ND and Tenn Lose - Very satisfying for Fans of UConn [merged thread]

[tomcat]

Old Dude's got it exactly right.

 

[meyers7]

Count me among the fans who enjoy seeing both programs go down. No team will come close to the amount of pleasure I get, though, from watching UTenn go down. They can't lose enough in my book.

And just in case you want to see even more craziness, head over to VolNation.com and check out the game threads. The whole "Kellie is no better than Holly" section of fans are out in full force. One clever poster wrote "from Holly to Jolly - it's not very Merry". I thought that was a good one.

Agreed. Maybe they can get Dolly to coach?

 

[oldude]

Count me among the fans who enjoy seeing both programs go down. No team will come close to the amount of pleasure I get, though, from watching UTenn go down. They can't lose enough in my book.

And just in case you want to see even more craziness, head over to VolNation.com and check out the game threads. The whole "Kellie is no better than Holly" section of fans are out in full force. One clever poster wrote "from Holly to Jolly - it's not very Merry". I thought that was a good one.

LV fans are pretty creative when they’re depressed.

 

[CocoHusky]

Brunelle scored 20 and Walker scored 19 pts each but ND still lost to Virginia Tech 68-62. ND has a great 4Q, outstanding VT 28-15. But it was too late.

I really feel sorry for ND.

 

[HopJim]

Living in Florida we get both the SEC network and the ACC network on our cable package.

So I was flipping back and forth between the games. To me Tennessee is irrelevant but I would like to see them improve to the point of being relevant again. And I love it when ND goes down.

Recently moved to SC so getting the SEC and some ACC games as well. With all due respect to TN and ND, as a basketball fan, most of their recent games not worth watching.

 

[Charliebball]

Count me among the fans who enjoy seeing both programs go down. No team will come close to the amount of pleasure I get, though, from watching UTenn go down. They can't lose enough in my book.

And just in case you want to see even more craziness, head over to VolNation.com and check out the game threads. The whole "Kellie is no better than Holly" section of fans are out in full force. One clever poster wrote "from Holly to Jolly - it's not very Merry". I thought that was a good one.

it seems to me that Tennessee's recent recruiting has been more about attracting the highly ranked athlete's rather then the best all around basketball players.............few of their players appear to have great basketball IQs..........never going to win big games on a consistent basis without players who posses strong basketball instincts.........

 

[HopJim]

it seems to me that Tennessee's recent recruiting has been more about attracting the highly ranked athlete's rather then the best all around basketball players.............few of their players appear to have great basketball IQs..........never going to win big games on a consistent basis without players who posses strong basketball instincts.........

With coaching changes, TN lucky to have what they have. No idea how new coaching staff will change make up of team with their first class. This year's recruiting results will be interesting.

 

[donalddoowop]

it seems to me that Tennessee's recent recruiting has been more about attracting the highly ranked athlete's rather then the best all around basketball players.............few of their players appear to have great basketball IQs..........never going to win big games on a consistent basis without players who posses strong basketball instincts.........

That was the downfall of Georgetown men's basketball teams in the mid to late 80's when John Thompson starting recruiting athletes instead of basketball players.

 

[oldude]

With coaching changes, TN lucky to have what they have. No idea how new coaching staff will change make up of team with their first class. This year's recruiting results will be interesting.

Unfortunately for LV fans, who are loath to admit it, the era of TN as a national powerhouse has long been over. TN is struggling to remain in the top half of the SEC (currently 7/14), let alone remain among the top 25 teams nationally.

 

[JordyG]

Agreed. Maybe they can get Dolly to coach?

Pretty soon it may be Folly coaching.

 

[Blueconn]

Unfortunately for LV fans, who are loath to admit it, the era of TN as a national powerhouse has long been over. TN is struggling to remain in the top half of the SEC (currently 7/14), let alone remain among the top 25 teams nationally.

LV preeminence has indeed been absent for years. The last gasp was the CP era. With all respect to Pat, it was obvious that her coaching style was outdated long before her retirement. Holly was a Pat product and kept up top-notch recruiting. But the team kept playing PatBall and falling further downward. Kellie is also a Pat product. It ain’t 1995 any longer.

