Here's how Tennessee continues to sign strong recruiting classes

[Plebe]

Here's how the Lady Vols are continuing to sign strong recruiting classes

Tennessee's coaches built a rapport early with Jordan Horston and the Lady Vols players then followed suit regarding the nation's No. 2 ranked prospect.

The 6-foot guard from Columbus, Ohio, signed with UT early Wednesday morning on the first day of the November signing period. Fellow women's basketbll signees Tamari Key and Emily Saunders were recruited in a similar manner, which is paying off nicely.

The past two years, UT signed classes that were ranked No. 4 and No. 1 nationally. The seven players from those classes make up the majority of a team that's 2-0 and ranked No. 12 before facing Florida A&M (0-2) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

 

[eebmg]

or

 

[stwainfan]

Yes these last three classes. Have been real good. Next year all three of the classes will be together. Guard play will be sick Westbrook, Hortson, Green, and Massingill.

 

[UConn82]

But do they win? No, nothing substantive. Hmm.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I have confidence in Holly and her staff.

Prayer moves mountains!

NCAA Titles ... not so much.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Let's hope Tennessee does the right thing and signs Holly to a lifetime contract. It's what Pat would have wanted for her loyal assistant coach.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Let's hope Tennessee does the right thing and signs Holly to a lifetime contract. It's what Pat would have wanted for her loyal assistant coach.

Oh, I don't know. I suspect Holly has had some nights when someone has come a calling.

 

[stwainfan]

You guys can go the the UConn -Tennessee game next year.

 

[bballnut90]

On paper Tennessee is recruiting well, although I still think we're going to be weak in the post despite having 6 post players on the roster. None of the 6 are particularly strong offensively, and all of them are projects to a degree. Holly isn't very good at developing players, so we'll see how that pans out.

We have a bevy of good guards/wings, but realistically only 4-5 will see ample playing time. Especially if Holly continues to utilize a double post offense, meaning there are 3 spots on the court for Davis, Burrell, Horston, Green, Westbrook and Massengill. In a perfect world,

I think Tennessee and Baylor could both benefit big time by swapping a UT guard for a Baylor forward. If we could trade Zaay Green straight up for Egbo, both teams would look a lot more balanced IMO. Here's a rundown of Tennessee's roster for next year:

Posts:
Harris, Sr...likely wont play
KK, Jr....starting this year, was a top 50 recruit in HS, big frame inside but not sure about how polished she'll be. Didn't play much as a freshman.
Collins, So....ranked all of the place by different services. Hasn't impressed early but long way to go.
Key, Fr....top 50 post prospect, will be a freshman next year
Saunders, Fr....another 6-5 post, wasn't ranked in top 100
Brown, RS-Sr....grad transfer who will be coming off an ACL. Stats show she has range but not sure she'll be a contributor based on impact at previous school.

Wings:
Davis, Jr...likely our go to player. Very good player.
Burrell, So...top 50 recruit, needs some polishing but I think there's good promise with her.
Horston, Fr.....incoming #2 recruit. Seems like a consummate team player.
Green, So...good scorer. Hasn't shot well early, but upside is there. I expect big contributions from her.

PGs:
Westbrook, Jr...looks better so far but we'll see how she does against good teams. Turnovers and decision making need improvement from freshman season.
Massengill, So...big PG. Top 20-30 recruit. Not sure how much time she gets this year, but seems to be a promising prospect.


With better coaching this could be a Final Four team. Not many teams will match Tennessee's firepower in the back court even if the front court needs some help. Most of the big dogs lose a lot to graduation next year too while Tennessee returns their best players. Time will tell, I just have little faith that it'll be anything different than what we've seen the last 5-6 years though. Every year we have some new hot shots on the roster and the results are always disappointing.

 

[JordyG]

Meh. Tennesse has proven they know how to buy the best groceries. But Holly's no chef and she always ends up with a casserole.

 

[Ron and Vida]

You guys can go the the UConn -Tennessee game next year.

And so it begins.....

 

[Ron and Vida]

On paper Tennessee is recruiting well, although I still think we're going to be weak in the post despite having 6 post players on the roster. None of the 6 are particularly strong offensively, and all of them are projects to a degree. Holly isn't very good at developing players, so we'll see how that pans out.

We have a bevy of good guards/wings, but realistically only 4-5 will see ample playing time. Especially if Holly continues to utilize a double post offense, meaning there are 3 spots on the court for Davis, Burrell, Horston, Green, Westbrook and Massengill. In a perfect world,

I think Tennessee and Baylor could both benefit big time by swapping a UT guard for a Baylor forward. If we could trade Zaay Green straight up for Egbo, both teams would look a lot more balanced IMO. Here's a rundown of Tennessee's roster for next year:

Posts:
Harris, Sr...likely wont play
KK, Jr....starting this year, was a top 50 recruit in HS, big frame inside but not sure about how polished she'll be. Didn't play much as a freshman.
Collins, So....ranked all of the place by different services. Hasn't impressed early but long way to go.
Key, Fr....top 50 post prospect, will be a freshman next year
Saunders, Fr....another 6-5 post, wasn't ranked in top 100
Brown, RS-Sr....grad transfer who will be coming off an ACL. Stats show she has range but not sure she'll be a contributor based on impact at previous school.

