Vols4life
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Game Thread Lady Vols at Missouri
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W.TN.Orange Blood
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golf437
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Pathetic outing. No heart; no desire; no effort; and didn't care, from all appearances.
This team has been exciting to watch except for refusing to compete against Chattanooga, Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame, but today was the ultimate disappointment. This team never had any intent of competing in this game. The only player we had that wanted to play was Kamiko Williams, and she got hurt.
Massengale has fallen like a rock from the time she came to UT. She cannot protect the ball; can't pass; hopes and shoots, but never know what we get; and is one of the worst we have had on defense.
Losing to a team you beat by 45 on Jan. 10th is unacceptable. Getting embarrassed by them is beyond that.
Our coaches have been doing a good job, but today they seemed as lost as our players. It is hard to watch a team with Tennessee on their jerseys play like this. Of course, we should be used to it this year because our men's team has been playing like this in most games.
This could still be a pretty good year, but the stink stirred up today will be hard to get rid of. This coaching staff and these players have to decide if they are going to UT, or just a group that shows up just to pass the time.
Injuries are terrible, but it was not just injuries today. The injury to Williams took out the only played who gave a flip today, but we should not lose to Mizzouri under any circumstances. Of course, we cannot be spectators, as we were today, and win.
Terrible game.
This team has been exciting to watch except for refusing to compete against Chattanooga, Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame, but today was the ultimate disappointment. This team never had any intent of competing in this game. The only player we had that wanted to play was Kamiko Williams, and she got hurt.
Massengale has fallen like a rock from the time she came to UT. She cannot protect the ball; can't pass; hopes and shoots, but never know what we get; and is one of the worst we have had on defense.
Losing to a team you beat by 45 on Jan. 10th is unacceptable. Getting embarrassed by them is beyond that.
Our coaches have been doing a good job, but today they seemed as lost as our players. It is hard to watch a team with Tennessee on their jerseys play like this. Of course, we should be used to it this year because our men's team has been playing like this in most games.
This could still be a pretty good year, but the stink stirred up today will be hard to get rid of. This coaching staff and these players have to decide if they are going to UT, or just a group that shows up just to pass the time.
Injuries are terrible, but it was not just injuries today. The injury to Williams took out the only played who gave a flip today, but we should not lose to Mizzouri under any circumstances. Of course, we cannot be spectators, as we were today, and win.
Terrible game.
Volfan2012
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therealitytheory
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tnvols72
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therealitytheory
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Vols4life
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OK, I will explain it.
We have a team that was picked to finish 5-6th in the SEC that is currently leading it despite the fact that they have been riddled with injuries. To this point at least they have exceeded everyone's expectations.
Since the season began we have lost Carter, Burdick and Harrison to injuries... all of whom were starters. In this game we also lost the services of Kamiko. Furthermore, it is a young team and was expected to flag some down the stretch. We got behind the ball with recruiting since Pat's condition made everyone unsure of where we were going as a program and it will take a couple of years to see if we can recruit our way back to prominence.
None of that is a defense of what you saw today since that was a poor performance. But it doesn't change the fact that are doing better than the coaches who voted at the start of the year thought we would do and better than long time observers such as myself thought we would do --- despite the hardships we have faced. So in evaluating Holly, who I originally thought was a poor pick, it is necessary to take into account the team as it is and not as it was in our glory days. If Holly were coaching Candace or Catchings I would expect more.
We are rebuilding and this is what happens when you rebuild. Holly has changed my mind to a large extent but we will see how she does down the stretch... and when she has a few more healthy bodies she will have to win her share against the top five teams which is something she has not been able to do yet. My bet is that she is not an elite coach but is just under that level. But she has improved so much from last year to this that it would not surprise me if she were to continue to improve and reach that level.
I also suspect the team is having a bit of a pity party now that Harrison has gone out. They don't really have the guns to achieve everything they thought they were going to be able to achieve and it will be up to Holly to cobble together a few wins down the stretch --- but I don't see them winning the regular season championship now and they are too depleted to make much of a run in the tournament. I could easily see this team collapsing down the stretch now even if Pat were still the coach. Just too many injuries and too little experience.
