Tennessee Lady Vol News

[Volfan2012]

Lady Vols come in with a Net ranking of 19 today. Our strength of schedule is still 132. Last year at this time out Net ranking was over 40 and we ended up number 30 with a strength of schedule of 2. So again we can see that strength of schedule holds little barring on helping your Net ranking. What helps it is beating the crap out of whomever you play. We were 21 before yesterday win by 64 move up to 19. Not a system easy to understand as is bracketology. I know we lost a lot of games last season but had a sos of 2 and ended up with a six seed. This year in Creme's bracket were projected 4 seed with a sos of 132.

The point of this is that strength of schedule does not help you nearly as much as Net ranking when it comes to the NCAA Tourney. Mulkey had this figured out and Harper did not. Looks like Caldwell has it figured out as well. Mulkey gets a lot of fan bashing when it comes to her weak non conference scheule which is certainly better than ours this year number 79 but LSU Net ranking is 9.

One more example is Kansas State sos 116 net ranking 4. Texas net ranking 1 sos 50. They were number two until the beat Rio Grande by 60 yesterday. I know a lot of fans hate the weak schedules, but they are no longer a detriment to your NCAA seed so it is making a lot of sense to play a lot of teams that you can beat by 50.

As far as coaching Caldwell is a lot like Mulkey in one regard that being no matter how much your beating a team by you just keep trying to pour it on more and more. I think she does it as a message to her teams to keep playing hard for a full forty minutes. I have no problem with that in fact that is the way it should be no matter what team you are coaching.

 

[brittannica]

Lady Vols come in with a Net ranking of 19 today. Our strength of schedule is still 132. Last year at this time out Net ranking was over 40 and we ended up number 30 with a strength of schedule of 2. So again we can see that strength of schedule holds little barring on helping your Net ranking. What helps it is beating the crap out of whomever you play. We were 21 before yesterday win by 64 move up to 19. Not a system easy to understand as is bracketology. I know we lost a lot of games last season but had a sos of 2 and ended up with a six seed. This year in Creme's bracket were projected 4 seed with a sos of 132.

The point of this is that strength of schedule does not help you nearly as much as Net ranking when it comes to the NCAA Tourney. Mulkey had this figured out and Harper did not. Looks like Caldwell has it figured out as well. Mulkey gets a lot of fan bashing when it comes to her weak non conference scheule which is certainly better than ours this year number 79 but LSU Net ranking is 9.

One more example is Kansas State sos 116 net ranking 4. Texas net ranking 1 sos 50. They were number two until the beat Rio Grande by 60 yesterday. I know a lot of fans hate the weak schedules, but they are no longer a detriment to your NCAA seed so it is making a lot of sense to play a lot of teams that you can beat by 50.

As far as coaching Caldwell is a lot like Mulkey in one regard that being no matter how much your beating a team by you just keep trying to pour it on more and more. I think she does it as a message to her teams to keep playing hard for a full forty minutes. I have no problem with that in fact that is the way it should be no matter what team you are coaching.

And it hasn't all been cupcakes. Florida State and Iowa were both very good tests early in the season. I also would never sleep on MTSU, Richmond or Memphis (in any sport). I obvi don't think we will go undefeated this season because that is so hard these days, but the Lady Vols are exceeding all of my expectations both this season and in recruitment of the 2025 class. We are so excited we got tickets to see them play Vandy and are making a nice, romantic long weekend of it, and we are discussing attending the SEC tournament. Still lots of basketball to play, but I think the non-con schedule was perfect for this year.

 

[Volfan2012]

And it hasn't all been cupcakes. Florida State and Iowa were both very good tests early in the season. I also would never sleep on MTSU, Richmond or Memphis (in any sport). I obvi don't think we will go undefeated this season because that is so hard these days, but the Lady Vols are exceeding all of my expectations both this season and in recruitment of the 2025 class. We are so excited we got tickets to see them play Vandy and are making a nice, romantic long weekend of it, and we are discussing attending the SEC tournament. Still lots of basketball to play, but I think the non-con schedule was perfect for this year.

