January 30, 2026 • 22 mins
After a victory over Florida in Gainesville, Texas Women's Basketball head coach Vic Schaefer joins the show to share his latest thoughts on his team.
They discuss the impact of sellout crowds at Moody Center, the challenges of putting together the right rotation, and even some situational basketball (and music) philosophy!
They discuss the impact of sellout crowds at Moody Center, the challenges of putting together the right rotation, and even some situational basketball (and music) philosophy!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Here on a Friday afternoon, but a classic Southern rock
from the.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Marshall Tucker Band here with us. The reason I.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Asked Jake to play this this particular number, heard it
in the Love Song, which is a mega hit back
in the mid seventies, and the reason.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Why I asked him it was twofold.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
First of all, my broadcast partner Longhorn baseball Keith Morland.
When he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the
nineteen seventy five Major League Draft. He had reported Winston Salem,
North Carolina as a member of the Spartanburg Phillies and
they had a game against Winston Salem Red Sox and
his first minor league game got a couple of hits.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
When it was over, his teammates took.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Him to Bowman Gray Stadium, which is where the NASCAR Class.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Is supposed to happen this weekend, to see.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Marshall Tucker Band and Lyonard skinnerd there. The other reason
why I bring this up is our next guest. It
has been well established that he has wide range and
taste in music, and that includes Southern rock. Vick Schaffer,
the Texas Women's head coach, wins. Did I remember that correctly?
You'd like yourself from Southern.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Rock, right, no questions all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
That's good stuff. Good stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
If you had a favorite genre of music that you
enjoy as much as anything, what would that be?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm a I'm a a C D c uh, I
like a little deaf leopard every now and then. I'm
I'm just that generation, right, that's uh? That that that
rock and roll you know some Oh h, I tell
you that the Greatest Earth Winding Fire is the greatest
(01:40):
concert I've ever been to here, and it was here
at Austin. I mean that group was just put on
a show. But that's the music that I really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
By the way, and Vick, I don't know if you
saw it, they're coming back with Lionel Richie to do
a show.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I've I've already called and found out if when I
can get tickets there.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You go, all right, getting tickets might be quite the
prospect for long run fans to try to do for
this Sunday's game against Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
We'll get to that in a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I want to go back to last night's game when
you and I visited before the game. I asked you
about the kind of the mystery and the u and
the extemporaneous quality of playing your first game in eleven days,
and and you said you were kind of anxious to
see because you'd had some good practices. And for being
completely honest here, I remember several times where you told
(02:31):
me you weren't real happy with the shoot around the
game day, but you were happy yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What did you see yesterday that.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Gave you the indication that the team was going to
go out and play well last night.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, I thought our three days of preparation was pretty good.
I thought we were really locked in, focused. I thought
our coaches did a good job with a scout and
and so, and then shoot around, I thought those kids
were really really locked in. So, you know, sometimes you
get a feel for that, and I just, you know,
(03:03):
I told them before we went to the Florida, you're
the fourth ranked team in the country.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Go play like it. And we didn't play like it
all night.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
We had two men turnovers early, but we did start
taking care of the ball in the second half and
scored eighty eight points.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That's a good sign, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And you had an explosive second quarter where you really
got the transition game going outscored in twenty six to twelve.
There was one sequence or late first quarter, early second quarter,
and I described it on the air as an old
broadcaster term, but I think coaches understand it as well,
hully gully, because things were going back and forth at
a breakneck pace and neither team could get into a rhythm.
(03:39):
When your team gets kind of it with it, either
by their own you know, initiative or drawn into something
like that, you know how difficult is to get them
to settle back into the game, even though you want
them playing at that real up tempo pace and causing
the problems they clearly caused for Florida defensively.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, we we practice that way.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We have a game called Longhorn that we run every day.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We run it back to back, four.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Minutes NonStop, and we just you know, we really worked
hard on our transition game going into this game, and
I thought we got some good transition early against them,
and then the big thing too, we really kept them
out of transition and that was a concern because when
McGill's in the open floor in transition, man, that's when
(04:33):
she can really get you and I thought Rory was
so special last night guarding her. Took that responsibility and
forced her into nine turnovers, and I think the kid
went six for sixteen, but she scored two of those
six after Rory came out of the game. So she's
(04:54):
such a good player, tough matchup, and so it's U
you know about Rory was really good last time on her.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Birthday, no doubt about it. Uh Vic Shaefer joining us
here on the zone. I want to go a little
bit off topic, at least as it pertains to your
specific team, and it kind of does in a related way,
But I wanted to ask you a couple of things.
