Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs LSU; Thurs Jan 9th ; Home game; 6:30 PM Eastern; SEC+ stream

Although yes. Difference from my perspective is it’s better to lose by 1 now in year one to the types of teams we lost to 31 by in years past.
True in the fact we know we can win and last year we knew we couldn't and didn't expect to. I still expect to win every game we have left we can do it if we put an entire game together.
 
I’m going to watch the replay of the game today and post a breakdown with expectations for the rest of the season.
I can say right now that the injuries to some key players are being overlooked.
Samara Spencer and Jewel Spear despite playing are not 100%.
Jewel is playing at a high level offensively, still working to get more effective on the defensive end.
Recently the injury does seem to have altered Spencer’s play.
Samara was shooting the ball effortlessly and efficiently prior to this setback.
In the 2nd half against LSU, she was explosive getting up and down the court which is a good sign. If she can get back on a hot shooting streak then Tennessee can win every game left on the schedule this season.
 
Got to go for the steal immediately as the ball is inbounded. Don’t just waste the foul.
Don't foul in the act of shooting.
Kim from LSU said she wanted/told not to shot to early leaving Tennessee to much time.
Tennessee got a decent shot whit the time left on the clock.
New staff first time working together
Know she brought assist with her. Kim C.
But team/coaching new to each other.
and her experience coaches are new to her style of play.
 
Don't foul in the act of shooting.
Kim from LSU said she wanted/told not to shot to early leaving Tennessee to much time.
Tennessee got a decent shot whit the time left on the clock.
New staff first time working together
Know she brought assist with her. Kim C.
But team/coaching new to each other.
and her experience coaches are new to her style of play.
I maintain the ingredients are in the cauldron. The balance of the year hinges on keeping the pot stirred and the temperature maintained appropriately. She may toss in an eye of newt… 😉🥰🥰
 
What was bad about losing is I know we can play better especially the LSU game. This is still the best team we've had in years and they can cause a lot of trouble from the next game forward. In the SEC Tourney and the NCAA tourney.

I agree, I don’t think anyone is falling over backwards to play this team. So far nobody has stopped us scoring. LSU has got the best fg% defense in the SEC and couldn’t keep us slowed down.
 
I maintain the ingredients are in the cauldron. The balance of the year hinges on keeping the pot stirred and the temperature maintained appropriately. She may toss in an eye of newt… 😉🥰🥰
Yes early season games team playing defense loss not as bad as letting someone shot a three tournament time.
My take on the SEC lost is this
If Kellie woulwould have told her team not to have fouled.
Odds Tennessee wins that game.
Tennessee gets a home games NCAA tournament win two or more games Kellie harder to fire coming off beating #1 South Carolina and sweet sixteen or better run.
Even if South Carolina made a deep Three just past half court.
The blow back of bad coach game would not had as much fuel on the fire.
 
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So you don’t subscribe to the beat the teams you’re supposed to beat model. My condolences.

That is not what I said - if we only beat the teams we are supposed to beat this year we are looking at 8 to 9 losses. Will we make the tourney with that yes - but we will be a "middle SEC team" and like the last years be bumped out early.

I would like to see what happens if we start a game with the same adjustments we make when we get behind.
 
What was bad about losing is I know we can play better especially the LSU game. This is still the best team we've had in years and they can cause a lot of trouble from the next game forward. In the SEC Tourney and the NCAA tourney.

Agree - I truly believe it is going to take a game where we don't come back from 20 down and lose badly to force any thoughts of adjusting the game plan. Seriously we get down 20 plus points then we adjust and catch up. Just start the game with those adjustments. Stop pushing something that gives these teams easy 2 point shots and requires us to keep shooting 3 pointers when we can't find the basket.
 
Not conceding any game we have left. Certainly we could win them all. We certainly can play with any of those teams and as you say where the big problem comes in with all of them is post postion. One Candace Parker and we suddenly become the best team in the league.
Without me giving my opinion, do u think a top tier recruit will come to play in this system? My example of top tier are players like Juju, Hidalgo, Booker, Betts.
 
Were those players considered "top tier" college players in high school?

