To keep Carter at the starting PG or A. Mass

#26
#26
stllvf said:
three questions 1. in March 2013 did you expect Harrison to improve as she did?

2. Did you expect Graves to have the kind of season she had?

3. Did you expect Carter would play as well as she did?

My personal answer to all three was no, No and no
Click to expand...

Carter we all know will be a good one. As for Graves she`s limited on the offensive end and that hurt Tenn a lot. Holly must move Izzy to the 4 no if and or but. It`s a move that needs to be made.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#28
#28
stllvf said:
three questions 1. in March 2013 did you expect Harrison to improve as she did?

2. Did you expect Graves to have the kind of season she had?

3. Did you expect Carter would play as well as she did?

My personal answer to all three was no, No and no
Click to expand...

1. Yes - you could see her sophomore year that she had made huge improvements from the previous year. Her injury was IMO what kept Tennessee out of the FF. If she hadn't gotten hurt, then I think Tennessee would have been a different team in the latter half of the season. Graves was getting killed in the post.

2. No - I agree that Graves is a bit limited skillwise, but she took a nosedive last year. Her body language was terrible, she would come in and out of games mentally...just not good, especially considering the strides that fellow sophs Stewart, Jefferson, Loyd and A.Jones were able to make. She was the only high profile player to exhibit the Sophomore Slump the whole season.

3. Yes - Carter was able to do what I expected her to as a RS freshmen. She did a decent job as PG. I think that people have really overstated her performance. Yes, she's a better defender than Ariel, but she is not as good a passer and is not as much of an offensive threat. Tennessee is better when Massengale is on the court because the offense runs better and is balanced with an additional scoring threat on the court. Carter led Tennessee while they beat up on a weak SEC league, but it was still too much 2-man (Simmons, Izzy) offense. I think her defense is overrated, and when she's getting beat on the defensive end, she doesn't have the offensive game (scoring or assisting) to neutralize what she gives up on the defensive end. The is Tennessee's PG of the future, but a healthy Massengale will be the Tennessee PG of the present next season.

IMO, the key problems for Tennessee don't have to do with any of these 4 players. They need Tucker or Reynolds to be a big time scoring threat at SG, they need a serious upgrade at the wing (hopefully, Jaime Nared is the answer) and Mercedes Russell needs to learn how to play well enough to give about 28 minutes a game and 11 pts, 8 rbs per game.

Massengale, Tucker, Nared, Harrison, Russell as starters

Carter first off the bench, followed by Graves, Reynolds, Middleton for 3 pt shooting, and Jasmine Jones for defense substitutions.

Dunbar and Nia Moore for practice during garbage minutes.

And hopefully Cierra Burdick cheering from the bench.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#29
#29
Amb3096 said:
1. Yes - you could see her sophomore year that she had made huge improvements from the previous year. Her injury was IMO what kept Tennessee out of the FF. If she hadn't gotten hurt, then I think Tennessee would have been a different team in the latter half of the season. Graves was getting killed in the post.

2. No - I agree that Graves is a bit limited skillwise, but she took a nosedive last year. Her body language was terrible, she would come in and out of games mentally...just not good, especially considering the strides that fellow sophs Stewart, Jefferson, Loyd and A.Jones were able to make. She was the only high profile player to exhibit the Sophomore Slump the whole season.

3. Yes - Carter was able to do what I expected her to as a RS freshmen. She did a decent job as PG. I think that people have really overstated her performance. Yes, she's a better defender than Ariel, but she is not as good a passer and is not as much of an offensive threat. Tennessee is better when Massengale is on the court because the offense runs better and is balanced with an additional scoring threat on the court. Carter led Tennessee while they beat up on a weak SEC league, but it was still too much 2-man (Simmons, Izzy) offense. I think her defense is overrated, and when she's getting beat on the defensive end, she doesn't have the offensive game (scoring or assisting) to neutralize what she gives up on the defensive end. The is Tennessee's PG of the future, but a healthy Massengale will be the Tennessee PG of the present next season.

IMO, the key problems for Tennessee don't have to do with any of these 4 players. They need Tucker or Reynolds to be a big time scoring threat at SG, they need a serious upgrade at the wing (hopefully, Jaime Nared is the answer) and Mercedes Russell needs to learn how to play well enough to give about 28 minutes a game and 11 pts, 8 rbs per game.

Massengale, Tucker, Nared, Harrison, Russell as starters

Carter first off the bench, followed by Graves, Reynolds, Middleton for 3 pt shooting, and Jasmine Jones for defense substitutions.

Dunbar and Nia Moore for practice during garbage minutes.

And hopefully Cierra Burdick cheering from the bench.
Click to expand...


Amb3096 ! very good post. You also make a good point about Russell, i have a good feeling she will be ready this season and will be a force inside on both ends of the floor.
 
