Diamond Deshields officially to Tennessee

[UCONNfan1]

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

M

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.

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..

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...

 

[WBFan2004]

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

 

[Goodgood]

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...

 

[msf22b]

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.

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.

 

[ASweet3781]

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..

How can Tennessee challenge UConn when they A. won't play us and B. fail to make the Final 4?

 

[HoopsFan21]

"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.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

O2 and a sedative STAT!!!!

I like Margo, however this is really over the top....I'm worried she may hurt herself

OMG, someone please make marijuana legal in Tennessee…soon!

 

[Bayareahusky]

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.

 

[jsloanjr]

Wish her well.........she has a year to get her body healthy and figure out the TENN offense.......Sorry, She will be the offense........

 

[UCONNfan1]

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.

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!

 

[Bestiarius]

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

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.

 

[pap49cba]

Well I guess UConn and everyone one else in wbb can forget about the 2016-17-18 NCs.

 

[RadyLady]

Their most promising recruit of two seasons ago, Baashara Graves is so far off the radar screen that you forgot all about her....

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...

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.

 

[Suebird10fan]

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...

You say that based on what? She certainly didn't make most of her shots in her freshman year (or come even close).

 

[geneticrex]

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.

 

[UConnCat]

Anddddd it starts! Lol She hasn't even played a game in Orange yet people...don't tear us down, wait until we have a chance to finally play each other again...we do have a 3 game win streak going! Even though those game don't really count!

Those games don't count. Tenn doesn't get credit for a winning streak when Tenn is responsible for cancelling the series just when UConn was on the verge of 7 consecutive Final Fours, a 90-game winning streak, 4 national championships and 3 undefeated seasons all while Tenn was on the verge of missing 6 consecutive Final Fours.

 

[UcMiami]

Congrats to TN, and just a note of warning in the euphoria - and something I posted in the DD is transferring out of UNC thread. Next year's practice situation is going to be very interesting because DD is such a unique talent. She is a player you can build an offense around, but not an offense you can plug another player into and run the same offense. So ... what do you do? If she practices with the first team and then you go into games and she isn't there I suspect the offense disintegrates. But if she only practices on the second team, is she unhappy and does playing against such a unique talent disrupt the flow of the first team?
I honestly don't know the answer and I think it is a novel situation - the only somewhat similar transfer situation I can remember was Bone, but while very talented Bone was a very traditional center type player so I think an easier practice situation to deal with. I think Holly is not going to have an easy time next year and it has the potential to be very problematic.
(For an example - think what it would be like to have Stewart on your team but ineligible to play for a year, just practice. Then add in perhaps a less humble personality.)

 

[Bayareahusky]

Bestiarius...... I hadn't seen AVF's comment on beating everyone save for the LVs.... and I am in total agreement with your comments..... I think the key part in AVFs posting was "IMO".. everyone has an opinion.... and that is fine... and it is nice to have a back and forth discussion between team fan bases, even when some of the litany seems to be from outer space......

Talent wise..... on paper, I think TN has been good for many years running..... they get great players.... but haven't been able for whatever reason to coalesce as a team.....They are quick to discount our achievements by citing the same 3 or 4 things..... one of which is that we get the best players.... but in the time since they were in the final 4 last ..... in 2008 I think.... they have had some top recruits.... Angie Bjorklund was # 2 in the country..... Mercedes #1 overall, Nared and Diamond top 5, and who can forget the class of 5 led by Stricklen.... all of whom were top 20 in the country.... I believe Stricklen was #3. ...... every new highly touted player recruited to KVille is the cat's pajamas, who is destined to taked them immediately to the promised land....

I have seen many LV games the past 3 or 4 years.... and I think the area of opportunity for them is not in their players, but in the coaching..... they need a gameplan, on defense, and particularly on offense..... I cannot imagine a team of 5 players coming down on offense, to witness only one player bring the ball up court..... bypass any assemblance of teamwork, and shoot from outside..... many possessions nobody got to touch the ball..... TN folks can correct me if I am in error here..... TN has a proud tradition, they have a good fan base, and they always have had good athletes, good players..... they need to package it, fine tune an operational strategy, and harness their assets.

I am glad they have Diamond now. She is a fine athlete..... I am looking forward to 15-16 to see what kinds of sets and offenses they run. Will it be one dimensional or multi faceted will their blue chippers be willing to do the nasty stuff...... set the screens, dive for the 50-50 loose balls, accept being subbed for when it is tactically in their best interest? We shall see.

