GLORY ROAD

WITH JUST TWO WEEKS until its season opener, the Longhorn women’s basketball team practiced at the Erwin Center, complete with referees and an opposing team of college-aged men. When a foul stopped play, first-year head coach Karen Aston ran out onto the floor to instruct her players on what she wanted them to do before every free throw in a game.

“Every time someone goes to the line, you’re going to huddle right here on the foul line,” Aston said. “Not over there …

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[pointing below the rim], not there [pointing outside of the 3-point line], right here. Huddle up and look over at the bench to find out what defense we’re going to set.” The players acknowledged the instruction and huddled at the appointed spot.

A few plays later, a foul call came at the opposite end of the court and the boys prepared to shoot a free throw. The players went to huddle up again, but Aston quickly pointed out that they would only do that when the Longhorns shot the fouls. The small moment of instruction may seem trivial, but in the long run, every tiny piece of information will play an important role as the team quickly ingrains Aston’s style of basketball into every facet of its play.

The revival of the women’s basketball team began after the conclusion of the 2011-12 season. The Longhorns managed to qualify for the NCAA tournament, but departed immediately after a first-round loss to West Virginia (68-55).

On March 19, head coach Gail Goestenkors stepped down, having never advanced a Longhorn squad past the first round in her four seasons at Texas. At the time, she said she no longer felt she had the physical or emotional fire in her heart to give the program the energy it deserved. Women’s Athletic Director Chris Plonsky handed the reins to Aston on April 3. Aston quickly set about remodeling the house that Jody Conradt built over her 30-year coaching career at Texas.

The hiring served as a homecoming for Aston because she knew the house intimately — she served as an assistant and associate head coach for Conradt from 1998 to 2007.  Hiring her staff became Aston’s first order of business. She brought on former Longhorn player Travis Mays as her associate head coach and two more assistants, George Washington — an established prep coach from the Houston area — and Jalie Mitchell — a former standout player at North Texas and assistant to Aston during last season at UNT.

Aston also hired former Texas players Amie Smith Bradley and Stacy Stephens to serve as special assistants to the team. “The biggest piece to your success as a head coach is your coaching staff and who you surround yourself with,” Aston said. “And I hit a homerun with my staff.”

Already a few months into his time back on the 40 Acres, Mays said he feels just excited as the day he got the job. “Everybody asks how it feels to be back at Texas,” Mays said. “And I tell them it’s priceless.”

During spring practice, Aston could tell her team had quality basketball skills but needed to improve their physical strength and conditioning. She rounded out her staff by hiring Shaun McPherson as the strength and conditioning assistant. McPherson had valuable experience. He trained numerous sports at Baylor during his decade of work there — including the 2005 national championship team. “You have to have a strength coach that  reflects your personality and gets your team prepared for what they’re going to see in fall practice,” Aston said, “and Shaun understands my style and knows that we want to play uptempo. He knows how to get the team in shape for such a system.”

According to Aston, the players bought into the intensive training and stayed in Austin throughout the summer, working with McPherson to improve their conditioning and speed. Full blown practices started in early October, and the team went to work learning the ins and outs of Aston’s fast-paced, defensively oriented style of play. “We have a long way to go, but we’re trying every day to get better and get where we need to be,” she said. In the early going, Aston said that senior post Cokie Reed and sophomore forward Nneka Enemkpali impressed her the most.

Only three of the Longhorns will enter this season with Division I playing experience, while seven total freshmen and transfer players joined the team. That batch of newcomers includes freshman Empress Davenport, a 2012 5A State Tournament MVP out of Duncanville, and Imani McGee-Stafford a 6’7” center from Los Angeles.

Both players made their presence known on the court during practices. “[In practice] Empress is by far the best defender on the court today, and she’ll log alot of minutes with me just because of that,” Aston said. “The youth will be there. You’ll see mistakes, but she clearly can guard the basketball and do things defensively that will disrupt another team.

