Kellie’s presser after Stetson game was particularly good

#2
#2
Love the part where they asked if she brought up the Stetson game last year. So telling that she took their emphatic “yes” at face value and didn’t push the issue.

I don’t believe I’ve heard a single “I don’t know” in a post game presser yet either. She has a firm answer for every questions and she’s confident in what she’s saying. Also love that she says “we” far more than she says “I.”
 
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#3
#3
VolBall09 said:
Love the part where they asked if she brought up the Stetson game last year. So telling that she took their emphatic “yes” at face value and didn’t push the issue.

I don’t believe I’ve heard a single “I don’t know” in a post game presser yet either. She has a firm answer for every questions and she’s confident in what’s she’s saying. Also love that she saw “we” far more than she says “I.”
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Coach Harper knows what needs to be done unlike Holly Warlick
 
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#6
#6
For those who like to compare last year’s defense to this year’s defensive effort, their Coach says she’s not sure if our defense was better, then proceeds to describe how it WAS better.

On if she thinks that Tennessee has improved defensively compared to last year:

"I don't know. I think they don't gamble as much. Last year they pressed us more. And I remember when they pressed us, they extended their defense to 94 feet, and we would score against their press. This year, they didn't do that. They didn't extend their defense. They made us play in the half court and made us score against their size. If they extend it, we would probably prefer that being the smaller team. This year they did not do that. They did not get up and press us. They played a straight man-to-man and played a very effective zone. They didn't let us get second or third shots. At that point, you are shooting a contested shot every possession. That is hard to score when they have three to four inches on us."
 
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#7
#7
It’s obvious that Coach Kellie began by coaching this team’s confidence, and it shows.


Here are 2 of Jaz’s comments:

On her level of comfort and playing the way she wants to play:
"I feel a lot more comfortable, especially with this team, and Coach Kellie makes it a lot easier to be comfortable with this team. She lets us know what we need to do and what she wants us to work on and different pieces that we need to do to put this team together."

On Jordan Horston's contribution to the team:
"She's a hooper. If you can hoop, you can hoop. We don't have low expectations for anybody on the team. We have high expectations for everybody on the team, so we expect the best from everybody who laces up.”
 
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#8
#8
The best part of the interview for me was when she said were gonna play mostly half court defense not extend with the press. I think the press has killed us more than it helped in the last past seasons. I am all for stopping a team in the half court being in rebounding position and allowing just one shot per possession.
 
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#9
#9
Volfan2012 said:
The best part of the interview for me was when she said were gonna play mostly half court defense not extend with the press. I think the press has killed us more than it helped in the last past seasons. I am all for stopping a team in the half court being in rebounding position and allowing just one shot per possession.
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At this early stage of development in a new system with a number of new players it is much better to become a unit, understand your role, & the other players around you before attempting more than occasional selective pressing. Also, with the bigs we have it is better to develop & utilize that strength in half court rather than have us beat on the way back at times early on, leaving the bigs vulnerable to being outquicked by some of the more experienced competition come SEC time.
 
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#10
#10
Volfan2012 said:
The best part of the interview for me was when she said were gonna play mostly half court defense not extend with the press. I think the press has killed us more than it helped in the last past seasons. I am all for stopping a team in the half court being in rebounding position and allowing just one shot per possession.
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Last season, we had a better mix of players to use in a pressing defense, with Meme, Cheriden Green, Westbook, Zaay, and Rennia. For a press to work, players have to be very disciplined in their positioning, blocking passing lanes, and not losing sight of cutters. Undisciplined press, where 3 players run at the ball handler and leave 60% wide open are not going to succeed very often and that was the LVs defense set in 2018-19.

For this current line-up, sitting back and making teams run half court makes more sense. On the other hand, I could see a line-up of Rae, Rennia, Jordan, and Massengill (with Key sitting back protecting the paint) being able to effectively apply some pressure here and there.

As many other things, having multiple defensive looks and being able to surprise teams with a different set could be advantageous.

But, I am sure Kellie is taking it one step at a time; first, we get consistent in our half court, then we expand our repertoire.
 
