Bench DeShields until she can learn to be a team player.

#2
#2
I dunno. I thought the team played pretty well when she was on the floor. However, I think Mercedes is a completely ineffective player. She has no fight in her and gets pushed around too easily. Someone that tall should be a force inside and she has nothing. Put her butt on the bench until she plays with some aggression!

I don't know what this team is doing at practice but there are some key fundamental things this team needs to work on. Layups - a peewee level shot that should be much more consistent than it is. We can't hit a basic freaking layup when we are wide open. Passing - Part of passing is communication. This team is not communicating well on the floor. Not looking for the ball either. The ball got thrown away too many times last night because no one was watching. "Keep your eye on the ball" is a fundamental that is in every sport. And this team MUST figure out how to penetrate a zone defense better. Spending 25 seconds of the shot clock passing it around the key is ridiculous. Someone needs to go inside and start blocking out (Mercedes!!) and get aggressive for the ball. Instead, they are mainly standing around hoping for a lane to open. Every opponent who does good scouting knows we can't beat zone defense. Finally, they have to quit leaving shooters open on the wing. This team has been burned badly by not staying with their coverage and leaving a shooter open. Not just this game, but multiple games. This is regardless of whether Diamond is on the floor or not. Fundamentals are tearing this team up. Fundamental failures point to a consistent theme - coaching.
 
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#3
#3
I think DeShields is a team player--she seems happy to pass and see others score. That said, I think her moodiness is a problem--and that is bad for the team. She is someone who needs to be VOCAL and a leader, and encourage her teammates. Instead, she seems to get pouty when things don't go well, you can see it in her body language, and gets lax on defense. Warlick needs a serious sit-down with her. If the coach can't get her motivated and focused and help her become more of a leader, this team will go nowhere.
 
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#4
#4
Voljlt said:
I dunno. I thought the team played pretty well when she was on the floor. However, I think Mercedes is a completely ineffective player. She has no fight in her and gets pushed around too easily. Someone that tall should be a force inside and she has nothing. Put her butt on the bench until she plays with some aggression!

I don't know what this team is doing at practice but there are some key fundamental things this team needs to work on. Layups - a peewee level shot that should be much more consistent than it is. We can't hit a basic freaking layup when we are wide open. Passing - Part of passing is communication. This team is not communicating well on the floor. Not looking for the ball either. The ball got thrown away too many times last night because no one was watching. "Keep your eye on the ball" is a fundamental that is in every sport. And this team MUST figure out how to penetrate a zone defense better. Spending 25 seconds of the shot clock passing it around the key is ridiculous. Someone needs to go inside and start blocking out (Mercedes!!) and get aggressive for the ball. Instead, they are mainly standing around hoping for a lane to open. Every opponent who does good scouting knows we can't beat zone defense. Finally, they have to quit leaving shooters open on the wing. This team has been burned badly by not staying with their coverage and leaving a shooter open. Not just this game, but multiple games. This is regardless of whether Diamond is on the floor or not. Fundamentals are tearing this team up. Fundamental failures point to a consistent theme - coaching.
Click to expand...

:good!:
 
#5
#5
do you not understand that a player will do what a coach lets them. therefore the problem seems to be coach. if she was good how come she never left summit to become head coach
 
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#6
#6
I think she could be a lot more effective if she would take the mindset to drive the ball and take on mid-range jumpers and layups.
A lot of people taking a lot of three pointers they have no business taking and that would be Diamond, Cooper, Reynolds, and Nared. None are very effective from that distance. If were going to make threes part of our offense then it should be Dunbar, Middleton and Carter taking most of them and even they should put them up far and in between. 22 possessions taking three pointers resulted in 12 points that is pathetic.
 
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#7
#7
It is the job of a coach to take all of the players' strengths and meld them into the most effective unit, maximizing the individual strengths and minimizing the weaknesses. Warlick has not shown so far in her three plus years that she can do that.
 
