Mizzou State Women Win Tourney at #3 Seed

#1
BruceInLouisville

BruceInLouisville

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#1
In the FWIW department:

The Missouri State women's team won their conference tournament as a #3 seed, beating the #1 seed Northern Iowa. Mizzou State now advances to the NCAA.

Why am I sharing this? Because our own Kellie (Jolly) Harper is the head coach, going there after she got let go by NC State a few years ago. She's doing a great job there, and I am always glad when a Lady Vol does well, especially in coaching.

And for those of you wanting to get rid of HCHW (which I'm not at this point), you might want to put Harper on your list of possible successors.
 
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#3
#3
I graduated from there. They prefer to be called Mo State, as Mizzou is the designation for that school up in Columbia.

The Lady Bears have a pretty rich women's basketball tradition for a mid-major school including 2 Final Four appearances.
 
#4
#4
To me she would be just an outstanding replacement for Holly.Hope that it takes place sooner rather than later.
 
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#5
#5
give_him 6 said:
I graduated from there. They prefer to be called Mo State, as Mizzou is the designation for that school up in Columbia.

The Lady Bears have a pretty rich women's basketball tradition for a mid-major school including 2 Final Four appearances.
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Didn't they used to be called SW Missouri State or something similar?
 
#7
#7
alexvol said:
To me she would be just an outstanding replacement for Holly.Hope that it takes place sooner rather than later.
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How do you come to that conclusion? Just curious. Is their record better, compared to the competition than the LV's record. Is their schedule rated #1 in the country? I won't make you look it up, their SOS is #140. I'm not saying she isn't a good coach, by far. Just, IMO, not in the same league for SEC coaches.
 
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#8
#8
Slydell said:
How do you come to that conclusion? Just curious. Is their record better, compared to the competition than the LV's record. Is their schedule rated #1 in the country? I won't make you look it up, their SOS is #140. I'm not saying she isn't a good coach, by far. Just, IMO, not in the same league for SEC coaches.
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She played for Coach Summitt on National Championship ball club .Probably the best point guard that has ever played for Lady Vols.She was head Coach at NC State following a legend there and was fired after three seasons and then went to SWMS where she has been head Coach for several seasons.I have watched her play and Coach for about 15 years now.She is fiery,has some Coach Summitt in her in motivation of the troops and she knows x's&o's on both ends of the court.In short she is a winner .
 
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#9
#9
I have watched Missouri State BB for several years and have seen Jolly take a bottom feeder program from the basement to the penthouse of the Valley. She has been able to do a great job with 2 stars and no stars. She has the potential to be a very good coach.

I am not saying that she should be Holly's replacement but someone needs to take over the LV program or Holly and her staff had better get good in a hurry. This program is in trouble. When you drop down to hoping you can get three stars into your program, you are in trouble. Not only did we throw a donut for 2016 do we have any verbals for 2017? Kentucky and USC already have 2017 verbals. Throwing players under the bus for bad playing efforts is only a bad excuse for the bad coaching job of Holly and her staff. Yes, Holly will get another year, that is a reality, however, at the rate we are descending to an also ran program, Holly and her staff will need to make major changes in their coaching and recruiting methods.
 
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#10
#10
Slydell said:
How do you come to that conclusion? Just curious. Is their record better, compared to the competition than the LV's record. Is their schedule rated #1 in the country? I won't make you look it up, their SOS is #140. I'm not saying she isn't a good coach, by far. Just, IMO, not in the same league for SEC coaches.
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You might try telling that to the two SEC coaches her team beat this year...on the road...including a 15-point win over a team that beat us this year.

If she's not SEC material yet, then neither is Matt Insell nor Jimmy Dykes.

Nor Holly Warlick.

You don't think Kellie could have done a far better job than Holly with Lady Vol talent? And just might have been able to land a top 100 recruit?

I'd take that bet in a heartbeat.
 
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#11
#11
Congratulations, Kellie, Jon, Jackie, & Lady Bears!

I believe it was Pat who said that Kellie was like an extension of herself when Kellie was on the court. I'd like to see her continue that tradition on the sidelines.
 
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#12
#12
Slydell said:
How do you come to that conclusion? Just curious. Is their record better, compared to the competition than the LV's record. Is their schedule rated #1 in the country? I won't make you look it up, their SOS is #140. I'm not saying she isn't a good coach, by far. Just, IMO, not in the same league for SEC coaches.
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The thing about Kelly is she is out there accomplishing something on her own. She wasn't handed anything. She has learned how to be a head coach and how to get teams who weren't going to the NCAA tournament into the tournament. That is something more than Holly has ever done.
 
