Game Thread: Tennessee (14-7, 7-2 SEC) @ Alabama Crimson Tide (18-6, 5-4 SEC), 7:00 PM (EST), Live Stream SECN+

#476
#476
Coach Jumper said:
They're not lazy,,,they're also not inspired
They don't have a clear vision right now.

Its almost like the players are fully ready to give everything, and able to, but uncertain if they should.
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You either have heart or you don’t

You either care about winning or losing or you don’t.

If you have to think about giving effort, maybe u should look within yourself.

If none of those things are in u, I don’t think u should play high level team sports.
 
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#477
#477
Golfteacher said:
They are more disorganized and unsure than anything else, also the team, overall, is not as talented as I first believed. Some of the substitutions KJH made were not good offensively or defensively. There at the end the team did seem to give up. Just maybe KJH lacks the ability to inspire her players.
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You didn’t read my posts during the summer, I’ve said Rickea and Spear and that it, we need more from the portal.
 
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#478
#478
Golfteacher said:
They are more disorganized and unsure than anything else, also the team, overall, is not as talented as I first believed. Some of the substitutions KJH made were not good offensively or defensively. There at the end the team did seem to give up. Just maybe KJH lacks the ability to inspire her players.
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The end of the game reminded me of the Men Vols game against LSU. LSU made a big run to get within striking distance and then the Vols hit a few key buckets to put the game out of reach.

I don't think that the LVs or LSU men gave up so much as being demoralized and having run out of emotional and physical energy. Battling up the steep, muddy hill only to slip just sort the summit breaks the spirit (and plus the clock made any further attempted unfeasible).

As I said before, talent is an abstraction. Performance on the court is all that matters, Neither Rickea or Jewel were anywhere near being the best players on the court. Hollingshead has all the "physical tools" but she not giving the team much more than Edie sitting on the bench.

I feel like Puckett was more on this game than her teammates but did not get many looks (and that goes on Kellie and the scheme).

Powell and Wynn were way too one-on-one oriented this game. Not enough facilitating.

Our talent ebbs and flos with our shooting. Next game, they may very well look like world beaters.

I really can't chalk these inconsistent performances down to a lack of inspiration. I know we all love the good psychological explanation and the related idea "that you can always get what you want if you just want it bad enough," but that is not the reality of sports where your opponents also "want it."

When you make shots, you are put into a better defensive position, and the teams's confidence and energy goes up and you have a virtuous cycle.

For the LVs, when you are getting stops, as they did in the woefully low scoring 1st quarter, but your own shots keep rattling out (and on the road), after a while that lack of offensive success starts to take a toll.

Now, if this team had a strong defensive identity to fall back on, they might weather bad shooting nights with more aplomb. As it stands, it seems like their defensive energy feeds off their offensive success.
 
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#479
#479
madtownvol said:
The end of the game reminded me of the Men Vols game against LSU. LSU made a big run to get within striking distance and then the Vols hit a few key buckets to put the game out of reach.

I don't think that the LVs or LSU men gave up so much as being demoralized and having run out of emotional and physical energy. Battling up the steep, muddy hill only to slip just sort the summit breaks the spirit (and plus the clock made any further attempted unfeasible).

As I said before, talent is an abstraction. Performance on the court is all that matters, Neither Rickea or Jewel were anywhere near being the best players on the court. Hollingshead has all the "physical tools" but she not giving the team much more than Edie sitting on the bench.

I feel like Puckett was more on this game than her teammates but did not get many looks (and that goes on Kellie and the scheme).

Powell and Wynn were way too one-on-one oriented this game. Not enough facilitating.

Our talent ebbs and flos with our shooting. Next game, they may very well look like world beaters.

I really can't chalk these up and doqn performance down to a lack of inspiration. I know we all love the good psychological explanation and the related idea "that you can always get what you want if you just want it bad enough," but that is not the reality of sports where your opponents also "want it."

When you make shots, you are put into a better defensive position, and the teams's confidence and energy goes up and you have a virtuous cycle.

For the LVs, when you are getting stops, as they did in the woefully low scoring 1st quarter, but your own shots keep rattling out (and on the road), after a while that lack of offensive success starts to take a toll.

Now, if this team had a strong defensive identity to fall back on, they might weather bad shooting nights with more aplomb. As it stands, it seems like their defensive energy feeds off their offensive success.
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I also thought Sara was more “on” than her other teammates. Was disappointed they didn’t try to take advantage of that.
 
