2025 Recruiting

How many Elite Eights have we been to in the last 5 years?
I said final fours and the comparison was made about the style of play. Similar to Ohio State. McGuff is a long-time established power-5 coach who has a pressing defense and runs a lot of 5 out and he is turning out WNBA players but still hasn't made it to a final four. That is just a fact. Ohio State is loaded again this year with talented WNBA-bound players and I don't expect them to win the Big 10 let alone get to the final four.
Lets work through this logically.

1. Playing at a faster tempo per se does not give you more shots. If my team gets up a shot every 15 seconds and my opponent takes 30 seconds, we are still trading one to one possessions.

2. You say but REBOUNDING. Fair, but every team comes into the game with a goal of controlling the offensive glass. Kellie's teams generally got more possessions through a rebounding advantage (though that edge was often mitigated by loosing the turnover battle). There is nothing new or radical in saying our game plan is to out rebound our opponent.

3. What is different about CKC's system is playing a pressing defense for 40 minutes. Matt MItchell's "40 minutes of hell" scheme at KY was similar but he was not fully committed to positionless basketball or going 10 to 12 deep to maintain intensity levels.

When it works, the LVs should win the rebounding and TO battles. If opposing teams crack the LV press and shoot a decent %, that slows tempo down because the LVs would not be in transition as often and they would have to run more half court sets.

The fact that Marshall got destroyed by VT (minus their best player) should be taken as a point of concern in that better quality teams are not rattled by pressure defenses. On the flip side, CKC will have an arsenal of much better athletes than she did at Marshall and so their 40 minutes of hell should be a lot more ferocious than what Marshal could muster.
This.......The best of the Best Point Guards and the Best of the Best coaches are in the SEC.
 
I said final fours and the comparison was made about the style of play. Similar to Ohio State. McGuff is a long-time established power-5 coach who has a pressing defense and runs a lot of 5 out and he is turning out WNBA players but still hasn't made it to a final four. That is just a fact. Ohio State is loaded again this year with talented WNBA-bound players and I don't expect them to win the Big 10 let alone get to the final four.

This.......The best of the Best Point Guards and the Best of the Best coaches are in the SEC.
I don’t think that is accurate… Since 2018….. Tennessee has had 5 first round picks and 1 second round pick in the WNBA draft. Ohio State has had 2 first round picks( 6 years apart) and 3 second round picks. Tennessee has had as much talent if not more than Ohio State.
 
It is not that complicated when it comes down to understanding why it is a winning formula. The team getting far more rebounds AND winning the turnover battle by a big margin will almost always win the game. This is true even if you are playing a more talented team. What we are waiting to see if the teams at the highest level of talent and coaching can thwart our attempts to trump them in rebounds and turnovers. I have a hunch we will win some of these games, but there may be other teams with great guard play and supreme athletes that will make it hard for us to win the essential turnover stat.
Same as it ever was. We're making all this more complicated than it needs to be, regardless of "system". Whoever gets the most rebounds, makes the least t.o.s and controls tempo will win 9 out of 10 times, esp if they can also hit shots. Also 9 times out of 10, that will be the team with the most talent. Therefore we have to step up recruiting and start landing elite talent, something the previous staff was unable to do. None of that has changed.
 
This concerns me far more than the nuances of any "system". This is where we need the breakthru.

Why? Kim Mulkey would out recruit ANY coach we hired, every time. She’s a legend of the game.

She’ll get hers, just depends on what she can do with them. Doesn’t always work for her, chemistry become an issue on a lot of Mulkey teams because she takes a lot of…big?…personalities.
 
BC as Pat Summitt always said, having the best players is the first and biggest factor in how you win championships. As Pat's Dad put it, don't bring plow mules to a thoroughbred race.

Not hard to prove. When we were getting the best players on the regular, we were winning nattys. Since we stopped consistently signing elite talent, we have no nattys. Seems obvious.

Having elite talent doesn't guarantee a natty, but not having it (yes of course with the rare antecedantal exception) guarantees you won't.
 
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I also think a lot of y'all need to understand the "2025 list" we have going is not really accurate and I wish it would get changed. Coach Kim and staff have not offered or talked to several of the players the old staff had been pursuing and on the flip side, they are in on several legit players the old staff had not been in contact with.
 