Agree is has been good enough, but not the brutal thing that Coach Harper seemed to always want to try without the players to get it done. Plus the results as far as the NCAA Tourney have been so much better this year than last even though our schedule was rated the best most of the season and number 2 in the end.

 

[RespectAPA]

And it hasn't all been cupcakes. Florida State and Iowa were both very good tests early in the season. I also would never sleep on MTSU, Richmond or Memphis (in any sport). I obvi don't think we will go undefeated this season because that is so hard these days, but the Lady Vols are exceeding all of my expectations both this season and in recruitment of the 2025 class. We are so excited we got tickets to see them play Vandy and are making a nice, romantic long weekend of it, and we are discussing attending the SEC tournament. Still lots of basketball to play, but I think the non-con schedule was perfect for this year.

Don't forget LibertyU. They beat Arkansas on the road, and their shooting was fantastic against us — we had to play really well to win that game by as much as we did when 3 after 3 was falling for their sharpshooters. (starting 60-29 was a big part of it, like our 47-27 start against FSU, before letting them rattle in 50 points in the last 19 minutes make a game out of what should hav been an early signature blowout)

 

[brittannica]

Don't forget LibertyU. They beat Arkansas on the road, and their shooting was fantastic against us — we had to play really well to win that game by as much as we did when 3 after 3 was falling for their sharpshooters. (starting 60-29 was a bit part of it, like how our 47-27 start against FSU before letting them rattle in 50 points in the last 19 minutes made a game out of what should hav been an early signature blowout)

I did forget about them, but you're right!

 

[glv98]

Lady Vols come in with a Net ranking of 19 today. Our strength of schedule is still 132. Last year at this time out Net ranking was over 40 and we ended up number 30 with a strength of schedule of 2. So again we can see that strength of schedule holds little barring on helping your Net ranking. What helps it is beating the crap out of whomever you play. We were 21 before yesterday win by 64 move up to 19. Not a system easy to understand as is bracketology. I know we lost a lot of games last season but had a sos of 2 and ended up with a six seed. This year in Creme's bracket were projected 4 seed with a sos of 132.

The point of this is that strength of schedule does not help you nearly as much as Net ranking when it comes to the NCAA Tourney. Mulkey had this figured out and Harper did not. Looks like Caldwell has it figured out as well. Mulkey gets a lot of fan bashing when it comes to her weak non conference scheule which is certainly better than ours this year number 79 but LSU Net ranking is 9.

One more example is Kansas State sos 116 net ranking 4. Texas net ranking 1 sos 50. They were number two until the beat Rio Grande by 60 yesterday. I know a lot of fans hate the weak schedules, but they are no longer a detriment to your NCAA seed so it is making a lot of sense to play a lot of teams that you can beat by 50.

As far as coaching Caldwell is a lot like Mulkey in one regard that being no matter how much your beating a team by you just keep trying to pour it on more and more. I think she does it as a message to her teams to keep playing hard for a full forty minutes. I have no problem with that in fact that is the way it should be no matter what team you are coaching.

Scheduule's been awful, worst in years. The numbers tell the story. We've talked abut why that happened, just circumstances. But it's also true the way the LVs have bigfooted thru it gives alot more optimism for the upcoming SEC season. The intensity, focus and buy in has been very impressive. In spite of very weak competition, this is obviously a very good team, better than I dared to expect. Kudos to Kim.

In general, the bottoming out of scheduling in all sports feels like another way the college fan experience is getting worse while also getting more expensive. Nearly a third of the schedule is larded out with games that are never going to be competitive for a single second. With coaches incentivized not only to line up the patsies, but to pour it on them. Still can't get over football scheduling a 56-0 cupcake in the middle of conf season. Call me crazy, I just like a game where the outcome is at least somewhat in question. But things seem to be headed in the other direction.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

GBO!
In addition, NET Ranking is going up now at #19.
Beating tourney teams in the non-conference schedule while leading WBB in scoring, offensive rebounds, and top 3 in steals among other statistics.
It’s a track meet at Food City Center!

