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

#502
#502
glv98 said:
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.
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I agree with most of your takes, but I think that you are wrong on this. Hidalgo's hot start may take a lot of the sting out of missing Miles but Citron is a lot better than "solid". Without Citron the Irish were 0 for 9 from beyond the arc. In addition, aside from her 20 point per game average and her defense, Notre Dame also missed her experience with only two freshmen, a sophomore and a transfer available to play three starting positions.

I get it, Rickea Jackson is a critical player on this Lady Vols team. That said, Tennessee had few excuses against a depleted Notre Dame with little proven scoring.
 
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#504
#504
glv98 said:
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
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.
 
#505
#505
To me, we have only one player who really wants to play the post position close to the basket, and she also has post moves. Somehow she needs to defend in a way the refs don’t call fouls on her, many bogus imo. That player is Striplin, and I applaud her tenacity and effort. She’s getting better and better, don’t know what we’d do without her.
 
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#506
#506
Nute Gunray said:
The LVs problem is not coaching. Their W-L record would be 6-1 instead of 4-3 with a healthy Rickea.
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That’s easy to say. Unfortunately we don’t have the benefit of knowing where we would be with Rickea because we have not had her.

Objectively the coaching does not look great. Even without Rickea we have a talented roster that should be able to stay competitive. We are getting out toughed and to me that comes down to coaching. Kids play hard for each other and for the right coach. Right now we have several players giving lack luster performances, probably more going on behind the scenes but our in game management makes no sense.

Kaiya should have played almost this entire game. She’s the only one who wants to get down in a stance and guard someone. Plus she’s finishing and scoring better, putting pressure on our opponents defense in transition and the half court.

Tess is not shooting well enough to make up for her defensive shortcomings. Every season Kellie says she is guarding much better and every season she has a terrible time keeping opposing players in front. In the second half the lane was a free for all for ND due to Darby’s inability to keep Hildalgo in front. Tess has a lot of “try” but sometimes you just gotta put the more athletic kid out there and let them get after it.

Blowing a 16 point lead at home doesn’t exactly scream “great coaching.”
 
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#507
#507
Coach Jumper said:
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
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We also changed our offense and started feeding the ball inside and small guards driving among the trees. The whole thing collapsed beginning with the third quarter and we never recovered. It is no doubt that we were out coached.
 
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#508
#508
glv98 said:
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.

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.
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well rickea many think of as the second coming but she could not beat florida state
 
#514
#514
LVsinceJV said:
Rickea was supposed to beat Florida State on her own? A loss in which Tennessee exhibited zero defensive capability is Rickea's fault?
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Believe many think here that having RJ in the lineup guarantees a win but forget we’ve lost with her playing too.
 
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#516
#516
When you blow a 16-point lead, coaching is usually a factor--and missing Jackson was not a factor because we didn't have her
when we built the big lead in the first place. This is a team/program that finds ways to lose--and this has been true for years now. It's astounding
that we won the Oklahoma game given our propensity for screwing up games.

Speaking of coaching, what has happened to Hollingshead? Where is her offense? Where is her desire to get the ball and score? Last season she showed her potential--good size and athleticism, a nice shot, and she seemed to be gaining confidence in the second half of the season, as I recall. I expected her to be a big plus for us this season. Unfortunately, she's been a big minus offensively, though apparently she's been solid defensively. She took 2 shots, made 0, had 1 point, 4 rebounds, 3 TOs. That's a second straight game where she has provided zero offensively.

As usual, poor 3-point shooting and turnovers were big factors in our defeat. I've mentioned A/TO ratio many times--that it is telling: Notre Dame: 14 assists, 7 TOs. UT: 13 assist, 17 turnovers. As usual, too many turnovers.

We made 8 threes in the game and ND had...0. We also outscored ND by 3 from the FT line....and yet somehow still lost.
The 8 treys would seem good--except for the fact that we missed 20! Well 0-5; Powell 2-7; etc.

Poor three-point shooting and turnovers once again = an L.
 
#518
#518
LUVMESUMVOL said:
Still no excuse they won without Miles so to me us without RJ and them without Miles is what made it an even matchup and they won
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Not just miles. Miles, Citron AND Prosper are all out. They are dealing with far more personnel issues than we are. Their coach is managing the situation better though.
 
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#522
#522
LasVegasBill23 said:
well rickea many think of as the second coming but she could not beat florida state
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Yeah, 31 pts, 17 rebs, 4 assists against what's turning out to be a legit Top 20 team. Shoulda done more. Who would miss that player?

Lucy said:
Think Kellie called it they got tight once ND got it to within 10-12. You could see Puckett’s brow get furrowed, guards tried to play so hard to not make a mistake. Two air ball threes.
We miss Rikea’s attitude and confidence as much as we miss her play.
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This. KJH has said it several times. the LVs confidence in themselves changes when Rickea plays. And that's exactly what happened last night, they lost poise and confidence in themselves. Hell I lost confidence in them; I knew once ND caught up we were toast.

Seems like one of the hardest things to coach is poise and confidence esp when the wheels are coming off. Don't let it become a snowball rolling down the hill. Holly could never coach around the yips, KJH struggles w it as well. That's why the extra shot of confidence RJ brings is so essential to this team.

Also RJ's presence changes the whole way opposing teams design defenses for us. You think those coaches aren't dancing a happy dance not having to guard her? Planning the D around her leaves so much more room for Jewel and others to operate.

Of course having Rickea doesn't guarantee a win and yes we've lost with her. But I sure as sh*t like our chances alot better with her.
 
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#523
#523
Volfaninfl2 said:
To me, we have only one player who really wants to play the post position close to the basket, and she also has post moves. Somehow she needs to defend in a way the refs don’t call fouls on her, many bogus imo. That player is Striplin, and I applaud her tenacity and effort. She’s getting better and better, don’t know what we’d do without her.
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I am crazy about Striplin. She's up there with Powell for me as far as getting after it consistently. She's tough and strong. If she had a couple more inches in height, three more in wingspan, and even a tiny bit more quickness -- wow.

Even without those things I typically feel good when she's on the floor, unless, of course, the officials start focusing in her like they seem to do sometimes. So frustrating!
 
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#525
#525
glv98 said:
Yeah, 31 pts, 17 rebs, 4 assists against what's turning out to be a legit Top 20 team. Shoulda done more. Who would miss that player?


This. KJH has said it several times. the LVs confidence in themselves changes when Rickea plays. And that's exactly what happened last night, they lost poise and confidence in themselves. Hell I lost confidence in them; I knew once ND caught up we were toast.

Seems like one of the hardest things to coach is poise and confidence esp when the wheels are coming off. Don't let it become a snowball rolling down the hill. Holly could never coach around the yips, KJH struggles w it as well. That's why the extra shot of confidence RJ brings is so essential to this team.

Also RJ's presence changes the whole way opposing teams design defenses for us. You think those coaches aren't dancing a happy dance not having to guard her? Planning the D around her leaves so much more room for Jewel and others to operate.

Of course having Rickea doesn't guarantee a win and yes we've lost with her. But I sure as sh*t like our chances alot better with her.
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Of course this is all conjecture, but Rickea is the team's go to player and security blanket for when the going gets tough. Jaz did her best to fill that role but got stuck in the trees a few times trying to make plays down the stretch.

We had hoped that Jewel could fill that role but not yet.

Rickea also changes the equation on the rebounding disparity, which Kellie noted.

But it was a game of fine margins. For me the critical play occurred late in the game. The LVs got a turnover, had a breakaway but Sara made a bad pass, which ND converted into a 3 (so what could have been a 7 pt. lead, and breathing room, became a nail biting two point game).
 
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