Nell Fortner, "There are 5 Teams that can beat South Carolina"

[teacherdean]

You are right and I have allowed Darth to bring me down to his level. I don't like going to that level, but posters like Darth tries their best to insult when there is no call for it. Just tell a person he is wrong, give your opinion and let it go.

 

[LurkerExposed]

I had a chance to hear Nell Fortner's forecast of who has a very good chance of beating South Carolina and guess what, not a single team located in the State of Tennessee. Here is her list, UCONN, Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Kentucky. She did not even mention Tennessee and Coach Holly as having a snowball's chance in hades. Well Nell we can't say a whole lot about your college coaching, that's right after the Alburn experience you headed to the booth. Well I am glad, even Kara Lawson, that there are a lot of gurus giving us not one iota of a chance. Just maybe this will tick the players off and they can play like underdogs with the will to win and Holly will coach ever game as if her coaching life depended upon her winning. The ladies and coaches are disrespected on the big stage. We need to show them that there is a 6th team that can and will beat South Carolina.

Actually, I have to agree with Darth Vol here: this OP post is borderline moronic. It's quite possible that the OP didn't even watch the video....

"...guess what, not a single team located in the State of Tennessee...She did not even mention Tennessee and Coach Holly as having a snowball's chance in hades..."

I mean, forget whether or not the OP had an agenda for posting this thread, but WTF?? Fortner talks about the next 12 opponents on USC's schedule, beginning with Auburn (the video was aired on December 23rd, I'm assuming). Uhhh, South Carolina doesn't PLAY ANY TEAM THAT RESIDES IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE in it's next 12 games, including Auburn. The first TN program for USC to play (Vanderbilt) is actually 13th on the list - now 12th since USC beat Auburn tonight. So why bemoan Fortner's omission of the Vols??

"...Well Nell we can't say a whole lot about your college coaching, that's right after the Alburn experience you headed to the booth..."

Why get all upset and mad at Nell Fortner that you (the OP) have to belittle her? She hasn't said a thing about Tennessee - good or bad - because in the context of what she's talking about, Tennessee doesn't play a part. So there's no evidence here that she is even dissing the Vols. So why diss her?

"...Well I am glad, even Kara Lawson, that there are a lot of gurus giving us not one iota of a chance. Just maybe this will tick the players off and they can play like underdogs with the will to win and Holly will coach ever game as if her coaching life depended upon her winning..."

OK, the OP is glad. Good. But....glad about what? And just what is this "chance" here that the OP refers to, that all these "gurus" are not giving the OP and his/her Lady Vols? Chance to do what? Chance to be one of the next 12 opponents on South Carolina's schedule - including Auburn - to have a shot at beating them? Well, that's NOT Nell Fortner's fault, that's the fault of whoever schedules Tennessee's basketball schedule for this season. But the OP didn't start a thread railing at some poor UT SID. Why not?

And the OP thinks the Vol players should be ticked off by this? Again - as with the OP - why would they be ticked off at Nell Fortner? Why weren't they ticked off to begin with: they knew very well before the season started that they wouldn't play South Carolina before February 12th, the day USC plays LSU, the 12th opponent on their schedule when Fortner made her forecast. So if the UT players had all this time to get "ticked off" over this scheduling FUBAR, but obviously haven't let it affect them (otherwise the OP wouldn't be talking about it happening in the future), then why isn't THE OP railing at THEM?!?! Instead of - again - at poor little Nell?

IMO, the OP seems to be lashing out at all the innocents in this dreadful drama, instead of who TRULY deserves his/her acid contempt. Or perhaps, he/she just started a rant thread about that which he/she is not very well informed....

 

[LurkerExposed]

And now, my opinion of Fortner's forecast:

It's true that of the 12 opponents that Fortner was reviewing, there's very few of them that one could make a serious presentation as being a threat to USC. Alabama just lost to UK 78-66 at home. After starting out strong and taking a lead into the halftime, Bama was out-scored by UK 50-30 in the 2nd half as the Wildcats won going away. UGA also lost - 64-56 on MSU's home floor, in a tougher contest.

Alabama is now 11-5, but have played up until now a terribly weak schedule, ranking 298th in SOS out of 349 teams. And UGA is now 12-2 with a SOS ranked 225th. Neither team in my view was expected to continue their OOC success far into conference play.

Last season Bama lost @ USC by 26 points. This season they'll play USC twice, with both games within and part of the "Fortner 12". I expect USC to sweep both games.

The UK game on the 11th will be in Columbia in the Colonial Life Arena. USC swept UK in both their regular season games last season, but the Wildcats rose up and beat the Gamecocks in the 2nd round of the SECT. UK is a guard-oriented lineup that is geared to play a tough man-press defense, create turnovers and run run run at the boards. Sort of like how Auburn has been fashioned (USC beat AU 77-58 tonight).

Dawn Staley has sought to establish the CLA as a menacing venue for visiting teams to win in: they went 16-0 there last season, and 13-3 the year before (they lost those games to then-No. 1 Stanford 53-49, 73-53 to #12 Tennessee, and 50-48 to #14 Texas A&M). Tonight they hosted Auburn in front of 16,465 passionate fans. UK has had some of their own games in front of large crowds when they played in Rupp, but it may be a bit tougher on the road with the crowd hostile.

Texas A&M - like UK - is also a strong possibility: USC hasn't had a long series history with the Aggies, but they have had some hard-fought battles in the few games they have played. In 2012-13, as mentioned above they lost to the Aggies 50-48 in the CLA, then lost again in that season's SECT 61-52. Last season they traveled to College Station and lost in Overtime 67-65. So this season in the CLA, it should be another great match-up. But the good thing is again: it will be in Columbia...

The game versus UGA will be in Athens. UGA has had a long history of 20+ win-seasons and NCAA tournament appearances. Even when USC was not as strong a program as it is now, the games with UGA have been fiercely fought, with both programs being so close together and recruiting out of each other's regions. The last games played have been thus:

13-14: (Columbia) USC 67-56
13-14: (NCAAT) USC 67-48
12-13: (Athens) UGA 42-40
11-12: (Columbia) UGA 61-59
11-12: (NCAAT) USC 59-55

So I expect this season's game to be also a very tightly contested game. Still think UGA hasn't played an opponent like USC thus far, and before the Bulldogs host the Gamecocks, they will have to play Texas A&M, @ UT, and @ UK immediately before playing USC. They could be a little bit shell-shocked by then....

 

[Darth_Vol]

 

[Majac]

I think if you listened closely you would have heard her say "in their next 12 games, the 5 teams that could beat SC....." Tennessee was not mentioned because they were not in that 12 game span. I guess the complainers only hear what they want to hear.