Game Thread: Lady Vols at Miss St; 7PM; SEC network

[Majors]

So you don't believe in all that road vs. home quadrant nonsense, eh?

If you take care of business it doesn’t matter. That’s what those teams mentioned do that we are chasing.

 

[dtnvol]

Are you serious? You must be thinking about Michael Jackson

She may not be a great defender, but she works hard on trying to score and get rebounds...her defense or lack there of, is not the issue...the issue is, by now all of the ladies should feel comfortable being on the floor and knowing where to be when they are out there [this is not happening]...playing the right rotation [it isn't happening]...Wynn should being playing 5x the minutes she playing [if nothing else,, she'll bring size and defense to the guard spot]...Pissott is being totally wasted sitting on the bench [she has a good shot and she brings effort, so play her more ]...gonna need her and Wynn tremendously next season...Guys I'm just so frustrated with where I thought the LVs would be right now...From FINAL4 talk to THIS ...LVFL

 

[Lucy]

Tennessee is fans of millions. They don’t always have check in here to get approval. The fact that they are here after a loss shows they follow and care. Not everyone is a get along gang of all things Lady Vols.

They just want someplace to whine. They are not LV fans. Many don’t even know the player’s names or how to spell the coach’s name.

 

[creekdipper]

Some don't even know the coach's name.

 

[Lucy]

Two mornings in a row a message by Lucy!

If she left (Justine), I would understand and leave it at that and wish her well. She is a sitting her freshman year behind kids not named Holdsclaw or Catchings. She doesn’t get the luxury of a Covid year to come back and play. Otherside maybe she is who she is and recruiting got it wrong from Kellie to rankings….which goes back to Kellie and her evaluations. It’s not about being right, it seems based off your anger towards me you might be understanding though.

Personally, 45 years old (Majors number) and I’m an occasional drinker. Might want to watch Decade of Dominance as an introduction. Or see what led up to him retuning home, far different resume than Kellie. Enough about me, tell me about you.

Excellent sleuthing there. I am currently many time zones away so my posting schedule is out of whack. Trust me when I say I will never understand your persistent negativity towards Kellie and the team. Kellie is not perfect, what coach is, but she has done a lot of great things for the program which some, ahem, refuse to acknowledge.
Excuse my brevity but I try to limit my posting when my sweetheart is treating me to sunshine and rum.

 

[Basketballjunkie76]

Reluctant to dignify all this ridiculous "coaching change" mid-season lunacy, but it's hard not to burst out laughing thinking of the reactions from the Lawson contingent if she had come here and then canceled her season.

Cant assume that considering it was the players choice to cancel the season at Duke. They all made that very clear.

 

[Majors]

Excellent sleuthing there. I am currently many time zones away so my posting schedule is out of whack. Trust me when I say I will never understand your persistent negativity towards Kellie and the team. Kellie is not perfect, what coach is, but she has done a lot of great things for the program which some, ahem, refuse to acknowledge.
Excuse my brevity but I try to limit my posting when my sweetheart is treating me to sunshine and rum.

My answer is, she’s not a good coach. That’s not negative if it’s true. And I stated a few days ago, this will be how she’s remembered, not the 3 national championships as a player - that was the good she did. Just look at how Hollie is treated here and I’m not a Hollie fan, but the protection of Kellie needs some honesty to go with it. Bashing Hollie but protecting Kellie is called being a hypocrite. Winning cures all that.

 

[Majors]

They just want someplace to whine. They are not LV fans. Many don’t even know the player’s names or how to spell the coach’s name.

A good portion of fans fall into being Tennessee fans. They don’t have to know the roster just like “Lady Vol” fans don’t have to know the names of the starting defensive line of the 1998 team. Sadly, many in this thread don’t know how to spell coaches name but get a pass.

 

[Volfan2012]

I think you can really become to narrow focused on getting the ball inside. It happens when you shoot 3 of 19 from the three in a previous game. The goal should be not to turn it over 23 times by forcing the post, but instead taking you chances when you get open shots preferably in the paint area up to 12 feet in. This is where decision making comes in and if we had the players that could make these type decisions we would have at least a couple more wins or more.

 

[glv98]

I think you can really become to narrow focused on getting the ball inside. It happens when you shoot 3 of 19 from the three in a previous game. The goal should be not to turn it over 23 times by forcing the post, but instead taking you chances when you get open shots preferably in the paint area up to 12 feet in. This is where decision making comes in and if we had the players that could make these type decisions we would have at least a couple more wins or more.

