Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs So. Car. ; Mon Jan 27th ; Home game; 7 PM Eastern; ESPN2

[Orange.]

I was referring to overly exuberant posters who proclaimed that the LVs would press everyone into oblivion and we did not need a post because no team would ever get the ball past half court.

Back to the game, Boyd had. A heck of a game for a freshman in that situation.

I hear ya on the over-the-top expectations. And I thought Boyd did well.

 

[Coach Jumper]

gotta run some errands,,,TTYL VolNation
Have a great day ;o)

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Starting Spearman and Latham proved to be a good decision,,,they compliment each other very well on the court

Id like to see the next starting five as:
Spearman, Latham, Whitehorn, Spencer and Boyd

Spearman and Latham started in the ACC as a sophomore and freshman. They can handle anything they see in the SEC.
It’s just been an extended adjustment period playing in a new system and role.
Latham has had as good a game against a contender in Notre Dame as any Tennessee player in the last 4-5 years as a freshman at Syracuse.
This system is different. Eventually the staff will be able to incorporate the strengths of our talent into the system by developing them which we’ve already seen in 20 games.
Latham has tremendous upside. She has all the tools.
GBO!

 

[Rickster]

The traveling call on Spearman was the worse I saw last night.....

I've noticed the refs are much harder on walks this season. The ladies used to get a half step but that has changed with some refs.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Only a complete collapse would keep the LVs out of the tourney. I think they finish with 7 or 8 losses tops. They'll get in. The fight now is for decent seeding in both tourneys.

I remember someone saying we only have 1 Quad 1 win, if that’s true can they make it if it stays that way to end the season?

 

[madtownvol]

Not real strong offensively and almost no 3 pt shooting there. Very strong otherwise. Also, starting just doesn't matter.

Hopefully with the next infusion of talent all these D for O tradeoffs won't be necessary.

Yeah, worrying about who starts for the LVs is a bit of futile activity. Its funny one bad game and people suddenly are forgetting about Cooper. She has had some poor shooting nights in the past but I think this game may have been a case of being a little too amped up against her former team. She has trying too hard to make something happen. She will bounce back.

 

[glv98]

I remember someone saying we only have 1 Quad 1 win, if that’s true can they make it if it stays that way to end the season?

Several winable quad one games are left, some at home. The LVs will get in.

 

[glv98]

Yeah, worrying about who starts for the LVs is a bit of futile activity. Its funny one bad game and people suddenly are forgetting about Cooper. She has had some poor shooting nights in the past but I think this game may have been a case of being a little too amped up against her former team. She has trying too hard to make something happen. She will bounce back.

IMO Coop's head is the biggest current challenge for the coaching staff. Also one of the hardest things to coach. Such a fine line btw "taking over a game" and "doing too much". Esp for an emotional player. Takes alot of patience and alot of time. See Horston, Jordan.

 

[Coach Jumper]

Yeah, worrying about who starts for the LVs is a bit of futile activity. Its funny one bad game and people suddenly are forgetting about Cooper. She has had some poor shooting nights in the past but I think this game may have been a case of being a little too amped up against her former team. She has trying too hard to make something happen. She will bounce back.

Not forgetting about her at all...Sometimes it takes a jolt for a player to realize their potential...Meme, Rae, Horston, Rickea all played the 6th man role for a while.

I am 100% behind Cooper and have been her entire top tier existence,,,I was in her corner before she even went donned a collegiate jersey and still am,,,but even the best have to be coached!

 

[Coach Jumper]

IMO Coop's head is the biggest current challenge for the coaching staff. Also one of the hardest things to coach. Such a fine line btw "taking over a game" and "doing too much". Esp for an emotional player. Takes alot of patience and alot of time. See Horston, Jordan.

great minds...

 

[madtownvol]

I've noticed the refs are much harder on walks this season. The ladies used to get a half step but that has changed with some refs.

I think it was the TX game where Puckett was called several times for traveling on her first step and I never could see the "travel." It seems like a split second between first step and dribble is what they are calling. These refs can't seem to see grabs, pulls, tugs, elbows to the throat but will blow their whistle on a call that would require a super slow mo replay to actually be seen.

 

[lvocd]

Starting doesn't matter as far as the actual game goes, but I imagine it does matter to the players -- at least a little bit.

Afterall, only the starters get the thrill of being introduced, by name, over the tundering loudspeaker as thousands of people stand and cheer for them.

I often wonder if it hurts South Carolina's Fulwiley at all that, because Staley seems superstitious and always brings her off the bench, probably because they've won for so long doing that (when, I'm 100% sure they'd still be winning if Fulwiley were starting ), instead of letting her be a part of the pre-game hype.

I always think it's cool when the starters are introduced, so I can't imagine they themselves aren't getting a special thrill from it. Non-starters are just ... kinda ... there ... during all that. The afterthought "And the rest of the Lady Vols" portion.

