(05-02-2022 04:02 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(04-28-2022 06:52 AM)futureowldad Wrote:  I am the father of Shelby Hayes. I am excited to be in here with all of you. Been keeping up with this thread while she was being recruited. There is a wealth of RWBB in here.

https://cphswolfpack.com/top-stories/she...the-hoop/#
Nice feature on your daughter.

Very nice feature. Welcome to Owl Country.

Can't wait to see Shelby play. How was her 3 point efficiency?

(05-02-2022 06:14 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Can't wait to see Shelby play. How was her 3 point efficiency?

??? She's going to be playing in the post for us.

(05-02-2022 07:20 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-02-2022 06:14 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Can't wait to see Shelby play. How was her 3 point efficiency?

??? She's going to be playing in the post for us.

Ok good questions, she can shoot the three but her primary at CP was as a post player, but she can drain a three. She is ready to come to Rice and we are excited for her. I am sure coach will use her as she needs her and where she needs her. There is an article about her points percentage and state tournament rebounding, this is a small part of that article:

Maul and teammate Shelby Hayes, who has signed with Rice, accounted for 72% of Cedar Park's points this season and 48.4% of the team's rebounds at the state tournament.

I know that college is a quicker game but she is working hard to hit the ground running.

(05-03-2022 02:25 PM)futureowldad Wrote:  

(05-02-2022 07:20 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-02-2022 06:14 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Can't wait to see Shelby play. How was her 3 point efficiency?

??? She's going to be playing in the post for us.

Ok good questions, she can shoot the three but her primary at CP was as a post player, but she can drain a three. She is ready to come to Rice and we are excited for her. I am sure coach will use her as she needs her and where she needs her. There is an article about her points percentage and state tournament rebounding, this is a small part of that article:

Maul and teammate Shelby Hayes, who has signed with Rice, accounted for 72% of Cedar Park's points this season and 48.4% of the team's rebounds at the state tournament.

I know that college is a quicker game but she is working hard to hit the ground running.

If you would like to know a little bit more about Shelby you can read this article too.
https://cphswolfpack.com/top-stories/she...oop/#photo

(05-04-2022 02:04 PM)futureowldad Wrote:  

(05-03-2022 02:25 PM)futureowldad Wrote:  

(05-02-2022 07:20 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-02-2022 06:14 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Can't wait to see Shelby play. How was her 3 point efficiency?

??? She's going to be playing in the post for us.

Ok good questions, she can shoot the three but her primary at CP was as a post player, but she can drain a three. She is ready to come to Rice and we are excited for her. I am sure coach will use her as she needs her and where she needs her. There is an article about her points percentage and state tournament rebounding, this is a small part of that article:

Maul and teammate Shelby Hayes, who has signed with Rice, accounted for 72% of Cedar Park's points this season and 48.4% of the team's rebounds at the state tournament.

I know that college is a quicker game but she is working hard to hit the ground running.

If you would like to know a little bit more about Shelby you can read this article too.
https://cphswolfpack.com/top-stories/she...oop/#photo

We are glad to have you both.

Still no news on the Grant/Boykin tweets. Wonder if they weren't about a transfer/recruit.

Big announcement coming tomorrow or Wednesday...hopefully a really good transfer

(05-09-2022 09:33 PM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  Big announcement coming tomorrow or Wednesday...hopefully a really good transfer

Any update?

Looks like the transfer is Fatou Samb. 6-4 post who will be an academic junior. Originally from Houston and somebody who was recruited by Langley's staff as well. Funny, it's both a good addition and underwhelming. Former top-60 recruit, borderline 5-star. Obviously there's talent and potential. But clearly still developing, because she played sparingly this year for a 10-win team and saw her minutes drop considerably. She did play more in Pac-12 play (10.5 minutes versus 8.7 for the entire year), but averaged only 4 minutes in her final three games. Not going to be an offensive focal point. Took only 33 shots all season. But also not exactly as good of a shot blocker as you'd like for somebody who's 6-4 (she blocked only one shot last year and seven the year before).

More important is her role obviously. She's not like Austin, Bellamy, or Fisher, in that her role is to be anchored to the paint. She will give us a much needed paint presence on the defensive end, even if she's not as polished a defender as, say, Mulkey was when she got to Rice. Gives us lineup flexibility and a variety of looks, too. Samb and Hayes (at least while she's still working on her perimeter shot) are paint bigs. You can go to Bellamy, Austin, or even Fisher if you want to play small ball. And so on. Essentially gives Edmonds and staff another club in the bag.

