Aftermath of Lady Vols Loss to Michigan

[alexvol]

Where we need to get and still trying to get is a roster that has a lot of upperclassmen that have been in the program a long time and have continued to develop their playing skills. Davis and Burrell were very good players in their second year under Harper after those two there wasn't much help putting the ball in the basket so everything rested on how those two players played. If they had a bad game definitely more likely to lose as no one else could be depended upon to step up and play well when things were not going well for these two key players. That is what this season was all about no support for two players that occasionally had bad games. A very few times Horston or Key played well enough to be considered sufficient help although that was not to often. KK better than she has ever been yet not a scorer and never one you could depend on to have a big game when the big two were having their problems. Walker not an efficient scorer and then after those six it got much worse as none of Suarez, Salary, Darby, Saunders, or Rennie could be depended upon enough to even play more than a few minutes a game. McCoy injured all season as was Green don't know how much help they might have been unlikely enough to change the record much.
So going into next season a lot will have to go right for us to be a top SEC team. We have Burrell back and she will be an AA she is a worker and will get even better than she was this season. We need the sophomores this season Key and Horston to take huge strides in becoming efficient scorers. Key just needs a way to get more touches which couldn't happen very often this season because teams did not respect our outside shooting and were very comfortable keeping a lot of defensive players in the paint. Horston needs a complete makeover of her offensive game. She needs to start with a shooting instructor today and work until next season in developing a shooting stroke. She is a player that must be an efficient and dependable scorer next season. Then we should have Walker and Green back who are dependable players and hopefully better than they were this season. Darby possibly could be a perimeter scorer but she would really need to build up her core strength and leg strength body just to soft at this point to play a physical offensive and defensive game. She has a 40 percent three point shooting stroke if she could get strong enough to stay on the floor. Salary seemed to lose her game late in the season maybe she develops it again over the summer. Suarez have to see where she goes from where she is now injured quite a bit late season. The freshman should provide a bench we haven't had in the first two seasons under Harper. Puckett and Striplin are physical players that know how to score. Wynn and Miles will make us quicker in the backcourt than we have been in a while. Wynn could be a breakout player even as a freshman she was fabulous her senior season 30 ppg 11 rpg 5.4 steals 3.6 assists. I don't think she is a terrific there point shooter her game is more mid-range and getting to the basket. I don't know where Rennie and Saunders fit in guess we'll find out over the summer and start of next season.

I think the team could potentially be better next season if all the players improve at the rate they did this season. We could use a top player out of the portal that has an established perimeter game plus defensive skills and can't emphasize enough how important it will be for Horston to live up to her number two in her class ranking next season. It will take a lot of hard work on her part over the next six months. Whether she is willing to do what it takes guess all of us that are here next season will find out.

Great analysis .

 

[creekdipper]

So, if this loss is so off-putting to recruits, then Wolfenbarger already has her bags packed after Arky's first-round exit to #13 seed Wright State.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

That's great if that's her goal. She will certainly have the opportunity next year to be a major part of the team's success if she makes significant improvement to her game.

i think we all can see her desire to want to do right. I think Jordan can be a Tamika Catching type player focusing on D and letting the offense come to her.

I honestly think she can be a Alysha Clark type player who made a living in the WNBA off 3 and D. Meaning she scored when needed too but she made her opponents life hell

 

[alexvol]

Davis got plenty of shots that she normally makes. Little floater in the lane, short jumpers, several right at the rim. Michigan could not guard her but she clanking everything off the back of the rim. It reminded of Holdsclaw last game against Duke. Burrell missed several open jumpers and then she wound up driving into the crowded lane and that did not work well.

In 3rd and 4th quarters, the LVs got several stops and then had wide open threes which would have cut the lead to single digits and they bricked everyone, We started the game with Key and Davis missing infinite shots right at the rim. The LVs could have easily had a 10 pt lead early on.

Davis, Walker, Horston, Burrell all got "good looks" with terrible results. For the most part, there was no reason to change the offensive scheme because the LVs were getting plenty of open shots.

Honestly, I can't say a whole lot about Michigan's mighty game plan unless it was let the LVs get the shots they want and hope they inexplicably miss. If so, the brilliant.

We started the game with Key and Davis missing infinite shots right at the rim. The LVs could have easily had a 10 pt lead early on.

We watched different games that is obvious to me .Just how many shots did Burrell and Davis take in the 1st quarter and in the 2nd quarter.All their shots were highly contested ...in most cases .by two Michigan defenders.The only points that Burrell had at the half was a rebound put back .Fact is how many touches did each Davis and Burrell have in the 1st two quarters where they had an open shot ?

 

[JohnWardForever]

More Apathy for Vol Fans. I wonder how many years it takes to desensitize?