If I were working my butt off every day and was good enough to start, it would have mattered to my college-aged self whether I started or not. Just MO.

 

[glv98]

Sometimes it takes a jolt for a player to realize their potential...Meme, Rae, Horston, Rickea all played the 6th man role for a while.

One of these things is not like the others.

As you know, Rickea's stint coming off the bench was for a completely different reason.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Its funny one bad game and people suddenly are forgetting about Cooper. She has had some poor shooting nights in the past but I think this game may have been a case of being a little too amped up against her former team. She has trying too hard to make something happen. She will bounce back.

I agree, I don’t see Coop coming out of the starting lineup based on this game.
I’m sure this week they’ll really have some championship caliber practices so that will determine the starters.
The young freshman G Boyd is comfortable coming off the bench and brings exactly what this team needs defensively.
I’ve said that once Latham and Boyd start to make progress in the new system this team will get to the next level.
GBO!

 

[chuckiepoo]

Personally, I think the girls played hard against a very talented and deep team. What I saw was too much "Hero" ball in the second quarter. It seemed like every possession was one on one, I'm shooting the ball no matter what. Ball movement is the key to success.

Barnes calls it, “sticky”, “the ball got sticky”. Little purposeful movement without the ball and iso one on one will get your team beat every time.

 

[GameTime]

Coach my friend, I don't think this face will ever be a screamer at the refs....It's just too damn cute. She has been a winner wherever she has coached before....She will be a big winner here too...

 

[Chickenfarmer]

Boyd gets better every minute she is on the floor. Her speed and quickness are almost impossible to defend. She made a couple difficult drives to the basket look routine last night. The more playing time she gets only helps her confidence.

One thing I noticed last night is we failed as a team to pass it back out when a drive was challenged. There were several opportunities to kick it back out for an uncontested three. I think all of the misses had everyone reluctant to find the shooter. There were not many uncontested shots all night and I think we stopped looking for them. If we would have made more 2 pointers the second and third quarters would have been a lot different.

I love how they never give up. This spirit will fare well in tournament play. These losses hurt now, but learning to play as a team, in this new “system” against better teams will pay off a month from now. If Boyd continues her development, we have a rocket about to launch. Cooper just needs to play smarter and stay under control. We create a few unforced turnovers simply from being a little too wild at times. Future is bright and not that far from here. Go Vols.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I think its clear they want to win badly and as said by several posters, they try too hard sometimes. I believe this is a good sign of a team and the coaches just have to keep working with them to convince them its consistency and all the little things that the really good teams do that wins games.

We can see they are making progress just with baby steps. We fans just have to try to have a little patience, which is hard for us.

 

[chuckiepoo]

there were blatant and obvious calls missed all night,,,the stands were up in arms.
My verbiage became much more colorful as the game went on and the calls were progressively seemingly not called to move the game on

Hence “home court advantage”. Harassing the officials is best handled by a knowledgeable arena of fans, imho. Gets into a gray area on the road.

 

[lvocd]

IMO Coop's head is the biggest current challenge for the coaching staff. Also one of the hardest things to coach. Such a fine line btw "taking over a game" and "doing too much". Esp for an emotional player. Takes alot of patience and alot of time. See Horston, Jordan.

If this were a private group of the few folks I'd trust to keep my comments between us, I would say a lot about this situation. But it's not.

I will say that Talaysia obviously has a lot of skills and quickness and desire to do anything necessary to win. I am SO glad she's a Lady Vol! It's just that when push comes to shove, her natural-athlete instinct is to try to do it ALL, street-ball style. She makes a decision that she's going to try to score, and no matter how many opposing defenders collapse on her she usually approaches the situation as if she is the only player on her side of the ball.

But even on those occasions she does -- often too late -- decide its not going to work and then tries to get rid of the ball, everyone else on our team has moved out of the way to clear space for Cooper to work, and then they are not recognizing quickly enough to come back to help when she gets in trouble.

Cooper is giving a quick glance to see if anyone is around to help, and when they're not, it's Chuck City.

This is something that should be fixed in the next huddle after the FIRST time this happens. No way should Talaysia have been allowed to stay in there to chuck that many bad shots. It was only getting that third foul which put her on the bench for a bit. There should have been a time out well before that to talk everyone through the situation.

I get that Kim wants the team to have a certain amount of autonomy out there. But she's got to know when to say "that's enough." There comes a point at which long-term damage can be done to a player's confidence if they are left in to flounder too long. I was feeling last night that Cooper was dangerously close to reaching that point. I don't feel like she did, thank goodness, but if I were Kim I'd be concerned for her.

 

[madtownvol]

If this were a private group of the few folks I'd trust to keep my comments between us, I would say a lot about this situation. But it's not.

