Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs Vandy ; Sun Jan 19th ; Away game; 3 PM Eastern; SEC+

[MAD]

Same song and dance. Can't quit bringing Kellie Harper up whether Lady Vols win or lose. Kellie is gone Individuals need to get over it and others need to stop bringing it up after a win also. Good grief.

That’s what was nice about having the Harper thread before it got locked, we could redirect the trolls to post over there.

 

[KrazyVolFan]

What was everyone's expectation for the year? Our poor play has been mostly hidden by our schedule. As the season has progressed I see we have the talent to compete. I'm not gonna back off my expectations though and that's make the tournament. Right now we are a mid pack sec team with potential to upset or be upset. We have to win the games we are suppose to and try to steal one somewhere. I don't think we have an easy game from here on out.

 

[VolBall09]

you’re freaking out a little bit. you’re calling it a done deal and saying the skies falling when the games haven’t been played yet. i usually enjoy what you have to say, but lately you’ve been so dang negative. chill girl, tomorrow is a new day.

Stating the obvious. If you aren’t gonna show up and beat Vandy do you really expect this team to beat a team like South Carolina or Texas? No way we beat UConn even if they have players out.

The game to beat LSU was at home, we aren’t winning in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss and Alabama are winnable games given they are at home but they’re very likely to look a lot like this game today.

We have enough sample size to see what this team is capable of and they aren’t capable of beating the best teams in the league and are content to let the mediocre play with them AND occasionally beat them.

We are a mediocre team.

Win that OU game and things probably look a lot different. That was the lesson game and this team didn’t take anything away from it because they’ve gone on to lose two more in similar fashion. Making the same mistakes repeatedly doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

A loss like this is like blood in the water to other SEC programs. They know we will let them play with us so we’re gonna get everyone’s best shot.

 

[KrazyVolFan]

Its really quite simple
Today we lost one we were projected to win
tomorrow we need t o win one we're projected to lose

I hate us agreeing on anything.

 

[SGMVols]

Same song and dance. Can't quit bringing Kellie Harper up whether Lady Vols win or lose. Kellie is gone Individuals need to get over it and others need to stop bringing it up after a win also. Good grief.

We fired the last coach for one end of game gag and the new coach has overseen three in year 1…

 

[BowlBrother85]

Stating the obvious. If you aren’t gonna show up and beat Vandy do you really expect this team to beat a team like South Carolina or Texas? No way we beat UConn even if they have players out.

The game to beat LSU was at home, we aren’t winning in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss and Alabama are winnable games given they are at home but they’re very likely to look a lot like this game today.

We have enough sample size to see what this team is capable up and they aren’t capable of beating the best teams in the league and are content to let the mediocre play with them AND occasionally beat them.

We are a mediocre team.

Win that OU game and things probably look a lot different. That was the lesson game and this team didn’t take anything away from it because they’ve gone on to lose two more in similar fashion. Making the same mistakes repeatedly doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

A loss like this is like blood in the water to other SEC programs. They know we will let them play with us so we’re gonna get everyone’s best shot.

You don't state the obvious. You declare your opinions to be established facts, mixed with melodrama. It's still January.

 

[Dak1219]

I really thought (and posted) when Jewel hit those back to back 3s we would roll on from there. Just seemed like a ton of mental lapses It's true that Coop is esp prone to mental lapses but remember how new she is. She's halfway thru her first season of meaningful play. Not the wisest game from the usually reliable Spencer either.

Plus the awful shooting. We knew games like this would happen; records aside, Jewel's recent hot streak aside, we are just not a consistent 3 pt shooting team at all. No explanation for both teams missing SO many easy lay ups. It's an embarrassing bug of the women's game these days.

Vandy is a much improved team capable of pulling big upsets now and Shea Ralph is an outstanding coach and recruiter. She will be a good replacement for Geno if anyone can follow the legend and it can't happen fast enough for me. Out of the SEC. Also, obvs Blakes is the real deal. Vet play on that putback.

I'll never understand how or why people follow teams who they think randomly and purposely quit or "refuse to play". Our players are talented, but not enough to never have bad games or make mistakes. One of the hardest things to achieve is consistent focus and sharpness. None of them "decide" to play poorly on tv in front of the world. That's stupid, reactionary, and insulting.

What gets me is the subbing slowed some today and the full court pressure defense seems to have softened. Are we going to have a team that aggressively forces turnovers or are they going to play a full court soft man to man? The defense we were attempting to apply 5 games ago is very different than what we saw today.

 

[BowlBrother85]

We fired the last coach for one end of game gag and the new coach has overseen three in year 1…

LOL.

Once again, the South Carolina game was not why Kellie Harper was fired. That is a ridiculous notion. She couldn't recruit high school players, which is something that has already improved under Caldwell.

 

[VolBall09]

What gets me is the subbing slowed some today and the full court pressure defense seems to have softened. Are we going to have a team that aggressively forces turnovers or are they going to play a full court soft man to man? The defense we were attempting to apply 5 games ago is very different than what we saw today.

Yeah not working. Either have to commit to the press and play all out for 40 minutes and force turnovers or get back and get your butt down and play half court defense. At the moment we’re half a**** both and it ain’t pretty.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

I didn’t watch. Did we press wire to wire, subbing every couple of minutes?

 

[brittannica]

What gets me is the subbing slowed some today and the full court pressure defense seems to have softened. Are we going to have a team that aggressively forces turnovers or are they going to play a full court soft man to man? The defense we were attempting to apply 5 games ago is very different than what we saw today.

Agreed

 

[SGMVols]

LOL.

Once again, the South Carolina game was not why Kellie Harper was fired. That is a ridiculous notion. She couldn't recruit high school players, which is something that has already improved under Caldwell.

