Game Thread: (7/7) Lady Vols 56 - (10/9) Connecticut 75

[Jax_Vol]

That I agree with. They miss her minutes to relieve Key. But if this team was so fragile that they couldn't survive the loss of their backup C who plays 14 min/game, then they weren't as good as I thought they were.

For context, UConn was missing 2 of their top 3 scorers and one of their top reserves, and still didn't miss a beat today.

I think it is a fragile balance. Foul prone Key isn't as aggressive on defense because she knows Green isn't there. Around that same time, Dye became more tentative. The coaches know best, but I would give Saunders a full 15 minutes for a few games. She is probably the best bet. If Uros can be a starter, Emily can do this...we need her to rebound aggressively and be tall.

 

[cabbie191]

That's well and good, but this notion that somehow Pat let basketball leave her behind is EXACTLY what the UConn fans said about Pat - in 2004. And then she put two more titles on the shelf. I'm fine with a lot of stuff, but this "aww Summitt was a product of her era and would be out of place today" is straight out of the Boneyard. Summitt adapted just fine until she got sick. She wasn't perfect, she obsessed too much at times about defense, but adaptation was not a problem for her.

There are times, especially this year, when some UConn fans on the Boneyard, have expressed quite a bit of negativity towards Auriemma. Not relating well to today’s players, question his leaving starters in when a game is already decided (e.g., why Bueckers got injured), etc.

I think most fan bases of teams that have enjoyed great success can get riled up when a season doesn’t meet their expectations.

On another matter, someone earlier said the Connecticut fan base doesn’t respect Tennessee. I humbly disagree - I don’t think you get animated by a rival unless you know they can play you tough. You won’t find emotional posts on the Boneyard that are directed to the bottom dwellers in the Big East or when we were in the American. Notwithstanding today’s game, keep in mind what a tight game the two teams played last year.

 

[UTLadyvolsfan]

I'm sorry to say it, wish it weren't true--but UT is not a talented team, overall; not an athletic team, overall; and not a good team, overall. We don't shoot
the 3 very well--haven't for years--and that's another major problem.

We've got one very talented player, one player who is also talented but struggling as she attempts to come back from a knee injury; a freshman who is going to be a good complementary player for us....and that is about it. After those three..we've got a whole lot of meh....tiny players meh...unathletic players meh...no bench meh...meh meh.

Here is the stat that probably, more than any other, illustrates why this program has not been good for a long time: Assist to turnover ratio. I've mentioned it before--a lot. It tends to be a very good metric of how a team has played on the day. UT's A/TO ratio generally has fluctuated between mediocre and awful for most of the last 12 years. Today we had 7 assists and 15 turnovers. That's bad. UConn had 18 assists and 14 TOs. Doesn't tell the whole story--but a lot of it. We were not a good ball movement/passing assist team in the last few years of Summitt's tenure; our A/TO ratio during all of Warlick's tenure was BAD--and it continues to be bad under Harper. Our PG, Walker, played 30 minutes today and--in addition to missing ALL 7 of her shots--had 1 assist. When you are a PG and you've got 1 assist in 30 minutes, you've and the team have been very poor.

Part of it is that Horston has the ball a lot and goes 1v1 with the ball a lot. You need players that can create off the dribble and score, to be sure--but Horston seems to be all we've got, at times, offensively--and you're not going to beat any decent opponent when your offense centers on one good player doing her thing. It means one of two things: Either the rest of the players simply aren't that good offensively and/or your team simply does not run a disciplined player movement/ball movement/get a good shot offense. We certainly don't have a lot of players who are naturally talented. We seem to suffer from both problems. We try to run the offense through a low post player who, while giving it her all, is not in any form or fashion a good offensive player. And when that doesn't work, meaning when Key isn't able to get a shot (which is typical), we aren't good enough at kicking the ball out and around and executing the offense so that somebody else can get a good shot. The ball will usually end up back in Horston's hands. On those occasions when we do move the ball smartly, the players often miss the shot.

