57Bear said:

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Eba said:

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We will be good though, but I do believe we will be less dominant in a lot of wins.

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Perhaps dominance is important for rankings, wins are important for championships.

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It is if you are climbing the ladder...however if you are a recognized power like we are and coming off a National Championship we will get plenty of respect and a loss or two to a good or great opponent won't knock us down as much.

It is hard to put into words what I am trying to say...but having a Griner and a Brown sometimes allowed us to get a win that perhaps we would not have becasue of an off game...sometimes if you struggling a bit going inside to your dominant 6' 7" - 6'8" low post who is shooting more than 60% was just what you needed to pull out a win. There are other things and we certainly have other weapons to go to in a clutch situation just not this one this year. Do we have that shooter that can knock down the three pointer when we have to have it, do we have someone who can take the ball inside and maybe draw a foul, do we have that spot up shooter who will knock down shots for us, can we create a running game that wears teams down late in the game.I am pretty sure we do and we can...teams don't have to scheme to stop a Brown or a Griner most teams have at least two or three 6'3" to 6' 4" players to match up with our size now.

TXtoCO said:

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BU71 said:

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To me the question is how will we replace the absence of a 6'7" All American, I think the combination of Cox, Smith and Egbo along with the addition of DeGrate an the growth of Bickle will make us formidable up front. Cooper will take up where Jackson left off, in her own way. DeCosta takes a giant step forward and Didi's offense keeps growing. I expect each player on the roster to be better this season. Much to the chagrin of the rest of WBB BU has a very good chance to make it back to the FF.

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We won't replace Brown, we will reinvent how we play. I think Egbo also takes a giant leap this season.

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AGREED !!!

SirBearALot said:

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Queen and Smith !. DeGrate will be more of an asset than some realize. Big body at 6.6 is a nice addition at the right time!

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Very good point...I was super excited we got DeGrate for the extra size and depth...it will be interesting to see how she does with our system and coaching...

For those in the know...how tall is she really? from pictures I just don't think she is 6'6"...I am guessing a shade over 6'4" and Queen is a shade under....I also wonder in LC is not a little bigger than 6'4"?

lawdog1968 said:

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That was a beast mode game for Te'a Cooper!!!!

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Thats ridiculous. Amazing!

27 points vs UConn
Jan 9, 2020

Ok...this kid is fearless and I am so happy to have her! She played big on a big stage.

Can we talk about her entry passes to the post though...oh my gosh..they were awful...not to take away from her clutch shooting and defense...she had 7 TO's and most of them were incredibly horrible attempts at feeding our Posts.

She is a deadly shooting / scoring guard trying to learn the point guard position...hopefully she continues to improve in that area! As a team we only had 10 TO's which is great on the road against a team like UCONN but Cooper had 7!

As great a win as that was...and as great as Cooper played..there are areas of our team which will only improve over the year we could be really good by end of year....

Noticed the same on entry passes but some (not all) of that is on the Post. Brown was good at taking up space and creating angles for passes in addition to her height. But agreed it needs to improve if we want to play the way Kim likes to play.

greatdivide said:

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Noticed the same on entry passes but some (not all) of that is on the Post. Brown was good at taking up space and creating angles for passes in addition to her height. But agreed it needs to improve if we want to play the way Kim likes to play.

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True,
EBall is right some of Coopers passes looked terrible but Lauren and her have not had the practice time together yet that Chloe, Brown and Cox had so Cooper who is a pin point passer when you took at the totality of her work was vs U Conn a little to fast and was trying to put the ball where she thought Cox was going to be and the timing is not there yet but it will be - the two of them are too talented for it not to come together.
We had several other passes that sailed past the intended teammate from other players but I like their idea and effort behind making that pass - I hate turnovers as much as CKM but this is a phenomenal passing team now that is only going to get better !!
I cant wait for March to get here - Fast breaks, 3 Balls from several shooters, drives to the basket, suffocating defense, face to the basket post play and not to be left out traditional BU back to the basket post play.

Many of Cooper's turnovers looked like they came from her being over aggressive. I think her vision is there, but she still has to get the execution and timing down. That's better than it being the other way around. She's still learning the position so hopefully she continues to settle in.

I will also reiterate that I love Cooper and without her we lose last nights game. I just was pointing out in all the good there are things to work on. I was quite worried to start because if you remember she missed most of her early shots. We are a really good team now with the potential to be great !

Eball said:

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I will also reiterate that I love Cooper and without her we lose last nights game. I just was pointing out in all the good there are things to work on. I was quite worried to start because if you remember she missed most of her early shots. We are a really good team now with the potential to be great !

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Agreed. We will be fine - Chloe had some ugly games but she was ready for the bright lights when it was time. Coop will be too. I am concerned about Juicy though a pattern is emerging and I do not like the trend line - I hope she can turn it around by tournament time.

Bearprof said:

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Even if Juicy doesn't score consistently, she is a good defender and a superior rebounder for a guard. I have no worries about her ability to contribute.

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Absolutely and that is what I love about her game. But she needs to be a real threat by shooting at the 40.0% she is capable of not the 23% her total big game history to date.
She is too good of a shooter no matter how much defensive focus she draws to be just a decoy. We are going to need her threes come tournament time as well as Cooper, Moon and Cox maybe even Bickel

Jan 22, 2020 @ TCU

vs Kansas on Feb 5, 2020

15 points. 3 3PT. 2 assists. 2 rebounds. 2 steals. 1 block. 21 minutes.

#4 Te'a Cooper and #25 KSU's Jasauen Beard

@ Kansas State on Feb 8, 2020

"Redshirt freshman center Ayoka Lee, who had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, hit a pair of free throws that made it a 46-36 game with 5:20 left.

But, Baylor stopped the run with back-to-back buckets by Te'a Cooper and Smith and held on for another road win."

- Baylor WBB website

setshot said:

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Te'a struggled for much of the game at the offensive end, and was a little wild with her shot at times, but her defense was stellar, nonetheless. She managed to score in the second half at times that were extremely helpful. Clearly, Coach Mulkey has confidence in her, though she was on her rather vigorously during one timeout in the second half. I think that Cooper got the message, because she cleaned up her game shortly thereafter.

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You noticed that vigorous talk too.
In all fairness she and DiDi were mugged in the paint on several paint penetrations and no call. Cooper tries to do too much sometimes - everyone made bad passing decisions with the ball and rebounding was not up to Baylor standards probably because of the extreme physical play that was ignored for the most part by the officals.
I am just glad we got out of that game without someone getting hurt.

blueeyedbear said:

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You noticed that vigorous talk too.
In all fairness she and DiDi were mugged in the paint on several paint penetrations and no call. Cooper tries to do too much sometimes - everyone made bad passing decisions with the ball and rebounding was not up to Baylor standards probably because of the extreme physical play that was ignored for the most part by the officals.
I am just glad we got out of that game without someone getting hurt.

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This!