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#13
#13
Only bad part is their offense is the exact same as the Lvs I just watched 5 mins of their Stanford tape
 
#15
#15
Hopefully we want have to play them they beat Wichita State by 20 and we won by single digits.
 
#16
#16
Sandvol said:
So you think if Holly just changes her offense then everything will be fine?
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Holly needs a brand new staff then let her assistants work while she does nothing but become what she always wants to do is be the players friend
 
#19
#19
While Kellie Harper is a much better coach than HW, her recruiting ability remains a suspect. KH got let go by NC State after 4 yrs mainly b/c she couldn't recruit top players come to play for the Wolfpack. And as a result she simply didn't win enough games in the very competitive ACC. KH took the Wolfpack to only one NCAAT in her very first season, but couldn't sustain the success. If you are at a storied, proud and nationally-renown program such as NC State, you should be able to bring in a top 25 recruiting class year in and year out but KH just couldn't do it for whatever reasons. Her recruiting classes were rated somewhere in #60 range annually. That's Pitiful considering her competition. Her successor at NC State, Wes Moore, the former Chattanooga coach, however, is recruiting much better signing bunch of top 40-100 players year after year, and look out he can flat out coach. NC State will be back on the national scene very shortly.

I think Kellie Harper is a good Mid-Major coach as she has already proven at Western Carolina and MO State now. Before we entertain any thought of hiring KH here after firing HW and getting rid of her incompetent staff, we should evaluate and see first how KH can recruit at a Hi-Major program. She's still young and smart. And her learning curve might be very stiff.
 
#20
#20
I am not trying to bash Harper, but she was fired at NC State (ACC) because she could not win. Now, all of a sudden, Harper is an excellent coach. I don't get it.
 
#21
#21
Franklin Pierce said:
I am not trying to bash Harper, but she was fired at NC State (ACC) because she could not win. Now, all of a sudden, Harper is an excellent coach. I don't get it.
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Did you see any of her teams play at NCS ? She followed a legend who died of cancer and the cupboard was left relatively bare .In short she was not given time to bring in her own recruits.

As to the earlier post about not being able to recruit ,that is an absolute mis-statement .Put at UT and see how she can recruit.
 
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#22
#22
alexvol said:
Did you see any of her teams play at NCS ? She followed a legend who died of cancer and the cupboard was left relatively bare .In short she was not given time to bring in her own recruits.

As to the earlier post about not being able to recruit ,that is an absolute mis-statement .Put at UT and see how she can recruit.
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I followed Kellie Harper's career rather closely while she was at NC State, and it was apparent that she couldn't recruit top players to NC State constantly losing recruiting battlers to neighbors UNC, Duke and other top-tier teams in the ACC. If you are at a powerhouse program in the ACC with all the history/tradition and resources available you gotta do much better than that. Her biggest problem was that she wasn't able to lure top in-state players to come to State which is quite baffling. The state of NC is rather talent-rich in HSWBB, and if you are able to recruit a couple of top in-state talents plus one or two more from the surrounding southeastern states, then your recruiting class is set and guaranteed to be one of the best in the nation. But KH wasn't able to do that, and her successor Wes Moore is doing exactly that in his short stint at NC State. When the legendary coach Kay Yow was alive, that's what she did exactly too recruiting-wise building the Wolfpack program into becoming a perennial NCAAT participant, top 3 programs in the competitive ACC and obviously one of the most respected WBB programs in the nation.

It's been awhile so I don't remember exactly what her first year team at NC State was comprised of, but KH inherited a talented team with some great guards in Nikkita Gartrell (a top 30 recruit), Amber White (a top 50 recruit) and Marissa Kastanek (ACC Freshman of the Year), etc. Indeed, the cupboard wasn't bare at all even with the former coach Kay Yow battling the deadly breast cancer for years, and the team constantly having to adjust and go through the transition period of welcoming a new leadership from time to time. It's no coincidence that KH had her best year at NC State in that initial year--the program wasn't falling apart at all when KH moved there from Western Carolina. And the fans and the administration all desperately wanted KH to succeed.

Not all good mid-major coaches who move on to a bigger high-profiled hi-major school succeed. Some are better suited for tenure at a mid-major for lifetime. I would reserve my judgement and support on KH until she can prove that she's a good recruiter at a P5 conference school. Then we can entice her to come to UT which I'm sure she'll oblige with open heart. If and when KH comes back to Rocky Top, then she and her husband Jon will be UT's third tandem of wife-and husband co-coaches after Ralph and Karen Weekly of Sofball and Mike and Sonia Hahn-Patrick of women's tennis. As far as I'm concerned, that can't happen soon enough.
 
