Sources Say: Marta Could be Much Better Than Expected

#52
#52
VolBall09 said:
Yes, it’s a huge asset to have a player in the paint who can direct traffic like Marta. Her basketball IQ and post passing remind me of a Lauren Cox or Steph Dolson. She’s not as big, but she plays so smart. Several times you could see her instructing other (older lol) teammates to cut and it balanced the offense out and we scored. She can see one play ahead. Can not wait to watch her grow and succeed!

I’ve watched almost every SEC team play at this point. She is the most exciting freshman I’ve seen without a doubt.
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I agree with everything you wrote. And I know it was only one game against lesser competition, but if Marta’s foot speed were just a notch or two better, I’d go ahead and put her at the top of my early, early NFOY award candidates. She’s not very quick of foot, but her lightning-quick basketball instincts will certainly go far to make up for that.

Something about Marta reminded me of former Stanford standout Nicole Powell. Powell was never a quick player, but she was smart and knew how to score. And I will forever hold Larry Bird up as THE ultimate player who proved that one does not HAVE to be quick to be wildly successful. You just have to have excellent court vision and superior control and confidence in your body movements. It’s way, way, waaaaay early to say this, I know ... and certainly NOT that I’m comparing Marta Suarez to Larry Bird ... but Marta DID show me yesterday that she has the potential to be one of average-speed players whose court vision helps her rise above it.
 
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#54
#54
lvocd said:
I agree with everything you wrote. And I know it was only one game against lesser competition, but if Marta’s foot speed were just a notch or two better, I’d go ahead and put her at the top of my early, early NFOY award candidates. She’s not very quick of foot, but her lightning-quick basketball instincts will certainly go far to make up for that.

Something about Marta reminded me of former Stanford standout Nicole Powell. Powell was never a quick player, but she was smart and knew how to score. And I will forever hold Larry Bird up as THE ultimate player who proved that one does not HAVE to be quick to be wildly successful. You just have to have excellent court vision and superior control and confidence in your body movements. It’s way, way, waaaaay early to say this, I know ... and certainly NOT that I’m comparing Marta Suarez to Larry Bird ... but Marta DID show me yesterday that she has the potential to be one of average-speed players whose court vision helps her rise above it.
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Ageeed we may be getting ahead of ourselves but she was exciting to watch! Was also concerned about her foot speed but I went back and watched a second time last night. There are times when she is deceptively quick. You’re right on the money about her court vision. On defense she makes the smart move so she conserves energy. She read a lot of plays really well and got to the spot in fewer steps just by anticipating.

She was also consistently one of the main players to ball hawk the ball-handler and stop the ball in transition. Something we’ve been bad about for several years now. A couple years ago the middle of the paint was like a super highway against us in transition. Free layups galore. As you said, it’s only one game, but it shows the importance of stopping the ball. If you meet them at 3/4 court and force teams to run a half court offense over our size they’re gonna have a long night. That no look pass was definitely Birdesque.
 
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#55
#55
gule said:
Heaven help the poor girl if she ever misses a shot or throws the ball away.. the crash of the bandwagoneers will be catastrophic.
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We’re a little over excited, I know. It’s been a while though. I’ve been underwhelmed by our freshman for a while. Nice to be pleasantly surprised. The team really kept Marta’s impact under wraps as well so it makes it that much more exciting. She’s a gift to real basketball fans so far lol.
 
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#57
#57
GameTime said:
Marta is going to be Terrific.....She is a Tiger.
The girl is built for combat....She will show our girls how to be tough...She is use to shooting the deep ball at least 2 inches farther out then at our college level...

Marta is a first rate ballplayer....

Soon!
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Soon has arrived........
 
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#58
#58
I think it’s good that most of us are excited. Marta’s performance was, indeed, a surprise for many.

In looking at the title of this thread: Marta *Could* Be Much Better Than Expected, let’s me know she has the potential to be an impact player right away, BUT if she isn’t, that’s fine. She’s adjusting to many changes both off and on the court. When she first signed, I remember posters indicating, that, at best, she could be a contributor off the bench. However, if she DOES end up being in conversations for SEC freshman/Natl Freshman of the year, that would be a HUUUGEEE overachievement! Heck, if she ends up on the All SEC Freshman Team...

