Basketball Team Comparison Now VS Last

[DrDave]

How does the 2014-2015 Lady Vols basketball team compare to the 2013-2014 team?

Where will the new ladies contribute?

Will post play offensively be better this year?

 

[gule]

#1 bigger

#2 practice

#3 only the LORD knows

 

[Crazy Ivan]

How does the 2014-2015 Lady Vols basketball team compare to the 2013-2014 team

Hopefully the 2014-15 LVs will shoot better, have way fewer TOs, and actually play defense. And maybe they will be more coachable as a group.

 

[Volletterman83]

Jannah Tucker is a beast and will start if her knee is 100%. Alexa Middleton is another strong guard who can shoot and take it to the basket. Dunbar is a shooter who can hit three's with ease! This year's team will benefit from Draya and JJ maturing; both are uber athletic. Izzy will be stronger and more accomplished. Hopefully Mercedes' foot injury which hurt her most of the season will be 100% since undergoing surgery. Should be a faster, stronger, and more athletic team than last year.

 

[Volletterman83]

How does the 2014-2015 Lady Vols basketball team compare to the 2013-2014 team

Hopefully the 2014-15 LVs will shoot better, have way fewer TOs, and actually play defense. And maybe they will be more coachable as a group.

in my opinion the team was very coachable, so much so that they became too focused on doing exactly what the coaches said regardless of what was going on in the game. As a team they did not believe in themselves (lacked confidence) and were more afraid of making a mistake than making a play. As a team, they are probably the most athletic ever at Tennessee and are from top to bottom as athletic as any in the country.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

in my opinion the team was very coachable, so much so that they became too focused on doing exactly what the coaches said regardless of what was going on in the game. As a team they did not believe in themselves (lacked confidence) and were more afraid of making a mistake than making a play. As a team, they are probably the most athletic ever at Tennessee and are from top to bottom as athletic as any in the country.

Perhaps, but they were weak in every aspect of their defense and I don't think that was a product of being too focused. And HW made a couple of comments late in the season that staff was having problems with getting (at least some of) them to accept what the staff was trying to teach them.

 

[stllvf]

Included below are the statistics for the year. The two /related statistics are turnovers and steals that need to show improvement. The two of the top three with TOs are returning: Harrison and Jones. All three point guards had a greater assist to TO ratio greater than 1.6

When someone writes what I consider a "cliche" - better defense is the hope that each player can defend her opponent in any man defense called, can switch appropriately, can box out effectively, is intelligent on the court to not get caught in mismatches, can follow a game plan to ensure the dribbler is forced to use her weakest hand, can trap effectively, can get back on defense rapidly following a basket, can prevent an opposing AA who averages XX from getting her average? Can you name the two players who had the most fouls? They both played IMO better than average defense. Harrison and Carter.

AM STATISTICS UT OPP
SCORING 2725 2201
Points per game 77.9 62.9
Scoring margin +15.0 -
FIELD GOALS-ATT 999-2184 808-2208
Field goal pct .457 .366
3 POINT FG-ATT 160-444 186-602
3-point FG pct .360 .309
3-pt FG made per game 4.6 5.3
FREE THROWS-ATT 567-793 399-596
Free throw pct .715 .669
F-Throws made per game 16.2 11.4
REBOUNDS 1595 1196
Rebounds per game 45.6 34.2
Rebounding margin +11.4 -
ASSISTS 536 440
Assists per game 15.3 12.6
TURNOVERS 579 547
Turnovers per game 16.5 15.6
Turnover margin -0.9 -
Assist/turnover ratio 0.9 0.8

STEALS 273 280
Steals per game 7.8 8.0
BLOCKS 135 86
Blocks per game 3.9 2.5

 

[Volletterman83]

Perhaps, but they were weak in every aspect of their defense and I don't think that was a product of being too focused. And HW made a couple of comments late in the season that staff was having problems with getting (at least some of) them to accept what the staff was trying to teach them.

I do agree there were defensive breakdowns throughout the year, but I am not sure I would say they were weak in every aspect of defense. JJ frequently locked down players as did Draya. I would also say that Harrison despite weak ness in technique (stands too high) did a decent job on defense when she wasn't in foul trouble. Just for clarification, my comment about too focused was probably not exactly what I meant. I think the team became too rigid in trying to do exactly what the coaches wanted to even when it was not working. This team had too many turnovers, couldn't seem to make a defensive stop when they had to. They also were not a very good passing team and at times their offensive flow was poor; particularly without the ball. Lastly, they lost their most experienced point guard early in the SEC schedule (against Florida). I did hear HW statements, but not sure what to make of them. This year's team to answer the initial question is the new players coming in will contribute in a big way and returning players will be better.

