G or ACC. If people in the industry did not see her in a good light, we would not be seeing that interest and coaches encouraging their players to pay a visit.

Anyway that is the way I see it and won't take up any more of your time.

.

---

Appreciate the response - and I did read it all. I will say that while many expect or want a NC every four to five years, I do not think that is a fair expectation. I do expect us to be competitive and beat teams that do not have the quality of talent that we have. My issue isn't with the Top 5-7 - I bring them up to just point out that we really are not that great of a team. I truly don't believe we are a Top 15 team. I think we have great moments. But I think, at best, we are in the Top 20-25. That said - our players are much more athletic and talented than what we've seen the last two games. It honestly isn't even close. We won both by single digits. Passes are extremely lazy. Buggs does the exact same around-the-horn pass every time she gets the ball after it crosses half court. Every game we have 3-5 turnovers based on not errant passes, but soft passes. CNC often mentions that the ladies played great before they got tired. They should not be getting that tired, that quickly. I feel things should be meshing better by this point. And I'm not calling for CNC's job. Truly, I think she would make probably the best assistant coach at the college level. I think she is a good leader, a has tremendous basketball IQ, and her players like her. I just don't think that she has the talent to run her style of offense, and her players consistently show a lack of disciple on the offensive end. They are all fixable within her system, I'm just not fully convinced that she will ever initiate that change. And, as a I said before, I'm not sure Baylor will see the second week of the NCAA tournament during her tenure. I hope I'm wrong, I just don't see it. The only time its happened was when Baylor was paired with a second round opponent whose star player was out with an injury. And they barely pulled that off. Okay, I'm rambling now. So I'll be quiet.

bawitdaball said:

---

blackie said:

---

bawitdaball said:

---

I'll be frank. Been a Baylor WBB fan for years. As a response, I've become an all around fan of the game. In most other conference, Baylor has several loses. A lot. Right now they are #15 because of the level of competition. I say the same for TCU. Face a Texas. SC, Vanderbilt, LSU, UCLA - the game isn't remotely close. We are not that good. The roster is an issue; the offensive scheme is an isssue - the predictability of our passes is an issue. We have players who have been in the system for four years and still do lazy passes that they do every time down the court. I root for the ladies every game - I simply don't feel they are getting any better. I've resorted to be satisfied with being a 15-25 team and never moving past the first weekend of the tournament. Just an annoying reality. A change is needed. Winning against meh opponents doesn't excuse the produce we all see on the court. I feel I watched a high school game today. We play to the level of our opponent. Unless our opponent is good.

---

If you don't want to read a long response, don't. I would rather not post something so long, but there are just too many factors that go into what we see today, as I see it. It would really be great if we could have a roundtable discussion on all of this. I am sure that all of us would learn from it. But we are left with typing.

The change that is needed that would really make a difference is being in a different P4 conference and plenty of money to spend on players. And neither of those are happening. You could bring Mulkey back and you would still have obstacles. She might be able to squeeze some money out of people, but can do nothing about the conference. Elite players want to be in a conference that is recognized as top notch and compete against elite teams in that conference. The XII ain't it.

I and some others have pointed out all season there is a tremendous gap between the top 5 - 7 or so and everyone else. I think some are just not truly understanding that the landscape and level of the playing field of WBB has changed tremendously over what it was 5 - 10 years ago, and by vast amounts since we won our first championship in 2005.

Parity had started to raise its head several years ago just because, I think, the sport was becoming more popular and many younger girls who would turn into really good athletes starting focusing on basketball rather than soccer. As such these women now can't all go to traditionally top 10-12 schools of a decade ago, which means that many teams that were really bad in the past are getting some of these and are now at least competitive with most teams in their conference.

Then NIL and free agency came about to add more good players to the P4 mix. There are some really good players that develop at the lower divisions, just like in football. With the ease of transfer now and the allure of good money, those players can jump into the P4 mix. This I believe also put a gigantic kink and ceiling in parity making its way to the top with the limitation being money that the elite programs can provide.

Those two factors alone, to me, have no other result possible other than making more teams being capable of competing where before they were just gimmees. If nothing else they can play better defense, which makes better teams look not quite as good because these schools can field teams that are more athletic.

The difference between what I would call the elite 5 - 7 is they can afford to shell out good money to pretty much the entire roster if need be or they have the allure of a HOF coach in a top conference. Others can't do that. That creates a sizeable talent gap between the two groups.....but also a smaller range of talent levels in everybody below that level resulting in competitive games that just a few years ago would have been blowouts.

I think too many are living in the past and not objectively observing what has happened, yet still expect that nothing should change as far as how competitive we can realistically be. I hated it as much as anyone, but when KM and MR had their snit and KM stormed out, we lost the magnet that made Baylor women's basketball. That relationship would have to come to an end at some point, but I think it should have been expected to be orderly and planned as it has happened at other elite programs. Those great players didn't come to the school, they came because of the coach. When she left, the program, the players, and the fans got thrown under the bus. To believe our history would make a difference is a false assumption

The reality is that is has become more difficult to get to the second weekend of the tournament because more and more teams can realistically compete with each other in round 2. But I suspect you might find other disgruntled fans who expect past results in a new environment if you go to the boards of TN, ND, and Stanford. TN and ND got completely obliterated by UConn. TN is ranked below us and ND and Stanford are not even ranked. The common denominator is that all three, plus us, lost their HOF coach. I had always thought that ND might avoid a dip because of the aura of the school's name, but that seemingly hasn't mattered. Baylor has actually weathered the storm fairly well, and even better considering we lost the only blue-blood names in our conference and the ability for top programs to buy players has further exacerbated the situation that we never had to deal with while Kim was here.

