Game Thread: #20 Lady Vols v #18 Fighting Irish, Home, Wed 5PM, ESPN2

[Memvol44]

If you mean Jillian, she sure is a mystery. Had an awful night. But not true that Joy was "all over her". Joy gets all over no one in public. KJH had quite a chat w JH at one point when she came out, but not Joy.

It drives folks who love coach performative theatre crazy, but this staff does not generally do that. They teach and point, but usually don't put on a show during games

Waiting for the "run em til they puke" crowd to say "they should". As if going all Bobby Knight is the magic bullet.

Makes me wonder if Jillian is happy here...just now want to in her. Kellie says she is a go to player!!!

 

[Memvol44]

Last 4 minutes abysmal but also getting out rebounded by 20 in the second half is effort

Pat is rolling in her grave

 

[glv98]

No Puckett?? She has been carrying this team.

Sara plays best when she's able to face the basket. Had to post way too much last night. Also, Sara is a player who really benefits fm having RIckea and the threat she carries on the floor. KJH said that all summer and she's right. They play well together.

Pat would have put some asses on the pine

Only if she had other effective asses to put on the floor.

I thought Wynn could have had some more mins, but generally the sub pattern was ok. I know some were frustrated she took Jewel out, but honestly, Jewel's D is just bad right now. Jewel is player who genuinely doesn't know how to put in the big defensive effort. And she said that when she came here. I think she'll get there.

 

[glv98]

Makes me wonder if Jillian is happy here...just now want to in her. Kellie says she is a go to player!!!

Jill has called being an LV "magical" so I think she's happy. I also think she has plenty of want to. But Jill seems a very quiet and passive personality. Big job overcoming that on the court.

 

[Memvol44]

Sara plays best when she's able to face the basket. Had to post way too much last night. Also, Sara is a player who really benefits fm having RIckea and the threat she carries on the floor. KJH said that all summer and she's right. They play well together.

Only if she had other effective asses to put on the floor.

I thought Wynn could have had some more mins, but generally the sub pattern was ok. I know some were frustrated she took Jewel out, but honestly, Jewel's D is just bad right now. Jewel is player who genuinely doesn't know how to put in the big defensive effort. And she said that when she came here. I think she'll get there.

If your gonna lose, lose with players that want to be on the floor.... lack of effort = no playing time.

 

[glv98]

We should commend our Defense of Hannah Hidalgo. While her other stats were about the same as usual, her scoring was cut in half. She scored 31 against South Carolina, and 13 against Tennessee.

Agree. Did a great job on HH. that was really encouraging. She did have 7 assists, but she is going to be a really great player and distributor.

ND was shorthanded as well i think they were missing 3 players something all teams have to deal with

One of the players ND was missing has been out since last year so they are use to not having her. The other two, while solid players, do not come close to one Rickea Jackson.

Our problem is obvious. We have neither the roster nor the coaching to make up for the loss of Rickea. Only two or three teams and coaches out there that could. Until we get her back at full RJ speed we're treading water.

 

[glv98]

If your gonna lose, lose with players that want to be on the floor.... lack of effort = no playing time.

There was no willing lack of effort.

I know people say rebounding is all effort. Not true. We got clobbered on the boards bc of lack of comparable size, lack of positioning, and our confounding habit of slapping and tapping instead of grabbing rebounds.

 

[Memvol44]

There was no willing lack of effort.

So those rebounds just bounced to the N.D.players....right...

 

[glv98]

So those rebounds just bounced to the N.D.players....right...

Pretty sure no one said "Screw it, I don't want that rebound". "Effort" is so often confused with ability, focus, and technique. I promise you no one on either team was coasting.

 

[Majors]

There was no willing lack of effort.

I know people say rebounding is all effort. Not true. We got clobbered on the boards bc of lack of comparable size, lack of positioning, and our confounding habit of slapping and tapping instead of grabbing rebounds.

Lack of intensity is how I see it. It’s been a problem…loose ball, players aren’t diving, rebounds we aren’t fighting, pressing we aren’t creating turnovers.

 

[glv98]

Lack of intensity is how I see it. It’s been a problem…loose ball, players aren’t diving, rebounds we aren’t fighting, pressing we aren’t creating turnovers.

What?? Not diving? The number of times we've been on the floor rolling around for loose balls and getting jump balls has actually been embarrassing. Looks like the Upward league down at the church gym. So many on the floor tie ups in FLA the guy who changes possesion arrow had to have his finger splinted at halftime.

Again, focus and intensity so often gets confused with "effort". Lack of effort is the ultimate insult to a player. And not the problem. Glad ya'll aren't coach.

 

[Majors]

What?? Not diving? The number of times we've been on the floor rolling around for loose balls and getting jump balls has actually been embarrassing. Looks like the Upward league down at the church gym. So many on the floor tie ups in FLA the guy who changes possesion arrow had to have his finger splinted at halftime.

