Game Thread: Tulsa v Lady Vols, Sat Dec 21st ; West Palm Beach Classic; 11AM Eastern; BallerTV:

[madtownvol]

As terrific as both Cooper and Whitehorn have been today, the thing I’ve most enjoyed seeing today is Samara Spencer playing instead of being on the bench in a cast or not there at all. I let out a holler when I saw her starting the game. Winning these games will be nice, but having Spencer survive that injury scare is EVERYTHING.

Now, she IS in some pain. I can see a slight limp there. But she’s out there and playing and I’m relieved.

I think she and Cooper are mission critical players. The season is going to go as they go.

 

[madtownvol]

hell yeah.. I hate her lack of effort every game... she plays likes she is too cool

Have you seen your optometrist lately?

 

[37620VOL]

CKC believes that offensive rebounds are so important that every possession she sends all five offensive players to crash the boards, freely admitting that occasionally the other team is gonna get an easy 2 out of that--but she insists it's worth it over the course of the game. I think that is the single most amazing--and gutsy--aspect of her system!

I've never heard her go that far and from watching them so far, there is someone assigned to keep a lid on opponent fast breaks.

Another thing they do that helps is immediately pressuring the rebounder so they can't easily get their eyes down the court.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

I do not think so, I think either Mike Keith or John Wilkerson both are great choices. I love to listen to Wilkerson do Baseball he's awesome. Mike Keith is with the Titans so not sure how he would navigate that.

I think it is wide open and there are 3-4 really good candidates

 

[lvocd]

My one and only knock on the incredible Talaysia Cooper is something she could easily work on correcting, and even if she didn't it's not like she isn't nearly perfect in every other way so ... not that big a deal.

But I have noticed if she makes a dribbling mistake and the opponent steals the ball, she sometimes takes a little too much time to stand there feeling sorry for herself instead of hustling to catch up to the play. Maybe she is just shocked into a standstill, I don't know. But I've noticed it happening several times and I'm surprised that tendency hasn't been next-practice-wind-sprinted outta her tail by now.

Other than that minor flaw, she's golden. What a player!

Ruby Whitehorn 'bout made me tear up she was so strong today. Just all over the place!

Can't wait 'til tomorrow's game to see who all is going to be amazing for us.

 

[VolBall09]

Are offensive rebounds more important than defensive rebounds?

Our opponents don’t have very many misses because they

A) aren’t getting looks at the basket

B) are making an easy layup off a defensive breakdown.

So while our opponent FG % is high it doesn’t matter because they’re getting significantly less attempts than us. That means fewer defensive rebounds and also more energy conserved to run our press and push on offense.

Not spending half the game tied up in a half court defense wearing ourselves out chasing players around screens and boxing out.

 

[VolBall09]

My one and only knock on the incredible Talaysia Cooper is something she could easily work on correcting, and even if she didn't it's not like she isn't nearly perfect in every other way so ... not that big a deal.

But I have noticed if she makes a dribbling mistake and the opponent steals the ball, she sometimes takes a little too much time to stand there feeling sorry for herself instead of hustling to catch up to the play. Maybe she is just shocked into a standstill, I don't know. But I've noticed it happening several times and I'm surprised that tendency hasn't been next-practice-wind-sprinted outta her tail by now.

Other than that minor flaw, she's golden. What a player!

Ruby Whitehorn 'bout made me tear up she was so strong today. Just all over the place!

Can't wait 'til tomorrow's game to see who all is going to be amazing for us.

Yep gotta have a better “next play” mentality.

 

[LV renaissance]

Yes, I cheated at work watching Live Stats when I could. After watching the replay when I got home, I think it was our best overall game so far. Great progress. Agree with the comments about Coop, Ruby, and Spencer. I noticed that Boyd looked better during the game compared the last few despite not having many stats. At CKC made an interesting observation that I overlooked in how the press impacted the game despite not leading to several turnovers.
"I think pressure looks like different things," Caldwell said. "That's a 40% 3-point shooting team, and they shot 27%, and it wasn't because we were in their face." So true on both counts. I was thinking we were lucky that they were missing their open threes, but even teams that do well in not turning it over on us will pay a price for the effort that takes. I love how she also highlights our team's shortcomings to work on when she is complimenting them on something else. We sure weren't in their face.

 

[lvocd]

Yep gotta have a better “next play” mentality.

Yeah, that's it. I'd love to see her clean that one little thing up pretty soon. If she did, I'd be hard pressed to fine anything ELSE to nitpick. Thank goodness.

 

[1morevol]

Very interesting leaders in the +/- stats:

+21 Tess Darby
+18 Jillian Hollingshead
+17 Sara Puckett

Interesting indeed, considering the heat Puckett has been taking.

 

[gule]

some stats are not worth keeping.

 

[RespectAPA]

Interesting indeed, considering the heat Puckett has been taking.

I mean, hopefully it's a turnaround, but her +/- against teams with a pulse tends to be poor.
vs Memphis: -10
vs Iowa: -9
vs Florida State: -2
vs MTSU: +5
vs Liberty : +10
And because all of those ar wins, you really should adjust these numbers to see if the team is playing better when she's on the court than when she's off the court. For example, Tennessee vs MTSU was +5 for the 16 minutes Puckett played, but Tennessee won by 14, so we were +9 for the 24 minutes Puckett did not play.
vs. Liberty and today vs. Richmond ar the only two games of the six where the opponent was decent in which the team with Puckett on the court played better than the team without her.

And if you adjust, you could use the other 4 games, contextualized. UT w/Puckett was +15 in 24 minutes against UTM, but Tennessee was +25 in the 16 minutes without her. That's -.93 points margin per minute w/ Puckett vs w/o Puckett.

