SEC Championship Game thread

#251
#251
One of those games, got out physical-ed today, Graves had a bad game...More to play for...Go Lady Vols!!!
 
#252
#252
Not having Graves in the first half was HUGE. The refs blew it in favor of the Upstarts.

Not having your leading scorer and rebounder was huge.
Not hitting free throws cost us big.

Tennessee seemed to run out of gas.
The biggest problem we had today was SIZE.

If Russell is much improved. If Nared improves. With Diamond, we will be a much better team next season.

The Upstarts will no longer have Welch, Ibiam, or Gaines.

We will beat the Upstarts next season, and we will reclaim the attendance title.
 
#253
#253
governmentmule said:
it is hard to blame the coaches for piss poor shooting,the players have to make some shots
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So tell them to scheme up some plays that will get some penetrating looks at the basket that's the one thing KY has that we don't and they do not shoot lights out either never!
 
#255
#255
Chad F said:
Losing Harrison really hurt. Plus, it just seems like we disappear offensively for extremely long stretches. We can get away with that against some teams , but against the level of competition that we 'd have to beat to get to the Finsl Four, that just doesn't get it done.

Still lots of ball game left. Hope we can figure it out and find a way to win. We've been spoiled for all these years . Now, it's just frustrating to watch because it seems like we just can't beat the top tier competition - at least not lately. Still pulling for our Lady Vols, but it isn't looking good.
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I don't agree with this. Tennessee has actually played BETTER IMO for most of their games since Harrison went down, than they often played before her injury. It makes the entire team take ownership and step up, which until today I thought they were doing impressively.

USC is a very good team. They may not have the smoothest offense and can get sloppy with the ball at times, but they are an elite team defensively and do have quality depth of talent. Their size in the paint can be overwhelming for most any opponent, and they have one of the top guards in the nation in Mitchell. Y'all didn't lose to chopped liver today....

At worst UT is a 2-seed. IMO, they won't go up against the top teams UNTIL the Final Four. IMO they can still make a run....
 
#256
#256
boxerpupsrcool said:
So going inside when they had it packed was going to do us much better?? Gotta go with the averages here. Jordan was shooting it well today and burdick has been shooting the three well.
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Jordan did shoot well and ended up with 17 points. She also played better defense than Massengale. I would have had her in the game a lot longer with Massengale parked on the bench, and used Middleton as relief. Burdick was 3-9 today and 0-2 from behind the arc. I don't think having her shoot 3's, which would have pulled her away from rebounding position, would have helped us.

Knowing that we would likely play SC twice in the last 2 weeks, l would have spent the time since Izzy got hurt working with Dunbar in the paint. Poor shooting isn't the only reason we lost today. Rebounding and poor paint defense was a big part of it. That bad call on Graves that sent her to the bench really changed the complexion of the game. When she finally came back in in the second half, she was cold and very out of sync. And while I like Moore, she doesn't have the size to battle with players like Coates.
 
#257
#257
stubbs9 said:
I think we can make it to Tampa. We struggle win we play a team with a big front court or who has a player like Lloyd.
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To get to Tampa, we'll have to go through either Con, ND, South Carolina or Maryland, and we already know we can't beat these teams. I'm going to enjoy the rest of games for whatever they bring, sadly say goodbye to our seniors and move on. We are moving in the right direction, and though we didn't really get much further this season, we will! Go Lady Vols!!
 
#258
#258
governmentmule said:
it is hard to blame the coaches for piss poor shooting,the players have to make some shots
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When I checked before the tournament UConn was shooting a full 10% better than us and SC 5%. We will not be able to compete with those sorts of teams just playing defense and trying to rebound. We will get what we saw today. Holly will have to change her mindset about offense not mattering and shots going in being a matter of luck or we will be lucky to even see a final four let alone a championship.

We simply have to become more efficient on offense. The last team we had that shot as poorly as this one lost 11 games. We would likely be near that if we had played without Harrison all year.

I think it is time for Holly to shakeup her staff and hire someone just to be an offensive coordinator. It needs to be someone who has experience running the sort of offense that ND or UConn runs and who can break down each player's game and rebuild it from scratch. It needs to be someone outside of our style of basketball.