First of all, general philosophy question, because this seems to
pop up more and more, whether you're talking about the
(05:24):
men's game of the women's game. And I don't think
we've ever talked about this before. But you're up three,
there's under ten seconds to go in the game. The
other team is inbounding. Maybe they maybe they got the
time out called and they're inbounding in the front court.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Maybe not.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Do you have a regular strategy on whether to foul
based if they're going link to the floor or if
they're inbounding at the hash, they're in the front court.
What's your what's your thought and your philosophy on that?
If you're up three, do you foul? Do you up foul?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah? I think again, if you if you've got a
foul to give.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And they're going to full to the floor, maybe you
get them with you know, five seconds on the floor.
But my problem with that is you got to trust
somebody to get them without getting tricked into them.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Taking a shot from anywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And I've always been a guy that, hey, we're gonna,
we're gonna play it out, we're gonna we're gonna defend
a three.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Point line, because.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
What I don't want to happen is they go the
line make one out of two because we filed and
put them at the line for a two shot file.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It's not even one in one anymore.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's too Then you don't block out, they get an
and they get a rebound in an and one, and
now you lose by one because you didn't block out.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
On free throw line.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
To me, that's that's a worse risk than somebody throwing
in a three.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
To tie you.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And and so I just I've always.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Been that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Is it is it also made more problematic these days
by the and one being folded in now to the
to the few playbooks, so to speak. As they're watching
the continuation thing. And we saw a little bit of
it last night, and I've seen a lot of it
on the men's side as well. But is that also
something else that has to be factored in the philosophy
(07:13):
and whether you're fouling or not, or even just defending,
to make sure you're not getting someone into continuation situation?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, I mean yeah, you start letting people put their
you know, opinion on something or what they saw versus
what's reality. It's just it's really it's really difficult, and
it magnifies everything you do. So again I try to
control as much as I can. And again, our players,
(07:44):
we didn't execute it very well against Ole Miss here.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We didn't get the.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Switch right and they got off a shot. But I
just have a lot of confidence in our team and
we'll do and how we do it.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Talking basketball with Vik Schaefer here on thirteen hundred the
Zone with regard to your team, and I asked you
last night, I said's about the healthiest you've been in
a while, and you said, perhaps maybe even throughout the
course of the season. How does that affect what you
want to do with your rotation? How and the relative
depth because you've got a lot of depth.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Now, and you know, and.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
And gives you lots of different options whether you're going
bigger or smaller based on the opponent and the game situation.
But now that you've got pretty much a completely healthy team,
how does that impact what you're examining in terms of
your rotation and how deep you're going.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah, I think I'm still trying to figure that out.
You know, we've we've got obviously getting crumped back really
adds an offensive dimension to our team that we really need.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Last night she was game changer.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And you know, she came in and really did a
good job. Five for seven from the floor, three for
four from three didn't really hurt us bad defensively. She's
always going to be in there trying to rebound. So
I was again when you can add that in with
our our kids that have been playing the bulk of
(09:11):
our minutes now and then you get you know, we
finally got Breed back, so it gives us two more
guards to play in that rotation. And then I've got
all three of our uh, all three of our four
players are available now, so it's just just trying to
figure out how everybody plays and who's who's ready to play.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I think that's a big thing.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You know, kids, it's played me and I'll show you,
And for a coach, it's you better show me so
I can play. I can't have tryouts in an SEC
game if I've had problems with you in practice doing
certain things. There's no way I'm gonna think it's just
gonna light. It's gonna turn on in a game. So
I think, you know, that's the hard thing for young people.
(09:56):
And then you know how they portray things back to home,
whether it's friends, parents, relatives, agents. You know, nobody knows
unless you're in practice every day.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
But this is the life of a coach.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
This is the transactional world that we live in, and
you know, you just have to try to navigate it
and do right by the kids that are doing things
right each and every day. Do right by them, and
hopefully you have a good line of communication to the
rest of your team and they understand where they are
individually and how they can improve and get better and
(10:32):
give them a chance to play.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You referred to in practice every day. And one thing
that you've been now that you've got a completely healthy
team working on throughout the course of the season, but
perhaps even a little more of late, is the four
guard lineup. And you worked through it in the shoot
around yesterday and you ran it last night. How do
you feel about that generally overall when you've got the
(10:54):
fore guard lineup on the floor.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, when Crunk came in last night, things changed radical,
drastically offensively, and we got away from them.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
You know, we we got away. We pulled away, and
not that it was.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Our all by herself, but she had her hands in
a lot of it.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
And so it just again it's.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Analytically speaking, it's our best offensive lineup, and so you know,
just trying to figure out when and where it works.
