Game Thread Lady Vols vs Kentucky

[VA_VOLFAN]

the fact that you got likes for this is just as appalling as bringing up the appearance of a coach. It's a disgusting criticism that has no value to what this board is supposed to be about.

Holly deserves credit for how they started the game. The game plan was fresh in their minds and they executed well.

The last three quarters were not pretty on offense but we continued to play solid defense (great defense at times). We also held a 18-25 point lead for the majority of the game up until the last 3-4 minutes and we killed them on the boards. Rebounding was a focus after the stanford game and they responded well.

Holly acknowledged the lapses and mentioned the team getting winded and rushing shots as well as drawing 6 charges... You're living in a negative dream world if you don't think the coaching staff will address the issues that we saw in the game.

The crazy part of this less than stellar game from the lady vols is that they probably played better than half of the other top 25 teams that played today. Louisville was awful after opening up with a 15-1 first quarter. 20th ranked cal got blown out by 36 on their homecourt to 11th ranked ucla. Ohio state was less than stellar against a struggling indiana team. Duke lost to miami and miami has one of their least talented teams in a number of years. Maryland barely squeaked by penn state. Then you have south carolina and texas a&m who both looked terrible on offense outside of each of their go-to players and sc had 17 turnovers.

The lady vols came off a 10 day layoff and won on the road in conference against a team that always shows up to play tennessee and we coasted to a win despite a number of issues with our play.

And i personally love coaches that lay off the constant timeouts. Let them play through it... Especially when they are maintaining a 20 point lead and not letting their poor offensive play negatively influence their defensive play. Mitchell took a few timeouts to halt runs or address poor play and it did nothing to help the wildcats today.

boom 💥💣

 

[teacherdean]

The Lady Vols won but they lost focus quit a bit during this game. They started taking wild shots, took quick shots,threw up a few 3 point bricks and committed random turnovers. I really believe that Holly needs to utilize her timeouts when the ladies lose their focus. Sometimes you have to chew players out when they lose focus or one day it could cost the team a loss.

 

[37620VOL]

The Lady Vols won but they lost focus quit a bit during this game. They started taking wild shots, took quick shots,threw up a few 3 point bricks and committed random turnovers. I really believe that Holly needs to utilize her timeouts when the ladies lose their focus. Sometimes you have to chew players out when they lose focus or one day it could cost the team a loss.

There may be a time for that but it's not when you're up 20 on a conference opponent and playing solid defense with great effort.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

The Lady Vols won but they lost focus quit a bit during this game. They started taking wild shots, took quick shots,threw up a few 3 point bricks and committed random turnovers. I really believe that Holly needs to utilize her timeouts when the ladies lose their focus. Sometimes you have to chew players out when they lose focus or one day it could cost the team a loss.

I mentioned it in another post... Gordon let Westbrook have it after two bonehead plays I saw her get her attention face to face and clap her hands in a demonstrative manner the very next play Evina took control of her team and got the score foul down low... I liked the way she responded to being “chewed” up by Gordon.

 

[37620VOL]

Over the past 4 years I've been a fairly big HW critic. However there are no legit criticisms for her in this game, or really the entire season.

She gets an A+ for hiring assistants this year. An A+ developing the young talent. An A+ for developing the older talent- Russell's post moves are exceptionally refined. Nared has improved all aspects of her game as has MeMe. An A+ for improvements to the offensive system, substitutions, and in game adjustments.

 

[mike099]

Will take the win, but 21 turnovers will get you beat against better teams, Nared had a double-double and Davis missed by 1 rebound. Also meme had 7 assists.

 

[Coach Jumper]

The Lady Vols won but they lost focus quit a bit during this game. They started taking wild shots, took quick shots,threw up a few 3 point bricks and committed random turnovers. I really believe that Holly needs to utilize her timeouts when the ladies lose their focus. Sometimes you have to chew players out when they lose focus or one day it could cost the team a loss.

Now that is a post that lays it out there without making it personal.

Timeouts can be looked to as "for emergency use" or as a weapon. . . I like them as both...2 for tactic and two for defense.

Our team needed rattling from mid-Q2...Definitely by 2 min deep in the third Q.....Call a TO and get back to playing like you did in Q1

 

[ksl415]

i may or may not be crazy but i'd replace davis with kd in the starting lineup for a while. She seems out of rhythm.

👎

 

[teacherdean]

There may be a time for that but it's not when you're up 20 on a conference opponent and playing solid defense with great effort.

Most coaches, I have seen do not allow their players to lose their focus. No matter how many points they are leading. The key is not how many points your team is up on it’s opponent, it is a teaching moment and trying to keep them from forming bad habits. You do not want your team to change their successful way of playing.

 

[MandyLeanne92]

I may or may not be crazy but I'd replace Davis with KD in the starting lineup for a while. She seems out of rhythm.

You want to sit a player that is averaging 11.8 points and 8.4 rebounds and plays solid defense? Sounds crazy to me.

