Game Thread Lady Vols vs Mississippi State

[alexvol]

Ihave had time to think about the game and still say that the NBA refs not calling fouls at the basket was the difference last nite.Having said that were just do not have the athletes for an NBA rough and tumble,no holds barred down low.There are no tough players on this women's team.Now if the game is called the same way this afternoon ,South Carolina does have the rough and tumble athletes down low to compete when fouls are not called....South Carolina should beat MSU by 20 points.
Against the woman to woman defense last nite and the way that refs called the game letting physical play go on one end of the court,/holly should have had more back door plays called but not sure that is her man /man offense.I have called her out repeatedly all year for her lack of offense against a zone ....any zone.....but Miss state played man defense .....a very physical one that took any offensive flow by Lady Vols out and I admit that Holly had no answer by any screens or back door plays to offset the defense.But make no mistake about it the refs won that game last nite.

 

[Eric Viesturs]

ND and UConn have " players". Who on this LV team would you consider a " good" shooter? I can't name one player. This is collectively the worst shooting team ever assembled in Knoxville. And we have two post players that can't post up and make a layup or hook shot. Not a lot of offensive skill on this team.

Graves is hitting 54% of her field goal attempts. The problem is that the guards don't get it to her enough.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

Maybe the Lady Vols should have saved some of the energy they wasted in their pre-game dancing for the game.

 

[gule]

lol, I've said that before!

 

[orangeluvr]

Told y'all we lose if we play half court ball. :yes:

 

[Smallvol#1]

Just talked to Miss St 00's mother. The kid is playing with a bulging disc. Ouch! Kudos to her.

 

[armchair]

ND and UConn have " players". Who on this LV team would you consider a " good" shooter? I can't name one player. This is collectively the worst shooting team ever assembled in Knoxville. And we have two post players that can't post up and make a layup or hook shot. Not a lot of offensive skill on this team.

There are a lot of things that go into having an efficient, productive offense. M. McGraw built her program into a powerhouse with an offense that involves a lot of screening and back-door passes for layups--something we never do. (It has since evolved into an offense that gets back-door layups and a lot of made three pointers, which is why they regularly score 80 points a game.) They played us in Knoxville a couple of years ago and must have had 20 layups. Good offenses also involve players with a sense of purpose, who run plays built around getting easy shot, or open shots, no matter who it is. We don't really do that. I don't see a sense of purpose with our players--they always seem to lack that--and confidence. Without a strong sense of purpose and confidence, it's hard to shoot and score, no matter what you're talent. We scored 70 points the other night, yes, despite shooting only 43 percent. We scored a LOT on free-throws, 22, I think, which was a bit of an anomaly; still we showed that there is more scoring potential in this unit that we've seen all year.

Likewise, Geno built his program with good defense AND an offense built around lots of movement, picks and great passing. Geno and McGraw spent years without great talent--but they had productive offenses. I've said this a few time, it is worth saying again: One of the first times a saw UConn play the Vols, had to have been 15+ years ago, it was IMMEDIATELY apparent how much better their ball movement and passing was. Very noticeable. With their system, as with ND's, they started winning games, then more games, then brought in better talent but integrated it into their offense.

You can't separate our shooting and scoring issues from our CRAP offense and CRAP coaching. They are part and parcel. How many backdoor layups have we had over the course of this year, for example? You could probably count them on one hand. There is no reason why we couldn't score 70 points a game, except our coaching. Let's think about the Maryland NCAA game last year: As that game went on, you could see UT's offensive confidence slowly ebb until, by early in the second half, we had no one who even wanted to take a shot! It was unbelievable--especially because the game was very close; there to be won. Why would a team's offensive confidence disappear in a close game? I have no idea--but it spoke volumes about how Warlick's nervous, insecure nature has affects her teams. Warlick is not a confident, authoritative person herself, it seems to me, though I'm sure she tries---and a team's mindset starts with the mindset of its coach. We scored 48 points and lost. Our players and team too often lack Belief, and it's not going to come back sufficiently until we get a new staff.

