Next yr starting 5

[glv98]

How I wish for a board on board rule! I hate that well over half the posts are nanny nanny boo boo he said they said, etc, etc.

It's a trap for KJH that her harshest detractors use - if she goes FF and/or natty, ok she did her job. Anything short of that and she's not up to the job. IMO that's not entirely fair. That said, this season is going to begin to show if she can coach elite talent on an elite level. She's never had that opportunity before. Reasonable to think she can and will since she's knocked both culture-building and lord knows recruiting right out of the park.

But it's a big job with alot of potential pitfalls. She's never managed a roster with this much talented depth. The vaunted LV team chemistry, the very reason some of the big recruits came, is going to be tested. Also, while very talented, it will be a group of main players who have never played together.

I hope the LVs keep an underdog, up and coming, still have to prove we belong mindset. IMO "now or never" is exactly the wrong head for them to be in. Keep moving the wagon forward and lets see what happens.

 

[madtownvol]

It is a fan board, where posters are still allowed opinions, right? Without being told to go play with themselves?

I agree that the automatic natty talk is a little crazed at this point, but of course understandable amidst the excitement of a jaw dropping recruiting season for this staff. I'm putting the brakes on a bit in my personal assessment bc so very much is unproven. What I see happening is over excited fans with expectations that will lead to calls of underachievement if the F4/Natty doesn't happen. And that won't necessarily be the case, and not fair to KJH.

Also, we may be having the usual tendency to overhype every recruit/transfer who signs the papers. Some won't be the perfect fit or perfect piece we were dreaming of. I don't think its nay-saying, pessimism or any of that. Just our honest way of looking at things. That ok?

I too agree that projections of an undefeated season are hyperbolic. What the LVs have done is created a team that, on paper, looks they have both the depth and quality to compete with the elite programs. Last year, we were just a bit short on quality, particularly after Rae went down (but they made up for some offensive shortfalls through superhuman defensive efforts). The LVs depth was lacking and it took just a few injuries to knock the team from their tenuous grip on a top 5 ranking.

The enthusiasm reflects that via recruiting and the portal, the LVs appear to have redressed every weakness that impeded them last season (and we have an incoming group of very experienced sophomores to go along with the junior and seniors players.

Of course, the season will turn on on whether or not the team gels but that cliched warning to every team, every season. The LVs do have a lot of new additions and it might be a few weeks into the season before we really start to see what they can be.

That said, I am confident that Kellie and staff have not recruited willy nilly and have brought in players who they believe will buy into the team concept. These are not Holly's vols where the team devolved into a group of individuals, many of whom seemed to harbor animosity toward each other.

Your warning about high expectations being used to proclaim the team a disappointment is well taken. The troll crowd and the anti-Kellie types are likely queuing up for that. Let's say, the LVs finish 2nd to SC in the confernece and get beat in the elite 8. Realistically, that finish would be a forward step in the re-building process but this board will predictably meltdown if that were to be the outcome.

But, if you are looking at pre-season favorites to make a final 4s, assuming no injuries to key players (which we know is no guarantee), this LV should make the list. Recruiting success does raise hopes. On that point, Jordan Horston became "that player" before our eyes last season. I think she can be a Holdsclaw or Catching caliber game changing player next season, and she will be playing along side another game changer in Rickea, with the human block party guarding the paint and a quality 6-5 back-up post filling in the gaps. And now we have some added outside shooting threats and upgraded at PG. It would be disappointing if this team, as currently configured does not kick down that final four barrier next season. Now, that dissappointing outcome would not mean that Kellie has "failed"--the fact that she has raised the bar of expectations points to just the opposite conclusion. Rebuilding is a process. We seem to be getting ahead of schedule but fan dreams, expectations may indeed run a little ahead of the actual state of things.

 

[glv98]

It would be disappointing if this team, as currently configured does not kick down that final four barrier next season. Now, that dissappointing outcome would not mean that Kellie has "failed"--the fact that she has raised the bar of expectations points to just the opposite conclusion. Rebuilding is a process. We seem to be getting ahead of schedule but fan dreams, expectations may indeed run a little ahead of the actual state of things.

Depends on how failure to knock down FF barrier happens. And on what happens during the season. We'll know disappointing when we see it.

Also we don't "know" know that we've upgraded outside shooting or pg. We've heard that we should have, but we've heard that so, so many times before. Imma have to see it.

Overall I get the excitement and hype, but still surprised to see someone like you brush off some real talk as the usual "nay saying".