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#8
#8
Based on last night's game Tennessee is a 5 or 6 seed at best 2nd round or sweet 16... This team is bipolar and that's very scary one game we stifle a team next game they play like crap.... I wouldn't be surprised if we have some transfers after this season
 
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#9
#9
armchair said:
I think DeShields is a team player--she seems happy to pass and see others score. That said, I think her moodiness is a problem--and that is bad for the team. She is someone who needs to be VOCAL and a leader, and encourage her teammates. Instead, she seems to get pouty when things don't go well, you can see it in her body language, and gets lax on defense. Warlick needs a serious sit-down with her. If the coach can't get her motivated and focused and help her become more of a leader, this team will go nowhere.
Click to expand...

She seems to be a brat at times, maybe she should have stayed at NC? Bad shots, ball hog, and no fire, she may score a lot against lower teams, but has been proven to be ineffective to me. Now let's talk about Russell for a moment. She is a total waste of talent, and with that size she should be demanding the ball, and holding court in the paint. She is a not a factor, is u watch her, she is like to nice and doesn't want the ball, why? I would put her and Deshields on the bench and put some body in that wants to play. All that talent and they should be not have a single loss. If this keeps up, they will not make the SEC final, nor the NCAA Tourney, Nard is the same way, just watch her reactions after a missed shot. wow, what a waste of Talent and lack of Coaching. I c this team losing 12 games this year. Some of the problem lies with in Holly herself. Let me say this, she has been part of 8 National Titles, and played as a Player. I think her time is up. If u listen to her Pressers "OH I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO", OR "WE HAVE GOT TO GET BETTER", never blaming herself for lack of effort and scoring. Now if u will allow me to point out some aspects for instance, 1. She can not get quality players to come here and play. 2. Stomping on the floor and crossing her arms like a spoiled brat, and mind u sitting down on the job, does not speak well for her. 3. The Attendance is way down, which leads to loss of monies. 4. If u ask some of the fans, they will tell U she needs to go. 5. Does she have something on Dave Hart which is allowing her to stay. 6. Jodie Adams is one choice, she brings the fire to her teams. After the Vandy Game I will not spend another dime to watch a losing Team. U have to give credit to the Teams who have beaten them this Year. Out played and Out Coached... May be if the Fans should stand up and say enough is enough and not show up, that might send a message. She is tearing this Program down Brick by Brick. This my own thought, but I do believe she had something to with getting rid of Pat, no matter what she says, u know she and hart did it behind her back. Don't hate on me for pointing out some facts here. Just look and think about it... Losing Season for the Lady Vols this Season.... What does it take to get rid of her.. I have no answer for that one. I have tickets for the Vandy Game and I will be booing her and have my sign ready for the Game. Some times the truth hurts. GET RID OF HER...
 
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#10
#10
j'adorevol89 said:
Based on last night's game Tennessee is a 5 or 6 seed at best 2nd round or sweet 16... This team is bipolar and that's very scary one game we stifle a team next game they play like crap.... I wouldn't be surprised if we have some transfers after this season
Click to expand...

Cooper is right there with Deshields and Russell. She makes way to many mistakes, way to many. She should be benched as well. May be She, Diamond, and Russell will leave after the Season. I hope so, what a waste of talent. And along with them Holly should go to. If I were Carter, Jones, I would leave along with Moore, and Graves and the end of the year. Then she will have nobody, and I mean nobody... Hart U need to wake up, the fans are restless, and demand action.... :mf_surrender::mf_surrender:
 
#11
#11
armchair said:
I think DeShields is a team player--she seems happy to pass and see others score. That said, I think her moodiness is a problem--and that is bad for the team. She is someone who needs to be VOCAL and a leader, and encourage her teammates. Instead, she seems to get pouty when things don't go well, you can see it in her body language, and gets lax on defense. Warlick needs a serious sit-down with her. If the coach can't get her motivated and focused and help her become more of a leader, this team will go nowhere.
Click to expand...

Ding ding...winner winner, chicken dinner. I also think it is the moodiness that is the problem. Some nights, she will be great. Other nights, she will suck the whole team down with her. It is that swing of emotion that will drive us nuts.

When playing weak teams, they can hide it. When playing close games, it is a brutal thing to watch.
 
#12
#12
BrianGoswick said:
This my own thought, but I do believe she had something to with getting rid of Pat, no matter what she says, u know she and hart did it behind her back. Don't hate on me for pointing out some facts here. .
Click to expand...

