Game Thread: #24/25 TENNESSEE AT FLORIDA

I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.
 
Fair question.

During the golden years, I sometimes (maybe often) found the big wins that were expected to be blowouts to be boring. Of course, that's after the LV games were regularly televised. During the early 80's, just getting any women's game on TV was a rarity.

These days, I'm watching and/or listening for Reason #3. The excitement comes from watching the game-by-game improvement and seeing the "new" attitude returning to the program after years of stagnation.
 
I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.

If the Lady Vols are playing I totally enjoy watching the game more when we are winning by a large margin and will watch even if were fifty ahead. I actually enjoy the games where we win by 20 or more than I do the close ones. Now other teams I like to see competitive games but If Tennessee could blow out everyone they played and dominate the sport nothing would make me happier.
 
I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.

I think where you will get flamed is the “women’s basketball part”. If you go around the country in conference play the top men’s teams still blowout the bottom teams. And if you go around the women’s game now there are unranked teams knocking off ranked teams.
 
S Carolina is heads above everyone else then us, Ky, Miss St are good. Vandy, Ark, BAMA and LSU are just OK but the rest of the SEC is really really bad. There will be lots of blowouts just due to so many pathetic teams.
 
I thought we looked pretty good yesterday. Say what you want, but we haven’t controlled 3 SEC opponents in a row for quite some time.

It may be a down year for several teams, but it very well could have been a down year for us as well. I think this team has made a ton of progress since the start of the season.

Our shooting percentage has been consistently above 45% since the Stanford game and we seem to be getting more comfortable scoring. It’s becoming something we can count on. No more big fluctuations in our offense and defense game to game like seasons past.

Having a paint protector like Key is invaluable in the SEC. We only won three games by double digits total in the SEC last season. We just rattled off three in a row this year!

We got burned a lot in past seasons by the dribble drive. Teams were able to finish or be fouled. We have cleaned that up a lot and Tamari makes driving the lane feel like a bad idea for opposing teams. She had 5 blocks last night but probably altered about 15 more. We’re forcing teams to take a ton of jumpers which is exactly what we want, just need to clean up the long rebounds better and we’re in good shape. Too many o-boards for Florida last night.
 
I think you meant to say Howard, but I get your point.

We'll see how they adjust while Carter is out before deciding if TAMU is "really, really bad" or "just okay". It took us a while to adjust to losing starters (remember the ETSU game?), but we're closing ranks and getting there.

Edit: Meant to edit earlier post rather than quote myself. D'oh!!! (Head smack)
 
I am also very impressed with the improvement in our FT shooting. We are shooting them at 80% in conference play. In 7 seasons prior I don’t recall ever seeing the entire team improve so much in one category. This could have a huge impact if we end up in some close games. Speaks very well to whatever coach is doing in practice!
 
We'll see how they adjust while Carter is out before deciding if TAMU is "really, really bad" or "just okay". It took us a while to adjust to losing starters (remember the ETSU game?), but we're closing ranks and getting there.

Edit: Meant to edit earlier post rather than quote myself. D'oh!!! (Head smack)

They aren’t that bad without her IMO. She is just a huge part of what they do and they run a lot of offense through her. Of course they were going to struggle in their first game without her against a quality opponent.

Wells, Wilson and Jackson are all very capable scorers and talented guards. They have two quality post players. If they have to play several games without her they will get in a rhythm.

They have way more in the cupboard than Kentucky if they were to lose Howard.
 
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I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.

I had no idea how tough of a game Florida would be. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE BLOWOUT!

I was excited throughout the entire game, and enjoyed almost all the bench scoring, and I hope to enjoy MANY blowouts in the future by our so much improved Lady Vols!
 
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They aren’t that bad without her IMO. She is just a huge part of what they do and they run a lot of offense through her. Of course they were going to struggle in their first game without her against a quality opponent.

Wells, Wilson and Jackson are all very capable scorers and talented guards. They have two quality post players. If they have to play several games without her they will get in a rhythm.

They have way more in the cupboard than Kentucky if they were to lose Howard.
Losing Howard would be a bigger blow to Kentucky than losing Carter is to A&M.
 
Losing Howard would be a bigger blow to Kentucky than losing Carter is to A&M.

Yeah, and that's one thing that made that loss such a tough pill to swallow. If we had shut down even just her threes, the outcome would have been much different.

