Coach Warlick feels her team is very sensitive..

[RockyMTblue2]

Graves was great in all star play because, IMHO, she was part of team..... What provision has HW made for on-court leadership? That is a big problem. Simmons, the only senior, is a loose, undisciplined cannon..... the junior class..... I do not know them personally.... but Burdick doesn't seem to have leadership tendencies..... Izzy and Ariel should corral this team and will them into playing consistently and having heart. Pat, does she have a role? I know she has a title, but does she have a role? Maybe they could carve out a niche for her..... like "Leadership Development" like Deadre Charles had "Character Development" a couple of years back..... If the LVs had one person step up and lead the others by example .... and get in their faces.... perhaps the team would not be guilty of jogging the floor like they did Monday night..... Maybe leadership is a role for you, BG, even though you are a soph.

My God, would you leave Pat out of this! Stress accelerates her condition. She is emeritus period. What do you want to do: Designate her chief locker room screamer or clip board thrower? Criminey, jimmeny cricket, and jumping jehosafat!

 

[jsloanjr]

Lets see if Holly can right the ship by the March Madness or the SEC tournament...........The SEC is a very weak league....Tenn might not be able to beat any team in the top 10.

 

[Bayareahusky]

oh my rockymtblue2 ... I am sorry that I touched a nerve I take back my suggestion

 

[UcMiami]

Most of the comments and refrains above have been true for at least the last three years and probably longer. So ... at that point I think you have to start looking at coaches and system and maybe recruiting methodology. You don't see players or teams at TN evolve from season to season and within the course of a season.
I am not sure who the last really good guard was to play at TN? Bobbitt? I think there was a reason Uconn dropped out of recruiting AM, doubt Geno would have looked at Simmons. They have had a better run of posts and wings, but without good guards and a system of offense to get the ball to the posts consistently they are limited in their effectiveness. And I do not see actions having an affect on playing time so there is no positive/negative feedback loop for the players and they continue to do what they want on the floor.
Pat was always a little bit challenged on the offensive end of the floor, but she taught defensive and intensity and if you didn't bring it on every play you didn't play or you got yanked pretty quickly. I do not see TN playing very smart defense and I don't see them bringing it for a full 20 let alone the 40 minutes. I have no expectation that TN will suddenly find magic and transform in the next two months. I don't see them being able to string together 3 good games against good opponents so I doubt they win either the SEC or the SEC tournament and I don't see them getting beyond the 3rd or 4th round of the NCAA.
On Graves - if that tweet after the Vandy game is where her head is at, is she leaving after this year? I can understand post players getting completely frustrated in the current TN situation. It like if Stef ran the floor on breaks all game long and the guards continued to take the shot themselves - think the next game she might not run quite so often? And if you did that for a month, maybe she would just jog up the court the next month.

 

[jsloanjr]

Good luck to Tenn to fix their wows or it will be another disappointing finish and early finish to their season, again........

 

[pap49cba]

UcM mentioned "recruiting methodology". This struck a cord with me as IMHO Tennessee the past few years seems to have focused on recruiting the highest-ranked, 5 star recruits without regard to whether they 'fit' the system or the team's particular needs.

As we all know too well, Geno has backed off on any number of highly ranked kids for whatever reason.... ego, expectations, personality, parents, etc. It is apparent that if he gets a negative vibe, all bets are off. We, as fans, might disagree but he is the coach and he is the one that will be putting a team out on the floor.

The only recent case I was really surprised about was DD. She did not seem like a UConn team-first kind of personality. Perhaps Geno thought he could mold her ala DT. We'll never know.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

oh my rockymtblue2 ... I am sorry that I touched a nerve I take back my suggestion

No nerve...but your post is funny ha ha. Go over to VolNation and you can join a big circle of cool aid drinkers who feel a dab of Pat will set things right. You did not have to like Pat Summit to respect her and it was not fun to see her during in game huddles as a bemused spectator on the outside while assistants tried to coach the Lady Vols. Now she can get into the mix and solve a problem tat existed in the last 4 years of her tenure?

 

[jsloanjr]

Geno mentioned a recruit he passed on late in the process because she wanted to not give up her Social media account or cover her tattoos.....He did not mention any names.........UNC draws 3000 fans to a game...........UCLA draws 800, Duke outside of UCONN draw less than 4000...........MD might have on of the best and newest arena in the ACC and they draw 3500 to 5000 their games. I think the arena holds 20000......My point is that all WCBB teams need to a better job putting fans in the seats. Make the game a fun night for kids, families, Alums, students..........

