tweets from Diamond's father

#151
#151
MDVolFan14 said:
WOW…. How things turn so quickly..... DD’s dad is parent that has played at the highest level and understands the politics and what it takes to play at the highest level. For those who are questioning her heart, I do know this:

While she was at UNC she played all season with numerous injuries (broken finger, knee and leg issues) and managed to get a nod for the Naismith award as a Freshman. So what you are seeing is not about heart but about a bigger issue with this team as a whole. And I’m sure it has to do with personalities that Warlick and her staff can’t handle. The FoY and Naismith nominee as a Freshman was probably not very welcomed by those existing players here. And I don’t think Warlick and her staff got a hold of it and nipped it in the bud. Talent can play with talent. It’s a short time to figure out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and then it’s off to the races. But this is not the case with this team because “game is not recognizing game” here. Add to that, DD’s girl Te’a a Freshman PG coming who should have been starting as soon as she arrived, I can see how easily resentment towards DD and Te’a could build and divide the team. You can’t coach kids if they don’t like each other. That, and Warlick’s poor game management, is the only explanation one can draw as to why they stink.

Some have said on here that DD needs a coach to get her face like Geno or CPS. I don’t think that Warlick and her staff is doing that and it’s affecting the whole team not just DD. Because it’s not just DD that looks bad, they all do.

There were folks in Chapel Hill questioning Hatchell’s long-time assistant, Andrew Calder, with the same rhetoric as with Warlick while Hatchell was out dealing with Cancer. The talented freshman which included DD, got them deep into March based on their talent alone. The one thing that they did do well was run a baseline curl for DD with a double-screen that did work and let that talent play and run.

This Lady Vol offense is a lot of standing around the perimeter. NO flow or plays for any of the players. If Russell can get and hold position down low, throw her the ball. It's controlled chaos instead of letting them run and use their talent.

Russell was exposed last night and was repeatedly school by Wilson in the post and defended well when she was in the post herself. Her footwork needs work and their offensive philosophy is not helping her either.

This is a mess and the funny part about it, Jeff Walz, Geno, even Staley are probably scratching their heads at what is going on in Rocky Top. And contrary to what many believe about DD being a spoiled brat, she is not any more spoiled than Nared or any of the other players on that team. She's young and immensely talented like many other young women and men playing at this level. Who also pout and have bad body language too.
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First of all, What a great Post. You sir know what you are talking about. The problem is this great Post is that many people will overlook this as too long and will not absorb what you have written. Well done sir!:good!:
 
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#153
#153
teacherdean said:
So far Diamond has been a big disappointment, so has Russell, Te'a, Graves and just about any young lady wearing the big orange. The coaching also has been far less than stellar. With that being said, DD's dad has a point, I hate for a parent to decide that his daughter's playing time is the reason for the failure of this team. DD has made a lot of mistakes and is playing no where near the way she played her freshman year. She also presents herself as a spoiled little Bi--h. Is that coaching, yes to some degree but DD has to making better passing and shooting decisions inspite of the coaching, or the lack thereof. That is what good leaders do. Good leaders are not the issue they are the problem solvers, right now, for some reason, DD's playing is both good and bad. She needs to be a positive for this program to make any noise in the post season. I just do not see that happening. Daddy D needs to realize that his daughter is a part of the problem.
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Good points Dean. The glaring elephant in the room fact about what you have written is .... these players were not too bad until they came to Miss Holly's attention. Kinda reminds me of this favorite poem..."There once was a .400 hitter named Krantz Who had a most unusual stance. But with the coach’s correction His form is now perfection, But he can’t hit the seat of his pants".I think this is what the Coaching staff has done!
 