That Cardoso 3 doesn’t go in, Kellie is coaching this year. It probably would’ve just delayed the inevitable by a year though

 

[BowlBrother85]

That Cardoso 3 doesn’t go in, Kellie is coaching this year. It probably would’ve just delayed the inevitable by a year though

I don't believe that. I think White had been itching to make a change since he got here.

 

[RespectAPA]

Same song and dance. Can't quit bringing Kellie Harper up whether Lady Vols win or lose. Kellie is gone Individuals need to get over it and others need to stop bringing it up after a win also. Good grief.

Especially weird stuff like "well, Kellie never lost to a VANDERBILT team" as if she didn't lose at least a dozen games in her tenure against teams either weaker or equally strong as this Vanderbilt team.

The haters finally got their bad loss — and it was a 1 point loss in a game where we were only favored by 4 to begin with, with questionable home-cooking officiating.

I do think that coach has things she needs to learn from this loss, though, and identifying the heart of why we've lost 3 SEC games will define how this season goes down the stretch, for the better or for the worse. The primary thing: maybe don't completely give up on your system because of a couple bad 1st quarters? Maybe the issue is less that the platoon system wasn't working, and more to do with trying to force players into roles that just wasn't working for them? (Jewel as a 30 minute player, playing the very back of the press where she's the biggest liability, and where she can't get offensiv boards; Puckett as a member of the starting 10 at all [should have been playing your 11th, 12th, 13ths more during that 14-0 run to learn who could have been a better 10th instead of having to go to a pseudo 1-platoon!], Spearman getting starter minutes, etc.)

 

[VolBall09]

I didn’t watch. Did we press wire to wire, subbing every couple of minutes?

No. We played a half a** full court man to man. And reduced our sub pattern significantly.

Mostly lost the game in the first half loafing around not getting matched up and allowing wide open 3s on the Vandy secondary break.

Paired with poor shot selection quick shooting I’ll advised threes and not getting to the rim against the small team in the SEC.

 

[glv98]

What gets me is the subbing slowed some today and the full court pressure defense seems to have softened. Are we going to have a team that aggressively forces turnovers or are they going to play a full court soft man to man? The defense we were attempting to apply 5 games ago is very different than what we saw today.

Interesting dilema. Keep dancing with what brung ya or try to adapt to game specifics.

The thing is, the intense full game pressing was never going to work against mid to high level SEC teams. But it does feel like we're caught in between the full ass "system" and a more normal approach, which IMO leads to alot of the mental lapses. We play SO tough in the back court on D then concede easy blow bys. Rebound like demons then fail to block out at all on the crucial play.

We're looking for consistent play and maybe that will require a consistent approach. OTOH, we have to be somewhat flexable to circumstances. Tough call, it's why the coaches get the big bucks.

Also, our embarrassing preseason schedule did zero to prepare us for games like this. Got high on our own supply and had some fun and broke some records, but it's more a drag than a help at this point. Didn't help us learn much.

 

[BowlBrother85]

What gets me is the subbing slowed some today and the full court pressure defense seems to have softened. Are we going to have a team that aggressively forces turnovers or are they going to play a full court soft man to man? The defense we were attempting to apply 5 games ago is very different than what we saw today.

True ... but I'm all for tempering the press a bit.

 

[JCP201]

Two losses to Vandy in same weekend...butt ugly. Oh well, get back to work Monday and get better.

Kim is in her first year. I love this system and team.

 

[Dak1219]

I didn’t watch. Did we press wire to wire, subbing every couple of minutes?

We pressed but it was very soft. What I saw on today's press will lose us a bunch of games if not corrected.

 

[JCP201]

Its really quite simple
Today we lost one we were projected to win
tomorrow we need t o win one we're projected to lose

We almost beat LSU and Oklahoma. And the refs helped Vandy, I don't care what anyone says. I think the team will be fine.

 

[Memvol44]

Game on the line.yes you can. The hook and the clear charge!

 

[glv98]

That Cardoso 3 doesn’t go in, Kellie is coaching this year. It probably would’ve just delayed the inevitable by a year though

I don't believe that. I think White had been itching to make a change since he got here.

IMO all this is true. That damn shot doesn't go in, we have by far the biggest win of KJH career, we host and go to the S16, which we almost did anyway. No way KJH gets fired around that.

But yeah, it would just have delayed the inevitable bc DW hadn't wanted KJH to be the coach for a long time and was extending her zero help.

It's way different for Kim though. Losing close in yr one, esp with a recruiting class KJH could only have dreamed of in her pocket, Kim has way more latitude. Not to speak of the AD wanting to see his gamble pay off.

This team will be fine, and next year's team will be even better.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

No. We played a half a** full court man to man. And reduced our sub pattern significantly.

Mostly lost the game in the first half loafing around not getting matched up and allowing wide open 3s on the Vandy secondary break.

Paired with poor shot selection quick shooting I’ll advised threes and not getting to the rim against the small team in the SEC.

Well that’s either encouraging that she’s willing to adjust or troubling that she’s wavering on the style that made her résumé attractive for DW. I think we just have too many slow footed players to be able to do it all game. And not enough shooters\scorers.

 

[1reVOLver]

We are a mediocre team.

That is false. We are a good team. Not yet excellent.

 

[BowlBrother85]

Its really quite simple
Today we lost one we were projected to win
tomorrow we need t o win one we're projected to lose

I'm dejected, but not demoralized. I think this team will improve. I think one really good win over a ranked opponent could go a long way in building confidence for these players.

.... having said that, I'm pretty nauseas over losing by 1 point in back-to-back days vs Vanderbilt. Our next home games with them (men's and women's) need to be circled on the calendar.