So your unsubstantiated speculation that Holly pulled an "Et tu Brute" on Pat Summitt is a just a "fact" that you are pointing out. I don't think that word "fact" means what you think it does.
 
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#13
#13
Diamond is a very dynamic player but has not shown at the college level that she can be a consistent one. She was the freshman of the year, because athletically she can do things on a basketball court that few others can do and she put up some impressive numbers in points per game on a pretty good team, but if you looked a little deeper at those numbers there were some troubling signs in shooting percentages: .426/.279 while taking 24% of the teams shots and 25% of their threes - A/TO 0.75. Her shot total was 582, 220 more than the second most prolific shooter who shot .481 and her shooting percentage was 6th best of the players playing 12 minutes or more on the team. Her three point shooting was 5th best of those taking significant 3s and the second most prolific 3point shooter was hitting at .418. Overall she shot a lower percent than the team on 2s, 3s, and had a worse A/TO than the team.

This year for TN she is shooting worse than as a freshman at .391/.233 while taking 24% of teams shots and 28% of their threes - A/TO 0.76. Those numbers of course look worse than they really are when you consider the whole team is shooting only .404/.231 with an A/TO of 0.81 so she is basically 'average'.

I do wonder a little about what she is like as a teammate - she seemed to be a ringleader of the 'great freshman class' at UNC, but she was the first to bail, and as far as I know none of the others this past year gave TN a serious look when they bailed for other schools a year later.
 
#14
#14
BrianGoswick said:
She seems to be a brat at times, maybe she should have stayed at NC? Bad shots, ball hog, and no fire, she may score a lot against lower teams, but has been proven to be ineffective to me. Now let's talk about Russell for a moment. She is a total waste of talent, and with that size she should be demanding the ball, and holding court in the paint. She is a not a factor, is u watch her, she is like to nice and doesn't want the ball, why? I would put her and Deshields on the bench and put some body in that wants to play. All that talent and they should be not have a single loss. If this keeps up, they will not make the SEC final, nor the NCAA Tourney, Nard is the same way, just watch her reactions after a missed shot. wow, what a waste of Talent and lack of Coaching. I c this team losing 12 games this year. Some of the problem lies with in Holly herself. Let me say this, she has been part of 8 National Titles, and played as a Player. I think her time is up. If u listen to her Pressers "OH I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO", OR "WE HAVE GOT TO GET BETTER", never blaming herself for lack of effort and scoring. Now if u will allow me to point out some aspects for instance, 1. She can not get quality players to come here and play. 2. Stomping on the floor and crossing her arms like a spoiled brat, and mind u sitting down on the job, does not speak well for her. 3. The Attendance is way down, which leads to loss of monies. 4. If u ask some of the fans, they will tell U she needs to go. 5. Does she have something on Dave Hart which is allowing her to stay. 6. Jodie Adams is one choice, she brings the fire to her teams. After the Vandy Game I will not spend another dime to watch a losing Team. U have to give credit to the Teams who have beaten them this Year. Out played and Out Coached... May be if the Fans should stand up and say enough is enough and not show up, that might send a message. She is tearing this Program down Brick by Brick. This my own thought, but I do believe she had something to with getting rid of Pat, no matter what she says, u know she and hart did it behind her back. Don't hate on me for pointing out some facts here. Just look and think about it... Losing Season for the Lady Vols this Season.... What does it take to get rid of her.. I have no answer for that one. I have tickets for the Vandy Game and I will be booing her and have my sign ready for the Game. Some times the truth hurts. GET RID OF HER...
Click to expand...

Seriously? Somebody liked this post????
 
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#15
#15
I feel a lot of you who are writing comments about Diamond/Holly would also be the only ones commenting on IF we didn't get Diamond when she transferred from UNC.
 