If your offensive limitations weren't bad enough, we've not been a good defensive team in recent weeks either. Too many players who get beat off the dribble. Players slow to recognize and help a teammate who's gotten beat. Slow to get out to cover opponents at the 3-point line. All in all, a very discouraging couple of weeks. Frankly. Harper and her staff need to recruit--- hard and well, better than they have thus far--or it's hard to see things getting better for this program.

This might be one of the best synopsis' of our team that I've seen. Instead of being bitter "UCONN has a crappy conference", "ESPN loves UCONN". "The NCAA hates us", blah blah, what you wrote is spot on.

The only thing I have to add is that not only have we lost a good post player off the bench, but since Burrell has come back, it feels like she and Horston don't have good chemistry and are battling over who is the top dog on the team. I long for the days of Pat, where if that ever happened, she'd take care of it in a jiffy.

We had some nice wins this season, but so many games were nail biters where we had to come back in Q4. I'm not sure if top 15 isn't our natural ceiling this season. I hope we are wrong and this team can get back on track. It's been awesome to see us back in the national conversation and spotlight where we belong. Now we just need to figure out how to keep that momentum, and realize we aren't REALLY a top 10 program... YET!!!

 

[Darth_Vol]

She needs to get a high level true PG from the portal, and stat!

Desperately, but based on the last two offseasons I'm not getting my hopes up...

 

[Caz]

Desperately, but based on the last two offseasons I'm not getting my hopes up...

If she did get one would she then play “Helter Skelter” ball where we haven’t got a clue what we’re doing offensively. I’ve seen an onslaught of dribble the air out of the ball only to heave up a prayer while falling down and hope by some miracle it goes in.

 

[jim43]

Have been a Lady Vol fan since they began, and this year I was very excited about the wins we were getting, but always felt like the bubble would burst.

Good teams will not, and cannot, play as if it doesn't matter. Every possession is very important. Our team plays if they do not believe that.

Our men have been guilty also, of terribly careless passes. We look at the opposing player, who has an undeniable angle on the ball, yet we pass it anyone, too often right into the hands of the opponent. Another problem, when our player picks up a dribble and is double teamed, our other players stand around, thinking she will get out of instead of going toward the ball.

We take some shots that look great, but then we also take many (too many) shots which look like "hope it goes in". I would like to see a stat on how many layups we miss a game. That is strictly lack of concentration. Many of those are because we think it may be blocked, so we just sling it up into the air hoping it may magically it may drop into the basket.

We are not aggressive. We seldom go to the basket hard. We can see an opponent coming in from half court; knowing she is going to the basket, but we stand and watch instead of stepping in front of her.

As today against UCONN, we were down by 19 or 20 in the 4th quarter, and our point guard is walking the ball up the court as if we are up by 20. And then we pass the ball around until we throw it away or allow the valuable clock to be eaten up before we even attempt a shot, and then we have to take a really bad one.

We have played 23 games this year, and we still do not have a clue about getting out to guard a shooter whom we know will take any shot at any time.

There are many more, but it boils down to the fact that talent is important, and we do have a lot of potential talent, but talent can only take you so far. Heart and "want-to" takes you so much further. We simply are playing as if we do not have the "want-to".

Hope it changes, but the past 4 or 5 games have been very, very hard to watch.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Kellie is a good coach, however she is not Pat Summitt. She said as much when she took the head coaching job at UT. Pat could motivate her players to good play performance, Kellie lacks this capability. She will restore UT as an elite WCBB team when she is able to recruit more players like Horston.

Compare the our recruits to UCONN and who would you predict to win the game. They have higher ranked recruits at every position. I hope The Lady VOLS will begin to recruit better talent and I think we have a difference maker coming in next year. We have to follow with more top talent if we expect to compete with the top teams. I am really pleased and quite surprised at how well Coach Harper has this year’s team playing. I truly believe that with better talent, her teams will greatly improve

 

[Volfaninfl2]

Today's my Birthday.I am 83 years young today and every year that I can remember my Mom who will be 102 March 9 has reminded me ," son if you can't say something nice about something or someone do not say anything at all ".Today ,I am going to take her advice ......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and wishing you many healthy happy more!

