Game Thread Lady Vols vs Texas A&M

[gule]

Well, after this cluster ****, I'd say we don't have to worry about Izzy N signing...

 

[Coach Jumper]

Tennessee did their best not to get Jaime and Diamond involved. Diamond only took 5 shots in the second half; Jaime even less. If they weren't forcing the ball to MR, then Alexa, Jordan and MeMe were taking ill-advised shots.

Did you see the shots they WERE taking?
Don't fault the guards for scoring when the forwards couldn't.

They were not shooting ill advised shots.
Meme was 3 for 8
Alexa was 6 of 13, scored 14.
Russell was 8 of 17. w/ 13 boards (double double for the umteenth time)

Jaime's not been "Jaime" for three games now.
DD can only play at 110% for so long.

This game was decided at the 26 seconds to go mark.
Their ball, 26 seconds and we have three fouls to give...The ball is dribbled freely until 11-12 and then the basket is attacked... Now 8 seconds to go and us with two fouls to give...There's no way we lose this game, right?..Two fouls to give in 8 seconds...

Yeah, its the players you called out,,,sure.

 

[hokievol12]

Well, after this cluster ****, I'd say we don't have to worry about Izzy N signing...

Someone needs to knock some sense into the head coach...maybe with a lump of coal? Then we would all know that dirty energy, fossil fuels can still be used in a constructive way! :birgits_giggle:

 

[37620VOL]

Middleton's defense absolutely kills us at times. JN seems to have hit a wall and I wonder if she's 100%. MR too often follows a post player out of the paint when there is no need to do so.

DD is our only plus player on both offense and defense. If you watch her defense, she is superb in every aspect. On offense, people dog her shooting percentage but it is dragged down mainly because our ineffective offense forces her to take an obscene amount of shots near the end of the shot clock. When her shots are not forced, I'd wager she's a 50% shooter.

 

[xanamanax]

Did you see the shots they WERE taking?
Don't fault the guards for scoring when the forwards couldn't.

They were not shooting ill advised shots.
Meme was 3 for 8
Alexa was 6 of 13, scored 14.
Russell was 8 of 17. w/ 13 boards (double double for the umteenth time)

Jaime's not been "Jaime" for three games now.
DD can only play at 110% for so long.

This game was decided at the 26 seconds to go mark.
Their ball, 26 seconds and we have three fouls to give...The ball is dribbled freely until 11-12 and then the basket is attacked... Now 8 seconds to go and us with two fouls to give...There's no way we lose this game, right?..Two fouls to give in 8 seconds...

Yeah, its the players you called out,,,sure.

So you would coach to get to OT by fouling at just the right time so they couldn't get off a shot? Is that what you're saying?

 

[volnationnj]

So you would coach to get to OT by fouling at just the right time so they couldn't get off a shot? Is that what you're saying?

I agree with both of you. We had 2 more fouls to give and we didn't use them after Reynolds fouled with 8 seconds left in the game.. It can be a tricky situation however, and would not have guaranteed our getting the game into overtime. I have watched players about to foul intentionally, only to have the offensive player throw up a shot and get credited for being fouled while shooting. But that strategy certainly would have increased our chances of getting the game into OT.

 

[Volfan2012]

This team has lost games because of very poor basketball strategy and lack of depth and a defensive stopper. We are forced to play Middleton and Jackson late in games. I suspect next season both will be on the bench down the stretch.
Were very poor at boxing out players and A&M capitalized on being able to get up 2 and 3 shots per possession. On that last basket they made shot an air ball and got the rebound we are a terrible rebounding team and probably a tired team since we have no bench.
We have three quality starters and everyone else should be bench players getting limited minutes.
In the first quarter we had a seven point lead and promptly put up a shot with less than 30 seconds giving them the opportunity to score and get it down to five. We missed four point blank layup two when we were not being guarded.
We will make the NCAA tourney if we can win a couple more games. How far we go after that depends on the draw hopefully we don't have to face Penn State or Virginia Techhmy:

 

[Coach Jumper]