 

[Volletterman83]

Included below are the statistics for the year. The two /related statistics are turnovers and steals that need to show improvement. The two of the top three with TOs are returning: Harrison and Jones. All three point guards had a greater assist to TO ratio greater than 1.6

When someone writes what I consider a "cliche" - better defense is the hope that each player can defend her opponent in any man defense called, can switch appropriately, can box out effectively, is intelligent on the court to not get caught in mismatches, can follow a game plan to ensure the dribbler is forced to use her weakest hand, can trap effectively, can get back on defense rapidly following a basket, can prevent an opposing AA who averages XX from getting her average? Can you name the two players who had the most fouls? They both played IMO better than average defense. Harrison and Carter.

AM STATISTICS UT OPP
SCORING 2725 2201
Points per game 77.9 62.9
Scoring margin +15.0 -
FIELD GOALS-ATT 999-2184 808-2208
Field goal pct .457 .366
3 POINT FG-ATT 160-444 186-602
3-point FG pct .360 .309
3-pt FG made per game 4.6 5.3
FREE THROWS-ATT 567-793 399-596
Free throw pct .715 .669
F-Throws made per game 16.2 11.4
REBOUNDS 1595 1196
Rebounds per game 45.6 34.2
Rebounding margin +11.4 -
ASSISTS 536 440
Assists per game 15.3 12.6
TURNOVERS 579 547
Turnovers per game 16.5 15.6
Turnover margin -0.9 -
Assist/turnover ratio 0.9 0.8

STEALS 273 280
Steals per game 7.8 8.0
BLOCKS 135 86
Blocks per game 3.9 2.5

Excellent points regarding the primary components of defense. At times the Lady Vols did not appear to have the chemistry to play tough team defense. I do think they improved somewhat throughout the year. This team appeared to be weak on fundamentals, both offensively and defensively. Sometimes this occurs when very athletic players rely only on their athletic skill and do not pay enough attention to fundamentals. Other times it is a lack of attention by the coaching staff. I will say that every player returning from the previous year showed significant growth with the exception of Graves; in her defense she was pretty strong her freshman year (SEC FOY).

 

[GameTime]

The team was too focused on getting the ball in to the paint....That single fact led to a huge number of lost scoring opportunities in needless turnovers....It was either poor game planing or lack of execution....It did not help that every fan that follows wcbb knew we were going to go inside with the ball....But, when you have a coach that likes to talk to the media and say that our game is to go inside, things like that will happen....

On defense, our girls were often the victim of reaching in to many times....The new rules don't allow that....Add in inept refs and it was a recipe for what we saw; good ball, but not championship ball.

Let's hope we are better.

 

[Volfan2012]

I think where the team will be vastly improved is from three point range. If Massengale can penetrate and dish Dunbar and Middleton want miss many open shots. I like Nared on tape she seems able to create her own shot off the dribble like Parker. I really doubt that Dunbar and Middleton will be very good defensively their real value is instant offense from the three point line. We really need to see a lot if improvement from Mercedes, Jasmine, and Celia both on defense and offense.

 

[armchair]

The team was too focused on getting the ball in to the paint....That single fact led to a huge number of lost scoring opportunities in needless turnovers....It was either poor game planing or lack of execution....It did not help that every fan that follows wcbb knew we were going to go inside with the ball....But, when you have a coach that likes to talk to the media and say that our game is to go inside, things like that will happen....

On defense, our girls were often the victim of reaching in to many times....The new rules don't allow that....Add in inept refs and it was a recipe for what we saw; good ball, but not championship ball.

Let's hope we are better.

not to just "get the ball inside." The objective is to get a good, open shot--for anybody. UT focuses on one thing----getting the ball to Harrison--and too often if that option is foiled the players start to panic. A turnover often follows.

This idea that you can score if you can just get the ball to one of your better players is BAD half-court coaching. We saw it with Simmons always taking and missing too many shots--and Warlick seemed to do nothing because we saw the same damn thing for four years, and all Warlick could say was, "Well, Simmons is a scorer." And Simmons was NOT a scorer. She was a shooter--big difference, and a big difference that a good coach would have recognized two years ago. You've got a team FULL of top recruits--move the friggin' ball and whoever gets open should shoot, whether it is from 3 feet or 22 feet.

