There is a silver lining....

#1
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Amb3096

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#1
...and that is the guard trio of Carter, Reynolds and Cooper showing some ability to make jumpshots...at least for 3 quarters. Middleton had a few nice drives as well.

The passing, though...Carter zero assists and 3 turnovers. Williams for MS had 7 assists and 1 turnover. One of these guards needs to become a playmaker and create easy looks for the posts. Okorie didn't have to work hard to get her 10 points because Williams was feeding her in perfect position.

'Bama should be a win, but I worry about the four games that follow. They should split, but they could very well go 0-4. Unreal...
 
#2
#2
Bama could go either way, really. They played A&M tough tonight, and the LVs have been losing big leads. If the LVs lose to Bama, that would be a long, nasty stretch of bad losses.
 
#3
#3
Well Miss State didn't play a zone until late so that helped out...when they went zone the offense disappeared
 
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#4
#4
Amb3096 said:
...and that is the guard trio of Carter, Reynolds and Cooper showing some ability to make jumpshots...at least for 3 quarters. Middleton had a few nice drives as well.

The passing, though...Carter zero assists and 3 turnovers. Williams for MS had 7 assists and 1 turnover. One of these guards needs to become a playmaker and create easy looks for the posts. Okorie didn't have to work hard to get her 10 points because Williams was feeding her in perfect position.

'Bama should be a win, but I worry about the four games that follow. They should split, but they could very well go 0-4. Unreal...
Click to expand...

Just how many times has that silver lining showed up in the last three years ? Reynolds has had two good games in three years out of what ....71 games .The other good game was in the SEC Tourney as a freshman.
 
#5
#5
How in the world can teams still go to a zone and we don't have a clue how to attack it? This is game 20 Holly and you and your team have seem zone in virtually every game and yet when teams go there you choke. The ineffective coaching of this team has cost these players at least five more wins this season.
The players haven't played well but the coaching has been a lot worse than the players they can never seem to come up with a plan against the zone because Holly or any of the three Assistants have a clue need to clean house.
 
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#6
#6
alexvol said:
Just how many times has that silver lining showed up in the last three years ? Reynolds has had two good games in three years out of what ....71 games .The other good game was in the SEC Tourney as a freshman.
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She doesn't need to be great, she just needs to be solid. She was one of the few bright spots against ND, and she played well at UK as well.

It's well known that the guard quartet (Reynolds, Carter, Cooper and Middleton) is by far the weakest link as far as player positions go. If one of them was a smart floor general, it would be so much easier for the posts and Diamond to get good looks. If any of them is able to step up to become a PG that knows how to set up teammates and when to shoot, that will make this team so much better.

Some baby steps, but there is a lot to be done.
 
#7
#7
Amb3096 said:
She doesn't need to be great, she just needs to be solid. She was one of the few bright spots against ND, and she played well at UK as well.

It's well known that the guard quartet (Reynolds, Carter, Cooper and Middleton) is by far the weakest link as far as player positions go. If one of them was a smart floor general, it would be so much easier for the posts and Diamond to get good looks. If any of them is able to step up to become a PG that knows how to set up teammates and when to shoot, that will make this team so much better.

Some baby steps, but there is a lot to be done.
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It will take more than baby steps from that trio to get this team out of its doldrums.Need to toughen up our post players ( this is the worst rebounding team of all LV history },truly integrate Diamond into the offense ,need to have a coach who can attack a zone defense ,etc......and that is just for starters.
 
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#8
#8
Amb3096 said:
...and that is the guard trio of Carter, Reynolds and Cooper showing some ability to make jumpshots...at least for 3 quarters. Middleton had a few nice drives as well.

The passing, though...Carter zero assists and 3 turnovers. Williams for MS had 7 assists and 1 turnover. One of these guards needs to become a playmaker and create easy looks for the posts. Okorie didn't have to work hard to get her 10 points because Williams was feeding her in perfect position.