#23
#23
2Alum4EverVol said:
I followed Kellie Harper's career rather closely while she was at NC State, and it was apparent that she couldn't recruit top players to NC State constantly losing recruiting battlers to neighbors UNC, Duke and other top-tier teams in the ACC. If you are at a powerhouse program in the ACC with all the history/tradition and resources available you gotta do much better than that. Her biggest problem was that she wasn't able to lure top in-state players to come to State which is quite baffling. The state of NC is rather talent-rich in HSWBB, and if you are able to recruit a couple of top in-state talents plus one or two more from the surrounding southeastern states, then your recruiting class is set and guaranteed to be one of the best in the nation. But KH wasn't able to do that, and her successor Wes Moore is doing exactly that in his short stint at NC State. When the legendary coach Kay Yow was alive, that's what she did exactly too recruiting-wise building the Wolfpack program into becoming a perennial NCAAT participant, top 3 programs in the competitive ACC and obviously one of the most respected WBB programs in the nation.

It's been awhile so I don't remember exactly what her first year team at NC State was comprised of, but KH inherited a talented team with some great guards in Nikkita Gartrell (a top 30 recruit), Amber White (a top 50 recruit) and Marissa Kastanek (ACC Freshman of the Year), etc. Indeed, the cupboard wasn't bare at all even with the former coach Kay Yow battling the deadly breast cancer for years, and the team constantly having to adjust and go through the transition period of welcoming a new leadership from time to time. It's no coincidence that KH had her best year at NC State in that initial year--the program wasn't falling apart at all when KH moved there from Western Carolina. And the fans and the administration all desperately wanted KH to succeed.

Not all good mid-major coaches who move on to a bigger high-profiled hi-major school succeed. Some are better suited for tenure at a mid-major for lifetime. I would reserve my judgement and support on KH until she can prove that she's a good recruiter at a P5 conference school. Then we can entice her to come to UT which I'm sure she'll oblige with open heart. If and when KH comes back to Rocky Top, then she and her husband Jon will be UT's third tandem of wife-and husband co-coaches after Ralph and Karen Weekly of Sofball and Mike and Sonia Hahn-Patrick of women's tennis. As far as I'm concerned, that can't happen soon enough.
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First of all NC State as of late wouldn't be classified as a powerhouse program in the ACC. The conference has been dominated by UNC and Duke. Also, Harper is still young and is probably growing as a coach. She can coach. No doubt about it. She does have to learn to recruit. I'd take a chance on her if I were UT decision makers. Even if she couldn't get great players you wouldn't be frustrated by her inability to coach. I still like Gail Goestenkors though.
 
#24
#24
Sandvol said:
First of all NC State as of late wouldn't be classified as a powerhouse program in the ACC. The conference has been dominated by UNC and Duke. Also, Harper is still young and is probably growing as a coach. She can coach. No doubt about it. She does have to learn to recruit. I'd take a chance on her if I were UT decision makers. Even if she couldn't get great players you wouldn't be frustrated by her inability to coach. I still like Gail Goestenkors though.
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As of late, it is not, but historically-speaking NC State WBB is a top 20, top 25 program on par with UNC and Duke. UNC, and particularly Duke WBB is a relative newcomer to the scene in comparison to NC State. The #1 program in the ACC is, however, Virginia for sure, the alma mater of Dawn Staley. When former coach Debby Ryan was coaching up until a few yrs ago, the program went to many F4s and dominated the conference on yearly basis, always outpacing NC State and Maryland Terps for the conference titles as it seemed.

I used to like coach G but after her failure at Texas, I'm not too sure if we want her here. She had every reasons to succeed at Texas, but couldn't.
 
#25
#25
Congrats to Kellie & Lady Bears for their showing against Aggies yesterday. Sure, A&M were short two starters (including star player), but it was still an uphill climb for Mo State. They were only down by two at the half, were outscored by 15 in third, and outscored A&M by 8 in the fourth.

Seniors did almost all the scoring, which could mean a lean year next season. We'll see if this year's success pays off in terms of Harper's recruiting efforts (which seem to be the biggest knock against her on this board).

Really good article from last Friday about Harper's relationship with the team & what others around Mo State are saying about her:

Harper has Lady Bears back where they belong
 
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