Looks like the finalized roster for next year, crudely broken down by position, will be:

5: Samb* / Hayes*
4: Austin / Bellamy
3: Fisher / Stover / Clifton*
2: Bokunewicz / Crosthwait / Swayze / Ennis* / Adams*
1: Jackson / Gooden / Owens-Barnett*

Still think a few question marks prevent us from being the preseason favorite on paper. Our two true posts are both pretty unproven (Austin can obviously play the 5 but I think that hurts us defensively). Like the men's team, we opted not to add a proven ball-dominant guard, meaning we're going to again heavily rely on Jackson and hope that either (1) one of Ennis and Owens-Barnett is immediately ready or (2) Gooden takes a big step over the offseason. Even if neither of those two happens, we still should be fine against most opponents. Just not the ones that defend the perimeter well. But there's no reason to think we won't be considerably better than we were at the end of last season, and we went 9-3 in our final 12 (one of the lost being in 2OT and the other against Charlotte in the tournament, a game we could've and probably should've won). Can't wait until the season. Incredible to think that we have a chance to be super competitive just a year after Langley (and most of our roster) left.

One final note. Apologies to all math and statistics people in advance. Some crude data on how a player who transferred from a Pac 12 team performed at their new MM or LM. Average multipliers for minutes, points, rebounds, and assistants respectively: 3 (3.25 for bigs), 4.67 (5.43 for bigs), 3.55 (4 for bigs), and 2.91 (2.69 for bigs). So by that bad math, history tells us that Samb would average something like 25-30 minutes, 7-8 points and 6-7 rebounds. I think we'd all take that, though it's blatantly optimistic and based on numbers that cannot look at individual circumstances.

We're probably the #2 pick in the CUSA preseason polls next year - MTSU will likely be the #1 with their Marshall transfer. Charlotte will be losing a lot of senior firepower - I suppose if they squeeze another year from some of those seniors, they could be picked ahead of us. The conference will be losing three decent programs in USM, ODU and Marshall, so I think in general, it's going to be considered a step down from last year.

One other note on Samb to consider is that she is going to be the only scholarship Owl from the Houston area next year. We've had tons of success with our other recent D1 transfers from the Houston area coming home (the Ogwumike sisters, Iademarco, Mulkey). My guess is her numbers won't be as significant as Erika, Iademarco and Mulkey, but it's still a positive step. And it will be nice to see a full Rice women's roster for the first time in a long time (that was never a strength of Langley's roster maintenance).

One other department in which I hope Edmonds improves upon Langley is in non-conference scheduling. I'm hoping we can let bygones be bygones (whatever they were), and play Houston in the preseason. Playing TAMU is fine, although UT and BU will be much higher ranked in the 2022-23 preseason polls. And I suspect with Swayze and Crossthwait (possibly) being seniors, it would make sense to schedule a Senior game for them up in Oklahoma somewhere - be it OU, OSU or Tulsa. I also wonder if we are being considered for the preseason NIT - as 2021 postseason champs, it seems like we're due an appearance in that preseason tournament eventually.

(05-12-2022 07:26 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  One other department in which I hope Edmonds improves upon Langley is in non-conference scheduling. I'm hoping we can let bygones be bygones (whatever they were), and play Houston in the preseason. Playing TAMU is fine, although UT and BU will be much higher ranked in the 2022-23 preseason polls. And I suspect with Swayze and Crossthwait (possibly) being seniors, it would make sense to schedule a Senior game for them up in Oklahoma somewhere - be it OU, OSU or Tulsa. I also wonder if we are being considered for the preseason NIT - as 2021 postseason champs, it seems like we're due an appearance in that preseason tournament eventually.

This sounds like great news for the new season. I cant wait to see what happens. I think this will be an exciting year but I am always a glass half full person for sure.

Women's soccer, basketball and volleyball should all be elite (Top 35 nationally) later this year. Wish we could say the same of at least one of the men's big 3.

Here's the official announcement...

https://riceowls.com/news/2022/5/12/wome...-samb.aspx

I would imagine Hayes and Samb share the post spot, giving us 10 fouls down low. It also all but guarantees that Austin starts in the power forward spot with Bellamy as backup, and Fisher as the other forward. If Crosthwait and Maya are fully healthy (at shooting guard), not sure how much playing time Swayze or Stover are going to get. Going to be a new experience having so much depth. I wonder if Edmonds takes advantage of it and goes with an aggressive, full court pressing defense.