 

[willtalk]

LV preeminence has indeed been absent for years. The last gasp was the CP era. With all respect to Pat, it was obvious that her coaching style was outdated long before her retirement. Holly was a Pat product and kept up top-notch recruiting. But the team kept playing PatBall and falling further downward. Kellie is also a Pat product. It ain’t 1995 any longer.

That should have been obvious to anyone that was not caught up in the Pat Summit hero worship hype train. She was excellent for her time, as were some other WCBB coaches that came in at a time when few coaches were very good. Her decline sort of corresponded with Gino's rise. Ironically Geno was the vanguard of the new era of WCBB coaches while Pat represented the past.

I still don't get the obsession that some Uconn fans still have with Tenn. Pat is no longer there and the program is no longer a legit rival. I mean Geno pretty much summed it up when he said the Tenn game will be just like any other game. Now I can understand the rivalry with ND because that was more recent so the joy in seeing them lose makes sense in that respect.

As to the new Tenn coach being like Holly, I don't think so. You need to allow a coach a few years before attempting to evaluate her abilities. Hey, it took Holly quite a few years to bring down the program. But it has beens stated that decline was inevitable for anyone running Pats system? Unfortunately, they will always compare their coaches to Pat Summits. I would venture to say that even Pat Summit would fall short to her mythical stature at Tenn. Holly was correct when she said that the players coming out of high school now are a different breed and even Pat would have a hard time coaching them. Combine that with the start of parity in WCBB which makes it much more difficult to create an elite program from scratch nowadays.

 

[cohenzone]

It was pretty straight forward.

And Tennessee, while it "could" make the NCAA's, is not the juggernaut they used to be, are not a threat to UConn in any way, and are not satisfying to their fan base.

Who cares about their fan base. The funny thing is, for those who think it’s whacko to not care or even enjoy for certain reasons, when ND or UT fail, their fan bases are generally gleeful when we fail in some fashion. Personally, I have nothing against TN and enjoyed the rivalry, so their losing is kinda fun for that reason the same way Yankee or Red Sox fans are satisfied when the other is having a bad year. ND, on the other hand, I think has an arrogant, self-entitled sports department and even overall administration when it comes to sports and their teams can’t lose often enough for me, although I don’t really follow them including their women this year, them not being in our conference. I have nothing against their players.

 

[donalddoowop]

LV preeminence has indeed been absent for years. The last gasp was the CP era. With all respect to Pat, it was obvious that her coaching style was outdated long before her retirement. Holly was a Pat product and kept up top-notch recruiting. But the team kept playing PatBall and falling further downward. Kellie is also a Pat product. It ain’t 1995 any longer.

This is what some of the LV fans are saying on Vol Nation. I did not know that about Pat. She did not have a structured offense. Did not know that.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

What? Are you another one who wants to state what is and what isn't satisfying to us fellow UConn Husky fans? All due respect to you, I find that statement disrespectful. And I would also add that there is also a significant amount of UConn fans who still are not a fan of CVS and her tactics so be careful where you tread. I certainly would not tell any fan of another team who they like or don't like especially in their house. Seem like common courtesy to me, but then again courtesy around here often disappears. For most of us it is MM herself we dislike, for Tenn it is their loud, obnoxious fan, delusional fan base who still have the calendars on 1995 and the UT administration that we despise. I can get you the link to the 'Bama football site and you go on there and tell them that Auburn losing is not satisfying to their fan base and you can let me know how those responses go...

I'm completely confused. I said that you could hate on them all you want, I thought. What I added regarding Ed's post was that your RPI will be better if they win, although this is truthfully not actually nuanced, it will probably have little effect. It CAN have an affect on teams, but given how UConn is positioned, I doubt the affect will be major. I then added essentially that [I don't] see Tennessee as a threat anymore and that even their (Tennessee's) fanbase is dissatisfied. They may indeed become a power, but are not this year.

