Game Thread: Lady Vols 77 vs Florida Gators 67

[creekdipper]

Kea wasn't jumping up and shouting hallelujah when asked bout it during the post game ' player of the game' shimmy. But I know what she wanted to say.

Of course you do. After all, you are a prophet.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Rickea responds about starting :

 

[Volfaninfl2]

Rickea responds about starting :

What would anyone expect her to say? She won’t look like a good teammate if she truthfully says, “Well, I’m the best player on this team, I do not understand why I am not starting.”

 

[LV renaissance]

What would anyone expect her to say? She won’t look like a good teammate if she truthfully says, “Well, I’m the best player on this team, I do not understand why I am not starting.”

While I agree with the first person, I have no doubt that she knows the reason!

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

What would anyone expect her to say? She won’t look like a good teammate if she truthfully says, “Well, I’m the best player on this team, I do not understand why I am not starting.”

I would expect her to say what she said because it seems like she has learned from what she did.

HOWEVER, let's not act like we haven't had players say stuff that upset the whole dynamic of past lady vol teams

So what one might expect her to say vs what she might say could be to different things. ALSO, people were ready to drag her for being a diva and saying how much better we were without her so if i'm reading their posts or tweets i might not expect this well states response...

 

[creekdipper]

Was the Danish girl Rimdal their PG or a shooting guard? I ask because she torched us for 21 points on 8-11 shooting plus had 5 assists.

I saw that she was All-SEC Freshman team last year. Saw some international game footage in which she distributed the ball well whether penetrating and kicking out or threading the needle from the key and on fast breaks. Good rebounder, too. And just a sophomore.

If we're not closing the deal with players such as Latson and Shade, maybe the fields may be richer for us if we look farther out. Seems to be working fairly well for our old nemesis to the north.

 

[Darth_Vol]

Why mot trust the coach? Things are going really well right now but all everybody is doing is complaining.

Because this was a team that was top 5 coming into the season that is currently 9-6 and unranked, despite coming out of a 4 cupcakes in 6 games stretch...

 

[Darth_Vol]

I believe the general consensus here: Coach Kellie! Get off your high horse and start Rikea! I’m just saying.

Literally EVERYONE, fans and non-fans alike, can see this yet Kellie continues to over-complicate Jackson's minutes. It's really simple Kellie...

 

[allenfan1]

Literally EVERYONE, fans and non-fans alike, can see this yet Kellie continues to over-complicate Jackson's minutes. It's really simple Kellie...

Literally EVERYONE, fans and non-fans alike, can see this yet Kellie continues to over-complicate Jackson's minutes. It's really simple Kellie...

I hope everyone can see it I have seen it for some time. The best player on team on the bench while Florida cuts a 13 point deficit to 5. Throwing Darby in at the end of the game and they just took it away from her at midcourt. I'm still not convinced she is the coach for us with the silly subs, put your best players on the court, sub only when necessary, It's not difficult

 

[allenfan1]

Because this was a team that was top 5 coming into the season that is currently 9-6 and unranked, despite coming out of a 4 cupcakes in 6 games stretch...

Probably because she isn't a very good coach and and even worse game manager

 

[madtownvol]

Because this was a team that was top 5 coming into the season that is currently 9-6 and unranked, despite coming out of a 4 cupcakes in 6 games stretch...

Elvee, you are really stretching your sentence structure to make things seem worse. Your "despite coming out of a 4 cupcakers in [a] 16 game stretch" suggest that you are highlighting an additional negative condition that reveals matters to be worse than a 9-6 record would indicate.
But (and I know this deeply saddens you), the LVs won those "cupcake" games so the "despite" is an irrelevant aside masquerading as a statement which actually implies something.

If you are going to play the despite game, the relevant "despite" is being 9-6, despite playing the toughest opening schedule in the country.

 

[allenfan1]

Kellie needs to get off her butt again and go nuts and get a technical...Clean box out.

She needs to get her butt off the bench , put the best players in and Coach something she has not done very well

 

[madtownvol]

Sources of optimism:

1. Winning the conference opener on the road against a team that dismantled the LVs last season.

2. Rickea putting up 28 and 9 rebounds in a very efficient manner (10-13 and 8 for 9 FT) with a solid defensive effort. You can't ask for much more than that. Okay, you can. Rickea gives us 40 and a triple double. Its in you.

3. Quality minutes with Horston and Jackson on the floor AT THE SAME TIME!!!

4. Jordan bouncing back with a strong 2nd half.

5. Better play from Powell.

6. Tess hitting a three from the 3rd floor concession stand.

7. Kellie perhaps narrowing the rotation down a bit for competitive games.

8. Good perimeter defense ( though a bit too vulnerable to drives in the lane and obviously missing TK. Oops, I segued into concerns...)

Sources of concern:

1. The return of the TO bugaboo

2. The return of missing easy shots at the rim (and Florida is not a team that putting intense pressure on the LVs; they were just missing lay-ups).

3. Not being able to hit enough threes in games that are more competitive. (2 of 9 will not cut it against better teams).

4. Houston we have a problem at the post-- TK's absence is becoming more problematic . Franklin is undersized and her hustle can only compensate so much. Hollingshead is our best pain defender but she struggled in many facets tonight. Striplin is vulnerable in the paint. Players shoot over her or driver around her.
I don't think Kellie has much choice to continue playing those 3 at post and going with whoever is getting the job done but I think Franklin might be an option as a starter because....

