Kortney Dunbar ('14) commits to Tennessee

[UConnCat]

It's interesting to read some of the posts on Meighan Simmons. There's been no shortage of those since her first game for Tennessee.

I expect Simmons to score a lot of points for Tennessee in the upcoming season and to battle her teammate Graves for SEC POY. The biggest challenge for Simmons, however, will be whether she can overcome nerves (which she admitted to after last year's NCAAs) and make shots on the biggest stage. Tennessee has made it to the Elite 8 game in each of Simmons' 3 years at Tennessee and her combined FG% (7-38) and 3FG% (4-22) in those 3 cames is 18%. That's a lot of missed shots. She'll need to do better for Tennessee to make it to Nashville.

 

[DobbsRover2]

It's interesting to read some of the posts on Meighan Simmons. There's been no shortage of those since her first game for Tennessee.

I expect Simmons to score a lot of points for Tennessee in the upcoming season and to battle her teammate Graves for SEC POY. The biggest challenge for Simmons, however, will be whether she can overcome nerves (which she admitted to after last year's NCAAs) and make shots on the biggest stage. Tennessee has made it to the Elite 8 game in each of Simmons' 3 years at Tennessee and her combined FG% (7-38) and 3FG% (4-22) in those 3 cames is 18%. That's a lot of missed shots. She'll need to do better for Tennessee to make it to Nashville.

UTenn lost 8 games last year, and yes they tended to be the games against tougher opponents like Baylor, ND, Louisville, KY and Stanford, and a few non-top-70 clunkers like Missouri and Chattanooga thrown in. In the losses, Simmons shot a yucky 32%. In the wins she shot a much better 44%.

So the lesson is clear, Simmons must learn how to shoot around 44% in all her games next year and UTenn will win them all.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

Some posters seem to be downplaying Kortney Dunbar as a legitimate threat simply because of her ranking. In some cases this may be the case and I can see the reasoning behind it, however, it's important to note that UCONN recruited Lexi Gussert pretty heavily, but she wasn't even ranked by any of the major recruiting services. I'm sure Geno and staff saw something in Lexi that made them think highly of her. Geno is a great recruiter and one of his strong points are finding players who aren't necessarily at the top of the rankings coming out of high school, but who have tremendous upside..Kelly Faris and Steph Dolson are a couple that come to mind. As far as Lexi is concerned, she put up pretty impressive high school numbers and will def be a nice perimeter threat for Michigan State. In Dunbar's case, I think she will thrive in Tennessee's system, mainly because of Russell. Russell will demand 2 or 3 people on her most times and I can see her kicking it back out to Dunbar for a lot of open three's. Simmons might also form a similar bond with Russell this year..

A couple of thoughts on the upcoming season..I can see UCONN going undefeated, but I don't think it will be quite an easy road as some might think. With Faris graduated, who will fill her shoes and provide that defensive spark that Faris always brought to the table. That's the big question mark in my mind and could become a key factor on whether UCONN repeats as national champs. Of course, Geno is known for putting a splendid defensive team together and I fully expect someone to step up and fill Kelly's shoes.

As a Tennessee fan, our team has many question marks as well. Will the perimeter defense improve? Which players will step up and provide the defensive intensity that was missing many times last season? Will Simmons make better decisions and will her game improve because of Russell? Will Burdick and Massengale step up and play to their abilities? Here's the big one..in the big games, will Tennessee play offense with crisp passing and a methodical offense, rather than depending on talent and individual one on one play. I think Russell will be the x factor for Tennessee and she will really open up a lot of great options for the other players.

 

[stwainfan]

I think this years team will have a few things that Tennessee hasn't had lately.
1. A 6'6" athletic center. Cain was 6'6" but didn't have the speed of Russell.
2. Guard play with Massengale, Simmons, Reynolds, and Carter should be the best guard play in a few years.

