Show notes
In this week's interview edition of The Flagship Podcast, we talk to Texas women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer after about four hours of sleep following his team's stunning, 64-61 upset of second-seeded Maryland to reach UT's first Elite Eight since 2016.
Most of the Sunday night and early Monday morning was spent scouting top-seeded South Carolina, UT's Elite Eight opponent in San Antonio on Tuesday night.
Schaefer and UConn coach Geno Auriemma are the only coaches to reach four straight Elite Eights in the women's game (after Schaefer did it three straight times at Mississippi State, reaching the national championship game in 2017 and 2018).
But Schaefer has done it this year with a completely different team. Texas, which has the seventh-ranked scoring offense in the 10-team Big 12, used to be dependent on the scoring and rebounding of 6-foot-5 star center Charli Collier, UT's only starter taller than 6-feet.
And even while going 21-9 up to this point, Texas couldn't match third-seeded UCLA's size in the second round of the NCAA Tournament nor Maryland's size, depth and offense (the Terps averaged nearly 90 points per game this season, making them a Final Four fave to many). But in the end, UCLA and Maryland couldn't match Texas' defensive intensity.
Schaefer has gotten a team that relies primarily on six players to buy into his suffocating defense and all the physical and mental demands it takes to relentlessly commit to playing great defense for 40 minutes.
Schaefer talked about how he's most proud of that mental transformation on this team and how close the players have become and how determined his players are to fight through adversity, such as Maryland's 9-0 start to Sunday night's game.
We asked Schaefer about how his team has become capable of winning - even if opposing teams can limit Collier, a Lisa Leslie Award finalist who averages 19.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
Lately, it's been the emergence of graduate transfer point guard Kyra Lambert, junior guard Joanne Allen-Taylor and sophomore guard Celeste Taylor, who had 24 points in UT's win over UCLA, and followed that up with 15 points and 11 rebounds against Maryland.
Schaefer said, "Celeste doesn't like to lose. She and I share that. We both hate to lose more than we like to win."
Schaefer talks about Collier, a junior in eligibility, graduating in May and deciding to move on to the WNBA Draft, where she'll have a chance to be the No. 1 overall selection.
And Schaefer talks about how his program will be adding three Top 25 prospects in the 2021 recruiting class - forward Aaliyah Moore (No. 6, according to HoopGurlz); point guard Rori Harmon (No. 10); and point guard Kyndall Hunter (No. 24); along with two top junior college prospects in Kobe King Hawea, a 5-11 guard/forward; and Femme Sikuzani, a 6-5 center, each of whom will have three years of eligibility.
This is a can't-miss interview with a coach who knows how to connect with players and get the most out of them - as we're seeing right now in the NCAA Tournament.
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