Game Thread: Winthrop v Lady Vols, Sun Dec 29th ; Home game; 2 PM Eastern; SEC+: win 114-50

[KnoxLikeUs]

We will soon find out. I could see teams strong on the low post giving us trouble, especially when possessions get more valuable and outside shooting becomes contested. We had a top 10 player as a bailout last year. Tcoop could be that player but time will tell. 10 and 6 would be good, really good and ahead of schedule.

Tennessee is not vulnerable in the low post. Don’t know why that’s a perception of the team. Again, acknowledging one or two factors from last season and disregarding nearly all the contributing factors of a deeper roster, more overall team athleticism, and talent this season is where some posters are showing bias against the current team just because they’ve had more success than expected by some. Lazaria Spearman, Ruby Whitehorn, and Samara Spencer have contributed just as much as Talaysia Cooper.
They don’t need one player to bail them out. And from a talent standpoint I’ll take 4-6 playmakers over one or two playmakers including a Top 10 player any day of the week.

 

[lvocd]

Bottom line: Nobody knows how the team will fare in conference play, and regardless of the final record, nobody could truly be shocked.

We could find out the players had way higher gears to shift into, but mentally had never felt pushed enough to get there. The team could, for all we know, end up running the table or, at worst, losing one or two games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

We could also find out that the team will be shell-shocked by the SEC gauntlet and lose half of their games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

I tend to lean toward them being somewhere in between at the end of regular season, but still have plenty left in the tank -- perhaps more than everyone else -- to go to in the post-season.

This season is already the most personally satisfying to me in a very, VERY long time, and believe it or not, part of the reason for that is BECAUSE of the mystery surrounding how they'll hold up in the SEC. Just about everyone who follows women's college basketball is aware and at least a little bit curious about whether this system can be successful against SEC opponents.

Granted, even in Tennessee's "down" years folks still pay attention to the program for lots of reasons, but the interest in Tennessee THIS year just feels ... different. And special.

Nobody knows, and that is exciting to me. Maddening, but exciting.

 

[lvocd]

Y'all, I just watched the replay, and on the one beautiful three Destinee Wells took and made, the announcer said, "Jewelllll Speeeeaaaarrrrr for the threeeeee!"

Dang. That hurt ME!

 

[TnVolsX4]

Tennessee is not vulnerable in the low post. Don’t know why that’s a perception of the team. Again, acknowledging one or two factors from last season and disregarding nearly all the contributing factors of a deeper roster, more overall team athleticism, and talent this season is where some posters are showing bias against the current team just because they’ve had more success than expected by some. Lazaria Spearman, Ruby Whitehorn, and Samara Spencer have contributed just as much as Talaysia Cooper.
They don’t need one player to bail them out. And from a talent standpoint I’ll take 4-6 playmakers over one or two playmakers including a Top 10 player any day of the week.

Agree that the rosters improved top to bottom and it's a lot more fun to watch but it's yet to see how that translates to a really good league schedule. I'm on board just a bit more realistic on where we are as a program. Half the league is in the top 25 right now.

 

[Coach Jumper]

 

[VolBall09]

Y'all, I just watched the replay, and on the one beautiful three Destinee Wells took and made, the announcer said, "Jewelllll Speeeeaaaarrrrr for the threeeeee!"

Dang. That hurt ME!

Yeah I didn’t like that either. Usually they’re very good about it, gotta give her credit. I’m glad she splashed the one she took.

Really a bummer she can’t get more minutes, she has a beautiful shot.

 

[Lucy]

Being ranked in the top 25 when the season ends and making the tourney. And being in every game.

We were 10-6 in conference play last year. If we match that we would have 22 wins. I think we lose at least 5 - OU, LSU, SC and Texas in the conference and also to UCONN. Beating and being competitive with any of those 5 teams would be a pleasant surprise. I think all of them will slow the pace and/or could blow us out if we go cold.

The early part of the schedule last year was brutal - this year much easier road to 12-0. I just can't judge whether this team is good or reaping the rewards of scheduling. I think they are ranked where they are because no one knows for sure.

The REAL season starts on Jan 2nd. We'll find out rather quickly.

Agree mostly but I think we upset at least one of the teams you mention and probably lose to someone we should beat.

 

[Dak1219]

Fingers crossed that her body just took more time than everyone else to get into Caldwell System basketball shape. If she can keep scoring and rebounding like she did today, she will be the difference in a couple of SEC games.

