Everything is bigger in Texas.  And until Karen Aston took over the University of Texas women’s basketball program, it seemed as if that was literally going to be the case for the Longhorns point guard situation.

But with the coaching change, the philosophy on size did too, opening the door for Brooke McCarty, the 5-foot-4 point guard from League City, Texas.

“Last year I wasn’t really recruited by Texas but this year I got to know the new coaches,” McCarty said.

This led McCarty, the No. 16 ranked player in the junior class, to choose the Longhorns over finalist LSU.

What is special about McCarty is she is a throwback point guard amidst the national trend of bigger, scoring minded lead guards.

“Brooke can score 30 points a game or no points a game and people respect her anyways,” Al Coleman, her Cy-Fair Nike Elite club team coach, said.  “She’s cut from a different cloth.  She’s the perfect coach’s player.  I know it’s cliché but she really is another coach on the floor.”

Appreciating McCarty’s speed and style at the point was paramount to Aston catching up with Nikki Caldwell’s Tigers in the recruiting process, which culminated with the verbal commitment on Sunday evening.

“She’s a point guard coach,” McCarty said of Aston.  “She’s hard on her point guards.  She really pushes them because they make things happen.”

According to Coleman, who has coached the likes of Nneka Ogwumike, Chiney Ogwumike, Taber Spani among other prominent players, McCarty is exactly the player that Texas needs at this stage in the rebuilding process.

“(Aston) needs someone like Brooke to come in that class and set the foundation for that 2015 group,” Coleman said.

And the Longhorns have quite the start on recruiting in the State of Texas in the sophomore class with verbals from Alyssa Dry, a 5-7 guard from Fort Worth, Texas, Jordan Hosey, a 6-1 forward from Pearland, Texas, and Lashann Higgs, a 5-8 guard from Houston.

McCarty hopes her status as a Texas pledge helps the Longhorns reel in the talent that can put the team back in the Final Four conversation in years to come.

“There’s a lot of people that said that they want to play with me so that’s good,” McCarty said. “We’re trying to win a championship so I’m going to try and do what I can.”

What she can do is run a team, find open teammates, make an impact as an on-ball defender and be an extension of the coach on the floor.  She can be a difference-maker with elite players around her.  Despite her diminutive size, McCarty can be a big deal at Texas.