Non-Lady Vol Basketball News 2024-25

[DueTail]

I think we ALL are making assumptions. Should they not recruit freshmen?

If a player chooses UCONN, there's no way they haven't entertained the possibility of waiting their turn. If you're a team who recruits freshmen and they are getting a lot of playing time they are either VERY good or your upper classmen aren't so good.

 

[Rooster1]

From Ticketmaster available tickets:
Cheapest tickets to men’s final 4 = $99
Cheapest to Women’s final 4= $325

The NCAA is going into negotiations for the women’s TV deal for 2024 and beyond after this season ends…..the women have never had a stand alone TV package before like the men have. Stand-alone deal would include revenue sharing with conferences for the first time. TV ratings are way up this year, perfect timing for the negotiations. The sport is growing quickly.

If they negotiate a good contract, the revenue shared will undoubtedly raise the bar in WCBB for coaching salaries, facilities, staffing etc etc etc. This sport is about to start a new phase of competitiveness and growth across a much larger base which will only increase the popularity. For too long the balance of power in WCBB has been concentrated in too few places for mass appeal. I hope the NCAA hits it out of the park on this deal.

 

[Bakers1]

Geno is an 11-time NC winner. Why would you be surprised?

Nothing on this list is surprising. SC is the flavor of the week, so Dawn is #1. Then you get your usual suspect big name or big program coaches. If another team steps up and dominates next season, Dawn’s votes will probably evaporate.

You wouldn't expect more players to want to play for Geno? I would...

 

[Darth_Vol]

I love Dawn but I really hope this trend changes for our sake.

Hooray for Kellie receiving a vote!

 

[DueTail]

You wouldn't expect more players to want to play for Geno? I would...

Kids like shiny objects. That's what this polled.

 

[ChattyVolfan]

Hooray for Kellie receiving a vote!

hey! Your girl Courtney got a vote too!

 

[Rooster1]

Clark just named NPOY, congrats to her, well deserved. It was the only choice.
Boston named NDPOY, also worthy imo.
Staley is NCOY, also worthy imo.

 

[djtee]

 

[djtee]

 

[creekdipper]

hey! Your girl Courtney got a vote too!

But Wonder Lad didn't get any. Must be crushing.

 

[LV renaissance]

Women's March Madness Game Destroys NBA's Ratings
The women's sweet 16 games were up over 70% from last year and the elite 8 games were up over 40%. Extremely rare to have this big of a jump for a whole tournament (early rounds ratings were also really high). A few of the games had higher ratings than any of the regular season NBA games. This is really good news for those who support women's basketball. I just wish Pat was here to see how far her seedlings have grown.

 

[Rooster1]

Man, Coach Yo at OM is recruiting hard. Good for her with the recent portal addition. I like her, she is passionate for sure.

After watching the McDonald’s AA game last night, some thoughts. I think the 2 LSU players looked great, Mulkey has LSU on the move, that Williams is gonna be something. Rosario is a big girl, bigger than I thought, they will need to get her in shape, but she has some skills.

JuJu Watkins looks like a day one starter, aka Kiki Rice, but better. Good for SoCal.

Ucla center is going to be a great post player. With Rice and the others there UCLA is on the rise.With SoCal and UCLA going B10 in 2024 that conference will be way more competitive when they arrive.

AZ had two really good players in that game also. With UCLA and SoCal leaving, Az may rule that roost unless Oregon gets back on track. Barnes will be a player again at AZ soon.

I liked what I saw from Fulwiley, Coach Staley will need to smooth the rough edges. Tess Johnson didn’t show anything, but it’s an All Star game, hard to know sometimes, it’s early.

Uconn has another 2 really good players coming in, they keep stacking them. KK is fast and athletic, the other girl Shade isn’t fast but is so smooth.

The guard going to Arkansas was a bull in a China shop, looked athletically out of her realm, again it was an All Star game….but lets say she was rough in most respects, project, how did she get in this game?

I really liked the work of the big girl going to Bama, she is gonna help them right away.

So much talent coming out of HS these days and it is being spread around so much more than in the past. I didn’t even mention a bunch of other players from that game who will be stars. The game of WCBB is growing so fast in front of us, just in the SEC alone it is easy to see most teams recruiting better and getting more talent. I think in another 2-3 years the viewership will be much higher than even this year due to all the increased talent and the spread of that talent to so many new places.

We are at the fringe of an explosion in the popularity of WCBB. As a SC fan, I am going to enjoy the chance to win this NC, going forward it becomes incrementally harder for every team to do so, the days of dominance by a few schools will be over.

The portal is becoming huge, and will become more so going forward. Lot of talent out there now, it will not replace HS recruiting but it isn’t going to be far behind in terms of impact. Mulkey used the portal to get to the FF in year two from taking over a downtrodden team. Even Geno has been using the portal a bunch lately with impact plays like Lopez this year, Dorka last year etc..Coaches have to start getting a plan in place to keep up.

 

[Darth_Vol]

hey! Your girl Courtney got a vote too!