They've said their trying to find more shots for Rickea, so that mindset is part of it. And obviously not a bad mindset at all. I just don't understand why the shots they're trying to find her have to be in the post, where she's undersized plus swarmed. How bout coming off a screen for one of those sweet mid range js? She cuts very well and is often open on inbounds plays also but we rarely find her.

Same thing used to happen w TK. Yes its a mindset to get her the ball inside, but the guards have to have a good feel for what's "forced" and likely to cause a t.o. That has been the great struggle of our PGs for lo these many years.

 

[creekdipper]

Cant assume that considering it was the players choice to cancel the season at Duke. They all made that very clear.

I thought it was moochual.

 

[Volfan2012]

They've said their trying to find more shots for Rickea, so that mindset is part of it. And obviously not a bad mindset at all. I just don't understand why the shots they're trying to find her have to be in the post, where she's undersized plus swarmed. How bout coming off a screen for one of those sweet mid range js? She cuts very well and is often open on inbounds plays also but we rarely find her.

The ten turnovers they had trying to get her the ball in double and triple teams is just bad decision making. You can take any player out of a game if you commit enough players to do it. That is when your other players need to be willing to step up and make plays at least get a shot at the basket. That is a huge part of the problem were facing. Coach tells them something and like Robots it is ingrained that is exactly what we have to do even if we have an open shot ourselves. Maybe most can't shoot well enough to consider taking an open shot, but any shot is better than no shot at the basket. We did that way to much in the Miss St game no shot at all on like 23 possessions.

 

[Volfan2012]

Cant assume that considering it was the players choice to cancel the season at Duke. They all made that very clear.

I think for Kara it was a good decision they were going to get mauled last season with something like 17 to 20 losses so she saved that from happening to her coaching career. She was able to reload from the portal and recruits and has a much better team this season. It has all worked out to this point.

 

[glv98]

Maybe most can't shoot well enough to consider taking an open shot, but any shot is better than no shot at the basket.

They can't shoot well enough (the PGs) to take that shot and any shot for Rickea is better. Miraculously, she's been able to pull off the post move the whole world knew was coming both at Missouri and Miss St for last second crucial baskets. But that video is out there now so we need much more inventive plays to use her versatility and make it easier for the PGs to make the decision and the pass.

Same for Jill. She can shoot midrange. If the post is jammed, give the PGs some options. Film, film, film to help decision making.

 

[glv98]

I think for Kara it was a food decision they were going to get mauled last season

Was there a food shortage in Durham last year? Food supply mauled by bears?

Seriously, I'm so sick of Kara "Jon Grudin" Lawson. I swear when KJH was hired I heard Kara said from the get go she had no interest in the job. Don't know that she was "passed over". at all. Sure would like to know so we could maybe lay this one to rest.

 

[Volfan2012]

They can't shoot well enough (the PGs) to take that shot and any shot for Rickea is better. Miraculously, she's been able to pull off the post move the whole world knew was coming both at Missouri and Miss St for last second crucial baskets. But that video is out there now so we need much more inventive plays to use her versatility and make it easier for the PGs to make the decision and the pass.

Same for Jill. She can shoot midrange. If the post is jammed, give the PGs some options. Film, film, film to help decision making.

Point guard has always been a huge problem for Harper teams and the reason she has not been so successful. In the game we shot 3 of 19 from the three Ole Miss game. We ended up with 69 shots to their 52. So even though we shot the same percentage we won by 14. In the Miss St game we shot 40 percent but the 23 turnovers so we ended up with 62 shots to their 67 and they shot 48 percent. We made up the difference with plus 14 foul shot attempts. We win easily by limiting their shots and increasing ours. The way to do it is offensive rebounds and turnovers. They won that 34 to 31 and thus a close win for them.

 

[Volfan2012]

Was there a food shortage in Durham last year? Food supply mauled by bears?

Seriously, I'm so sick of Kara "Jon Grudin" Lawson. I swear when KJH was hired I heard Kara said from the get go she had no interest in the job. Don't know that she was "passed over". at all. Sure would like to know so we could maybe lay this one to rest.

Should've been good decision that f is to close to the g

 

[Amb3096]

Point guard has always been a huge problem for Harper teams and the reason she has not been so successful. In the game we shot 3 of 19 from the three Ole Miss game. We ended up with 69 shots to their 52. So even though we shot the same percentage we won by 14. In the Miss St game we shot 40 percent but the 23 turnovers so we ended up with 62 shots to their 67 and they shot 48 percent. We made up the difference with plus 14 foul shot attempts. We win easily by limiting their shots and increasing ours. The way to do it is offensive rebounds and turnovers. They won that 34 to 31 and thus a close win for them.