Our defense is fine and good enough to win against the elite teams. It is our offense that is lagging and Holly has not indicated even the least bit of interest in improving it to make us competitive. If I have a gripe with her then that is it.
 
#259
#259
coach needed 2 or 3 different game plans for when the 1st isn't working. She never seems to adjust on the fly.
 
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#260
#260
Volfan2012 said:
The Creme projection doesn't make sense. How could the number one overall seed play the number two overall seed. I'm not saying it want happen, but they are supposed to play the number 8 seed which would be Florida State or maybe Oregon State. We should be in with Maryland.
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Its allegedly based on geography going down the S-curve and as the top #2 seed Tennessee goes closest to home which would be Albany (not allowed in Greensboro due to SC being the 1 seed there).

The problem is that logic doesn't hold for the one seeds. Notre Dame is probably going to be the overall #2 team behind UConn. Greensboro is 2 hours closer than Oklahoma City (not to mention ND is an ACC team with an east coast fan base) and yet he put South Carolina there. If you truly follow the "rules" Notre Dame would go to Greensboro and South Carolina to Oklahoma City.
 
#262
#262
armchair said:
Massengale IS like Simmons, I'm sorry to say, in that neither one of them are/were big-game players. Not the best players to begin with--and then neither of them mentally tough enough to play well in big games. Mass was terrible for a long stretch of the year--then got hot very late in the year--but she reverted to form in the tournament. Simmons almost always shot poorly in big games.

We had ZERO treys in the second half, I believe--none. Major problem. Cannot beat a good team with no threes in a half.

The other problem was Burdick: She is our best player. We HAVE to get 14+ from her to be good offensively. We needed her mid-range jumpers against a team that has a lot of size inside. Did she even score in the second half? Had 6 points for the game. I know she had at least 4 in the first half, so at most she scored 2 in the second half--IF THAT.

We also got very few points from the free-throw line--6 for the game. That is very low for us.

We started well, played well for most of the first half, and then started to get very tentative on offense and could not regain any tempo or confidence.
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No sir No way there is without a doubt Simmons would have came ready to play today she is what we were missing today.
 
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#264
#264
Holly was out-coached today but to put all the blame on her is ridiculous. These players have to be held accountable. It's been proven this season that when Ariel, Bashaara and Ceirra play well, we're really tough to beat. Today, those three scored a total of 13 points. 13! Key players have to step up, especially in big games, and play the way they are capable of playing. They have to show up each and every game and set the tone. When those three are good, we're good. When those three don't show up, a game like today happens.
 
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#265
#265
I don't think Dunbar would have helped us inside, at this point in her career. However, Warlick might have put her in in the second half, when UT was struggling, to shoot threes--which we needed.

We should be in a bracket with Maryland--in the west--but will probably get screwed because supposedly the committee doesn't want to move Oregon st. out of the west. The women's brackets are always a joke. They want to encourage attendance but attendance, even with geographic bracketing, is almost never very good. We could have got a no. 1 seed with a win today, but....
 
#267
#267
FrozenLVFan said:
Jordan did shoot well and ended up with 17 points. She also played better defense than Massengale. I would have had her in the game a lot longer with Massengale parked on the bench, and used Middleton as relief. Burdick was 3-9 today and 0-2 from behind the arc. I don't think having her shoot 3's, which would have pulled her away from rebounding position, would have helped us.

Knowing that we would likely play SC twice in the last 2 weeks, l would have spent the time since Izzy got hurt working with Dunbar in the paint. Poor shooting isn't the only reason we lost today. Rebounding and poor paint defense was a big part of it. That bad call on Graves that sent her to the bench really changed the complexion of the game. When she finally came back in in the second half, she was cold and very out of sync. And while I like Moore, she doesn't have the size to battle with players like Coates.
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I can't disagree with most of your points here. There was a point around the 7 minute mark where we are down six or so and we had numerous chances to cut that lead down, but missed some easy shots.