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#480
#480
These are the kind of games we gave to learn to win consistently to be a top team. The better team going into a tough game on the road. You have to be able to win your fair share of them. To be a championship team and compete for them you have to be able to win in other gyms besides your own. Consistency is vital, and that goes back to practice and coaching. Go Vols
 
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#488
#488
DarkPhoenix said:
You either have heart or you don’t

You either care about winning or losing or you don’t.

If you have to think about giving effort, maybe u should look within yourself.

If none of those things are in u, I don’t think u should play high level team sports.
Click to expand...
I don’t believe there is anything wrong with our players. We are not as athletic as others. The problem is lack of motivation and slow feet. Why are we lacking is the question. I did see a reduction in turnovers for a little while but I have started noticing the substitution patterns are confusing. i believe we should build our foundation on defense. Then adjust our offensive game plan based on who is on the floor. I fear we are not going to win championships thru the portal it will give us a missing piece but recruiting has to be the base.
Seems like more to fix than firing Holly. sorry I should not have said that.
,
 
#489
#489
Twinsbornoncampus said:
I don’t believe there is anything wrong with our players. We are not as athletic as others. The problem is lack of motivation and slow feet. Why are we lacking is the question. I did see a reduction in turnovers for a little while but I have started noticing the substitution patterns are confusing. i believe we should build our foundation on defense. Then adjust our offensive game plan based on who is on the floor. I fear we are not going to win championships thru the portal it will give us a missing piece but recruiting has to be the base.
Seems like more to fix than firing Holly. sorry I should not have said that.
,
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well there has to be a desire to play a desire to win..... Alabama's players are not - as a whole - more talented than ours ..... they have better coaching..... "motivation" and "slow feet" those sound like things which tlie squarely at the feet of the head coach..... i remember one of Holly's old pressers she said "I told them they need to get in defensive posture and they said they didn't want to" Pat would not have tolerated that you at least need to hustle yes defense is a good place to start we allow marginal teams to score 70 80 90 points on us offense a bit more complicated..... i know the UCLA coach visited practice at UConn for a few days and i read Geno himself did the same went to Philly ... i think Villanova who had a more streamlined offense there is no shame in reaching out for help from others i see no URGENCY with our team or coach .... and have not in a long while
 
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#490
#490
Twinsbornoncampus said:
I don’t believe there is anything wrong with our players. We are not as athletic as others. The problem is lack of motivation and slow feet. Why are we lacking is the question. I did see a reduction in turnovers for a little while but I have started noticing the substitution patterns are confusing. i believe we should build our foundation on defense. Then adjust our offensive game plan based on who is on the floor. I fear we are not going to win championships thru the portal it will give us a missing piece but recruiting has to be the base.
Seems like more to fix than firing Holly. sorry I should not have said that.
,
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The lack of athleticism is on the coaches since they pick the players, but the non chalant body language when losing is not good, and that’s been a problem for a while. It’s like they are playing a scrimmage and just going through the motions, I do t see a sense of urgency when we are down and nobody on the team speaks up or galvanizes the team, just go back and look at the losses and tell me what u see. And then go look at the top teams and tell me the difference u see when they are losing. It’s whatever if they don’t care why should I.
 
#491
#491
SGMVols said:
Whether this team ultimately makes the tournament or not, the mere fact we’re even talking about missing the tournament as a possibility in Year 5 is prima facie evidence that Kellie isn’t getting it done.

Rickea Jackson didn’t put off being a WNBA first round pick for a year to come back to a bubble team. She was told we would be back in Final Four contention if she came back. We as fans were told that too.

Even if we sneak into the tournament in the end, if we don’t get past the round of 32, there still should be a change. We didn’t wait for Holly to blow the tournament streak to fire her. There’s no reason to lower the bar for Kellie either. This is Tennessee. It’s time to act like it.
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I’m probably not out of bounds in saying it, RJ came back for the money and I don’t blame her. I also don’t think she believed they would be a bubble team but she has been around ball long enough to know she wasn’t cutting down nets either.
 
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#492
#492
Majors said:
I’m probably not out of bounds in saying it, RJ came back for the money and I don’t blame her. I also don’t think she believed they would be a bubble team but she has been around ball long enough to know she wasn’t cutting down nets either.
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I think this is more likely true if I had to guess. But one thing I did notice during the portal period is Rickea was never there when the recruits came to visit, I always looked to see but I didn’t see her at all. But when I heard about certain other teams that was able to get the top transfers on their team, they had their best players helping convince them to come, that’s something I noticed at the time but did t say anything. You need your top players to help bro g in other elite players
 
#493
#493
DarkPhoenix said:
I think this is more likely true if I had to guess. But one thing I did notice during the portal period is Rickea was never there when the recruits came to visit, I always looked to see but I didn’t see her at all. But when I heard about certain other teams that was able to get the top transfers on their team, they had their best players helping convince them to come, that’s something I noticed at the time but did t say anything. You need your top players to help bro g in other elite players
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She was with the national team over the summer while we were hosting portal kids. Hopefully that was a selling point by the staff.
 
