Game Thread: MTSU v Lady Vols, Tues. Nov 12th; Home-FCC; 6:30PM; SEC+ network: win 89-75

#610
#610
VolBall09 said:
I almost wonder if there is discussion of shelving Wells for another year and letting her rehab. Could she redshirt again? I’m not sure she would want to of course, but I do wonder.

Just seems like she has recovered slowly from her injury and clearly isn’t conditioned to play at this pace at all.
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To me, she is Super-Duper Cooper!
 
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#611
#611
lvocd said:
A little of what I have learned after only three games is that, so far, Talaysia Cooper is, by far, our most dynamic player. She doesn't think she fouls, but she'll clean that up. I am nutty for this kid's energy and overall contribution. And she's SO YOUNG! Kim is probably thanking her lucky stars to have that one. Cooper is already blowing my mind, and she's still probably got another gear. Just ... WOW!

Secondly, from my eye testing, Samara Spencer is ALREADY shaping up to be the overall best point guard we've had since Shannon Bobbitt. She is a steady leader on the court, doesn't constantly turn it over, and can make threes consistently. It speaks volumes about her mental toughness that, even if most everyone else is struggling to hit shots and appear to be discombobulated, Spencer cooly plays well. Having Samara on the floor makes us at least twice as good as those times she's resting on the bench. What a great addition to Tennessee!

Ruby Whitehorn kinda got in her own way last night for some reason, and you could see she looked like she felt somehow smaller and less confident. Not sure what's going on there, and I hope she snaps out of it quickly because a regular trio of Cooper-Spencer-Whitehorn, if they're all "on," will be a problem for ANY opponent we face all season. With Spearman/Latham plus Boyd, that group, as they continue to gel, is going to be a serious problem for everyone else.

I'm hoping Jewel Spear gets back on track. Right now she is, to my eye, on the high end of the second tier as far as how I see it when I extrapolate all the way to the NCAA Tournament and whose quickness, ballhandling, defensive trapping proficiency AND scoring ability will be tops at the end.

From what my eye sees, Spencer, Puckett and Darby are all three quite a bit slower than any of the players I mentioned above, and as the season progresses and, hopefully, those above continue to perfect their defense and build stamina, I'm not sure Spear, Puckett or Darby will have been genetically capable of matching the improvements I hope to see players make in areas that require a higher ratio of fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Favor Ayodele hustles and is very physically strong, so I have hope she'll continue to improve and, eventually, earn a few more minutes.

The jury is still out on the team enigma, AKA Jillian Hollingshead. She's just a teeny bit slower than is ideal, and I have to think that is her primary issue. She's NOT a glacier, but is just enough slower that she's not getting the calls, and that is messing with her confidence.

Avery Strickland has tons of energy and, I think, can definitely carve out a role for herself if she keeps working super hard and doesn't get down. When she's on the floor I can see how much she loves and appreciates being on the floor wearing a Tennessee Lady Vols uniform. Don't count this kid out as she continues to grow in this program. She could make some timely good plays for us as a player not likely to be on anyone's radar. Sometimes even ONE play at the right time can make the difference between a win and a loss.

Destinee Wells is simply way behind and not physically ready to compete for serious minutes. I feel bad for her because she has the potential, as we all saw pre-injury, to be a player who could help us. She just hasn't gotten all her health back yet, and won't be physically able to meet the demands of this new system, until she has. If she buckles down, makes up her mind that she WILL contribute this season, who knows? Maybe by the end of the year she can be a secret weapon for Kim!

To sum up, I realize some of what I've said may go over like a lead balloon because, in my opinion, consistent quickness is extremely important and some of our fans' personal favorite players are simply not among our quickest players.

I'm certainly not stupid enough to give up on ANYone, for ANY reason, after only three dang games. lol Just giving my very FIRST, earlyearlyEARLY impressions.

I'm loving this team so far, and can see them getting much better as things start truly clicking for them. They have only scratched the surface of their potential!
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What about Spearman?
 
