Game Thread Lady Vols vs Albany

The more I watch this team the more disturbed I am about this program. I thought Holly was improving as a coach. Cooper is a freshman true-but she is getting no direction from the head coach. She seems lost as a goose. I don't know what to make of this.
 
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Can anybody realistically name me one major program in the country who would hire Holly as their head coach?
 
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I just got done watching a replay of the game and for some reason i missed about half of the game on Watch ESPN,no idea why,it was another sorta ugly looking win,but hey it is Win :)

Russell took over the game in the Fourth quarter,she looked really good

from what I seen of the game,it was another game with a lot of dumb turnovers,for heavens sake quit throwing the ball inside to the other teams players hands and try to control the ball instead of running wild and making poor passing decisions

I'm not sold on Cooper yet,she is making way to many turnovers and making some really bad decisions passing the ball inside,of course she is just a freshmen and you have to figure that into her play,but sit her down when she is making those bad passes and get it thru her head and other players also,that poor decisions passing the ball,means you are going to be on the bench and maybe that will help

and what happened to Dunbar and DeShields injury wise ? all I saw was were they said that DeShields had left the court and hadn't returned to the game and something about Dunbar coming down on a players foot and she had a boot on her foot
 
I disagree that she can consistently score the ball.This is her 3rd year and no improvement is evident in either scoring or turnovers imo.

I never said she could consistently score. But since you changed it to that, I'll respond by saying I think she's pretty consistent at every thing she does. She can be counted on to have a medium-to-low shooting percentage, to turn the ball over, to go to the rim for both shot attempts and rebounds, to be disruptive on defense, and to, yes, score a few points a game.

As for having no improvement, she improved her scoring average each of the three seasons she has played. So far this season her average is below that of last year's abbreviated season. I agree with you that her turnovers are a problem - she is generally in the range of two turnovers a game.

It's pretty clear what the coaching staff sees in Jones. I just hope Jones can justify their continued faith in her.
 
Really? She is only shooting 37% for the year! Of course, Diamond is only shooting 32%, Cooper 36%, Reynolds and Carter 33%, Jackson 25%, and Moore has missed every shot she has taken. I would hardly call any of these players sharpshooters.

I said score, you respond with shooting percentages. Scoring and shooting percentages are related, but they aren't the same thing.
 
UT will not smell the final four playing as we have. Our offensive execution against zone defenses has to be much better, which means better ball movement and passing, fewer turnovers and better shooting. And DeShields has to be better, if she can be with her shin splits. Warlick can see problems--which are obvious--but she's not so good at fixing them. That, too, is obvious.
 
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I just got done watching a replay of the game and for some reason i missed about half of the game on Watch ESPN,no idea why,it was another sorta ugly looking win,but hey it is Win :)

Russell took over the game in the Fourth quarter,she looked really good

from what I seen of the game,it was another game with a lot of dumb turnovers,for heavens sake quit throwing the ball inside to the other teams players hands and try to control the ball instead of running wild and making poor passing decisions

I'm not sold on Cooper yet,she is making way to many turnovers and making some really bad decisions passing the ball inside,of course she is just a freshmen and you have to figure that into her play,but sit her down when she is making those bad passes and get it thru her head and other players also,that poor decisions passing the ball,means you are going to be on the bench and maybe that will help

and what happened to Dunbar and DeShields injury wise ? all I saw was were they said that DeShields had left the court and hadn't returned to the game and something about Dunbar coming down on a players foot and she had a boot on her foot

Hey Mule, I'm sorry you weren't able to see the whole game. It was a better win than most think. I think it was the LV's best game of the season. That's not saying much, but they had a consistent and sustained effort on defense, moved the ball fairly well on offense (they had 16 assists), and had a balanced scoring attack. On most plays, everybody got a touch. The shooting percentage was a bit higher in this game than the last three.

As everyone knows, the turnovers are a terrible problem. Also, the LV's could have done better on the boards. Albany got their hands on several offensive rebounds, but in the end it didn't hurt the LV's.
 