 

[Coach Jumper]

My question is this. How do the lady vols get back to winning national championships? Uconn is not going anywhere, period. They are what we use to be in the 90's. Now, instead of being the 2nd best team, we aren't even a top 25 team. It's been a slow fall and I'm not sure we even saw it unfolding through the years. This started way before coach Summitt's career ended. Instead of getting that new spark, we kept it in the family which doesn't always help. The lady vols program is like the fastest most luxurious sports car in the world. Coach summitt drove it fast and loud, but as everyone knows, the older we get the slower and more cautious we drive. Her time unfortunately ended and she gave the keys to a new driver. Instead of putting the most deserving and

upcoming younger driver (and no I don't mean teenage) behind the wheel, we put another older slow driver in the car. And to beat it all, the new driver was taught how to drive fast a long long time ago. We have the car that everyone wants to ride in, we just need a better driver to guarantee the he/she can win the race as expected. And that may be really crazy sounding, but that's just how I'm seeing it now. We need a new coach (driver) and assistants (pit crew). We already have the best car.

+++++++++++++


To blame this on Pat is wrong.
HW is the downfall of this era.
And it began with HW being named HC. . . Pat put her life into this program and it didn't fall because of her. You Loose-tongued, non-thinking oaf,,grrrr...

What was lost was a HEAD coach... what is in place is an ASSISTANT coach.

Dang-it Holly, i have fussed at you to wake you up, not to shut you down... We used 10 players in the first quarter alone... If I had been coaching against you I too would have won. . . You were letting your opponent dictate your line-up instead of imposing UT's will and making them conform to who YOU put out there.. AND your players sensed this... It is much easier to coach a team on its toes than it is on it heels.


And , """FAN???"" Leave Pat out of this spiral, when she was the HC the "spiral" was inverted and called a tornado.... Coach Jumper

 

[NoBackBoard]

Well...7 is better than eight. They have already beaten Oregon St, Ohio State had a bad loss today, and Texas looked bad against Baylor.

I see this team getting destroyed by all four one seeds as an eight seed.

Baylor is the only team that could seriously challenge UConn this year and my favorite to win the title next year. It's not that Texas is bad; Baylor is just that good.

 

[Coach Jumper]

Baylor is the only team that could seriously challenge UConn this year and my favorite to win the title next year. It's not that Texas is bad; Baylor is just that good.

Many teams could challenge UCONN,,, This Lady Vol team, on paper and under proper guidance is more than talented enough to beat UCONN. We physically matchup with them Diamond-Brianna, Tuck-Graves, Carter-Moriah, bench is pretty equal too... Its ain't the talent here folks, its the overseers.

The difference isn't the components, its Geno/Holly. He is the Phil Jackson of W omens NCAA BB. He has mastered the psychology of coaching females. He knows that women have to feel good about themselves to perform well, opposite to us men, who have to perform well to feel good about ourselves... He understands how to push their buttons. He is a non-aggressive (in perception) Alpha.

 

[cwbytruckers]

Many teams could challenge UCONN,,, This Lady Vol team, on paper and under proper guidance is more than talented enough to beat UCONN. We physically matchup with them Diamond-Brianna, Tuck-Graves, Carter-Moriah, bench is pretty equal too... Its ain't the talent here folks, its the overseers.

The difference isn't the components, its Geno/Holly. He is the Phil Jackson of W omens NCAA BB. He has mastered the psychology of coaching females. He knows that women have to feel good about themselves to perform well, opposite to us men, who have to perform well to feel good about ourselves... He understands how to push their buttons. He is a non-aggressive (in perception) Alpha.

Athletically we match up. They would shoot us out of the arena.

 

[madtownvol]

+++++++++++++


Dang-it Holly, i have fussed at you to wake you up, not to shut you down...