Again, focus and intensity so often gets confused with "effort". Lack of effort is the ultimate insult to a player. And not the problem. Glad ya'll aren't coach.

Rolling on the floor is effort….full send diving for a loose ball is intensity. Intensity isn’t confused with effort, one sacrifices body for a possession while the other hopes to get a possession. Effort stops at the out of bounds line when the ball is going out, intensity goes out of bounds to save the ball.

 

[creekdipper]

Proud of Kaiya for running backdoor for an easy 2 (assisted by great feed) and for knocking down her free throws. Progress!

 

[creekdipper]

Puzzled why our ballhandlers often misuse screens by not running defender into the screener or, in some cases, just reversing away from screen altogether. Also, some of our screeners aren't setting hard screens or get caught sliding rather than holding position and then rolling to basket or open area. Also saw a couple of three-point shooters hesitate or decline to put up a shot behind a good screen.

Also need to work on 2 on 1 break. Four point swing there which could have assured a victory. Poise letdowns late with shot clock problems or judgment lapses resulting in easy ND steals resulting in layups need to be hard lessons learned.

The challenge for the staff is to get the first half discipline we saw to carry over for 40 minutes. And to make defensive adjustments when opponents switch strategies. And to be more flexible with favored strategies such as saving timeouts or letting the team play through opponents' runs. Strengthening team resolve and resilience may not be the best tradeoff if it results in demoralizing close losses. If Sara hits that last three and we hang on, the conversation would be different; nonetheless, there would be lots to work on.

The first half was encouraging. Need to build on that. Long season ahead with plenty of time to improve.

 

[Volfan2012]

In the end our team failed to rebound and take care of the basketball and thus we lose. Notre Dame plus seven in offensive rebounds and we had ten more turnovers than they did. It was really sad to see again because we thought with smaller guards we would have better ball handling and less turnovers and mistakes in judgement. Were finding out it doesn't matter who our players are seems the system we run trying to force passes inside and poor decisions with the ball are part of the current coaches system. In year five this is totally Coach Harper's team this is the roster she built as Tamari is not able to play and everyone else is her recruits. So we'll have to judge her on how this season goes with no excuses about playing with another coaches players. I don't know if she can make this team better and by the end turn this season into a success only time will tell. What I am seeing thus far has been extremely disappointing.

 

[Majors]

In the end our team failed to rebound and take care of the basketball and thus we lose. Notre Dame plus seven in offensive rebounds and we had ten more turnovers than they did. It was really sad to see again because we thought with smaller guards we would have better ball handling and less turnovers and mistakes in judgement. Were finding out it doesn't matter who our players are seems the system we run trying to force passes inside and poor decisions with the ball are part of the current coaches system. In year five this is totally Coach Harper's team this is the roster she built as Tamari is not able to play and everyone else is her recruits. So we'll have to judge her on how this season goes with no excuses about playing with another coaches players. I don't know if she can make this team better and by the end turn this season into a success only time will tell. What I am seeing thus far has been extremely disappointing.

Honest assessment

 

[djtee]

Yess this is the type of game you need a bonafide superstar....this wouldnt have even been a game if she was playing honestly

Ok then the same could be said on the ND side correct ? down 3 starters so if you ask me the teams were evenly matched with a slight edge to TN. Because ND only had 7 players available for the game. I will say this there was a lot of hype about how good of a coach and recruiting coordinator S.Williams is, Hmm well we have all seen how that have worked out. Yes i will give her props for bring in Jackson but that's it. The two other assistant coaches can also have a seat at the table two. Because there not immune to this failure either.

 

[VolFuture]

I think we match up better with Ohio State. They really only play with one big and she’s hit or miss. Jill’s obvious refusal to play on the block is killing us. We all know she doesn’t want to play there, but with TK still not where we need her to be, that’s where Jill is needed. Someone that was at the game said Joy was all over Jill. When ND went with 3 bigs, that was the difference in the game

Ugh Jill does look so uncomfortable on the block. Like be a star in your role girl. Go block people or at least try. She ALWAYS fades away from the basket on layups and post ups. I have hope for her to but hopefully they are addressing that with her

 

[Coach Jumper]

...The challenge for the staff is to get the first half discipline we saw to carry over for 40 minutes. And to make defensive adjustments when opponents switch strategies. And to be more flexible with favored strategies such as saving timeouts or letting the team play through opponents' runs. Strengthening team resolve and resilience may not be the best tradeoff if it results in demoralizing close losses. If Sara hits that last three and we hang on, the conversation would be different; nonetheless, there would be lots to work on.

