Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs Oklahoma; Sun Jan 5th ; Home game; 3 PM Eastern; ESPN

#52
#52
*late post.
After watching presser; CKC, trust in your staff. You’re flushed and that’s not healthy. As a Lady Vol
*die hard we need you. Trust in your staff and most importantly the Lady Vols. I’m certain they have your back. VOL NATION has your back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo and Lucy
#56
#56
VolBall09 said:
That has been the best way to score on us all season. Our defensive rotation needs (has) to be better. There was 3-4 times I thought Whitehorn could have taken a charge on AC but tried to block her and was called for the foul instead.

At some point our players have to take it personally and play some lockdown, half court D. We’ve seen flashes of it. The first half and the last 4 minutes yesterday it looked excellent. The third quarter was abysmal though.
Click to expand...
There is at least one player in each rotation group that can’t begin to stay in front of a driver though that is the root cause of so many each layups. Absent silly eligibility changes, next years rotation will look different. And in the last three minutes against TAM, they weren’t on the floor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VolBall09
#57
#57
lfvol said:
There is at least one player in each rotation group that can’t begin to stay in front of a driver though that is the root cause of so many each layups. [...] And in the last three minutes against TAM, they weren’t on the floor.
Click to expand...
Certainly true. And that's where improvement in our help defense can negate those defensive deficiencies (while keeping some excellent offensive contributors on the court).

In our OOC mismatches we used our height advantages to "negate from behind." Now that we're facing speed and height every game, I hope the ladies will begin to perform what the coaches have been preaching for months.

Usually kids who were the best player on their team in high school arrive with greater court awareness, simply from being the person best capable of covering their teammates mistakes. So I'm guessing our deficiencies in help defense are coming from not understanding the spatial relationships, not operating two moves ahead, or not fully trusting their teammates to adjust with them to help against their responsibility.

*edit: and sometimes coaches can emphasize one thing so much that they inhibit another. "Don't let #7 out of your sight!" can become an over-simplifying mantra for the player who wants to please their coach.

It's more a challenge to develop a higher basketball IQ. Some get it better from the film room; some players have to "feel" it on the court to see it. But since any SEC offense can create the mismatch they want, effective help defense will always be a factor on championship teams.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo, 1reVOLver, lvocd and 1 other person
#61
#61
BruisedOrange, you are right on with this. I've noticed we seem to have a definite gap in the stages of learning/adapting among the players. Some got it pretty quickly, but some are still not quite there, and it shows mostly in the lapses in the help defense.

I'd hoped they'd all be closer together at this point, but I'm neither totally surprised nor worried to the level of serious concern that we're still not (yet) complete, but they certainly can't take TOO much longer to see that light bulb come on.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kim's earlier statement that it "might take a loss" for them to understand how important it is. But really, I don't think for even one second that we have players who don't think help defense is important. We just have a few extremely athletic players who obviously need more time to have it all sink in, but when it finally does, watch out! This team will be hard for most others to beat. We could be top 5 once everyone finally has had her "Ah ha!" moment. I sure hope it's a home game when that happens so I can be there to see it, because I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to spot when that moment comes.

I'm so excited about today's game. It's colder'n a day-old dumplin' out there, but I'm ready!
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo, Lucy, Willy999 and 1 other person
#65
#65
lfvol said:
There is at least one player in each rotation group that can’t begin to stay in front of a driver though that is the root cause of so many each layups. Absent silly eligibility changes, next years rotation will look different. And in the last three minutes against TAM, they weren’t on the floor.
Click to expand...

Yes for sure, Sara and Tess both have a lot of trouble with that. Sara in particular, she makes no attempt to recover either. Boyd is our best defender and should be getting more and more of Puckett’s minutes. Kaniya played excellent D against A&M and only had 2 fouls in that whistle happy game. Proof it can be done if you get you butt down in a stance and move your feet.

Puckett drives me nuts on defense, she stands straight up like a telephone pole and gets smoked everytime her player catches the ball. At this point in her career it’s not fixable, very sad she never corrected that.

Still maintain I would like to see what Favor can do in place of Puckett. Especially when someone like Coullibally is going on a personal run. Stick her in there and tell her to shut her butt down. I think she can do it lol. 3 minutes to frustrate the opposing teams best player with a really good defender wouldn’t hurt.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: lfvol, LadyVol1908 and GameTime
#67
#67
images
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo and Lucy
#69
#69
vollygirl said:
Yesterday was amazing!! Can't wait to watch the ladies today! What a weekend we've had so far! Had no idea when I bought the tickets, early November, that both teams would be undefeated.
Click to expand...
Keep on bringing your "official baseball Nat'l Champions mojo" to this program, vollygirl!

You're our best ambassador for gaining NIL rights for fans!
(Not sure if that makes you the poster girl for that cause, or the poster poster?)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo, GameTime and vollygirl
#71
#71
BruisedOrange said:
Keep on bringing your "official baseball Nat'l Champions mojo" the this program, vollygirl!

You're our best ambassador for gaining NIL rights for fans!
(Not sure if that makes you the poster girl for that cause, or the poster poster?)
Click to expand...
What a time to be a Tennessee fan!
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo, BruisedOrange, GiveHim6InSC and 1 other person
#72
#72
BruisedOrange said:
Keep on bringing your "official baseball Nat'l Champions mojo" the this program, vollygirl!

You're our best ambassador for gaining NIL rights for fans!
(Not sure if that makes you the poster girl for that cause, or the poster poster?)
Click to expand...
Also, I don't even have an NIL deal from @Freak yet. @GAVol and @utvolpj are ahead of me, and some others, but I'm still waiting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo and GameTime
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top