What are your expectations now?

[volnationnj]

Not yet.



Barring injury (or Diamond not overcoming her injury), I am quite confident that they will.



All involved, including coaches AND players. Of course, deeming a season a failure or not is an individual thing. I have a feeling you will consider it an abject failure if the team doesn't at least reach the Final Four. I won't.

If the team stays healthy and they don't make the FF than an almost yes. I would consider it a failure but perhaps not an abject one.
Can I assume that if we lost 5 or 6 games, didn't win the SEC regular season or the SEC playoff, and lost in the round of 8 in the NCAA's that you would deem the season a success ?

 

[ivyleague]

If the team stays healthy and they don't make the FF than an almost yes. I would consider it a failure but perhaps not an abject one.
Can I assume that if we lost 5 or 6 games, didn't win the SEC regular season or the SEC playoff, and lost in the round of 8 in the NCAA's that you would deem the season a success ?

A success? Probably not, at least not a shining one. A devastating failure worthy of Holly's job? Not at all. And again, if Diamond doesn't get back to her old form, I'm not sure what anyone can expect this season. I think even without a healthy Diamond, the team will do well. Will they be world beaters? It's doubtful.

 

[Martic]

Not yet.



Barring injury (or Diamond not overcoming her injury), I am quite confident that they will.



All involved, including coaches AND players. Of course, deeming a season a failure or not is an individual thing. I have a feeling you will consider it an abject failure if the team doesn't at least reach the Final Four. I won't.

The question for me is why aren't they playing up to potential. I'm no geno/uconn fan but why is it his teams look so much more prepared/ I just feel there is no excuse for all the turn overs and not being able to defend the 3

 

[ivyleague]

The question for me is why aren't they playing up to potential. I'm no geno/uconn fan but why is it his teams look so much more prepared/ I just feel there is no excuse for all the turn overs and not being able to defend the 3

UConn has not had to deal with the injuries that UT has had to deal with. Also, their team is being led by two outstanding and highly experienced seniors (Stewart and Jefferson), with a highly capable back-up cast. They are not relying on freshmen or players coming off of injuries who have sat out of the game for more than a year. All things considered, Tennessee is a young team and is playing a number of players who are just working their way back into basketball form. There is no reasonable comparison of the two teams at this point in the season.

 

[Martic]

UConn has not had to deal with the injuries that UT has had to deal with. Also, their team is being led by two outstanding and highly experienced seniors (Stewart and Jefferson), with a highly capable back-up cast. They are not relying on freshmen or players coming off of injuries who have sat out of the game for more than a year. All things considered, Tennessee is a young team and is playing a number of players who are just working their way back into basketball form. There is no reasonable comparison of the two teams at this point in the season.

Young players? Tea is a freshman. The rest are/should be experienced enough to do better than they have. Tuck and KML both missed time with injuries and appeared not to miss a beat. But I will not make any more of these comparisons, lest I be considered a troll or something. I am all lady vol all the time, just curious as to why we continue to look inept and other teams don't

 

[ivyleague]

Young players? Tea is a freshman. The rest are/should be experienced enough to do better than they have. Tuck and KML both missed time with injuries and appeared not to miss a beat. But I will not make any more of these comparisons, lest I be considered a troll or something. I am all lady vol all the time, just curious as to why we continue to look inept and other teams don't

To me, young is underclassmen -- freshmen and sophomores.

1. T'ea is a freshman.
2. Mercedes is a redshirt sophomore who is playing her first basketball with this team (not counting summer ball) in a year and a half.
3. Diamond is a redshirt sophomore who is playing her first basketball with this team period. And she's still injured.
4. Alexa is a sophomore.
5. Kortney is a sophomore.
6. Jaime is a sophomore and someone who very likely will be one of the team's best players . . . except right now, she's injured and is not playing.
7. Meme is a freshman.
8. Jasmine Jones is a redshirt junior who is coming off of an injury and playing her first ball in a year.
9. Draya is a redshirt junior and while she played last year, she played injured. She is not great offensively and never has been, but her defense is good.
10. Bashaara is a senior and is coming off of an injury. She's playing top-notch basketball right now.
11. Jordan Reynolds is a junior. She needs to find her shot. I believe eventually T'ea will start over her.
12. Nia Moore is a senior and she is what she is. I don't think she is a Tennessee caliber player, but she is a decent backup. That will likely be her role this year, as well.