We've got top tier on the way, so yes...IMO. more coming in 26.
They were top tier recruits, u may have a handful in any given class. Top tier in 2025 to me are Sienna Betts and Aaliyah Chavez. You do have a lot of tier 2 and that’s fine, but since the poster mentioned Candace, I was asking about that tier of a recruit, yes some can be overrated and underrated but this is from high school projection and opinion based. Having one of those recruits would help but u may not need one if u have like 10 tier 2 players. You will need at least one player to be an AllAmerican in my opinion because I’ve looked back like 30 years and no team won a title without at least 1 AllAmerican.
 
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Were those players considered "top tier" college players in high school?

We've got top tier on the way, so yes...IMO. more coming in 26.

You’re right. Facts are facts.
2025 HS Class #1 247Sports / #2 ESPN.
In 8 months, via the portal and high school recruiting the elite recruiting staff went “top tier cheat code” mode.
GBO!





 
Without me giving my opinion, do u think a top tier recruit will come to play in this system? My example of top tier are players like Juju, Hidalgo, Booker, Betts.
If you don't consider Prawl, Civil, and Mia Paulo top tier recruits no use of discussing any further. So yes we have three top tier players coming in next season.
 
If you don't consider Prawl, Civil, and Mia Paulo top tier recruits no use of discussing any further. So yes we have three top tier players coming in next season.
Since Candace was used as reference and I named players like Juju, Booker and Betts as examples of a tier 1 player, u must be thinking we are a lock for a Championship since you’re saying we have 3, no other team will be close to that, am I correct? That would be 3 first team AllAmericans on our roster if you’re correct in your assessment.
 
I can’t commit to reading 38 pages so I apologize if this has all been said. Exciting that the board is able to generate 38 pages per game when a couple years ago there would be 12 pages on a game thread.

Very happy for Kaniya Boyd going 2 of 3 from 3. It looked like a confidence builder. Now she needs to carry that over. She seems like she is exactly what Kim’s system needs. She is so quick, she’s a pest on defense and does seem to get in there disrupt the opponent.

Ayodele is aggressive as heck and looked to contribute solidly in her 2 minutes.

Latham is steadily showing her bonfires.

Hopefully the coaching staff realizes this and we start seeing more minutes for them.

Where was Tess? Did she even play?

Possibly Jewel’s plus minus is related to the group of people she is playing with or the sub patterns. If she remains in the game during an opponent’s run when everyone else is subbed out, then she is gonna have worse numbers, but possibly she stays on because Kim expects her to lead the team and right the ship. Also, it could be due to who she is on the floor with in subbing patterns as there are a couple who actually look like a liability on the team and would affect numbers of everyone when those players are on the floor. The eye test says she doesn’t have this tremendous negative impact that the +/- says. It’s also very easy to pick and choose stats to create the narrative you want, which abuses the purpose of statistics. Jewel appears to be invaluable to this offense, and defensively she does not appear to nearly be the liability people claim. She seems to end up with rebounds in very timely situations, and is in and around on defensive plays. There are so many more players that get completely abused on defense.
 
I can’t commit to reading 38 pages so I apologize if this has all been said. Exciting that the board is able to generate 38 pages per game when a couple years ago there would be 12 pages on a game thread.

Very happy for Kaniya Boyd going 2 of 3 from 3. It looked like a confidence builder. Now she needs to carry that over. She seems like she is exactly what Kim’s system needs. She is so quick, she’s a pest on defense and does seem to get in there disrupt the opponent.

Ayodele is aggressive as heck and looked to contribute solidly in her 2 minutes.

Latham is steadily showing her bonfires.

Hopefully the coaching staff realizes this and we start seeing more minutes for them.

Where was Tess? Did she even play?

Possibly Jewel’s plus minus is related to the group of people she is playing with or the sub patterns. If she remains in the game during an opponent’s run when everyone else is subbed out, then she is gonna have worse numbers, but possibly she stays on because Kim expects her to lead the team and right the ship. Also, it could be due to who she is on the floor with in subbing patterns as there are a couple who actually look like a liability on the team and would affect numbers of everyone when those players are on the floor. The eye test says she doesn’t have this tremendous negative impact that the +/- says. It’s also very easy to pick and choose stats to create the narrative you want, which abuses the purpose of statistics. Jewel appears to be invaluable to this offense, and defensively she does not appear to nearly be the liability people claim. She seems to end up with rebounds in very timely situations, and is in and around on defensive plays. There are so many more players that get completely abused on defense.
“Lies, damn lies and statistics.”
- Sam
 

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