Wings:
Davis, Jr...likely our go to player. Very good player.
Burrell, So...top 50 recruit, needs some polishing but I think there's good promise with her.
Horston, Fr.....incoming #2 recruit. Seems like a consummate team player.
Green, So...good scorer. Hasn't shot well early, but upside is there. I expect big contributions from her.

PGs:
Westbrook, Jr...looks better so far but we'll see how she does against good teams. Turnovers and decision making need improvement from freshman season.
Massengill, So...big PG. Top 20-30 recruit. Not sure how much time she gets this year, but seems to be a promising prospect.


With better coaching this could be a Final Four team. Not many teams will match Tennessee's firepower in the back court even if the front court needs some help. Most of the big dogs lose a lot to graduation next year too while Tennessee returns their best players. Time will tell, I just have little faith that it'll be anything different than what we've seen the last 5-6 years though. Every year we have some new hot shots on the roster and the results are always disappointing.

Thanks for the assessment

 

[shizam]

Let's hope Tennessee does the right thing and signs Holly to a lifetime contract. It's what Pat would have wanted for her loyal assistant coach.

Yes please sign Holly to a lifetime contract. She has earned it! Just hire someone to coach in game and Holly will oversee the first 5 minutes of play each and every game!

 

[stwainfan]

Next year the team. Will be a more veteran team.

 

[shizam]

Next year the team. Will be a more veteran team.

Except they had Russell and the other kid from Oregon Nared as seniors last year and what happened? I was never crazy about those two though I finally saw real fight in Russell her final game against Oregon ST. She wanted that game but Oreg State somehow won the thing. What does Bill Lambeer see in Nared? She looks fogged up out there in the WNBA. Same thing with the kid from Northwestern Coffee. Bad things happen with them on the floor. Give Russell legit credit for sticking with a team and being in the league the whole season. Good for her.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I have confidence in Holly and her staff.

Prayer moves mountains!

View attachment 36543

NCAA Titles ... not so much.

They don't actually pray before games do they?

 

[stwainfan]

Except they had Russell and the other kid from Oregon Nared as seniors last year and what happened? I was never crazy about those two though I finally saw real fight in Russell her final game against Oregon ST. She wanted that game but Oreg State somehow won the thing. What does Bill Lambeer see in Nared? She looks fogged up out there in the WNBA. Same thing with the kid from Northwestern Coffee. Bad things happen with them on the floor. Give Russell legit credit for sticking with a team and being in the league the whole season. Good for her.

Yes but also had to rely on freshman. A true freshman point guard. That's not easy for a freshman. Also only three upper classmen.

 

[Plebe]

Next year the team. Will be a more veteran team.

Veterans at underachieving and squandering talent, to be more precise.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Here's how the Lady Vols are continuing to sign strong recruiting classes

Tennessee's coaches built a rapport early with Jordan Horston and the Lady Vols players then followed suit regarding the nation's No. 2 ranked prospect.

The 6-foot guard from Columbus, Ohio, signed with UT early Wednesday morning on the first day of the November signing period. Fellow women's basketbll signees Tamari Key and Emily Saunders were recruited in a similar manner, which is paying off nicely.

The past two years, UT signed classes that were ranked No. 4 and No. 1 nationally. The seven players from those classes make up the majority of a team that's 2-0 and ranked No. 12 before facing Florida A&M (0-2) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Just as Question, nothing sinister: Are you saying Uconn hasn't done the same "contact, then contact, then contact with top players they WANTED??
From all I have read over the years: Geno makes many many contact calls and some just visible contact calls at games for top players. Shea makes many initial contacts, Christine follows up, That's the way I was led to believe Geno, Shea, Christine spend their off seasons. Have I been fed some male bovine?

 

[Plebe]

Just as Question, nothing sinister: Are you saying Uconn hasn't done the same "contact, then contact, then contact with top players they WANTED??

Perhaps I should have made it clearer that I was quoting the article.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Perhaps I should have made it clearer that I was quoting the article.

My BAD. Still the question remains: Does/did UTenn 'WBB coaches do more in long term contact with potential recruits than Uconn. It appears that's what the article is implying. Plebe, nothing about you--your postings are always interesting and fun to read. My question is just hanging out there in message packets between IP addresses for anyone to answer because I can't.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Meh. Tennesse has proven they know how to buy the best groceries. But Holly's no chef and she always ends up with a casserole.

If you ever lose that funny bone the BY may be lost.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Let's hope Tennessee does the right thing and signs Holly to a lifetime contract. It's what Pat would have wanted for her loyal assistant coach.

That will never happen--if the Admin changes their mind on Holly it will cost them at least $4.73 to buy out her contract. Apparently, money is money at UT.