Game Thread: (7/7) Lady Vols 59 - (RV/RV ) Florida 84

[gule]

I'll have to not even watch the beating Gee no will put on them, my heart is already in bad shape ....

 

[VolBall09]

Yea that Michigan game still eats at me! Florida exposed us terribly today. I think in order to make a final four our turnovers have to go down. This isnt a final four team with this many turnovers

Not even Sweet 16 material when we play like we did in the first half. We are second round and out

 

[Hallie]

The odd thing - Pat used to chew Kellie out unmercifully....and KH was damn good. A lot better than what we're getting from our guards now. Yet Kellie has zero interest in getting in anyone's grill.

Agree . These coaches want to be friends with the players .. 18 TO's .. and nobody gets chewed out for them or defensive lack of effort .. pitiful effort...players and coaches

 

[Orange_Mamba]

I’m not being dramatic, but to ME this team has been in a free fall even before Keyen got hurt. The energy is off and there’s a huge disconnect on both ends of the floor. Also, there’s no imaginable reason this team shouldn’t know how to handle the press by now.

 

[Darth_Vol]

I'll have to not even watch the beating Gee no will put on them, my heart is already in bad shape ....

If you think that will be bad, wait till you see what Dawn has in store for them...

 

[tonyc]

Little to no chance she plays. Not even doing serious conditioning yet. Her father says he does not want her rushed back into the action.

Oa

Paige will not be back for the Tenn game. She has at least 2 weeks of workouts before shes ready to go and Geno will not take a chance with her right now. Azzi is just getting back after and injury that was suppose to take 2 weeks to get better took 2 months. BTW Dorka has been out 2 games and maybe ready for Sunday we still dont know yet. UConn is a team that has alot of injuries and has had alot of Covid problems. They arent 100% yet either although they did look good in the second half against Creighton.

 

[VolBall09]

Agree . These coaches want to be friends with the players .. 18 TO's .. and nobody gets chewed out for them or defensive lack of effort .. pitiful effort...players and coaches

I felt like Kellie really got after her players at Mo State.

Just wonder if she feels some of the egos on this team can’t handle it. May have gone that route and realized it wasn’t going to work.

The freshman and sophomores all seem like mentally tough, high IQ players who can take some criticism. As they mature and we add more pieces I hope we see her get fiery and get after them a little. All these kids these days want “a family feel.”

But that’s not what they mean, they want to be coddled mostly. Reality is, families fight! They scream, they yell, they cry, they love, they run the gamut. And they get better for it. Strong emotions produce strong people. Everyone these days is so bought into the idea that everyone has to be so even keel these days. We just aren’t all made like that.

This day and age if Pat were her 90s self on the sideline they would be speculating that she was bipolar, be suggesting therapy and worrying about transfers. (Not really, but you get the point.)

 

[GameTime]

 

[VolBall09]

I’m not being dramatic, but to ME this team has been in a free fall even before Keyen got hurt. The energy is off and there’s a huge disconnect on both ends of the floor. Also, there’s no imaginable reason this team shouldn’t know how to handle the press by now.

Hit the wall man

 

[Voluble2]

Looks like we peaked too soon.

We are going to have to get a second wind, and more importantly, find where we put our "want to."

We played practically no defense in this game. And we didn't at Auburn, or in the last game until the 4th qtr.

If nothing else, this stretch should impress upon them the need for effort, and that they were never as good as their ranking implied. They need to beat both UConn and SC, and win out to make the case they are a top team now. I don't think they are capable of doing that. Even when they were rolling the chances of beating SC on the road were pretty slim.

They had their fate in their hands with an SEC championship and that was not enough to motivate them to play hard every qtr of every game. That shows they do not have a champion's mentality.

They are a team with a slim margin for error and their slide coincides exactly with when people started looking at them as maybe turning the corner towards being elite. Gotta stay humble and hungry because they are not good enough to be arrogant.