 

[NoBackBoard]

So, if this loss is so off-putting to recruits, then Wolfenbarger already has her bags packed after Arky's first-round exit to #13 seed Wright State.

Losses only negatively impact Lady Vol recruits. All other recruits are immune and other coaches who lose early are still good coaches. It’s all listed in the introduction of the nega-vol playbook.

 

[PG1]

Beyond a couple of players, they weren’t very talented though. They made fewer ugly turnovers, had a good defensive plan and competed harder in some cases.

Having a plan is a real good thing.

 

[dtnvol]

I know that many of us are disappointed with our second round ouster from the NCAA Tournament and I am just as disappointed as anyone else. For the last 10 years, or more, we all watched the LV program head South. With my disappointment, I still take into consideration that this is KJH’s second year at the helm. It takes more than two years to give life to a program where the oxygen has been sucked out. It becomes difficult to convince many 5 stars that it is in their best interest to be a part of a dying program. Most top recruits are mostly interest in playing for top 10 programs. Sadly, the prior coaching staff recruited well but produced little. Within 7 years the mojo of playing at Tennessee lost its magic. In addition, a rabid fan base, including me, went after players and coaching staff because we craved for the good old days.The attitude of a fan base can either affect recruiting in a negative or positive manner. In reality, retrieving the good old days is going to take a lot of work. No, KJH has not recruited a bunch of 5 stars, however, the 4 four star players coming in, seem to have some strong upsides. It took KJH 6 years to rebuild MoState’s basketball program with a group of no stars. I truly believe it will take KJH at least five years to build a consistent D1 top ten team. Success comes in increments and simply will not happen in two years.

Very well put Teach!! Go LVFL

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Kelly has to fix the turn-over issues for this program to get to the next level. Cannot get there averaging 17 TO's a game. And your star players are the biggest culprits. Got to be a way to get this thru your players heads.

 

[lfvol]

Losses only negatively impact Lady Vol recruits. All other recruits are immune and other coaches who lose early are still good coaches. It’s all listed in the introduction of the nega-vol playbook.

After not getting any elite kids the last two cycles, it seems obvious the tournament was an opportunity to get the attention of the 2022 undecided kids as well as 2023s. You want an elite kid or two to believe they are the missing piece instead of seeing us as far away. Beating SC was helpful. Both tournament performances were a bad look.

 

[Hallie]

They need some kids who can take and listen to coaching .. some of these girls ignore coaches when try to correct them .. CKH needs to jerk a knot ... consequences for turning and walking away while being talked too .. well hey how you go on down to the end of bench and sit and watch rest of game !!!! That will see if the girls want to get better and accept coaches instruction or leave .. thses girls are handled with kid gloves too much !!!

 

[teacherdean]

I

I'm not sure where the "badly outcoached" is coming from. We had many point blank layups and short 8 footers that were just missed. The coaching was good enough to put the players in position to score. I have no idea what could have been done or said that would have made the ball go through the hoop instead of bouncing off. Some things coaching can do, the rest is up to the players to do it.

I agree with you, I do not think KJH was badly out coached. We missed too many open shots, especially lay ups by our bigs. That is a player problem. It may have been nerves, bad techniques or the physicality of Michigan. The defense was there, we held Michigan to 38% shooting. That is an outstanding defensive effort.

 

[Spook1]

Where we need to get and still trying to get is a roster that has a lot of upperclassmen that have been in the program a long time and have continued to develop their playing skills. Davis and Burrell were very good players in their second year under Harper after those two there wasn't much help putting the ball in the basket so everything rested on how those two players played. If they had a bad game definitely more likely to lose as no one else could be depended upon to step up and play well when things were not going well for these two key players. That is what this season was all about no support for two players that occasionally had bad games. A very few times Horston or Key played well enough to be considered sufficient help although that was not to often. KK better than she has ever been yet not a scorer and never one you could depend on to have a big game when the big two were having their problems. Walker not an efficient scorer and then after those six it got much worse as none of Suarez, Salary, Darby, Saunders, or Rennie could be depended upon enough to even play more than a few minutes a game. McCoy injured all season as was Green don't know how much help they might have been unlikely enough to change the record much.
So going into next season a lot will have to go right for us to be a top SEC team. We have Burrell back and she will be an AA she is a worker and will get even better than she was this season. We need the sophomores this season Key and Horston to take huge strides in becoming efficient scorers. Key just needs a way to get more touches which couldn't happen very often this season because teams did not respect our outside shooting and were very comfortable keeping a lot of defensive players in the paint. Horston needs a complete makeover of her offensive game. She needs to start with a shooting instructor today and work until next season in developing a shooting stroke. She is a player that must be an efficient and dependable scorer next season. Then we should have Walker and Green back who are dependable players and hopefully better than they were this season. Darby possibly could be a perimeter scorer but she would really need to build up her core strength and leg strength body just to soft at this point to play a physical offensive and defensive game. She has a 40 percent three point shooting stroke if she could get strong enough to stay on the floor. Salary seemed to lose her game late in the season maybe she develops it again over the summer. Suarez have to see where she goes from where she is now injured quite a bit late season. The freshman should provide a bench we haven't had in the first two seasons under Harper. Puckett and Striplin are physical players that know how to score. Wynn and Miles will make us quicker in the backcourt than we have been in a while. Wynn could be a breakout player even as a freshman she was fabulous her senior season 30 ppg 11 rpg 5.4 steals 3.6 assists. I don't think she is a terrific there point shooter her game is more mid-range and getting to the basket. I don't know where Rennie and Saunders fit in guess we'll find out over the summer and start of next season.