Aside from Massengale, PG ha been a huge problem for Warlick's teams too. That hasn't been fixed in almost a decade.

 

[Volfan2012]

Aside from Massengale, PG ha been a huge problem for Warlick's teams too. That hasn't been fixed in almost a decade.

The way to get fired as that is a huge position on any team. Walker is an adequate non scorer sometimes she seems to have the mental game down and sometimes she looks like she has no idea what she is doing. Sure would've liked to see Puckett take that wide open three hard to understand what she was thinking.

 

[Amb3096]

The way to get fired as that is a huge position on any team. Walker is an adequate non scorer sometimes she seems to have the mental game down and sometimes she looks like she has no idea what she is doing. Sure would've liked to see Puckett take that wide open three hard to understand what she was thinking.

That's the difference between a very good PG like Massengale and someone being forced to play out of position (Walker). Massengale was good at reading what the defense was giving her and would improvise and make the correct pass; Walker is hellbent on executing the play that was called. Another one of Holly's utterly brilliant moves to take this pure PG with a pass first mentality and make her a SG so that Jordan Reynolds could run point instead. Brilliant coaching...

 

[Volfan2012]

That's the difference between a very good PG like Massengale and someone being forced to play out of position (Walker). Massengale was good at reading what the defense was giving her and would improvise and make the correct pass; Walker is hellbent on executing the play that was called. Another one of Holly's utterly brilliant moves to take this pure PG with a pass first mentality and make her a SG so that Jordan Reynolds could run point instead. Brilliant coaching...

Exactly what I saw we were determined to run plays even if the defense wasn't going to allow it and result was 23 turnovers. Kellie suddenly getting the must get the ball inside mentality because the perimeter shooting is so terrible. The solution get better shooters or get the power of SC inside so you can shoot until you make it.

 

[Volfan1000]

Mississippi State drove into the paint too often for easy layups and Harper should start benching players for poor defensive efforts as Barnes does to get their attention.

 

[Rooster1]

Mississippi State drove into the paint too often for easy layups and Harper should start benching players for poor defensive efforts as Barnes does to get their attention.

It takes time, but when you rewatch a game and can focus and pause, slow motion etc…you see things more clearly obviously. I have rewatched many UT games this year that way. I enjoy rewatching games to get a clearer pic on what happened.

When you watch a game like that and can pause the play, you start to see the little things that caused a play to break down or where a bad decision was made. When I rewatch UT games this year, I don’t necessarily see any deficiencies on offense that are glaring other than the distribution of the ball from the ball carrier in relation to where the opposing defense is set up. UT goes into the teeth of the defense a bunch, which can work if you have the players that can execute in traffic. Like a Boston or a Reese, or a Holmes.

Otherwise, prob better to have more motion and look for cleaner shots. Simple stuff. On defense, if you rewind, pause and slow motion the games you will see UT players that get beat off the dribble too easy allowing penetration and then multiple bad options. The ones getting beat off the dribble or a good pass are the ones who are athletically challenged, and there is some of that going on, without name dropping. Too much of it going on actually for a program like UT. Key cleaned a lot of that up last year btw.

Against MSU last game, where was the interior defense when the backcourt got beat off the dribble and penetrated? It was afraid to foul because the depth there is thin right now. Strip has some potential, but it’s a big drop off between her and Holl on both offense and defense. RJ is never going to be a defensive force, it’s not her game overall, and Jordy was never in this game. I like Puckett a bunch as you all know know, but she is never going to be an above average defensive player and on offense she has to be set up. Gotta get some new troops. I know you all know this already, but you have to start recruiting and getting in some good troops. Don’t live in the portal too long, it’s a wasted trip as Oddball would say. (Kelly’s Heroes reference for older guys like me)

 

[lvocd]

I thought it was moochual.

I think it was more along the lines of Kara would support whatever decision her players made. So when the players met and decided to put each other's safety first, Kara sure as heck wasn't going to come back and say, "Hey, you know what? I think it'll look bad for me personally if we cancel my first season as a coach, so I'm gonna have to overrule your decision on this. It's more important that we play than it is that you feel safe. Mmmm-kay?"

 

[creekdipper]

I think it was more along the lines of Kara would support whatever decision her players made. So when the players met and decided to put each other's safety first, Kara sure as heck wasn't going to come back and say, "Hey, you know what? I think it'll look bad for me personally if we cancel my first season as a coach, so I'm gonna have to overrule your decision on this. It's more important that we play than it is that you feel safe. Mmmm-kay?"

However it was decided, and your idea may be 100% accurate, I'm thinking the poor start to the season greatly influenced the decision.