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#155
#155
MDVolFan14 said:
WOW…. How things turn so quickly..... DD’s dad is parent that has played at the highest level and understands the politics and what it takes to play at the highest level. For those who are questioning her heart, I do know this:

While she was at UNC she played all season with numerous injuries (broken finger, knee and leg issues) and managed to get a nod for the Naismith award as a Freshman. So what you are seeing is not about heart but about a bigger issue with this team as a whole. And I’m sure it has to do with personalities that Warlick and her staff can’t handle. The FoY and Naismith nominee as a Freshman was probably not very welcomed by those existing players here. And I don’t think Warlick and her staff got a hold of it and nipped it in the bud. Talent can play with talent. It’s a short time to figure out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and then it’s off to the races. But this is not the case with this team because “game is not recognizing game” here. Add to that, DD’s girl Te’a a Freshman PG coming who should have been starting as soon as she arrived, I can see how easily resentment towards DD and Te’a could build and divide the team. You can’t coach kids if they don’t like each other. That, and Warlick’s poor game management, is the only explanation one can draw as to why they stink.

Some have said on here that DD needs a coach to get her face like Geno or CPS. I don’t think that Warlick and her staff is doing that and it’s affecting the whole team not just DD. Because it’s not just DD that looks bad, they all do.

There were folks in Chapel Hill questioning Hatchell’s long-time assistant, Andrew Calder, with the same rhetoric as with Warlick while Hatchell was out dealing with Cancer. The talented freshman which included DD, got them deep into March based on their talent alone. The one thing that they did do well was run a baseline curl for DD with a double-screen that did work and let that talent play and run.

This Lady Vol offense is a lot of standing around the perimeter. NO flow or plays for any of the players. If Russell can get and hold position down low, throw her the ball. It's controlled chaos instead of letting them run and use their talent.

Russell was exposed last night and was repeatedly school by Wilson in the post and defended well when she was in the post herself. Her footwork needs work and their offensive philosophy is not helping her either.

This is a mess and the funny part about it, Jeff Walz, Geno, even Staley are probably scratching their heads at what is going on in Rocky Top. And contrary to what many believe about DD being a spoiled brat, she is not any more spoiled than Nared or any of the other players on that team. She's young and immensely talented like many other young women and men playing at this level. Who also pout and have bad body language too.
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if there was resentment toward the new players. I doubt there was as this has never been a problem in the past. It's not like having freshmen/first-year newcomers is a unusual thing--it happens every year.

You must have missed the fact that Cooper, in fact, did start from the beginning of the year. Problem was, she wasn't good against all the zone defenses we faced (and continue to face). She is a dribble penetrator and that is hard to do against a zone; she also has poor technique on her jumper--the old push shot from about 20 years ago. She is talented, but, like DD, she hasn't played all that well for the bulk of the season.

Also, your attempt to wave off DD's poor play all year by blaming her teammates for not being talented enough to play with her is lame--a totally cheap, BS excuse. She's missed a ton of open jump shots that have nothing to do with her teammates, her three-point shooting has been awful, and she has committed a ton of turnovers by trying to make flashy passes. A few of them should have been handled by the receiving player, but a lot of them were simply errant. It is very convenient to try and blame one's lousy play on everybody but the player who is on the court. DD should just play hard and stop with the princess attitude. On defense she is often in the "i'm too good to hustle" mode--watch her and tell me that's not true. Tell me she doesn't get pouty when things don't go well. You are either a good teammate who busts tail every game or you are not: Playing hard and being tough and making good decisions are not all optional things that a player decides after evaluating her coach and teammates. Total BS.

Last year's team was MUCH better than this one. Why? There's no doubt that our offense is poorly schemed or that we have some coaching issues. However, it is also incumbent on the players to play--which is what last year's team did. The bottom line is that there is NO EXCUSE for having a questionable attitude.
 
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#156
#156
The extremely negative words that Delino Deshields wrote about the coaching staff on Twitter has made all of the coaches that recruit against Tennessee very happy.

Those coaches will tell recruits that nobody wants to play with Diamond and you should not go there.

And the coaches on this board complain about Tennessee recruiting, and yet they applaud the very things that can only hurt recruiting.
 