 

[Volfan2012]

Scheduule's been awful, worst in years. The numbers tell the story. We've talked abut why that happened, just circumstances. But it's also true the way the LVs have bigfooted thru it gives alot more optimism for the upcoming SEC season. The intensity, focus and buy in has been very impressive. In spite of very weak competition, this is obviously a very good team, better than I dared to expect. Kudos to Kim.

In general, the bottoming out of scheduling in all sports feels like another way the college fan experience is getting worse while also getting more expensive. Nearly a third of the schedule is larded out with games that are never going to be competitive for a single second. With coaches incentivized not only to line up the patsies, but to pour it on them. Still can't get over football scheduling a 56-0 cupcake in the middle of conf season. Call me crazy, I just like a game where the outcome is at least somewhat in question. But things seem to be headed in the other direction.

Bad for the fans sure especially if your paying. As far as the NCAA and the tournament it has no penalty in fact it seems to help your cause as far as seeding if you win by enough points.

 

[VolBall09]

GBO!
In addition, NET Ranking is going up now at #19.
Beating tourney teams in the non-conference schedule while leading WBB in scoring, offensive rebounds, and top 3 in steals among other statistics.
It’s a track meet at Food City Center!

My favorite stat so far is #1 in TO margin. This board has been griping about the turnovers for years. It’s so nice to see us getting quality looks before turning the ball over for a change.

 

[VolBall09]

Bad for the fans sure especially if your paying. As far as the NCAA and the tournament it has no penalty in fact it seems to help your cause as far as seeding if you win by enough points.

Definitely noticed that the last few years. Margin of victory seems heavily weighted. That was driving me nuts last season. We would be up 20 points and then play the bench the entire 4th quarter, opponent would cut it under 10 and we’d put the starters back in and win by 9 or something.

 

[Mafiaboss]

Lady Vols come in with a Net ranking of 19 today. Our strength of schedule is still 132. Last year at this time out Net ranking was over 40 and we ended up number 30 with a strength of schedule of 2. So again we can see that strength of schedule holds little barring on helping your Net ranking. What helps it is beating the crap out of whomever you play. We were 21 before yesterday win by 64 move up to 19. Not a system easy to understand as is bracketology. I know we lost a lot of games last season but had a sos of 2 and ended up with a six seed. This year in Creme's bracket were projected 4 seed with a sos of 132.

The point of this is that strength of schedule does not help you nearly as much as Net ranking when it comes to the NCAA Tourney. Mulkey had this figured out and Harper did not. Looks like Caldwell has it figured out as well. Mulkey gets a lot of fan bashing when it comes to her weak non conference scheule which is certainly better than ours this year number 79 but LSU Net ranking is 9.

One more example is Kansas State sos 116 net ranking 4. Texas net ranking 1 sos 50. They were number two until the beat Rio Grande by 60 yesterday. I know a lot of fans hate the weak schedules, but they are no longer a detriment to your NCAA seed so it is making a lot of sense to play a lot of teams that you can beat by 50.

As far as coaching Caldwell is a lot like Mulkey in one regard that being no matter how much your beating a team by you just keep trying to pour it on more and more. I think she does it as a message to her teams to keep playing hard for a full forty minutes. I have no problem with that in fact that is the way it should be no matter what team you are coaching.

Nice analysis.

 

[Mafiaboss]

Bad for the fans sure especially if you’re paying. As far as the NCAA and the tournament it has no penalty in fact it seems to help your cause as far as seeding if you win by enough points.

I enjoy all of the games…. unless we get hammered.

