Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State

[Bball Girl]

50-31 Aggies 15:20

make that 62-36 Aggies 8:48

Riley 18 minutes, 2 fouls, 2 pts, 5 assists, 4 turnovers ???

[Cyclones Rule]

What has happened to OSU? Ever since the Neb. game it's been ugly.

[Bball Girl]

69-49 Aggies 1:24

GT still shows Riley with only 18 minutes...she got benched. Why?

[Bball Girl]

69-52 Aggies Final

[BearLady]

Andrea Riley, the nation's third-leading scorer, was 0-for-10 from the field in the first half and didn't play in the second half. She had only two points to snap a string of 82 games with double figure scoring, which had been the second-longest in the country behind Ohio State's Jantel Lavender.

http://www.okstate.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/021710aaa.html

[CyRox98]

This was in the story on OSU's homepage:

"Riley, who was averaging 25.6 points, had scored 27 points in the second half to help OSU overcome a 14-point deficit in a win over the Aggies earlier this season but she didn't even step onto the court after being late coming out of the locker room at halftime. She had been ill leading up to the game."

[CowgirlsFreak]

Riley has been sick, and apparently hasn't practiced in 2 days leading up to the game.

The bright spot from this game was Toni Young. She had 16 points and 9 boards. She was very impressive. All of her points came from her driving in and hitting the shots. Previously she was getting the offensive boards and putbacks for her points. She was very aggressive tonight. Hard to believe she is still learning the game, and has only been playing since HS.

Rebounding got back on track for the Cowgirls, but the defense was a letdown. The short corner killed us in the zone.

[hornhonker]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=300480197

Budke said Riley -- like many of her teammates -- had been sick, but that wasn't the reason she didn't return.

"That was a coach's decision," Budke said. "I did not like how Andrea Riley was playing, and I didn't like how she was leading this team. And I still have time to teach her how to become a better player. I didn't think she was helping the team tonight and I thought we'd be better off going with the young kids in the second half."

[Gator]

And in the same write up:

"Freshman Toni Young led Oklahoma State with a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing her second straight double-double.

"I'm not so sure Toni Young's not the leader of this team. This thing is a roller coaster all year long, and you're looking for those people that can stay right here all year long," Budke said, motioning with an even hand. "And that's been Toni. Toni is great with her teammates on and off the floor and she's going to be a leader, a captain and a star for years to come."

*************

[tycat947]

Budke said Riley -- like many of her teammates -- had been sick, but that wasn't the reason she didn't return.

"That was a coach's decision," Budke said. "I did not like how Andrea Riley was playing, and I didn't like how she was leading this team. And I still have time to teach her how to become a better player. I didn't think she was helping the team tonight and I thought we'd be better off going with the young kids in the second half."

WOW! What a statement by Budke!

[tx4OU]

Hmmm.....I don't know; having participated in sports my whole life, can't help but think it's just a coach pulling out the trump card to fire up his star player. Nothing will ignite a competitor more than to essentially take their unspoken standing on their team away, even though it's verbal and may be for only one game.

But that's just me.

[DblT81]

Hmmm, very interesting statement by Coach Budke.

Takes a lot of guts to suspend your leading scorer for a teaching point. Where have we seen that previously during this season? Hmmmm.

[Gator]

I was just reading a story about Dawn Staley and this quote struck me:

"Afterward, I said to the players, 'Why did we lose that game?'" Staley said. "I wanted specifics, and I wanted them to speak in the first person. Some of them did that; some struggled with it and we helped them.

LOL "...we helped them..." I just bet the strugglers got some help.

But my immediate thought was of Budke and Riley. At the beginning of the season he put her on a pedestal saying that not only was she a great player but she was the type of leader the team needed to fix last year's chemistry problems.

In his opinion she messed up on several levels during the first half. And the benching was his version of "helping her" understand her effect on the team? That seems logical to me.

As a personal reaction, I don't particularly like his quotes about Young being the team leader going forward. Given his pre-season touting of Riley in that position, it seemed to me a particularly hard slap down. Frankly, it is the type of thing I think Geno would do and it is the one thing about his coaching choices I don't like.

BTW - the Staley article is a good one and is at
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=4924138