Heck, Rutger's fanbase is dissatisfied with Rutgers for years and a significant number appear to want Vivian to retire. I'm not around NJ anymore, I love my Arizona Wildcats, root for Rutgers (I'm an alum), do carp on their message board, but in general am pretty detached from it.

 

[meyers7]

it seems to me that Tennessee's recent recruiting has been more about attracting the highly ranked athlete's rather then the best all around basketball players.............few of their players appear to have great basketball IQs..........never going to win big games on a consistent basis without players who posses strong basketball instincts.........

I wouldn't say it's recent. Even Pat was doing that. Hence "rebounding" and "defense" as their offensive strategy.

 

[meyers7]

Who cares about their fan base. Personally, I have nothing against TN and enjoyed the rivalry,

Disgusting.

 

[cohenzone]

Disgusting.

Went to a wedding in Eastern Tennessee last fall. Came away without scars, But it was close enough to the VA border for me to escape quickly should I spot Candace Parker. Speaking of which parker was at a restaurant table next to us and seemed pretty regular to me, no horns or pointed tail or anything devilish. Sorry Husky fans.

 

[meyers7]

Went to a wedding in Eastern Tennessee last fall. Came away without scars, But it was close enough to the VA border for me to escape quickly should I spot Candace Parker. Speaking of which parker was at a restaurant table next to us and seemed pretty regular to me, no horns or pointed tail or anything devilish. Sorry Husky fans.

You know, the devil masquerades as an angel of light.

Consider yourself very lucky to escape without scars.

 

[cbraarj]

He might want to clarify...

It was pretty clear.

 

[UConn2SF]

I can understand why some Vol fans have doubts about KJH. She didnt exactly light the world on fire at her 3 prior stops. In 4 seasons at NC st. she had .522 winning %, .442 within the ACC. Just slightly better in 6 seasons at Miss St. Im not convinced she'd be coaching there right now if she werent VFL.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I can understand why some Vol fans have doubts about KJH. She didnt exactly light the world on fire at her 3 prior stops. In 4 seasons at NC st. she had .522 winning %, .442 within the ACC. Just slightly better in 6 seasons at Miss St. Im not convinced she'd be coaching there right now if she werent VFL.

I tend to agree with that. I knew the Warlick experiment had to end but honestly didn’t see any of the “name” coaches leaving for Knoxville.
I do think they are slightly better this season, at least better body language. They’ve only really been blown out a few times and some of the losses have been close. Turnovers are a problem though.

 

[Plebe]

I can understand why some Vol fans have doubts about KJH. She didnt exactly light the world on fire at her 3 prior stops. In 4 seasons at NC st. she had .522 winning %, .442 within the ACC. Just slightly better in 6 seasons at Miss St. Im not convinced she'd be coaching there right now if she werent VFL.

Timing is everything. Harper last year just happened to have by far her most successful season in her 15 years as HC ... with her Missouri State team still in the midst of their Cinderella Sweet 16 run as Warlick was canned. Timing couldn’t have been better for her to get the TN job.

It’s way too early to pass judgment on her tenure. It’s safe to say she has a very different philosophy from Holly when it comes to recruiting, scheduling ... I know the natives are restless but she must be allowed at least a few years to recruit her own players.

 

[UConn2SF]

Timing is everything. Harper last year just happened to have by far her most successful season in her 15 years as HC ... with her Missouri State team still in the midst of their Cinderella Sweet 16 run as Warlick was canned. Timing couldn’t have been better for her to get the TN job.

It’s way too early to pass judgment on her tenure. It’s safe to say she has a very different philosophy from Holly when it comes to recruiting, scheduling ... I know the natives are restless but she must be allowed at least a few years to recruit her own players.

No judgement here. But its interesting that Missouri St (22-3) is arguably a better team this year (probably with the players she recruited).

 

[Plebe]

No judgement here. But its interesting that Missouri St (22-3) is arguably a better team this year (probably with the players she recruited).

They were also vastly improved at the end of last season compared to how they started -- namely, a 1-7 start that included losses to Wichita State, Santa Clara and North Texas. (They also lost close games to good teams, such as Missouri and Gonzaga.) From there they went 24-3 the rest of the way.