 

[volbeast33]

Most coaches, I have seen do not allow their players to lose their focus. No matter how many points they are leading. The key is not how many points your team is up on it’s opponent, it is a teaching moment and trying to keep them from forming bad habits. You do not want your team to change their successful way of playing.

You can do it either way.... call timeouts to correct issues or allow your young players to work it out in a game that was never in doubt.....Holly chose the second way and now has plenty of tape on bad habits we get into and can use it as a teaching tool for this young group of Vols.... I have never been happier that Holly seems to be figuring things out.... I hated seeing a true lady vol struggle like she had the past few years.

 

[alexvol]

I enjoyed the in depth discussion in this thread .Glad we won.Lady Vols for whatever reason were hitting on about 3 cylinders out of 6 after the 1st quarter.It was a positive to me that they won going away with Nared having a horrible shooting nite.She did contribute thru making foul shots,playing good defense ,rebounding and in general adding leadership thru example when having a bad shooting nite.This will pay dividends down the road imo.

I noted that several of Westbrooks' turnovers were not her fault .....they were mishandling of good passes that she made.This has been a trend and hope that the longer they play together the better accustomed they will become with each other and these type of unforced turnovers are reduced many fold.

All in all an uninspiring performance for 3/4 of the game but hope they learn from it.It is good to have a stinker but still win and have so many things that they can learn from in moving forward.Lets see if that happens.

 

[governmentmule]

damn after reading these post,you would have thought the Lady Vols had lost,after a 10 day lay off,I know what the problem was,to much Christmas cheer

 

[Rickster]

A win is a win is a win....

I'm grateful for each and every one of them. I'm not compelled to focus on the negatives like a wannabe coach would. I just want to enjoy everyone of them while they last. Life is too short to spend minutes of it fretting about something I have no control over. Just try to enjoy the (resurgence) ride.

GLV's

 

[governmentmule]

A win is a win is a win....

I'm grateful for each and every one of them. I'm not compelled to focus on the negatives like a wannabe coach would. I just want to enjoy everyone of them while they last. Life is too short to spend minutes of it fretting about something I have no control over. Just try to enjoy the (resurgence) ride.

GLV's

true words spoken there my friend :hi:

 

[madtownvol]

Most coaches, I have seen do not allow their players to lose their focus. No matter how many points they are leading. The key is not how many points your team is up on it’s opponent, it is a teaching moment and trying to keep them from forming bad habits. You do not want your team to change their successful way of playing.

I am not directing this at you specifically but I find this obsession over Holly calling time outs (shared by many posters) to be odd. There is something to be said for players learning to play through bad stretches. Mitchell called quick time-outs in the first quarter and what did they really do for KY.

Coaching mainly happens on the practice court and film room. Yes, there are some in game adjustments but a coach can do that on the fly without having to take a TO.

In some games, Holly saving TO came in very handy late in the game when she used them to advance the ball up the court.

The LVs totally outclassed KY today even with their star having an off night and Davis and Hayes not looking great.

Yes, they will need to play better but it is almost inevitable that the first game back from the holiday break will be a little rough around the edges. I am actually surprised at how good the LVs looked in the first quarter.

 

[madtownvol]

The fact that you got likes for this is just as appalling as bringing up the appearance of a coach. It's a disgusting criticism that has no value to what this board is supposed to be about.

Holly deserves credit for how they started the game. The game plan was fresh in their minds and they executed well.

100% agree with all your post, though I only quoted part of it.

Some posters won't give Holly any credit. If the LVs win the NC this year, you can sure that the board will flooded with negavols proclaiming they did it despite Holly.

On the appearance issue, how many coaches really look "good"? Sure, there are few who are always camera but most have their share of odd mannerisms and unbecoming looks. I don't think is particularly extreme but again, there are intense Holly haters who magnify every little quirk she has. Maybe this folks should just check out from LV basketball. What enjoyment can they possibly get from getting so perturbed about Holly's appearance?

 

[Coach Jumper]

I am not directing this at you specifically but I find this obsession over Holly calling time outs (shared by many posters) to be odd. There is something to be said for players learning to play through bad stretches. Mitchell called quick time-outs in the first quarter and what did they really do for KY.

Coaching mainly happens on the practice court and film room. Yes, there are some in game adjustments but a coach can do that on the fly without having to take a TO.

In some games, Holly saving TO came in very handy late in the game when she used them to advance the ball up the court.

The LVs totally outclassed KY today even with their star having an off night and Davis and Hayes not looking great.

Yes, they will need to play better but it is almost inevitable that the first game back from the holiday break will be a little rough around the edges. I am actually surprised at how good the LVs looked in the first quarter.

Speaking as a coach, yes it is good to build your team's "fight-back" by letting them play through turmoil. But there is also a time for coaching them out of said turmoil. This was one of them. Every player, Jaime down was out of sync. There was no one ON the court who could solve the problem. . . .A coach has to see this and take action. They have to at least make a showing that they too are working to re-right the level of play.