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#159
#159
Franklin Pierce said:
And the coaches on this board complain about Tennessee recruiting, and yet they applaud the very things that can only hurt recruiting.
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This. This board is pretty much a walking advertisement for "don't play for Tennessee." People want Holly gone. They don't want this team to win this year. They don't want them to turn it around. They just want her out. And the rest be damned.

Someone in another thread was complaining about how Holly was "tone deaf" in her post-game interviews, and speaking positively about the loss. I think a lot of the people on this board forget that Warlick, regardless of what they think of her, is still trying to win this year and focused on that task. Of course she's got to stay positive. Of course she has to try to be supportive -- no one else is. And some people on here have said some plain ol' nasty things about the players.
 
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#160
#160
I AGREE 110% with Delino Deshields as Holly has all this talent and doesn't know how to put the right combinations on the floor together nor does she know how to design plays that will put her best players in a position to succeed. Just look at how many times Russell posted up and the only person who even attempted to get her the ball was Deshields. Holly's offense is just pass it around until the shot clock runs down and then somebody go 1-1 and that is usually Deshields or Cooper of which who are the only two capable of doing that...............Delino, anybody who doesn't agree on this forum doesn't know basketball and for those of you that don't know Delino was a superstar in basketball in High School, so he does know the game..............
 
#161
#161
Well nothing about this season makes me happy and nothing about it makes me want to smile or else i'm smiling to hide the pain. those other coaches were already going to use her coaching against her and they were already going to use all the negative things that were said about players even if her dad hadn't tweeted that. some of the recruits and their families read the forums. player bashing hurts recruiting too. also don't try and act like Holly is the only one getting attacked when some of the attacks on one player has also turned into personal attacks.
 
#162
#162
Some of you or MOST of you are blaming the players...............its the coaches job to get the players to play w/ confidence on the court and to put the right combinations of players on the court.........last year a lot of you were saying Holly needs some outside shooting players, well now she has them and she doesn't use them, then some said she needs playmakers and now she has them and doesn't know what to do, then some say when Russell gets healthy, she will be a beast inside well Holly still has not created an offense to get her the ball inside.......................HOLLY, if your listening, put 4 players in that can shoot from the arc w/ Russel in the middle ala Golden State.......and your 4 players are Cooper, Deshields, Jordan, Dunbar.................lets see how that works !!!
 
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#163
#163
grobin4300 said:
I AGREE 110% with Delino Deshields as Holly has all this talent and doesn't know how to put the right combinations on the floor together nor does she know how to design plays that will put her best players in a position to succeed. Just look at how many times Russell posted up and the only person who even attempted to get her the ball was Deshields. Holly's offense is just pass it around until the shot clock runs down and then somebody go 1-1 and that is usually Deshields or Cooper of which who are the only two capable of doing that...............Delino, anybody who doesn't agree on this forum doesn't know basketball and for those of you that don't know Delino was a superstar in basketball in High School, so he does know the game..............
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Will you present us with YOUR college head coach bona fides?
 
#164
#164
armchair said:
if there was resentment toward the new players. I doubt there was as this has never been a problem in the past. It's not like having freshmen/first-year newcomers is a unusual thing--it happens every year.

You must have missed the fact that Cooper, in fact, did start from the beginning of the year. Problem was, she wasn't good against all the zone defenses we faced (and continue to face). She is a dribble penetrator and that is hard to do against a zone; she also has poor technique on her jumper--the old push shot from about 20 years ago. She is talented, but, like DD, she hasn't played all that well for the bulk of the season.