The first half was encouraging. Need to build on that. Long season ahead with plenty of time to improve.

with the exception of the run (( Q3 5:42-1:41 11-3 run),,,we played better basketball in the second half.
The first half is deceptive...though we lead, letting unforced turnovers build, opened the door for ND. It was at the end of 6-in-a-row unforced turnovers that the run came

In the end our team failed to rebound and take care of the basketball and thus we lose. Notre Dame plus seven in offensive rebounds and we had ten more turnovers than they did. It was really sad to see again because we thought with smaller guards we would have better ball handling and less turnovers and mistakes in judgement. Were finding out it doesn't matter who our players are seems the system we run trying to force passes inside and poor decisions with the ball are part of the current coaches system. In year five this is totally Coach Harper's team this is the roster she built as Tamari is not able to play and everyone else is her recruits. So we'll have to judge her on how this season goes with no excuses about playing with another coaches players. I don't know if she can make this team better and by the end turn this season into a success only time will tell. What I am seeing thus far has been extremely disappointing.

Coaching has got to start learning two things
1: letting unforced turnover continue without addressing them sparks other team's runs and confidence.
2: We are not a team that has a history of resiliency in opponent's runs. We are a team that goes into "here we go again" syndrome on those runs and the bench has got to use their weapons to at least make an attempt to interrupt the run.

We used a timeout at 1:13 Q3 and the run stopped one basket later.
We used two timeouts in the last 1:13 and went home with one in the pocket


2 timeouts for in-game and 2 timeouts for end-game
If you need more than two to end the game,,you probably should have used one earlier
And if you go home with one in the pocket on a close loss,,you definitely should have used one earlier!

 

[Majors]

with the exception of the run (( Q3 5:42-1:41 11-3 run),,,we played better basketball in the second half.
The first half is deceptive...though we lead, letting unforced turnovers build, opened the door for ND. It was at the end of 6-in-a-row unforced turnovers that the run came
View attachment 598894

Coaching has got to start learning two things
1: letting unforced turnover continue without addressing them sparks other team's runs and confidence.
2: We are not a team that has a history of resiliency in opponent's runs. We are a team that goes into "here we go again" syndrome on those runs and the bench has got to use their weapons to at least make an attempt to interrupt the run.

We used a timeout at 1:13 Q3 and the run stopped one basket later.
We used two timeouts in the last 2 minutes and went home with one in the pocket


2 timeouts for in-game and 2 timeouts for end-game
If you need more than two to end the game,,you probably should have used one earlier
And if you go home with one in the pocket on a close loss,,you definitely should have used one earlier!

Locker room needs a lock on it. Send the message of what the banners mean.

 

[Majors]

Kellie Harper's halftime speech featured on SEC Inside

Kellie Harper gave an impassioned halftime speech during the game against Arkansas. SEC Inside was filming the Lady Vols' feature and caught it on camera.

www.knoxnews.com

Win against LSU last year was nice. Was this speech her pinnacle because it’s approaching two years.

 

[Volfan2012]

Ugh Jill does look so uncomfortable on the block. Like be a star in your role girl. Go block people or at least try. She ALWAYS fades away from the basket on layups and post ups. I have hope for her to but hopefully they are addressing that with her

We had the scholarships to add a post player out of the portal. I don't think we tried really hard evidently thinking Tamari and Jill. Now were in a rough spot as one can't play and the other isn't playing very well.

 

[Coach Jumper]

Locker room needs a lock on it. Send the message of what the banners mean.

disagree,,,the kids never stopped fighting,,we were outcoached
ND made an adjustment by stopping shooting jumpers and concentrated on overwhelming us in the paint
We made no adjustments to counter this and stayed with the small lineup
We should have went with a 2out (Powell/Spear)-3in(Sara, Karo, Jill) zone and packed the paint until they started shooting outside again

Maybe the coach's room needs the lock for a day or two

 

[Majors]

disagree,,,the kids never stopped fighting,,we were outcoached
ND made an adjustment by stopping shooting jumpers and concentrated on overwhelming us in the paint
We made no adjustments to counter this and stayed with the small lineup
We should have went with a 2out (Powell/Spear)-3in(Sara, Karo, Jill) zone and packed the paint until they started shooting outside again

Maybe the coach's room needs the lock for a day or two

Agree to disagree, message is the end result by both. Agree on the coaching self reflection/coach accountability…that should always be a given.

 

[lvocd]

The entire team gave huge effort last night, and they all wanted to win very badly. TOO BADLY, it turns out, because they got tight and then panicked. Please try not to accuse these players of not caring or not trying. Gawd, that's just so not true. There is a huge difference between looking like they "don't care" and "playing tight and tentative to the point of near paralyzation."

Some of the players panicked -- which is obviously a mental issue which can be particularly difficult to overcome -- but NONE of them were uncaring or lazy. Good grief.

I think it helps to go to the games in person if at all possible, and try to snag seats as close to the action as possible. The effort really stands out more when you can see and hear them better.

I wish CParker and GJohnson had time to come together to work with Jill for a few days of intensive instruction. Candace to teach her some moves she can be confident will work, and Glory to teach her to be mean as hell. lol