Diamond Deshields officially to Tennessee | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Diamond Deshields officially to Tennessee

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Can anyone give me any specific information regarding Candace calling the shots at Tenn instead of Pat...could we Tenn fans say the same thing of Ms Moore? No
 
msf22b said:
I'm sorry, I see scant evidence for UTenn getting to the National Championship Game next season.
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If they do remember what happened to Louisville, Breanna showed Geno, she is a student of UConn history. A championship game against Tennessee would be fitting for Stewie to put her stamp on history, as one of the greatest to play at UConn.
 
WesternPaFan said:
:(:(Well,I for one am worried with Tenn. getting DD.This could be a big problem for UCONN next year.But, they will be tough with what they have this year!!Not interested in playing them!!
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Take on all comers. Defense. To me that is the difference. Nobody's defense will be good enough to stop UConn but UConn's defense can stop anybody.
 
I can only imagine the uproar on all the boards once we do meet! I think it'll be an exciting time for WCB and of course ESPN ratings will be through the roof for the game...they'll of course play it up more so than the NC game last year...ESPN really wanted UCONN to play ND lol
 
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1) Gonna make next year's UNC vs TN post game handshake line quite interesting ( I assume transfers can sit on the team bench during WCBB games)

2) If the TN-UNC series continues...... ... I'll be buying a ticket to the 2015 game in Chapel hill.... I'll be in my seat looking like


homer.jpg
 
Irrelevant may be a little rich, Ice
but UTenn hasn't much of record of player development of late.

M
 
triaddukefan said:
1) Gonna make next year's UNC vs TN post game handshake line quite interesting ( I assume transfers can sit on the team bench during WCBB games)

2) If the TN-UNC series continues. ... I'll be buying a ticket to the 2015 game in Chapel hill.... I'll be in my seat looking like


View attachment 6189
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Lmaooooo! I cannot take you right now! But it will be interesting, I'm sure it won't be that uncivilized...at least I hope not!
 
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AnotherVolFan said:
I can only imagine the uproar on all the boards once we do meet! I think it'll be an exciting time for WCB and of course ESPN ratings will be through the roof for the game...they'll of course play it up more so than the NC game last year...ESPN really wanted UCONN to play ND lol
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They did. Besides the fact that ESPN is eternally in love with ND, is there any better rivalry in WCBB the last few years? Never mind two undefeated teams meeting in the final for the first time ever. Tennessee meeting UConn once every whatever number of years in the NCAA tournament probably won't match the intensity of the UConn-ND games of the last few years. I'm not sure any matchup in WCBB could.
 
I think this is great news.. Having Norte Dame, Tenn, South Carolina and possibly Duke and UCLA and whatever teams challenging UCONN hopefully makes for better games... and helps the game of women's basketball..
 
HoopsFan21 said:
They did. Besides the fact that ESPN is eternally in love with ND, is there any better rivalry in WCBB the last few years? Never mind two undefeated teams meeting in the final for the first time ever. Tennessee meeting UConn once every whatever number of years in the NCAA tournament probably won't match the intensity of the UConn-ND games of the last few years. I'm not sure any matchup in WCBB could.
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Yea I'd most definitely have to disagree...the ND UCONN games were good but Tenn vs UCONN put WCB on the map and a game being played between them after all these years will yield way more ratings than the ND UCONN game! IMO
 
msf22b said:
Irrelevant may be a little rich, Ice
but UTenn hasn't much of record of player development of late.

M
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Disagree a bit on that one. I think it's true of players like Burdick and maybe Massengale (altho perhaps you can point to injuries), but look at Harrison. She was barely a top 20 kid coming out of HS, and I'd say she's easily a top 5 draft pick. Now there's a lot of hoops to be played this year and it will be interesting to see how Burdick and Massengale do.

chocher said:
I think this is great news.. Having Norte Dame, Tenn, South Carolina and possibly Duke and UCLA and whatever teams challenging UCONN hopefully makes for better games... and helps the game of women's basketball..
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I would also add in Texas and maybe Ohio State. But Texas more than the others - they already have a really solid class from 2014 in Atkins and McCarty, and in 2015 they have Hosey and Higgs. If all those top 1o kids in 2015 and 2016 from Texas don't want to leave the state, it seems like it's UT, Tex AM or Baylor, and Baylor seems like they are struggling based on the Griner/Mulkey situation. I think UT is poised to become a national player really soon...
 
