Agreed. From the tidbits I've read here and there, the players have been putting up extra shots on their own in order to improve, and I also heard from someone that they shoot better in practice than in games. So, unfortunately, it sounds to me like a mental barrier will need to be broken, and that is not an easy thing to do. After a player develops good shooting form, confidence is the most important thing she can possess. And confidence can be gained through lots and lots and lots and lots of repetition, coupled with lots and lots and lots and lots of guts to actually want to BE that person who WANTS to have the ball in her hands when her team needs points. There can be no doubt in her head that she is absolutely going to make that shot and win the game for her team.
As unpopular as this is going to be for me to have said, I think in the modern era the most supremely confident shooter (in her heyday, that is) Tennessee ever faced was Diana Taurasi. You could see it on her face and in her body language. She had zero doubt that she should be, and would be, the one taking the last shot in a close game. Everyone knew it. And no matter how closely she was guarded, she'd find a way to get off a shot and made it more often than not. The most supremely confident Lady Vol shooter I can recall right this second was Kara Lawson. She wasn't as good as shoot as Taurasi was, but she had "it." She'd shoot the ball knowing it was going in. It was alllll over her face that she wanted the ball to take the last shot. And several times she stuck the dagger into the hearts of opponents with her steely confidence.
Right now we don't have anyone like that, and we may never have anyone like Kara again. Few teams ever have anyone quite like those two, so it's a big ask of anyone to fill that grand role. But who knows? Maybe the switch will come on for someone this year or next and then the Lady Vol Basketball world will be on balance again.
