Sorry for the long post ... I've defended the coaching staff for long enough and today's game along with the other 3 to 4 years has finally exhausted my patience. I'm not saying we should necessarily fire the coach. The devil you know is often better than the one you don't. Ask Tennessee football fans both college and pro if in hindsight they'd fire Fisher or Fulmer. Unlike others, I don't think our recruiting is a big problem. I'm confident we'll sign KK or Dorie or both next year and be fine in the post for another 4 to 5 years. I just feel like where we are now is where we have been the past 4 years and is likely the top of where we will always be with this leadership and that's just not good enough in my opinion for the Lady Vols. GOOD coaches take a program and advance it FORWARD. They take good players and develop them so when they LEAVE, they are MUCH better when they ARRIVED. I am not seeing that.
Season losses before January 1st
2015-2016 - lose to #8 Texas
2014-2015 - lose to unranked Chattanooga, lose to #6 Texas
2013-2014 - lose to #6 Stanford
2012-2013 - lose to unranked Chattanooga, #3 Baylor, #1 Stanford
2011-2012 - lose to unranked Virginia, # 1 Baylor, #4 Stanford
I won't pretend like the teams with Candace Parker and before were perfect because they lost some games too (none to unranked teams though) BUT you EXPECTED those teams to win all these games and they HAD a lot of quality wins to go with the occasional loss and they still looked like a quality team when they lost. Unfortunately we do not expect today's teams to win games like today. Most all of us were not feeling good about this game today for good reason due to questionable games against inferior competition. It's not about wins and losses per se and more so about HOW you look in the effort. We haven't looked good. Something different in a good way had to happen to win and unfortunately it didn't.
The offense is, has been, and sadly likely will continue to be very mediocre. It's not bad because of the players. It's bad because of the COACHES. There is no movement. There is no cohesiveness. There is no chemistry. I haven't played with my high school team in 25 years but I guarantee I could reunite with them tomorrow and show 10 times better effort and effectiveness because our offense had constant ball movement, screens, player movement without the ball, floor spacing, and we played together for 4 years solid and had chemistry. I STILL remember our man to man offense all these years later because we did it OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Every game with the Lady Vols it looks like they don't even have an offense. If the offense was bad one select year, then maybe we could blame the players. If it's bad EVERY year, it's because of the COACHES. And, if Holly is a defensive minded coach, FINE, admit it, and find an offensive minded assistant coach to run the offense. And, if that's what she's doing, FIRE the assistant coach and get a new one.
This game had a little slice of EVERYTHING to why we have been struggling: starting Reynolds and Jones instead of Diamond and Carter. Sitting Graves (31) Mercedes (34), and Diamond (30) AT ALL was a mistake this game. All 3 should have had 40 minutes next to their name if your goal was to win. I don't care if they were tired suck it up. I don't care if they were in foul trouble. You get 5 fouls for a reason and they don't carry over to the next game. No one could score except Diamond: that's why you keep her in. No one except Mercedes could guard their post players: that's why you keep her in. Graves has been our best player in all the games: that's why you keep her in. Carter should have played 40 minutes too: 5 assists, 2 steals, and tied for 2nd leading scorer. I'm sick of reading comments about Carter shouldn't be playing. Carter should have her butt in the game. She's the best defender on the team. She values possessions. That's more than I can say about over half the team.
Let's talk about the shooting percentages. I don't think we are shooting bad as a team because we're unlucky or have bad shooters. We have bad shooting because the OFFENSIVE schemes are bad (arguably non-existent) and play to NO ONE's strengths. Over 75% of the time, it looks like this: point guard stands at the top of the key doing NOTHING for 5 seconds, dribble to one side and HAND THE BALL to the wing, look inside, force it in (turnover), or pass it back up top where there will likely be more standing around or dribbling for 5 seconds, and then EVENTUALLY someone has to try to get a shot usually a BAD shot 1 vs. 1 style that will be reflected in our poor shooting %. Take these same players and run an actual offense that gets players open for good shots they are used to taking in practice and I'll bet our shooting percentages magically rise to where they should be.