The other problem is that we predicate our defense upon channeling the outside players into our center (which we no longer have) and pressing man-to-man. Now that our numbers are depleted we can't run the style of defense our team was built and taught to run. We can't overplay the passing lanes knowing there is someone behind us to clean things up. On offense we have one true post player and a couple of tweeners so we can't rebound or score a lot in the paint. When that is the case then your outside shooters have to be on to win. That means you can get beaten like we were today when they have an off night and that is why the team seems to play so much better when Simmons is hot and why it hurt so much for Kamiko to go out.
MO takes a lot of threes which is why they are so up and down in their results. But that is the style they play. We can't just change to that style mid-season and in the long run it is a worse style to play because it is so erratic and dependent upon shooting a high percentage from distance.
Holly has her work cut out for her down the stretch but when everyone was healthy we were very nearly a top five team. Not bad considering where everyone thought we would be before the season began. I think pretty much every long time Lady Vol fan who watches most of the games would have been very pleased with that outcome had you told them that is where we would be at now before the season began. I personally was picking at least ten regular season losses based on our play last year and the massive amount of talent we lost to graduation.
What else would you like to know? It is always good to have more knowledgeable fans to discuss things with.
We have a team that was picked to finish 5-6th in the SEC that is currently leading it despite the fact that they have been riddled with injuries. To this point at least they have exceeded everyone's expectations.
Since the season began we have lost Carter, Burdick and Harrison to injuries... all of whom were starters. In this game we also lost the services of Kamiko. Furthermore, it is a young team and was expected to flag some down the stretch. We got behind the ball with recruiting since Pat's condition made everyone unsure of where we were going as a program and it will take a couple of years to see if we can recruit our way back to prominence.
None of that is a defense of what you saw today since that was a poor performance. But it doesn't change the fact that are doing better than the coaches who voted at the start of the year thought we would do and better than long time observers such as myself thought we would do --- despite the hardships we have faced. So in evaluating Holly, who I originally thought was a poor pick, it is necessary to take into account the team as it is and not as it was in our glory days. If Holly were coaching Candace or Catchings I would expect more.
We are rebuilding and this is what happens when you rebuild. Holly has changed my mind to a large extent but we will see how she does down the stretch... and when she has a few more healthy bodies she will have to win her share against the top five teams which is something she has not been able to do yet. My bet is that she is not an elite coach but is just under that level. But she has improved so much from last year to this that it would not surprise me if she were to continue to improve and reach that level.
I also suspect the team is having a bit of a pity party now that Harrison has gone out. They don't really have the guns to achieve everything they thought they were going to be able to achieve and it will be up to Holly to cobble together a few wins down the stretch --- but I don't see them winning the regular season championship now and they are too depleted to make much of a run in the tournament. I could easily see this team collapsing down the stretch now even if Pat were still the coach. Just too many injuries and too little experience.
The other problem is that we predicate our defense upon channeling the outside players into our center (which we no longer have) and pressing man-to-man. Now that our numbers are depleted we can't run the style of defense our team was built and taught to run. We can't overplay the passing lanes knowing there is someone behind us to clean things up. On offense we have one true post player and a couple of tweeners so we can't rebound or score a lot in the paint. When that is the case then your outside shooters have to be on to win. That means you can get beaten like we were today when they have an off night and that is why the team seems to play so much better when Simmons is hot and why it hurt so much for Kamiko to go out.
MO takes a lot of threes which is why they are so up and down in their results. But that is the style they play. We can't just change to that style mid-season and in the long run it is a worse style to play because it is so erratic and dependent upon shooting a high percentage from distance.
Holly has her work cut out for her down the stretch but when everyone was healthy we were very nearly a top five team. Not bad considering where everyone thought we would be before the season began. I think pretty much every long time Lady Vol fan who watches most of the games would have been very pleased with that outcome had you told them that is where we would be at now before the season began. I personally was picking at least ten regular season losses based on our play last year and the massive amount of talent we lost to graduation.
What else would you like to know? It is always good to have more knowledgeable fans to discuss things with.
Orange Maniac
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There is a world of difference in losing a game and not being willing to even try to win.
If you believe there was any decent effort given in the game today, then I think you are the one who needs to re-evaluate your knowledge of the game and how it should be played.
That today was no semblance of Lady Vol Basketball.
Defaultuser
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Orange Maniac
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I guess with the mentality of people in this tread, Pat should have been fired in 97 before the tourney started. How dare a team lose 10 games. They evidently weren't being coached nor were the players giving effort during that season. I don't think I'm the one that needs to re-evaluate my knowledge of the game.
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