Probably the worst weekend in men and womens history

#7
#7
ColinS said:
Getting a gimmick coach for what's suppose to be a blue blood women's program was just a dumb decision. Just get some 4 and 5 star players and let the talent take over. Hockey shift changes and 60 off balance three point attempts is just not gonna cut it.
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She signed 6 4 and 5 star players last year. Naturally they're freshmen this year and nearly everybody who isn't a freshman has to be a transfer because Kelly literally signed nobody for 2 consecutive years. She has a lot to learn but I'm not panicking yet.
 
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#10
#10
kckempf said:
She signed 6 4 and 5 star players last year. Naturally they're freshmen this year and nearly everybody who isn't a freshman has to be a transfer because Kelly literally signed nobody for 2 consecutive years. She has a lot to learn but I'm not panicking yet.
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I'm not saying she hasn't recruited good talent but this system clearly isn't working. It's one thing to lose to the best teams by 8 or 10 because your young but another thing to lose by 50. Experience is not gonna fix that. Coach Barnes is playing freshman a ton of minutes and the team is down a little from previous years but competitive night in and night out.
 
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#12
#12
Col_Cathcart said:
Just to be clear, we’re blaming coaches when the players miss open shots, right? Missing shots is a coaching failure?
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The shots stopped falling and Barnes went inside. None of these guys can hit a shot from point blank range or better than 60% on free throws when fouled? I don't know whose fault that is actually. Both I guess.
 
#13
#13
VOLtaism said:
The shots stopped falling and Barnes went inside. None of these guys can hit a shot from point blank range or better than 60% on free throws when fouled? I don't know whose fault that is actually. Both I guess.
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Estrella missed about 4 straight from point blank range. He's 6'11". For God's sake, dunk the d$mn basketball. He had a terrible game. The other bigs were bad also.
 
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#14
#14
ColinS said:
I'm not saying she hasn't recruited good talent but this system clearly isn't working. It's one thing to lose to the best teams by 8 or 10 because your young but another thing to lose by 50. Experience is not gonna fix that. Coach Barnes is playing freshman a ton of minutes and the team is down a little from previous years but competitive night in and night out.
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Dawn Staley had some good comments about what Kim Caldwell needs to do with the team, which hopefully she can take to heart. Caldwell's biggest mistake with this game is rightly considering that her players quit but wrongly not taking the blame on herself. Your job as a coach is to get those players continuing to compete even when things aren't going their way, which honestly Barnes was able to do in our game at Kentucky despite how it ended.

www.rockytopinsider.com

The Advice Dawn Staley Said She'd Give Kim Caldwell After Lady Vols' Record Loss to South Carolina | Rocky Top Insider

South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley offered advice to Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell.
www.rockytopinsider.com www.rockytopinsider.com
 
#16
#16
Hoggervol said:
Estrella missed about 4 straight from point blank range. He's 6'11". For God's sake, dunk the d$mn basketball. He had a terrible game. The other bigs were bad also.
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Yeah...I hate singling out players (there were several from Sat night who were bad) but JP CLEARLY had about a 3-minute stretch late that cost us about 12 points. BUT...I fully trust Rick to help get him past it. Our bigs at the rim? Beyond unbelievable...approaching extremely odd and mysterious. Let's play it out and see where we land. For me...I still remember the pre-Barnes era too well....so I can appreciate this team.
 
#17
#17
Col_Cathcart said:
Just to be clear, we’re blaming coaches when the players miss open shots, right? Missing shots is a coaching failure?
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Just to be clear my OP didn't mention coaches. But I remember what Tom Osborne said when Nebraska lost a football game.

If we had better players and lost I did a poor job of coaching.

If the other team had better players I did a poor job of recruiting.
 
#18
#18
I haven’t followed LV basketball closely, but she seems to be recruiting a lot better than Harper ever did and is still a young coach learning on the job. I think some of the fans calling her a “gimmick coach” and saying she is in over her head is odd given the perception of Josh Heupel and his “gimmick system” and how we defend him.

I also think some of the LV fans have unrealistic expectations. Women’s basketball in 2026 is far from the landscape of women’s basketball in the early 2000s when Pat was running through the sport. There is a lot more interest and investment in it now, which has made for more parity and better teams. It was basically UConn and Tennessee for years as the only elite programs, now you have at least 8-12 teams fielding deep rosters and capable of winning the whole thing. Adjusting to that new paradigm as a young coach is hard and some of the LV fans turning on her already just kind of shows the expectations for this program are not what they need to be realistically set at.
 