This team has lost games because of very poor basketball strategy and lack of depth and a defensive stopper. We are forced to play Middleton and Jackson late in games. I suspect next season both will be on the bench down the stretch.
Were very poor at boxing out players and A&M capitalized on being able to get up 2 and 3 shots per possession. On that last basket they made shot an air ball and got the rebound we are a terrible rebounding team and probably a tired team since we have no bench.
We have three quality starters and everyone else should be bench players getting limited minutes.
In the first quarter we had a seven point lead and promptly put up a shot with less than 30 seconds giving them the opportunity to score and get it down to five. We missed four point blank layup two when we were not being guarded.
We will make the NCAA tourney if we can win a couple more games. How far we go after that depends on the draw hopefully we don't have to face Penn State or Virginia Techhmy:

Middleton had 14 on 6-13 shooting, Meme was 3 of 8....They held their end of the scoring in this game.

 

[PRG]

So you would coach to get to OT by fouling at just the right time so they couldn't get off a shot? Is that what you're saying?

No he is not! He is just stating a basketball strategy that you nor Holly understand the principles!!!

I guess instead of letting them shoot... do not block out for the rebound after you let them shoot...they get another rebound and you let them keep shooting and rebounding until they score and you lose? That's a much better strategy? DUH YUP!

 

[Coach Jumper]

No he is not! He is just stating a basketball strategy that you nor Holly understand the principles!!!

I guess instead of letting them shoot... do not block out for the rebound after you let them shoot...they get another rebound and you let them keep shooting and rebounding until they score and you lose? That's a much better strategy? DUH YUP!

Actually I would have never gotten to that point. During the start-to the middle of the fourth, they went on a 12-5 run. I would have never made it to the end of the game with two timeouts in pocket. . . I watched the fourth again last night. We had the 7-pt lead, the better talent, no fouls/four fouls to give, two timeouts plus the 4-min television timeout to work with...Give me that setting in ANY game and I will take it. We entered the 4th with a 54-47 lead. We let them score four straight buckets to our none without a timeout. Our last field goal in this game came at the 8:49 mark of the fourth. (The "under-five" TV timeout came at 4:57", at that point the game "old Mo" was on their side). . . I don't typically use timeouts to play for the end-game, I use them to manage the game while the advantage is still mine... I know that coaches want their young charges to "play through adversity", but if I can I control the settings of the adversity, and groom them into maturity by doing my part and controlling the "setting" given to me.

Players can only "play" the game as it is structured...Tempo, matchups, Off/Def "sets", called plays, in-game tactics, working the officials, and nearly every other aspect is under the control of me...Or, not!

 

[xanamanax]

No he is not! He is just stating a basketball strategy that you nor Holly understand the principles!!!

I guess instead of letting them shoot... do not block out for the rebound after you let them shoot...they get another rebound and you let them keep shooting and rebounding until they score and you lose? That's a much better strategy? DUH YUP!

Using fouls to eat up clock when the score is tied? After all the fouls to give are committed, they still have the ball and can take the last shot. So you're right back to where you were, just with less time on the clock. You still have to defend the last shot and would probably have eliminated any chance for you to win in regulation. They win or OT. I fail to see how that is better.

 

[ladyvosl23]

The problem is we depend soo much on Jamie and diamond and when there not playing well we struggle even if bench is playing well we need them we lack depth and it shows.holly is not good enough to just have real four reliable players meme and Middleton fades out. We need a 7 to 8 quality rotation maybe 9 or 10. We got tired and stop making plays. This lost will have us at 19-10 and 10-6 In league on South Carolina bracket

 

[Coach Jumper]

Using fouls to eat up clock when the score is tied? After all the fouls to give are committed, they still have the ball and can take the last shot. So you're right back to where you were, just with less time on the clock. You still have to defend the last shot and would probably have eliminated any chance for you to win in regulation. They win or OT. I fail to see how that is better.

Not fouls, steal attempts followed by on the floor fouling. Using 2-3 seconds for each steal attempt/foul. If done properly we are on our 5th foul with +10 to go. After four steal attempts, I play for the tie. The coaching standard is to "play for the win on the road and play for a tie at home."

 

[PRG]

Using fouls to eat up clock when the score is tied? After all the fouls to give are committed, they still have the ball and can take the last shot. So you're right back to where you were, just with less time on the clock. You still have to defend the last shot and would probably have eliminated any chance for you to win in regulation. They win or OT. I fail to see how that is better.