 

[EricLA]

Some posters seem to be downplaying Kortney Dunbar as a legitimate threat simply because of her ranking. In some cases this may be the case and I can see the reasoning behind it, however, it's important to note that UCONN recruited Lexi Gussert pretty heavily, but she wasn't even ranked by any of the major recruiting services. I'm sure Geno and staff saw something in Lexi that made them think highly of her. Geno is a great recruiter and one of his strong points are finding players who aren't necessarily at the top of the rankings coming out of high school, but who have tremendous upside..Kelly Faris and Steph Dolson are a couple that come to mind. As far as Lexi is concerned, she put up pretty impressive high school numbers and will def be a nice perimeter threat for Michigan State. In Dunbar's case, I think she will thrive in Tennessee's system, mainly because of Russell. Russell will demand 2 or 3 people on her most times and I can see her kicking it back out to Dunbar for a lot of open three's. Simmons might also form a similar bond with Russell this year..

First of all, I can't speak to how "heavily" Gussert was recruited, well, because we heard almost nothing about her, then there was some interest, then she verbaled elsewhere. So how you can "know" that she was so heavily recruited is a mystery to me. I guess you have a direct line to Geno that no one else on the BY has.

Second, as I said earlier, not a single poster on here has said Dunbar isn't any good. But while Tennessee fans seem to want to go on and on about how under ranked and terrific she is, I've yet to hear anyone say what kind of player they expect her to be. Shanna Zolman good? Angie Bjorkland good? As in a starter for 2+ years, or Brianna Bass, Alberte Auguste, or Dominique Redding good? I equated her to Tahirah Williams or Meghan Gardler or Lauren Engeln for UCONN - nice, solid players who are solid bench kids, ie. reserves, and in Gardler's case, earned a good bit of PT her senior year. But hey, enjoy that particular Kool-Aid. There are a good number of Tennessee fans who also think Middleton is one of the top 2-3 guards in her entire class. Really? Ummm. Ok.

Lastly, Russell "demanding" 2 or 3 people on her most times? Um... If that happens, it either means Tennessee is really a lousy team (as in Delaware with 2-3 people draped on Elena Delle Donne "most of the time"), or she has the most amazing potential of any top 3 kid in the history of basketball (I may have exaggerated that just a bit). She's not the consensus #1, hasn't swept every (or even most) of the NPOY awards, and aside from one really good performance in ONE of the all star games, has never dominated vis-a-vis her peers. In her last Team USA experience, she was the 4th leading scorer on her own team, and the 2nd or 3rd leading rebounder. Athletic? Sure. Potential? Sure. Now name me the last center not named Parker who excelled and was developed incredibly well at Tennessee. Maybe Deadra Charles? Because it certainly wasn't Snow, Pillow, Robinson, Fluker, Anosike, Redding, Fuller, Dupree, Cain, Gray, or Brewer.

Now to be fair, Harrison has developed much better than most outside of Tennessee thought, but it remains to be seen just how "great" Russell is. She has nowhere near the resume of Griner, Stewart, KML, Delle Donne, Ogwumike, or any of the other #1 players in recent years.

 

[Icebear]

Some posters seem to be downplaying Kortney Dunbar as a legitimate threat simply because of her ranking. In some cases this may be the case and I can see the reasoning behind it, however, it's important to note that UCONN recruited Lexi Gussert pretty heavily, but she wasn't even ranked by any of the major recruiting services. I'm sure Geno and staff saw something in Lexi that made them think highly of her. Geno is a great recruiter and one of his strong points are finding players who aren't necessarily at the top of the rankings coming out of high school, but who have tremendous upside..Kelly Faris and Steph Dolson are a couple that come to mind. As far as Lexi is concerned, she put up pretty impressive high school numbers and will def be a nice perimeter threat for Michigan State. In Dunbar's case, I think she will thrive in Tennessee's system, mainly because of Russell. Russell will demand 2 or 3 people on her most times and I can see her kicking it back out to Dunbar for a lot of open three's. Simmons might also form a similar bond with Russell this year..

A couple of thoughts on the upcoming season..I can see UCONN going undefeated, but I don't think it will be quite an easy road as some might think. With Faris graduated, who will fill her shoes and provide that defensive spark that Faris always brought to the table. That's the big question mark in my mind and could become a key factor on whether UCONN repeats as national champs. Of course, Geno is known for putting a splendid defensive team together and I fully expect someone to step up and fill Kelly's shoes.