Diamond is a very hard worker off the court to get stronger and better her game. I think Diamond playing against the starters in practice next year will make them better. Wish her well. IMO
 
Congratulations to UT. DD will help them immensely. Unlike Simmons, DD will make most of her shots.

I guess she always wanted to play with Cooper since the beginning. Cooper committed early to North Carolina, DD committed to UNC later to join her, but Cooper de-committed from UNC and Deshields had no choice but to transfer after her freshman year.

Now they will be able to play together for 3 years at UT instead two, had both gone to UNC.

A. Durr will follow KLS to play at some great school in the Northeast...
 
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UCONNfan1 said:
Disagree a bit on that one. I think it's true of players like Burdick and maybe Massengale (altho perhaps you can point to injuries), but look at Harrison. She was barely a top 20 kid coming out of HS, and I'd say she's easily a top 5 draft pick. Now there's a lot of hoops to be played this year and it will be interesting to see how Burdick and Massengale do.
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Their most promising recruit of two seasons ago, Baashara Graves is so far off the radar screen that you forgot all about her.
Along with the ineffectiveness of Massengale and Burdick, perhaps Graves' sophomore leap…or should we rather designate it as disappearing act had to be the biggest disappointment of the season.

Three for me, one for you

Sure seems to buttress my argument.
 
chocher said:
I think this is great news.. Having Norte Dame, Tenn, South Carolina and possibly Duke and UCLA and whatever teams challenging UCONN hopefully makes for better games... and helps the game of women's basketball..
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How can Tennessee challenge UConn when they A. won't play us and B. fail to make the Final 4?
 
"Yea I'd most definitely have to disagree...the ND UCONN games were good but Tenn vs UCONN put WCB on the map and a game being played between them after all these years will yield way more ratings than the ND UCONN game! IMO"

The Tenn-UConn rivalry was half about Pat vs. Geno. Now that Pat's gone, it will never be the same. 2003 is not walking through that door. Life goes on. The biggest game on TV is UConn vs. whoever they are playing. The old Big East and ND understood that and jumped at the chance to supplant Tennessee. A couple of years of playing ND three times annually in tightly contested games made people forget all about that old Tenn-UConn rivalry real quick.
 
RadyLady said:
O2 and a sedative STAT!!!!

I like Margo, however this is really over the top....I'm worried she may hurt herself
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OMG, someone please make marijuana legal in Tennessee…soon!
 
Congratulations to Tennessee and good luck to Diamond..... I hope we meet in the tournament..... I know UT thinks they have the pieces now for the "grind to 9".... we would like #10.... the excitement has just ratcheted up...... that is to say potentially...... she won't be there for another year..... and we may not meet.... hope we do though.
 
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msf22b said:
Their most promising recruit of two seasons ago, Baashara Graves is so far off the radar screen that you forgot all about her.
Along with the ineffectiveness of Massengale and Burdick, perhaps Graves' sophomore leap…or should we rather designate it as disappearing act had to be the biggest disappointment of the season.

Three for me, one for you

Sure seems to buttress my argument.
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You said "UTenn hasn't much of record of player development of late". I pointed out that Harrison has done just fine, so that seems like "much of a record" to me. Massengale has been injured, and Graves averaged about 10 PPG last year. Not exactly lighting it up, but she was 4th on the team in scoring. Far cry from her being "so far off the radar screen..."

Not sure what you are arguing about, but if keeping score makes you feel better, have at it! ;)
 
AnotherVolFan said:
Can you explain the talent gap? On paper IMO...Tenn is the only team that can match up with UCONN..on paper...We don't know how anything will play out until we play each other...you all have beat everyone else except us...I do fault us for not being able to make it there but I believe we're the only team that can provide some fits. IMO
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It's laughable that you say UConn has "beaten everyone else except us," and that, "We're the only team that can provide some fits." You surely know that cancelling the series was Pat's doing. You must also know several highly ranked teams that beat Tennessee were creamed by UConn. So if you wish to fantasize that if the series wasn't cancelled, TN would have prevailed over UConn, that's your option.