If you look at the adjusted +/- throughout her season, I'm pretty sure we'll see what the eye test should tell you... the team doesn't play as well with her on the court as it does without her. Worse at pressing, worse offensively, and worse in transition defense. Giv her some credit rebounding, and she's an 88% FT shooter, but unless she turns things around, she should not be getting the minutes she's getting. Her role should be as fresh legs at the end of the game; unfortunately that isn't a role that CKC makes much use of, for whatever reason. (which is unfortunate! I'm quite sure that the players outside our starting 10 would play very well fresh vs. fatigued opposition in the 3rd and 4th quarters, but they don't get much opportunity for it, unless the game is already out of reach)

 

[Rickster]

hell yeah.. I hate her lack of effort every game... she plays likes she is too cool

I'm not seeing that at all. Even when she is not scoring, she is doing something to help the team.

 

[Lucy]

Lucy darlin, that depends on the situation.....Think of every possession as a major event in the life of the game.....Offensive rebounds often result in another shot at the elusive hoop, which increase your chance of victory.....A defensive rebound chokes the life out of your opponent, limiting their chance to defeat you....

Thanks GT! They both seem good to me but it seems offensive rebounds get the bigger reaction on here.
She does not suffer fools gladly does she!
Super glad you are back on the board! We missed you.

 

[Lucy]

Perhaps the key is what percentage of the time does an offensive rebound result in another shot versus how often a defensive rebound results in a shot?
Both types of rebounds deny the opponent a possession.

 

[1morevol]

I mean, hopefully it's a turnaround, but her +/- against teams with a pulse tends to be poor.
vs Memphis: -10
vs Iowa: -9
vs Florida State: -2
vs MTSU: +5
vs Liberty : +10
And because all of those ar wins, you really should adjust these numbers to see if the team is playing better when she's on the court than when she's off the court. For example, Tennessee vs MTSU was +5 for the 16 minutes Puckett played, but Tennessee won by 14, so we were +9 for the 24 minutes Puckett did not play.
vs. Liberty and today vs. Richmond are the only two games of the six where the opponent was decent in which the team with Puckett on the court played better than the team without her.

And if you adjust, you could use the other 4 games, contextualized. UT w/Puckett was +15 in 24 minutes against UTM, but was +25 in the 16 minutes without her.

If you look at the adjusted +/- throughout her season, I'm pretty sure we'll see what the eye test should tell you... the team doesn't play as well with her on the court as it does without her. Worse at pressing, worse offensively, and worse in transition defense. Giv her some credit rebounding, and she's an 88% FT shooter, but unless she turns things around, she should not be getting the minutes she's getting. Her role should be as fresh legs at the end of the game; unfortunately that isn't a role that CKC makes much use of. (which is unfortunate! I'm quite sure that the players outside our starting 10 would play very well fresh in the 3rd and 4th quarters, but they don't get much opportunity for it, unless the game is already out of reach)

I get that. I've been giving Puckett heat also, as I watch games. Also, if the combination of players on the court at any given time goes on a big run, every player on the court at that time has a good plus/minus score including the ones who didn't contribute much to the run.

 

[Coach Jumper]

going to continue to use this thread for the tulsa game,,,,predictions?

 

[MAD]

Tennessee 86
Tulsa 68

 

[Ladyvols4ever!]

Tennessee 110
Tulsa 65

 

[J-Dog 1313]

Tennessee 110
Tulsa 65

LVs 112--Tulsa 57. GBO.

 

[HerdLVol]

It seems like both would have equal importance, doesn't it?

All my career we were coached that the person furthest back on offense, when a shot is taken, has primary responsibility to drop back and prevent a fast break attempt off the defensive rebound or quick inbound.

CKC believes that offensive rebounds are so important that every possession she sends all five offensive players to crash the boards, freely admitting that occasionally the other team is gonna get an easy 2 out of that--but she insists it's worth it over the course of the game. I think that is the single most amazing--and gutsy--aspect of her system!

Looking at the difference in 2nd chance points tonight... I'd say they were critical to the win. In no other stat categories were we anywhere close to 20 points better than Richmond.

[bench scoring doesn't count, as we have two starting units]

She has had her teams always play that way. Once they get her style down it is amazing to watch. It takes time to get it down though. That’s why she said it would be ugly early on. I doubt they are playing defensively like she would like to see. With the players she’s bringing in next year I think we’ll see a better example of what she wants.

 

[lvocd]

Tennessee 98
Tulsa 52

 

[the_great_pumpkin]

Lady Vols 90
Tulsa 69

 

[ttharp]

97-54 Tennessee

I also wouldn’t mind seeing Samara rest tomorrow. She had a scare vs Memphis and was on the floor a lot today.

Let Coop, Kaniya, Edie and Destinee figure it out.

 

[Rons1989]

My one and only knock on the incredible Talaysia Cooper is something she could easily work on correcting, and even if she didn't it's not like she isn't nearly perfect in every other way so ... not that big a deal.

But I have noticed if she makes a dribbling mistake and the opponent steals the ball, she sometimes takes a little too much time to stand there feeling sorry for herself instead of hustling to catch up to the play. Maybe she is just shocked into a standstill, I don't know. But I've noticed it happening several times and I'm surprised that tendency hasn't been next-practice-wind-sprinted outta her tail by now.

Other than that minor flaw, she's golden. What a player!

Ruby Whitehorn 'bout made me tear up she was so strong today. Just all over the place!

Can't wait 'til tomorrow's game to see who all is going to be amazing for us.

She does n it burns me up lol but it burns kim up to lol n its always addressed i hve to remember she young n they play at break neck speed so u turn it over its like they can that layup lol