 

[Mafiaboss]

Scheduule's been awful, worst in years. The numbers tell the story. We've talked abut why that happened, just circumstances. But it's also true the way the LVs have bigfooted thru it gives alot more optimism for the upcoming SEC season. The intensity, focus and buy in has been very impressive. In spite of very weak competition, this is obviously a very good team, better than I dared to expect. Kudos to Kim.

In general, the bottoming out of scheduling in all sports feels like another way the college fan experience is getting worse while also getting more expensive. Nearly a third of the schedule is larded out with games that are never going to be competitive for a single second. With coaches incentivized not only to line up the patsies, but to pour it on them. Still can't get over football scheduling a 56-0 cupcake in the middle of conf season. Call me crazy, I just like a game where the outcome is at least somewhat in question. But things seem to be headed in the other direction.

I think Pat would say keep playing them. It gives those teams valuable experience and tv exposure. Moving toward more parity.

 

[Mafiaboss]

And it hasn't all been cupcakes. Florida State and Iowa were both very good tests early in the season. I also would never sleep on MTSU, Richmond or Memphis (in any sport). I obvi don't think we will go undefeated this season because that is so hard these days, but the Lady Vols are exceeding all of my expectations both this season and in recruitment of the 2025 class. We are so excited we got tickets to see them play Vandy and are making a nice, romantic long weekend of it, and we are discussing attending the SEC tournament. Still lots of basketball to play, but I think the non-con schedule was perfect for this year.

I’m redefining cupcakes. By my definition, we’ve played 4 this season. The others are not far away from being competitive teams with D1.

 

[VolBall09]

I do predict teams start fouling us more in the SEC so I hope to see our free throw shooting improve to around 75% for the team. Against more athletic teams a lot of our uncontested runouts will be contested so I expect us at the line more and we need to finish through contact.

It was good to start the year and has wavered recently. Spencer and Spearman get there the most. Sam in particular should be better than 55%, I don’t like the catch and chuck method she’s using at the moment. Latham is also pretty good at getting to the line but only shooting 44% she doesn’t finish well through contact at the moment either. So she either has to get the bucket or make the FTs can’t take empty possessions on those that much.

 

[LV renaissance]

I do predict teams start fouling us more in the SEC so I hope to see our free throw shooting improve to around 75% for the team. Against more athletic teams a lot of our uncontested runouts will be contested so I expect us at the line more and we need to finish through contact.

It was good to start the year and has wavered recently. Spencer and Spearman get there the most. Sam in particular should be better than 55%, I don’t like the catch and chuck method she’s using at the moment. Latham is also pretty good at getting to the line but only shooting 44% she doesn’t finish well through contact at the moment either. So she either has to get the bucket or make the FTs can’t take empty possessions on those that much.

I heard her say that she chucks the free throws up so fast because she doesn't want to get in her head about it. That seems a shame given that Samara has the prettiest shot from the three-point line as any of players not named Darby. I don't ever remember seeing someone with such a pretty shot just totally heaving it up as if they don't have a good shot. I can't believe none of her coaches through the years have convinced her to work on the mental aspects of free throw shooting so she can develop positive mental energy about it. I think most teams have a sports psychologist with whom they that they consult with, and this is sport psychology 101.

 

[VolBall09]

I heard her say that she chucks the free throws up so fast because she doesn't want to get in her head about it. That seems a shame given that Samara has the prettiest shot from the three-point line as any of players not named Darby. I don't ever remember seeing someone with such a pretty shot just totally heaving it up as if they don't have a good shot. I can't believe none of her coaches through the years have convinced her to work on the mental aspects of free throw shooting so she can develop positive mental energy about it. I think most teams have a sports psychologist with whom they that they consult with, and this is sport psychology 101.

She had the yips at Arkansas and missed some really important ones late in games. She started shooting it like that after that. I wouldn’t mind it if it was effective but at 55% a player as good as her has to get real with herself.

Get a routine, work on your mental game and knock those things down.