Most of the time when we score, it's when the play breaks down or more to the point, the defense breaks down momentarily and allows a play to unfold. It's like happy accidents: not the fruits of sound strategy and practice paying off.
There's no reason to be standing around. They should have ONE zone offense and ONE man to man offense and as soon as you know which one to run (which should be as soon as you pass half court), you freakin' run it. It's not rocket science.
In CRUNCH time, the coaches call a timeout and put the ball in our CENTER's hand out of bounds and we turn it over. Why is our CENTER taking the ball out? Is that our best passer? I'd much rather have the CENTER ready to receive the ball like 6'7'' plus 3 feet of wing span in the air or a guard with good hands from another guard with good passing skills.
Turnovers? Well, we only had 16. Unfortunately, Mercedes had a turnover coming out party with 5 of her own. If she just has 2 instead of 5, we're at 12 for the game and probably win. If our players can make layups (seems like I counted at least 3 to 5 bunnies we missed and 2 in CRUNCH time) we probably win.
The epiphany for me that our coaching staff doesn't get it was when they pulled Diamond from the game after hitting 2 three pointers. It's another slice of a big pie. They had it in their mind for WHATEVER reason that she was coming out and did not have the dynamic foresight to realize that you leave a hot player with a hot hand in the game to hopefully continue her rhythm. It's like they are coaching from some laminated sheet with Rules scribbled on the top and they cannot break or deviate from the chart. I saw an interview with Mike Krzyzewski where he said he doesn't coach the same way every year. He changes his coaching style and approach based on his players. That's one of many reasons why he has had so much success at the college and Olympic level. When our coaching staff took Diamond out of the game in the first half after hitting 2 three pointers, that (among many examples) illustrates WHY they do not have success relative to what they've been given. They are NOT dynamic or play to our players' strengths.
Having said that, I do think there is a lot of room for this team to get better. I do think chemistry is not nearly where it could or should be. I do think several players are still on the mend like Diamond and Mercedes from having a year off. So, I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but I have lost confidence for our ceiling in terms of potential with our coaching staff AND I have lost all confidence that we will ever have even an above average offense simply because since Parker and Pat left, we haven't had one. I feel like success we have offensively will be IN SPITE of our coaching not because of it. When I was 13, we won the Summer Tennessee Junior League State Championship with a BAD coach, so it can be done. It caught up to us at Regionals unfortunately but I mention it as a glimmer of hope that some teams can rise above their leadership.
Season losses before January 1st
2015-2016 - lose to #8 Texas
2014-2015 - lose to unranked Chattanooga, lose to #6 Texas
2013-2014 - lose to #6 Stanford
2012-2013 - lose to unranked Chattanooga, #3 Baylor, #1 Stanford
2011-2012 - lose to unranked Virginia, # 1 Baylor, #4 Stanford
I won't pretend like the teams with Candace Parker and before were perfect because they lost some games too (none to unranked teams though) BUT you EXPECTED those teams to win all these games and they HAD a lot of quality wins to go with the occasional loss and they still looked like a quality team when they lost. Unfortunately we do not expect today's teams to win games like today. Most all of us were not feeling good about this game today for good reason due to questionable games against inferior competition. It's not about wins and losses per se and more so about HOW you look in the effort. We haven't looked good. Something different in a good way had to happen to win and unfortunately it didn't.
The offense is, has been, and sadly likely will continue to be very mediocre. It's not bad because of the players. It's bad because of the COACHES. There is no movement. There is no cohesiveness. There is no chemistry. I haven't played with my high school team in 25 years but I guarantee I could reunite with them tomorrow and show 10 times better effort and effectiveness because our offense had constant ball movement, screens, player movement without the ball, floor spacing, and we played together for 4 years solid and had chemistry. I STILL remember our man to man offense all these years later because we did it OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Every game with the Lady Vols it looks like they don't even have an offense. If the offense was bad one select year, then maybe we could blame the players. If it's bad EVERY year, it's because of the COACHES. And, if Holly is a defensive minded coach, FINE, admit it, and find an offensive minded assistant coach to run the offense. And, if that's what she's doing, FIRE the assistant coach and get a new one.
