Or were Techsters just not invited?
(Please pardon if this has been asked and answered elsewhere.)
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Or were Techsters just not invited?
(Please pardon if this has been asked and answered elsewhere.)
We were not invited. After we declined several years ago, the WAC established a new rule stating that nobody could decline a WNIT bid. We were terrible this year and didn't deserve a bid. We had an RPI of 171 and were the 4th best team in Louisiana behind LSU, Tulane, and McNeese State.
I don't know for sure, but I doubt we were invited. USU got the auto bid. Our RPI was not high enough (171), record not good enough (17-15), and the WAC overall was a very weak conference (25th), and got blown out in the WAC tourney finals.
I don't see how we could have.
werent close to being invited
But the future looks bright, right? It must have been really bad before Spoon took over if we are supposedly better now. :icon_wink:
Geesh............ We had a down year........Originally Posted by BruceWillisDawg
How is Demi doing?
Under Coach Long (the last season for him, Spoon took over mid season):
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (WAC) (2005–2009) 2005–06 Louisiana Tech 26–5 15–1 1st NCAA First Round 2006–07 Louisiana Tech 17–13 12–4 T–1st – 2007–08 Louisiana Tech 16–15 9–7 T–4th – 2008–09 Louisiana Tech 12–11 4–4 – – Louisiana Tech: 71–44 40–16 Total: 71–44 National champion Conference regular season champion Conference tournament champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Conference division champion
Spoons Record at Tech (first season was salvaging a 4-4 conference record):
Westchester Phantoms (ABA) (2007–2008) Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (WAC) (2009–present) 2008–09 Louisiana Tech 9–2 8–0 T–1st WNIT Second Round 2009–10 Louisiana Tech 23–9 11–5 2nd NCAA First Round 2010–11 Louisiana Tech 24–8 15–1 1st NCAA First Round 2011–12 Louisiana Tech 17–15 8–6 3rd Louisiana Tech: 73–34 42–12 Total: 73–34 National champion Conference regular season champion Conference tournament champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Conference division champion
You can explain Long's success pretty easily with Budke's recruits. It progressively went down from there. There was
lots of infighting amongst the team that next to the last year, as well.
Spoon pulled it together and went undefeated in conference after Long was released. She needs her recruits, though. I think we have seen flashes of her players this year, but they were all so young. Even 2 of our 4 seniors only played 2 years for us. I am looking forward to next year and that should be the real proving ground for her. She has already done an outstanding job with recruiting, although I would love to see Broome and Caples added to the mix. Whitney Frazier is going to be a star. I am hoping that Lulu Perry can jump right in and contribute early. We need Anderson to really step it up this year. I would love to see Barmore step in and just work one on one with her.
One could say that we started a decline after Budke left, but the decline (just in my opinion) started with Budke. He kept us in the top 20 and going strong one year up to the Elite 8, I think. However, he seemed to go after a lot of JUCO's and we couldn't build around just that. We needed more 4 year players more heavily in the mix.
Long was left with a depleted roster by his second year. I don't think of him as a great recruiter, although we did get Dowdell and Johnson under him. Those were great additions. We have not had a Betty Lennox/TJ/Erica Smith/etc.. type player since the ones that Barmore recruited. I think Lulu Perry is that type of talent, so kudo's to Spoon for that.
Now, we need to coach up our players we have and add some depth. I think this next year for Spoon will show what she can do. With about 2 more stars, we could be back to top 20 action, I hope........
Nice writeup! Way more work than I would ever attempt for a message board.
I agree with you that next year will be a good year, because I believe the guard play will be more consistent, but I don't think any team can be great without a strong inside player.
Anderson can be that person, and I am pulling for her! For the nay sayers, no one thought Colby could improve enought to help the football team, but he did, so why not Anderson for the Lady Techsters?
AGREED! Anderson has MY VOTE!!
I hope Anderson can do it. I have a feeling she is going to have some help inside too, though. She made a lot of progress from last year to this one. She really is improving. Gotta get tougher on that defense and go strong to the basket on offense. She showed a few moves that were impressive. If we get a big inside recruit, I think the two of them can bring us back with the great guard play. I want to see two bigs inside and Whitney playing the 3 spot. If Lulu can step right in, put her in the 2. This will be fun to watch! Caples and Broome are still hopefuls to me plus the transfer that I can't ever remember the name of.... It has been stated many times that she outplayed just about everyone in practices.
Oh, and if you look at the pattern, you do not see a coach in decline - you see a coach that had a rough year. Long had a clear pattern - you can see it on the W/L column. Spoon does not have that pattern.
Tech finished 1-7 against Top 100 RPI teams, only 4-9 against the RPI Top 150, and 13-6 against teams worse than 150 RPI...no way to sugarcoat that. Barely .500 against the 207th best schedule just won't get it done.
Tech's 15 losses were to teams that had a Division I record of just 243-188 when not playing Tech. Take the three losses to Fresno out of that, and the other 12 losses were to teams under .500 against D-I...168-173 when not playing Tech.
I didn't see anything in Champ's post to indicate he was sugar coating this year's record, nor did I. As I have said before I think the senior class played to the best of their ability, but they were not consistently good enough to measure up to many of the Techster teams of the past. I am sure no one is more disappointed about that than the young ladies who gave it their best in each of those losses.
One thing for sure this year's record doesn't have anything to do with next year. That team is history, next year's Techsters will create their own legacy, and since I can't see the future I choose to believe that next year's team will be more successful, and like Champ I choose to salute the senior class who suffered through what they had to consider a disappointing season this year.
No post in this thread was quoted, so my comments were not directly referencing any other comments made.
Next year's talent level may arguably be better than this year's. But with significantly less experience available, a similar performance to this year's by the coaching staff will mean little or no overall improvement. Doesn't matter how good the talent is if every player isn't being coached to reach maximum potential.
I have seen some freshmen around the country do very well this year. We are all hoping that our freshmen and our returning players (with experience now) will be able to bring the Techsters a great year. I am tired of dwelling on this year. I am all about next year now....
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