I don’t want to create lofty expectations, but I’m here for her overachieving!
 
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#59
#59
VolBall09 said:
We’re a little over excited, I know. It’s been a while though. I’ve been underwhelmed by our freshman for a while. Nice to be pleasantly surprised. The team really kept Marta’s impact under wraps as well so it makes it that much more exciting. She’s a gift to real basketball fans so far lol.
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I am ready to anoint her the greatest LV of all time. Too soon?

In all seriousness, she is very polished for a freshman. I think there is a tendency to undervalue playing in Europe versus US high school experience but spain is a basketball powerhouse and she may be well ahead of the competitive curve compared to the standard freshman.

Again, WK is not a great athletic team but Marta showed great composure under pressure and a knack for making the right improvisation under pressure. Some of her moves the basket and passes where really impressive.
 
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#60
#60
gule said:
Heaven help the poor girl if she ever misses a shot or throws the ball away.. the crash of the bandwagoneers will be catastrophic.
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Coach Jumper said:
mind reader
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No kidding. I'm happy that Marta (and the team in general) looked good yesterday, but you would think that Tennessee just beat down South Carolina with the proclamations that she's a legit NFOY candidate, the best freshman in the SEC so far, had the most impressive debut of a Tennessee player since Holdsclaw (more so apparently than Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson, Candace Parker, Rennia Davis, Glory Johnson, Shekinna Stricklen and other LV greats) and being mentioned in the same breath as Nicole Powell, Lauren Cox and Sabrina Ionescu (2 who are considered WCBB all-time greats and the 3rd was a #1 HS player) because she scored 12 points 6 rbs 4 assts against a Western Kentucky team that was abysmally bad. They were without 5 of their 6 top scorers, with the two returning leading scorers having averaged 8 ppg and 3 ppg respectively last season. They are an awful team. Tennessee did well to just take it to them and go for the jugular, and Marta overall played a smart, heady basketball game...especially for a freshman in her first game. I for one am excited to see how she does throughout the season and against better teams. The 4 spot was a weakness last year, and I hope she can plug that hole, but I'm not going to read this much into 1 game against a brutally overmatched team.
 
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#61
#61
Amb3096 said:
No kidding. I'm happy that Marta (and the team in general) looked good yesterday, but you would think that Tennessee just beat down South Carolina with the proclamations that she's a legit NFOY candidate, the best freshman in the SEC so far, had the most impressive debut of a Tennessee player since Holdsclaw (more so apparently than Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson, Candace Parker, Rennia Davis, Glory Johnson, Shekinna Stricklen and other LV greats) and being mentioned in the same breath as Nicole Powell, Lauren Cox and Sabrina Ionescu (2 who are considered WCBB all-time greats and the 3rd was a #1 HS player) because she scored 12 points 6 rbs 4 assts against a Western Kentucky team that was abysmally bad. They were without 5 of their 6 top scorers, with the two returning leading scorers having averaged 8 ppg and 3 ppg respectively last season. They are an awful team. Tennessee did well to just take it to them and go for the jugular, and Marta overall played a smart, heady basketball game...especially for a freshman in her first game. I for one am excited to see how she does throughout the season and against better teams. The 4 spot was a weakness last year, and I hope she can plug that hole, but I'm not going to read this much into 1 game against a brutally overmatched team.
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I'm not jumping any train yet,,,The newbies looked better than the oldies as a group, but one game does not a season make
 
#62
#62
madtownvol said:
I am ready to anoint her the greatest LV of all time. Too soon?

In all seriousness, she is very polished for a freshman. I think there is a tendency to undervalue playing in Europe versus US high school experience but spain is a basketball powerhouse and she may be well ahead of the competitive curve compared to the standard freshman.

Again, WK is not a great athletic team but Marta showed great composure under pressure and a knack for making the right improvisation under pressure. Some of her moves the basket and passes where really impressive.
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I’ve been excited to see Marta play since her commitment was announced. Over the last several years I have been particularly impressed with Spanish players. Cazorla at Oregon, Romero and Lopez at Florida State and few others have made big impacts. All of them seem to have a very high basketball IQ and they play the game with passion. Basketball is still very much a team sport in Europe.

