Baylor @ Tennessee, Sun. 2:00 pm ET

[CocoHusky]

I do think DD is a FABULOUS player but she is her own worst enemy. Nared and Russell have been outstanding this year overall. Very proud of Russell. She was by far the best post player on the floor yesterday even with Baylor's post players swarming all over her. She is having a superb year.

Two comments about the topics being discussed in this thread.

Mercedes Russell was awesome yesterday and is one heck of a post player. I can't help but like her and I get a sense of her personality that she is a very nice young lady. I get a good "vibe" from her.

Mercedes is putting together a very nice (AA caliber) season 17.7 ppg and 9.3 rpg .
Evelyn Akhator is also putting up good numbers for Kentucky 15 ppg and 10.1 rpg.
Alaina Coates also in the mix 14.8 ppg 11.8 rpg for South Carolina.
Will be real interesting to see who makes first Team All SEC and who goes where in WNBA draft.

 

[EricLA]

I do think she is a good person, I suspect she was a good administrator for Pat, but ... you don't ask the office manager to run the company. I understand the initial hiring, but I have not understood the three or four raises and extensions she has received.

She's probably inexpensive compared to other top coaches, she recruits quite well, and her team made the elite 8 last year - a feat 99% of the other schools out there would love to duplicate. Why make a change?

I get that LVOL fans want her gone, but the reality is that football is king, Tenn is trying to rebuild that program, and WCBB is not high on the radar for the AD with regards to getting the team to a place where they can win a NC. Making the NCAA's, getting to the sweet 16 - these are things that most teams would kill for, and outside of UCONN and ND, once every 5 or 10 years, other teams an have lightning strike for a final 4 run.

Of course teams like Maryland, SC, L'ville, Baylor, and probably a few others expect to be in the final 4 much more frequently, but teams like Syracuse, Washington, Oregon State, Cal, UNC, etc - they might make a great run once every 10 years or so...

 

[baggerbob]

Two comments about the topics being discussed in this thread.

Mercedes Russell was awesome yesterday and is one heck of a post player. I can't help but like her and I get a sense of her personality that she is a very nice young lady. I get a good "vibe" from her.

I like that the video clip revealed a side of Mulkey that opposing fans seldom get to see. I watch a lot of her press conferences and that is what you typically get from her. She is honest and "tells it like it is." She is a loving mother and deeply loyal. I think that she tried very hard to walk a perilous line when it came to Griner vs Baylor, but she was always the first to take up for BG when it came to they way that she was treated by fans, opponents and the press. I have a feeling that the day will come when BG realizes this and attempts to mend their relationship. And I hope Mulkey is open to that, but once you burn her it is hard to regain her trust, if you can at all.

Really would like to see Russell leave after this year, and go 6th in the draft to Seattle, she would love playing with Sue, Jewell, and Stewie, and fill a need for defense, and rebounding. She wouldn't have to worry about double teams, and would have 3 people who know how to get you the ball in scoring position.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Two comments about the topics being discussed in this thread.

Mercedes Russell was awesome yesterday and is one heck of a post player. I can't help but like her and I get a sense of her personality that she is a very nice young lady. I get a good "vibe" from her.

A nice young lady who went to the wrong school. I do feel for her.

 

[trb123]

A nice young lady who went to the wrong school. I do feel for her.

Some time ago I read a Boneyard post that Uconn and Mercedes did not hit it off.
She showed little interest in Uconn and the feeling was mutual.

 

[UcMiami]

She's probably inexpensive compared to other top coaches, she recruits quite well, and her team made the elite 8 last year - a feat 99% of the other schools out there would love to duplicate. Why make a change?

I get that LVOL fans want her gone, but the reality is that football is king, Tenn is trying to rebuild that program, and WCBB is not high on the radar for the AD with regards to getting the team to a place where they can win a NC. Making the NCAA's, getting to the sweet 16 - these are things that most teams would kill for, and outside of UCONN and ND, once every 5 or 10 years, other teams an have lightning strike for a final 4 run.

Of course teams like Maryland, SC, L'ville, Baylor, and probably a few others expect to be in the final 4 much more frequently, but teams like Syracuse, Washington, Oregon State, Cal, UNC, etc - they might make a great run once every 10 years or so...

With her raises, I actually think she is up there in the top rank of WCBB coaches - not Geno kind of money, but well on her way towards the 1M/year mark. She was cheap her first year or two.

 

[UcMiami]

Some time ago I read a Boneyard post that Uconn and Mercedes did not hit it off.
She showed little interest in Uconn and the feeling was mutual.

I don't think we ever knew how uconn felt, but she showed no interest in uconn so they never pursued.

 

[bballnut90]

Really would like to see Russell leave after this year, and go 6th in the draft to Seattle, she would love playing with Sue, Jewell, and Stewie, and fill a need for defense, and rebounding. She wouldn't have to worry about double teams, and would have 3 people who know how to get you the ball in scoring position.

Now that she's really putting it together, I think she'd go much higher than 6th. If she keeps up her level of play/intensity, I think she could be a great pick for first overall. A big 6-6 center who posts hard, rebounds, and defends well is not an easy find. She'd be a perfect fit in San Antonio to replace Appel and pair with Jefferson/McBride. Those 3 would make a heck of a trio to build San Antonio around.