As a Tennessee fan, our team has many question marks as well. Will the perimeter defense improve? Which players will step up and provide the defensive intensity that was missing many times last season? Will Simmons make better decisions and will her game improve because of Russell? Will Burdick and Massengale step up and play to their abilities? Here's the big one..in the big games, will Tennessee play offense with crisp passing and a methodical offense, rather than depending on talent and individual one on one play. I think Russell will be the x factor for Tennessee and she will really open up a lot of great options for the other players.

There is no system at TN. There hasn't been for awhile. Even when Pat was at her best there was a tendency to rely on athleticism rather than a system of basketball. Mostly it was throw the ball at the hoop and then get the rebound and a put back. Pat understood basketball was changing and that she needed more thus the flirtation with Harry Paretta's offense and some of the NBA structures.

By the way, my family raised boxers. Still love them.

 

[HuskyNan]

First of all, I can't speak to how "heavily" Gussert was recruited, well, because we heard almost nothing about her, then there was some interest, then she verbaled elsewhere. So how you can "know" that she was so heavily recruited is a mystery to me. I guess you have a direct line to Geno that no one else on the BY has.

boxerpups4me is right, Eric. Lexi had an offer early from Geno, something he doesn't do often. Geno must have seen something in Lexi that he thought would fill a need at UConn despite the whole ranking thing.

I thought boxerpups' post was well-reasoned and very civil. We've had a number of LV fans weigh in in this thread - welcome to the newbies and welcome back to the oldies. And UConn fans, jscott is a youngster. Remember our own Kait and the treatment she got Elsewhere years ago - let's not do that here. Also, please consider the content of a post first, not the handle or team affiliation of the poster, before responding. It takes two to argue.

 

[EricLA]

boxerpups4me is right, Eric. Lexi had an offer early from Geno, something he doesn't do often. Geno must have seen something in Lexi that he thought would fill a need at UConn despite the whole ranking thing.

I thought boxerpups' post was well-reasoned and very civil. We've had a number of LV fans weigh in in this thread - welcome to the newbies and welcome back to the oldies. And UConn fans, jscott is a youngster. Remember our own Kait and the treatment she got Elsewhere years ago - let's not do that here. Also, please consider the content of a post first, not the handle or team affiliation of the poster, before responding. It takes two to argue.

Thanks Nan - I did which is why my post was toned down.

I had no idea we recruited Gussert so heavily or for so long. My bad for missing that. And my bad for the snark. You are right - we should all make an extra effort to be cordial to our guests (as well as to each other on this board!!)

As for the rest of my post, boxer is not the first poster to come on here and make it sound like UCONN fans are putting down Dunbar. Unless I've completely missed that as well, not a single UCONN poster has done that. But we are pointing out that none of us expect her to be a starter or a star, but as I've said, we certainly are pleased that Tennessee fans are so thrilled to land her. Not sure what's wrong with that..

As for the Russell comments, most Tennessee fans seem to think she's Stewie or Moore or Griner or Parker good. I happen to disagree and said why. Not sure what's wrong with that either. I've seen other posters go at it over and over and over with visitors. Not sure if you've weighed i with them yet.

 

[Bestiarius]

I thought boxerpups' post was well-reasoned and very civil. We've had a number of LV fans weigh in in this thread - welcome to the newbies and welcome back to the oldies. And UConn fans, jscott is a youngster. Remember our own Kait and the treatment she got Elsewhere years ago - let's not do that here. Also, please consider the content of a post first, not the handle or team affiliation of the poster, before responding. It takes two to argue.

I for one am thrilled to see fans of other teams posting here. By nature, fans are argumentative - they enjoy it. I'm glad to see most guest posters present their opinions and are not attacking the other person. Any fan of another team has to expect that we'll see their opinions differently.

The Moderators keep the trolls away. The fans of other teams help to keep this board from being a mutual admiration society, and make us think about things we wouldn't come up with on our own. That's a good thing. What we need to remember is we're all supporters of women's basketball. We're all truly on the same side.