This is all on you jyrevol-jumper. I know for an absolute fact that Holly has downloaded all your vol nation posts and tearfully reads them over and over and over. Some nights she can't even sleep, with your critical words ringing in her head.

You should be ashamed. You claim to be an expert in the "female gender" and yet YOU have single-handedly destroyed Holly's fragile ego; she is shut down and lost; She now sits pining by her cell phone hoping that you--a complete stranger on the internet-- will give her the fatherly validation that she so desperately needs in her life.

On this fan board, you had THE chance to save the LV's season, Holly's career, and the entire nation of vol fans. Everyday, Holly downloaded your posts, distributed them to her assistants, had her players memorize them. Throughout the Pratt Pavilion, Holly has placed giant sign boards with COACH JUMPER SAYS.....; she even gives the players quizzes on the videos of your 12 year old players practicing bank shots.

But, with the mighty power of a being a random poster on an anonymous fan board, comes great responsibility.

What have you down with that responsibility; you have failed Holly; you have failed the LVs; and you have failed the Vol nation.

How can you live with yourself?

 

[jonson]

I hope this is a joke. If not, for me it destroys your credibility entirely. DD may be Stewart's equal athletically; I'm even willing to grant that she might be a bit superior in this regard. But as a basketball player--please!! She has never done, and I doubt ever will do, half of what Stewart does on the court--in terms of her own (consistent) performances and how she makes her teammates better. And as far are Graves vs. Tuck. The latter has post moves that Graves isn't even close to mastering. She can shoot from outside and she is much quicker as well. Just look at what she did to Alana C. But even if these comparisons were arguable--and I don't think they are--the Carter/Jefferson comparison is insane, and that's probably an understatement.

Many teams could challenge UCONN,,, This Lady Vol team, on paper and under proper guidance is more than talented enough to beat UCONN. We physically matchup with them Diamond-Brianna, Tuck-Graves, Carter-Moriah, bench is pretty equal too... Its ain't the talent here folks, its the overseers.

The difference isn't the components, its Geno/Holly. He is the Phil Jackson of W omens NCAA BB. He has mastered the psychology of coaching females. He knows that women have to feel good about themselves to perform well, opposite to us men, who have to perform well to feel good about ourselves... He understands how to push their buttons. He is a non-aggressive (in perception) Alpha.

 

[Coach Jumper]

I hope this is a joke. If not, for me it destroys your credibility entirely. DD may be Stewart's equal athletically; I'm even willing to grant that she might be a bit superior in this regard. But as a basketball player--please!! She has never done, and I doubt ever will do, half of what Stewart does on the court--in terms of her own (consistent) performances and how she makes her teammates better. And as far are Graves vs. Tuck. The latter has post moves that Graves isn't even close to mastering. She can shoot from outside and she is much quicker as well. Just look at what she did to Alana C. But even if these comparisons were arguable--and I don't think they are--the Carter/Jefferson comparison is insane, and that's probably an understatement.

The feeling that a team is at a level must resonate from the top. There are writers nationally that felt the same thing, as we were #4 in ht preseason ranking. That ranking projection comes from the player-team-composition, as the projection came before the first ball bounced for this unit, as a group.

So NO, its not just coach jumper here... It is the national panel of writers and coaches who say the very same thing,

 

[BBaller]

The feeling that a team is at a level must resonate from the top. There are writers nationally that felt the same thing, as we were #4 in ht preseason ranking. That ranking projection comes from the player-team-composition, as the projection came before the first ball bounced for this unit, as a group.

So NO, its not just coach jumper here... It is the national panel of writers and coaches who say the very same thing,

You seriously think that preseason polls mean anything?

 

[T.J.]

You seriously think that preseason polls mean anything?

Yes the Pre season coaches poll appears to have been off by one team. Go and see for yourself which teams were ranked in the top 10 preseason. Follow up with checking today's ranking. Can you guess which team is out of that pre season list and not listed at all, now?