POLL: Expectations for 2024/2025

What is your expectation for this year?

  • Winning season

    Votes: 11 6.5%

  • WNIT

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • NCAA bid

    Votes: 35 20.7%

  • NCAA second round

    Votes: 37 21.9%

  • Sweet 16

    Votes: 55 32.5%

  • Elite 8

    Votes: 19 11.2%

  • Final Four

    Votes: 4 2.4%

  • Runner up

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • NCAA Champs

    Votes: 6 3.6%

  • Losing Record

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Total voters
    169
#101
#101
glv98 said:
Cora Hall is a reporter, and a damn good one, not a cheerleader, a recruiter or a UTAD employee. We had Dan F carrying water for the program forever and it was miserable. Cora is terrific.

Do you really think if Cora picked the LVs to win the SEC while the rest of the world picks them mid pack it would fool recruits? I think recruits are way smarter than that.
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she did her job and didn’t offer protection for CKH last season. Decades of Fleser and Maria with softball questions and being fans clouded the reporting.
 
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#103
#103
glv98 said:
Cora Hall is a reporter, and a damn good one, not a cheerleader, a recruiter or a UTAD employee. We had Dan F carrying water for the program forever and it was miserable. Cora is terrific.

Do you really think if Cora picked the LVs to win the SEC while the rest of the world picks them mid pack it would fool recruits? I think recruits are way smarter than that.
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She’s an okay reporter. She’s still learning.
 
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#104
#104
Majors said:
she did her job and didn’t offer protection for CKH last season. Decades of Fleser and Maria with softball questions and being fans clouded the reporting.
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I've always found Maria objective and knowledgeable. If you think about it, if you were around Pat for years wouldn't it be difficult NOT to become "a fan" as you say? But, that's of Pat I think more than of TN. Same for Dan. Maria always said she wasn't a fan of UT. North Carolina was her school.
 
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#105
#105
glv98 said:
"Selling a piece of paper" is a quaint notion, and even if they were trying to sell papers or clicks, they'd sell alot more by making predictions that turn out to be accurate. Cora has proven to be very thoughtful and forthright, even if overhyping the home team would win her more short term love. Media and coaches have zero motivation to purposely pick counter to their own honest, expert opinion.

And no, so far everyone who follows and watches college sports for their living actually DO think OK, OM, KY and Ala are better teams than TN right now. But once again, you're free to think your opinion is more informed.

How often are you in the LV locker room? How often are you in the other teams' locker rooms to judge them? The media and coaches actually ARE in those locker rooms, at least some of the time.
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This is precisely what I was going to say. The previous poster obviously underestimates the SEC coaches who have actually gotten their teams to a Division 1 NCAA final fours or won the thing and their ability to put the highest caliber women's basketball players in the country in a position to win. Mulkey, Staley, Schaefer, Harris, Curry, Neighbors, Purcell have either all been head coaches or assistant coaches on teams that have either made it to the final four or won a National
Championship. I assure you they are preparing their teams to be physically and mentally prepared just like other teams in the league. I think the poster not only underestimates the the overall basketball talent in the SEC, but also underestimates the coaching abilities of some of these SEC coaches. They're the best around top to bottom.
 
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#107
#107
Ladyvols4ever! said:
I've always found Maria objective and knowledgeable. If you think about it, if you were around Pat for years wouldn't it be difficult NOT to become "a fan" as you say? But, that's of Pat I think more than of TN. Same for Dan. Maria always said she wasn't a fan of UT. North Carolina was her school.
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You can personally be a fan of school, Coach and even players. Your writing cannot show that fandom if you’re covering the same team.

Different dynamic last season in questioning from Maria and Cora. Almost good cop/bad cop.
 
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#111
#111
chuckiepoo said:
LVs finished 5th in the conference last year. Insert Texas above, that puts a 6th place finish as an equivalent season. That’s giving the benefit of the doubt to the LVs regarding OU.

A top four finish would far exceed the position finish last year.

www.secsports.com

Standings - Women's Basketball - Southeastern Conference

Comprehensive coverage of SEC football, basketball, baseball and more, including live games, scores, schedules, standings and news
www.secsports.com www.secsports.com
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And 5th place was not good enough. The official reason for firing KJH was that the team under performed and that was a fair assessment.

A coaching change is by definition supposed to bring about an improvement unless the team is in a complete rebuild phase but that is not the 2024-25 LVs.

They lost RJ to graduation but CKC did a good in keeping all the key returners (we can debate whether Strickland would have been key in CKC's system) and she added excellent transfers, including an elite scorer in Ruby W. Top to bottom this roster should be better than last season's, particularly (if as long suggested) Kellie and staff were impeding the development of current roster players, particularly Jillian.