You know who's going to guard who, those things all
come into play. But that group's got great chemistry together,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Let me go back to a couple other generalized questions,
and then I'll ask you about Oklahoma. First of all,
we haven't talked about this to this point yet this season.
I know, you know, we're just around the corner from
the first reveal coming from the tournament selection committee as well.
The hint seems to be obviously that your group would
be one of the top four seeds, which you would
(11:58):
want to be a number one seed.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Again, and it's a little bit different this year even
than last year, isn't it. Vic bit uh in talking
about the difference between the West and Birmingham. Now we're
talking about the difference of Sacramento and Fort Worth. Uh
if if you're you know, locked in that and we
talked quite a bit about that about you know, the
the aversion of having to go way out west. So
(12:20):
you know, even though that that's on down the road, Uh,
this is me and you talk about your players. So
I mean it would it would certainly behoove you wouldn't
you think to be locked in where you can play,
where you can be seeded in when two home games
and then the year then you're playing in Fort Worth of
Dickey's Arena, where you've already won a game this year,
as opposed to having to go out west to Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of basketball left, that's
all I can tell you. You know, we we we're
just trying to take them one game at a time.
We've were coming off of obviously a really tough road
trip where we had to go to LSU and then
right back on the road to South Carolina, and we
(13:02):
didn't we didn't handle that well, and so we're just
trying to fix our ills and win one game at
a time. You look ahead, and that's when you're going
to miss the stuff climbing the mountain. But you know,
I think if you just take care of things one
day at a time, one game at a time, I
think that's when you know, you'll look up in March
(13:23):
and you'll be where you want to be. So we uh,
you know, I'll leave all that up. That's that's great
for the fans to have reveals and things like that,
but at the end of the day, you know, our
two losses, you know, they were one possession games, they
were on the road. One of the teams we'd already
beaten on a neutral floor, We've lost by three to
(13:45):
them on their floor, and so you know, uh.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Hopefully you learn from that. We've talked about it.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Hopefully our kids are embracing what we've got to get
better and at and fix. And so that's kind of
kind of how I view all that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, uh and and I say this leading into this matchup,
here's a national television exposure for your group against Oklahoma
on Sunday. That's on ABC. I mean even people without
cable can pull that up and watch that. So it's Sunday.
It's a it's a huge matchup there and the chance
for your team to demonstrate some things.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But let me get your thoughts on the Sooners.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I guess as good a place to start as any
is that freshman Aliah Chavez. And I know you're very
very familiar with her and her game and what she
did against South Carolina was it was something else. But
how about Aliyah and how about Oklahoma overall?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
As you examine.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Them, Yeah, again, you know, really really good team. Obviously,
Jenny's done a great job. I have a lot of
respect and admiration for Jenny and the job she's done there.
And you know, they're they're playing at a really high level.
The average seventy seven points a game in conference. You know,
(15:02):
obviously Chavez is leading them in scoring at almost nineteen
a game, and then they got the big five player
inside that's almost fourteen for host is a fifth year senior,
Sara Williams is a monster that's.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Really hard to deal with.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So they got good players and they've got to you know,
they've got a way that they want to play, and
we're going to have to make sure we understand how
they want to play, and we got to we're gonna
have to deal We'll deal with it defensively and then offensively,
we've we've got to continue to execute and get the
shots we want when we want. I thought last night
(15:37):
we really executed some good stuff, got shots we wanted
where we wanted them from, and you know, we had
sixteen offensive boards as well. I thought Kyl and Braill
were good. They were I think a combined nine for eleven.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
And so they did a good job.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And so we're gonna have to do the same thing
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Vic I almost find it just unimagined when you've heard
me say this before, to say words in terms like
this about tickets could be hard to come by, because
in my twenty nine years of calling the women's games,
I can remember a lot of games with really good
teams that Coach Conrad would have really good adop ten
ranked teams and be lucky to see somewhere between twenty
five hundred and four thousand fans on a good night
(16:20):
or on a weekend night, and here we are talking
about ten thousand on a regular basis and sellouts and
all that sort of stuff. Clearly, what you and the
staff have done and then putting together the program is
the biggest factor in all of this. And so it
begs the question, how much do you see it reflected
in your team when they're getting an opportunity to play
(16:43):
in front of home crowds like this and not just
play in some difficult road environments.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, again, Craig, It's what I talk about all the time.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
It's part of building a program.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know, you're building your fan base is part of
building your program. You know, we when I got here,
I think they were averaging fifteen hundred, two.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Thousand a night. They had, you know, eleven.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Hundred maybe season ticket holders, and you know, I was
coming from a place where we averaged ninety five hundred
to night, sixty five hundred season ticket holders and a
third you know, in a community of thirty one thousand people.