 

[UcMiami]

Eric, Bestiarius (and of course Nan) good posts.
Eric - I tend to agree on Russell and expect maybe an E. Williams like career path coming in with a similar reputation and taking some time to develop or even a Tina. And the question to me is not what happens in the first year or two specifically, but will they get the coaching and have the personal will to become a NPOY candidate by their senior year, let alone actually getting the award. It is a long road from HS star to that level and not many actually make it to the end of that journey.
There are only a few players who really get to that level in their first year and even fewer post players. Parker, Griner, and Maya are definitely the exceptions.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

boxerpups4me is right, Eric. Lexi had an offer early from Geno, something he doesn't do often. Geno must have seen something in Lexi that he thought would fill a need at UConn despite the whole ranking thing.

I thought boxerpups' post was well-reasoned and very civil. We've had a number of LV fans weigh in in this thread - welcome to the newbies and welcome back to the oldies. And UConn fans, jscott is a youngster. Remember our own Kait and the treatment she got Elsewhere years ago - let's not do that here. Also, please consider the content of a post first, not the handle or team affiliation of the poster, before responding. It takes two to argue.

Glad to be here Nan and thanks for the warm welcome. I am a huge WCBB nerd and I try to soak up as much of it as I can, whether it's here or on the summitt. Both forums offer valuable insight into the world of WCBB and obviously both have many fans following and posting because of the storied history of both schools. I think, and I'm sure many would agree with me whether your a UCONN or Tenn fan, that the series between the two schools has to be one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. With that said, I certainly didn't expect to come on here and immediately have UCONN fans agreeing with me. We will all have our certain biases towards the schools we follow, so I certainly appreciate and welcome constructive criticism of the posts I write here.

 

[DobbsRover2]

C'mon folks, we can get this UTenn recruiting post over the 10,000 views mark. Keep clicking.

And Nan, the Yankees' relief pitchers want their bag back.

November's coming, thank the b-ball gods.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

First of all, I can't speak to how "heavily" Gussert was recruited, well, because we heard almost nothing about her, then there was some interest, then she verbaled elsewhere. So how you can "know" that she was so heavily recruited is a mystery to me. I guess you have a direct line to Geno that no one else on the BY has.

Second, as I said earlier, not a single poster on here has said Dunbar isn't any good. But while Tennessee fans seem to want to go on and on about how under ranked and terrific she is, I've yet to hear anyone say what kind of player they expect her to be. Shanna Zolman good? Angie Bjorkland good? As in a starter for 2+ years, or Brianna Bass, Alberte Auguste, or Dominique Redding good? I equated her to Tahirah Williams or Meghan Gardler or Lauren Engeln for UCONN - nice, solid players who are solid bench kids, ie. reserves, and in Gardler's case, earned a good bit of PT her senior year. But hey, enjoy that particular Kool-Aid. There are a good number of Tennessee fans who also think Middleton is one of the top 2-3 guards in her entire class. Really? Ummm. Ok.

Lastly, Russell "demanding" 2 or 3 people on her most times? Um... If that happens, it either means Tennessee is really a lousy team (as in Delaware with 2-3 people draped on Elena Delle Donne "most of the time"), or she has the most amazing potential of any top 3 kid in the history of basketball (I may have exaggerated that just a bit). She's not the consensus #1, hasn't swept every (or even most) of the NPOY awards, and aside from one really good performance in ONE of the all star games, has never dominated vis-a-vis her peers. In her last Team USA experience, she was the 4th leading scorer on her own team, and the 2nd or 3rd leading rebounder. Athletic? Sure. Potential? Sure. Now name me the last center not named Parker who excelled and was developed incredibly well at Tennessee. Maybe Deadra Charles? Because it certainly wasn't Snow, Pillow, Robinson, Fluker, Anosike, Redding, Fuller, Dupree, Cain, Gray, or Brewer.

Now to be fair, Harrison has developed much better than most outside of Tennessee thought, but it remains to be seen just how "great" Russell is. She has nowhere near the resume of Griner, Stewart, KML, Delle Donne, Ogwumike, or any of the other #1 players in recent years.

