Lady Vols tied up in overtime with Middle Tennessee 73 -73

[RadyLady]

4:33 to go

 

[RadyLady]

score was 73 - 73 at the end of regulation. Tennessee pulls it out in the first overtime 88-81

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Uggghhhh...

I was so pulling for a MTSU upset......

 

[RadyLady]

Uggghhhh...

I was so pulling for a MTSU upset......

Well, gotta take it up with Santa...were you a good boy this year?

 

[speedoo]

LV's don't look like a ranked team.

 

[doggydaddy]

LV's don't look like a ranked team.

They beat MTSU by 40 last year. And I thought this TN team is supposed to be better and last years model?

 

[Alydar]

MTSU is Sagarin 65, They came in with a 4-1 record but an SOS of 237. The LV fans think MTSU is good. I'll wait till MTSU plays Kentucky. If they get swallowed it will say something about the LV's.

 

[cardfan]

I watched last the 7 min of regulation and OT. TN should have never let the game go into OT, they had some defensive lapses that left Middle Tenn's 3 pt shooters make wide open shots. In OT, Middle was in it until they turned it over twice leading to 2 easy lay-ups for the Vols. From what I saw, it was a good tight game and win for Vols, but also saw empty seats in the end zones.

 

[speedoo]

I watched last the 7 min of regulation and OT. TN should have never let the game go into OT, they had some defensive lapses that left Middle Tenn's 3 pt shooters make wide open shots. In OT, Middle was in it until they turned it over twice leading to 2 easy lay-ups for the Vols. For what I saw, it was a good tight game and win for Vols, but saw empty seats in the end zones.

LV's have zero post depth and their perimeter play is not that good. I will be surprised if Stanford does not beat them by 20.

 

[UConnCat]

Sounds like a nice win for Tenn. Tenn is not an elite team. This year is about Holly establishing a foundation for how she wants her team to play. It seems like she's demanding they play harder and tougher defense than we've seen in the past few years. Good for her. Winning close games can give confidence to some of the young players.

Still, Burdick and Spani will need to be more productive against better teams.

 

[Jmpenn]

I watched last the 7 min of regulation and OT. TN should have never let the game go into OT, they had some defensive lapses that left Middle Tenn's 3 pt shooters make wide open shots. In OT, Middle was in it until they turned it over twice leading to 2 easy lay-ups for the Vols. From what I saw, it was a good tight game and win for Vols, but also saw empty seats in the end zones.

TN did a good job to fight back and take the lead but I agree that they didn't finish regulation well. We were up 3 with about 38 seconds left and the ball. MTSU got the ball with about 7 or 8 seconds left. We had a foul to give and should have used it to make them inbound the ball and have our defense set. Instead they left a shooter open for a 3. TN did much better in OT. Attendence was 10,768.

 

[tennparker3]

I love this team but nobody in their right mind thinks they're an elite team... yet. MTSU is very good team and if you get the chance to watch them for a full game I don't think you would have a different opinion. We beat them by 40 last year but also beat Miami by 16 versus 12 this year... It is crazy to gauge a team on scores from different seasons IMO. Zero post depth is correct but Burdick, Jones, Spani, and Moore are all bodies that can be thrown into the paint if needed due to foul trouble (and surprisingly Spani is more effective scoring in the paint so far this year ). We may not have a top 5 team right now but we have a team that fights for 40 minutes to help overcome to abundance of youth and it is fun to watch for me.

 

[UcMiami]

I love this team but nobody in their right mind thinks they're an elite team... yet. MTSU is very good team and if you get the chance to watch them for a full game I don't think you would have a different opinion. We beat them by 40 last year but also beat Miami by 16 versus 12 this year... It is crazy to gauge a team on scores from different seasons IMO. Zero post depth is correct but Burdick, Jones, Spani, and Moore are all bodies that can be thrown into the paint if needed due to foul trouble (and surprisingly Spani is more effective scoring in the paint so far this year ). We may not have a top 5 team right now but we have a team that fights for 40 minutes to help overcome to abundance of youth and it is fun to watch for me.

Thanks for the detail. I was looking at the score all evening and TN was chasing through 3/4 of the game - always down 3 or 4 points. Agree that pulling out a win will be good for the team. Seems Holly is doing pretty well after that initial blip. Seems you have a realistic view of your team and hope the rest of Vol nation is being as reasonable.

 

[stwainfan]

I think if Williams can keep this type play up this is a better team. Without having to put as much on a freshman Carter. Who has played pretty good so far. I think the upside of this team is really good. If everyone can stay healthy this can be a real good team post season.

 

[Phil]

It is crazy to gauge a team on scores from different seasons IMO.quote]

No, it's not crazy. Imprefect, yes, needs to be recognized as not being definitive, yes. Crazy, no.

 

[meyers7]

T Attendence was 10,768.

Nice.

