Game Thread: Liberty v Lady Vols, Sat. Nov 16th; Home-FCC; Noon; SEC+ network; win 109-93

[chuckiepoo]

Hmm. Doesn't seem a bad loss should be necessary at this level. All the film study, white boarding, practice can't teach it instead? Crazy system!

You’re cutting and pasting, too?

 

[RebKell]

I know you have lots of people, have yet to have votes counted.
So far

 

[VolBall09]

Curious what Kim is going to say following the performance of this game.

I don’t think she will have been at all pleased. AT ALL lol

I thought this was our worst game defensively and our best offensively. Much better shot selection and ball movement for most of the game.

Terrible defensive energy and execution for that majority of the game. Against a better team you simply can’t do that. Giving up 90+ to Liberty is embarrassing.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

But it definitely is an element of it. Les Miserables. They exist.

Well said.
Asked for change and got it.
It’s still isn’t enough.
An exciting brand of basketball.
Elite recruiting in 7 months.
Early success including a victory over a NCAA tourney team in MTSU.
They’ve been pissed for 7 months and counting.
Got pissed off even more recently because Coach Kim is cooking which is strange.
In their mind they’ll take any kind of win even one that’s in reality a L!

 

[chuckiepoo]

Most people have to learn their lessons the hard way. It's just human nature. Hopefully Florida State will take Lady Vols to woodshed and beats them by 35. That'll wake em up.

Dayum boo. Spank me?

 

[glv98]

Dayum boo. Spank me?

And spank me! And me! Single handed!

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

I don’t think she will have been at all pleased. AT ALL lol

I thought this was our worst game defensively and our best offensively. Much better shot selection and ball movement for most of the game.

Terrible defensive energy and execution for that majority of the game. Against a better team you simply can’t do that. Giving up 90+ to Liberty is embarrassing.

To be honest, I’m not trying to say you’re wrong because I don’t think Coach Caldwell will be happy.

But you’re kind of exaggerating if you think a double digit win is embarrassing in any way.

South Carolina loss to a pretty bad Missouri team with only 8 players available in the same year they won a national title. Any team can beat you if you have a bad game.


Also, I think Coach Caldwell has to acknowledge that she is the responsible for the team performance defensively.

If she wants to play a pressure style of defense for four quarters then 8-9 players can execute this and not 12. So either cut the substitution patterns to 2-3 consistently or extend the minutes of players with the ability to press to 4 - 5 minute periods.

Play Darby and Puckett only when you aren’t extending the pressure fullcourt.
They can’t play that style of defense and can’t be coached to play it without the skillset as a senior and graduate student.

 

[VolBall09]

Most people have to learn their lessons the hard way. It's just human nature. Hopefully Florida State will take Lady Vols to woodshed and beats them by 35. That'll wake em up.

Hopefully not by that much, but I do agree we likely have to lose one here soon to learn some hard lessons.

 

[chuckiepoo]

And spank me! And me! Single handed!

 

[VolBall09]

To be honest, I’m not trying to say you’re wrong because I don’t think Coach Caldwell will be happy.

But you’re kind of exaggerating if you think a double digit win is embarrassing in any way.

South Carolina loss to a pretty bad Missouri team with only 8 players available in the same year they won a national title. Any team can beat you if you have a bad game.


Also, I think Coach Caldwell has to acknowledge that she is the responsible for the team performance defensively.

If she wants to play a pressure style of defense for four quarters then 8-9 players can execute this and not 12. So either cut the substitution patterns to 2-3 consistently or extend the minutes of players with the ability to press to 4 - 5 minute periods.

Play Darby and Puckett only when you aren’t extending the pressure fullcourt.
They can’t play that style of defense and can’t be coached to play it without the skillset as a senior and graduate student.

Nah sorry, giving up 90+ to liberty is straight up embarrassing. Exposed a lot of problems we have defensively.

Chiefly the back of the press and our interior half court defense. It was non-existent.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Nah sorry, giving up 90+ to liberty is straight up embarrassing. Exposed a lot of problems we have defensively.

Chiefly the back of the press and our interior half court defense. It was non-existent.

A loss is embarrassing. A win by double digits against a team that loss by a similar margin to a top 20 team is not. If the score had been 55 - 35 or 60 - 40 is that embarrassing too? A win is a win.

But again, if Coach Caldwell is concerned about defense she has to change the substitution pattern and player rotations.

Darby and Puckett two of the players that are responsible for many of the breakdowns along with Lazaria Spearman have started the last two games therefore is defense truly a priority?

Lazaria Spearman started the 2nd half today and she has struggled defensively in the post.

If the answer is to improve defensively then Ayodele and Latham minutes should be increased moving forward.

 

[volforlife10]

A loss is embarrassing. A win by double digits against a team that loss by a similar margin to a top 20 team is not. If the score had been 55 - 35 or 60 - 40 is that embarrassing too? A win is a win.

But again, if Coach Caldwell is concerned about defense she has to change the substitution pattern and player rotations.

Darby and Puckett two of the players that are responsible for many of the breakdowns along with Lazaria Spearman have started the last two games therefore is defense truly a priority?