#612
#612
Mafiaboss said:
He said his team missed matchups several times because of our substituting. The game is all about matchups, but MTSU doesn’t have the talent to consistently match up against us. He’s trying to save face.
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Yup..same ole Rick. He mad and looks like crappolo. But, he may be right about SEC thing.

In a roundabout way, Coach Kim was perhaps treating MTSU as another practice game. And that makes him furious...lol!
 
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#613
#613
Jax_Vol said:
Yup..same ole Rick. He mad and looks like crappolo. But, he may be right about SEC thing.

In a roundabout way, Coach Kim was perhaps treating MTSU as another practice game. And that makes him furious...lol!
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Ha ha. I’m hoping we win all of our SEC games, but I think that’s unrealistic. Any games we do lose, I want them to be close.
 
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#614
#614
It is early in the season, and as predicted by Kim, there are some growing pains of having so many new players who haven't played together as all the players learn a new system. Given this, it is pretty cool that the first three games we have already challenged records in terms of steals, made three-point shots, and turnovers created. Meanwhile, the two opponents that we faced in common with last year's club were outplayed much better by this year's team.
As most people here, I am not sure how we will fare with our new system in an improved SEC this year. I do think there will be some ups, downs, and growing pains along the way. I remember after we lost in the tournament last year and knowing we were losing Rickea that I had never been more pessimistic about an upcoming year than this one. I will keep that in mind as a comparison point during this season, as I know at times I get so excited about having Kim being our coach that it glosses over the reality that this year is a bit of an experiment.
What I am confident about is that her system will work tremendously better next year as all the returning players will have a year of experience in it and the Freshmen and the transfers will fit her system so much better than the holdovers from the Kelly era. It is not that the holdovers are not contributing to our team now, but the way the defense could challenge even high-quality opponents is by having a whole team filled with unusually athletic and talented players. We will already be getting close to this goal by next year given our wonderful and perhaps growing recruit list and the likelihood of another great transfer class.
The other thing that I keep in mind is that everything Kim has shown so far makes me believe she will learn so much this first year and adapt accordingly. She has stated that she always planned to modify the system. I am also confident that the highly rated players she has started bringing in here will do well with whatever changes she needs to do if any. The roster will be filled with supreme athletes that had the character of going to a program with notoriously hard practices, places emphasis on defense, and has an exacting coach. In other words, we are drawing the players who are team players and not prima donnas, value hard work, and are not just in it for the glory of showing off their offensive skills.
I think I wrote this to remind myself (and perhaps others) the importance of being patient, not over-reacting to the growing pains, and enjoying the hopefully long journey.
 
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#617
#617
knoxvol52 said:
Well this team done something last years team couldn't accomplish. They didn't falter in the 4th Quarter..
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It's got to be good coaches. It's not like all of our transfers were star players from other programs. CKC is doing a great job getting this kind of production out of these players this early. I know the competition hasn't been that strong but the scores have shown that. Can't ask for anything thing better at this stage of her program. GBO LADY VOLS.
 
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#618
#618
volsagain said:
It's got to be good coaches. It's not like all of our transfers were star players from other programs. CKC is doing a great job getting this kind of production out of these players this early. I know the competition hasn't been that strong but the scores have shown that. Can't ask for anything thing better at this stage of her program. GBO LADY VOLS.
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All the transfers had starting experience in the ACC and SEC which clearly has carried over to Tennessee.
And throughout the Top 10-20 not all teams have as many McD All-Americans and four star players as Tennessee.
It’s a combination of coaching and talent.
 
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#621
#621
LV renaissance said:
I remember after we lost in the tournament last year and knowing we were losing Rickea that I had never been more pessimistic about an upcoming year than this one. I will keep that in mind as a comparison point during this season, as I know at times I get so excited about having Kim being our coach that it glosses over the reality that this year is a bit of an experiment.
What I am confident about is that her system will work tremendously better next year as all the returning players will have a year of experience in it and the Freshmen and the transfers will fit her system so much better than the holdovers from the Kelly era.
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Such great points. Until I read this I'd been so wrapped up in this season I almost forgot how dismal the outlook was at the end of last season. No Rickea, no signees, I remember just thinking this is going to be BAD...and to turn that vibe around so quickly and sharply, it really is remarkable.