Also the intangibles..... I remember a reporter in the 2013 LVille UConn final comment on Jeff Walz's huddle.... him saying..... "To get to this point, it is not about talent, it is about heart!!!" From seeing the LVs the past few years, I think it is fair to say that they must move the needle on this measure.

 

[Rob Signor]

i don't even understand why anyone cares why Deshields transferred. it just makes WCBB that much more exciting. Now we have South Carolina who is going to be great this year. Tenn is going to be great this year even though diamond can't play yet. Notre Dame with Turner is going to be great. North Carolina is going to be very good. Uconn will be very good again. Stokes and Tuck hold the key to us being great. I could see a Uconn Tenn national championship this year. Tenn will be very deep and talented.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Remember DD is now coached by Holly Warlick, 'nough said! Tn fans have been burned in the recent past by supposed classes of stud athletes that would lead Vol Nation to the PROMISED LAND! I don't care who they sign as the new flavor of the month, TN is done! They're yesterday's news! They'll be saying Remember those glory days when we won 8 championships......They will join, Auburn, Virginia, GA, LaTech, USoCal, Old Dominion, TX, et al.
After reading DD statement about her choice of TN to transfer to, If TN is the "Paradise" she makes it out to be, why did she put together 4 friends to go to that OTHER paradise, NoCar so the coaching staff wouldn't tell them HOW to play?

[mod edit]

Now IMHO - - - Before we all give the TN Vols the next 60 National Championships, there is such a thing as TEAM CHEMISTRY. Personalities as well as talent have to mesh to become a truly great team or program! What makes UCONN a GREAT program is the coaching staff recruiting top PEOPLE as well as top ATHLETES, preaching teamwork over individuality, character is as important as your jump shot! Great grades is as important as your dribble!
There will not be enough basketballs on the court for all these enormous egos to play with! DD can say all the RIGHT THINGS on June 12, 2014 but on Feb. 6, 2015 when she wants to take over the team, and play her individualistic style of play, and Holly has no guts to reign her in, the players bicker at each other and you have chaos!
The TN Vol fan base has something seriously wrong with it when they are so jealous of Geno & UCONN on THE SUMMITT that they perpetuate lies, about Geno cheating in the recruitment of Maya Moore, giving secret benefits to MM Mother, constantly cheating in recruiting and other things, instead of just admiring the hard-work, and recruiting genius of Geno & his staff!
DD and the TN Nation deserve each other! In the areas of CHARACTER, TRUTHFULNESS, VIRTUE, and DECENCY they have both been found WANTING!

 

[WesternPaFan]

Well I guess UConn and everyone one else in wbb can forget about the 2016-17-18 NCs.

Might just be true!

 

[RegisteredUconn]

yeah...

 

[Aluminny69]

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

My comment was based on observations of the Tenn huddle during timeouts. You can see Candace taking charge, telling PS what she wants to do. I never saw Summit give Candace any coaching advice during games. I don't have any video of Tenn games, but go back and check for yourself.

 

[RadyLady]

i don't even understand why anyone cares why Deshields transferred. it just makes WCBB that much more exciting. Now we have South Carolina who is going to be great this year. Tenn is going to be great this year even though diamond can't play yet. Notre Dame with Turner is going to be great. North Carolina is going to be very good. Uconn will be very good again. Stokes and Tuck hold the key to us being great. I could see a Uconn Tenn national championship this year. Tenn will be very deep and talented.

South Carolina - great
Tennessee - great
North Carolina very good
UConn very good again....hmmmmmmmmmmms

Now, I'm not picking nits or anything like that, but "very good again?"

South Carolina great, Tennessee great, UConn ......very good...again.

That must mean that South Carolina and Tennessee have something special and UConn....not so much...again....I guess..

 

[HoopsFan21]

South Carolina - great
Tennessee - great
North Carolina very good
UConn very good again....hmmmmmmmmmmms

Now, I'm not picking nits or anything like that, but "very good again?"

South Carolina great, Tennessee great, UConn .very good...again.

That must mean that South Carolina and Tennessee have something special and UConn....not so much...again....I guess..

Well UConn does have that Geno guy running their team. I hear he's a very good coach.