 

[lvocd]

How I wish for a board on board rule! I hate that well over half the posts are nanny nanny boo boo he said they said, etc, etc.

It's a trap for KJH that her harshest detractors use - if she goes FF and/or natty, ok she did her job. Anything short of that and she's not up to the job. IMO that's not entirely fair. That said, this season is going to begin to show if she can coach elite talent on an elite level. She's never had that opportunity before. Reasonable to think she can and will since she's knocked both culture-building and lord knows recruiting right out of the park.

But it's a big job with alot of potential pitfalls. She's never managed a roster with this much talented depth. The vaunted LV team chemistry, the very reason some of the big recruits came, is going to be tested. Also, while very talented, it will be a group of main players who have never played together.

I hope the LVs keep an underdog, up and coming, still have to prove we belong mindset. IMO "now or never" is exactly the wrong head for them to be in. Keep moving the wagon forward and lets see what happens.

I agree with all this -- 100%.

But I still think it's way normal, and probably more expected now than ever after having gone through the down years, that fans are going to go a little nuts. It's finally FUN to watch the team again. And it's finally not totally impossible to imagine them in the Final Four at some point in the not-too-distant future. Gawd knows that, even though I love the Lady Vols as much as anyone, it wasn't too long ago I was firmly in the 'Love Holly but she was NEVER head coach material" camp because I could not even imagine the program woukd be able to come back from that.

But here we are. We're seeing kids excited to be at Tennessee again, and seeing regular, obvious improvements all across the program. It's kinda hard to keep the positive hyperbole down when we'd suffered so long. Ugh.

But yes, I do agree that too-high expectations bring out the worst in fans if those expectations aren't met. But again, it's not usually the "Alskirock"s who come back and trash the program after losses. It's that same handful of consistently negative posters who seem to lie in wait and hoping for the opportunity to tell everyone how stupid they were to have been so excited.

It's more about the spirit in which criticism is given rather than the criticism itself.

 

[madtownvol]

Depends on how failure to knock down FF barrier happens. And on what happens during the season. We'll know disappointing when we see it.

Also we don't "know" know that we've upgraded outside shooting or pg. We've heard that we should have, but we've heard that so, so many times before. Imma have to see it.

Overall I get the excitement and hype, but still surprised to see someone like you brush off some real talk as the usual "nay saying".

On the first point, let's trace the thread. Voluble2 offered a really clear eyed assessment of how players could fit together, those that might find it hard to crack the main rotation, and and concluded that this should be Kellie's best LV team. And if you look at the roster, it would take a lot of creative work to argue against that assessment. Another poster fired back about what is with all this NC talk! (which was not part of Voluble@'s post at all), I need to see this team perform under the bright lights against Stanford and so on. I agree with LVOCD that such a response reads like someone going out of his/her way to rain on the parade.

All off seasons involve projections. So, the projections are that Pissott should help with outside shooting and that Rickea should provide offensive punch and that Powell should stabilize the PG slot. Of course, it does not become a reality till becomes a reality (or fails to materialize) but such is the nature of off season speculations.

In other posts, to be clear, I too have rejected the "final four or bust" standard. The LVs could win the SEC title and then get upset in the great 8 match and one should take the season to have been on balance as a good one that ended on a disappointing note.

At some level, except for the NC team, every season ends on a disappointing note but that does not mean failure in the grand scheme.

I am trying to walk a fine line between, as you warn, letting anti-Kellie crowd raise the bar so high that they scream "failure" at anything less than a perfect season and optimism that this team should be the best one since the elite 8 Glory Johnson years, with real potential for a Final four (if knock wood, a little good fortune goes the LVs way, unlike last season where it seemed to be broken mirrors and black cats everywhere you turned).

 

[alexvol]

Yeah, well, this is a fan board. Getting excited about their team and how much better it is than every body else's is just kinda what fans do.

If you prefer a cautious, conservative, pessimistic approach to discussing sports, I suggest instead of coming here, you sit yourself in front of a mirror and then the two of you can get this program all figured out.

I appreciate your offer to ban myself from the board but respectfully decline.

You are free to have your opinion and I am free ....last time I looked at the rules for posting ......to have mine.

 

[alexvol]

Here's the thing about alexvol. Over many, many years, his posts have been 99.9% negative -- the type of droning negativity that, given the volume and consistency, comes across more like a person who is not one bit interested in seeing the program succeed or even for its followers to feel any joy for following it.

