The most telling UT KY postgame quote

[meekfan]

"I just think we didn't- defense wasn't important for us today. So, that's about it"

No kidding If the head coach can at least recognize the deficiency in defense maybe she could come up with some strategy to improve our overall D.

This game should have been a W. KY's play wasn't great, we were just sloppy. You look at the top teams and defense is their cornerstone. The LV's played like it wasn't important today.

 

[vol-un-tear]

Turnovers, missed free throws, lack of attitude and more. I just hope the light comes on at the tournament. I just keep hoping. Oneil is tough though. GLV!!!

 

[Spacejam]

The inconsistency on defense has been one of their main issues all season long, they might play good defense in one game and then sleep walk throughout the next game.

 

[Voluble2]

Their defensive stats are poor across the board. The offensive ones are surprisingly good.

They just don't play with energy on the defensive end with any regularity. They deserve the losses they have for reason alone.

 

[clkou]

Not having Ariel hurt a lot today because both Simmons and Carter were in foul trouble. We STILL almost won without Ariel. It also didn't help that UK's center made a three that just looked ugly to me the way she shot it and with one second on the shot clock, they BANK in a 3.

Granted we didn't do ourselves any favors with turnovers and missed free throws, but I think we win the rematch, if there is one, like we did against Vandy.

 

[Voluble2]

Not having Ariel hurt a lot today because both Simmons and Carter were in foul trouble. We STILL almost won without Ariel. It also didn't help that UK's center made a three that just looked ugly to me the way she shot it and with one second on the shot clock, they BANK in a 3.

Granted we didn't do ourselves any favors with turnovers and missed free throws, but I think we win the rematch, if there is one, like we did against Vandy.

I really don't care about the rematch at this point. If the players don't care enough to play hard every game for 40 minutes then my life is not long enough to care whether they succeed. They have really offended the fanbase. Fans don't have any right to results, but they damn sure do to effort. If a team does not provide that at a minimum then they do not deserve any fan support no matter how many games they win.

Someone gives their hard earned money to see you play, or spends 2 hours they will never get back rooting for you then the least you damned well owe them is 40 minutes of work. Anything less is an insult. You can stink it up, but it had damned well not be from a lack of effort.

It is that simple.

 

[PineyBluff Vol]

Not having Ariel hurt a lot today because both Simmons and Carter were in foul trouble. We STILL almost won without Ariel. It also didn't help that UK's center made a three that just looked ugly to me the way she shot it and with one second on the shot clock, they BANK in a 3.

Granted we didn't do ourselves any favors with turnovers and missed free throws, but I think we win the rematch, if there is one, like we did against Vandy.

Why is it necessary to go into a game with a mindset that we must revenge a loss. That attitude has to be there in the first game. There is no fire in the belly of these girls!

 

[djtee]

The bottom line is Holly is getting out coached against the top teams. I understand Ariel is hurt but teams are now making adjustments. And as for Jones i have no answer maybe Nia ?

 

[djtee]

Burdick played 39 mins 4 pts 5 TO

Jones played 10 mins 0 pts 2 TO

The two 49 mins 7 TO and 4pts we have seen this a lot this season between the two

 

[golf437]

Why is it necessary to go into a game with a mindset that we must revenge a loss. That attitude has to be there in the first game. There is no fire in the belly of these girls!

Most laughable post that I have read today. Thank you.

 

[orangeluvr]

The problem with the men and women is……..no point guard! But that isn't the only one. :dunno:

 

[clkou]

I think my words were misinterpreted a bit. I also think some of you live these basketball games as if you were riding a roller coaster.

Let's pretend UK's center misses that ugly looking 3 point shot. Let's pretend they don't bank a 3 point shot with 1 second left on the shot clock. Let's pretend when Simmons took a 3 point shot and got hacked on the arm that the refs actually called a foul and she made all 3 free throws. Let's pretend when Simmons cleanly blocked the shot of the UK player, the refs don't call a "jump ball" which allows US to get the next "jump ball" possession late in the game and have a chance to take the lead.

There's probably a dozen other scenarios and NONE of those scenarios are farfetched and we probably win the game and are poised to move somewhere into top 6 in the rankings probably.

So we go from that to the girls don't have any heart? Cmon. Gimme a break. Just because you don't win doesn't mean you don't have heart or fire. Only one team can win. What if both teams have heart or fire? What if both teams don't? It's a stupid idea to try to put labels on them like that.

The reality that many of you don't want to acknowledge is that there is a huge luck component to sports. If you've ever played no limit hold'em and got your aces all in pre-flop against deuce-seven, you probably feel good about your chances to win, but play enough and you'll see you don't always win. That's because of luck. It's the same with sports. Many of these opponents we will beat 9/10 times or 7/10 times or whatever, but we can still lose for whatever reason and a lot of luck is involved.

Obviously there is an element of control with preparation, practice, strategy, execution, and so on, but all that does is INCREASE your chances of winning. Your chances never go to 100%.

