RebKell's Junkie Boards

[swok34]

OU fan here who agrees that I wouldn't rank Oklahoma that high. Now while I do think both Ashley and Courtney will have an impact in the Big XII, we are losing Dionnah Jackson........and relying on two junior point guards to carry the load..........and I don't see you mention Leah Rush.
I'm not sure who's playing what spot, but this will be the starting lineup next season:

Britney Brown
Erin Higgins
Ashley Paris
Leah Rush
Courtney Paris

I'd put the Big XII like this myself, given that's it's April

1. Baylor
2. Texas Tech
3. Oklahoma or Texas

The thing about what Baylor did with the squad they had that could or could not happen at Oklahoma or Texas is that all important factor:

Chemistry. I think it's a tangent of a team that can't be measured until January. And it was that very tangent that landed OU in San Antonio in 2002.

I have heard that we are recruiting a JUCO guard, but I'm not sure she's a point guard. If we find a stud point guard along the way, I might change my mind. I've always liked Britney and she played well her last three games inserted in the starting lineup and slid Dionnah to the off-guard position. Just don't know if I'm sold that she can *lead* when she's had very little playing time.

[beknighted]

Just dropping by from the ESPN board, but here are some thoughts about RU, offense, Ajavon and Vaughn:

1. Ajavon's problem isn't that she doesn't have enought assists (she led the team with 121, or 3.4/game, and had 4.2/game in BEast play, 4th in the league), but that she has too many turnovers (she also led the team in this category). The TO problem largely is because she throws a lot of, shall we say, low-percentage passes. This should improve next year, and I would guess both that TOs will go down and that assists will go up.

2. RU's scoring is related as much to the team's defensive style of play as to offensive problems. There are fewer possessions in an RU game than in most other games, so naturally the scoring is lower. Even in 1999-2000, RU scored 70 or more points only 7 times in the regular season, including once in overtime (and lost one of those games, to boot). That said, I think that the offense does need to improve and to get away from the static periods when they forget how to run the half court. Strangely enough, I think they run the half court better when they're getting turnovers, almost as if they get energized by them.

3. If Vaughn can play significant minutes (25+/game), then I think she'll have a big impact on RU's offense because that will allow Essence Carson and Michelle Campbell to play their natural positions (the 3 and the 4, respectively), which will make them more valuable offensively. Carson played the 4 all year, sacrificing her offensive game in the process, but still averaging better than 8 ppg as a frosh.

I'm comfortable with RU in the top 10 for next year, certainly, but I'm not sure I like having the team ranked quite so high, as it already was hard enough to sneak up on people this year.