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#16
#16
BrianGoswick said:
She seems to be a brat at times, maybe she should have stayed at NC? Bad shots, ball hog, and no fire, she may score a lot against lower teams, but has been proven to be ineffective to me. Now let's talk about Russell for a moment. She is a total waste of talent, and with that size she should be demanding the ball, and holding court in the paint. She is a not a factor, is u watch her, she is like to nice and doesn't want the ball, why? I would put her and Deshields on the bench and put some body in that wants to play. All that talent and they should be not have a single loss. If this keeps up, they will not make the SEC final, nor the NCAA Tourney, Nard is the same way, just watch her reactions after a missed shot. wow, what a waste of Talent and lack of Coaching. I c this team losing 12 games this year. Some of the problem lies with in Holly herself. Let me say this, she has been part of 8 National Titles, and played as a Player. I think her time is up. If u listen to her Pressers "OH I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO", OR "WE HAVE GOT TO GET BETTER", never blaming herself for lack of effort and scoring. Now if u will allow me to point out some aspects for instance, 1. She can not get quality players to come here and play. 2. Stomping on the floor and crossing her arms like a spoiled brat, and mind u sitting down on the job, does not speak well for her. 3. The Attendance is way down, which leads to loss of monies. 4. If u ask some of the fans, they will tell U she needs to go. 5. Does she have something on Dave Hart which is allowing her to stay. 6. Jodie Adams is one choice, she brings the fire to her teams. After the Vandy Game I will not spend another dime to watch a losing Team. U have to give credit to the Teams who have beaten them this Year. Out played and Out Coached... May be if the Fans should stand up and say enough is enough and not show up, that might send a message. She is tearing this Program down Brick by Brick. This my own thought, but I do believe she had something to with getting rid of Pat, no matter what she says, u know she and hart did it behind her back. Don't hate on me for pointing out some facts here. Just look and think about it... Losing Season for the Lady Vols this Season.... What does it take to get rid of her.. I have no answer for that one. I have tickets for the Vandy Game and I will be booing her and have my sign ready for the Game. Some times the truth hurts. GET RID OF HER...
Click to expand...

There is not much in this post that I agree with but you are entitled to write pretty much anything you want on this forum as long as you don't violate the law or forum rules. I just think you are a poor fan if you intend to go to a game just to boo. Are you sure you are old enough to post as this rambling seems to be a bit adolescent to me but then, you fall right in with a few other posters here who are never satisfied with anything and who come out of the woodwork when the team loses to vent their frustration. Oh well :wacko:
 
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#18
#18
volfanIND said:
I feel a lot of you who are writing comments about Diamond/Holly would also be the only ones commenting on IF we didn't get Diamond when she transferred from UNC.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't understand. Can you please explain further?
 
#19
#19
Jax_Vol said:
Sorry, I don't understand. Can you please explain further?
Click to expand...

Absolutely,
I've read comments stating, Diamond is ruining team chemistry, Diamond is a ball hog, we've wasted our time on Diamond.
*If* we did not have Diamond on our team, and let's say she transferred elsewhere, I believe that the same posters saying those things would be on the message board saying "Our season/team would be better if we would of gotten Diamond, we would be undefeated with Diamond."

Let's face it, with or without Diamond, our team would have the same record, or worse...

That's where I was going...
 
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#20
#20
Voljlt said:
I dunno. I thought the team played pretty well when she was on the floor. However, I think Mercedes is a completely ineffective player. She has no fight in her and gets pushed around too easily. Someone that tall should be a force inside and she has nothing. Put her butt on the bench until she plays with some aggression!

I don't know what this team is doing at practice but there are some key fundamental things this team needs to work on. Layups - a peewee level shot that should be much more consistent than it is. We can't hit a basic freaking layup when we are wide open. Passing - Part of passing is communication. This team is not communicating well on the floor. Not looking for the ball either. The ball got thrown away too many times last night because no one was watching. "Keep your eye on the ball" is a fundamental that is in every sport. And this team MUST figure out how to penetrate a zone defense better. Spending 25 seconds of the shot clock passing it around the key is ridiculous. Someone needs to go inside and start blocking out (Mercedes!!) and get aggressive for the ball. Instead, they are mainly standing around hoping for a lane to open. Every opponent who does good scouting knows we can't beat zone defense. Finally, they have to quit leaving shooters open on the wing. This team has been burned badly by not staying with their coverage and leaving a shooter open. Not just this game, but multiple games. This is regardless of whether Diamond is on the floor or not. Fundamentals are tearing this team up. Fundamental failures point to a consistent theme - coaching.
Click to expand...