There are only fewer than one handful of people like that on here, but it really does get old when, even in happy times of great succeses, people like that come across like moles from other fanships who hope their negativity will bring the program down somehow.

I got sick of it there and commented with MY opinion.

Is that okay with YOU?

You are dead wrong on your observations......

 

[alexvol]

It is a fan board, where posters are still allowed opinions, right? Without being told to go play with themselves?

I agree that the automatic natty talk is a little crazed at this point, but of course understandable amidst the excitement of a jaw dropping recruiting season for this staff. I'm putting the brakes on a bit in my personal assessment bc so very much is unproven. What I see happening is over excited fans with expectations that will lead to calls of underachievement if the F4/Natty doesn't happen. And that won't necessarily be the case, and not fair to KJH.

Also, we may be having the usual tendency to overhype every recruit/transfer who signs the papers. Some won't be the perfect fit or perfect piece we were dreaming of. I don't think its nay-saying, pessimism or any of that. Just our honest way of looking at things. That ok?

Well said.

 

[dapeak]

In the last month, the Lady Vols have gone from fan talk of, "I hope they are good enough this season to compete with South Carolina", to talk of a final four and an undefeated season, by some posters...

Also, the talk about how Kellie can't recruit has changed to "Holy Cow, what fantastic transfer recruits!!!"

Coach Kellie has brought in foot speed, and girls that can shoot the long ball...And girls that can rebound too!!!!

A facsimile of typical lady Vol fans when they heard about Jillian Hollingshead joining the team...

Your use of Beyoncé…

 

[Darth_Vol]

You are dead wrong on your observations......

Pretty consistent theme with that one...

 

[Volfaninfl2]

Horston and Marta scores more than that. Marta was averaging 10 point a game and Horston averaged 20 point

Jordan Horston Stats, News, Bio | ESPN
Marta Suarez Stats, News, Bio | ESPN

 

[sisaq]

Jordan Horston Stats, News, Bio | ESPN
Marta Suarez Stats, News, Bio | ESPN

Ya but I don't believe ESPN. Same ESPN that rated all Uconn players high and when Paige went down with injury team shot down.

 

[Volfaninfl2]

Ya but I don't believe ESPN. Same ESPN that rated all Uconn players high and when Paige went down with injury team shot down.

Understand your feelings of ESPN, but these are the players’ actual numbers, not ESPN opinion.

 

[37620VOL]

My projected rotation for next year. I see very few weaknesses. I prefer lineup #1 because it keeps at least one excellent shooter on the court at all times. This team is going to be excellent at cutting and slashing but there always needs to be a good kick out option to keep the defense honest, providing a dangerous outlet when double-teamed. Lineup#2 presents an opportunity to overwhelm the opponent with size. If you wanted to go Super Size ... Horston could run point and sub in Puckett for Powell - that would be a huge lineup. 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, 6-5, 6-6



If there are any post injuries, I think Franklin can plug-in.

 

[LadyVol1908]

My projected rotation for next year. I see very few weaknesses. I prefer lineup #1 because it keeps at least one excellent shooter on the court at all times. This team is going to be excellent at cutting and slashing but there always needs to be a good kick out option to keep the defense honest, providing a dangerous outlet when double-teamed. Lineup#2 presents an opportunity to overwhelm the opponent with size. If you wanted to go Super Size ... Horston could run point and sub in Puckett for Powell - that would be a huge lineup. 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, 6-5, 6-6

View attachment 452430

If there are any post injuries, I think Franklin can plug-in.

No Wynn?

 

[therickbol]

No Wynn?

Would be surprised to see her get minutes with the roster additions. She is just too limited offensively.

 

[TheMississippiVol]

Wynn will play a lot this season. Franklin might sit out to start the season depending on her recovery but once she’s cleared this player will compete for a starting position.

 

[37620VOL]

No Wynn?

Not in the rotation at all, unless there are multiple injuries... And that is why this team will be better. Tess, Suarez, and Striplin may struggle to find minutes in tight games as well.

I would encourage a redshirt year to completely rework Wynn's shot; it's a mess.

 

[TheMississippiVol]

Good thing you aren’t on the staff. She’s an asset and will see the floor early and often as a sophomore.

 

[lvocd]

I'm thoroughly enjoying all the excitement here at VolNation for our Lady Vols. Even though we're all mostly just repeating ourselves, with MAYBE a character or two difference in posts, I'm reading every one!

