WT Men's & Women's 2023-24 Basketball

[ASUPops]

I really have no idea what the problems may be. It just "looks like" there are internal problems, small telltale actions.
In his first year, Coach took a much less talented team to the elite eight. I consider Coach to be a personal friend, I may well be too close to be objective.

Gotcha.

I have a niece who was on a volleyball full ride D1 at a top 5 school, the team was supposed to do very well this season and did finish top 5, (dropped from 2 to 5) BUT she is leaving due to player personality conflicts. She states they could have won it all if not for the internal conflicts.

So, maybe some of that happening at WT?? There is a reason players are leaving.

[oldbuff]

Whether it’s coaching, personality conflicts or a combination, the Lady Buffs have 12 LSC games left and none will be pushovers. They are on the bubble to make the LSC tourney. So they need some big wins to make the tourney. I can’t recall the last time the Lady Buffs were not in the LSC tourney if that has ever occurred. The only way they make it to the regional is to win the LSC tourney which is not going to happen. Hope I’m wrong.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

If basketball goes the same way as football we may need to change these threads to volleyball threads.

[BuffaloChip]

WT men are nationally ranked #1 in the latest D2 coaches poll. The first time ever for a #1 rank.

Big game tomorrow night against #4 DBU.

[BuffaloChip]

Before 3,557 loud and boisterous Buff fans, #1 WT dropped #4 Dallas Baptist last night, 93-79.

It was like watching an NCAA regional final. WT handled DBU’s full court trapping defense and hit back with some of the best defense the First United Bank Center will see.

This Buff team is for real.

[oldbuff]

The Buffs beat DBU last night 93-79. It was a tough and rough win for the Buffs with a lot of fouls. Crowd of 3557 was great! This team is fun to watch!
Lady Buffs, on the other hand, last another to TWU. This team is playing lousy. They are on the bubble for sure to even make the LSC tourney and some tough games ahead. When was the last time the Lady Buffs failed to qualify for the LSC tournament? Has it happened before?

[Buff Fan 05]

The Buffs beat DBU last night 93-79. It was a tough and rough win for the Buffs with a lot of fouls. Crowd of 3557 was great! This team is fun to watch!
Lady Buffs, on the other hand, last another to TWU. This team is playing lousy. They are on the bubble for sure to even make the LSC tourney and some tough games ahead. When was the last time the Lady Buffs failed to qualify for the LSC tournament? Has it happened before?

Is Prock on the hot seat? The program has regressed it would appear.

[oldbuff]

Is Prock on the hot seat? The program has regressed it would appear.

I agree about the regression. Fans have noticed and are becoming more vocal about it. In fact, some fans are even showing up late to watch the women or skipping the women’s game entirely and arrive just to watch the men. I would be surprised if he’s not feeling some heat.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

I agree about the regression. Fans have noticed and are becoming more vocal about it. In fact, some fans are even showing up late to watch the women or skipping the women’s game entirely and arrive just to watch the men. I would be surprised if he’s not feeling some heat.

Given WT's athletic department history the WT women would have to have the wheels fall off for several years in a row for a move to be made.

Losing to Oklahoma Christian was a start.

Have a feeling most WT boosters are more concerned about football than making a stand with WT Women's basketball.

[Jayman]

The wheels started to fall off in WBB last season. Team underperformed relative to the expectations the coach set and a preseason top 10 ranking.

Team returned a solid core and brought in four transfers from D1 programs. Only one of the transfers is consistently contributing. The rest are not contributing. Not good. There is no consistency to the starting five. There is no consistency to player substitutions and minutes played from game to game.

This program is expected to perform at top of the top of the conference. The fan base should raise hell about the team having a 500 record at this point in the season. Unless something changes, this Team will have a losing record for the year and will not make the LSC tournament.

The AD expects this program competitive on a national level.

Last night, the Team had a good first half against a very good TW Team who will make it the South Central Regional. The offense had good ball movement, were getting the ball into 24 and 23 was aggressive taking the ball to the basket. Team rebounded well and created some turnovers. After coming out from halftime with the lead, the Team went back to running the dribble around the court, making bad passes and taking shots as the shot clock expires. Not sure why the Coach went away from what was working in the first half.

Was glad to see the Coach playing 9 players and not putting in 12 players as he frequently does.

It was nice to see Kayla Kane get more than 5 or 6 minutes of playing time.

Personally, I hope WT moves on from Coach Prock. Seems like a nice guy but he has moved the program in the wrong direction. If he gets another year, his seat needs to be red hot.

[WT_TKW]

The fan base should raise hell about the team having a 500 record at this point in the season. Unless something changes, this Team will have a losing record for the year and will not make the LSC tournament.

The AD expects this program competitive on a national level.

Well, aren't the players making good grades? Isn't that what's really important? Shouldn't the coach get a few more years to work out the kinks?

Oh, sorry I thought we were talking about football.

Too bad the AD doesn't seem to care if the football team is even competitive in the LSC.

[BuffaloChip]

And then......the Lady Buffs came out yesterday against 18-3, 12-0 ranked UT-Tyler and soundly beat them 73-54. Players have to make plays and they did. 55% from the floor including 10/19 treys. The stat that stands out for me is 11 TO's to 16 assists. Great defense and good shooting is THE recipe for winning. Can they regain confidence from this win and string some wins together?

WT men went from a fast paced game with DBU to a slow paced effort by conference bottom team UT-Tyler, winning 68-52. Buffs are 18-1 and 12-0 and should retain the #1 spot in the national coaches poll. I can still see lot's of growth to be made by this team. I'm beginning to toss around the possibility of another road trip to Indiana. Maybe possibly hopefully.