So my vision coming here was what we have. And
again I say this.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
All the time. You can give all the way, all
the free t shirts.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You want all the chicken for scoring whatever points you wanted.
You can do if your product ain't no good and
nobody coming to see you play. And so I give
our kids all the credit. They are fun to watch.
They're great kids. They play really hard, they play the
game the right way, and you know, they're just they're
(17:53):
the reason why we got sellouts.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
The rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
We're having crowds over ten thousand people. And you know, again,
it goes back. It doesn't matter how good how cold
the beer is in the moody or how good that
hot dog taste. People aren't coming in there to get
that if they don't have a good product to watch.
And so I'm really proud of our kids and just
(18:16):
who they are. They are great kids. I have some
of the greatest kids in all of America, and you know,
come from unbelievable families. And so it's it's it's fun
for me to see it as I thought I would
see it when I took this job back in twenty twenty,
and to know it.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Can be done, and I don't think people thought it could.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I mean, I had all kinds of people, even administrators
tell me, man, you know there's so much to do
in Austin. You know, there's so many other things they
can do besides.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Come to a game.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And you know, you know this, this and this, and
yet you know you just you just put your head
down and go to work and you try your best
and again, and I think our fans have come to
really love and appreciate our kids.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
And that's what you want.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
You want a team like those.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
People at Mississippi State. They didn't that wasn't my team,
that was their team.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And if something ever happened to one of those kids,
or they felt like one of those kids was being
in the Mystery Man, they'd be the first ones on
my butt. And so I think that's what you're trying
to get to, is that you want people to really
feel invested in your.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Team, your kids.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
You know, little old ladies bringing a dozen cookies, you know,
to somebody because they know it's their birthday or their
birthday was last week, or the same little girl, get
in the same autograph, get in the same picture after
every game. But you know what, that's the highlight of
that kid's life. And if you can make an impact
(19:56):
in some little girl's life or little boy's life, I
mean we got little boys that love our kids, love
our team.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
They're there all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
If if you can make an impact in their life, Wow,
that you're doing something. And our kids are Our kids
are doing that. And I'm so proud of our players
because of who they are and the impact they're making, no.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And your words are ringing in my ears what you
used to say, and I've got to believe that does
your heart good to see.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
In addition to you said when you first came in,
I know who my audience is. I believe you said
blue hair is gray hairs and no hairs, and now
you have some dark hairs and some and some younger
ones in there.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Too, no doubt, and again it you know we're I
love the blue hairs and gray hairs and no hairs,
don't get me wrong, but their voice is a little
different than that student section, and it's a little different.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Than those kids.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And uh, you know families that moms and dads that
are bringing their their sons and their daughters and when
they walk out of the rand, they're going, hey, I
want you to play like I want you to play as.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Hard as Roy Harmon does.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Defensively, we got a little dribbler game, you know, tomorrow,
I want you to go play as hard as she
plays defensively or you know, if you'll stay out on
the driveway and keep shooting, you'll be able to shoot
it like you know, Leah Krump, Madison Booker, Jordan Lee whatever.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I just think that's where we are.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's the impact that these kids are having in our community.
And again, you have to give our kids credit because
they're approachable, they spend.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Genuine time with people. They make them, you know, they.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Make those folks feel important, and then they are important.