I will say that Talaysia obviously has a lot of skills and quickness and desire to do anything necessary to win. I am SO glad she's a Lady Vol! It's just that when push comes to shove, her natural-athlete instinct is to try to do it ALL, street-ball style. She makes a decision that she's going to try to score, and no matter how many opposing defenders collapse on her she usually approaches the situation as if she is the only player on her side of the ball.

But even on those occasions she does -- often too late -- decide its not going to work and then tries to get rid of the ball, everyone else on our team has moved out of the way to clear space for Cooper to work, and then they are not recognizing quickly enough to come back to help when she gets in trouble.

Cooper is giving a quick glance to see if anyone is around to help, and when they're not, it's Chuck City.

This is something that should be fixed in the next huddle after the FIRST time this happens. No way should Talaysia have been allowed to stay in there to chuck that many bad shots. It was only getting that third foul which put her on the bench for a bit. There should have been a time out well before that to talk everyone through the situation.

I get that Kim wants the team to have a certain amount of autonomy out there. But she's got to know when to say "that's enough." There comes a point at which long-term damage can be done to a player's confidence if they are left in to flounder too long. I was feeling last night that Cooper was dangerously close to reaching that point. I don't feel like she did, thank goodness, but if I were Kim I'd be concerned for her.

We are all friends here. What is said on this board, stays on this board, more or less

Per Cooper, I would like to see her put a little more arc on her 3 pt shot. She shoots a line drive outside shot and when it goes in, I always feel like the laws of physics have just been defied.

Though she had a terrible shooting night, she was taking open 3s and those were hard to come by. If a few had hit, the game would have had a different vibe,

But the LVs weren't settling. She, Ruby, Spence were all trying to get to the rim. For this group, that is a good strategy against most teams but not SC. Against SC, going to the rim is like wrestling Goliath. The outside shot was our sling shot and we were missing all night.

I think CKC is playing the long game by showing trust and belief in her players. Dawn does the same thing. But, that does cause some serious growing pains.

 

[Volfan2012]

We have five games left that are classified as Quad 1 games at the present time. Our record in quad one is 2 and 5 and one of those games in quad two keeps bouncing back and forth to quad one and back to quad two. Were 4 and 0 in quad two games. So both Alabama and Ole Miss at home are right now quad one games. UConn, LSU, and on the road at Kentucky are the others. If the two we have now holds or ends up three or one don't know how that will go if we win two of those five we could have 4 quad one wins or five or three still a couple teams bouncing back and forth. Not conceding any of the games we might win all five and would have 7 or even 8 quad one wins.

Just looking and begging for the game when we hit the three and also rebound like we did last night. We play a great floor game and shoot terrible or shoot great and play a terrible floor game. Put the two together has got to happen someday.

If we beat Missouri, Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and hopefully Ole Miss I can see that keeping us at least a six or seven seed. If we win every game left we could be a three seed. If we win those six and two of three of the others I can see us hosting as a four seed.

Finally our SOS is 20 and just a little over a week ago was in the 70's. After we play UConn and LSU again that could drop inside ten or very close to ten.

Creme said that even a 7 and 9 SEC team could make the NCAA because of the strength of the league if their out of conference was strong and none is stronger than ours. Two quad one wins and four quad two wins.

 

[LVfanLasVegas]

I remember a 10 loss LV team that got their act together at the right time one season, around 96-97.

Always hopeful for the Lady Vols.

 

[mudcat1973]

Will they make it? But if they don’t make it the first couple of years it’s fine in my opinion.

South Carolina 8 -0
LSU ------------------6-1
Texas ---------------6-1
Kentucky -----------6-1
Alabama ------------4-3
Vanderbilt ----------4-3
Oklahoma -----------4-3
Old Miss --------------4-3
Texas A&M ---------3-4
Tennessee ----------3-5
Mississippi state 3-5
Florida -----------------2-6
If this was a horse race.
The Tennessee walking horse is not going to finish show/top3
Eight games played out sixteen schedule.
Tennessee isn't finishing top four.
Tied for 10 with Mississippi state 3-5
Tennessee volunteers can not afford to lose to anybody in 11-16 place.
Not if they don't want to be first team to miss the NCAA tournament rocky top.
Ten place means bubble team.
Tennessee needs to finish top eight to be safe.
If this was a track race -across country it's time to go if Tennessee volunteers has anything in the tank!!

 

[jeebie]

I've noticed the refs are much harder on walks this season. The ladies used to get a half step but that has changed with some refs.

I'm so sick of seeing non-existent walks called in the women's game. It is absolutely ridiculous. The idiot refs think they're supposed to call one every few minutes regardless of whether it's warranted or not. Compared to what the men get away with it's a travesty. It definitely impacts the game greatly and the NCAA needs to put a stop to it immediately, especially before the tournament starts.