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Message: [QUOTE="Alydar, post: 2378887, member: 730"] [LIST] [*]Anyone who has been following the LV's over the last 4 or 5 years knows that unlike Geno, Warlick has had nothing but praise for her team in the summer and during preseason practices. So I ignore anything she has to say during this time of the season. [*]During the last 2 preseasons the presence of DeShields on the team was the number 1 reason given by Tennessee for having hopes of a final four. Suddenly it's her absence that will make them better? If anyone who posted on an LV site in the last 3 years suggesting that DD wasn't the best team mate in the world got tarred and feathered. Now on those same boards her departure is being compared to the successful removal of a tumor. [*]In '14, '15 & '16 the LV's were ranked 4th in the AP preseason polls. That's a prediction for being a final four team. After being fooled 3 times the AP ranked the LV's 13th last season. They got 413 votes so some of the writers still thought Parker was still on the team. But going into postseason they were unranked, getting 3 votes [I](Did Sally Jenkins or Sue Favor have a vote?[/I]) and lost in the second round. Despite losing 3 starters from that team and also losing their projected starting pg, they will once again be a top 20 team in the initial preseason poll based solely on the name on their jerseys. Looking at their November schedule they could easily be 9-0 since all the games will be at home. The only teams that don't suck are Marquette & perhaps S Dakota but they should win all 9. That means that by the time they play Texas they could easily be ranked somewhere between 10th and 14th because several of the teams ahead of them will lose games to really good teams and drop. And once a team with a name like Tenn gets that high in the polls they can lose a lot of games and still only fall very slowly. [*]The trial by fire they face is a 2 week stretch in January when they play @TAMU, @SC, @ND and home vs Miss St. Those games come right about the time that freshmen "hit the wall". [/LIST] In a more positive vein, I remember that UNC made it to the NCAA's as a 3 seed with a team that started 3 or 4 freshmen, ([I]one of whom has since been verified to be a detriment to team chemistry[/I]) and without a head coach and who still made it to the E8. So who knows. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach