Game Thread: (11) Lady Vols 67 - (12) Indiana 79

[Majors]

Respectfully, she couldn’t look more lost on defense and offense than the team as a whole.

Anyone can get out rebounded and blown by

 

[Voluble2]

you could not have paid me to think we would have started the first 3 games 1-2.

I am not surprised. Lots of new players, a coach who does a pretty good imitation of a turnstile, and early games against legitimate top 15 teams with experienced line-ups who have played together for a long time. This is pretty much what I expected.

We, on the other hand, are not a legitimate top 25 team right now. We might have top ten talent, but we have a long ways to go to become even a decent team. Jordy is going to paper over a lot of this when she comes back, but remember, this is what the team really is underneath. It is good we can see it. It gives us a better chance of fixing it.

I really do think Kellie's window of success is down to this season. If we don't win anything this year it won't matter what the AD does because the writing will be on the wall. She pretty much made her own bed with her recruiting and having nothing in the pipeline. There would be no reason not to bite the bullet and make a change. And on the up side, I would be pretty excited to see who White would pick as a successor.

Much better if Kellie can turn things around though. Let's hope she does.

 

[dillyo51]

I post as a coach and as a coach I am not impressed with our coaching right now.
I ain't the sugar-coating type.

What does John Harper do for this team besides holding a clipboard?

 

[alexvol]

Mm
Please explain the offense they are trying to run, I can’t figure it out.

They are completely discombobulated on both ends of the court .....and in the middle of court also.They do not rebound which mostly takes a "want to ",they do not play team defense either and one suggestion I would have would be to find out who wants to play defense and rebound and play those folks.On the offensive side run some screens to break open your scorers and tell everyone else to be disciplined to do so....they have proved that most on this team are not shooters nor scorers.

 

[Majors]

The good news is, we will win a few games coming up and everyone will think they’ve turned the corner. Then we will hit the SEC and be reminded of tonight

 

[RAVOL]

Weakness tonight is shooting guard. Walker plays hard but she can not start going forward. She can't shoot even when there free. Wynn has no basketball skill and can't shoot. Going forward Horston has to move to 2 guard when available. I also believe Kellie has got to platoon Key and Franklin sorry they do not need to be on the floor at same time. We could be 3-0 playing last year schedule but we wouldn't know our Weaknesses. So Coaches get paid big money to figure this out now do it. In CHRIST Alone

 

[pasadenavol]

Game grades for UT:

Transition offense - ? - Didn't see any...
Half Court offense - D
Ball Security - B
Press Defense - D
Half Court defense - C-
Free throws shooting - D-
Coaching - F-

There are way too many sunshine pumpers on this message board. There is no excuse for a preseason top 5 team to be 1-2 to start the year with losses to teams ranked lower than you, one on your home court. You can say 'Oh, but Jordy didn't play...' Well guess what, neither did anyone else tonight!

These are some things that really frustrate me about this coaching staff:
- No post presence whatsoever! When you have 6-6, 6-5, 6-4 on the interior yet can't put them in a position to score, you suck as a coach! Whoever is coaching the post of this team needs to resign or be fired immediately. No box outs, poor rebounding angles, no inside presence at all. Horrible!!!!
- No timeouts when it matters. CKH let Indiana build a 10 point lead before she called the TO. Your team is so far buried at that point, that's a pretty big hole to dig yourself out of with no Horston playing.
- WTF do the Darby's have on the Harpers? I mean, it's obvious that Tess is a complete liability on the defensive end. She gets blown by more than any other player I've seen in the past 10 years. And to have her out there while trying a full-court press? OMG, any idiot would see the mismatch in a heartbeat. Yes, her 3's were key to keeping it close and she's a great shooter, but replay the tape and see how many points IU scored off her poor defense. Don't get me wrong, she should get some playing time, but a little coaching awareness that if your player's getting schooled on defense, why in the hell would you keep that player in the game?
- No real offensive scheme. How many pick and rolls have you seen this year? How many ISO plays have you seen schemed up for Key or Jackson? The motion offense looks more like slow-motion; too much dribbling, not enough screens and very few cuts to the basket. I've seen better offensive schemes from middle school girls teams than I've seen from this one. And instead of posting up down low, this team is relying on undersized guards to drive the lane, only to get stripped or blocked on the way up.
- Lack of chemistry. We have some great individual players, but where is the ball rotation? Where's the hard cuts to the basket for an easy assist? Not here yet because these players have been put in a position where they feel like they have to take it upon their individual selves to score.

I respect the TN tradition as much as anyone. I personally knew Pat Summit, she LOVED her players and coaches, but I think she loved the program just as much. There's no way she would have insisted on having a former player or coach head up this program if it wasn't in the best interest of the program. I'm beginning to wonder if Danny White doesn't have a tough decision at the end of this season. HOPE I'M WRONG and HOPE CKH TURNS IT AROUND...

 

[Majors]

What does John Harper do for this team besides holding a clipboard?

Collects a pay check. Said at the end of last year she needed to cut ties with him on the bench…that it would be her first test to move forward and better her staff/bench

 

[Basketballjunkie76]

She was on Board of Trustees and went public with diversity complaints. Probably not completely wrong on the topic, but going public with that in that manner without addressing it internally had to create some friction.

And that was the issue. Things that are brought up “internally” never get fixed. She called them out…as she should. It definitely was an issue that needed to be addressed.

 

[knoxvol52]

What does John Harper do for this team besides holding a clipboard?

Fetches Kellies coffee

 

[Jeff Clark]

I am not surprised. Lots of new players, a coach who does a pretty good imitation of a turnstile, and early games against legitimate top 15 teams with experienced line-ups who have played together for a long time. This is pretty much what I expected.

We, on the other hand, are not a legitimate top 25 team right now. We might have top ten talent, but we have a long ways to go to become even a decent team. Jordy is going to paper over a lot of this when she comes back, but remember, this is what the team really is underneath. It is good we can see it. It gives us a better chance of fixing it.

I really do think Kellie's window of success is down to this season. If we don't win anything this year it won't matter what the AD does because the writing will be on the wall. She pretty much made her own bed with her recruiting and having nothing in the pipeline. There would be no reason not to bite the bullet and make a change. And on the up side, I would be pretty excited to see who White would pick as a successor.

Much better if Kellie can turn things around though. Let's hope she does.

I think the LadyVols will have a new head coach by the 2024-2025 season if the mediocrity continues.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Fetches Kellies coffee

He went to the Butch Jones School of Gofer

 

[NoBackBoard]

Damn. First time I have ever said this…..UT was out coached badly. It was true in the OSU game as well, I just couldn’t bear to say it.

Oh I’m sure this must all be so difficult for you

 

[UTLadyvolsfan]

Ok just my $.02 and trying to be a voice of reason.

People were super excited about all the transfers and the new kid coming in this season. The experts seemed to think that a bunch of talented new parts would result in a final 4. A few things.

First - no expert on Pissot, but I watched the T-USA games this summer. She was not a starter. Came off the bench. Solid but not spectacular. Against competition her own age. To expect her to be a star this year was unrealistic.

Second - Jackson and Horston both are ball hungry and want to be "the (wo)man". That's gonna take some doing to mesh/gel.

Third, we were without Jordan tonight. That had to have an impact.

Fourth - Jasmine Powell was a great get from Minnesota.

Fifth, we started Jasmine Walker and Tess Darby. Neither would start for any other top 10 team in the country.

Finally, a bunch of new parts. The team should have gelled over the summer. To see them come out and play this way to start the season - you can't teach offense DURING the season. TEACH it. You can tweak and improve and work on things, but the disjointed-ness seems like it will be troublesome all season long.

I never thought THIS team was a top 5, nor even top 10. I figured we would percolate around 15-20. They will improve their chemistry and be better as the season goes along - lots of room for growth. I'm optimistic. But this team has no legit NPOY contender. Probably no legit 1st OR 2nd team AA player on it. It remains to be seen how good Horston and Jackson end up together, but they need to mesh as a team. Don't get me wrong - both are very good, but neither are great.

Just my $.02 obviously...

 

[knoxvol52]

Kelly Harper recruiting class for 2023

 

[alexvol]

Game grades for UT:

Transition offense - ? - Didn't see any...
Half Court offense - D
Ball Security - B
Press Defense - D
Half Court defense - C-
Free throws shooting - D-
Coaching - F-

There are way too many sunshine pumpers on this message board. There is no excuse for a preseason top 5 team to be 1-2 to start the year with losses to teams ranked lower than you, one on your home court. You can say 'Oh, but Jordy didn't play...' Well guess what, neither did anyone else tonight!

These are some things that really frustrate me about this coaching staff:
- No post presence whatsoever! When you have 6-6, 6-5, 6-4 on the interior yet can't put them in a position to score, you suck as a coach! Whoever is coaching the post of this team needs to resign or be fired immediately. No box outs, poor rebounding angles, no inside presence at all. Horrible!!!!
- No timeouts when it matters. CKH let Indiana build a 10 point lead before she called the TO. Your team is so far buried at that point, that's a pretty big hole to dig yourself out of with no Horston playing.
- WTF do the Darby's have on the Harpers? I mean, it's obvious that Tess is a complete liability on the defensive end. She gets blown by more than any other player I've seen in the past 10 years. And to have her out there while trying a full-court press? OMG, any idiot would see the mismatch in a heartbeat. Yes, her 3's were key to keeping it close and she's a great shooter, but replay the tape and see how many points IU scored off her poor defense. Don't get me wrong, she should get some playing time, but a little coaching awareness that if your player's getting schooled on defense, why in the hell would you keep that player in the game?
- No real offensive scheme. How many pick and rolls have you seen this year? How many ISO plays have you seen schemed up for Key or Jackson? The motion offense looks more like slow-motion; too much dribbling, not enough screens and very few cuts to the basket. I've seen better offensive schemes from middle school girls teams than I've seen from this one. And instead of posting up down low, this team is relying on undersized guards to drive the lane, only to get stripped or blocked on the way up.
- Lack of chemistry. We have some great individual players, but where is the ball rotation? Where's the hard cuts to the basket for an easy assist? Not here yet because these players have been put in a position where they feel like they have to take it upon their individual selves to score.

I respect the TN tradition as much as anyone. I personally knew Pat Summit, she LOVED her players and coaches, but I think she loved the program just as much. There's no way she would have insisted on having a former player or coach head up this program if it wasn't in the best interest of the program. I'm beginning to wonder if Danny White doesn't have a tough decision at the end of this season. HOPE I'M WRONG and HOPE CKH TURNS IT AROUND...

Very well articulated !!!!!

 

[alexvol]

Ok just my $.02 and trying to be a voice of reason.

People were super excited about all the transfers and the new kid coming in this season. The experts seemed to think that a bunch of talented new parts would result in a final 4. A few things.

First - no expert on Pissot, but I watched the T-USA games this summer. She was not a starter. Came off the bench. Solid but not spectacular. Against competition her own age. To expect her to be a star this year was unrealistic.

Second - Jackson and Horston both are ball hungry and want to be "the (wo)man". That's gonna take some doing to mesh/

Third, we were without Jordan tonight. That had to have an impact.

Fourth - Jasmine Powell was a great get from Minnesota.

Fifth, we started Jasmine Walker and Tess Darby. Neither would start for any other top 10 team in the country.

Finally, a bunch of new parts. The team should have gelled over the summer. To see them come out and play this way to start the season - you can't teach offense DURING the season. TEACH it. You can tweak and improve and work on things, but the disjointed-ness seems like it will be troublesome all season wrong.

I never thought THIS team was a top 5, nor even top 10. I figured we would percolate around 15-20. They will improve their chemistry and be better as the season goes along - lots of room for growth. I'm optimistic. But this team has no legit NPOY contender. Probably no legit 1st OR 2nd team AA player on it. It remains to be seen how good Horston and Jackson end up together, but they need to mesh as a team. Don't get me wrong - both are very good, but neither are great.

Just my $.02 obviously...

Agree on all of your points.

 

[lvocd]

I'm disappointed, but am still confident they'll turn things around. In hindsight, the scheduling was overambitious considering the huge changes to the huge roster of widely different players the staff was tasked with quickly meshing into a team.

So it has been a rocky start. Nobody likes that they're not ready for primetime, to be sure. But I personally believe folks are jumping ship on this team and staff too quickly. As I keep saying over and over like a broken record, even before the first exhibition game I fully expected this particular group to take a bit longer than usual to gel. We're only three games and around one full week in. Talk to me again in a few weeks.

Still love ya, Lady Vols! Don't give up, and keep working hard!

 

[dillyo51]

Time to take the locker room away

Why? That won’t make them a better team.

 

[knoxvol52]

I know the coaching is horrible but the recruiting is just as bad, when Alabama out
recruits you in Womens Basketball there is an issue somewhere

 

[BreatheUT]

No sense in beating a dead horse with the Lady Vols. They are what they are. They will continue to get overhyped on the board from the usual suspects.

This team looks bad.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Our leading rebounder was 5’6” Powell. And by 4 rebounds.

That’s effort she’s a baller. That’s the only positive I have seen so far.

 

[pasadenavol]

Oh I didnt know Kari and the University had a beef my bad. I trust if it comes to it eventually AD Danny White will find the rite individual for the job

It's that stupidity of 'keeping it in the family' is what got us into this mess! Have you not been paying attention?

 

[Bakers1]

Obviously none of us know what's going on in practice so there might be something we are seeing.. Watching 3 games my biggest question is what happened with Puckett? Last season she was developing into a good player possibly a starter. I can see why she might not start but she barely plays. It's so early this season it's not her game day play. Who knows!!

 

[ttharp]

It’s sad to watch an ongoing cycle of incredibly talented Lady Vols suit up in orange, only to receive mediocre coaching at best, and extremely poor coaching most of the time - BY former Lady Vols.

At this point, Kellie is selling a product that she’s not delivering on - even with a top five roster that doesn’t even look like a top-25 team right now. I truly hope the best for these Lady Vol student athletes who could’ve chosen to play for a proven coach who would be much better stewards of their talent than Kellie.

Have seen all I need to see from her, and am really hoping she is replaced at the end of the season.