Game thread: Ut vs. Lip
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I would think beating a team shows that she held her own against the coach, don't you think? Or do you have some other special criteria that should be applied here?
Using your argument, then Brenda beat Holly with talent, since she had by far the best player on the court in that matchup...not scheme.
Does anyone really expect Holly to beat a better coach who also has better players? She's not going to beat Muffet when Skylar Diggins or Kayla McBride are suited up. And she's not going to beat Tara when she's got the Ogwumike Sisters to tear up the Lady Vols. And there are lots and lots and lots of coaches that will run into that problem, but that doesn't mean that the lynch mob should bust out their pitchforks.
Star players will do that for you. ND, UConn and Baylor have had star players that put them largely in a class above the rest. Tennessee did not have that. Holly has Tennessee right where Pat left it...no better and no worse. An SEC tournament here, SEC regular season champ there, and an Elite 8/Sweet 16 appearance...which is pretty much what Pat put together her last two years.
Holly also doesn't have the kind of players on the team that can elevate a program to the level that UConn is now. No Ogwumikes, Griners, Diggins, etc... Next year, she will have that player in Diamond. It may not be enough to beat UConn, but if she's losing to Chattanooga and LSU next year, then a better argument can be made regarding her lack of coaching ability than her results to date.
Sandvol
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Same if not more...Lauren Mincy, Malina Howard, Lexie Brown and Alicia DeVaughn were McD AAs. And Alyssa Thomas was far superior than anyone on that team. Maryland was preseason #5; Tennessee was preseason #20. Maryland clearly played below their level for good parts of the season. I'm sure that Brenda had lots of fans calling for her head before she marched her team to the Final Four.
Damn right they're gone. And Holly should beat Stanford this year (which I think she will), and the ND game should be 50-50.
Stanford, Notre Dame and who else? And she has as good a chance as any to beat both of them this year.
Holly has not lost to South Carolina, North Carolina, Rutgers
Holly has a winning record vs. LSU, TAMU, Texas and Vandy.
Holly is 1-2 vs. UK, but beat them last year in the SEC tournament when they were the preseason favorite to win SEC.
Holly is 1-2 vs. Chattanooga. Totally baffling and annoying, but insignificant in the grand scheme of how the team finishes.
Holly is 0-1 vs. Maryland, Louisville and Baylor...where each team had the best player on the court on their side.
Honestly, people make it sound a lot worse than it is.
Sandvol
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We have kind of hung in there in the SEC so far but still kind of shaky but we'll see about this year. I'm talking about the big out of conference games like ND, CONN(not played but they own us), Stanford, Baylor, Louisville, Maryland, Texas (now). Also for in conference she is 1-2 against Kentucky, 2-1 against TAMU (wouldn't call that owning), 1-1 against Vanderbilt (wouldn't call that owning). She is 2-0 against USC so far but we'll see if that continues. LSU has fallen but is still only 2-1 (not owning).
Sandvol
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My starting 5 right now would be Middleton-1, Nared-2, Jones-3, Graves-4, Harrison-5. Back-ups, Reynolds-1, Mass or Tucker-2, Dunbar-3, Burdick-4, Moore-5. We really need to start working these freshmen into starting rotation because they are substantially better than what we have. They just need experience. (Also, would have Carter rotate between 1 and 2. Love her defense and intensity.)
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mtsuraider06
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Sandvol
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The verdict is still out on Holly and will still be out IMO until she's at least had 4 years with her players. A coach should have the luxury to recruit, teach, and mentor their players to give their vision at least a chance to come together.
I will say again though that I'm a bit disappointed at the sluggish start. We were a pretty decent team last year and we just lost two players: one to graduation and one to injury. I thought we'd be a better unit than we have been so far.
After watching our game yesterday in person, I think I underestimated losing the two players we lost. My wife, who doesn't follow as closely as I do, made an apt, astute observation: there's no leadership and passion on the court. Having a scorer like Simmons helped us because she was looking to score. Sure, that came at the expense of some ill advised shots at time, but this year, no one on this team so far really looks to score IMO. And, the ones that do on occasion are pretty bad at it and it hurts us. It feels like we have a bunch of role players out there. Hopefully this will be remedied next year for at least 3 more years when DeShields plays.