I think sc nd and uconn are easy final four teams. Tenn can get there if they get a favorable bracket. Maryland will prolly get that last one seed unless they get blown out by ohio st. I'm hoping either md losses big tonight or they win the tournament. Our best bet for a final four is being in md bracket IMO
 
#268
#268
armchair said:
Massengale IS like Simmons, I'm sorry to say, in that neither one of them are/were big-game players. Not the best players to begin with--and then neither of them mentally tough enough to play well in big games. Mass was terrible for a long stretch of the year--then got hot very late in the year--but she reverted to form in the tournament. Simmons almost always shot poorly in big games.
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The difference is that we're a better team without Simmons, who was very disruptive. At least Ariel plays within the flow of the offense.

Volfan2012 said:
The Creme projection doesn't make sense. How could the number one overall seed play the number two overall seed. I'm not saying it want happen, but they are supposed to play the number 8 seed which would be Florida State or maybe Oregon State. We should be in with Maryland.
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It makes sense if the committee seeds teams according to geography.

LurkerExposed said:
At worst UT is a 2-seed. IMO, they won't go up against the top teams UNTIL the Final Four. IMO they can still make a run....
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Not true. As a 2-seed, we'll meet a 1-seed in the regional finals (Elite 8), BEFORE the Final Four (assuming we make it that far).

WVU05UT09 said:
Its allegedly based on geography going down the S-curve and as the top #2 seed Tennessee goes closest to home which would be Albany (not allowed in Greensboro due to SC being the 1 seed there).

The problem is that logic doesn't hold for the one seeds. Notre Dame is probably going to be the overall #2 team behind UConn. Greensboro is 2 hours closer than Oklahoma City (not to mention ND is an ACC team with an east coast fan base) and yet he put South Carolina there. If you truly follow the "rules" Notre Dame would go to Greensboro and South Carolina to Oklahoma City.
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Yep. And besides the geography issue, we don't know how the selection committee is going to view the loss of Harrison. We'd better pray we either get a 1-seed, like last year, or we get sent to Spokane with Maryland. That's by far the easiest route to Tampa.
 
#269
#269
For the people calling for Nia to play more in the second half, she went out with some type of leg injury. She went to the end of the bench and the staff worked on her quite a while. I don't know what it was, but she never came back in afterwards.
 
#270
#270
FrozenLVFan said:
The difference is that we're a better team without Simmons, who was very disruptive. At least Ariel plays within the flow of the offense.



It makes sense if the committee seeds teams according to geography.



Not true. As a 2-seed, we'll meet a 1-seed in the regional finals (Elite 8), BEFORE the Final Four (assuming we make it that far).



Yep. And besides the geography issue, we don't know how the selection committee is going to view the loss of Harrison. We'd better pray we either get a 1-seed, like last year, or we get sent to Spokane with Maryland. That's by far the easiest route to Tampa.
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Maryland losing big tonight would help our outside chances of getting that last one seed.
 
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#271
#271
We played without our starting center and without two other players (Russell and Jones) who were in our top 8--so without 3 of our top 8 players. Two are front-liners, and the third (jones) should be.

Welsh, who is only 6' tall, is the SC player who hurts us the most. She is stocky and we have nobody who can block her out. She was their second leading scorer today and tied for first for them in rebounds--including 5 offensive rebounds. She killed us the first time we played them and hurt us today.
 
#272
#272
I was feeling so good about our chances when we went up 26-21..then things just went completely backwards. Tenn does usually struggle on offense during periods, but tonight they were exceptionally bad. Gotta look on to the NCAA and hope we get a favorable bracket. I won't hold my breathe
 
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#273
#273
Well i'm hoping that he's Bracketology prediction is wrong. although i do get this feeling that they will end up putting us in the same bracket as UConn.
 
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#274
#274
VOLMEB said:
Holly was out-coached today but to put all the blame on her is ridiculous. These players have to be held accountable. It's been proven this season that when Ariel, Bashaara and Ceirra play well, we're really tough to beat. Today, those three scored a total of 13 points. 13! Key players have to step up, especially in big games, and play the way they are capable of playing. They have to show up each and every game and set the tone. When those three are good, we're good. When those three don't show up, a game like today happens.
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Please 'splain, all of you highly-paid college basketball coaches, how Holly was out coached today.
 
#275
#275
If we wind up in UConn's bracket for this year we are screwed. We don't have the consistent scoring punch we would need to challenge them right now
 
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