Hopefully, lessons learned. We don't put up enough points that we can allow an opponent's star player to go off and have a career night. It almost bit us in our first game this season.

The category stats listed above are really encouraging...especially since they reflect well upon recent games.

The process seems to be working.
 
This is a possible win for us--I wouldn't put money on it, but I wouldn't count us out either. Wasn't able to say that at the beginning of the season, that's for sure! I think us breaking the losing streak against Alabama will go a long way toward setting up a good mindset for Connecticut. I got us within 6 points.
I can see us winning as well, but I can see this being like the Stanford game as well. I love this team’s hustle and the love they have for each other. I hope they shock the world...I HATE UCONN!!!
 
I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.

1. Yes,,If the winning team doesn't go on cruise control. . . This is something I needed to see, blowouts of SEC teams,,,cellar or not. in the past few years we got beat by or eked out wins in SEC play. This year I want to see the girls not let up off the pedal, instead pushing it further to the floor. This "finish the kill" instinct is what put the connies in the national spotlight and it is relevant in rpi's and polls. So if we "roll over the tide" ,,, I will watch until the POG is anounced!
2. Not against us
3. I watch the game, first as a fan, then again as a scout, looking for flaws in our play. Since I caoch, I care much less about what player did what,,I concentrate on the bench moves!

Blowouts are nothing more than wins or losses, once the next game is at hand. The only thing I can tell you about our last four ALA games is we lost. Could care less if it was by a pt or 30...we lost!
 
Tennessee up to 68 in the rpi going into the Bama game. Bama has a 1.24 points per shot attempt offensive efficiency to our 1.17 but ours has been a lot higher in the last few games most over 1.25 South Carolina only has a 1.25 point per shot but they get up 67 shots a game and average 24 trips to the line. Bama gives up 1.04 points per opponent shot attempt and we give up 0.85. Bama only lost to SC by 11 points so we got to come to play a hard forty minutes. They have been more motivated than we have for this game. Were only averaging 17 trips to the line per game wish that was a lot higher. Bama has two players shooting right at 39 percent from the three. They have in the past few games hit some amazing shots against us NBA threes. Their starting guards are 5'7" and 5'9" one is a 39 percent 3 point shooter. Would like to see us pull Key out of the post on some possessions and try to post up their guards with Horston and Massengill. Expect they will play a zone always do against us. Their best win is over North Carolina same team that beat NC State. Tough game we need this win badly.
 
I am sure I will get flamed for this but this game is an example of what is still wrong with women’s basketball—still to many blow out games. I like watching competitive games and I especially like watching the Lady Vols winning a competitive game. I stopped following the game after the first quarter because I thought it was obvious that Florida was overmatched.

I guess my question is why do you watch the whole game when it is a blowout?
1. Do you find the game exciting even though the game is lopsided?
2. Did you think Florida might make a big comeback?
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?

Looking forward to the next couple games. Hoping the UConn game is very competitive with UT pulling out a win. That would be big for recruiting, confidence and putting fear into others.


I think what you are saying is that you would like more parity in the women's game. It is getting better season by season. But, when the LVs do not dominate much lower ranked opponents this board goes into a total meltdown mode and, for good reason, struggling against lesser teams is not a good sign.

So., yeah most LV fans are very happy with blow out games like this one where the team is really defending well and executes its offense with an improved efficiency.
 
3. Do you watch the whole game so you can come on the forum so you can discuss all the various players that played for UT and how well they played for the entire game, etc.?
Am I being oversensitive or are you poking us a little if we do #3? You find it odd folks would watch a game so they could later talk about it in a forum designed for people who enjoy watching and talking about games? Something wrong with that?

Naturally blowouts don't command the rapt attention close games do. But right now I'm paying attention to the development of the team and the individual players and how and whether they're able to recover from the downbound disaster train of the last few seasons. I've said all along it was going to be interesting to watch the rebuild and fun to support an underdog again. Work in progress with a not-yet-decided outcome.

I stay interested in how it will play out because the LVs are dear to me as they were a major source of family fun in the glory days, especially with my daughters, my neices and their friends. Great times at the SEC tournies at the roundhouse in Chatt. and in Memphis.

All that said, of course I wish there were more good players and more good teams. Close games are always more fun to watch. And to come on a forum and talk about.
 

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