The girls were looking to be rescued. They were given time to solve it themselves and couldn't. That was apparent when they came back out in Q3 and took off right where they left off...This to me was a coaching opportunity missed.


Yes you have to let a team play through their bad days, but yes also, the coach has to show they will at least attempt to rescue them.

 

[Volfan2012]

The gameplan was there and again we held a team to 30 percent from the field. The defense this season has been terrific as teams are averaging 33 percent from the field in 13 games.
The offensive woes seemed to be caused by a bad day from Nared and Jackson as they only made 4 of 19 shots. The freshmen again were great from the field 12 of 22. The biggest problem the freshmen face is being a little to willing to pass than shoot which sometimes results in turnovers because some of the players are not truly open.
I think the team veered off the gameplan yesterday took a lot of quick shots on a lot of possessions.
I think Holly has to reel this group back in to following the gameplan on offense and not taking shots when we don't have rebounders. I realize we like to push but we still need to take shots on balance and where we have the maximum opportunity for additional shots if we miss.

 

[Coach Jumper]

The gameplan was there and again we held a team to 30 percent from the field. The defense this season has been terrific as teams are averaging 33 percent from the field in 13 games.
The offensive woes seemed to be caused by a bad day from Nared and Jackson as they only made 4 of 19 shots. The freshmen again were great from the field 12 of 22. The biggest problem the freshmen face is being a little to willing to pass than shoot which sometimes results in turnovers because some of the players are not truly open.
I think the team veered off the gameplan yesterday took a lot of quick shots on a lot of possessions.
I think Holly has to reel this group back in to following the gameplan on offense and not taking shots when we don't have rebounders. I realize we like to push but we still need to take shots on balance and where we have the maximum opportunity for additional shots if we miss.

Sometimes it is better to wait a millisecond and let your teammates fastbreak with you, going in 3 on 1 instead of going in alone to a one-on-two onslaught...I call it breaking the wave. Instead of going in uneven you take the blink of time it takes to line 3 across and then you learn now to use those overbalanced numbers.

The 11 man drill is excellent for this.

 

[37620VOL]

The 11 man drill is excellent for this.

My favorite drill of all time!

Your analysis is also spot on. Fast break looks like chaos but should be very organized on offense. Try to setup numbers, 2 on 1 or 3 on 2. If you can't get numbers, advance the ball to the wing for secondary break, reverse the ball and the second post player down the court often gets great position. If nothing better than a 50% shot presents itself, run your set play.

 

[OrangenSC]

I starting reading this thread to see how we did. After reading a couple of posts I thought it didn't go so well. Luckily I also read some others who said how things really were.

We're one of only 5 undefeated teams at 13-0, with a bunch of freshmen and a very bad coach (just sharing the opinion of others). Something's wrong with this picture.

Top 10, undefeated, looking good. I'm enjoying it. Of course we won't remain undefeated, but that's reasonable and not the measure of success. A couple of you are confirming that nothing will make you happy. Hey, it's a new year. You might as well decide to enjoy it with the rest of us.

 

[T_Vol376]

I am not directing this at you specifically but I find this obsession over Holly calling time outs (shared by many posters) to be odd.

I also find it odd and I also find it amazing that all these people who are not involved with this program, do not personally know this team and work with these players on the daily, think they know better than their head coach. It just makes me laugh. 😂

Fire away.... 😂😂😂😂😂

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

I starting reading this thread to see how we did. After reading a couple of posts I thought it didn't go so well. Luckily I also read some others who said how things really were.

We're one of only 5 undefeated teams at 13-0, with a bunch of freshmen and a very bad coach (just sharing the opinion of others). Something's wrong with this picture.

Top 10, undefeated, looking good. I'm enjoying it. Of course we won't remain undefeated, but that's reasonable and not the measure of success. A couple of you are confirming that nothing will make you happy. Hey, it's a new year. You might as well decide to enjoy it with the rest of us.

*one of 4 undefeated teams: UConn, Louisville, Ms. State, and Tenn. WVU and Ball State lost. I feel for WVU aaa they are going thru a rash of injuries that is really crippling them with missing their leader, a bunch of points, and anchor in the paint. I guess I liked them since they handed Baylor their butts last year 😂

 

[007Racer]

I agree with a little of what everyone has said. In game adjustments are very important! Holly is Holly and that's not gonna change. To watch Evina, dancing on the sideline during a timeout was something, un-Lady Vol like. I actually thought MeMe had a pretty strong game. Hayes has to develop an outside shot, because teams will just back off of her and take away the dribble drive. Davis is a very good rebounder and finisher. She just has to find a few more inside moves on offense. Jamie and Mercedes, just stay consistant. Most of the championship coaches have a few things in common, Pat, Geno, Dawn. They didn't, don't, wait to clean things in practice. They will put the Star player on the bench if the situation calls for it. The message has to be delivered early, so that the standard for winning basketball will not be lost, anytime, anywhere! Go Lady Vols!