Lazaria Spearman started the 2nd half today and she has struggled defensively in the post.

If the answer is improve defensively then Ayodele and Latham minutes should be increased moving forward.

emphasis on the ayodele and latham. our defense is SO good when they are in the game.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

emphasis on the ayodele and latham. our defense is SO good when they are in the game.

Right. To improve the defense, play your best defensive players and this team has good athletes that can make this team better on that end of the floor.

Here’s a football analogy to get an idea of how I would use the press/full-court press:

Imagine having four (4.3, 4.4 forty DBs) in Boyd, Spencer, Cooper, and Whitehorn with three (4.5 forty Safeties) in Latham, Ayodele, and Spearman. I’m rotating this group in man to man coverage at all times for four quarters.
If and only if one of them needed a rest is when I’ll play another one of the players in the secondary but I’m switching up my coverage.

Play Spear, Darby, Hollingshead, and Puckett to their advantage when you are mixing up the defense and not relying on the full-court press.

It’s really not that complicated.

 

[Ladyvols4ever!]

Another good thing about playing the bench; those fouls get spread out. Less worry about our best players having to sit because of foul trouble.

 

[Mafiaboss]

The bigs in the SEC are about to eat this team up.

Beers might go for 40 and 20.

Nah. Liberty in the first half shot uncharacteristically poor. They keep up or win with 3s. Second half showed this.

 

[Mafiaboss]

I don't think that people are giving this Liberty team enough credit. This is a pretty dang good team, better than our last opponent.

They are better than they showed in the first half. This was a good win for us. Liberty could beat both Florida State and Iowa.

 

[BruisedOrange]

I know you have lots of people, have yet to have votes counted.
So far
View attachment 698263

I think I'm gonna post a prediction next game, just so I can see my name in a bar graph that doesn't have me an outlier on somebody's bell curve.

 

[RebKell]

place holder

Tennessee 94 Liberty 63✔

Tennessee 89, Liberty 67✔

LV-85 Libs-56✔

Lady Vols 90
Lady Flames 64✔

LVs 105--Liberty 60.✔ I believe the LVs will have a much better shooting percentage in this game. I also believe the defense will be tougher and Liberty might only score somewhere between 45 and 55 points. GBO.

Lady Vols 81
Lady Flames 61

Lady Vols 81
Flames 69

The Flames will be doused 84-63.✔

LV. 92

Liberty. 66✔

Playing 2 rotations

Lady Vols 95 - Liberty 58✔

Go Vols!

LVs 105--Liberty 60. GBO.✔

LVs by 30✔. Next game in 10 days. One more tea party against Western Carolina and then the real fun starts. Can't wait to see this team get out there in the tall grass and see what happens. I think by then they'll be ready as they'll ever be.

Tennessee 90 - Liberty 62.✔ As always go Lady Vol’s.

 

[RespectAPA]

emphasis on the ayodele and latham. our defense is SO good when they are in the game.

I would love to see them get more minutes! Especially when Ruby or Cooper are taking over and kicking butt offensively, I'd like to see a bit more defensive focus from the rest of the on-court 5 when Cooper or Ruby are on the court.

Backcourt defense creates easy offense, and even though I think Latham's offense is iffy, any of these girls can make the kind of layups you get out of steals.

 

[Hbg]

Not sure I’ve ever seen a player with the mins of Darby have a more abysmal stat line.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

I would love to see them get more minutes! Especially when Ruby or Cooper are taking over and kicking butt offensively, I'd like to see a bit more defensive focus from the rest of the on-court 5 when Cooper or Ruby are on the court.

Backcourt defense creates easy offense, and even though I think Latham's offense is iffy, any of these girls can make the kind of layups you get out of steals.

Alyssa Latham offense is not iffy. Around the rim she can score at will.
She also can shoot the three ball.
I don’t know what Latham or Ayodele have to do in order to earn a spot in the starting lineup but I can bet they are very close.

 

[volforlife10]

Alyssa Latham offense is not iffy. Around the rim she can score at will.
She also can shoot the three ball.
I don’t know what Latham or Ayodele have to do in order to earn a spot in the starting lineup but I can bet they are very close.

against better teams, they need to start. they both give their all on defense and if given more opportunities i know they can score. ayodele might not give u 10 a game but she’s consistent and if given the chance will make the play.

 

[Majors]

Most people have to learn their lessons the hard way. It's just human nature. Hopefully Florida State will take Lady Vols to woodshed and beats them by 35. That'll wake em up.

“Hopefully” is a losers mentality.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Not sure how we missed this in the pregame notes:

"Liberty was 3-0 versus first-year Tennessee Head Coach Kim (Stephens) Caldwell during her playing career at Glenville State (2007-08 through 2010-11). The Lady Flames held her to three total points on 0-of-9 from beyond the three point line in those contests."

This was a grudge match!

 

[Majors]

No, they need to lose some games in order to learn to play hard for 4 quarters. Lady Vols need a really bad lose to learn. Marshall lost to a team that was ranked in the 300's before they learned anything.

As we discussed in October, Tennessee isn’t Marshall. We are not a Homecoming game school.