This game had a little slice of EVERYTHING to why we have been struggling: starting Reynolds and Jones instead of Diamond and Carter. Sitting Graves (31) Mercedes (34), and Diamond (30) AT ALL was a mistake this game. All 3 should have had 40 minutes next to their name if your goal was to win. I don't care if they were tired suck it up. I don't care if they were in foul trouble. You get 5 fouls for a reason and they don't carry over to the next game. No one could score except Diamond: that's why you keep her in. No one except Mercedes could guard their post players: that's why you keep her in. Graves has been our best player in all the games: that's why you keep her in. Carter should have played 40 minutes too: 5 assists, 2 steals, and tied for 2nd leading scorer. I'm sick of reading comments about Carter shouldn't be playing. Carter should have her butt in the game. She's the best defender on the team. She values possessions. That's more than I can say about over half the team.
Let's talk about the shooting percentages. I don't think we are shooting bad as a team because we're unlucky or have bad shooters. We have bad shooting because the OFFENSIVE schemes are bad (arguably non-existent) and play to NO ONE's strengths. Over 75% of the time, it looks like this: point guard stands at the top of the key doing NOTHING for 5 seconds, dribble to one side and HAND THE BALL to the wing, look inside, force it in (turnover), or pass it back up top where there will likely be more standing around or dribbling for 5 seconds, and then EVENTUALLY someone has to try to get a shot usually a BAD shot 1 vs. 1 style that will be reflected in our poor shooting %. Take these same players and run an actual offense that gets players open for good shots they are used to taking in practice and I'll bet our shooting percentages magically rise to where they should be.
Most of the time when we score, it's when the play breaks down or more to the point, the defense breaks down momentarily and allows a play to unfold. It's like happy accidents: not the fruits of sound strategy and practice paying off.
There's no reason to be standing around. They should have ONE zone offense and ONE man to man offense and as soon as you know which one to run (which should be as soon as you pass half court), you freakin' run it. It's not rocket science.
In CRUNCH time, the coaches call a timeout and put the ball in our CENTER's hand out of bounds and we turn it over. Why is our CENTER taking the ball out? Is that our best passer? I'd much rather have the CENTER ready to receive the ball like 6'7'' plus 3 feet of wing span in the air or a guard with good hands from another guard with good passing skills.
Turnovers? Well, we only had 16. Unfortunately, Mercedes had a turnover coming out party with 5 of her own. If she just has 2 instead of 5, we're at 12 for the game and probably win. If our players can make layups (seems like I counted at least 3 to 5 bunnies we missed and 2 in CRUNCH time) we probably win.
The epiphany for me that our coaching staff doesn't get it was when they pulled Diamond from the game after hitting 2 three pointers. It's another slice of a big pie. They had it in their mind for WHATEVER reason that she was coming out and did not have the dynamic foresight to realize that you leave a hot player with a hot hand in the game to hopefully continue her rhythm. It's like they are coaching from some laminated sheet with Rules scribbled on the top and they cannot break or deviate from the chart. I saw an interview with Mike Krzyzewski where he said he doesn't coach the same way every year. He changes his coaching style and approach based on his players. That's one of many reasons why he has had so much success at the college and Olympic level. When our coaching staff took Diamond out of the game in the first half after hitting 2 three pointers, that (among many examples) illustrates WHY they do not have success relative to what they've been given. They are NOT dynamic or play to our players' strengths.
Having said that, I do think there is a lot of room for this team to get better. I do think chemistry is not nearly where it could or should be. I do think several players are still on the mend like Diamond and Mercedes from having a year off. So, I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but I have lost confidence for our ceiling in terms of potential with our coaching staff AND I have lost all confidence that we will ever have even an above average offense simply because since Parker and Pat left, we haven't had one. I feel like success we have offensively will be IN SPITE of our coaching not because of it. When I was 13, we won the Summer Tennessee Junior League State Championship with a BAD coach, so it can be done. It caught up to us at Regionals unfortunately but I mention it as a glimmer of hope that some teams can rise above their leadership.
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