Kim recently said that we are a much better team when Sara Puckett is playing well and has continued to say that it was only a matter of time before she did. Maybe Sara is turning the corner at just the right time.

 

[RAVOL]

Very Impressed with our Team with so much more to build upon. I have seen enough to know if this team averages 10+ 3's shooting 35% range we will be tough to beat by everyone left on our schedule. We are getting better in half court with movement better at Defense and our Coach is like Pat never satisfied until season is done. Kim hates mistakes and losing more than success and winning. Oh many coaches say many things but you can see it in her eyes and demeanor while coaching . We may go 10-6 or 12-4 or 13-3 but believe me every team we play will struggle the next game with how we will run you and that is my question mark ️ the Thursday Sunday Grind in this new SEC. In CHRIST Alone

 

[Mafiaboss]

Seriously? SC, LSU and Texas not more talented? UCONN not more talented? And all of those teams have seasoned coaches who will be prepared for this brand of offense.

We are ranked due to the Iowa and FSU wins.

Do you really think our players from top to bottom can match up with SC, LSU, Texas and UCONN to name a few? We are NOT going to wear those teams down where we have it easy in the second half.

Yes. You need some perspective.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Kim recently said that we are a much better team when Sara Puckett is playing well and has continued to say that it was only a matter of time before she did. Maybe Sara is turning the corner at just the right time.

Agreed. But teams are going to work switches to get her isolated against speed (as Winthrop did today) and our help-defense is going to have to improve.

Teams have learned already how to spread out on offense so that our defenders have their backs turned to the lane or baseline. Expect a lot of backdoors against SEC teams until we become more constant scanners. (If this was WW1 instead of basketball, I think most of our roster would have been shot down already.)

A long way to go for this team to be tournament ready... but we have the time and the high ceiling to be a much better team by end of April.

Lovin' the ride so far!

 

[RAVOL]

Agreed. But teams are going to work switches to get her isolated against speed (as Winthrop did today) and our help-defense is going to have to improve.

Teams have learned already how to spread out on offense so that our defenders have their backs turned to the lane or baseline. Expect a lot of backdoors against SEC teams until we become more constant scanners. (If this was WW1 instead of basketball, I think most of our roster would have been shot down already.)

A long way to go for this team to be tournament ready... but we have the time and the high ceiling to be a much better team by end of April.

Lovin' the ride so far!

We definitely have our warts but so does everyone else and we will see theirs on film as well. Going to a fun ride. In CHRIST Alone

 

[volfan102455]

You just contradict your whole perspective.
You are doing exactly what you claim isn’t a strong predictor of success.
And you are consistently providing misinformation. Tennessee has not padded stats in any game this season.
They are playing the entire roster.
In games against tourney teams they played 11 players and maintain the same substitution pattern.
Just as you continue to see things from one perspective, Tennessee could easily manage to play better during conference play as they have in no-conference play.
You seem to not understand that what you are satisfied with is not set in reality.
The way you exaggerate and say things like “you don’t think Tennessee will cake walk through SEC competition” when nobody has even made that statement just minimizes your entire point.
I have acknowledged that on any given night a team can be beaten.

I was showing you the contradiction in your post with the Oklahoma example since you are sure we beat Texas because of an outcome of another games.

You seem to think we will have no problem with the SEC teams and should be able to easily beat SC, Texas, LSU etc. in the same manner we have beaten the 12 teams we have beaten. While I applaud the confidence, the truth is at this point we have only played 2 teams that are tourney worthy and only one of those teams is ranked, I believe at 25. Unlike last year, the non-conference schedule has not been loaded with top teams.

The next month will tell the tale. We play 4 top ten teams along with Vandy and Mississippi State who both only have 1 loss. We could easily come out of January with 4 losses - any more than that and it is going to be a long 3 months.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

I was showing you the contradiction in your post with the Oklahoma example since you are sure we beat Texas because of an outcome of another games.

You seem to think we will have no problem with the SEC teams and should be able to easily beat SC, Texas, LSU etc. in the same manner we have beaten the 12 teams we have beaten. While I applaud the confidence, the truth is at this point we have only played 2 teams that are tourney worthy and only one of those teams is ranked, I believe at 25. Unlike last year, the non-conference schedule has not been loaded with top teams.

The next month will tell the tale. We play 4 top ten teams along with Vandy and Mississippi State who both only have 1 loss. We could easily come out of January with 4 losses - any more than that and it is going to be a long 3 months.