 

[NoBackBoard]

My projected rotation for next year. I see very few weaknesses. I prefer lineup #1 because it keeps at least one excellent shooter on the court at all times. This team is going to be excellent at cutting and slashing but there always needs to be a good kick out option to keep the defense honest, providing a dangerous outlet when double-teamed. Lineup#2 presents an opportunity to overwhelm the opponent with size. If you wanted to go Super Size ... Horston could run point and sub in Puckett for Powell - that would be a huge lineup. 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, 6-5, 6-6

View attachment 452430

If there are any post injuries, I think Franklin can plug-in.

Lineup 1 is what I want as well. Gives us that 4 out 1 in option with Key surrounded by 4 players WILLING to shoot the 3.

 

[37620VOL]

Good thing you aren’t on the staff. She’s an asset and will see the floor early and often as a sophomore.

Interesting take. What, other than your crystal ball and the questionable tacos that you ate for lunch, is telling you that she is an "asset"? Is it her 38.5 shooting %? Maybe her 12.5 3-point %? Or 43% on free throws?

If you are somehow related to the young lady, I apologize for being blunt, and I really do wish her the best.

 

[LadyVol1908]

Interesting take. What, other than your crystal ball and the questionable tacos that you ate for lunch, is telling you that she is an "asset"? Is it her 38.5 shooting %? Maybe her 12.5 3-point %? Or 43% on free throws?

If you are somehow related to the young lady, I apologize for being blunt, and I really do wish her the best.

I think her tenacity on the defensive end of the floor, as well as her knack for getting to the basket will allow her some time on the floor.

 

[madtownvol]

Interesting take. What, other than your crystal ball and the questionable tacos that you ate for lunch, is telling you that she is an "asset"? Is it her 38.5 shooting %? Maybe her 12.5 3-point %? Or 43% on free throws?

If you are somehow related to the young lady, I apologize for being blunt, and I really do wish her the best.

I would not be so quick to disparage other people's tacos. I would suggest that the best gauge of Wynn is her late season shift where her playing time went up in Horston's absence and she was further away from having had her nose broken. She emerged as an impressive perimeter defender. And it turns out, those are actually hard to find. True, she was not an offensive juggernaut but did her defensive job very well. She is a slash and drive scorer and I expect she will do more of that next season as she learns to read the game better. She will come back a "better" but it will be a long process before she is a good shooter. But, I will be shocked if she does not factor in,.

 

[Volfaninfl2]

My projected rotation for next year. I see very few weaknesses. I prefer lineup #1 because it keeps at least one excellent shooter on the court at all times. This team is going to be excellent at cutting and slashing but there always needs to be a good kick out option to keep the defense honest, providing a dangerous outlet when double-teamed. Lineup#2 presents an opportunity to overwhelm the opponent with size. If you wanted to go Super Size ... Horston could run point and sub in Puckett for Powell - that would be a huge lineup. 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, 6-5, 6-6

View attachment 452430

If there are any post injuries, I think Franklin can plug-in.

Really like your presentation there, but I believe you are underestimating Franklin.

According to an ESPN article, Franklin was ranked second in the nation in rebounds, before her injury in December. (She had played in 11 games.)

To compare Franklin, Sara, and Jillian:

Franklin has the experience, Sara and Jillian were Freshmen last season.

Franklin has the best rebound average of anyone on our team, at 12.1 rebounds per game. Sara had 3.5 and Jillian had 2.5.

Franklin can also block shots. She had 26 blocks in 11 games (30 minutes per game),while Sara had 6 blocks in 34 games (21.4 minutes per game), and Jillian had 10 blocks in 20 games (12.8 minutes per game).

In scoring, Franklin has the best percentage at 53.8%, but Sara’s 43.3% would actually be 69.8%, if the 3 point attempts were not counted. Jillian shot 48.8%.

Franklin’s free throw average is 76%, Sara 69.8%, and Jillian 69.2%.

Basically, I believe Franklin is a starter at the 4 position, and the first backup at the post, unless we need the larger presence of Jillian.


I have a great belief in Sara’s talent as well. She often blocked out opposing players, so our player could score or get the rebound. She could continue to do that when Franklin is playing post, or she might play more aggressively and grab more rebounds herself.

Sara though, is not limited to the 4 position. With the addition of Franklin and Jillian, Sara can play at the 3 or maybe 2 positions, and she is good enough that you want her in the game somewhere. Her upside is huge, and she showed in her play last season that she can make the game winning shot, obviously under pressure.

So, Sara may be a starter somewhere, or when almost anyone is on the bench, or maybe if Horston is playing point, that will also be an opportunity for Sara to be in the game.