Familiarize yourselves with two of our new pieces. Lightning and Thunder
Endyia Rogers 20-21 Highlights
With aspirations to play in the W, at 5'9" she will have to show scouts she can run the show as a purer Point Guard. I assume she will have this role at A&M but her off-ball instincts make her playable at either guard spot in a litany of lineup with this roster as she is definitely a combo guard at the college level. A blazing shooter she will allow other guards space to operate (something we lacked last year, last in the SEC in 3P%) and is a smart and instinctive cutter. She has a lot of savvy in the PnR on ball and can get to her pull ups and floaters with ease. She has 18 career games with 20+ points and 5 career games with 30+ and 27 career games with 5+ assists. On defense she's great at navigating screens and has great feet on ball to keep ball handlers in front. Her addition should make everyone better on the court and certainly the team. Barker, Rodgers and Coulibaly will likely be at the top of each opponents scouting report opening up opportunities for other players to get favorable matchups.
Aicha Coulibaly LONG video
Similar to Rogers, Coulibaly no doubt has aspirations to make a roster in the most competitive league on the planet, the W. At Auburn playing on a size deficient team she mostly played the four in their best lineups. She'll have to prove she can operate more on the perimeter and hit shots from there as well if she wants to make it. Right now you have an absolute force in the 3-16 ft area, she has a drove of pivots step throughs and turnarounds that make her very difficult to contain. Her speed allows her to get to the rim, her power allows her to finish through contact, her footwork around contact, and her athleticism over it. The 3 point shooting is... a work in progress (30/147 over 3 years) teams still tend to closeout on it and even if they don't she's comfortable with a one or two dribble pull up in the elbow area. Really good rebounder for a wing, especially on the offensive end, she really attacks the boards. The force she plays with allows her to get to the line a lot, she was 9th in the league in total FTA despite missing 6 games throughout the season with a nagging injury, she had even more in her sophomore season. Coach Joni wants to run and Coulibaly sprints to the rim after a turnover or long rebound to setup for easy baskets. Her and Barker could be a devastating duo on the offensive end, her post up game will allow Barker more perimeter opportunities, dropping it off to each other on drives or in high low situations. Coulibaly's passing was abysmal early in her career but she posted a positive AST/TOV her junior year, 2.7 AST per game. She won't have the usage she had at Auburn so expect her to be able to give even more on defense where she uses the same skills that benefit her on offense to dominate. Her 2.2 SPG were 5th in the SEC last season and she did so without fouling at a high rate. She uses her wingspan to poke balls away and really has a knack for being around the ball when there are deflections. The pairing or her and Barker could be dynamic on this side of the ball as well they totaled 2.3 STLs and 1.8 BLKs per game last season. They could play together at the 3 and 4 or 4 and 5 as Coulibaly has the girth to compete in the post on defense. After absolutely bursting onto the scene as a sophomore she plateaued a bit her junior year on a less than talented roster where she was asked to be 1a or 1b every night. As an Aggie, she'll have an experienced point guard and elite forward to play alongside taking pressure off her on both ends of the floor.
More on Hunter and Ware at a later date as college film for them is harder to come by but it's easy to see why Coulibaly and Rogers were must haves for Joni and Co. They both play with the fire and passion that you love on your basketball team with the talent to back it up. They are both VERSATILE players that can be moved around like chess pieces (I'd say Rogers is a knight and Coulibaly is bishop for all my chess nerds out there) and make the other 3 or 4 players on the court better. Gone are the lineups where we wonder where the offense is coming from.
