Big Question for Tennessee Coaches.

[Volfan2012]

Three point shooting.

Simmons shooting 26 percent from the three so why has she put up 70 threes this season. This seems detrimental to team success even though we have won 10 of 11 games it would seem that a player shooting 26 percent through 11 games would be requested to pursue another role. I have always thought Simmons would be far better as a slasher to the basket beating her defender getting to the foul line. This was somewhat proven in the second half of the Stanford game as this is how she scored most of her points having totally failed as a three point shooter in the first half. This her fourth year at Tennessee she stands at 219 makes out of 680 attempts from the three. This is a .317 percent average and gives you .95 points per shot attempt. The myth that she is a great three point shooter is false she is not. Her game is slasher to the rim, mid-range shots, get to the foul line. The Tennessee coaches have failed to realize her strengths in four seasons. It is time for them to put her in a position to succeed as well as the team and that would mean dramatically cut the three point attempts for the rest of the season.

To add we have two new players on the team this year that are shooting .474 and .429 from the three. One has 19 attempts and has made 9. The other has 14 attempts and has made 6. Why are these two players getting so few attempts while a player with a percentage far less gets 70. This is just one area where coaching comes in as you must have players play to their strengths on offense. Right now we have three players who seem to not be doing that at all. Carter 1.42 points per three point shot attempt, Reynolds 1.29 points per three point shot attempt seems the logical three point choices. They need to be shooting a lot more threes.

My big question to the coaches would be why these players get so few attempts when their point production is so much higher. This is one area where Geno has a big advantage over many teams. He plays the percentages and the people that can actually make threes at a high percentage take the shots I can only hope that will be our plan from this day forward.

 

[orangeluvr]

aurienema.uke5:

 

[meekfan]

Three point shooting.

Simmons shooting 26 percent from the three so why has she put up 70 threes this season. This seems detrimental to team success even though we have won 10 of 11 games it would seem that a player shooting 26 percent through 11 games would be requested to pursue another role. I have always thought Simmons would be far better as a slasher to the basket beating her defender getting to the foul line. This was somewhat proven in the second half of the Stanford game as this is how she scored most of her points having totally failed as a three point shooter in the first half. This her fourth year at Tennessee she stands at 219 makes out of 680 attempts from the three. This is a .317 percent average and gives you .95 points per shot attempt. The myth that she is a great three point shooter is false she is not. Her game is slasher to the rim, mid-range shots, get to the foul line. The Tennessee coaches have failed to realize her strengths in four seasons. It is time for them to put her in a position to succeed as well as the team and that would mean dramatically cut the three point attempts for the rest of the season.

To add we have two new players on the team this year that are shooting .474 and .429 from the three. One has 19 attempts and has made 9. The other has 14 attempts and has made 6. Why are these two players getting so few attempts while a player with a percentage far less gets 70. This is just one area where coaching comes in as you must have players play to their strengths on offense. Right now we have three players who seem to not be doing that at all. Carter 1.42 points per three point shot attempt, Reynolds 1.29 points per three point shot attempt seems the logical three point choices. They need to be shooting a lot more threes.

My big question to the coaches would be why these players get so few attempts when their point production is so much higher. This is one area where Geno has a big advantage over many teams. He plays the percentages and the people that can actually make threes at a high percentage take the shots I can only hope that will be our plan from this day forward.

Stats don't lie. You may not like what they say but there it is. . . Good post

 

[Sandvol]

I wish Holly would tell her "Meghan, you get 5 three attempts for the game. If you chose to shoot them all in the first 10 minutes that is your choice but you only get 5. If you shoot any more after that you sit the bench." And then follow through with that. I think something like that would make her a little more judicious with her shot selection. I don't know I'm not a coach but do agree she takes too many threes at least during big games. But her threes have helped us win some of the less important games. I guess they're hoping one day she'll break out in a big game.

 

[Convoluted]

aurienema.uke5:

7th grader.

 

[Volfan2012]

I wish Holly would tell her "Meghan, you get 5 three attempts for the game. If you chose to shoot them all in the first 10 minutes that is your choice but you only get 5. If you shoot any more after that you sit the bench." And then follow through with that. I think something like that would make her a little more judicious with her shot selection. I don't know I'm not a coach but do agree she takes too many threes at least during big games. But her threes have helped us win some of the less important games. I guess they're hoping one day she'll break out in a big game.

I think Holly should tell Meghan I want you to take your man to the basket to start the game. If you get a shot take it and if not find a teammate. I think she could draw a lot of fouls with her speed if she would develop a little pump fake and take it to the rim. I don't know a lot of guards that can stop her taking it to the rim. If the help comes make the pass. Meghan could have been so great if she would have made that her game instead of pumping up threes where she is a career 31 percent shooter. She is capable of scoring 20 per game but not by pumping up threes she needs to be a slasher to the basket force a slower player to guard her or make the defense rotate to her and open up other players. Jacking up threes puts no pressure on the defense at all doesn't help the team unless you can make over 40 percent of them. Getting them in foul trouble and getting the much easier in close shots is a much better way to win big games.

 

[Convoluted]

I think Holly should tell Meghan I want you to take your man to the basket to start the game.

It's on Holly's to-do list for next year.

 

[Sandvol]

I think Holly should tell Meghan I want you to take your man to the basket to start the game. If you get a shot take it and if not find a teammate. I think she could draw a lot of fouls with her speed if she would develop a little pump fake and take it to the rim. I don't know a lot of guards that can stop her taking it to the rim. If the help comes make the pass. Meghan could have been so great if she would have made that her game instead of pumping up threes where she is a career 31 percent shooter. She is capable of scoring 20 per game but not by pumping up threes she needs to be a slasher to the basket force a slower player to guard her or make the defense rotate to her and open up other players. Jacking up threes puts no pressure on the defense at all doesn't help the team unless you can make over 40 percent of them. Getting them in foul trouble and getting the much easier in close shots is a much better way to win big games.