Regarding the future, and the on paper match up, (and by the way, there is no paper binding Diamond as yet). Given her actions to date, and a year's sitting around, it may be wise to temper the enthusiasm until things are more concrete.

Who in the future will shine and who won't is conjecture at this point. Past experience, has shown that UConn's players in general have improved over time with Geno and staff's guidance. Tennessee's with Holly & Company, not so much.
 
Well I guess UConn and everyone one else in wbb can forget about the 2016-17-18 NCs. :rolleyes:
 
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msf22b said:
Their most promising recruit of two seasons ago, Baashara Graves is so far off the radar screen that you forgot all about her....
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UCONNfan1 said:
You said "UTenn hasn't much of record of player development of late". I pointed out that Harrison has done just fine, so that seems like "much of a record" to me. Massengale has been injured, and Graves averaged about 10 PPG last year. Not exactly lighting it up, but she was 4th on the team in scoring...
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Graves appeared to me to be a shadow of herself last year in the games I saw. I loved her game as a frosh, she was a fighter and fun to watch.
According to the Tennessee website, comparing her freshman and sophomore years, her scoring % is up just a bit and her assists are about the same and she has fewer turnovers per game, but rebounding is down a little (F) 8.03 to (S) 6.89, and her blocks per game (F) 13 to (S) 8 and steals (F) 49 to (S) 14 for the year are noticeably down. It is in these two latter categories particularly that show me she is not as aggressive in her game. I mean, I always saw her working hard in the paint her freshman year - that's what made me like her so much.

It is important to note also that event though her shooting % was up a bit, she took fewer shots in her sophomore year and as a result her total points for the year is down (F) 461 (average 13.2) to (S) 326(average 9.3) Now she did average 5 fewer minutes per game which should be factored in.

I personally was worried that something was going on, either physical, or perhaps her morale was in the cellar - Hopefully things will turn for the better this year.
 
Goodgood said:
Congratulations to UT. DD will help them immensely. Unlike Simmons, DD will make most of her shots.

I guess she always wanted to play with Cooper since the beginning. Cooper committed early to North Carolina, DD committed to UNC later to join her, but Cooper de-committed from UNC and Deshields had no choice but to transfer after her freshman year.

Now they will be able to play together for 3 years at UT instead two, had both gone to UNC.

A. Durr will follow KLS to play at some great school in the Northeast...
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You say that based on what? She certainly didn't make most of her shots in her freshman year (or come even close).
 
When TENN/UCONN was the top rivalry a number of factors were in play, including the "established versus the "newcomer" angle, the obvious talent laden rosters and the personalities of their dynamic coaches. It really was a perfect alignment of stars and played out for over a decade, as regular season contests often became championship clashes. That, IMO, led to a noticeable increase in popularity in the women's game.

On the other hand, while ND had some sustained success against UCONN over a couple seasons I can't help but feel the old saying, "It's better to be lucky, than good", played at least a part in that success. TENN decided to end the series leaving a void that needed filling and had not UCONN lost 3 frontcourt players to transfer, including a NPOY level talent, I do not see ND winning that FF game in Maya's senior year........then go on to win a number of heart stoppers, where UCONN often had the lead, the ball, or both, only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I'm not saying that those ND team weren't good and didn't deserve those wins, but when key players leave a collegiate program (sometimes in mid season) there is no way to fill those voids as there would be in the professional ranks, leaving UCONN with huge roster holes. Plus, being in the same conference, the sheer number of times they met added to the intensity.

Therefore, two unexpected events had to transpire for ND to step into the role that TENN willfully vacated.

As for the current state of affairs........should UCONN meet TENN in the postseason, it will be a made for TV event, but I don't think it's possible to recreate the intensity of the original rivalry. Although the media coverage will no doubt generate as much hype as possible, both real and contrived. I do believe it would be good for the game overall and fun for the fans (hide the children) should the match-up materialize and with TENN still stockpiling top level talent, if they can get their act together.......for the first time in a while, there is a distinct possibility that this one time glorious rivalry may see postseason resurgence.
 
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