Now I understand the reasonable position that you and glv98 (my best buds in this board) are taking-- CKC is a coach with only year of D1 coaching experience and this will be her first year in a power 5 conference and she is up againt the toughest conference in the country. So, she deserves some grace!.

A totally valid position and I am not really arguing against it but there is a flipside, which is "why in the heck would you hire such an inexperienced coach to run such a storied program that still has the players to make some bigger noise? "

One reason and one reason only- you believe that this coach is the ONE who can defeat the Matrix. CKC didn't step into this position to get graded on a curve or to tread water in the same place as the coach who was fired for perennially underachieving.

There are different combinations to better last year's finish. Being in the top 4 or winning the SEC conference tourney or making it to the sweet 16. Any one of those would show tangible and consequential gains and it would be the proof needed for CKC to erase any doubts that might be lingering in recruits about her longer term viability.
 
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#113
#113
madtownvol said:
And 5th place was not good enough. The official reason for firing KJH was that the team under performed and that was a fair assessment.

A coaching change is by definition supposed to bring about an improvement unless the team is in a complete rebuild phase but that is not the 2024-25 LVs.

They lost RJ to graduation but CKC did a good in keeping all the key returners (we can debate whether Strickland would have been key in CKC's system) and she added excellent transfers, including an elite scorer in Ruby W. Top to bottom this roster should be better than last season's, particularly (if as long suggested) Kellie and staff were impeding the development of current roster players, particularly Jillian.

Now I understand the reasonable position that you and glv98 (my best buds in this board) are taking-- CKC is a coach with only year of D1 coaching experience and this will be her first year in a power 5 conference and she is up againt the toughest conference in the country. So, she deserves some grace!.

A totally valid position and I am not really arguing against it but there is a flipside, which is "why in the heck would you hire such an inexperienced coach to run such a storied program that still has the players to make some bigger noise? "

One reason and one reason only- you believe that this coach is the ONE who can defeat the Matrix. CKC didn't step into this position to get graded on a curve or to tread water in the same place as the coach who was fired for perennially underachieving.

There are different combinations to better last year's finish. Being in the top 4 or winning the SEC conference or making it to the sweet 16. Any one of those would show tangible and consequential gains and it would be the proof needed for CKC to erase any doubts that might be lingering in recruits about her longer term viability.
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Aww thanks mad, I'm not worthy!

Maybe a more fair way to judge this season is not by Kellie's last year, but by where Kellie would have been this year had she stayed. IMO she would be exactly where CKC is predicted to be. We always knew there would be a big fall off this year and that the league would be way tougher. I also think the portal players we got are pretty much exactly what Kellie would have gotten; in fact, several of them had already been targeted by Sam. Only difference is the additional unknown of CKC new style of play plus the breath of fresh air factor.

I'm not quite as convinced as you about our transfers and apparently neither are the voters in these polls. Many appear to be very good and loaded w potential, but I don't think any are proven elite, at least not on this level. Some could be, might be, sure hope they will be. But it's more of the unknown.

The best chance for a better finish would be to make a S16, like they should have last year. And to actually win a couple of "big" games. Hope I'm wrong, but I'll be very happily surprised if the LVs finish 5th or higher in the SEC this year. Moving forward, the standard needs to keep moving up to crack the top tier consistently. If they pull off the frosh class they've teased us with, they should be well on their way.
 
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#119
#119
sgacock said:
What are your reasonable expectations for the your first year coach? The Lady Volnation is not really known for reasonableness- but what fanbase is?
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Honestly, my expectations are to see them playing more physical… Finishing strong, guarding better, playing physical is what I want to see… I’m okay with losing a game knowing we fought for 40 minutes… I feel like the toughness is missing from this program.
 
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#120
#120
Vunhopper said:
It is a fact that Kim Caldwell has a better record than Pat Summitt and did it with less resources than her peers. Pat Summitt had every advantage a coach could have and still has a lower win % than Kim Caldwell. I'm just stating a fact.
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Ok so basically you a hater and troll… Gotcha! Maybe you hurt that we now have Kim, I’m not sure, but this is really was unnecessary!!
 
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#121
#121
www.worldexposurereport.com

World Exposure Report NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Preseason Top 25

1. South Carolina Gamecocks Previously: No. 2 2. UConn Huskies Previously: No. 1 3. USC Trojans Previously: No. 4 4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Previously: No. 4 5. Texas Longhorns Previously: No. 7 6. UCLA Bruins Previously: No. 5 7. LSU Tigers Previously: No. 6 8. Iowa State Cyclones Pr
www.worldexposurereport.com www.worldexposurereport.com
 
#123
#123
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