I think the team could potentially be better next season if all the players improve at the rate they did this season. We could use a top player out of the portal that has an established perimeter game plus defensive skills and can't emphasize enough how important it will be for Horston to live up to her number two in her class ranking next season. It will take a lot of hard work on her part over the next six months. Whether she is willing to do what it takes guess all of us that are here next season will find out.

I totally agree with all that you have offered. My biggest complaint is the almost total lack of ball security and ...too many turnover and steal by the opponents. That is the one thing that I have not seen Coach Harper attempt to correct. She needs to apply the Coach Rich Barnes method...in practice if there is a turnover, the player is required to run from the arena flood to the top and back...after a few trips the players becomes very ball security attention.

 

[vols54west]

KJH has a learning curve in the Sec. She will be a good coach, don't know if she will get the Lady Vols to the level of Coach Summitt. We have one of the better teams in the country talentwise. When they are on point they can play with anyone in the country as they have proven this year, but when their minds are not in the game they play awful. Coach KJH needs the teach them to be mentally ever game

 

[Orange Maniac]

I totally agree with all that you have offered. My biggest complaint is the almost total lack of ball security and ...too many turnover and steal by the opponents. That is the one thing that I have not seen Coach Harper attempt to correct. She needs to apply the Coach Rich Barnes method...in practice if there is a turnover, the player is required to run from the arena flood to the top and back...after a few trips the players becomes very ball security attention.

Since you are at practice and see what coach hasn't attempted to do, why not call her over and give her this advice. I mean if she has made no attempts to correct it, maybe you could tell her it's a problem she needs to address. If you can see it not being corrected at practice, I'm sure others have as well. Wonder why they haven't revealed this information too her?

 

[Voltopia]

Although many are trying to play it down, the significance of this loss can't be overstated. Just a devastating defeat for the program for so many reasons....

Nah, not even top 5. Let's see. The Duke loss in '99, the second UConn Final Four loss, the first rounder against Ball State, the loss to Xavier loss back when Balcomb was on her way up, and the 1990 loss to Virginia in the regional finals.

Those were devastating. This is just another bump on a road Tennessee's been on for the last several years. I very much doubt that a recruit's expectations were wildly influenced by a 17-7 team with a second year coach going out on a crappy second round loss.

 

[Vols2015]

I think that this year, we did good considering the teas we faced. We saw glimpse's of brilliance from all players. We saw both KK and Tamari, have the best seasons and most impact, in my opinion, in the years previous. We saw Rennia take over later in the year, and we saw Rae blossom to what we will need her to be next year. Jordan Walker played exceptional on the defensive end, and really showcased that size does not matter to pull down rebounds. Jordan Horston, while her scoring ability was on and off, really showed me that she can play with control, and can be a huge factor with her defense and passing abilities. I would love to see both Jordan's work on their ourside shot(s). That will be something we are going to have to have going forward. While I would be so ecstatic to see Rennia and KK return, as well as Jaiden McCoy, I just don't see any of them coming back. These are huge losses, especially with KK and Rennia. On the plus side, we have some good upcoming Freshmen coming in, that may potentially bring us that forward that can be a midrange and 3-point shooter we have needed so badly. Keyen Green will be returning, which will help with our loss of KK. While Keyen is significantly shorter than KK, her will for the ball in the rebounding and scoring departments seems to be apparent from watching her earlier this season. It's imperative that I think we try to get another post presence from the transfer portal this year. Someone who is at least 6'3." We do not have a lot of depth in that department with all the departures after this season concludes. I think Jordan Walker can give us the point guard we need. Put Jordan Horston into Rennia's role, or switch Rae to Rennia's position and put Horston into Rae's spot, and I think we could be pretty good still.