#30
#30
1. I hoped Izzy would be better and she definitely was. I do think she is better as a face-up 4 than a back to the basket 5 but, like others have stated, she can and should play both as long as Russell improves this off-season. Hopefully Izzy continues to take steps forward and becomes the POY candidate that she has in her next year!

2. To be honest, I expected Graves to be a BEAST this past year...but she indeed struggled offensively. I'm not one of the hate-on-Graves-cuz-she-has-no-skills kinda fan tho. Yes, she had times where she was obviously frustrated on the court but she continued to work hard and rebounded like the beast that she is on more than one occasion. Does she need to work on her offensive skill set? Of course...but so does ALL the LVs (and even some of the best players...as Geno has even stated re: Stewart). I also think that Graves number got lost when the coaches were calling plays. They didn't seem to run many plays for her or attempt to go to her on the offensive end often. Many games, she only had less than 5 shot attempts (recalling from memory...not stating as fact!). Maybe the coach knew she was struggling and didn't call her number because of that. Who knows, but I think Graves is better than what she showed last year. I hope Graves comes back next year and shows everyone that she truly is the BEAST!

3. Carter had her moments when she was really really good. She made some great cuts to the basket and had some great back door scores and ran the offense efficiently on occasion. But the fact remains, the offense went thru multiple periods were it was stagnant and pathetic...maybe part bad play calling, but also on the PG. And in games where AC struggled offensively, she REALLY struggled. I do think she maybe burned out in the end. I'm a huge AC fan...I do think she has the passion and the fire on the court that the team needs and I LOVE her hustle. I like the switching out of PG between Massengale and Carter. As long as both come back next year improved. Maybe Massengale is motivated to fight for her job next year? We'll see.

We need all the players to upgrade and invest on improving their skills on both offense and defense. And although I think Holly has done a decent job thus far...the coaching staff needs to continue to improve as coaches as well. Both are something I think will happen...or at least I hope so! Let's have a great off season of working HARD, LVs!!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#31
#31
Amb3096 said:
1. Yes - you could see her sophomore year that she had made huge improvements from the previous year. Her injury was IMO what kept Tennessee out of the FF. If she hadn't gotten hurt, then I think Tennessee would have been a different team in the latter half of the season. Graves was getting killed in the post.

2. No - I agree that Graves is a bit limited skillwise, but she took a nosedive last year. Her body language was terrible, she would come in and out of games mentally...just not good, especially considering the strides that fellow sophs Stewart, Jefferson, Loyd and A.Jones were able to make. She was the only high profile player to exhibit the Sophomore Slump the whole season.

3. Yes - Carter was able to do what I expected her to as a RS freshmen. She did a decent job as PG. I think that people have really overstated her performance. Yes, she's a better defender than Ariel, but she is not as good a passer and is not as much of an offensive threat. Tennessee is better when Massengale is on the court because the offense runs better and is balanced with an additional scoring threat on the court. Carter led Tennessee while they beat up on a weak SEC league, but it was still too much 2-man (Simmons, Izzy) offense. I think her defense is overrated, and when she's getting beat on the defensive end, she doesn't have the offensive game (scoring or assisting) to neutralize what she gives up on the defensive end. The is Tennessee's PG of the future, but a healthy Massengale will be the Tennessee PG of the present next season.

IMO, the key problems for Tennessee don't have to do with any of these 4 players. They need Tucker or Reynolds to be a big time scoring threat at SG, they need a serious upgrade at the wing (hopefully, Jaime Nared is the answer) and Mercedes Russell needs to learn how to play well enough to give about 28 minutes a game and 11 pts, 8 rbs per game.

Massengale, Tucker, Nared, Harrison, Russell as starters

Carter first off the bench, followed by Graves, Reynolds, Middleton for 3 pt shooting, and Jasmine Jones for defense substitutions.

Dunbar and Nia Moore for practice during garbage minutes.

And hopefully Cierra Burdick cheering from the bench.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything you stated except for the part when you referenced a weak SEC league. The league wasn't weak at all probably the strongest it has been in a WHILE or since when I can remember. We had eight teams make it to the tournament how many other league's can say that? We had two number 1 seeds and two number 3 seeds. A weak SEC league I think not, otherwise great post!
 
#32
#32
If Reynolds and then Carter aren't the starting point guards next season we will be in deep dooh dooh.
 
#34
#34
Mr.Vol2U said:
I agree with everything you stated except for the part when you referenced a weak SEC league. The league wasn't weak at all probably the strongest it has been in a WHILE or since when I can remember. We had eight teams make it to the tournament how many other league's can say that? We had two number 1 seeds and two number 3 seeds. A weak SEC league I think not, otherwise great post!
Click to expand...

What I meant by weak SEC league is that there was no killer team along the lines of a UConn or Notre Dame. The SEC typically has legit NC contenders. They didn't this year. The league was deep, but that was because the top teams frankly weren't elite teams. Even with the two #1 seeds, you had one that was unproven (SC) and one that kind of backed into a #1 seed (TN) due to a lot of luck (Duke's injuries, some bizarre upsets) rather than consistently good performances and benefiting from some opportunistic play when they needed it the most (SEC tournament). I don't think either team was given much of a chance to win the tournament, and most pundits predicted that neither would make the FF (they were right).