I thought UK played well against us just as I was afraid they probably would with their season basically on the line in terms of seeding and confidence. I personally think they probably had a lot more luck on their side per se than than the skill, but even on that end, I felt like they played one of their best games of the season. You can't be down on our team for fighting and playing a close game already down one of our best players due to injury. That's just unrealistic. Both Simmons and Carter were in foul trouble. We had to lean on a Freshman and she did a pretty decent job under the circumstances. We just had one too many turnovers. One too many missed free throws. One too many lucky shots that went against us. All of that can be corrected I think. Would you rather have got blown out of the gym? Wth?

 

[armchair]

The Vols have had consistent problems with turnovers and mediocre defense for more than a few years. We used to be a stout man-for-man defensive team that could really bother other teams. That hasn't been the case for quite some time--partly because PS recruited a bunch of slow players for a time and we just don't seem to have the excellent man defenders anymore. Jones is the best man defender on the team, and she is an excellent athlete--but she is so clueless on the offensive end, and commits so many turnovers, that we can't really play her much. That is tough. She scores occasionally but more often than not throws the ball away and looks like this is her first year of organized basketball.

More generally, we don't really seem to be a high IQ team. Smart, well-coached teams school us all the time. Notre Dame came to Knoxville last year--with their well drilled pick and pass scheme--and I've never seen a more embarrassingly bad defensive performance by UT. ND must have had 30 layups in that game. Another example of low IQ is our consistently low assist-to-turnover ratio--been a problem for years. Not a good passing team; poor decisions; lots of turnovers. 22 turnovers yesterday--that is 44+ potential points lost. When you are missing you starting point guard, it is imperative that your other guards be careful about fouls. Instead, both Simmons and Carter get into early foul trouble. And so it goes. The worse thing is, all the inconsistency makes it hard to build the confidence and swagger that all really good teams have.

 

[djtee]

The Vols have had consistent problems with turnovers and mediocre defense for more than a few years. We used to be a stout man-for-man defensive team that could really bother other teams. That hasn't been the case for quite some time--partly because PS recruited a bunch of slow players for a time and we just don't seem to have the excellent man defenders anymore. Jones is the best man defender on the team, and she is an excellent athlete--but she is so clueless on the offensive end, and commits so many turnovers, that we can't really play her much. That is tough. She scores occasionally but more often than not throws the ball away and looks like this is her first year of organized basketball.

More generally, we don't really seem to be a high IQ team. Smart, well-coached teams school us all the time. Notre Dame came to Knoxville last year--with their well drilled pick and pass scheme--and I've never seen a more embarrassingly bad defensive performance by UT. ND must have had 30 layups in that game. Another example of low IQ is our consistently low assist-to-turnover ratio--been a problem for years. Not a good passing team; poor decisions; lots of turnovers. 22 turnovers yesterday--that is 44+ potential points lost. When you are missing you starting point guard, it is imperative that your other guards be careful about fouls. Instead, both Simmons and Carter get into early foul trouble. And so it goes. The worse thing is, all the inconsistency makes it hard to build the confidence and swagger that all really good teams have.

Ha you are spot on with this and i have said this from day one But Holly still plays her a lot. Jones is the best man defender on the team, and she is an excellent athlete--but she is so clueless on the offensive end, and commits so many turnovers, that we can't really play her much. That is tough. She scores occasionally but more often than not throws the ball away and looks like this is her first year of organized basketball.

 

[PineyBluff Vol]

Most laughable post that I have read today. Thank you.

Because???

 

[tactical]

The sad thing is that this is about as good as you're going to see with both the men's and women's teams. Sometimes reality is hard to swallow. You can bleed the orangest blood there is but facts continue to expose the sad reality. We all know where the buck stops. Effort can't be taught but it sure can be instilled. There has been no back to back good games. Yes there has been back to back wins but usually the second game is one in which they sleep walked through. Some have this team in the final four, I think they will be fortunate to get to the round of eight. I'll still be hoping and pulling but it's up to them.

 

[Voluble2]

Just because you don't win doesn't mean you don't have heart or fire. Only one team can win. What if both teams have heart or fire? What if both teams don't? It's a stupid idea to try to put labels on them like that.

The reality that many of you don't want to acknowledge is that there is a huge luck component to sports.

What makes you think we didn't consider all of that and still come to the conclusion that they are lazy and put little effort into their defense just like their coach says they do?

Because I assure you nothing you said is anything new that we haven't already factored in. It doesn't matter if you choose those few plays, reverse them, and we come out with a win. We would STILL have given a poor effort. And it is accepting poor effort like that as long as we win that gets us in trouble and leads to the low and inconsistent standard of play that we are so accustomed to seeing.

Either they get down in a stance, clog the passing lanes, and stay in front of their man or they don't. They have the ability to do it as they show when they play in spurts, and put some actual effort into what they are doing. The rest of the time they try to do just enough to win... and it bites them in the ass.

So yeah, we might have moved up a few notches in the polls. But that would just mean we were even more over ranked than we already are. We are not a legit top ten team. Not even close. Not when we play like we normally do. We got our ranking by reputation only and these girls haven't really done much to earn it.