And I think that's what our team understands, is the
importance of man. If it means forty five minutes on
the floor after a game, that's a small price to
pay to have ten thousand plus in the stadium every night, no.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
He's big shafe for Texas women's head coach. We'll hear
the game Sunday right here on the OWNE one forty
five air time, two o'clock tip off as Texas takes on.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Ou.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I always appreciate the time, Vic, thanks so much. See
it Moody on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
See it Moody on Sunday, buddy, thanks so much for
the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Praise the Lord and huge horns.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
That's Vick Schaeffer, Texas women's head coach. We have more
coming up on thirteen under the Zone
Here on a Friday afternoon, but a classic Southern rock
from the.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Marshall Tucker Band here with us. The reason I.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Asked Jake to play this this particular number, heard it
in the Love Song, which is a mega hit back
in the mid seventies, and the reason.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Why I asked him it was twofold.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
First of all, my broadcast partner Longhorn baseball Keith Morland.
When he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the
nineteen seventy five Major League Draft. He had reported Winston Salem,
North Carolina as a member of the Spartanburg Phillies and
they had a game against Winston Salem Red Sox and
his first minor league game got a couple of hits.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
When it was over, his teammates took.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Him to Bowman Gray Stadium, which is where the NASCAR Class.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Is supposed to happen this weekend, to see.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Marshall Tucker Band and Lyonard skinnerd there. The other reason
why I bring this up is our next guest. It
has been well established that he has wide range and
taste in music, and that includes Southern rock. Vick Schaffer,
the Texas Women's head coach, wins. Did I remember that correctly?
You'd like yourself from Southern.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Rock, right, no questions all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
That's good stuff. Good stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Man.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
If you had a favorite genre of music that you
enjoy as much as anything, what would that be?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm a I'm a a C D c uh, I
like a little deaf leopard every now and then. I'm
I'm just that generation, right, that's uh? That that that
rock and roll you know some Oh h, I tell
you that the Greatest Earth Winding Fire is the greatest
(01:40):
concert I've ever been to here, and it was here
at Austin. I mean that group was just put on
a show. But that's the music that I really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
By the way, and Vick, I don't know if you
saw it, they're coming back with Lionel Richie to do
a show.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I've I've already called and found out if when I
can get tickets there.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You go, all right, getting tickets might be quite the
prospect for long run fans to try to do for
this Sunday's game against Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
We'll get to that in a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I want to go back to last night's game when
you and I visited before the game. I asked you
about the kind of the mystery and the u and
the extemporaneous quality of playing your first game in eleven days,
and and you said you were kind of anxious to
see because you'd had some good practices. And for being
completely honest here, I remember several times where you told
(02:31):
me you weren't real happy with the shoot around the
game day, but you were happy yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What did you see yesterday that.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Gave you the indication that the team was going to
go out and play well last night.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, I thought our three days of preparation was pretty good.
I thought we were really locked in, focused. I thought
our coaches did a good job with a scout and
and so, and then shoot around, I thought those kids
were really really locked in. So, you know, sometimes you
get a feel for that, and I just, you know,
(03:03):
I told them before we went to the Florida, you're
the fourth ranked team in the country.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Go play like it. And we didn't play like it
all night.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
We had two men turnovers early, but we did start
taking care of the ball in the second half and
scored eighty eight points.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That's a good sign, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And you had an explosive second quarter where you really
got the transition game going outscored in twenty six to twelve.
There was one sequence or late first quarter, early second quarter,
and I described it on the air as an old
broadcaster term, but I think coaches understand it as well,
hully gully, because things were going back and forth at
a breakneck pace and neither team could get into a rhythm.
(03:39):
When your team gets kind of it with it, either
by their own you know, initiative or drawn into something
like that, you know how difficult is to get them
to settle back into the game, even though you want
them playing at that real up tempo pace and causing
the problems they clearly caused for Florida defensively.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, we we practice that way.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
We have a game called Longhorn that we run every day.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We run it back to back, four.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Minutes NonStop, and we just you know, we really worked
hard on our transition game going into this game, and
I thought we got some good transition early against them,
and then the big thing too, we really kept them
out of transition and that was a concern because when
McGill's in the open floor in transition, man, that's when
(04:33):
she can really get you and I thought Rory was
so special last night guarding her. Took that responsibility and
forced her into nine turnovers, and I think the kid
went six for sixteen, but she scored two of those
six after Rory came out of the game. So she's
(04:54):
such a good player, tough matchup, and so it's U
you know about Rory was really good last time on her.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Birthday, no doubt about it. Uh Vic Shaefer joining us
here on the zone. I want to go a little
bit off topic, at least as it pertains to your
specific team, and it kind of does in a related way,
But I wanted to ask you a couple of things.