Also, losing a big, inside presence like Mercedes is bad enough but when Izzy or Graves get hurt or in foul trouble, it's REALLY magnified.
I think the key to this team having a good season is making sure the ball goes inside. We started to do that the second half against Lipscomb. Then, hopefully the outside will open up and the guards can score by committee. But, my fear is we will turn the ball over too much trying to get it inside OR our post players will get hurt or in foul trouble and our guards will freeze up and be tentative. That's the vibe I've had so far early in the season. But, if they can figure out a way to make it work, that's the blueprint I believe to be competitive.
I will say again though that I'm a bit disappointed at the sluggish start. We were a pretty decent team last year and we just lost two players: one to graduation and one to injury. I thought we'd be a better unit than we have been so far.
After watching our game yesterday in person, I think I underestimated losing the two players we lost. My wife, who doesn't follow as closely as I do, made an apt, astute observation: there's no leadership and passion on the court. Having a scorer like Simmons helped us because she was looking to score. Sure, that came at the expense of some ill advised shots at time, but this year, no one on this team so far really looks to score IMO. And, the ones that do on occasion are pretty bad at it and it hurts us. It feels like we have a bunch of role players out there. Hopefully this will be remedied next year for at least 3 more years when DeShields plays.
Also, losing a big, inside presence like Mercedes is bad enough but when Izzy or Graves get hurt or in foul trouble, it's REALLY magnified.
I think the key to this team having a good season is making sure the ball goes inside. We started to do that the second half against Lipscomb. Then, hopefully the outside will open up and the guards can score by committee. But, my fear is we will turn the ball over too much trying to get it inside OR our post players will get hurt or in foul trouble and our guards will freeze up and be tentative. That's the vibe I've had so far early in the season. But, if they can figure out a way to make it work, that's the blueprint I believe to be competitive.
Tennessee hasn't "kind of hung in there in the SEC". They finished 1st and 2nd (but one the conference tourney) over the last two years. This year, they probably won't get either, but that has more to do with South Carolina than Tennessee.
Considering that she has 2 seasons under her belt, it would be hard to "own" anyone considering that she hasn't played more than 2-3 games against most of those teams. The same is true for 0-1 records against Louisville/Maryland in the tournament (I won't even bother with Baylor since Griner was there).
She's 2-1 vs. Texas and 2-0 vs. North Carolina. Both of those are good teams. Does that not count, or are her 2 wins vs. Texas discredited since she lost to them this year (without her starting and backup post player)?
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Sandvol
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I always felt Simmons disrupted the offense because no one ever knew what she was going to do and she didn't pass very well. She started doing that better last year in the second half of the season when Tennessee made their run but it went out the window against Maryland. I kind of wonder if the effects of Simmons are lingering in that during her 4-year tenure ball distribution and passing were poor.
Sandvol
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Simmons was not the problem against Maryland, everyone else was. Carter was a complete disaster in that game...couldn't defend Brown, and missed 2 wide open uncontested layups en route to a scoreless game. Burdick was getting tossed around by Thomas, Harrison was swallowed up by the Maryland trees, and Graves played scared sh!tless. The only player other than Simmons that was ready to play was Jasmine Jones.
For years, I agree that Simmons' penchant for taking shots early in the shot clock without getting her teammates involved was cancerous to the team dynamics. But coaching and players both are to blame. Pat/Holly should've put an end to that (and to be fair to Holly, she started doing that last year), but the other players needed to settle Simmons down. The problem was that the coaching staff (both Pat and Holly) and upperclassmen (Kinna, Glory, Angie, Taber) who all played with Meighan never did that, so she was pretty much doomed to fail.
Ariel gives them another playmaker and an outside threat. You can't cheat on her like you can with Andraya or Jordan. The threat of her outside shooting alone will help free up the inside; pair her with Alexa, and you've really opened things up. Add Jaime, who can shoot and drive, then it will make life much easier for Bashaara and Izzy.
Ariel should be the default guard, unless she's getting burned defensively, she's not scoring, and either Jordan or Andraya is able to slow down the opposing guard while putting some points up.
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