If I had the #1 pick, I would choose Alexis Jones as a no brainer, but San Antonio really doesn't need guards. If Jones continues to assert herself this year as a POY candidate and emerges as the obvious top pick for the draft, I wouldn't be surprised to see San Antonio use that as trade bait or ship off McBride for a good post. Can you imagine a backcourt of Jones and Jefferson? That would be amazing.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Some time ago I read a Boneyard post that Uconn and Mercedes did not hit it off.
She showed little interest in Uconn and the feeling was mutual.

I started to put in parentheses "not necessarily UConn." All that notwithstanding, she went to the wrong school with respect to her basketball career.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Uh...NO ONE looks good in orange!

The convict road crews wear orange.

 

[EricLA]

The convict road crews wear orange.

Like he said, NO ONE looks good in orange.

 

[DaddyChoc]

 

[DaddyChoc]

Been said before, but Kim does not look all that well - a little gaunt in the face. Hope she is healthy, certainly haven't heard anything.


How is the Baylor zone? Cause if they are having any issues man to man, zone will stop TN in its tracks!
Fun feature they are doing now on ESPN - really enjoyed the one with Geno.

I don't think she ever fully recovered from her situation a few years back... and of course we don't see her often on TV, people age!
Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey diagnosed with Bell's palsy

 

[UcMiami]

I don't think she ever fully recovered from her situation a few years back... and of course we don't see her often on TV, people age!
Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey diagnosed with Bell's palsy

Thanks - I think I missed that at the time. I do understand people age, but sometimes it seems dramatically sudden and one wonders.

 

[Zorro]

The convict road crews wear orange.

And they look good?

 

[BroadwayVa]

With her raises, I actually think she is up there in the top rank of WCBB coaches - not Geno kind of money, but well on her way towards the 1M/year mark. She was cheap her first year or two.[/QUOTE]

Apparently---more proof you ---get what you pay for!! Having said that --the TX game showed that TN down by 15 could come back--that is a huge plus--There were moments in that game when I was really impressed with DD, Nared and Russell---Their defense lacks something--Lang dominated and Tx did not take advantage of that. McCarty was fun to watch.

 

[noirwestern]

And they look good?

At least in their flashy orange duds they don't look like road kill....

 

[Zorro]

Well, but wearing flashy orange duds will not necessarily keep you from looking like road kill, at least once in a while.

 

[Plebe]

It's hard not to be entertained by Margo. And I do respect her for staying positive in the wake of what may be the most humiliating home-court loss for Tennessee in program history.

 

[BigBird]

It's hard not to be entertained by Margo. And I do respect her for staying positive in the wake of what may be the most humiliating home-court loss for Tennessee in program history.

She reminds me of a quote from a friend: "A deejay is someone who talks until he remembers what he intended to say."

Margo the deejay.

 

[SCGamecock]

Mercedes Russell was awesome yesterday and is one heck of a post player. I can't help but like her and I get a sense of her personality that she is a very nice young lady. I get a good "vibe" from her.

Same here. I know Russell has had a tough go about things at UT, but deep down I've always rooted for her.

I don't pull for anything in orange too often... but whenever Russell is on the floor I pull for her. Obviously except when Garnet&Black is involved..

 

[HuskyNan]

Kim is known nationally for her courtside coaching personnae. Rightly so for the most part, a a young coach she came across as the jacket throwing, wild-woman that all opposing fans loved to hate.

As she ages, like most of us, she mellows. She still has the fire in her belly, and I'm sure we'll see it when big games are on the line, but there has ALWAYS been a decent, caring person deep down inside of Kim. She was NEVER the "Bobby Knight" of wbb. She has too much deep care for the people she coaches and works with. I don't expect many to give that statement much credence simply because the wbb fans across the nation already have their mental imprints of Kim. And more than likely that will never change.

But inside the circle of loyalties of her team and her loyal fans, Kim is EXACTLY what she claimed to be on the video--just a good ole country girl who's finally decided to forego a lot of the makeup and glitz that so many young women coaches feel like they have to have. She's still going to "say it the way she sees it" and when she feels her team has been dissed by fans or stripes she'll take her shots. And one of the reason she and Geno get along is because she's got that same "I don't give a ____ what people think of me as long as my players and my family know I care about them."

So, I'm not here to try to change anybody's mind. You guys have too much fun loving to hate on her. And that's OK. She's a pro. She'll tell you to your face--"Don't be criticizing the players; they're students. But us pros (coaches and stripes) we're fair game; yell at us all you want."

I just wish there was a way that more people could get a little more of that tiny clip and a little less of the young coach who let herself get out of control a few too many times.

Sorry for the excursus, but the thread opened up for it.

We UConn fans have been saying pretty much the same thing about Geno for decades. People see a crazy man on the sideline (less frequent nowadays) but he's a very warm, genuine, generous, loyal person with immense charisma and a quick wit. Fans of other teams only see the crazy man with the sarcasm (which rarely translates well in print). We hear you Baylor fans on criticism of your coach.

 

[HuskyNan]

Some time ago I read a Boneyard post that Uconn and Mercedes did not hit it off.
She showed little interest in Uconn and the feeling was mutual.

No, Geno recruited Mercedes and she politely listened but I think she always wanted to go to Tennessee.

 

[Beemer]

Well, but wearing flashy orange duds will not necessarily keep you from looking like road kill, at least once in a while.

Nor from playing like road kill.

 

[Beemer]

Thanks - I think I missed that at the time. I do understand people age, but sometimes it seems dramatically sudden and one wonders.

I had the same reaction when I saw the clip of Pat Summitt announcing she had Alzheimers. I hadn't seen her in awhile and the change in her appearance was shocking to me to say the least.