Anyone talking about Marshall losing to VT as a “ point of concern” doesn’t know ball
How is it not an example of what happens to the "system" when it bumps up against superior talent who controls tempo?
I also think a lot of y'all need to understand the "2025 list" we have going is not really accurate and I wish it would get changed. Coach Kim and staff have not offered or talked to several of the players the old staff had been pursuing and on the flip side, they are in on several legit players the old staff had not been in contact with.
Broken record, bottom line. Whoevers on whatever list, we have to start landing top 20 type talent. Period.
 
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How is it not an example of what happens to the "system" when it bumps up against superior talent who controls tempo?

Broken record, bottom line. Whoevers on whatever list, we have to start landing top 20 type talent. Period.
The point was the "list" we have on here is not 100% accurate. Nowhere did I say we do not need top 20 talent to win. Period.
 
I don’t think that is accurate… Since 2018….. Tennessee has had 5 first round picks and 1 second round pick in the WNBA draft. Ohio State has had 2 first round picks( 6 years apart) and 3 second round picks. Tennessee has had as much talent if not more than Ohio State.
How many of our first round picks are on WNBA rosters?
 
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The point was the "list" we have on here is not 100% accurate. Nowhere did I say we do not need top 20 talent to win. Period.
Sorry you’re right you didn’t. This started over a comment CKC made regarding preferring lower ranked players who fit the system versus higher ranked players. Which she probably didn’t even completely mean but it sent me off lol

I also don’t mean to dog the current staff over the recruiting achievements they have had. they’ve done well and overall upgraded talent. Wouldn’t have expected much more given the situation Unfortunately, the top teams have upgraded on an equal or greater scale.

most likely it will be another year of trying to do more with less, that elusive thing KJAH could never do. Then we hope wins bring the elites.

There’s still Grace Knox that would be a very nice olive out of the elite jar
 
Tennessee won’t face superior talent with the portal class of Spearman, Spencer, Latham, Cooper, Ayodele, and Whitehorn plus early enrollee Kaniya Boyd in addition to the core of the returnees if the team stays healthy.
A basic fact of all sports is that even the most talented teams don’t always win.
I’m talking about ability not rankings on paper. That’s simplistic thinking.
Two of the most naturally talented players I’ve watched in the last 10 years in women’s college basketball are Taylor Soule and Alexis Dye. Both about 5’10 or 5’11 and was skilled enough to matchup with any post player they faced 3-5 or more inches taller in the ACC and SEC.
Neither had stars beside their name and yet excelled in college while being invited to WNBA teams training camp.
I can also point out the fact that several highly talented players and teams in the past have produce mediocre results.
Either way, the repeatedly argument by a fan or two specifically questioning the LVs talent vs any upcoming opponent in 2024-2025 is invalid.
 
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All have been offered by TN. 2 have eliminated TN. Grace Knox is still considering TN.



Grace Knox was seen by Roman in Cali this past week and Gabe was active in Jaida Civil's recruitment.

I also think a lot of y'all need to understand the "2025 list" we have going is not really accurate and I wish it would get changed. Coach Kim and staff have not offered or talked to several of the players the old staff had been pursuing and on the flip side, they are in on several legit players the old staff had not been in contact with.
this /\
 
2025s who have posted offers.
# ESPN ranking

#11 Dee Alexander to Cincinati
#30 Aubrey Beckham to Georgia
#5 Divine Bourrage not in top 6
#14 Nyla Brooks To NC
#1 Aaliyah Chavez not top 6
#40 Jaida Civil
#3 Jasmine Davidson
#27 Madison Francis
#79 Lena Girardi not in her top 5
#41 Holland Harris To Clemson
#63 Layla Hayes not top 8
#21 Taliyah Henderson To N.Carolina
#35 Lauren Hurst
#45 Adelaide Jernigan not in top 3
#7 Zakiyah Johnson not in her top 6
#8 Grace Knox
Alyssa Koerkenmeier to St. Louis U.
#57 Destiny Lunan
#12 Leah Macy to ND
#17 Brynn McGaughy To Washington
#50 Jordan Ode To Michigan State
#23 Keeley Parks
#13 Mia Pauldo To Tennessee!
#49 Mya Pauldo To Tennessee!
#15 Deniya Prawl
#9 Emilee Skinner
#31 Lara Somfai not in top 3
#13 Hailee Swain To Stanford
#56 Janiyah Williams To Oregon
 

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