Hey Mule, I'm sorry you weren't able to see the whole game. It was a better win than most think. I think it was the LV's best game of the season. That's not saying much, but they had a consistent and sustained effort on defense, moved the ball fairly well on offense (they had 16 assists), and had a balanced scoring attack. On most plays, everybody got a touch. The shooting percentage was a bit higher in this game than the last three.

As everyone knows, the turnovers are a terrible problem. Also, the LV's could have done better on the boards. Albany got their hands on several offensive rebounds, but in the end it didn't hurt the LV's.

Yeah, they were beating the Lady Vols on the boards most of the game, and finished with more points in the paint.

I like the fact that they all brand new opponents, except Chatty, and that part excite me the most, and only had a day to scout. They are learning how to play on the fly...

I'm curious to see, which players step up against Texas.

Russell vs Boyette Graves vs Lang
 
We played a little better today than the last two games. We still need to improve our turnover ratio or we are in deep, deep dong. As the announcer said several times Russell is not as aggressive as she needs to be. She also has a tendency to watch the game instead of being in the action. The play she exhibited in the last few minutes has to be all game long. She can run and she is very athletic. She could be as good as Brittany Griner was in college. She has all she needs to be one of the best post in college basketball. I can't believe that we were out scored and out rebound in the paint.

Reynolds and Jones are a tournovers waiting to happen. Right now they continue to throw crazy passes and trying to thread balls between 3 defenders. Of course they were not the only ones. I would like for just one time, for Holly to call time out and chew their butts out when the team makes several turnovers in a row. We also need to establish a solid starting 5 that play most of the minutes.

I will take the win any day but if we do not get our stuff together, we will be a team waiting for a beat down. We have way too much talent to play this type of ball game. They had better get their stuff together or Texas will kick their butts on the Lady Vols own floor.
 
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...I can't believe that we were out scored and out rebound in the paint...

The team is working I think pretty hard to develop a balanced attack and to integrate DeShields, Cooper, and other perimeter players into the existing inside game of Graves and Russell. I thought it looked "ok" today. Better than in the previous couple of games. It'll get better. We'll see Sunday how much real progress has been made and how far they yet have to go.
 
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Right now this team is no better than .500 in the SEC. We have a world of room for improvement but our ladies look like they are not familiar with the game on the offensive end.
 
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The team is working I think pretty hard to develop a balanced attack and to integrate DeShields, Cooper, and other perimeter players into the existing inside game of Graves and Russell. I thought it looked "ok" today. Better than in the previous couple of games. It'll get better. We'll see Sunday how much real progress has been made and how far they yet have to go.
I agree I just want us to start using our heads on turnovers especially passes. If we play the game we are capable of playing I believe we can and will beat Texas. I would like for DD to start at the 3 and Cooper and Carter play the 1&2. Did you see DD jump for that one rebound? She skied over everyone.
 
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Hey Mule, I'm sorry you weren't able to see the whole game. It was a better win than most think. I think it was the LV's best game of the season. That's not saying much, but they had a consistent and sustained effort on defense, moved the ball fairly well on offense (they had 16 assists), and had a balanced scoring attack. On most plays, everybody got a touch. The shooting percentage was a bit higher in this game than the last three.

As everyone knows, the turnovers are a terrible problem. Also, the LV's could have done better on the boards. Albany got their hands on several offensive rebounds, but in the end it didn't hurt the LV's.

I don't think people are doubting it was a good win, LV. I think people are just concerned when you look at our play the last 4 games it's very concerning. Good teams have a few close games to inferior opponents, they don't struggle every single game.

#1 Uconn has won their games by the following margins: 44 and 40 points. That 44 point win was over #11 ranked OSU
 
Right now this team is no better than .500 in the SEC. We have a world of room for improvement but our ladies look like they are not familiar with the game on the offensive end.

Probably not. Outside of SC, UK, UT, Texas A&M, MS State and maybe Mizzou the SEC is awful.
 
A good win? I guess if you define any win as a good win. Albany is probably no better than maybe an RPI 75 team. They do have a good coach but far inferior talent to our girls. They really deserve a better coach. I feel for them.
 