 

[ivyleague]

Young players? Tea is a freshman. The rest are/should be experienced enough to do better than they have. Tuck and KML both missed time with injuries and appeared not to miss a beat. But I will not make any more of these comparisons, lest I be considered a troll or something. I am all lady vol all the time, just curious as to why we continue to look inept and other teams don't

You do realize nearly every preseason Top 10 team (minus UConn) has struggled (i.e., looked inept) -- against lesser ranked teams -- during at least some of their first few games, don't you?

-- Louisville is 0-2 right now -- losing both times to UNRANKED teams.
-- Florida State lost to unranked Florida.
-- Notre Dame beat unranked South Dakota State by a mere 11 points.
-- South Carolina nearly lost to unranked UCLA this evening.
-- Ohio State got the s*** beat out of them by UConn -- the loss wasn't in question, but the point gap was a pretty spectacular fail.
-- Baylor nearly lost to #19 South Florida and only won by 14 when they played DePaul today . . . for much of that game, it was questionable whether they could pull the win off.

And yet UT is the only team that looks "inept" right now? Seriously? I guess if UConn is what you mean by "other teams," then UT probably does look inept. If you actually mean "other teams" (plural) when you say "other teams," then I say the Lady Vols are holding their own and then some.

 

[gule]

the ignore list is your friend!

 

[Darth_Vol]

I would much rather spend all day ALL WEEKEND LONG on this site, obviously refreshing every couple of minutes, as I respond to every single comment usually within 10 minutes. Sad, but don't forget how much better I am than you.

Life is good, some people should try it sometime.... :compute:

 

[LadyVol1908]

Ugh I thought we got rid of Darth!!!!! -_-

 

[teacherdean]

UConn has not had to deal with the injuries that UT has had to deal with. Also, their team is being led by two outstanding and highly experienced seniors (Stewart and Jefferson), with a highly capable back-up cast. They are not relying on freshmen or players coming off of injuries who have sat out of the game for more than a year. All things considered, Tennessee is a young team and is playing a number of players who are just working their way back into basketball form. There is no reasonable comparison of the two teams at this point in the season.

Another part of the UCONN's equation, is their ability to attract the cream of the crop talent. That is what Tennessee had at one time. In days gone by little girls dreamed of being a Lady Vol. another reason is Geno's teams lights out shooting. One great shooter graduates and they are quickly replaced by another. Massengale and Simmons were semi lights out but not always consistent. If we cannot find a consistent outside shooter(s), teams are going to play zone and dare us to shoot from the outside, or they will sag in the middle and try to cut off our inside game.
However, if we can avoid injuries and we play up to our potential, this is a final 4 team.

As far as firing Holly, we would have to go with an up and comer who made major strides with a school like Missouri State or the guy at Dayton. Maybe an assistant coach with a winning program. I do not think we could throw enough money at a top ten Coach unless the salary is far above what they receive, the team they coach for refuse to match what we offer, then we might have a chance. I think most D1 coaches are for sale if you are willing to pay the price.

Holly's teams are good defensively, no doubt, but her offense needs a major upgrade. I would like to see what she could do with an offensive minded assistant. If that happens, I could see us being very good with this team. I would rather see an outstanding offensive assistant on Holly's coaching staff then walking in and telling her to clean out her locker.

 

[volcrazy89]

Send Elzy and Law packing and throw money at Gail Goestenkors -- who is a great offensive coach and also a great recruiter -- to get her to come back to the college game and get an elite recruiter. Maybe Trisha Stafford-Odom. Or find a way to pry Joy Cheek from OSU and reunitd her with Gail, who she played for at Duke. Yes, I know this will never happen, but a guy can dream, right?

Honestly I wish Elzy would get a HC job somewhere so we could get an upgrade. Law is supposedly known for recruiting yet she hasn't been the assistant coach assigned to one recruit that we've gotten so far. In fact, almost all of the recruits that we've gotten since Holly became HC were either Holly's assignment or Dean's.