(05-12-2022 07:27 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Here's the official announcement...

https://riceowls.com/news/2022/5/12/wome...-samb.aspx

I would imagine Hayes and Samb share the post spot, giving us 10 fouls down low. It also all but guarantees that Austin starts in the power forward spot with Bellamy as backup, and Fisher as the other forward. If Crosthwait and Maya are fully healthy (at shooting guard), not sure how much playing time Swayze or Stover are going to get. Going to be a new experience having so much depth. I wonder if Edmonds takes advantage of it and goes with an aggressive, full court pressing defense.

Thank for the information about the women basketball team. They appear to be quickly reaching or exceeding the level achieved under the prior coach who lived off of transfers. They probably have more depth than ever.

(05-13-2022 02:22 PM)rice1931 Wrote:  

(05-12-2022 07:27 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Here's the official announcement...

https://riceowls.com/news/2022/5/12/wome...-samb.aspx

I would imagine Hayes and Samb share the post spot, giving us 10 fouls down low. It also all but guarantees that Austin starts in the power forward spot with Bellamy as backup, and Fisher as the other forward. If Crosthwait and Maya are fully healthy (at shooting guard), not sure how much playing time Swayze or Stover are going to get. Going to be a new experience having so much depth. I wonder if Edmonds takes advantage of it and goes with an aggressive, full court pressing defense.

Thank for the information about the women basketball team. They appear to be quickly reaching or exceeding the level achieved under the prior coach who lived off of transfers. They probably have more depth than ever.

I am a firm believer to grow a strong sucessful program you have to build the program. Taking one or two transfers is ok but the program should have a core group that buy in to take that program to the next level. That would mean recruitting and coaching kids to become better than ever thought they could be. From what I know of the kiddos that came out of Texas is that they are fearless and all champions or come from strong very sucessful programs, that is the mindset to bring into a program. I cant wait for them to come together put in the work, then show that work on the big stage. Should be a great year and fun to watch.

Not much news on the recruiting front. Still seems like the staff is after both Laci Steele and Victoria Flores, both 2023s. Steele was recently ranked by ESPN as the #56 player in her class, Flores #80. Both have seen their recruitment pick up considerably post-AAU season. Steele's recently been offered by Harvard, Princeton, Missouri, Oklahoma St, and WVU. Flores has received offers from New Mexico, Wichita St, Oklahoma St, Columbia, SMU, etc. Another Texas target, ESPN #84 Jules LaMendola, committed to Indiana a week or so ago.

New offer out to 2024 Berry Wallace, a 6-1 W ranked #58 by ESPN. Has also recently received offers from Harvard, Columbia, DePaul, Illinois, and Cincinnati. She's from Ohio.

Rickard is still our only 2023 commit. Assuming Stover and Swayze graduate next year, my guess is that we'll have one spot left in the 2023 class. Seems like the staff wants that to be Steele or Flores.

Layla Conley is also a Class of 2023 commit (another CG).

I bet you we end up with additional spots. Bellamy, Crosthwait, Jackson and Austin will all be 4th year juniors next year. But like McCurry this year, any of them could easily graduate and just decide to be done with playing (or potentially transfer as a grad transfer somewhere, but I don't think McCurry did that). It used to be 4 years would be it - it's kind of hard to get used to this new normal.

It does seem that the staff would be looking at recruiting forwards and centers over guards.

(05-26-2022 08:30 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Layla Conley is also a Class of 2023 commit (another CG).

I bet you we end up with additional spots. Bellamy, Crosthwait, Jackson and Austin will all be 4th year juniors next year. But like McCurry this year, any of them could easily graduate and just decide to be done with playing (or potentially transfer as a grad transfer somewhere, but I don't think McCurry did that). It used to be 4 years would be it - it's kind of hard to get used to this new normal.

It does seem that the staff would be looking at recruiting forwards and centers over guards.

Good call on Conley, forgot about her. And she had a good season, too. Really productive for a decent Texas HS. The staff still recruiting 2023 tells us that the expectation is somebody beyond Swayze and Stover departing. Would probably agree about looking front court but if the staff feels like it can land a ranked recruit, can't really argue with that. Also possible that Rickard might no longer be committed. Her Twitter account hasn't been updated in a year, so hard to find information about her.