Ronald Hughey: "the thing that's been pleasantly surprising - is the culture has been really, really good."

POSTED: October 16, 2019 -- 9:58 a.m. CT

Houston Cougars' Women's Basketball has been in the postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) the last two seasons. However, Head Coach Ronald Hughey continues striving to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament. As the 2019-'20 season approaches, Coach Hughey sees a different mindset in his players.

"The one thing about them is, especially with (senior) Dorian (Branch) and (senior) Jasmyne (Harris) and (junior) Juju (Julia Blackshell-Fair) who've been here the longest," Hughey remarked. "They want to make postseason with NCAA. It's the one thing we talked about with the team when we had our first team meeting for practice."

The Coogs were picked fifth in the Preseason poll with 81 points. Houston was picked third in the 2018-19 Preseason Poll and concluded the season in fourth-place.

"I think practice is going really well," Hughey commented. "Everybody is in tune. They're learning exactly what it is to be a Houston Cougars' women's basketball player: the intensity and playing hard; and, all the full court; the run and jump; and playing fast."

Hughey added, "The other part is - the thing that's been pleasantly surprising - is the culture has been really, really good."

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As the veterans on the team, Branch, Harris, and Blackshell-Fair have taken more of a leadership role on this year's team.

"Dorian Branch and Julia Blackshell-Fair and, even, Jasmyne (Harris) step up and take leading roles and things like that.

"Just to give you an example: some of the new kids were asking questions on the sideline; and, Jasmyne was one of the ones and said, 'Y'all can understand and learn better if you can just be quiet and listen.' And, we were like 'Wow!'

"She's a senior now; so, hopefully, she really gets it this year."

Last year, Coach Hughey and players stated to me reaching the Sweet 16 was a realistic goal in the 2018-'19 season.

This season, Hughey has a different approach.

"I just told them (the NCAA Tournament) it's just so far off," Hughey remarked. "Right now, let's just focus on getting better every day.

"So, bringing that focus to the floor; and, this is where I saw where we would normally have to go out and teach every single drill, they had already taught the girls some of the things that we do because they know that I'm not going to change. We, as a staff, are going to keep doing the same drills because they've been effective for us; so, that gave me an insight that 'Okay, they're paying attention. They have a sense of urgency; and, they're really looking forward to more things this year.'

"On top of that," Hughey continued. "They're doing more team things this year. Together. As a group. One of them cooked one night and they got together and watch some show on Netflix. They're doing more things together; so, that's another part of it that I love. We don't have to fight with them to do things together."

NOTE:

Houston will participate in the Greater Vancouver Invitational (Nov. 28 - 30) as part of its non-conference schedule this season. Top 25 programs Stanford, Mississippi State, and Syracuse are among the 8 teams participating in the event.

The Coogs face Syracuse (Nov 28, 7 p.m. CT) in the opening round of the Invitational. If Houston defeats Syracuse, then, the Coogs would face Stanford in the second round.

"You know we play Syracuse this year; and, it's a possibility we play Stanford and Mississippi State in the Vancouver Showcase (Invitational).

"The Showcase is tremendous for us. It puts in the line of fire. It puts where we want to be because, in order to go out and be really good, and people know you nationally, you've got to beat some people. You've got to, at least, get on the stage to beat some people. So, we want to have a neutral site tournament where we play these teams; so, that's what we're starting to do now. We're putting ourselves on the stage. We've got to show up and play."

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