Winning the SEC is nice and all, but until the SEC can produce an elite team again, then it's good but not great. SC should be an elite team next year, and Tennessee has the makings of one, while ND and UConn both take big hits with graduation. We'll see what happens...
 
#35
#35
I actually do like that starting Line up mentioned by Volfan2012 although I'm not too sure that Holly would give Tucker and Nared the starting job right away, i'm worried that she might still give the starting job to Burdick.
 
#36
#36
it will be interesting to see who is the starting PG this coming season,has anybody heard what is wrong with Massengale ? I'm assuming since we haven't heard anything that she will be back

and don't be counting on Freshmen to step in and be great players,we all know it is hard to tell how good or how bad they will play,so i try not to figure them in,till about mid season
 
#37
#37
Amb3096 said:
What I meant by weak SEC league is that there was no killer team along the lines of a UConn or Notre Dame. The SEC typically has legit NC contenders. They didn't this year. The league was deep, but that was because the top teams frankly weren't elite teams. Even with the two #1 seeds, you had one that was unproven (SC) and one that kind of backed into a #1 seed (TN) due to a lot of luck (Duke's injuries, some bizarre upsets) rather than consistently good performances and benefiting from some opportunistic play when they needed it the most (SEC tournament). I don't think either team was given much of a chance to win the tournament, and most pundits predicted that neither would make the FF (they were right).

Winning the SEC is nice and all, but until the SEC can produce an elite team again, then it's good but not great. SC should be an elite team next year, and Tennessee has the makings of one, while ND and UConn both take big hits with graduation. We'll see what happens...
Click to expand...

The team really had a big letdown after the SEC tournament win. I hope Holly has learned something from that experience. The most important aspect of head coaching is managing team psychology.
 
#38
#38
governmentmule said:
it will be interesting to see who is the starting PG this coming season,has anybody heard what is wrong with Massengale ? I'm assuming since we haven't heard anything that she will be back

and don't be counting on Freshmen to step in and be great players,we all know it is hard to tell how good or how bad they will play,so i try not to figure them in,till about mid season
Click to expand...

I actually have pretty high expectations for Tucker, Nared and Middleton. I think all three have a chance to be really good. Dunbar has potential but we don't know a whole lot about her other than she is very photogenic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#39
#39
Sandvol said:
The team really had a big letdown after the SEC tournament win. I hope Holly has learned something from that experience. The most important aspect of head coaching is managing team psychology.
Click to expand...

They really didn't play that well in the SEC tournament. They had to overcome big deficits in all three games.

It also hurts that you have players lacking composure and/or with bad attitudes playing too many minutes, which is affecting the chemistry and togetherness of the team (lookin' at you Burdick and Graves!). They need leadership on the court. Carter is not vocal enough. The weak SEC couldn't expose Massengale's absence, but Maryland was able to do so relatively easily.
 
#40
#40
Amb3096 said:
They really didn't play that well in the SEC tournament. They had to overcome big deficits in all three games.

It also hurts that you have players lacking composure and/or with bad attitudes playing too many minutes, which is affecting the chemistry and togetherness of the team (lookin' at you Burdick and Graves!). They need leadership on the court. Carter is not vocal enough. The weak SEC couldn't expose Massengale's absence, but Maryland was able to do so relatively easily.
Click to expand...

I really disagree with your assessment. It was a really hard-nosed hard fought tournament with Tennessee grinding out the wins with tough defense. I thought they played their best basketball of the year. I do agree with you about leadership though-I think Reynolds can provide that leadership and Carter and Middleton her back-ups. Holly needs to find a way to the minutes for Tucker, Middleton, Nared, and Dunbar because they can all shoot the three ball. Nared and Tucker should start right out of the gate. (I'm assuming Tucker is back and healthy. I think she would have been the #1 recruit in the country if she had had a senior season.)
 
Last edited:
#41
#41
Rudy123 said:
If Carter doesn't improve over the summer, then don't have her at the starting PG position.....

Simmons intensity and her confidence will be missed alot...
Click to expand...

Her inconsistency will not be missed. When she is hot she is really good. When she is not hot, we lost ball games. Carter should be the PG this Fall. She is probably the best PG we have had in the last 10-15 years.
 
#42
#42
VOLINVONORE said:
Her inconsistency will not be missed. When she is hot she is really good. When she is not hot, we lost ball games. Carter should be the PG this Fall. She is probably the best PG we have had in the last 10-15 years.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't get the Carter love. Shes ok, but has too many holes in her game. Her defense is good, but she's not a lockdown defender, she is not a confident shooter, and doesn't distribute the ball as well as Massengale does. When Ariel leaves, she should be improved enough by her junior year to be the starting PG, but Tennessee is a better team when Ariel is running the offense.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top