Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Notes from Gary Blair interview
* Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman trophy is about more than just football. Manziel winning the Heisman is about the branding of Texas A&M University on a national level. Every other coach on campus is talking about Manziel and the success of the football team this year to their recruits. The first thing those recruits want to talk about is Manziel, and that attention only helps the other coaches when it comes to holding the interest of their recruits.
* In the last four games, his staff has been able to teach the girls more and more about the game. Some people ask why they couldn’t have played these four games before facing the three top-10 teams they opened with, but he knows that as a champion, you play whoever whenever the television dates are open. The team is playing better since starting 0-3 against those top-10 teams, and their thought of the day is that they have a chemistry final on Saturday against TCU.
* On Tuesday, they made a good Louisiana Tech team look about as bad as they possibly could. He was hurting because he is proud of the Louisiana Tech tradition that he was once part of as an assistant coach. When you’re up 43-6 at the half, it shows that A&M’s kids were ready to play from the start.
* It’s very hard to lose a good player like Alexia Standish during the season. They didn’t only lose a good player, but a good person as well. She has meant a whole lot to this program, and this is different than when the men lost Jamal Branch to St. John’s around this time last year because Branch was just starting his freshman year, while Standish has been in the program for a while. Standish was not happy playing, but she is happy at Texas A&M. He is excited and happy for Standish that school is going to be first in her life right now and he would love to see her get a degree. There are no hard feelings at all and he believes that Standish has a lot of basketball left still in front of her.
* Sometimes you just have to seize the moment, and that’s exactly what Peyton Little did on Tuesday against Louisiana Tech. When they run the offense correctly, it allows players like Little to get open looks from beyond the arc. Little’s success on Tuesday night was a team effort because it takes penetration by the point guards or a solid outlet pass off a rebound to get her those looks.
* Playing TCU allows A&M to gain a bunch of RPI points since the Horned Frogs are a Big 12 team. TCU is a little down in the post, but has a point guard who can shoot the ball well. A&M always has great matchups with TCU, and he looks forward to playing them because the Horned Frogs are one of the only Big 12 schools that will schedule A&M right now. A&M needs to be able to get the ball inside, and hopefully Little and Courtney Williams will be able to hit some threes when they start sagging on the post players.
Gary Blair discusses win over La Tech, departure of Standish
Notes from Gary Blair interview
* Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman trophy is about more than just football. Manziel winning the Heisman is about the branding of Texas A&M University on a national level. Every other coach on campus is talking about Manziel and the success of the football team this year to their recruits. The first thing those recruits want to talk about is Manziel, and that attention only helps the other coaches when it comes to holding the interest of their recruits.* In the last four games, his staff has been able to teach the girls more and more about the game. Some people ask why they couldn’t have played these four games before facing the three top-10 teams they opened with, but he knows that as a champion, you play whoever whenever the television dates are open. The team is playing better since starting 0-3 against those top-10 teams, and their thought of the day is that they have a chemistry final on Saturday against TCU.
* On Tuesday, they made a good Louisiana Tech team look about as bad as they possibly could. He was hurting because he is proud of the Louisiana Tech tradition that he was once part of as an assistant coach. When you’re up 43-6 at the half, it shows that A&M’s kids were ready to play from the start.
* It’s very hard to lose a good player like Alexia Standish during the season. They didn’t only lose a good player, but a good person as well. She has meant a whole lot to this program, and this is different than when the men lost Jamal Branch to St. John’s around this time last year because Branch was just starting his freshman year, while Standish has been in the program for a while. Standish was not happy playing, but she is happy at Texas A&M. He is excited and happy for Standish that school is going to be first in her life right now and he would love to see her get a degree. There are no hard feelings at all and he believes that Standish has a lot of basketball left still in front of her.
* Sometimes you just have to seize the moment, and that’s exactly what Peyton Little did on Tuesday against Louisiana Tech. When they run the offense correctly, it allows players like Little to get open looks from beyond the arc. Little’s success on Tuesday night was a team effort because it takes penetration by the point guards or a solid outlet pass off a rebound to get her those looks.
* Playing TCU allows A&M to gain a bunch of RPI points since the Horned Frogs are a Big 12 team. TCU is a little down in the post, but has a point guard who can shoot the ball well. A&M always has great matchups with TCU, and he looks forward to playing them because the Horned Frogs are one of the only Big 12 schools that will schedule A&M right now. A&M needs to be able to get the ball inside, and hopefully Little and Courtney Williams will be able to hit some threes when they start sagging on the post players.
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