Whoa there! That’s not entirely true. Fundamentals can mean different things to different people. I was at the game yesterday and let me review with this forum what I saw:
For warmups-UCLA was first out by about 8-10 min. They did some team short sprints with quick stops. Broke into 2 groups, 1 shooting, the other group of 5 did a 2 ball short passing drill, quick and efficient, forcing the women to quickly catch/pass anticipating the next ball. The groups switched and then They then did a nice little bounce pass layup drill before the normal layup and shooting.
TN came out during the end of the second passing group drill and did their layup line and shoot around. Their shooting and form were very good.
The game started with Westbrook being called for using her left arm to clear out the defender while dribbling. She got called another time for exactly the same infraction and didn’t get called any ot the other times she did it. At one point during the 1st Qtr was 7-1 in turnovers committed, just sloppy play and This is poor coaching.
The other noticeable item was Westbrook’s and Davis’s attitude-too much edge and angst but the passion was there only misdirected. Clearly Davis and Westbrook have skills but not in a cohesive offensive plan as Tennessee did not have one. Collins actually impressed me in the first have with her movement and shooting, again more her effort than in a team component.
When TN made their run in the 3rd Qtr, Westbrook and KK worked the high low very well and were heavily aided by poor offensive sets by UCLA (poor spacing/ill advised passes) and poor shot selection. Cori Close also waited too long to take a time out during this run.
Overall, the balance of scoring was heavily skewed in UCLA’s favor and is more evidence that Cori’s team is coached pretty well. Her in game management could improve but during timeouts, she was more engaged with the team than Holly was.
My impression was not a lack of effort by Tennessee but a lack of team structure to be effective. All traits we have bespoken for the last 4 years about Holly.
My take on Evina’s comments were she was pressed by that reporter after she said no comment and was led into saying something. Should she have said it, of course not, but it does show someone who cares.
On Holly, I actually agree she deserved the right to coach after Pat had to step down. Her first 3 years were pretty good but the last 4 have clearly proved she’s not a leader who can command respect nor shows any strong basketball teaching skills as evidenced by too many turnovers, too few assists and too many fouls.
Eegads, yesterday’s game had 43 fouls by both teams virtually all of which were correct. Fouls on defense show poor footwork and team communication, again a lack of coaching.
The long of it is, Tennessee is not well coached and needs to make a change.
Holly, however is correct that she loves the game, loves UT, loves the program and loves these young ladies. None of which qualify her to continue to coach this team.
Most fans at the game felt it was time for a change with only one I spoke with who was adamant that Holly had to go (not sure why he was there).
Just my humble impressions of what I saw.