 

[GameTime]

I was not expecting a win today, but it's still a disappointing outcome...

The Uconn girl with the odd hair color pattern, threw her hip out as a block at least 15 times and did not get called for the moving screen till very late in the game...Is that why we lost, hell no, but it did show home cooking calls.

We played a lot of one on one ball, while they played team ball...Team ball is usually the better option...

In any event, the season will continue and the sun will rise in the morning.....

 

[Memvol44]

You don't consider Pissott a top recruit?

Oh, I forgot. You've been "wondering" whether the latest losses have "opened Pissott's eyes" and whether Marta will ever play again," speculating that White will fire Harper, Striplin is "a candidate for transfer," and that the assistants' "repuations are on the line if top recruits aren't signed, and signed on to encouraging Saunders to leave. That's just some of the "support" you've been able to bless this program with.

You praise CONN so much; ironically, you'd be banned from The Boneyard if you posted that garbage about its team on that site.

All legitimate points.....although I never encouraged saunders to leave..and yes,Marta's health has always been in question. Where am I incorrect?? Pissott verbaled two years ago. Come on scooter,bring it..hit me with facts!!

 

[Memvol44]

You don't consider Pissott a top recruit?

Oh, I forgot. You've been "wondering" whether the latest losses have "opened Pissott's eyes" and whether Marta will ever play again," speculating that White will fire Harper, Striplin is "a candidate for transfer," and that the assistants' "repuations are on the line if top recruits aren't signed, and signed on to encouraging Saunders to leave. That's just some of the "support" you've been able to bless this program with.

You praise CONN so much; ironically, you'd be banned from The Boneyard if you posted that garbage about its team on that site.

Oh, I don't praise UConn. I did say they are well coached and were ready to play today ....keyboard warrior..

 

[KrazyVolFan]

All legitimate points.....although I never encouraged saunders to leave..and yes,Marta's health has always been in question. Where am I incorrect?? Pissott verbaled two years ago. Come on scooter,bring it..hit me with facts!!

Do you know of something about JP that I haven't heard. From everything I have seen she is 100% committed

 

[Coach Jumper]

I was not expecting a win today, but it's still a disappointing outcome...

The Uconn girl with the odd hair color pattern, threw her hip out as a block at least 15 times and did not get called for the moving screen till very late in the game...Is that why we lost, hell no, but it did show home cooking calls.

We played a lot of one on one ball, while they played team ball...Team ball is usually the better option...

In any event, the season will continue and the sun will rise in the morning.....

It was evident, they also ran a lot of "scoring sequence plays",,,offensive plays that were structured but with freedoms...A mix of creative, fast-break and motion offenses

 

[Memvol44]

Do you know of something about JP that I haven't heard. From everything I have seen she is 100% committed

I hope so!!!!

 

[Memvol44]

It was evident, they also ran a lot of "scoring sequence plays",,,offensive plays that were structured but with freedoms...A mix of creative, fast-break and motion offenses

Oh,don't let "creekdipper read that. If you say UConn is well coached,it offends him or her!!!

 

[glv98]

A mix of creative, fast-break and motion offenses

What a concept! We can only dream.

 

[Memvol44]

You don't consider Pissott a top recruit?

Oh, I forgot. You've been "wondering" whether the latest losses have "opened Pissott's eyes" and whether Marta will ever play again," speculating that White will fire Harper, Striplin is "a candidate for transfer," and that the assistants' "repuations are on the line if top recruits aren't signed, and signed on to encouraging Saunders to leave. That's just some of the "support" you've been able to bless this program with.