First of all, general philosophy question, because this seems to
pop up more and more, whether you're talking about the
(05:24):
men's game of the women's game. And I don't think
we've ever talked about this before. But you're up three,
there's under ten seconds to go in the game. The
other team is inbounding. Maybe they maybe they got the
time out called and they're inbounding in the front court.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Maybe not.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Do you have a regular strategy on whether to foul
based if they're going link to the floor or if
they're inbounding at the hash, they're in the front court.
What's your what's your thought and your philosophy on that?
If you're up three, do you foul? Do you up foul?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah? I think again, if you if you've got a
foul to give.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And they're going to full to the floor, maybe you
get them with you know, five seconds on the floor.
But my problem with that is you got to trust
somebody to get them without getting tricked into them.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Taking a shot from anywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And I've always been a guy that, hey, we're gonna,
we're gonna play it out, we're gonna we're gonna defend
a three.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Point line, because.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
What I don't want to happen is they go the
line make one out of two because we filed and
put them at the line for a two shot file.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
It's not even one in one anymore.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's too Then you don't block out, they get an
and they get a rebound in an and one, and
now you lose by one because you didn't block out.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
On free throw line.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
To me, that's that's a worse risk than somebody throwing
in a three.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
To tie you.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And and so I just I've always.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Been that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Is it is it also made more problematic these days
by the and one being folded in now to the
to the few playbooks, so to speak. As they're watching
the continuation thing. And we saw a little bit of
it last night, and I've seen a lot of it
on the men's side as well. But is that also
something else that has to be factored in the philosophy
(07:13):
and whether you're fouling or not, or even just defending,
to make sure you're not getting someone into continuation situation?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, I mean yeah, you start letting people put their
you know, opinion on something or what they saw versus
what's reality. It's just it's really it's really difficult, and
it magnifies everything you do. So again I try to
control as much as I can. And again, our players,
(07:44):
we didn't execute it very well against Ole Miss here.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We didn't get the.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Switch right and they got off a shot. But I
just have a lot of confidence in our team and
we'll do and how we do it.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Talking basketball with Vik Schaefer here on thirteen hundred the
Zone with regard to your team, and I asked you
last night, I said's about the healthiest you've been in
a while, and you said, perhaps maybe even throughout the
course of the season. How does that affect what you
want to do with your rotation? How and the relative
depth because you've got a lot of depth.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Now, and you know, and.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
And gives you lots of different options whether you're going
bigger or smaller based on the opponent and the game situation.
But now that you've got pretty much a completely healthy team,
how does that impact what you're examining in terms of
your rotation and how deep you're going.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah, I think I'm still trying to figure that out.
You know, we've we've got obviously getting crumped back really
adds an offensive dimension to our team that we really need.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Last night she was game changer.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And you know, she came in and really did a
good job. Five for seven from the floor, three for
four from three didn't really hurt us bad defensively. She's
always going to be in there trying to rebound. So
I was again when you can add that in with
our our kids that have been playing the bulk of
(09:11):
our minutes now and then you get you know, we
finally got Breed back, so it gives us two more
guards to play in that rotation. And then I've got
all three of our uh, all three of our four
players are available now, so it's just just trying to
figure out how everybody plays and who's who's ready to play.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I think that's a big thing.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You know, kids, it's played me and I'll show you,
And for a coach, it's you better show me so
I can play. I can't have tryouts in an SEC
game if I've had problems with you in practice doing
certain things. There's no way I'm gonna think it's just
gonna light. It's gonna turn on in a game. So
I think, you know, that's the hard thing for young people.
(09:56):
And then you know how they portray things back to home,
whether it's friends, parents, relatives, agents. You know, nobody knows
unless you're in practice every day.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
But this is the life of a coach.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
This is the transactional world that we live in, and
you know, you just have to try to navigate it
and do right by the kids that are doing things
right each and every day. Do right by them, and
hopefully you have a good line of communication to the
rest of your team and they understand where they are
individually and how they can improve and get better and
(10:32):
give them a chance to play.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You referred to in practice every day. And one thing
that you've been now that you've got a completely healthy
team working on throughout the course of the season, but
perhaps even a little more of late, is the four
guard lineup. And you worked through it in the shoot
around yesterday and you ran it last night. How do
you feel about that generally overall when you've got the
(10:54):
fore guard lineup on the floor.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, when Crunk came in last night, things changed radical,
drastically offensively, and we got away from them.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
You know, we we got away. We pulled away, and
not that it was.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Our all by herself, but she had her hands in
a lot of it.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
And so it just again it's.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Analytically speaking, it's our best offensive lineup, and so you know,
just trying to figure out when and where it works.