[Great White Buffalo]

The wheels started to fall off in WBB last season. Team underperformed relative to the expectations the coach set and a preseason top 10 ranking.

Team returned a solid core and brought in four transfers from D1 programs. Only one of the transfers is consistently contributing. The rest are not contributing. Not good. There is no consistency to the starting five. There is no consistency to player substitutions and minutes played from game to game.

This program is expected to perform at top of the top of the conference. The fan base should raise hell about the team having a 500 record at this point in the season. Unless something changes, this Team will have a losing record for the year and will not make the LSC tournament.

The AD expects this program competitive on a national level.

Last night, the Team had a good first half against a very good TW Team who will make it the South Central Regional. The offense had good ball movement, were getting the ball into 24 and 23 was aggressive taking the ball to the basket. Team rebounded well and created some turnovers. After coming out from halftime with the lead, the Team went back to running the dribble around the court, making bad passes and taking shots as the shot clock expires. Not sure why the Coach went away from what was working in the first half.

Was glad to see the Coach playing 9 players and not putting in 12 players as he frequently does.

It was nice to see Kayla Kane get more than 5 or 6 minutes of playing time.

Personally, I hope WT moves on from Coach Prock. Seems like a nice guy but he has moved the program in the wrong direction. If he gets another year, his seat needs to be red hot.

All valid points. Concerning last year, there were only 5 games where everyone in Coach's nine-player rotation was available. Losing Zam at mid-term was the big blow.
I admit the line-up and rotation are confusing to me. I think Coach is simply looking for the hot hand and rewarding the players that are producing with playing time. An example of this is Alveraze decrease in playing time and move from PG to shooting guard. Too many TO at point. Kyla admitted, in the post-game player interview, that she had not been shooting and playing well until this game. After this game, her playing time will probably increase.

Coach Prock is respected by his coaching peers and players. Josh is the Chairman of the NCAA D2 Basketball Committee. He is involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. His players will tell you about the positive impact he has on their lives and futures. From a character standpoint, he would be hard to replace.

Before Kendra returned to the VB program we had a Coach of high character and a VB team that didn't win the big games. I hope the WBB team improves. I hope Prock is the Coach that makes that happen. The bar is very high for this team, it needs to be exceeded.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

All valid points. Concerning last year, there were only 5 games where everyone in Coach's nine-player rotation was available. Losing Zam at mid-term was the big blow.
I admit the line-up and rotation are confusing to me. I think Coach is simply looking for the hot hand and rewarding the players that are producing with playing time. An example of this is Alveraze decrease in playing time and move from PG to shooting guard. Too many TO at point. Kyla admitted, in the post-game player interview, that she had not been shooting and playing well until this game. After this game, her playing time will probably increase.

Coach Prock is respected by his coaching peers and players. Josh is the Chairman of the NCAA D2 Basketball Committee. He is involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. His players will tell you about the positive impact he has on their lives and futures. From a character standpoint, he would be hard to replace.

Before Kendra returned to the VB program we had a Coach of high character and a VB team that didn't win the big games. I hope the WBB team improves. I hope Prock is the Coach that makes that happen. The bar is very high for this team, it needs to be exceeded.

It's great to have high character and a high team GPA.

Unfortunately that doesn't consistently bring wins and butts in the seats.

WT's coaches are in a better position because they have a diminished fan base with less of a voice so they have more time to change things around as they would have other places.

I can tell you from watching/supporting Corpus Christi Islanders basketball, their best years and high attendance numbers were when Ronnie Arrow and Perry Clark had teams that were winning the Southland and making the NCAA and other post season tournaments.

They panicked because the GPA was low and brought in Willis Wilson from Rice to fix the GPA problem.

He did fix the GPA problem the Rice way but the talent dropped off big time with the record and attendance.

The athletics department caught on to that and ramped it back up again with talent under Steve Lutz (now with Western Kentucky) and now under his previous assistant Jim Shaw.

Back is the attendance and the NCAA appearances.

Point being if the fan base picks up again in all sports, it isn't going to be because more boy/girl scouts are walking across the stage with more degrees.

Pick your poison and hope it balances out.

[Great White Buffalo]

It's great to have high character and a high team GPA.

Unfortunately that doesn't consistently bring wins and butts in the seats.

WT's coaches are in a better position because they have a diminished fan base with less of a voice so they have more time to change things around as they would have other places.

I can tell you from watching/supporting Corpus Christi Islanders basketball, their best years and high attendance numbers were when Ronnie Arrow and Perry Clark had teams that were winning the Southland and making the NCAA and other post season tournaments.

They panicked because the GPA was low and brought in Willis Wilson from Rice to fix the GPA problem.

He did fix the GPA problem the Rice way but the talent dropped off big time with the record and attendance.

The athletics department caught on to that and ramped it back up again with talent under Steve Lutz (now with Western Kentucky) and now under his previous assistant Jim Shaw.

Back is the attendance and the NCAA appearances.

Point being if the fan base picks up again in all sports, it isn't going to be because more boy/girl scouts are walking across the stage with more degrees.

Pick your poison and hope it balances out.

The three most successful programs at WT are all women's sports. WBB, VB, and Soft Ball. They also have the highest GPA's. You can have both. As with everything in sports now the portal has changed that also. These sports are expected to win at the regional level and compete at the national level. The bar is set high for these sports. If it is not met, there will be changes.