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#19
#19
tennrich1 said:
Yeah...I hate singling out players (there were several from Sat night who were bad) but JP CLEARLY had about a 3-minute stretch late that cost us about 12 points. BUT...I fully trust Rick to help get him past it. Our bigs at the rim? Beyond unbelievable...approaching extremely odd and mysterious. Let's play it out and see where we land. For me...I still remember the pre-Barnes era too well....so I can appreciate this team.
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I know exactly what you're saying and I clearly remember the Buzz, O'Neil, Cuonzo fiascos but for it to happen against Kensucky. Anybody but them mouth breathers. And to get outcoached by Mark Pope....oh the agony!
 
#20
#20
TheMookieMonster said:
I haven’t followed LV basketball closely, but she seems to be recruiting a lot better than Harper ever did and is still a young coach learning on the job. I think some of the fans calling her a “gimmick coach” and saying she is in over her head is odd given the perception of Josh Heupel and his “gimmick system” and how we defend him.

I also think some of the LV fans have unrealistic expectations. Women’s basketball in 2026 is far from the landscape of women’s basketball in the early 2000s when Pat was running through the sport. There is a lot more interest and investment in it now, which has made for more parity and better teams. It was basically UConn and Tennessee for years as the only elite programs, now you have at least 8-12 teams fielding deep rosters and capable of winning the whole thing. Adjusting to that new paradigm as a young coach is hard and some of the LV fans turning on her already just kind of shows the expectations for this program are not what they need to be realistically set at.
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and when Geno finally hangs it up at UCONN, that'll quickly become 15-20 teams with a shot
 
#21
#21
TheMookieMonster said:
I haven’t followed LV basketball closely, but she seems to be recruiting a lot better than Harper ever did and is still a young coach learning on the job. I think some of the fans calling her a “gimmick coach” and saying she is in over her head is odd given the perception of Josh Heupel and his “gimmick system” and how we defend him.

I also think some of the LV fans have unrealistic expectations. Women’s basketball in 2026 is far from the landscape of women’s basketball in the early 2000s when Pat was running through the sport. There is a lot more interest and investment in it now, which has made for more parity and better teams. It was basically UConn and Tennessee for years as the only elite programs, now you have at least 8-12 teams fielding deep rosters and capable of winning the whole thing. Adjusting to that new paradigm as a young coach is hard and some of the LV fans turning on her already just kind of shows the expectations for this program are not what they need to be realistically set at.
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I think the bolded is a bit of a misnomer.

In the 17 seasons since Pat won her last title, 7 different schools have won the NCAAT. In the 17 years prior to her last title, 9 different schools had won the NCAAT.

So, yes, the game is different just like it is for the men's sport, as well, but there is actually less parity...at least in terms of titles. UCONN has 7 in that 17-yr span. South Carolina has 3. Baylor has 2, and Kim Mulkey has 3 between Baylor and LSU. So that is 3 coaches splitting 13 titles in 17 years.
 
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#22
#22
BigBadVol said:
“Droughts” sorry had to.😁
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Let's give him a break on this one. I think the way this season has gone, our minds tend to go toward something to get us inebriated.
This team makes me not only want to get back on the wagon, but drive the damn thing as well!
 
#23
#23
Hoggervol said:
Estrella missed about 4 straight from point blank range. He's 6'11". For God's sake, dunk the d$mn basketball. He had a terrible game. The other bigs were bad also.
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Go to the small lineup and sit his heinie. Put Ament at the 4 and put a shooter at the perimeter.
 
#24
#24
Hoggervol said:
Estrella missed about 4 straight from point blank range. He's 6'11". For God's sake, dunk the d$mn basketball. He had a terrible game. The other bigs were bad also.
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Also him and Brown both rush their shots when they get one. Brown I can understand more since he's just a freshman but even still both at times look like pee wee basketball players who don't get to score much and when they get a shot they panic and fling it at the basket. Both need to either drunk it or get some more finesse on their shots.
 
#25
#25
cncchris33 said:
I think the bolded is a bit of a misnomer.

In the 17 seasons since Pat won her last title, 7 different schools have won the NCAAT. In the 17 years prior to her last title, 9 different schools had won the NCAAT.

So, yes, the game is different just like it is for the men's sport, as well, but there is actually less parity...at least in terms of titles. UCONN has 7 in that 17-yr span. South Carolina has 3. Baylor has 2, and Kim Mulkey has 3 between Baylor and LSU. So that is 3 coaches splitting 13 titles in 17 years.
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I’ll admit I am not an avid watcher of women’s basketball, but it has seemed on the surface level that the sport is much deeper than when I was growing up in the 90’s. Maybe that’s wrong, but just feels that way. Your stats certainly to point to it not being better. But, I guess it could also just be that the sport is still top heavy with a better middle tier of teams.
 
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