You know who's going to guard who, those things all
come into play. But that group's got great chemistry together,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Let me go back to a couple other generalized questions,
and then I'll ask you about Oklahoma. First of all,
we haven't talked about this to this point yet this season.
I know, you know, we're just around the corner from
the first reveal coming from the tournament selection committee as well.
The hint seems to be obviously that your group would
be one of the top four seeds, which you would
(11:58):
want to be a number one seed.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Again, and it's a little bit different this year even
than last year, isn't it. Vic bit uh in talking
about the difference between the West and Birmingham. Now we're
talking about the difference of Sacramento and Fort Worth. Uh
if if you're you know, locked in that and we
talked quite a bit about that about you know, the
the aversion of having to go way out west. So
(12:20):
you know, even though that that's on down the road, Uh,
this is me and you talk about your players. So
I mean it would it would certainly behoove you wouldn't
you think to be locked in where you can play,
where you can be seeded in when two home games
and then the year then you're playing in Fort Worth of
Dickey's Arena, where you've already won a game this year,
as opposed to having to go out west to Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of basketball left, that's
all I can tell you. You know, we we we're
just trying to take them one game at a time.
We've were coming off of obviously a really tough road
trip where we had to go to LSU and then
right back on the road to South Carolina, and we
(13:02):
didn't we didn't handle that well, and so we're just
trying to fix our ills and win one game at
a time. You look ahead, and that's when you're going
to miss the stuff climbing the mountain. But you know,
I think if you just take care of things one
day at a time, one game at a time, I
think that's when you know, you'll look up in March
(13:23):
and you'll be where you want to be. So we uh,
you know, I'll leave all that up. That's that's great
for the fans to have reveals and things like that,
but at the end of the day, you know, our
two losses, you know, they were one possession games, they
were on the road. One of the teams we'd already
beaten on a neutral floor, We've lost by three to
(13:45):
them on their floor, and so you know, uh.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Hopefully you learn from that. We've talked about it.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Hopefully our kids are embracing what we've got to get
better and at and fix. And so that's kind of
kind of how I view all that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, uh and and I say this leading into this matchup,
here's a national television exposure for your group against Oklahoma
on Sunday. That's on ABC. I mean even people without
cable can pull that up and watch that. So it's Sunday.
It's a it's a huge matchup there and the chance
for your team to demonstrate some things.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But let me get your thoughts on the Sooners.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I guess as good a place to start as any
is that freshman Aliah Chavez. And I know you're very
very familiar with her and her game and what she
did against South Carolina was it was something else. But
how about Aliyah and how about Oklahoma overall?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
As you examine.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Them, Yeah, again, you know, really really good team. Obviously,
Jenny's done a great job. I have a lot of
respect and admiration for Jenny and the job she's done there.
And you know, they're they're playing at a really high level.
The average seventy seven points a game in conference. You know,
(15:02):
obviously Chavez is leading them in scoring at almost nineteen
a game, and then they got the big five player
inside that's almost fourteen for host is a fifth year senior,
Sara Williams is a monster that's.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Really hard to deal with.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So they got good players and they've got to you know,
they've got a way that they want to play, and
we're going to have to make sure we understand how
they want to play, and we got to we're gonna
have to deal We'll deal with it defensively and then offensively,
we've we've got to continue to execute and get the
shots we want when we want. I thought last night
(15:37):
we really executed some good stuff, got shots we wanted
where we wanted them from, and you know, we had
sixteen offensive boards as well. I thought Kyl and Braill
were good. They were I think a combined nine for eleven.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
And so they did a good job.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And so we're gonna have to do the same thing
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Vic I almost find it just unimagined when you've heard
me say this before, to say words in terms like
this about tickets could be hard to come by, because
in my twenty nine years of calling the women's games,
I can remember a lot of games with really good
teams that Coach Conrad would have really good adop ten
ranked teams and be lucky to see somewhere between twenty
five hundred and four thousand fans on a good night
(16:20):
or on a weekend night, and here we are talking
about ten thousand on a regular basis and sellouts and
all that sort of stuff. Clearly, what you and the
staff have done and then putting together the program is
the biggest factor in all of this. And so it
begs the question, how much do you see it reflected
in your team when they're getting an opportunity to play
(16:43):
in front of home crowds like this and not just
play in some difficult road environments.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, again, Craig, It's what I talk about all the time.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
It's part of building a program.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know, you're building your fan base is part of
building your program. You know, we when I got here,
I think they were averaging fifteen hundred, two.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Thousand a night. They had, you know, eleven.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Hundred maybe season ticket holders, and you know, I was
coming from a place where we averaged ninety five hundred
to night, sixty five hundred season ticket holders and a
third you know, in a community of thirty one thousand people.