I think we can all agree that Stewie will be something special for UCONN. We all saw how she dominated throughout the NCAA tournament. Geno will be tough to beat this year no doubt about that and will have all the pieces needed for a 9th championship run.

Since you did mention Russell's Team USA experience, and you didn't seem to be very impressed by her performance, let's compare Stewie's USA 17 stats to Russell's and that might help put things in perspective. Stewie shot 40-70 for a 57% fg percentage, while Russell shot 32-50 for 64% fg percentage. Stewie avg 12.8, while Russell avg 8.9. Now Stewie did go to the line A BUNCH. 38 attempts and made 22 of them. So that def helped her scoring avg. Stewie also had several more steals, and blocks. Now I couldn't really find the average minutes they played, but I'm sure an intelligent poster here knows exactly where to find them lol. I guess my point here is that you really can't gleam any real clear cut analysis of how good a player is going to be by simply using Team USA stats, since both players put up similar numbers. Now I will agree with you that Stewie has been awesome to watch and was playing all american type basketball during the NCAA tournament. Russell still has a lot to prove and by no means am I comparing her to Stewie, Griner, EDD, Parker or anybody like that. I think teams will certainly have to respect her size and skill set and your going to see many double team her, especially smaller size teams..

Getting back to Dunbar, I never said any poster said anything about how good or not good Dunbar was going to be. I simply pointed out that many don't seem impressed simply because of her ranking. I totally understand that!! I myself was hesitant and used the same thought process, but after watching some of her highlight films, I def think she can help Tennessee out. So does Holly and staff, and I'm sure that's why they are excited about her committing. And I think you asked which Tennessee player she reminded me most of. Well, I would have to say, just based on watching her shoot the ball, Angie Bj.

Many Tennessee fans seem to be really excited about Middleton as I am, but I'm a little hesitant to say she is one of the top 3 guards in the class, her rankings certainly don't represent that, but look at Kayla Mcbride. She was ranked somewhere in the 20's in most recruiting ranking services and with the exception of Simms, is turning out to be the best guard in that class..

 

[Boxerpups4me]

C'mon folks, we can get this UTenn recruiting post over the 10,000 views mark. Keep clicking.

And Nan, the Yankees' relief pitchers want their bag back.

November's coming, thank the b-ball gods.

wow, closing in on 10000 views!! Sweet!!

 

[triaddukefan]

Many Tennessee fans seem to be really excited about Middleton as I am, but I'm a little hesitant to say she is one of the top 3 guards in the class, her rankings certainly don't represent that, but look at Kayla Mcbride. She was ranked somewhere in the 20's in most recruiting ranking services and with the exception of Simms, is turning out to be the best guard in that class..

What about Chelsea Gray ?? Obviously Im biased... but I think she's a pretty good guard in that class.

 

[Fightin Choke]

What about Chelsea Gray ?? Obviously Im biased... but I think she's a pretty good guard in that class.

Yeah, Chelsea's kinda excellent.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

There is no system at TN. There hasn't been for awhile. Even when Pat was at her best there was a tendency to rely on athleticism rather than a system of basketball. Mostly it was throw the ball at the hoop and then get the rebound and a put back. Pat understood basketball was changing and that she needed more thus the flirtation with Harry Paretta's offense and some of the NBA structures.

By the way, my family raised boxers. Still love them.

Aren't boxers the best I have two that keep me on my toes

 

[Boxerpups4me]

What about Chelsea Gray ?? Obviously Im biased... but I think she's a pretty good guard in that class.

Yes, there's another highly rated guard from that class that hasn't disappointed. Too bad she tore her acl, she was having a stellar season. Speaking of Duke, they should be pretty awesome this year. They have talent coming out the ying yang. Not to mention the class coming in next year.. Yikes

 

[triaddukefan]

Yes, there's another highly rated guard from that class that hasn't disappointed. Too bad she tore her acl, she was having a stellar season. Speaking of Duke, they should be pretty awesome this year. They have talent coming out the ying yang. Not to mention the class coming in next year.. Yikes

Actually luckily it wasnt her ACL.... it was "only" a dislocated kneecap....... she should be at full strength by the start of the season ( i hope)....