 

[GameTime]

not to just "get the ball inside." The objective is to get a good, open shot--for anybody. UT focuses on one thing----getting the ball to Harrison--and too often if that option is foiled the players start to panic. A turnover often follows.

This idea that you can score if you can just get the ball to one of your better players is BAD half-court coaching. We saw it with Simmons always taking and missing too many shots--and Warlick seemed to do nothing because we saw the same damn thing for four years, and all Warlick could say was, "Well, Simmons is a scorer." And Simmons was NOT a scorer. She was a shooter--big difference, and a big difference that a good coach would have recognized two years ago. You've got a team FULL of top recruits--move the friggin' ball and whoever gets open should shoot, whether it is from 3 feet or 22 feet.

I agree armchair, but Simmons was often the only player that had enough self confidence to shoot the ball...Too many times the open player, instead of taking the shot, would dribble into coverage so they wouldn't have to shoot the damn ball, or pass the ball to a covered player...

It became an epidemic of who can I pass the ball to, instead of let me take the shot for the team.....Very Frustrating.

Dunbar and Nared will cure that ailment...They are supreme shooters and appear to be full of confidence, a needed ingredient for victory.

 

[Ladyvolfan4ever]

I agree armchair, but Simmons was often the only player that had enough self confidence to shoot the ball...Too many times the open player, instead of taking the shot, would dribble into coverage so they wouldn't have to shoot the damn ball, or pass the ball to a covered player...

It became an epidemic of who can I pass the ball to, instead of let me take the shot for the team.....Very Frustrating.

Dunbar and Nared will cure that ailment...They are supreme shooters and appear to be full of confidence, a needed ingredient for victory.

Most of the time if Meighan was not on the floor everybody else seemed to fall apart.

 

[governmentmule]

hopefully all the damn turnovers will stop or at least get to a reasonable number and you never know what you will get with a bunch of freshmen players,hopefully they will play up to there potential,but you never know

and everybody knew they were doing there best to go inside,as others have said,hopefully there will be some improvement on the perimeter shooting,to be able to open up some passing lanes to go inside

and play some damn defense too

 

[Volfan2012]

A shorter rotation. Players guarding players that they are capable of guarding. If they are not capable playing players that are. If we don't have any match up zone. Players with highest percentages becoming go to players. We don't need 38 percent shooters taking most of the shots every game we play.

Here's who I play right now not knowing anything about the pre-season or player development over the summer.

F-Nared
F-Harrison
C-Russell
G-Tucker
G-Massengale
F-Graves
G-Carter
G-Dunbar
F-Burdick

Middleton, Jones, etc. could replace players in this rotation, but nine is what I play when we get to SEC play.

 

[Real Info]

A shorter rotation. Players guarding players that they are capable of guarding. If they are not capable playing players that are. If we don't have any match up zone. Players with highest percentages becoming go to players. We don't need 38 percent shooters taking most of the shots every game we play.

Here's who I play right now not knowing anything about the pre-season or player development over the summer.

F-Nared
F-Harrison
C-Russell
G-Tucker
G-Massengale
F-Graves
G-Carter
G-Dunbar
F-Burdick

Middleton, Jones, etc. could replace players in this rotation, but nine is what I play when we get to SEC play.

If this was the case, I hope that Reynolds would play in front of at least 3 of the above top 9.

 

[GameTime]

Way to early to set up a starting 5 or rotation.....

Let's hope the staff uses this team to the best of their ability.

 

[stllvf]

Baseball has its statistic on how many additional games are "won" because of the player

the WNBA has a statistic on the time a player is in the game the + or - changes in scoring.

At the end of the season the LVs continually started slow or fell behind quickly which ever way one wants to frame it. I would wonder if the stats for the first five or eight minutes of starters would produce any revealing trends?

 

[GameTime]

The team struggled to many times against teams they should have put away early.....And the slow starts was an epidemic that finally ended their season.

 

[Smallvol#1]

The team struggled to many times against teams they should have put away early.....And the slow starts was an epidemic that finally ended their season.

But what I could never understand was why? Over confident that they could give half effort and then turn it on to win, lack of confidence so had a hard time getting started or keeping the level up, a lack of 'killer instinct'...once they got ahead wouldn't keep the pedal down, too stubbon to follow game plan, not capable of following game plan, bad game plan? Sitting in the stands (for every home game and numerous away games) it sure was mind baffling as to just what they were and were not doing on the court and why. They ALL seem like great young ladies and talented players. So?????