One perhaps positive outlook when looking at the early body of work is that the win/loss of our opponents without their losses to us is pretty good:

3-0 (Central Arkansas)
3-1 (Penn State)
3-0 (Syracuse)
4-1 (Chattanooga)
4-0 (Albany)
----
17-2
 
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Reynolds and Jones are a tournovers waiting to happen. Right now they continue to throw crazy passes and trying to thread balls between 3 defenders. Of course they were not the only ones.

For the last few seasons, the LVs have had tendencies to forces passes into tight spaces, with generally poor results. In these first few games, this tendency seems to have gotten decidedly worse. Some of the passes are just inexplicable; you wonder the players are seeing on the floor. It seems like our players can't anticipate that other players are going to anticipate these passes, rather than just stand there. I agree that Holly needs to just pull players who make these kind of blunders. It is one thing to miss a pass to open player because the ball had too much pace on it and quite another to throw the ball into a space marked by three defenders (or to pass the ball to Russell at waist level rather than lob it in).

This recurrent and costly problem should not be that hard to resolve.
 
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inexplicable is putting it mildly madtownvol

I mean there hitting the opponents players right in the hands and then doing it again and again and again
 
For the last few seasons, the LVs have had tendencies to forces passes into tight spaces, with generally poor results. In these first few games, this tendency seems to have gotten decidedly worse. Some of the passes are just inexplicable; you wonder the players are seeing on the floor. It seems like our players can't anticipate that other players are going to anticipate these passes, rather than just stand there. I agree that Holly needs to just pull players who make these kind of blunders. It is one thing to miss a pass to open player because the ball had too much pace on it and quite another to throw the ball into a space marked by three defenders (or to pass the ball to Russell at waist level rather than lob it in).

This recurrent and costly problem should not be that hard to resolve.

But, yet again, Holly indicated, during the after game interview, she did not know why the turnover problem existed. If she does not know why we have turnover issues, then who does? She is the head coach. This speaks volumes as to why the Lady Vols program has playing and recruiting problems. Right now this is not a number 4 team with one of the top WB coaches in America. It maybe later but certainly not now.
 
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This game to me was rather blah... Mercedes and Bash weren't as aggressive as they normally are, but they did work through it... It also seems as if Diamond is getting a feel for the game, when that first shot goes in she is ready... I still feel that they should be dominating but hopefully they began to play to their potential they need to learn how to get a big lead and retain it.. Also they need to practice passing the ball to Mercedes they need to pass/lob it to her higher instead of throwing it at her waist because those smaller players ae ready to swat them away.. Holly needs to show them old footage of how they gave the ball to Cain, Strick was very good at getting the ball to Cain.. But you can really tell that Mercedes is healthy and she runs the floor so well,she's atheletic and I had no idea that she could elevate either, That layup in transition was awesome I see great potential in her.. Furthermore Reynolds and Carter need to gain some sort of confidence they have become passive and unsure.. Bottom line play good basketball
 
One perhaps positive outlook when looking at the early body of work is that the win/loss of our opponents without their losses to us is pretty good:

3-0 (Central Arkansas)
3-1 (Penn State)
3-0 (Syracuse)
4-1 (Chattanooga)
4-0 (Albany)
----
17-2

Not really. Your first whiff with your analysis this year. You have to look at who they've played. For instance Albany beat Boston U and Providence and yeah those might seem like pretty good wins but Boston U is 0-4 and Providence is 1-3. So, Albany's winning record is built on awful opponents. None of these teams they have beaten are bad teams and a couple are decent teams but a No.3 or No.4 team, if they are truly that, should be wiping these teams off the floor especially at home. And, they are playing fundamentally bad basketball. Not something you build a run to a FF on.
 
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I was at the game. I was either sitting around fellow members of this forum, or the faithful are catching on. Multiple complaints about the coach's requirement about having to pass it inside before being allowed to shoot. Also many statements regarding her confusing substitution patterns. I think there were 3 minutes left and she did not have a single shooting guard in the game. Fans are catching on.
 

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