 

[Icebear]

UcM mentioned "recruiting methodology". This struck a cord with me as IMHO Tennessee the past few years seems to have focused on recruiting the highest-ranked, 5 star recruits without regard to whether they 'fit' the system or the team's particular needs.

As we all know too well, Geno has backed off on any number of highly ranked kids for whatever reason.... ego, expectations, personality, parents, etc. It is apparent that if he gets a negative vibe, all bets are off. We, as fans, might disagree but he is the coach and he is the one that will be putting a team out on the floor.

The only recent case I was really surprised about was DD. She did not seem like a UConn team-first kind of personality. Perhaps Geno thought he could mold her ala DT. We'll never know.

They have recruited that way as long as I can remember.

 

[UCONNfan1]

Most of the comments and refrains above have been true for at least the last three years and probably longer. So ... at that point I think you have to start looking at coaches and system and maybe recruiting methodology. You don't see players or teams at TN evolve from season to season and within the course of a season.
I am not sure who the last really good guard was to play at TN? Bobbitt? I think there was a reason Uconn dropped out of recruiting AM, doubt Geno would have looked at Simmons. They have had a better run of posts and wings, but without good guards and a system of offense to get the ball to the posts consistently they are limited in their effectiveness. And I do not see actions having an affect on playing time so there is no positive/negative feedback loop for the players and they continue to do what they want on the floor.
Pat was always a little bit challenged on the offensive end of the floor, but she taught defensive and intensity and if you didn't bring it on every play you didn't play or you got yanked pretty quickly. I do not see TN playing very smart defense and I don't see them bringing it for a full 20 let alone the 40 minutes. I have no expectation that TN will suddenly find magic and transform in the next two months. I don't see them being able to string together 3 good games against good opponents so I doubt they win either the SEC or the SEC tournament and I don't see them getting beyond the 3rd or 4th round of the NCAA.
On Graves - if that tweet after the Vandy game is where her head is at, is she leaving after this year? I can understand post players getting completely frustrated in the current TN situation. It like if Stef ran the floor on breaks all game long and the guards continued to take the shot themselves - think the next game she might not run quite so often? And if you did that for a month, maybe she would just jog up the court the next month.

Tennessee fans would argue that they have great guards. Massengale, Carter, Simmons, and Reynolds. They believe Massengale is great when she is driving into the lanes to create either a shot for herself, or opportunities for defenses to collapse on her leaving teammates open. They love Simmons' fire and passion. Feel that Carter is a top 5 player in her class and a lock down defender. Next year they add one of the best shooters in the country (Dunbar), a guard who outplayed every single guard above her all last summer (Middleton), and Nared who is also a top 10 player and a do everything wing-type.

 

[UcMiami]

Tennessee fans would argue that they have great guards. Massengale, Carter, Simmons, and Reynolds. They believe Massengale is great when she is driving into the lanes to create either a shot for herself, or opportunities for defenses to collapse on her leaving teammates open. They love Simmons' fire and passion. Feel that Carter is a top 5 player in her class and a lock down defender. Next year they add one of the best shooters in the country (Dunbar), a guard who outplayed every single guard above her all last summer (Middleton), and Nared who is also a top 10 player and a do everything wing-type.

They can believe all they want, but a consistent manager of the offense, distributor of the ball, and occasional or frequent scorer (with a high shooting percentage) - nope! Heck, they struggled putting it together with a great player like Parker until Bobbitt arrived to manage the offense - and I am not saying she was AA material, but like a Maria Conlon she got players the ball and managed the team.

 

[BRS24]

Geno mentioned a recruit he passed on late in the process because she wanted to not give up her Social media account or cover her tattoos.....He did not mention any names....

Wow. Now, I know I am a biased UCONN WBB fan, but if true, it is a sad commentary that not using Twitter for 6 months, in order to focus on the ultimate goal of a nat'l championship is a hardship. And the tats? I have no issues with the UC way of expecting the players to cover what they already have, or get new ones where they won't show. It's just like all the little rules of everyone wearing socks at same level, how they stand for the anthem, no headphones out in public, etc, etc. It's a brand, but it's also a way of life, preps them for post-hoop reality, and in some cases, makes them into really, really good pro players.