Also, your attempt to wave off DD's poor play all year by blaming her teammates for not being talented enough to play with her is lame--a totally cheap, BS excuse. She's missed a ton of open jump shots that have nothing to do with her teammates, her three-point shooting has been awful, and she has committed a ton of turnovers by trying to make flashy passes. A few of them should have been handled by the receiving player, but a lot of them were simply errant. It is very convenient to try and blame one's lousy play on everybody but the player who is on the court. DD should just play hard and stop with the princess attitude. On defense she is often in the "i'm too good to hustle" mode--watch her and tell me that's not true. Tell me she doesn't get pouty when things don't go well. You are either a good teammate who busts tail every game or you are not: Playing hard and being tough and making good decisions are not all optional things that a player decides after evaluating her coach and teammates. Total BS.

Last year's team was MUCH better than this one. Why? There's no doubt that our offense is poorly schemed or that we have some coaching issues. However, it is also incumbent on the players to play--which is what last year's team did. The bottom line is that there is NO EXCUSE for having a questionable attitude.
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I guess will we agree to disagree as I won't call anything you said BS because it's your opinion and you are entitled to it.

I think my bigger point is being missed is that there is a serious problem on this team that is beyond chemistry. It doesn't take this long for talent like this to gel or at least show significant improvement.

By no means am I making excuses for DD or trying to say the other players are the reason why she is playing poorly. Russell on several occasions struggled last night against Wilson and looked out of sorts. That has nothing to do with DD. She missed a significant amount of time due to her foot surgeries and now she is finally able to play full-time. She needs a lot of work on her footwork and post awareness. It doesn't help that Warlick is using her on a lot of high screens taking her away from the basket. She's not Bree Stewart who can play post and wing.

DD's body language is bad and they are all playing bad right now and that's on Warlick and her staff. Folks can criticize DD all day for what they are seeing this year but I remember seeing the same player as a Freshman ball and help lead a young Heels team deep into the tournament. Mavunga, Gray and Washington were pretty darn good. Especially Gray and Mavunga. Mavunga as Freshman had the footwork in the post of a Junior or Senior and Gray would get hot from three and could run the floor too.

This team has just as much talent as the UNC team but when you leave it up to these kids and not coach them you will get what you got. DD's turnovers, a lot of them, are her forcing the ball into areas that are not there or collapsing. That's on both her and the offense that they are running.

As far as Te'a and her set shot. I will take that over Carter everyday. Yes, Carter gives you hustle, no denying that but she is not a scorer or a penetrator. She, IMO, is that sixth-man hustle spark coming off the bench. She's a game manager, doing everything to get the ball up the court and not turn it over but bring nothing else. Trouble against zone defenses is solvable with a quick ball movement offense and non-ball side wings stepping in when the ball is not on their side. So that when it is swung around to their size quickly, they have a choice of a 10-12 jumper or penetration. And because Te'a is a penetrator, move her to the wing against the zone and put Diamond on top and when the ball is swung quickly, you have a penetrator with a step already in.

If you are in Knoxville, Armchair, and can get close enough to the program or have someone there that can, have them check out the off the court chemistry of this team and pay attention to that. I bet you will find that the problem is there. Calder and his staff were worst than Warlick and her's and that team was still able to go deep in March. One of the rumors that was floating when DD left UNC was that the upper classmen didn't like the "Fab Four" freshman and there was a lot of in-fighting going on. But their talent was able to overcome it.
 
#165
#165
grobin4300 said:
Some of you or MOST of you are blaming the players...............its the coaches job to get the players to play w/ confidence on the court and to put the right combinations of players on the court.........last year a lot of you were saying Holly needs some outside shooting players, well now she has them and she doesn't use them, then some said she needs playmakers and now she has them and doesn't know what to do, then some say when Russell gets healthy, she will be a beast inside well Holly still has not created an offense to get her the ball inside.......................HOLLY, if your listening, put 4 players in that can shoot from the arc w/ Russel in the middle ala Golden State.......and your 4 players are Cooper, Deshields, Jordan, Dunbar.................lets see how that works !!!
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Great pernts!! But watching that game last night, Russell's rust and missing last year showed against Wilson and SC's bigs. She looked out of sorts and when she does establish post position, she doesn't spread her frame and use her core to hold off or lock the defender behind her down. She will get better but she needs work on her footwork and core strength. Maybe in the off-season she might benefit from doing the core exercises that hockey players do that allows them the spread out on the boards and hold off defenders trying to get the puck from them.