You praise CONN so much; ironically, you'd be banned from The Boneyard if you posted that garbage about its team on that site.

Waiting "dipp" watcha got??!! You barked up the wrong tree..

 

[Volfaninfl2]

That I agree with. They miss her minutes to relieve Key. But if this team was so fragile that they couldn't survive the loss of their backup C who plays 14 min/game, then they weren't as good as I thought they were.

For context, UConn was missing 2 of their top 3 scorers and one of their top reserves, and still didn't miss a beat today.

The context is not the players not playing, it is what caliber players are there to take their place. They have 5* players on their bench, we do not.

 

[Memvol44]

You don't consider Pissott a top recruit?

Oh, I forgot. You've been "wondering" whether the latest losses have "opened Pissott's eyes" and whether Marta will ever play again," speculating that White will fire Harper, Striplin is "a candidate for transfer," and that the assistants' "repuations are on the line if top recruits aren't signed, and signed on to encouraging Saunders to leave. That's just some of the "support" you've been able to bless this program with.

You praise CONN so much; ironically, you'd be banned from The Boneyard if you posted that garbage about its team on that site.

The next time you go "keyboard warrior" on someone,I suggest you know who your up against...Scooter..

 

[Amb3096]

The context is not the players not playing, it is what caliber players are there to take their place. They have 5* players on their bench, we do not.

This goes back to what a lot of posters have been saying about the recruiting needing to get better, but getting shot down as if getting players like Puckett, Striplin, Wynn, Miles is just as good as a Ducharme or Fudd. Azzi is a freshman who ended up playing bigger minutes today because of an injury to another freshman (who also had to end up playing bigger minutes previously due to injury), and had a career game. I think Striplin will eventually "get it" and be an important part of the rotation, but she will never do to an elite team what Fudd did to Tennessee today. Bottom line is that Tennessee needs to find a way to entice players at the same level as Fudd to play for Tennessee so they too can have some 5-star talent on the bench to call upon when needed.

 

[Memvol44]

You don't consider Pissott a top recruit?

Oh, I forgot. You've been "wondering" whether the latest losses have "opened Pissott's eyes" and whether Marta will ever play again," speculating that White will fire Harper, Striplin is "a candidate for transfer," and that the assistants' "repuations are on the line if top recruits aren't signed, and signed on to encouraging Saunders to leave. That's just some of the "support" you've been able to bless this program with.

You praise CONN so much; ironically, you'd be banned from The Boneyard if you posted that garbage about its team on that site.

Guess your at church or something ..don't comment on any more of my post ..Scooter

 

[1reVOLver]

It was evident, they also ran a lot of "scoring sequence plays",,,offensive plays that were structured but with freedoms...A mix of creative, fast-break and motion offenses

This is Auriemma's “read and react” offense. He and Dailey have been running some form of it for nearly four decades. It's something Pat, then Holly, and now Kellie have seen many times before.

 

[creekdipper]

Oh, I don't praise UConn. I did say they are well coached and were ready to play today ....keyboard warrior..

Yes, you certainly are that. You "liked" a post wanting Saunders to leave, and you vomited your asinine "well coached, etc." drivel in multiple posts.

Will Bueckers ever play again? Her health has always been in question.

You just keep doing what makes you .

 

[Coach Jumper]

What a concept! We can only dream.

Oh,don't let "creekdipper read that. If you say UConn is well coached,it offends him or her!!!

That is what the weave is supposed to be used for,,,a sequence of routes, with each BH'er looking to exploit an opening while it is happening. We have the motion, we just run it to pass time instead of looking for an opportunity while in route (aka,, Read and React)

 

[Coach Jumper]

This is Auriemma's “read and react” offense. He and Dailey have been running some form of it for nearly four decades. It's something Pat, then Holly, and now Kellie have seen many times before.

exactly, the "Motion" transitions into read & React individual options
we seem to be looking at the route instead of using the route to recognize openings.
You can tell this by how mindless the players look while running the weave