The failings you point out here have to do with Holly's inability to impose her personal will on the team. That is a serious shortcoming. When Pat was coaching, you never had any trouble noticing her distinctive footprint on the team. You could see it clearly on the ass of every player she had.
 
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#21
#21
I think we would have a worse record without Diamond. She made some huge baskets out of the locker room versus Missouri when our lead was only seven. She will get her game going and she will get smarter. She was out of basketball for over a year and she has taken some bad shots but with several people on the team worse than she is someone has to take a shot sometime.
 
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#22
#22
rickyb712 said:
do you not understand that a player will do what a coach lets them. therefore the problem seems to be coach. if she was good how come she never left summit to become head coach
Click to expand...

Holly has lost this team. Don't think they respect her at all. I even witnessed one of the players, Deshileds I think playing with Hollys hair as they were exiting the huddle after a timeout against Mizzou. A lot of talent over there getting wasted with piss poor coaching. What a shame.
 
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#23
#23
volfanIND said:
Absolutely,
I've read comments stating, Diamond is ruining team chemistry, Diamond is a ball hog, we've wasted our time on Diamond.
*If* we did not have Diamond on our team, and let's say she transferred elsewhere, I believe that the same posters saying those things would be on the message board saying "Our season/team would be better if we would of gotten Diamond, we would be undefeated with Diamond."

Let's face it, with or without Diamond, our team would have the same record, or worse...

That's where I was going...
Click to expand...

Yes, I see your point. Darned if you do; darned if you don't.

Short term, perhaps. When she is in the mood, Diamond has special talent that this team needs. There will be a few nights where they play very well. As you state, with or without Diamond, this particular team is probably going to lose 8-10 games.

I was thinking more about the future. IMHO, Diamond is that rare breed that can't be coached. Cut bait asap and move forward with a less talented team. Future recruits can easily see the chemistry flaw with the team. My concern is that the best will steer clear.
 
#24
#24
Do we really have to make Diamond the scapegoat, with all these negative inferences based on no factual information?

Diamond needs to start shooting a better % and a lot of problems go away. It is really that simple. She has shown flashes of brilliance, now its time for consistency. And she has no hesitancy to pass the ball to teammates, even when that may not be the best option.

Different players have different demeanors. Reading a lot of intent into facial expressions etc can be misleading when a player is just calm on the court. Not every player wears his/her heart on the sleeve (see Tim Duncan or Chamique Holdsclaw). Calling Diamond all kinds of names because of her facial expressions, even when she gives other signs of being very supportive of and liked by her teammates, is entering into trolling territory. If you want to complain that she did not shoot well enough or hustle enough on defense during the Florida game, fair enough. Personal attacks not so much.

But by all means, let us all "hope" that our most talented player transfers and heck she can take that no good Cooper with her!, Yeah then we will really show em! :no:
 
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#25
#25
madtownvol said:
Do we really have to make Diamond the scapegoat, with all these negative inferences based on no factual information?

Diamond needs to start shooting a better % and a lot of problems go away. It is really that simple. She has shown flashes of brilliance, now its time for consistency. And she has no hesitancy to pass the ball to teammates, even when that may not be the best option.

Different players have different demeanors. Reading a lot of intent into facial expressions etc can be misleading when a player is just calm on the court. Not every player where his/her heart on the sleeve when playing (see Tim Duncan or Chamique Holdsclaw). Calling Diamond all kinds of names because of her facial expressions, even when she gives other signs of being very supportive of and liked by her teammates, is entering into trolling territory. If you want to complain that she did not shoot well enough or hustle enough on defense during the Florida game, fair enough. Personal attacks not so much.

But by all means, let us all "hope" that our most talented player transfers and heck she can take that no good Cooper with her!, Yeah then we will really show em! :no:
Click to expand...


It's not hustling back on defense, which I've seen from her a number of times. We seem to have little to no on-court leadership. The only player who remotely seems like a leader is Carter. We're talking about one of the most talented players in the country--and she was awful last night. She has been erratic all year--and this team has more than enough problems without a player with her talent being erratic. It comes back to coaching--the team seems disorganized anywhere from 20-50 percent of the time in just about every game.
 
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