What you fail to see is exactly how coach Blair beat us in our last possession! The announcers told the listeners about this game strategy! They said Tennessee would foul three times trying to stop TAM from scoring! We did not(fouled once) and they scored! Leaving us to try and score or lose!!!!
The announcers again this strategy would be used by TAM against us. They fouls us two times and took the clock down to two seconds and we lost!!!!
It really is not that hard! You use any means to stop the opposition from scoring period. Defensive sceams... double teams... stealing the ball... and yes fouling to stop them from scoring!!!

This is the jest of the game... you try to score at your basket and try and stop the other team from scoring at there's.

If the person that you are guarding is going towards his goal with a free lane to score (and you have not used all of your fouls) do you let them have the goal without trying to stop them? Or at least foul them and make them shoot two fifteen foot foul shots instead of an easy lay up ??? If it is Tennessee you let Jamie and Mercedes alone and not foul them because they have proven (in this game) that they will blow the lay up😈

 

[PRG]

Actually I would have never gotten to that point. During the start-to the middle of the fourth, they went on a 12-5 run. I would have never made it to the end of the game with two timeouts in pocket. . . I watched the fourth again last night. We had the 7-pt lead, the better talent, no fouls/four fouls to give, two timeouts plus the 4-min television timeout to work with...Give me that setting in ANY game and I will take it. We entered the 4th with a 54-47 lead. We let them score four straight buckets to our none without a timeout. Our last field goal in this game came at the 8:49 mark of the fourth. (The "under-five" TV timeout came at 4:57", at that point the game "old Mo" was on their side). . . I don't typically use timeouts to play for the end-game, I use them to manage the game while the advantage is still mine... I know that coaches want their young charges to "play through adversity", but if I can I control the settings of the adversity, and groom them into maturity by doing my part and controlling the "setting" given to me.

Players can only "play" the game as it is structured...Tempo, matchups, Off/Def "sets", called plays, in-game tactics, working the officials, and nearly every other aspect is under the control of me...Or, not!

Coach you are waistline your knowledge on Holly lovers and novice fans that obviously have never played this game! They just are Tennessee fans and do not understand why Everyone is discusted with this poor example of basketball.

 

[armchair]

I did not see the game: So what happened at the 8 second mark after we'd fouled, leaving us with two fouls to give? How did they score, and why did we not foul? Has everyone forgotten that there was the same situation at the end of the Notre Dame game --we had a lead and fouls to give--and we did it perfectly and we WON that game. We fouled the irish at least twice and maybe three times in the last many seconds. Why did we not foul again? You want to give you last foul with so little time on the clock that all they can do is throw something up.

We are not a good rebounding team--that is obvious. We're not bad but we're not good, either. Russell gets her share, but she spends too much time away from the paint, and we don't block out effectively on a lot of opponent possessions. Fundamentals.


As for Nared and DD: Of course we are dependent on them--they are two of the most athletic and talented wings in the country! Who wouldn't be? They are our best players. If they are not scoring is is pretty obvious that we're going to have problems. That we only scored 5 points in the 4th quarter and did not make a basket after the 8:49 mark in the game is....astounding, unbelievable. Seriously, unbelievable. Part of the issue is that we play too much 1v1 on offense. You can do that some, but it's not an effective way to play offense. UConn does not play that way--no good team does. You want to create easy shots for yourself, but you have to run plays and screen and move, etc. to get them. Not throw the ball to someone and hope they can score, which is pretty much what we do half the time.

 

[Amb3096]

I think the original mentality was to get a stop, get the ball back with 4 seconds left and a chance to win the game in regulation. After Jordan fouled Knox to reset the shot clock, that plan should have gone out the window. There's no reason that they shouldn't have been hacking away when TAMU was so deep in the paint in the final 10 seconds. It's like they completely forgot what the foul situation was.