So my vision coming here was what we have. And
again I say this.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
All the time. You can give all the way, all
the free t shirts.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You want all the chicken for scoring whatever points you wanted.
You can do if your product ain't no good and
nobody coming to see you play. And so I give
our kids all the credit. They are fun to watch.
They're great kids. They play really hard, they play the
game the right way, and you know, they're just they're
(17:53):
the reason why we got sellouts.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
The rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
We're having crowds over ten thousand people. And you know, again,
it goes back. It doesn't matter how good how cold
the beer is in the moody or how good that
hot dog taste. People aren't coming in there to get
that if they don't have a good product to watch.
And so I'm really proud of our kids and just
(18:16):
who they are. They are great kids. I have some
of the greatest kids in all of America, and you know,
come from unbelievable families. And so it's it's it's fun
for me to see it as I thought I would
see it when I took this job back in twenty twenty,
and to know it.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Can be done, and I don't think people thought it could.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I mean, I had all kinds of people, even administrators
tell me, man, you know there's so much to do
in Austin. You know, there's so many other things they
can do besides.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Come to a game.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
And you know, you know this, this and this, and
yet you know you just you just put your head
down and go to work and you try your best
and again, and I think our fans have come to
really love and appreciate our kids.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
And that's what you want.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
You want a team like those.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
People at Mississippi State. They didn't that wasn't my team,
that was their team.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And if something ever happened to one of those kids,
or they felt like one of those kids was being
in the Mystery Man, they'd be the first ones on
my butt. And so I think that's what you're trying
to get to, is that you want people to really
feel invested in your.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Team, your kids.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
You know, little old ladies bringing a dozen cookies, you know,
to somebody because they know it's their birthday or their
birthday was last week, or the same little girl, get
in the same autograph, get in the same picture after
every game. But you know what, that's the highlight of
that kid's life. And if you can make an impact
(19:56):
in some little girl's life or little boy's life, I
mean we got little boys that love our kids, love
our team.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
They're there all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
If if you can make an impact in their life, Wow,
that you're doing something. And our kids are Our kids
are doing that. And I'm so proud of our players
because of who they are and the impact they're making, no.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And your words are ringing in my ears what you
used to say, and I've got to believe that does
your heart good to see.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
In addition to you said when you first came in,
I know who my audience is. I believe you said
blue hair is gray hairs and no hairs, and now
you have some dark hairs and some and some younger
ones in there.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Too, no doubt, and again it you know we're I
love the blue hairs and gray hairs and no hairs,
don't get me wrong, but their voice is a little
different than that student section, and it's a little different.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Than those kids.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And uh, you know families that moms and dads that
are bringing their their sons and their daughters and when
they walk out of the rand, they're going, hey, I
want you to play like I want you to play as.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Hard as Roy Harmon does.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Defensively, we got a little dribbler game, you know, tomorrow,
I want you to go play as hard as she
plays defensively or you know, if you'll stay out on
the driveway and keep shooting, you'll be able to shoot
it like you know, Leah Krump, Madison Booker, Jordan Lee whatever.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I just think that's where we are.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's the impact that these kids are having in our community.
And again, you have to give our kids credit because
they're approachable, they spend.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Genuine time with people. They make them, you know, they.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Make those folks feel important, and then they are important.
And I think that's what our team understands, is the
importance of man. If it means forty five minutes on
the floor after a game, that's a small price to
pay to have ten thousand plus in the stadium every night, no.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
He's big shafe for Texas women's head coach. We'll hear
the game Sunday right here on the OWNE one forty
five air time, two o'clock tip off as Texas takes on.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Ou.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I always appreciate the time, Vic, thanks so much. See
it Moody on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
See it Moody on Sunday, buddy, thanks so much for
the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Praise the Lord and huge horns.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
That's Vick Schaeffer, Texas women's head coach. We have more
coming up on thirteen under the Zone
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