 

[jsloanjr]

Tenn has their way of doing business and recruiting and coaching players, but the results speak for themselves. You can have the best recruiting class year after year that nevers develops into a team. Is that players fault or their coaches?

 

[DobbsRover2]

Yikes, off a stray comment on VN, I just noticed what Russell's FT% is: 34%.

If you have the #1 recruit and post player who might likely get a lot of FTA's in the future, you would think that the Vol staff would work on her touch enough to make sure she does way way better than about one out of every three freebies. She was true to form (that's no form) against ND.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Yikes, off a stray comment on VN, I just noticed what Russell's FT% is: 34%.

If you have the #1 recruit and post player who might likely get a lot of FTA's in the future, you would think that the Vol staff would work on her touch enough to make sure she does way way better than about one out of every three freebies. She was true to form (that's no form) against ND.

Naw. As HW has frequently pointed out in post-game interviews, they have just been working on defense so far this year. So they have her practicing blocking foul shots.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Naw. As HW has frequently pointed out in post-game interviews, they have just been working on defense so far this year. So they have her practicing blocking foul shots.

Hey, the Vols' FT defense is at 64.5%, which is only a little worse than UConn's 63.8%, so something is working down there.

Another funny from the VN by one of the the more thoughtful posters who nonetheless came out with one of those nonsense lines.

"In the later years of Pats reign, I think she tried to switch to a lankier more athletic team to match up with the schemes of uconn."

Um, I can understand Pat wanting her team at the end to be kind of lanky like Candace, but how can you match up with the the schemes of a team you're not going to play? It's like the New York Red Bulls building a team to deal with Chelsea or Real Madrid. Maybe Pat had a WCBB video game that she was crazy about, though I can't recall ever seeing one.

 

[meyers7]

Um, I can understand Pat wanting her team at the end to be kind of lanky like Candace, but how can you match up with the the schemes of a team you're not going to play? It's like the New York Red Bulls building a team to deal with Chelsea Arsenal or Real Madrid Barcelona. Maybe Pat had a WCBB video game that she was crazy about, though I can't recall ever seeing one.

FYP.

 

[jsloanjr]

Lets e on Thursday if they look any different and see if their attendance drops from the ND game...........Normally, you cannot change their stripes..............Coach Parcells always said you are what you are...........Tenn is a team in a flux.........They have too much talent to be this bad......

 

[DobbsRover2]

FYP.

Wait a minute, are the Red Bulls blowing off Arsenal like Pat did UConn? Thought they played a match a while back. Maybe it was just in my FIFA soccer game.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Lets e on Thursday if they look any different and see if their attendance drops from the ND game......Normally, you cannot change their stripes....Coach Parcells always said you are what you are......Tenn is a team in a flux....They have too much talent to be this bad.

V0ls actually packed in more than a thousand more spectators for the LSU game somehow, but yes, the TBA was pretty packed for ND, and possibly less so for the Gators though it is a good matchup. But maybe the Vols would rather be playing Mississippi right now.

 

[sarals24]

The LSU game was also Candace Parker's jersey retirement ceremony, so I think that's where the extra 1,000 came from. One of those extra fans was one Ms. A'ja Wilson, who happened to see a loss to LSU.

 

[DobbsRover2]

The LSU game was also Candace Parker's jersey retirement ceremony, so I think that's where the extra 1,000 came from. One of those extra fans was one Ms. A'ja Wilson, who happened to see a loss to LSU.

Hopefully that home loss will not give A'ja the wrong impression of UTenn, as I'm sure that with five or six more tall post players that the Vols could be really good and maybe have some chance at an FF, or maybe not.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Interesting read on Lady Vols game against Florida and the problems during the ND Game.

http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2014/1/23/5334250/a-bridge-to-build-lady-vols-vs-florida-6-30-pm-eastern

 

[DobbsRover2]

Wait a minute, Tenneessee is a "next year kind of team"???? I thought the they were a likely FF coming off their SEC championship. And maybe Russell was displaying her steady assertion last Monday, but I must have been snacking at the fridge when it happened. But at least the demands aren't that heavy for the Vols tonight since they're only expected to play 30 minutes of ball.

 

[Phil]

the crippling sense of self-loathing that the Lady Vols seem to have.

Wow, with fans like this...