And I agree that everything will look better for her when she gets a whole roster of her own players. I get the impression that she loves the ones that believed in her vision and stayed bc she couldn't literally recruit an entire roster and those girls are working their tails off for her...but any new coach takes the first couple of years to shift the roster to 100 percent their own selections and this will be no exception...really believing this is just the beginning of a very fun ride. Kim is smart, steadfast, and she is a winner...and I think one of those winners who WILL find a way to win. If we just had a bigger athletic big or 2 I'd feel really great, but hopefully that will come in future recruiting cycles. Long term I'm super optimistic at this point!
 
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#622
#622
Scotty4lvs said:
Such great points. Until I read this I'd been so wrapped up in this season I almost forgot how dismal the outlook was at the end of last season. No Rickea, no signees, I remember just thinking this is going to be BAD...and to turn that vibe around so quickly and sharply, it really is remarkable.
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This is exactly why I've said here a couple of times now that Caldwell is ALREADY a success. The turnaround in the outlook is actually astounding.
 
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#623
#623
lvocd said:
This is exactly why I've said here a couple of times now that Caldwell is ALREADY a success. The turnaround in the outlook is actually astounding.
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I think Kellie was going to get about the same portal haul (in fact they were already in on several) and probably fought to about mid-pack SEC. Probably just make the tourney and have a disappointing ouster.

The big differences would have been outlook and recruiting. That finish for Kellie would have felt like the lowest loops of the death spiral. Same finish for Kim will feel like a decent fresh start. First day of the rest of our lives.

And in 5 years Kellie wasn't able to recruit (except a couple of times fm the portal) anywhere near what this staff has already done. Getting Prawl was huger than huge.

I'm gaining mad respect for Gabe. Well done.
 
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#624
#624
Scotty4lvs said:
Such great points. Until I read this I'd been so wrapped up in this season I almost forgot how dismal the outlook was at the end of last season. No Rickea, no signees, I remember just thinking this is going to be BAD...and to turn that vibe around so quickly and sharply, it really is remarkable.
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Scotty4lvs said:
Kim is smart, steadfast, and she is a winner...and I think one of those winners who WILL find a way to win. If we just had a bigger athletic big or 2 I'd feel really great, but hopefully that will come in future recruiting cycles. Long term I'm super optimistic at this point!
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Tennessee has always been a program that attracts talent, so I believe until people forget the old tradition of recruiting this sort of projecting a year ahead into the future of how good or bad a team will be is going to give some people a misperception of the upcoming season.

As for this season, once Coach Caldwell, Coach Tubner, and Coach Lazo were hired they instantly recruited the best overall transfer class in the SEC and the best in the portal era at Tennessee by selling their style of play and the tradition of an elite program.

The previous staff had signed highly skilled individual players but had not shown the ability to solidify an outstanding group of players with this level of starter experience and resumes in the ACC and SEC from top to bottom.

And if they had remain at UT, there is no evidence this class would’ve been the same one wearing a LV uniform that is today under the new staff.

Another thing, I think people tend to underestimate is natural talent as well as good players with a high ceiling in an elite program will improve.
They can become stars.

People (fans, perhaps coaches, and outsiders) put too much weight on Rickea Jackson shoulders as a player.

Even as a professional with the LA Sparks a team that wasn’t particularly good in the WNBA, the coaches and even the fans seem to understand that one player can’t carry a team.

Samara Spencer, Talaysia Cooper, and Ruby Whitehorn could arguably have a better overall successful season(career) at Tennessee as any transfer that has played at UT from start to finish.

The first three games combined have been as good as any transfer to start their career at Tennessee.

The talent around them is better. They can continue to grow as individuals and team players that don’t have to shoulder the load.

As players like Kaniya Boyd, Lazaria Spearman, and Alyssa Latham continue to get comfortable the team will become better.

The coaching and talent is good enough to compete at a high level.
 
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