 

[Mafiaboss]

I heard her say that she chucks the free throws up so fast because she doesn't want to get in her head about it. That seems a shame given that Samara has the prettiest shot from the three-point line as any of players not named Darby. I don't ever remember seeing someone with such a pretty shot just totally heaving it up as if they don't have a good shot. I can't believe none of her coaches through the years have convinced her to work on the mental aspects of free throw shooting so she can develop positive mental energy about it. I think most teams have a sports psychologist with whom they that they consult with, and this is sport psychology 101.

Yeah, I heard her say that. She used to be worse.

 

[VolBall09]

Yeah, I heard her say that. She used to be worse.

She was a 74% FT shooter last season and got to the line A LOT. We need that from her in the SEC. She hasn’t been quite as aggressive since her scare at Memphis but she looked better against Winthrop and seems to be over that. Hoping to see her get downhill some again come SEC play.

She’s a tough check with her deep three ball, ability to get to the rim and excellent passing this season. She was the key portal pickup for us for certain.

 

[Go aeiou]

S. Carolina?

 

[Mafiaboss]

She was a 74% FT shooter last season and got to the line A LOT. We need that from her in the SEC. She hasn’t been quite as aggressive since her scare at Memphis but she looked better against Winthrop and seems to be over that. Hoping to see her get downhill some again come SEC play.

She’s a tough check with her deep three ball, ability to get to the rim and excellent passing this season. She was the key portal pickup for us for certain.

I just meant she did work on her FT but she said it still makes her too nervous to slow down the shot. Kim says she won’t talk to them about free throws because it will get in their heads.

 

[VolBall09]

I just meant she did work on her FT but she said it still makes her too nervous to slow down the shot. Kim says she won’t talk to them about free throws because it will get in their heads.

In Kim we trust lol

 

[glv98]

Bad for the fans sure especially if your paying

Exactly. As a paying customer I feel like I'm getting a worse product. Because I'm a season ticket holder who doesn't enjoy blowouts no matter what end of them I'm on, esp not this many. Used to be maybe 2 or 3 really low ranked teams. Now it's only a few who aren't. Weeks without competitive games.

I’m redefining cupcakes. By my definition, we’ve played 4 this season. The others are not far away from being competitive teams with D1.

For sure, cupcakes are being redefined. Esp if you think we only played four. But listen to what you said: "the others are pretty close to being almost at the edge of being competitive with our level of play". That's a cupcake game friend, and no where near parity.

In spite of the trend toward under scheduling, I really don't think CKC will jump on that sad bandwagon. She seems too driven and ferocious. Also too smart while trying to shove the program back over the top. As a paying customer, I feel sure things will get somewhat better in future seasons around here.

 

[Mafiaboss]

Exactly. As a paying customer I feel like I'm getting a worse product. Because I'm a season ticket holder who doesn't enjoy blowouts no matter what end of them I'm on, esp not this many. Used to be maybe 2 or 3 really low ranked teams. Now it's only a few who aren't. Weeks without competitive games.


For sure, cupcakes are being redefined. Esp if you think we only played four. But listen to what you said: "the others are pretty close to being almost at the edge of being competitive with our level of play". That's a cupcake game friend, and no where near parity.

In spite of the trend toward under scheduling, I really don't think CKC will jump on that sad bandwagon. She seems too driven and ferocious. Also too smart while trying to shove the program back over the top. As a paying customer, I feel sure things will get somewhat better in future seasons around here.

Disagree.

 

[Coach Jumper]

I heard her say that she chucks the free throws up so fast because she doesn't want to get in her head about it. That seems a shame given that Samara has the prettiest shot from the three-point line as any of players not named Darby. I don't ever remember seeing someone with such a pretty shot just totally heaving it up as if they don't have a good shot. I can't believe none of her coaches through the years have convinced her to work on the mental aspects of free throw shooting so she can develop positive mental energy about it. I think most teams have a sports psychologist with whom they that they consult with, and this is sport psychology 101.

she's got a quick trigger and carries that mentality tot eh foul line,,,very few do this,,most have to have a ritual