But no love for Jeffrey Walz...

 

[Volfaninfl2]

You wouldn't expect more players to want to play for Geno? I would...

If you read further, some of the reasons they would play for DS, is that she is a black woman, they liked what she wore (BLM shirts), and they wanted to play for someone who “looked like me.”

 

[Rooster1]

If you read further, some of the reasons they would play for DS, is that she is a black woman, they liked what she wore (BLM shirts), and they wanted to play for someone who “looked like me.”

Probably nothing to do with her accolades as a coach and player and her success developing players. All it takes is wearing the right shirt.

 

[Volfaninfl2]

Probably nothing to do with her accolades as a coach and player and her success developing players. All it takes is wearing the right shirt.

They thought she was a good Coach, but did say all the rest.

 

[Rooster1]

https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/dam/sites/allamerican/Content/HomeContent/2023 McDAAG Box Score East at West 28 March.pdf

Boxscore from the AA game last night if anyone is interested….

 

[StorrsCentral]

Lucky man.
Acquaintance here in Nashville lost their little girl in the school shooting here. I cannot imagine the pain of those parents.

So sorry to hear about that, every time something like this happens I want to cry, sometimes I do.

 

[Rooster1]

Women's March Madness Game Destroys NBA's Ratings
The women's sweet 16 games were up over 70% from last year and the elite 8 games were up over 40%. Extremely rare to have this big of a jump for a whole tournament (early rounds ratings were also really high). A few of the games had higher ratings than any of the regular season NBA games. This is really good news for those who support women's basketball. I just wish Pat was here to see how far her seedlings have grown.

Great post. One of the reasons the women’s game rankings are increasing so much is that it is a truer style of BB, like it was meant to be initially before men got so big and athletic that the game became less about passing, backdoors, traps, movement of all 5 players etc….the men’s game is a lot above the rim now and when not there it is one on one from outside. So much better to watch the women’s game imo. Nice post, all true. Hopefully the women’s game stays the way it is, so much more spectator friendly for BB fundamentals.

 

[Lucy]

So sorry to hear about that, every time something like this happens I want to cry, sometimes I do.

Yep, same.

 

[Rooster1]

They thought she was a good Coach, but did say all the rest.

I know, was wondering if the “other stuff” was left out intentionally and why the only things you mentioned were race related, but hey, we all do our own thing, Coach Staley is polarizing to many, I get it. I’m hoping for the day when we all get past this stuff, peace.

She has some tendencies like Spurrier did, if they are your coach you love them but if not you hate them, but she has never been disrespectful to other programs, her polarizing moments come from her efforts to lift up others of her color who haven’t had the same opportunities as most in the sport historically. Some take that as racist, but it’s just the opposite of course.

 

[VolBall09]

Great post. One of the reasons the women’s game rankings are increasing so much is that it is a truer style of BB, like it was meant to be initially before men got so big and athletic that the game became less about passing, backdoors, traps, movement of all 5 players etc….the men’s game is a lot above the rim now and when not there it is one on one from outside. So much better to watch the women’s game imo. Nice post, all true. Hopefully the women’s game stays the way it is, so much more spectator friendly for BB fundamentals.

Also the NBA is non-stop politics most of the time and I’m so over it. I just wanna watch ball.

 

[creekdipper]

I know, was wondering if the “other stuff” was left out intentionally and why the only things you mentioned were race related, but hey, we all do our own thing, Coach Staley is polarizing to many, I get it. I’m hoping for the day when we all get past this stuff, peace.

She has some tendencies like Spurrier did, if they are your coach you love them but if not you hate them, but she has never been disrespectful to other programs, her polarizing moments come from her efforts to lift up others of her color who haven’t had the same opportunities as most in the sport historically. Some take that as racist, but it’s just the opposite of course.

She did sort of jump the gun on the BYU volleyball alleged incident.

 

[Volfaninfl2]

I know, was wondering if the “other stuff” was left out intentionally and why the only things you mentioned were race related, but hey, we all do our own thing, Coach Staley is polarizing to many, I get it. I’m hoping for the day when we all get past this stuff, peace.

She has some tendencies like Spurrier did, if they are your coach you love them but if not you hate them, but she has never been disrespectful to other programs, her polarizing moments come from her efforts to lift up others of her color who haven’t had the same opportunities as most in the sport historically. Some take that as racist, but it’s just the opposite of course.

I was replying to someone who wondered why the young players didn’t choose Geno. When you look at some of the reasons why these young players chose DS, it’s obvious why Geno was not chosen. I don’t want to talk about DS, and yes, I consider her a divider of people.

 

[DueTail]

I was replying to someone who wondered why the young players didn’t choose Geno. When you look at some of the reasons why these young players chose DS, it’s obvious why Geno was not chosen. I don’t want to talk about DS, and yes, I consider her a divider of people.

She came from Philly to Colombia and certainly united a diverse fan base. They choose whoever is hot at the time. A couple of years ago it would have been Barnes. Mulkey is creeping. You'll see.