 

[Phil]

Tennessee does has a great fan base, and impressive attendance. However, the numbers reported are tickets sales (as is also true for UConn). One difference is that Tennessee does a better job of marketing gimmicks, like two for ones, and package deals. As a result, they have ticket "sales" which don't always translate into fannies in the seats. Don’t get me wrong, their net attendance is still one of the best, sometimes the best in the nation, but actual bodies through the turnstiles are typically 4000 lower than the sales (except in the days when UConn came to town.) UConn numbers are down, but even though our reported count was 7934, I bet we had more in the house, and that for a non-competitive game.

 

[Stray Cat]

They beat MTSU by 40 last year. And I thought this TN team is supposed to be better and last years model?

Good point DD. The Lady Vols also lost by nine points to Chattanooga who they beat by 43 points last year.

Also, the Lady Vol fans continue to praise the performance of Meighan Simmons. [Quotation deleted. Please do not post material from the LV pay site here. I sent you a PM on this last time, Stray Cat. Now as a repeat offender you get a public warning. -- JS].

Since when does a player who boast of a 42% FG shooting mark (which is heavily padded by made lay-ups) and a negative assist/turnover ratio (3:4) garner AA consideration? LV fans are so disillusion it's hilarious...they might be a Top 15 team, but they are not in the vicinity of challenging for the elite team for the FF this year.

 

[UConnCat]

MTSU is very good team and if you get the chance to watch them for a full game I don't think you would have a different opinion. We beat them by 40 last year but also beat Miami by 16 versus 12 this year... It is crazy to gauge a team on scores from different seasons IMO.

It's not crazy at all as long as you look beyond simply comparing scores. Tenn lost a lot of points and rebounds from last year's team while MTSU returned its best players. So one would expect the margin to be less than 40, but needing OT to win is surprising. Tenn is ranked #16 and MTSU is far from ranked for a reason: the talent disparity. Tenn's beat writer (Fleser) said that MTSU looked better than and no worse than equal to the LVs for most of the game. And the game was played at TBA. Still, a close win is a good win for Tenn's young players.

 

[Justavisitor]

TN showed many flashes of being a really good team, but they showed just as many moments of being really young. Their potential is high, but only if they can learn from the mistakes and turn those flashes into long, continuous stretches. Fans are excited about their future, because whether or not it happens this year, it will eventually come to fruition and at some point in their careers they will be a great team. Fans are realistic about this year in thinking that they have the ability to be a really good team by seasons end, but if they don't, it's not the end of TN.

 

[sarals24]

Are they really that young, though?I feel like Spani has been there forever, and I guess they have a lot of sophomores, but they got some major minutes last season. Whatever.

Random fact: Spani's sister is married to the K State quarterback. Might be common knowledge, but I read about it in the Si article about him. It had a picture of her.

 

[Husky68]

TN showed many flashes of being a really good team, but they showed just as many moments of being really young. Their potential is high, but only if they can learn from the mistakes and turn those flashes into long, continuous stretches. Fans are excited about their future, because whether or not it happens this year, it will eventually come to fruition and at some point in their careers they will be a great team. Fans are realistic about this year in thinking that they have the ability to be a really good team by seasons end, but if they don't, it's not the end of TN.

"at some point in their careers they will be a great team" - seems like quite a statement about after a few games. What is great:

1. Winning it all;
2. One or more FF's,
3. Few elite 8's.

The last crew of seniors were pretty well thought of re WNBA and they never made it to a FF. Were they a great team? There are few great teams without a player of the year gal on team. See recent Baylor, Uconn, Tenn teams (A&M probably the exception and pulled a ND on Baylor - winning the 1 in 4 games that really mattered).

 

[Justavisitor]

#1 Winning it all

the last team, due to injuries, never had the intended line up and the majority of fans that picked them to go far, thought the post play would consist of a healthy Cain, a healthy Baugh, and a healthy Brewer that shared the bulk of post play with Glory, not Glory as a center. Point guard play was to be handled by Cait and Lauren, not Shekinna and Meighan, two players that never played point guard prior to their arrival. This current group will need to remain healthy. A player or two can be worked around, but not 5.

 

[Alydar]

I'm curious why the seniors (Spani & Williams) aren't either starting or contributing more in the way of points so far this season? Last year Williams was coming off a knee injury. I would think she would provide senior experience. Spani is a very good 3 point shooter but only has 2 so far this year (2-12). I know it's early in the season but it's looking more and more that Holly has written them off. Maybe our visitors can shed some light on this.

 

[stwainfan]

I'm curious why the seniors (Spani & Williams) aren't either starting or contributing more in the way of points so far this season? Last year Williams was coming off a knee injury. I would think she would provide senior experience. Spani is a very good 3 point shooter but only has 2 so far this year (2-12). I know it's early in the season but it's looking more and more that Holly has written them off. Maybe our visitors can shed some light on this.

Williams has put a couple of good games in a row. She helped spark the win last game. If she can keep this up this is a better team. I think for Spani it's just shot not falling now. She is starting to hit a little now. When she gets hot she will add more scoring.