I don't think we necessarily play to the level of our opponent. I think we do play to the level that the opponent will allow us to play, and I think that is different. I also think we have a target on our back and that increases the intensity level for opponents. I think you are discounting that the opponent is no longer a locked win because of their jersey front. We have seen individual players on some of these supposedly weaker teams that we would have liked to have years ago, but they are making the opponent more competitive.

I think that unless you want to be miserable all the time, the expectations of past glory is just that, the past and needs to be reset. This is not to say there cannot be breakthroughs, but we have money and conference working against us, especially conference, that we never had while Kim was here. The conference was not considered strong back then, but we did have a couple of blue-bloods that could attract players.

I enjoy watching the games and I yell at the TV as loud as anyone. But I don't agree that the team over the years hasn't improved since free agency has taken effect. I think the comment about "high school game" is way overboard and is demeaning to Baylor, ASU, Collen and Miller (Creme has ASU in the tournament). I do agree that any team in this conference barring a miracle will not get to the E8 and if they play one of those top 4, they are likely going to get blown away. And until those HOF coaches leave and something can be done about the overwhelming ability of teams that are able and if need be go overboard to buy whatever players they want changes, that scenario is not going to change. Unfortunately, our conference affiliation is an albatross that we have little control over.

I have no disrespect for your opinion and understand your disappointment in not reaching the level we frankly......took for granted. I think we all miss that. I just think it doesn't take in the full picture and certainly doesn't explain why Baylor's path after the loss of the magnet that made the program elite should be any different than those other teams mentioned.

Could we have a better coach than CNC, perhaps, but I don't discount the obstacles she is up against in having a better roster that wouldn't make the mistakes that can be so frustrating. And with those obstacles I also don't see a coaching change significantly changing the situation and certainly isn't even on the distant radar, unless it is her decision to ditch this insanity that has been forced on coaches and go to something else over which she has some control. The players seem to love her and we frequently have been on the short list of 2 or 3 to get truly elite HS players, but lose them to the SEC of B1G or ACC. If people in the industry did not see her in a good light, we would not be seeing that interest and coaches encouraging their players to pay a visit.

Anyway that is the way I see it and won't take up any more of your time.

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Appreciate the response - and I did read it all. I will say that while many expect or want a NC every four to five years, I do not think that is a fair expectation. I do expect us to be competitive and beat teams that do not have the quality of talent that we have. My issue isn't with the Top 5-7 - I bring them up to just point out that we really are not that great of a team. I truly don't believe we are a Top 15 team. I think we have great moments. But I think, at best, we are in the Top 20-25. That said - our players are much more athletic and talented than what we've seen the last two games. It honestly isn't even close. We won both by single digits. Passes are extremely lazy. Buggs does the exact same around-the-horn pass every time she gets the ball after it crosses half court. Every game we have 3-5 turnovers based on not errant passes, but soft passes. CNC often mentions that the ladies played great before they got tired. They should not be getting that tired, that quickly. I feel things should be meshing better by this point. And I'm not calling for CNC's job. Truly, I think she would make probably the best assistant coach at the college level. I think she is a good leader, a has tremendous basketball IQ, and her players like her. I just don't think that she has the talent to run her style of offense, and her players consistently show a lack of disciple on the offensive end. They are all fixable within her system, I'm just not fully convinced that she will ever initiate that change. And, as a I said before, I'm not sure Baylor will see the second week of the NCAA tournament during her tenure. I hope I'm wrong, I just don't see it. The only time its happened was when Baylor was paired with a second round opponent whose star player was out with an injury. And they barely pulled that off. Okay, I'm rambling now. So I'll be quiet.

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I guess I am to the point that my belief is that our talent is not great enough beyond some of these teams we play (ASU, Cincy on the road, CO, etc.) to allow room for error or have us have an off-night shooting. I just think those mid-level XII teams have enough to give anyone else a game on most nights because of the upgrades all of them have experienced because of the portal. On other nights, they just don't show up and get blown out. You know in the NBA, even in the playoffs, you may have a team beat one by 30 one game and then lose the next by 10. Same teams, same players. As long as you win,, that is all that matters. It certainly makes the games interesting to watch.

One of the biggest factors for us is how long can Bella and Buggs stay on the court because of fouls. Take those two out and we really get knocked back down to the talent level of these mid-tier teams.

ASU handily beat CO, but got throttled by TCU...then CO beats TCU. The talent on paper in this league just doesn't equate to anything close to predictable finishes. I am thankful for any win, close or not. The emotions will probably be high on Thursday night on both team. I think the women play with maximum effort, but no they don't have the talent of those elite top teams. And it is hard to make predictions even for the next year. We don't even know who will be on the team because of the portal.


Thank you for your genuine response, sir.

Edit....I see SC just beat TN by 43. The top is just special compared to the rest of us.