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#494
#494
SGMVols said:
Whether this team ultimately makes the tournament or not, the mere fact we’re even talking about missing the tournament as a possibility in Year 5 is prima facie evidence that Kellie isn’t getting it done.

Rickea Jackson didn’t put off being a WNBA first round pick for a year to come back to a bubble team. She was told we would be back in Final Four contention if she came back. We as fans were told that too.

Even if we sneak into the tournament in the end, if we don’t get past the round of 32, there still should be a change. We didn’t wait for Holly to blow the tournament streak to fire her. There’s no reason to lower the bar for Kellie either. This is Tennessee. It’s time to act like it.
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Okay, let's separate fan indignity from actual descriptions of events. You make it seem like someone lied to RJ. I am sure she believed that the team would be very competitive this season, with the addition of Spear, Wells and the return of Tamari.

The hype has not materialized. There is a lot of pressure on RJ but she has not been rising to the occasion since she came back from her injury. She had 3 or 4 straight games where she has had good first half and then becomes a non-factor in the 2nd half.

I wonder if she 100% or is playing through something (on top of her asthma issues)

RJ is not the main problem but every one expecting the LVs to be contenders anticipated RJ playing at a consistent A-A level. Right now, she is not in the conversation for being a top 5 player in WCBB (based strictly on performance).

The whole team is underperforming but this is not just something that has just "happened" to Rickea.
 
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#495
#495
Majors said:
She was with the national team over the summer while we were hosting portal kids. Hopefully that was a selling point by the staff.
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During the visits she wasn’t on the national team, this is during the portal period. Like I said other national team members from others teams were present during the teams recruiting visits trying to get the players to commit.
 
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#497
#497
DarkPhoenix said:
The lack of athleticism is on the coaches since they pick the players, but the non chalant body language when losing is not good, and that’s been a problem for a while. It’s like they are playing a scrimmage and just going through the motions, I do t see a sense of urgency when we are down and nobody on the team speaks up or galvanizes the team, just go back and look at the losses and tell me what u see. And then go look at the top teams and tell me the difference u see when they are losing. It’s whatever if they don’t care why should I.
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It's a culture problem, they don't expect to win. Even in games when you're off or outmatched at certain positions teams that expect to win often overcome, teams that don't lose.

The culture is also dependent on the quality of players on the court from starter to bench player. Harper hasn't been able to recruit the pieces she needs to change the culture. If she hasn't then she won't.
 
#498
#498
Just FYI: There are prominent programs with top players and winning records and high rankings that also have an advantage in that many of those top players aren't spending nearly as much of their time in the classroom as they are in the gym. Individualized and/or online studies certainly gives some kids more time to work on basketball.

As far as I know, none of our particularly high-achieving student-athletes are in one of those types of situations, so the Lady Vols are going to every class if they are in Knoxville, and they are doing mandatory study sessions. Our players may simply not have as much spare time to be constantly working on their games as some others who play in less strict -- and with some, less concerned with NCAA rules -- programs.

it is what it is, and I'm personally happy Kellie has done such an amazing job of continuing the Lady Vol tradition/standard of taking the "student" part of "student-athlete" seriously.

Hope the team can find another gear going into the final stretch. They're all such good kids who want more than ANY OF US ever has or ever will for them to succeed, so I hope it happens for them. They work hard, and they deserve our unending support regardless of whether they win or lose. 🧡
 
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#500
#500
I am as disappointed as anyone in the loss to Alabama. The box score was pretty even except for shooting percentages. When Jackson, Spear and Wynn all have bad shooting nights we will lose games like this.
But, I am much more disgusted with the football, one time, fly by, jerk posters who have unloaded on our coaches, players and the guy who sells popcorn! Where are these supposed fans when Kellie makes great halftime adjustments and we have a great second half come back, where are they when Spear is co-sec player of the week with two great offensive performances, how about when Rikea has 30 point and 10+ rebounds? We never hear from these sorry a$$hats then. So I guess Spear had heart last week but not this week. Wynn was motivated two weeks ago when she had a career best game now evidently she’s lazy.
Some regular posters on here feel the need to jump on the bandwagon with these jokes which is really unbelievable.
If these flybys can’t give credit where credit is due as well then they have zero credibility and should shut their pie holes!
 
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