 

[NoBackBoard]

Nah, not even top 5. Let's see. The Duke loss in '99, the second UConn Final Four loss, the first rounder against Ball State, the loss to Xavier loss back when Balcomb was on her way up, and the 1990 loss to Virginia in the regional finals.

Those were devastating. This is just another bump on a road Tennessee's been on for the last several years. I very much doubt that a recruit's expectations were wildly influenced by a 17-7 team with a second year coach going out on a crappy second round loss.

IMO the worst one was the less talked about 2005 Final Four loss to Michigan State. The Lady Vols were up 16 with 14:30 left in the second half before the Spartans chipped away and ultimately won 68-64. Baylor won the title game for Mulkey’s first championship led by Sophia Young. It was heartbreaking.

 

[orangefloyd]

Kellie may get us there but I believe the rebuild could have been shortened by hiring an elite coach.

 

[Border Vol]

Kellie may get us there but I believe the rebuild could have been shortened by hiring an elite coach.

I don't think an elite coach would have taken the job

 

[volman128]

God I hope so! We desperately need players that want to hustle!

I'd rather have players that can hit open shots and not miss layups.

 

[OldLofter]

Where we need to get and still trying to get is a roster that has a lot of upperclassmen that have been in the program a long time and have continued to develop their playing skills. Davis and Burrell were very good players in their second year under Harper after those two there wasn't much help putting the ball in the basket so everything rested on how those two players played. If they had a bad game definitely more likely to lose as no one else could be depended upon to step up and play well when things were not going well for these two key players. That is what this season was all about no support for two players that occasionally had bad games. A very few times Horston or Key played well enough to be considered sufficient help although that was not to often. KK better than she has ever been yet not a scorer and never one you could depend on to have a big game when the big two were having their problems. Walker not an efficient scorer and then after those six it got much worse as none of Suarez, Salary, Darby, Saunders, or Rennie could be depended upon enough to even play more than a few minutes a game. McCoy injured all season as was Green don't know how much help they might have been unlikely enough to change the record much.
So going into next season a lot will have to go right for us to be a top SEC team. We have Burrell back and she will be an AA she is a worker and will get even better than she was this season. We need the sophomores this season Key and Horston to take huge strides in becoming efficient scorers. Key just needs a way to get more touches which couldn't happen very often this season because teams did not respect our outside shooting and were very comfortable keeping a lot of defensive players in the paint. Horston needs a complete makeover of her offensive game. She needs to start with a shooting instructor today and work until next season in developing a shooting stroke. She is a player that must be an efficient and dependable scorer next season. Then we should have Walker and Green back who are dependable players and hopefully better than they were this season. Darby possibly could be a perimeter scorer but she would really need to build up her core strength and leg strength body just to soft at this point to play a physical offensive and defensive game. She has a 40 percent three point shooting stroke if she could get strong enough to stay on the floor. Salary seemed to lose her game late in the season maybe she develops it again over the summer. Suarez have to see where she goes from where she is now injured quite a bit late season. The freshman should provide a bench we haven't had in the first two seasons under Harper. Puckett and Striplin are physical players that know how to score. Wynn and Miles will make us quicker in the backcourt than we have been in a while. Wynn could be a breakout player even as a freshman she was fabulous her senior season 30 ppg 11 rpg 5.4 steals 3.6 assists. I don't think she is a terrific there point shooter her game is more mid-range and getting to the basket. I don't know where Rennie and Saunders fit in guess we'll find out over the summer and start of next season.

I think the team could potentially be better next season if all the players improve at the rate they did this season. We could use a top player out of the portal that has an established perimeter game plus defensive skills and can't emphasize enough how important it will be for Horston to live up to her number two in her class ranking next season. It will take a lot of hard work on her part over the next six months. Whether she is willing to do what it takes guess all of us that are here next season will find out.

‘Sorry. Got lost. in the future you might try using a few paragraphs. Even a semicolon would help.

 

[volman128]

We shall see. I guess Notre Dame should disband their program then as well,

Ah, what a wonderful whataboutism.

"What about this other school that's had tons and tons of success over the last decade while we've been largely irrelevant!"

 

[volman128]

Nah, not even top 5. Let's see. The Duke loss in '99, the second UConn Final Four loss, the first rounder against Ball State, the loss to Xavier loss back when Balcomb was on her way up, and the 1990 loss to Virginia in the regional finals.

Those were devastating. This is just another bump on a road Tennessee's been on for the last several years. I very much doubt that a recruit's expectations were wildly influenced by a 17-7 team with a second year coach going out on a crappy second round loss.

True, we actually had expectations back then, lol. A shellacking in the second round to a lower seed shouldn't be a surprise at this point.

 

[Special Ed]

After Math was History when I was in school.
Then there was Science, then Social Studies.
Recess was my favorite subject.