5. The horrid start against Florida should be taken as a warning sign. Had Florida not been missing very makeable shots, the LVs could have easily been in a double digit hole. After that start, a coach can't conclude well, it is all going so well, I don't want change things." Change before the imminent disaster strikes.

Franklin, Horston, Jackson, Puckett, and Walker I think might the way to go, though I could see a case for keeping Tess over Puckett (who seems more comfortable in the low block). If Walker has a TO prone start, quick move to Powell.

 

[ttharp]

I'm proud of this team. They overcame adversity and got an important road win to start SEC play. They gutted it out and now have the chance to build some momentum with the next two at home. There's still a lot for Kellie to sort out tho.

If she's gonna stay with the same starting lineup, she needs to make sure they actually run some offense. IMO, that lineup will have a very small margin for error in SEC play. They started the game trying to play hero ball. To start the 3rd quarter, they did run and execute set plays. Outside of Horston, no one in that lineup should be trying to create their own offense against SEC defenders.

Please start Rickea Jackson. I hope Powell finds her shot. Our posts gotta hit their layups.

Alabama will be a tough one. Kristy Curry will have them ready.

 

[River67]

Is she sick? Or, something else?

Out for personal reasons. Hope her mom is ok, she’s battling cancer

 

[River67]

Still have to play her 35 minutes not 25.

Rickea has been having to use an inhaler, so that’s probably why she isn’t playing 30 minutes a game

 

[Majors]

Seems like your digging and stirring the pot...

Observation

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Observation

and a good one at that

 

[Majors]

What would anyone expect her to say? She won’t look like a good teammate if she truthfully says, “Well, I’m the best player on this team, I do not understand why I am not starting.”

Only answer

 

[Majors]

and a good one at that

others in the starting 5 not named Horston that are off the bench players.

 

[creekdipper]

I'm so sad that we won.

 

[cwbytruckers]

Elvee, you are really stretching your sentence structure to make things seem worse. Your "despite coming out of a 4 cupcakers in [a] 16 game stretch" suggest that you are highlighting an additional negative condition that reveals matters to be worse than a 9-6 record would indicate.
But (and I know this deeply saddens you), the LVs won those "cupcake" games so the "despite" is an irrelevant aside masquerading as a statement which actually implies something.

If you are going to play the despite game, the relevant "despite" is being 9-6, despite playing the toughest opening schedule in the country.

What gets me is of those 6 games lost if we beat either of those teams lets say three of them by one point and they are 12-3 and people are still claiming the Lady Vols are a final four contender. But lets say those six losses three of them were by just one point each and we are 9-6 still. Doesnt matter if we lost by 1 or 10 really. Most of those six losses were competitive right until the end. I believe this Lady Vols team still has Final Four talent. But there a lot of fans in this forum making some good points about the substitution patterns. But many fans beating the same dead horse every game including the victories. So basically my long drawn out point. You are never going to find a game thread where someone isn’t complaining about something. We just beat a really good Florida team on their home floor. Yes i know Florida hasnt played a tough schedule. But they are well coached and have good talent. Enough talent we could have lost. But we didnt. 1-0 to start the real season. Win enough games in conference to get back to a good seed in the tournament and anything can happen. Great win LVs. Keep it up.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Was the Danish girl Rimdal their PG or a shooting guard? I ask because she torched us for 21 points on 8-11 shooting plus had 5 assists.

I saw that she was All-SEC Freshman team last year. Saw some international game footage in which she distributed the ball well whether penetrating and kicking out or threading the needle from the key and on fast breaks. Good rebounder, too. And just a sophomore.

If we're not closing the deal with players such as Latson and Shade, maybe the fields may be richer for us if we look farther out. Seems to be working fairly well for our old nemesis to the north.

She was playing point guard. Had a great game. Career high for points. Her defense is below average, but she has some nice offensive moves. She only hit one or two threes, so most of her points came from free throw line, drives, mid-range.

 

[Jax_Vol]

What gets me is of those 6 games lost if we beat either of those teams lets say three of them by one point and they are 12-3 and people are still claiming the Lady Vols are a final four contender. But lets say those six losses three of them were by just one point each and we are 9-6 still. Doesnt matter if we lost by 1 or 10 really. Most of those six losses were competitive right until the end. I believe this Lady Vols team still has Final Four talent. But there a lot of fans in this forum making some good points about the substitution patterns. But many fans beating the same dead horse every game including the victories. So basically my long drawn out point. You are never going to find a game thread where someone isn’t complaining about something. We just beat a really good Florida team on their home floor. Yes i know Florida hasnt played a tough schedule. But they are well coached and have good talent. Enough talent we could have lost. But we didnt. 1-0 to start the real season. Win enough games in conference to get back to a good seed in the tournament and anything can happen. Great win LVs. Keep it up.

Yes. Florida finished 5th in SEC last year. I expect them to be in top-5 again this time. That guard heavy line-up creates bad match-ups for opponents. However, they do struggle with rebounding while having four guards out there. Somewhat similar to the Bruce Pearl scheme

 

[Volfan2012]

Big win for us even if we did turn a 20 point win into a 10 point win and again really struggled late in the game. If basketball lasted three quarters we would have a lot better record. We have given up the lead in a game at least twice in the fourth quarter. We gave it up in the third quarter against Ohio State. Much like the Ohio State game we got into a turnover situation which they took advantage of and Florida could not. All matters is winning, but when are we going to play a forty minute game and give effort for the entire time. We did get it back last five minutes of the fourth when they had closed the lead to five. I find that the main thing were missing on our team is effective point guard play. We need to be a lot better both handling the ball and scoring. Very happy just to win and the next two at home have to be wins also.