Again, great pernts!!
 
#166
#166
PineyBluff Vol said:
First of all, What a great Post. You sir know what you are talking about. The problem is this great Post is that many people will overlook this as too long and will not absorb what you have written. Well done sir!:good!:
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Thanks PBV... I have to work on not writing a "novel" for posts.... :thumbsup:
 
#168
#168
I felt like the team was in trouble in August when they talked so much about the trip to Italy "bringing them together." But that wasn't the first warning (to me). It was, after watching DD play in NC, and then to hear she was transferring, and to the LVs, that I was worried. She was with her buds, playing a lot and getting a lot of attention and praise, and she wasn't happy?!

Watching her on the court, not giving much reinforcement to her teammates,for example, when they set her up to take a shot and she makes it, is a concern. Most players smile and give a signal or a head nod or something when a teammate's assist sets them up to score. That way, everyone feels acknowledged. Not here. Not her.

You don't have to smile and hug every minute, but all the members of the team need to have each other's backs, and show enthusiasm when someone does something well, not just walk away.
 
#169
#169
that's the dumbest thing ever, we don't need another cheerleader. We need tough kick ass take name ballers.
 
#171
#171
Darth_Vol said:
In case you missed it.

@LadyVol_Hoops if Holly don't put @DDDeshields back n the game!!!! What are you doing?

@HollyWarlick trying to beat the best without her best players on the court! #sad

Oh ... Now you put her in!?!?!

@LadyVol_Hoops Good coaching recognize bad coaching!!
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U spoiled her so much, didn't realize that work she put in high school is nuttin, cos that the norm at most elite programs. And your daughter still plays when she wants to and when things don't go her way she has a tendency to bring the morale of the team down, and at clutch time best player time, your daughter hasn't been clutch at all, non existence.

Put her on the floor, oops turnover. My bad, next possession oops turnover my bad, on the possession beat on defense for a layup, oooops dug down off a three point shooter, bang 3 points. Your daughter who is so great.


What have you done for mi lately? Diamond hasn't done a damn thang, she is not even playing all SEC basketball. She's not even the best player in the SEC. wuteva. She's not even playing the best ball on her team.

Holly is stanking it up too, but ur a coach, you should know betta, now u've just given ur underperforming daughter more ammo.
 
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#172
#172
Yes, it certainly doesn't look like at a team who enjoy playing basketball together, it looks like work, and nobody wants to go in.

Until we become a team. X and Os is out the window. Right now its all mental, cos we have seen em play well, hopefully they work it out all. A drag out, know out, all battle royal, cat fight looks like what is needed. They wont say nuttin to each other, but their play wit each other is speaking loud and clear.

But no one is playing well, so right now, everyone is afraid to speak. So, everything goes unsaid. You have to play well consistently to have a voice, and the only person with a voice, is Russell, everyone else can't say ****. Hard to have a tight huddle when everyone is playing bad, or poor.

What have you done for me lately? Not a damn thang Lady Vols. Can we change that?

I back Pat and roll with Holly.
 
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#173
#173
If you look at the stats Diamond is playing as well as any of the guards and that is not saying much. They are all playing bad not one has played worth a crap this season. They can take blame for not working to get better and Holly takes plenty for that crappy offense rolling in third gear.
It is hard to bounce in and out of the game so much. Put five in there and let the play with a couple subs for minimum rest. That is what Geno does his starters play 36 to 40 minutes and there offense is smooth perfection.
 
#174
#174
mlindsay said:
Hopefully this is the beginning of change and Holly will be out the door! More parents need to become vocal. Where are Dunbar parents and Te'a's father?
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no they don't parents should shut their mouth on twitter.....calling anyone out on twitter is gutless
 
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