I was curious and went back and looked at the 2010 espn rankings...... and looked down the list to see the lowest ranked player who ended up being an impact player. #85.. Ty Marshall (SG) of Georgia Tech. .... she's really really good.

 

[Icebear]

Aren't boxers the best I have two that keep me on my toes

My great joy at the moment is a couple of my parishioners across the street have a brother and sister pair from the same litter so I can get my fix any time.

 

[Tonyc]

I see Tennessee being right there with uconn in the very near future and years to come going back and fourth for the best of the best. National Championships once again coming soon.

I don't. With teams like Michigan and Kim Anrico Barnes picking up an Asst Coach from the Belles, and LVille with Walsh, and Kentucky, and Duke UNC Stanford UCLA and MD and all these teams have been getting top recruits that Pat and Tenn used to get. I see more competition and more competitive teams. It used to be top recruits would go to UConn or Tenn. Now Tenn is not so much in the picture with all these other teams winning out over them.

Pat used the philosophy of get the top players, rebound rebound rebound and you will win. Now its more about teach, train and develop those top players. Tenn is not in the same position of recruiting they were in the past. They are playing second fiddle to many other teams, or at least competing with them for the same kids. Why did teams like UConn Lville and Ball St beat Tenn. Outside shooting. You cant rebound kids who make outside shots. You have to defend them and Tenn hasn't been able to defend the perimeter for a very long time.

As far as Chong goes. She is a mystery to me why shes ranked so high. She was the best player in NYC and the State of NY and you've got NY kids ranked ahead of her. IMO she is top 10 and Im really thinking top 5. So my confidence in the recruiting polls is very low. I believe those on the committee of the recruiting polls are coaches who choose their own kids over others. JMO Many said Chong didn't play in tuff AAU games. Well she did her senior year and perhaps that's why she was the NPOY. Ive seem her play and she has all the tools. I am really excited to see her this season at UConn.

Now maybe Tenn has gotten some kids who are much like Chong under the radar. However will they be developed into championship caliber players? Tenn has a history of getting top recruits and not making the elite 8 except on occasion. Tenn has underperformed over the past few seasons. Getting MR is a start. Graves is a terrific player. Can Tenn build around them. Can Tenn play team ball and when they get behind run plays to score not give the ball to their go to player and let her go one on one with opponets not getting everybody else involved. To me with a schedule that does not have as many top 10 teams as in the past already answers that question. Tenn wont be challenged as much as teams like Stanford, Duke, ND, MD and UConn. Tenn seems to shy away from playing teams they could lose to. IMO this is because they want a high ranking in the polls to get back to the FF especially this season when the FF is in Tenn. How would that look to the boosters and alums if Tenn didn't make the FF in Tenn?????

Tenn has a long way to go. Its not about having a lot of talent. Tenn has had a lot of talent. Its about having a lot of talent and playing as a team. Its not about jacking up quick shots or rebound rebound rebound . It all starts with defense. Tenns philosophy has to change if they want to get back to the top and perhaps it starts by admitting to themselves they need a new leader running the team. If that's Holly let Holly run the team not Pat. Perhaps it should also start with apologies to Geno and UConn with and explanation which has been far to late in coming.

 

[Bestiarius]

Aren't boxers the best

Except for Huskys, of course.

 

[Bayareahusky]

You know what will be interesting about this year's LV fortunes..... Who is going to get Mercedes the ball? Like Keyshawn "Just get me the damn ball!"..... Guard play isn't that stellar, though OK..... Griner had Sims dishing it to her..... how is UT going to do.....??

As 4 future fortunes in Knockville, Mercedes was definitely a coup in getting her..... hope she has a good career of it there..... she needs some playuhs to work with though...... If I was choosing between Coach P, Tara, Muffet, Jeff, Matt, Geno, Holly..... the choice for me would be easy by elimination.

 

[stwainfan]

I think Graves will benefit from having Russell. Having Carter back will help. Reynolds will be a good player.

 

[mcannon1]

[quote="Bestiarius, What we need to remember is we're all supporters of women's basketball. We're all truly on the same side.[/quote]

That is so true Best. So true. We all need to do all we can to support the sport, coaches, and players.