There is no team I have ever seen where the old truism about being good enough to beat anyone on a given night, but not good enough that they can't lose to anyone on a given night applies as accurately as it does for this team.

 

[gule]

If you think that will be bad, wait till you see what Dawn has in store for them...

No, Dawn doesn't have hate in her heart for TN.
She'll keep it to under 40, heh!

 

[Gilmore]

Don’t understand why we don’t seem to try to cause more turnovers, trap, etc. Do we not have the athletes to do that? I’m not a basketball guru so would love to hear someone’s opinion.

 

[Orange_Mamba]

Hit the wall man

Just waiting for tomorrow morning shift to clock in and say we’re being too dramatic and that everything’s fine.

 

[Voluble2]

Don’t understand why we don’t seem to try to cause more turnovers, trap, etc. Do we not have the athletes to do that? I’m not a basketball guru so would love to hear someone’s opinion.

Lack of quality depth at guard. And two of our guards are so small they can't really press well because everyone can see and pass over them. They can't cover a lot of distance quickly and outside of Horston do not have a lot of steals. We are not built for it. You can probably press better with Rae when she is healthy but it is clear she is not her old self yet.

 

[Aladywhovolunteer]

Don’t understand why we don’t seem to try to cause more turnovers, trap, etc. Do we not have the athletes to do that? I’m not a basketball guru so would love to hear someone’s opinion.

If officiated correctly, pressing defenses usually turn in to fouls being called. After loosing two players for the year to injury, we have very limited serviceable depth on the bench.

 

[glv98]

Well the elevator ride up was faster and higher than I imagined and now the crash is faster and lower than I thought it would be. I thought we'd hit a lull and lose a couple of games, but I didn't want to think we could still play this badly. I'm also surprised to see their mental resolve, which has been the secret weapon all season, dissolve so completely.

Obviously this is a crossroad for the season and we'll see if they can pull it back together. Hopefully they'll figure it out.

Also, Florida played really, really well.

 

[Amb3096]

Lack of quality depth at guard. And two of our guards are so small they can't really press well because everyone can see and pass over them. They can't cover a lot of distance quickly and outside of Horston do not have a lot of steals. We are not built for it. You can probably press better with Rae when she is healthy but it is clear she is not her old self yet.

5'8 Walker is not small. She's taller than Henderson from SC and Taylor from MSST, and they are two of the best PGs in the league. The issue is that neither are particularly good passers. Walker has her moments, but in general the PG play is not elite.

Another big issue is lack of post depth. Key has to play too many minutes to give 100% intensity on every possession.

 

[Coach Jumper]

But I think players want to be chewed out. They want to become better and know what their mistakes are.

it doesn't necessarily have to come from Kellie

 

[Aladywhovolunteer]

Agree . These coaches want to be friends with the players .. 18 TO's .. and nobody gets chewed out for them or defensive lack of effort .. pitiful effort...players and coaches

One of the tenets of a good leader is never berating people/players in public. Horston has said repeatedly Kellie knows when to be mad and when not too be. Pat's style probably would not be effective today (just my opinion).

 

[volnationnj]

Another point about turnovers.
Yes, we commit way too many and, in the first half, Florida made us pay for those 13 turnovers. We were down 36-29 at the half.
But look at this stat.
In the second half, we committed only 5 turnovers. Yet we gave up 48 points, losing the second half 48-30.

 

[Hoosier]

The odd thing - Pat used to chew Kellie out unmercifully....and KH was damn good. A lot better than what we're getting from our guards now. Yet Kellie has zero interest in getting in anyone's grill.

coaches who get in players' grills get accused of abusing the players and get fired --- that is the reality in 2022

 

[Rooster1]

No, Dawn doesn't have hate in her heart for TN.
She'll keep it to under 40, heh!

It will be a good matchup gule, the two teams seem very similar in most ways, I suspect the post game favors SC unless Key can stay away from fouls…UT will need 30 plus minutes of the good Key, just my thoughts, but suspect it will be a brutal battle of similar teams. LV should be playing for a tie in SEC reg season championship, they have a lot to play for.