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#11
#11
madtownvol said:
Last season, we had a better mix of players to use in a pressing defense, with Meme, Cheriden Green, Westbook, Zaay, and Rennia. For a press to work, players have to be very disciplined in their positioning, blocking passing lanes, and not losing sight of cutters. Undisciplined press, where 3 players run at the ball handler and leave 60% wide open are not going to succeed very often and that was the LVs defense set in 2018-19.

For this current line-up, sitting back and making teams run half court makes more sense. On the other hand, I could see a line-up of Rae, Rennia, Jordan, and Massengill (with Key sitting back protecting the paint) being able to effectively apply some pressure here and there.

As many other things, having multiple defensive looks and being able to surprise teams with a different set could be advantageous.

But, I am sure Kellie is taking it one step at a time; first, we get consistent in our half court, then we expand our repertoire.
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I think Kellie has stuck to her word and is proving who she is to us as a coach. She said she was going to play a lot of people. Although us as fans would love to see blowouts she keeps playing players to get them experience when we could run up scores on teams✅ She said she is going to work on something til they are good at it. Well we have seen more half court defenses both man and zone when we could have pressed certain teams to make the score look better✅ She said she is going to play players who work and play hard. I am thinking sometimes we have seen players benched because they didn’t do and lived up to expectations✅

While the competition hasn’t been crazy hard I am glad to foundational pieces and standards are being upheld so that it carries over.
 
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#13
#13
madtownvol said:
On the other hand, I could see a line-up of Rae, Rennia, Jordan, and Massengill (with Key sitting back protecting the paint) being able to effectively apply some pressure here and there.

As many other things, having multiple defensive looks and being able to surprise teams with a different set could be advantageous.
Click to expand...

I’ve been thinking the same thing. My hope is that the team has already been developing a stout press that Kellie can have in her pocket ready to spring on an unsuspecting opponent at a crucial point in the season. Maybe some huge, important game when we desperately need a big stop and a breakaway layup to win it. And hopefully it’s a home game and I’ll be there to hear the arena explode in cheers.

:p
 
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#14
#14
madtownvol said:
Last season, we had a better mix of players to use in a pressing defense, with Meme, Cheriden Green, Westbook, Zaay, and Rennia. For a press to work, players have to be very disciplined in their positioning, blocking passing lanes, and not losing sight of cutters. Undisciplined press, where 3 players run at the ball handler and leave 60% wide open are not going to succeed very often and that was the LVs defense set in 2018-19.

For this current line-up, sitting back and making teams run half court makes more sense. On the other hand, I could see a line-up of Rae, Rennia, Jordan, and Massengill (with Key sitting back protecting the paint) being able to effectively apply some pressure here and there.

As many other things, having multiple defensive looks and being able to surprise teams with a different set could be advantageous.

But, I am sure Kellie is taking it one step at a time; first, we get consistent in our half court, then we expand our repertoire.
Click to expand...


Actually, as your last sentence says, that is exactly what Kellie is doing, as she says they have other options they’ll show in later games. In earlier interviews, she and players have said, they have to work on plays till they get it right, and before they move on to something new. Kellie is laying a confidence building solid foundation.


On playing more half-court defense and the overall defensive philosophy of her team:

"My philosophy has always been that you have to have a solid half-court defense. I think that's got to be your bread and butter, because there will be some teams you just can't press. And we are trying to get as many reps in our half-court man as we can. We do have some full-court opportunities to press. I think we can do a little bit better job of that. We also have some other options that we will put in games later that will show some different defenses, but as of right now, we are really working hard on that half-court man and our half-court zone. Our half-court 2-3 zone has been really positive for us."
 
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#15
#15
Bravo Kellie,,,you've grown up well and you learned the better characteristics of your teachers.
You are well spoken, quietly confident yet with the ability to be assertive.

The girls are growing and I can see it
more importantly, I can see growth in their learning
and that is attributed to the staff.

In the Game Thread I brought up "pressing" and now that I understand what you are trying to do, I am behind it.
The press-D is for overwhelming,,,not for use as a mainstay
You are perfecting the half-court D first...I am ok with that.
(PS,,,I would love to see a 3-1-1 half-court trap defense though)

The presser was excellent.
 
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#18
#18
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#21
#21
I think that pic has to be 77-78. I see Cindy Ely and Debbie Groover in the back row, and they were the freshmen class of 77-78. Warlick was a sophomore. Patricia Roberts was on the 76-77 team.
 
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