My style feeds into that.” “Imani has an extremely high ceiling,” she added. “I’ve been impressed with her knowledge of the game. She has a very good basketball IQ, which Empress does also. She answers questions correctly and asks questions, which is unusual for a freshman.” With her height, McGee-Stafford inescapably draws comparisons to Big 12 and nationally renowned Baylor power player Brittney Griner, and Aston thinks McGee-Stafford could earn her own national reputation one day.

For now, learning the ropes of Aston’s system is the freshman’s number one priority. “In high school I was a defensive player. Now I’m trying to accustom myself to being an offensive player,” McGee-Stafford said. “I was more of a rebounder put-back-and-pass to my teammates type of player. I’m stepping into my roles as being an offensive player on this team.” While the newcomers will likely see plenty of playing time this year, Texas will depend on its veteran starters for both points and leadership.

Look for junior Chassidy Fussell and Reed  as two players to fill that role. Fussell has started all but one game for Texas (63 starts) and has averaged 16.2 points per game over her career. Due to injuries Reed played inconsistently in the past, but she should play a pivotal role down low for the Longhorns this year.

Reed has also stepped up as a leader for the team, and mentors the younger players. “She’s kind of like a mother hen to these girls,” Aston said. “None of the players other than Nneka [Enemkpali] and Anne Marie [Hartung] have been in the fire too much. She has tried to help the younger ones along the way. I’m proud of her.” That leadership feeds directly into Texas’ season motto of “teamwork.”

Instead of depending on one or two star players to carry the team, the Longhorns hope to win 20 plus games as a team this season. The squad’s other goals include finishing in the top three of the Big 12, making the NCAA tournament and advancing past the first round. “It’s huge,” Reed said, “because the past three years that I’ve been here we haven’t made it past the first round. I’m not worried because with the changes we’ve had, we have a better chance. And the coaching style that Coach A brings to us, it will help.” From top to bottom, the players adopted the “teamwork” philosophy, and Aston hopes  the attitude will transfer from practice to game day. “We’ve talked about sharing the ball,” she said. “I think teams that share the ball — I was talking to Jody about our 2003 team and how unselfish they were — those are teams that are enjoyable to watch and enjoyable to coach.”

Fans can expect to see a fast-paced, more defensive-oriented style of basketball from the Longhorns this season. The intensity of the practices has increased greatly as opposed to last year, according to Fussell. The junior guard said she felt like they were a track team instead of a basketball team. Her eyes got big when talking about the coach’s focus on defense, and how much her defensive skills improved over the summer. “I used to not care about defense,” Fussell said. “When Coach Aston got in here that all changed. All she cares about is defense, because defense is offense.” Davenport said the style will be more “run and gun, get the ball out quick in transition, and play good defense.” “When we get the ball off the net, we’re already down at the other end of the court,” she said.

TEXAS STARTED its season at the the WBI Tip Off Classsic Nov. 9-10 in Daytona Beach, Fla. where they beat then No. 14 St. Johns 70-60 and Hofstra 72-52. The earned them a No. 19 ranking in the next week’s AP top 25. The Longhorns face UCLA at Houston’s Reliant Stadium Dec. 8. The team returns home to host Tennessee Dec. 16, and will finish off pre-conference play at Maggie Dixon Surf ‘n’ Slam Classic Dec. 28-30 in San Diego, Calif.. Big 12 play begins Jan. 2 against Iowa State in Ames.

The Longhorns will face a highly touted group of conference opponents, with Aston calling the Big 12 the toughest conference in the nation for women’s basketball — without question. “The Big 12 is always a battle,” Reed said, “and I think it’s going to be really fun this year.” That’s in large part due to conference foes such as Big 12 stalwart Baylor, who will defend its championship crown and No. 1 position in the preseason polls.

Three other Big 12 teams held pre-season Top 25 spots, including Oklahoma(No.12) and West Virginia(No.17). If all goes as planned, Aston’s remodeling will do more than just make the Longhorn team stronger, faster and more team-oriented. When mid-March rolls around, Texas plans to still be playing in the NCAA tournament.

 

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