 

[Unimane]

And it is MY opinion that CHW IS a top coach (not THE top coach in the game, maybe not one of the top 5 coaches in the game (yet), but certainly one of the top 10) and she is the right fit for the Tennessee program.

Here's the thing, Armchair. Do I trust Pat Summitt's assessment of who should have taken over the Lady Vols program, or do I go with the assessment of some armchair, wannabe coach who is most likely making these pronouncements from his food-stained, 30-year-old La-Z-Boy in the front-room of his momma's rusted-down single-wide trailer at the head of some Hawkins County "holler"? (Right or wrong, that's my image of you, armchair.) I'm going to go with Pat Summitt.

Bottom line, I intensely dislike a fairly large percentage of Tennessee fans, at least during game-time or game discussions. I love the Lady Vols, but the fan base in general is contaminated with every bad personality trait imaginable., and they give the university and its programs a bad name. When I travel to Richmond, D.C., New York, and/or Boston (I'm in one of those four places at least once a month, sometimes more), I wouldn't be caught dead in Tennessee gear. I simply don't want people to associate me with the hot, ignorant mess that is the Tennessee fan base.

Vince Lombardi is the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, maybe all of sport. Do you know who he hand picked as his successor? Phil Bengsten. Ever heard of him? Just because they are a great coach, it doesn't automatically make their word dogma.

Also, on the last useless drivel of a paragraph, you act as if all those people whom you associate with in Richmond, D.C., New York and/or Boston read this message board. They, most assuredly, do not. So, in reality, what you are really saying here is that you don't want to be associated, in general, with people from Tennessee, which is fine by me. We "hot ignorant mess" from Tennessee could do without the likes of a two faced coward such as yourself.

If you are going to be a fan, especially as one who fashions yourself to be a "better" fan than other Vol fans, then be one with some stones to be a fan wherever you go.

 

[Unimane]

I'm a fan and financial supporter, too, and all because I love Lady Vol basketball. I'm not even a graduate of UT, which likely makes me a better fan than most as I support the team out of pure desire, not a sense of obligation. And I doubt seriously if Holly has to make you look foolish; you seem do that well enough on your own.

Why am I not surprised that you concocted some kind of illogical nonsense criteria for judging fan hierarchies that magically placed yourself at the top of the list, all the while being embarrassed about such fandom once outside the reach of any 865 area code cell tower?

 

[Darth_Vol]

Honestly I wish Elzy would get a HC job somewhere so we could get an upgrade. Law is supposedly known for recruiting yet she hasn't been the assistant coach assigned to one recruit that we've gotten so far. In fact, almost all of the recruits that we've gotten since Holly became HC were either Holly's assignment or Dean's.

I remember a quote from Pat during Elzy's early playing days that if she was going to lunch she would bring Kyra, if she was going to war she would bring another player. I think that attitude pretty much describes the entire coaching staff....

 

[vol1981]

Lady Vols always look: bumbling, fumbling, stumbling

 

[teacherdean]

I remember a quote from Pat during Elzy's early playing days that if she was going to lunch she would bring Kyra, if she was going to war she would bring another player. I think that attitude pretty much describes the entire coaching staff....

Wasn't Law fired as head coach of Illinois? She must not have been much of a recruiter there. Didn't she also bring Moore into the program? What a fine job of recruiting. She must have been really off her game recruiting for 2016. Massengale said that our shooting may have been off because the coaches were recruiting in September. From the recruiting results the coaches should have dedicated more time working on team shooting. It appears that we failed in both departments.

 

[volcrazy89]

^ She was. And of course she played under CViv at Iowa and coached with CViv at Rutgers. So it's not surprising she doesn't know jack crap about offense. She was one of CViv's first chucker guards -- as such guards are what her "offense" is built around.

Holly and Elzy were also primarily defensive players at UT. It isn't surprising at all that our offense sucks. If the coaches didn't have a clue about offense as players what makes anyone think they know about it as coaches?

 

[GameTime]

Good posts guys.....This is almost turning into like watching a tightrope walker barely make it across a great divide. It is very stressful.

