Media Picks Lady Vol Hoops

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#1
The Southeastern Conference released its 2013-14 Women's Basketball Preseason Media Poll, and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers have been picked to win the 2014 SEC title

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#2
#2
Does the SEC release the names and the breakdown of the voting of the panel of "SEC and national media members" of the panel? It would be interesting to see who rated the Lady Vols lowest.

Jim
 
#3
#3
Pardon my ignorance, what are our national expectations this year? Any chance of a final 4 or better?
 
#4
#4
The team made the Elite Eight last year. The losses were Kamiko Williams and Taber Spani. While I'm not going to suggest that two freshmen can come in and make up for the departure of two seniors, I think that the added experience of the upperclass and the qualities of the freshmen will make this a better team than last season's.

So, to answer your question, yes, this team has a definite chance of reaching the Final Four this year. Unfortunately, one stumbling block that the NCAA has seen fit to throw in the path this season is that the regional sites include two teams that made the Final Four last season (Notre Dame and Louisville) as well as perennial power, Stanford. The final regional slot is at Nebraska but I frankly expect that UConn will be in that region. We should get some idea of our regional chances since we play both Stanford and Notre Dame during the regular season.

It should be an interesting ride and I expect the most out of our Lady Vols!

Jim
 
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#5
#5
CannonVol80 said:
The team made the Elite Eight last year. The losses were Kamiko Williams and Taber Spani. While I'm not going to suggest that two freshmen can come in and make up for the departure of two seniors, I think that the added experience of the upperclass and the qualities of the freshmen will make this a better team than last season's.

So, to answer your question, yes, this team has a definite chance of reaching the Final Four this year. Unfortunately, one stumbling block that the NCAA has seen fit to throw in the path this season is that the regional sites include two teams that made the Final Four last season (Notre Dame and Louisville) as well as perennial power, Stanford. The final regional slot is at Nebraska but I frankly expect that UConn will be in that region. We should get some idea of our regional chances since we play both Stanford and Notre Dame during the regular season.

It should be an interesting ride and I expect the most out of our Lady Vols!

Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks for the breakdown!
 
#7
#7
CannonVol80 said:
Does the SEC release the names and the breakdown of the voting of the panel of "SEC and national media members" of the panel? It would be interesting to see who rated the Lady Vols lowest.

Jim
Click to expand...

that would be interesting to know
 
#8
#8
Going to be a very interesting year for sure. 10 players on the roster so staying healthy is a must. Lost a good amount of experience with Spani and Williams leaving, but add size with Russell and even at the 1/2 guard spot with Reynolds being ~5'10.
The Lady Vols also get A. Carter back, who missed basically all of last season with a shoulder injury.
SEC wise, definitely think this could be the year to win both regular season and tournament trophies.
Texas A&M and Kentucky both lost their best players to the draft, but both will still most likely be very tough opponents for the team.
LSU returns two of their best players and were a thorn in many teams' sides last season.
Hopefully this team can dominate the bottom of the leauge and avoid dropping games like they did to Mizzo last season.
 
#9
#9
Although Kentucky lost Mathies to graduation, they added Linnae Harper (a guard that I really wish had chosen TN) who may actually be more of an offensive threat.

I believe that the rule changes may have more of an impact than people might be thinking right now. Especially if the referees actually put more limits to the physical play in the post. I could see that being a significant advantage to Tennessee offensively. As far as the ten-second back court rule, that may be something of a mixed bag. Tennessee has the players to make a press work, but on the other hand our guards were flustered by the defensive pressure from a number of teams last season. Adding a ten-second rule may just make that worse. Hopefully, Holly and staff have been working on that with the team.

Jim
 
#10
#10
I agree about Harper. Her talents and international experience would have been a welcome addition here. If not her, the other player I regret that we didn't get is Tyler Scaife. She's a solution to a press. But I'm really looking forward to seeing Draya Carter fulfill the promise she showed early last season. Her grit will be a welcome return.
 
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#11
#11
CannonVol80 said:
Although Kentucky lost Mathies to graduation, they added Linnae Harper (a guard that I really wish had chosen TN) who may actually be more of an offensive threat.

I believe that the rule changes may have more of an impact than people might be thinking right now. Especially if the referees actually put more limits to the physical play in the post. I could see that being a significant advantage to Tennessee offensively. As far as the ten-second back court rule, that may be something of a mixed bag. Tennessee has the players to make a press work, but on the other hand our guards were flustered by the defensive pressure from a number of teams last season. Adding a ten-second rule may just make that worse. Hopefully, Holly and staff have been working on that with the team.

Jim
Click to expand...

Judging by the box score of both women and men exhibition games, I believe the new rules will hurt Kentucky. Hand checking/reaching is an automatic foul call. It will be intrestig to see how Mitchell and his team will adjust.

http://texassports_com.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/2013/10/31/Texas_vs_Midwestern_State.pdf?id=2602

Here is an example. 85 total FT's. MSU shot 47 of them
 
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