I think the coaches want a player to be at least 35 percent because that compares to 52% two point shooting. They want them to be over 50%.

 

[Volfan2012]

Vandy game 3 for 11 and a total of 21 shots by one player not a post player either. Wonder why the coaches continue to let this happen. This is why they lost the game.

 

[gule]

Bull****, if her teammates were half decent, Simmons wouldn't have to throw up threes late before the shot clock expires. She tries to pass the ball inside and they either miss the shot or drop the damn ball that hits them right in the hands(Graves & Harrison the most)

Burdick has been terrible on Offense , Carter is on a different planet than the rest and Massengale never gets the ball to Simmons on time. Jones? don't get me started on that gurl...

Coach should play Simmons, Russell, Moore, Massengale, & Harrison, to start for the rest of the year.....

 

[gule]

that combo may lose a couple games reg season but by tourny time could handle big teams like Stanford & Duke.

imvvho

 

[gule]

tired of watching Graves blow 2 foot chippies!

 

[armchair]

This is precisely the point--and complaint--I've been making about Warlick and the other coaches for months. It is called playing stupid basketball. Warlick lets Simmons shoot--seemingly at will--because she believes Simmons is a "scorer." In fact, as I said the other day: Simmons isn't a genuine scorer because she doesn't shoot well enough to be a scorer. Scoring 16 points doesn't make a you a "scorer" if you take 20 shots to get them. This is something Warlick has failed to grasp--and a big reason why we usually lose--Simmons taking too many shots and making too few.

The Vandy loss isn't all on Simmons, by any stretch. It was a very weird game with Harrison fouling out and playing so little. We needed ALL our guards (Simmons, Massengale, Carter), along with Burdick and maybe even Russell, to pick up scoring slack--and play good defense--and they couldn't do it. Burdick and Jones did pick up scoring--but all of the guards had bad offensive games, and we did not get to the line enough. It goes without saying that Simmons should be driving more and getting to the free-through line more--something the coaches should have drilled into her two years ago. One issue is that she is very slightly built and so doesn't have an ideal body for the contact that comes with going to the basket--but she should be doing it anyway. We've got one consistently good guard and we need at least two.

 

[gule]

Moore can score inside, Russell can feed her the damn ball from top of the key if she has to, and Harrison can just stay the hell out of the way...

 

[gule]

Somehow our "Coach" turned Carter into this year's Kamiko Williams! inconsistent & out of sink(sp?)

 

[gule]

If I was Coach, I'd put my 5 against the other 5 in practice every day, no substitutions allowed and the practice winners start the next game. miss your ft's? you run the bleachers for an hour.

 

[Volfan2012]

If I was Coach, I'd put my 5 against the other 5 in practice every day, no substitutions allowed and the practice winners start the next game. miss your ft's? you run the bleachers for an hour.

Plus let the best five play in the next game. I bet we might see Nia starting over somebody that is playing now.

 

[clkou]

If your solution to every problem is to constantly shuffle in new players and coaches every time you face adversity, you're just going to have a program with a lot of former head coaches and players and little to no success.

 

[djtee]

Bull****, if her teammates were half decent, Simmons wouldn't have to throw up threes late before the shot clock expires. She tries to pass the ball inside and they either miss the shot or drop the damn ball that hits them right in the hands(Graves & Harrison the most)

Burdick has been terrible on Offense , Carter is on a different planet than the rest and Massengale never gets the ball to Simmons on time. Jones? don't get me started on that gurl...

Coach should play Simmons, Russell, Moore, Massengale, & Harrison, to start for the rest of the year.....

That has been my point from day one sit Jones give Moore a chance.

 

[clkou]

Just following up on the OP: Simmons was shooting 26% and has improved to 30%. Her average for three years coming into this season was 34%. In my opinion, it would be horrific coaching to say something like "you only get 5 attempts per game". 99% of the time, that will kill a player's confidence and she'll end up being a 20% shooter when the dust settles. A player either has the green light or she doesn't. There's no middle ground. And, if a player has the green light, you encourage that player to shoot and you have confidence in that player and you make sure she has that same confidence.

Now, shot selection is a totally different animal. You can coach that and you should coach that and that may be the area that needs to be looked at with a more critical eye. But, in my book, Simmons is a great shooter and should always have the green light. For 3 point shots, 40% shooting or better is off the charts. 35% or better is damn good. 30% to 35% is definitely "green light" territory and very respectable. 25% to 30% starts to get a little grey, but even then, it's not the end of the world if such a player is shooting good shots.

 

[Convoluted]

If your solution to every problem is to constantly shuffle in new players and coaches every time you face adversity, you're just going to have a program with a lot of former head coaches and players and little to no success.

Yes. Much better to have just one coach and a few players with little or no success.

 

[governmentmule]

like others have said,i would love to see Simmons drive to the basket a lot more and what is going on with Graves ? she doesn't seem to be the same player as last year ? she has been injured this year,is that it ?

I have no idea why Moore hasn't gotten much playing time this year,it seems like she is in the doghouse for some reason,the only thing i can think of ,is she hasn't been doing well in practice

your right armchair the Vandy game was weird,they fought back in the first half without Izzy and took the lead by 10 points i think in the 2nd half with her and when she fouled out,it was like they all gave up,except for Jones and Simmons