It is time for that to change.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

The Vols have had consistent problems with turnovers and mediocre defense for more than a few years. We used to be a stout man-for-man defensive team that could really bother other teams. That hasn't been the case for quite some time--partly because PS recruited a bunch of slow players for a time and we just don't seem to have the excellent man defenders anymore. Jones is the best man defender on the team, and she is an excellent athlete--but she is so clueless on the offensive end, and commits so many turnovers, that we can't really play her much. That is tough. She scores occasionally but more often than not throws the ball away and looks like this is her first year of organized basketball.

More generally, we don't really seem to be a high IQ team. Smart, well-coached teams school us all the time. Notre Dame came to Knoxville last year--with their well drilled pick and pass scheme--and I've never seen a more embarrassingly bad defensive performance by UT. ND must have had 30 layups in that game. Another example of low IQ is our consistently low assist-to-turnover ratio--been a problem for years. Not a good passing team; poor decisions; lots of turnovers. 22 turnovers yesterday--that is 44+ potential points lost. When you are missing you starting point guard, it is imperative that your other guards be careful about fouls. Instead, both Simmons and Carter get into early foul trouble. And so it goes. The worse thing is, all the inconsistency makes it hard to build the confidence and swagger that all really good teams have.

Maybe if we had make one or two more of our missed 8-10 layups; or maybe if we had not thrown the ball away trying to get the ball into a player tripled teamed; or maybe if we if we had played some tighter perimeter defense, maybe we would have won the game.

 

[Volfan2012]

If you want to see if we won or lost look no further than the stats of three players. Burdick, Jones, and Simmons. If they have good or decent games we win and if not we lose. It is that simple. You look at every game and all the losses depended on these players not playing well.

 

[djtee]

If you want to see if we won or lost look no further than the stats of three players. Burdick, Jones, and Simmons. If they have good or decent games we win and if not we lose. It is that simple. You look at every game and all the losses depended on these players not playing well.

I don`t disagree with you on this issue and i have made this point from day one, That Burdick and Jones has failed to show up in the big games. Simmons i will give a pass because she has played well in most of the games.

 

[clkou]

The most telling stat I think was Izzy, Simmons, and Burdick all having 5 turnovers each combining for 15. That's 1 Senior and 2 Juniors. I can forgive a Freshman or Sophomore and it helps if it's just ONE player doing it, but when you have 3 upperclassman turning the ball over that much, it makes things needlessly complicated.

Also, the Ariel Massengale DNP stat and Carter's 5 fouls were not ideal either.

 

[governmentmule]

What makes you think we didn't consider all of that and still come to the conclusion that they are lazy and put little effort into their defense just like their coach says they do?

Because I assure you nothing you said is anything new that we haven't already factored in. It doesn't matter if you choose those few plays, reverse them, and we come out with a win. We would STILL have given a poor effort. And it is accepting poor effort like that as long as we win that gets us in trouble and leads to the low and inconsistent standard of play that we are so accustomed to seeing.

Either they get down in a stance, clog the passing lanes, and stay in front of their man or they don't. They have the ability to do it as they show when they play in spurts, and put some actual effort into what they are doing. The rest of the time they try to do just enough to win... and it bites them in the ass.

So yeah, we might have moved up a few notches in the polls. But that would just mean we were even more over ranked than we already are. We are not a legit top ten team. Not even close. Not when we play like we normally do. We got our ranking by reputation only and these girls haven't really done much to earn it.

It is time for that to change.

but they are a top 10 team and i think they have earned it,they need to be a more consistent team for sure,that is what bugs the hell out of me

the talent is there and i think that the coaching is there,to me it is the players being inconsistent on there effort on the court,is what is driving me nuts with this team and all the damn silly ass turnovers

quit trying to toss the ball over everybody's head and try a few bounce passes,and some of the players need to be looking to catch a pass first,instead of looking at the rim for a rebound,how many times have you seen that happen ?

 

[Volfan2012]

I don`t disagree with you on this issue and i have made this point from day one, That Burdick and Jones has failed to show up in the big games. Simmons i will give a pass because she has played well in most of the games.

That is why I see us being a top five team next season. Nared and Tucker are gonna put Jones and Burdick on the bench. Middleton will play a lot as well and even though Simmons will be gone I think Carter can be be a scorer for us. She hasn't shot a lot but has been very good when she has. If Burdick and Jones could come around then were top five this season. I don't expect that they will.

 

[governmentmule]

i would like to see Carter take some more shots,i thought Reynolds was playing better than her in the Ky game

 

[meekfan]

but they are a top 10 team and i think they have earned it,they need to be a more consistent team for sure,that is what bugs the hell out of me

the talent is there and i think that the coaching is there,to me it is the players being inconsistent on there effort on the court,is what is driving me nuts with this team and all the damn silly ass turnovers

?

They may be rankd a top 10 team Mule but I'm not so sure they earned it. As other posters have mentioned, there is some validity that they are riding the coattails of UT's history. The turnover issue completely befuddles me. I can't imagine any really good team committing some of these really dumb TO's.
I hate to say it but I am really concerned when tourney time rolls around. Forget the NCAA's, I can see them blowing an easy game in the conf tourney. . .