Full of exaggerations and misinformation once again. I never said they would beat any team, I said they aren’t outmatched which clearly this team isn’t.
You keep talking about scenarios as if they can only occur one way, which in your mind is heavily swayed in every other team favor due to them being a SEC team but Tennessee. It’s always something about who they will play in the SEC and so forth as if these teams automatically will be prepared to face Tennessee.
Iowa was ranked #17 when Tennessee played them.
FSU started the season ranked #19 and only losses came to Tennessee and Illinois who has been ranked this season.
I don’t know why you keep forcing this discussion.
As I stated, believe what you want.

 

[volfan102455]

Bottom line: Nobody knows how the team will fare in conference play, and regardless of the final record, nobody could truly be shocked.

We could find out the players had way higher gears to shift into, but mentally had never felt pushed enough to get there. The team could, for all we know, end up running the table or, at worst, losing one or two games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

We could also find out that the team will be shell-shocked by the SEC gauntlet and lose half of their games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

I tend to lean toward them being somewhere in between at the end of regular season, but still have plenty left in the tank -- perhaps more than everyone else -- to go to in the post-season.

This season is already the most personally satisfying to me in a very, VERY long time, and believe it or not, part of the reason for that is BECAUSE of the mystery surrounding how they'll hold up in the SEC. Just about everyone who follows women's college basketball is aware and at least a little bit curious about whether this system can be successful against SEC opponents.

Granted, even in Tennessee's "down" years folks still pay attention to the program for lots of reasons, but the interest in Tennessee THIS year just feels ... different. And special.

Nobody knows, and that is exciting to me. Maddening, but exciting.

Quoting this because it says it all - we just don't know.

I do think the interest is related to the system that is being deployed and like you said seeing if it will hold up or turns out to be a gimmick type offense that won't work at this level.

There will be a level of success because it is different, and some teams may not be physically prepared but to think that the best coaches in the women's game won't have a game plan against this is crazy talk.

 

[madtownvol]

Just watched the game via the ESPN replay. 115 points with Cooper only scoring 6 is impressive in a certain kind of way, Particularly great outings for Sara, Kaniya, and Ruby,

This game felt very workmanlike. The overall intensity was lower and I don't mind really. They obviously know what is right around the corner and seemed like their mood, let's get this last tune-up over with and get to the real games. Against an overmatched team, the LVs should not have to approach the game like its a final four. The calmer offensive execution was actually better than in some games; they did get caught napping on some of those long ball plays but I expect the necessary "adjustments" will be made. At this point, the very best outcome for the LVs would be 12-0 and they have attained that, with an insane amount of transition to work through. Now the SEC gauntlet begins,

 

[chuckiepoo]

And you are consistently providing misinformation. Tennessee has not padded stats in any game this season.

There ya go, getting ironic again. The very nature of our schedule lends itself to an OOC stat pad, regardless of how deep Kim plays into the bench.

You strike me as someone that writes tripe for a political organization, either view, left or right, but certainly out at the fringe of the spectrum.

 

[chuckiepoo]

We will soon find out. I could see teams strong on the low post giving us trouble, especially when possessions get more valuable and outside shooting becomes contested. We had a top 10 player as a bailout last year. Tcoop could be that player but time will tell. 10 and 6 would be good, really good and ahead of schedule.

I had 10-6 as my expectation, anything less a slight disappointment, 11-5 or better, is in the ahead of schedule column.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

There ya go, getting ironic again. The very nature of our schedule lends itself to an OOC stat pad, regardless of how deep Kim plays into the bench.

You strike me as someone that writes tripe for a political organization, either view, left or right, but certainly out at the fringe of the spectrum.

Nothing ironic about it. Just say you disagree. You strike me as someone who gets aggravated if you can’t sway another person opinion.
Tons of things on here get posted that I disagree with.
It doesn’t bother me. I don’t take it personal. I don’t quote and constantly try to downplay how others think.
I simply post my thoughts as anyone else.
As for the topic, that is not even close to the definition of stat padding.
From someone who has played and coached sports, on no level of athletics would you tell or expect the 9th,10th,11th 12th,13th, or so on player on your roster to stop playing hard or don’t score even up 50 points.
Every single team in the Top 15 is playing their starters in the 3rd and 4th qtr in WBB regardless of the opponent.
So are they stat padding too?

 

[jsc1973]

Bottom line: Nobody knows how the team will fare in conference play, and regardless of the final record, nobody could truly be shocked.