In the US I feel a lot of HS players fall into the trap of needing to be the dominant player on their team. They transfer trying to fill the star role all the time and never learn to play within a system. Suárez’s game is super exciting because she clearly makes others around her better.
 
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#65
#65
GameTime said:
Damn guys, have some fun and lighten up. The girl played like a champ yesterday...Acknowledge it and have some fun until the next game....
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There's a balance between enjoying the win and being completely over the top. This thread has clearly veered towards the latter.

I've learned better than to take anything away from the cupcake games, unless they go poorly. They should roll by 30-40 points. The season truly begins when they play teams that don't look like HS teams.
 
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#66
#66
Amb3096 said:
There's a balance between enjoying the win and being completely over the top. This thread has clearly veered towards the latter.

I've learned better than to take anything away from the cupcake games, unless they go poorly. They should roll by 30-40 points. The season truly begins when they play teams that don't look like HS teams.
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Yea but on the other hand let’s not act like there were not certain posters on this board that didn’t make it out to seem like Marta scholarship was wasted because she probably couldn’t even dribble a ball...

While this post may be veering towards the latter (and i am not saying the girl is a superstar) I am going to enjoy the fact this young lady has a nice skill set which can be enhanced to be a productive player AND in her first outing she showed some good things.

So yes, during a time where things are tough everywhere you look around the world, on the news, shoot even around the corner maybe a little of over the top optimism is a good thing?
 
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#67
#67
VA_VOLFAN said:
Yea but on the other hand let’s not act like there were not certain posters on this board that didn’t make it out to seem like Marta scholarship was wasted because she probably couldn’t even dribble a ball...

While this post may be veering towards the latter (and i am not saying the girl is a superstar) I am going to enjoy the fact this young lady has a nice skill set which can be enhanced to be a productive player AND in her first outing she showed some good things.

So yes, during a time where things are tough everywhere you look around the world, on the news, shoot even around the corner maybe a little of over the top optimism is a good thing?
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Point made and agreed
Party on Darth.png
 
#70
#70
Amb3096 said:
There's a balance between enjoying the win and being completely over the top. This thread has clearly veered towards the latter.
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Fans losing their minds over a freshman scoring 11 points pretty much tells you all you need to know about the current state of the program...
 
#71
#71
If everyone will re-read my post more carefully, you’ll notice that I said “IF she had a little more foot speed ...” and “... she “has the POTENTIAL TO BE one of those average-speed players whose court vision helps her rise above it.”

The words “if” and “potential to be” were used to indicate that stardom is not a done deal.

Jeez. Sometimes I wonder why I ever post anything optimistic at all. People are so anxious to take every statement of optimism or excited post-game comment and roll it around in sh!t to make sure everyone knows how bad it stinks.
 
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#72
#72
lvocd said:
If everyone will re-read my post more carefully, you’ll notice that I said “IF she had a little more foot speed ...” and “... she “has the POTENTIAL TO BE one of those average-speed players whose court vision helps her rise above it.”

The words “if” and “potential to be” were used to indicate that stardom is not a done deal.

Jeez. Sometimes I wonder why I ever post anything optimistic at all. People are so anxious to take every statement of optimism or excited post-game comment and roll it around in sh!t to make sure everyone knows how bad it stinks.
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realize who those people are i literally just had to laugh...
 
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#73
#73
lvocd said:
Looks like my post was prophetic. Kellie had three newcomers in the first rotation, and the on-court leadership of Suarez blew me away. In all my years of being a Lady Vol fan I have never seen a freshman, in her FIRST GAME, directing upperclassmen on the floor the way she did. And they — thankfully — didn’t appear to resent it. Of course they shouldn’t — she obviously knows what she’s doing — but you never know. I’m extremely proud of the TEAM I saw out there yesterday.
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Me too. 😊
 
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#74
#74
Darth_Vol said:
Fans losing their minds over a freshman scoring 11 points pretty much tells you all you need to know about the current state of the program...
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Plus 6 rebounds, 4 assists and no TOs in 23 and playing with great composure in her very first game. Someone who diminishes such a promising start tells you all you need to know about the current state of certain "fans".
 
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