As usual vc89, great info...Keep it up brother.

 

[volsready20]

Send Elzy and Law packing and throw money at Gail Goestenkors -- who is a great offensive coach and also a great recruiter -- to get her to come back to the college game and get an elite recruiter. Maybe Trisha Stafford-Odom. Or find a way to pry Joy Cheek from OSU and reunitd her with Gail, who she played for at Duke. Yes, I know this will never happen, but a guy can dream, right?

Honestly I wish Elzy would get a HC job somewhere so we could get an upgrade. Law is supposedly known for recruiting yet she hasn't been the assistant coach assigned to one recruit that we've gotten so far. In fact, almost all of the recruits that we've gotten since Holly became HC were either Holly's assignment or Dean's.

Do you realize that 11 post players have been on campus and only 1 have signed. The job of the assistant coaches is to bring them on campus and the position coach and the head coach needs to close the deal. Have they closed the deal?

 

[j'adorevol89]

Something just isn't clicking with them right now... Hopefully they can snap into some sort of consistent rhythm and dominate a game... I was smiling during the first half of today's game sadly it became a frown... It's mediocrity going to be the theme this year

 

[Voldon18]

Holly, unfortunately, is determined to drive her fan base bonkers (not a long drive, I know ... that is a slam at myself as much as anyone) with her illogical and comical substitution patterns. It's unexplainable. If she can't figure out her best and most reliable seven or eight players in practice, she has no reason being the person with Pat's whistle.

I guess the coach thought she had the game secured when she experimented with a mainly guard lineup most of the third quarter. We all saw the results = epic Lady Mocs comeback.

Please get a clue (may be too late with this set-in-her-ways, game-has-past-you-by, stubborn HC), Holly, or be ready for the fan base to turn altogether and demand a new direction. I know I'm already looking forward to the return of the anointed son, Tyler!

Diamond will be fine, folks. She's special. Russell can accomplish great things and proved her capabilities with that steal and three-quarter-court dribble drive to the basket (beautiful!) last night. So impressive. I can't wait for Nared's return but have major reservations Holly will know how to properly utilize her talents.

Kudos to Meme's athletic ability. I still contend Jordan deserves no more than a mop-up role. Moore is a wasted scholarship and Jones still can't play under control (and her coaches have no clue how to guide her).

Yes, for the blindly loyal Holly fanatics (less of you around last night after the game), a win is a win, but tonight's collapse was a sin, period!

Diamond, take over this team and please give Holly no way to screw it up. You can push this team to the brink of greatness despite the lame HCing rotation decisions.

 

[Orange Maniac]

We have a bunch of girls that like to win but we now have one who hates to lose and that became obvious last night. Diamond took it upon herself last night to keep that from being a loss. If we could instill that drive into everyone else, this team would be bad news for other teams. Cooper may have some of that in her and maybe Graves has a little bit also but nothing like Diamond has. She was limping badly as she left the floor and sounded like she had a bad cold on top of that after listening to her interview. CPS would dearly love this girl.

 

[hokievol12]

I'm reluctant to blast our head coach and staff, but last night had me wondering how a loaded team with 8 McDonald's All-Americans could look so lost and clueless. Holly rendered an apology to the fans in her post game comments for the embarrassing 3rd and 4th quarter collapse...and implied that the players became more about "me" and less about "us" in that 2nd half. I can't help thinking this program is in trouble when the head coach goes on record saying, in essence, that her team refuses to accept "coaching" and shines the light on the team without "owning" this hot mess and vowing to fix it going forward...

 

[mlindsay]

We have a bunch of girls that like to win but we now have one who hates to lose and that became obvious last night. Diamond took it upon herself last night to keep that from being a loss. If we could instill that drive into everyone else, this team would be bad news for other teams. Cooper may have some of that in her and maybe Graves has a little bit also but nothing like Diamond has. She was limping badly as she left the floor and sounded like she had a bad cold on top of that after listening to her interview. CPS would dearly love this girl.

Diamond isn't the only one who is like that MeMe and Cooper both hate losing. Graves has that same hunger and so does Russell. I have seen it in Jordan but I think she needs to play more off the ball than on the ball