We could find out the players had way higher gears to shift into, but mentally had never felt pushed enough to get there. The team could, for all we know, end up running the table or, at worst, losing one or two games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

We could also find out that the team will be shell-shocked by the SEC gauntlet and lose half of their games. We. Just. Don't. Know.

I tend to lean toward them being somewhere in between at the end of regular season, but still have plenty left in the tank -- perhaps more than everyone else -- to go to in the post-season.

This season is already the most personally satisfying to me in a very, VERY long time, and believe it or not, part of the reason for that is BECAUSE of the mystery surrounding how they'll hold up in the SEC. Just about everyone who follows women's college basketball is aware and at least a little bit curious about whether this system can be successful against SEC opponents.

Granted, even in Tennessee's "down" years folks still pay attention to the program for lots of reasons, but the interest in Tennessee THIS year just feels ... different. And special.

Nobody knows, and that is exciting to me. Maddening, but exciting.

They could be pretty darn good and still go .500 in the SEC this season. The conference is that good. I think they will do a little better than that, but they will lose some SEC games. I just hope like hell that when they do lose a few, we don't get the Chicken Little crap on this forum that we're seeing on any Tennessee football forums right now. Some teams will handle Tennessee's style well and others will have issues. (LSU, for one, I think is going to oblige the LVs at any pace they want to play at. Tennessee will need to score 120 to beat them.)

We know the level they are at right now. They beat Florida State by two and they beat Iowa by 10. They handily beat a few good mid-major teams who are in the 30-80 range, and they crushed the weak teams. That is the performance of a team in the 15-25 range nationally. The question is whether or not they have another gear to step up to. I think they do. No one is going to look forward to playing Tennessee in March.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Just watched the game via the ESPN replay. 115 points with Cooper only scoring 6 is impressive in a certain kind of way, Particularly great outings for Sara, Kaniya, and Ruby,

This game felt very workmanlike. At this point, the very best outcome for the LVs would be 12-0 and they have attained that, with an insane amount of transition to work through. Now the SEC gauntlet begins,

I watched the replay. I think Thursday night the LVs will put on a strong performance on the road in the SEC opener.

I’ve also watched other SEC games in the past few days SC, LSU,Texas, and Oklahoma. Getting ready to watch Ole Miss now.
I saw this mentioned somewhere else but there’s no way LSU can play the style of basketball that Tennessee does.
LSU is the team that’ll need to catch a break or two to stay in the Top 5 in the SEC. They are thinner in the post than any team in the Top 8 in the SEC and despite their reputation the guards aren’t particularly fast or have a height advantage against SEC teams.

That is why last season LSU took a step backwards without Alexis Morris.
Despite the even smaller stature Wilson is not as quick or athletic as Morris.
The fans say that their freshman PG should get minutes but I haven’t gotten a chance to watch her on the court much. Maybe they start clicking in SEC play we will see.

 

[HerdLVol]

I watched Maria’s highlights of the game after seeing the entire game live. Two things impressed me. Both Sarah and Tess have improved. They’re quicker than at the beginning of the season. Sarah actually looks slimmer to me. Tess is playing well both physically and mentally. Nice to see ladies.

 

[lvocd]

I watched Maria’s highlights of the game after seeing the entire game live. Two things impressed me. Both Sarah and Tess have improved. They’re quicker than at the beginning of the season. Sarah actually looks slimmer to me. Tess is playing well both physically and mentally. Nice to see ladies.

Agreed. Tess is one of the most court-savvy players who's ever been a Lady Vol. The thought always runs across my mind, every single game, that if Tess had been born with a Cooper/Kaniya physical makeup she'd be an all-American.

 

[LadyVol1908]

Am I the only one that thinks we’re going to compete for a conference championship?! I think we have what it takes to beat the top teams in the SEC! It may be my orange colored glasses, but this team is deep and talented!

The light bulb seems to be finally clicking for Sara and Jewel! I love Tess, but I’m going to wait and see what she does against the big girls, although I’m optimistic she’s going to show up in the big games with this system! I’m excited honestly, I think we mow through the SEC, with the exception of South Carolina, I’m sorry!

 

[HerdLVol]

Agreed. Tess is one of the most court-savvy players who's ever been a Lady Vol. The thought always runs across my mind, every single game, that if Tess had been born with a Cooper/Kaniya physical makeup she'd be an all-American.

Coach Kim said she coaches the team and gives directions when she’s out there.