 

[VolBall09]

Should be a good game!

Florida leads the league in personal fouls so that could be a plus or a minus for us. On the road in the SEC that has me worried. With our improved FT shooting it could be good though. I expect a low scoring, scrappy affair. I’m going Lady Vols 62-54.

Florida matches up with us better than some teams but I do not think they have anyone who can guard Horston. Merritt is a good player but I don’t think her perimeter defense is good enough to keep Jordy in front. Look for her to have another big night. On the other end, we match up well with Merritt. She likes to shoot the 3 but our 4 players in Dye and Puckett have no problem keeping up with those players. She definitely prefers to face up which is a bonus for us IMO. She shoots a good % but is not likely to take you off the bounce. At 6’3” she doesn’t have a very tight handle. If she puts the ball down our guards can knock it loose easily.

Florida changed up their defenses some against LSU switching from man to zone. I expect we will see a fair bit of zone from them because they cannot matchup with Tamari well.

Florida relies on getting the majority of their scoring in transition or the secondary break. They are not a good half-court offensive team. Getting back and getting our defense set will be imperative. Ball control will also be very important for us. They try to jump the passing lanes on almost every possession. If our perimeter players will jump to the pass they will foul us a ton. It’ll look like a tackle when they make contact. A little flop or two early in the game to draw attention to it wouldn’t hurt us either.

I believe we will need Miles to play more minutes than she has been recently. Smith is their offense and after watching several games I believe the key to shutting them down is making it very difficult for her to catch the ball. Her defender needs to pick her up in the backcourt and force her to get rid of it. Walker will need Miles’ help keeping the pressure on for 40. Smith tends to score at the rim off the initial push beating her defender down the court. Once she’s been forced to give it up we need to make it extremely difficult for her to get the ball back. Their offense has to have the ball in her hands or it comes to a screeching halt. They will turn the ball over if we make it tough for her on the catch and force other players to handle.

Broughton has really come on the last few games and is a huge reason for their recent success. She’s a speedy guard with a good BBall IQ. Her role expanded when Briggs left the team. She is averaging 7 points on the season but is averaging almost 15 in her last 6 games. She gets out in the passing lanes and turns teams over. To me, she’s a player that should not score more than 10 points against us. She doesn’t like to handle the ball in their offense and will turn it over if she has to handle too much. Would like to see us force her to handle the ball in the halfcourt while we make it difficult for Smith to get it back.

Neither of their big girls are 3 point threats which will be a nice reprieve for Tamari compared to the last few games. Neither Dut nor Toonders have hit a 3 on the season. Neither can score against Tamari in the paint and they do not look for them much. I’m betting they try to go to them some early to see if they can tag a foul or two on TK. We should be able to turn them over trying to get the ball inside though, just not their game and they aren’t used to doing it.

Rimdahl is a dead eye shooter if you give her the time but is not athletic enough to score against our defense if we force her to put it on the floor. She can take players off the bounce but will be totally lost once she gets by as there is no way she can score at the rim against our interior defenders. Does not have much, if any, mid range game.

Florida did about everything I thought they would. Unfortunately we didn’t stop any of it.

 

[Amb3096]

It will be a good matchup gule, the two teams seem very similar in most ways, I suspect the post game favors SC unless Key can stay away from fouls…UT will need 30 plus minutes of the good Key, just my thoughts, but suspect it will be a brutal battle of similar teams.

SC has way more quality depth. Boston goes out? Here comes Cardoso and Amihere. SC can afford foul trouble for Boston; Tennessee has no one usable behind Key.

Puckett is the only reserve that I think can provide quality minutes for SC, who has about 4-5 players that can come off the bench and be effective.

 

[VolBall09]

Kellie looks equal parts drained and angry. Hopefully she can channel this into something positive or bury it. Because we have to move on.