 

[HoopDR]

This team has lost games because of very poor basketball strategy and lack of depth and a defensive stopper. We are forced to play Middleton and Jackson late in games. I suspect next season both will be on the bench down the stretch.
Were very poor at boxing out players and A&M capitalized on being able to get up 2 and 3 shots per possession. On that last basket they made shot an air ball and got the rebound we are a terrible rebounding team and probably a tired team since we have no bench.
We have three quality starters and everyone else should be bench players getting limited minutes.
In the first quarter we had a seven point lead and promptly put up a shot with less than 30 seconds giving them the opportunity to score and get it down to five. We missed four point blank layup two when we were not being guarded.
We will make the NCAA tourney if we can win a couple more games. How far we go after that depends on the draw hopefully we don't have to face Penn State or Virginia Techhmy:

You name the amount and I'll bet ya one of those two is not sitting the bench next year

 

[armchair]

For us to beat a strong/fairly strong opponent, Nared and DD together must score a MINIMUM of 25 points--minimum. We've only got one other player capable of scoring in double digits.

 

[xanamanax]

What you fail to see is exactly how coach Blair beat us in our last possession! The announcers told the listeners about this game strategy! They said Tennessee would foul three times trying to stop TAM from scoring! We did not(fouled once) and they scored! Leaving us to try and score or lose!!!!
The announcers again this strategy would be used by TAM against us. They fouls us two times and took the clock down to two seconds and we lost!!!!
It really is not that hard! You use any means to stop the opposition from scoring period. Defensive sceams... double teams... stealing the ball... and yes fouling to stop them from scoring!!!

This is the jest of the game... you try to score at your basket and try and stop the other team from scoring at there's.

If the person that you are guarding is going towards his goal with a free lane to score (and you have not used all of your fouls) do you let them have the goal without trying to stop them? Or at least foul them and make them shoot two fifteen foot foul shots instead of an easy lay up ??? If it is Tennessee you let Jamie and Mercedes alone and not foul them because they have proven (in this game) that they will blow the lay up😈

If I've got the lead and there's 5 seconds left, my opponent is going to try to score as soon as they can because they need to tie or I win. So if I've got fouls to give, I use them to waste some time.

If the scored is tied and there's 8 seconds left, my opponent is only concerned about getting at least one decent shot off. Makes no difference if it's at the 7 second mark or with one second left. They're going to be taking the clock down themselves so as to not give me a chance if they miss. So me using fouls to take the clock down doesn't hurt them unless there's no time left to get a shot off. I understand the idea behind the strategy to foul to get the time down to almost nothing. That's strictly playing for a tie, which was my original question to Coach Jumper, and he replied he would be playing for a tie at that point. I never said it was bad strategy or the wrong strategy. My contention is that it's not the only strategy and anything else is wrong. If we had gotten the rebound off their miss, we would've had a chance to win or go to OT. We didn't properly execute and we ended up losing. Any strategy requires proper execution to succeed.

 

[gule]

should have had Kortney in on offense possessions in the last 4 minutes. imnsvho

 

[ladyvosl23]

Why is everyone wanting kourtney in the game so bad. AM I seeing something you guys are not she is not productive when she is out there . She has one job to make shots and she can't make the open ones

 

[Amb3096]

Why is everyone wanting kourtney in the game so bad. AM I seeing something you guys are not she is not productive when she is out there . She has one job to make shots and she can't make the open ones

It would help if they ran some plays to get her better looks at the three and not just let her automatically launch them from 30 feet in.

I don't think I've ever seen Tennessee actually run a play for a three point shooter. It's either drive and kick out or pass out of the post when a double team comes. With Alexa or Kortney in the game, they should be running them off screens everytime they move.

 

[Volfan2012]

You name the amount and I'll bet ya one of those two is not sitting the bench next year

They will be there or we'll have 9 losses again at this time in the season. Neither can play defense against the dribble drive and what I've seen on film Hayes and Westbrooks can so any decent coach will have them in there at the end of games next season. I definitely never bet on anything but if I did would feel good about this other than the fact Holly is coach.

 

[Coach Jumper]

Why is everyone wanting kourtney in the game so bad. AM I seeing something you guys are not she is not productive when she is out there . She has one job to make shots and she can't make the open ones

Kortney is a pure shooter. We were facing a packed-in defense. One longrange gunner would have opened up the floor with a single make.

The trouble is if KD doesn't make her first shot, its back to the bench immediately.