'Bama should be a win, but I worry about the four games that follow. They should split, but they could very well go 0-4. Unreal...
Click to expand...

Good on you for seeing some positives to build on.

Carter is getting more in the groove. I think her knee injury may have had a negative effect on her early season performance. Her reverse lay-up for the three point play was fantastic.

Reynolds has actually been solid for a stretch of about 5 or so games (as Carolyn Peck noted) and she looked like the Jordan of old, hitting shots to close out quarters (or halves last season).

Tea has now had 3 good games in a row.

Diamond is the enigma. If her ankle was really limiting her, she probably should not have played. If it wasn't that bad, I can't understand what she was doing last night. She never wanted to take on a defender and was very deferential in the closing stretch and overtime.

Whatever justified criticisms people may have about Holly, the idea of having a presumed elite player is that she can be the difference maker down the stretch.

Against KY, it was Epps not Diamond and in this game Diamond seemed to flee the pressure.

For all conjectures that she is a selfish player etc, I see a player who is trying way too hard to be a team player and hence forces passes when she take a shot and not demanding the ball enough.

It is not all Diamond's fault. The team let a double digit lead slip away (for two games in a row) which is a major cause for concern.

I hope the staff really critically studies the game film from the last two games to diagnose what happened when the LVs stalled out-- in terms of the adjustment the opponents made and the adjustments that the LVs did not make.
 
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#9
#9
madtownvol said:
I hope the staff really critically studies the game film from the last two games to diagnose what happened when the LVs stalled out-- in terms of the adjustment the opponents made and the adjustments that the LVs did not make.
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They lost because they played the 4th quarter not to lose, and by the time Miss State tied it up, I knew they would win because they were the team that was playing to win. It also didn't help that some of the jumpers that Jordan made early in the game stopped falling in the 4th Q.

The entire team was afraid to or unwilling to shoot the ball. Did anyone other than Jordan shoot more than twice in the last 15 minutes?
 
#10
#10
Amb3096 said:
They lost because they played the 4th quarter not to lose, and by the time Miss State tied it up, I knew they would win because they were the team that was playing to win. It also didn't help that some of the jumpers that Jordan made early in the game stopped falling in the 4th Q.

The entire team was afraid to or unwilling to shoot the ball. Did anyone other than Jordan shoot more than twice in the last 15 minutes?
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Yes, not making shots down the stretch is a killer. They had more then enough chances to build an insurmountable lead but could finish at the rim or hit a FT.

Once the pressure started to build (and i think this is why the pressure built), the LVs could not get the shot they wanted. I don;t see it as a fear so much as a failure in the system.

When the LVs were going well, they were getting their ideal shots-- three or four passes to an open shooter or a lay-up to Mercedes or they were attacking an open lane.

MSU went into a deep zone which clogged the passing and driving lanes. And the team had no plan B.

I think Holly's single biggest failing as a coach right now is her inflexibility. She has a vision of what good offensive basketball is and when it works, it is good but it can be shut by deep zone (packing to paint).

The problem is that the easiest way to beat that defense is hit threes and this team is not consistent enough from beyond the arc. I know DUNBAR!. Actually, when you look at her % she is not that much of zone buster and she is major liability on the defensive side.

So, I will grant that Holly and staff have a tough problem to solve but they have also had plenty of time to find some way to better manage this now predictable problem that they face game after game.
 
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#11
#11
madtownvol said:
Good on you for seeing some positives to build on.

Carter is getting more in the groove. I think her knee injury may have had a negative effect on her early season performance. Her reverse lay-up for the three point play was fantastic.

Reynolds has actually been solid for a stretch of about 5 or so games (as Carolyn Peck noted) and she looked like the Jordan of old, hitting shots to close out quarters (or halves last season).

Tea has now had 3 good games in a row.

Diamond is the enigma. If her ankle was really limiting her, she probably should not have played. If it wasn't that bad, I can't understand what she was doing last night. She never wanted to take on a defender and was very deferential in the closing stretch and overtime.

Whatever justified criticisms people may have about Holly, the idea of having a presumed elite player is that she can be the difference maker down the stretch.

Against KY, it was Epps not Diamond and in this game Diamond seemed to flee the pressure.

For all conjectures that she is a selfish player etc, I see a player who is trying way too hard to be a team player and hence forces passes when she take a shot and not demanding the ball enough.

It is not all Diamond's fault. The team let a double digit lead slip away (for two games in a row) which is a major cause for concern.

I hope the staff really critically studies the game film from the last two games to diagnose what happened when the LVs stalled out-- in terms of the adjustment the opponents made and the adjustments that the LVs did not make.
Click to expand...

Make no doubt about it, Holly is the enigma.
 
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#12
#12
I'm trying to see something worth salvaging from the wreckage of a once proud ship, but I haven't found it yet.
 
#13
#13
Tennessee didn't win any of the stats:

Points in the paint-UT 22,MS 28
Points off turnovers-UT 5,MS 14
2nd chance points-UT 15,MS 19
FT-UT 12-20, MS 14-20
Rebounds-UT 10/42, MS 20/46

Change any of these, and the LV's win.

The LV's are not a mentally tough team. They fall apart when the going gets tough.
 
#14
#14
madtownvol said:
MSU went into a deep zone which clogged the passing and driving lanes. And the team had no plan B.

I think Holly's single biggest failing as a coach right now is her inflexibility. She has a vision of what good offensive basketball is and when it works, it is good but it can be shut by deep zone (packing to paint).

The problem is that the easiest way to beat that defense is hit threes and this team is not consistent enough from beyond the arc. I know DUNBAR!. Actually, when you look at her % she is not that much of zone buster and she is major liability on the defensive side.

So, I will grant that Holly and staff have a tough problem to solve but they have also had plenty of time to find some way to better manage this now predictable problem that they face game after game.
Click to expand...

With the zone, I rarely saw them take the ball into the middle, and the players were just standing around instead of forcing the zone to move. Very little ball movement. You could see they wanted to pass the ball to the inside, and the other perimeter players were just standing there.

Williams was able to find the gaps in the zone and had some nice drop passes to the MS bigs for easy points. When she attacked the zone, she was aware of what her passing options were. None of the Tennessee guards have that sort of vision, and it makes zoning them a low effort exercise.
 
#16
#16
Review DD's stat lines for the games we have lost, and it is clear why. She's been the worst player on the team. She is supposed to be an elite collegiate player; instead, she's the worst player on UT. Check out her stat line from last night: 1 basket in 30 minutes (1 of 4 shooting), 0 rebounds (!), 0 steals (!), 1 assist, 3 turnovers. Was she trying? Doesn't sound like it. My theory: She's gotten some well-deserved flak from the coaches for her poor play--bad shooting, bad passes, bad decisions, too many turnovers, so last night she decides to limit her bad play by effectively not playing at all--even though she was on the court.
 
#17
#17
armchair said:
Review DD's stat lines for the games we have lost, and it is clear why. She's been the worst player on the team. She is supposed to be an elite collegiate player; instead, she's the worst player on UT. Check out her stat line from last night: 1 basket in 30 minutes (1 of 4 shooting), 0 rebounds (!), 0 steals (!), 1 assist, 3 turnovers. Was she trying? Doesn't sound like it. My theory: She's gotten some well-deserved flak from the coaches for her poor play--bad shooting, bad passes, bad decisions, too many turnovers, so last night she decides to limit her bad play by effectively not playing at all--even though she was on the court.
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She was clearly not at her best yesterday for whatever reason, and Holly probably should have kept her off the court since she wasn't helping the team.

Diamond has issues with turnovers, but she's had more good games than bad games. That's more than can be said about the other players not named Graves or Russell. I highly doubt that Holly is going to come down on Diamond (who brings positives to the court) while ignoring the fact that Reynolds, Carter, Cooper, Nared and Middleton have spent most of the season on a milk carton.
 
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