ND smackdown of Tennessee, Post Mortem

[Phil]

We need to find a steady supply of Stefs, Geno says it would keep him coaching for 20 years.

My guess is that coaching Stef is one part fun, one part hair-pulling frustration, and one part satisfaction in results. I hope two thirds is more than enough.

 

[Icebear]

My guess is that coaching Stef is one part fun, one part hair-pulling frustration, and one part satisfaction in results. I hope two thirds is more than enough.

Geno is the one who says he loves coaching Stef and it is a joy..

 

[MarieM]

Uconn plays ND on Tiffany Hayes last home game, i hope she puts up a performence gives them 30+

 

[rocky rococo]

I don't think Tennessee wins that game even with a healthy Pat. ND is just very very good this year. The way they picked apart the LV zone early in the second half was a thing of true basketball beauty. But ...

I never thought I'd ever find myself saying "I wish I could see Pat Summitt glare" and actually mean it. But I had that feeling. First of all, if she can't glare, is Pat even Pat anymore? It's a terrible thing to see Pat standing helpless on the sidelines, at best able to muster a look of concern. It's just wrong. Secondly, I don't think it turns into a 30 point blowout if the LVs have to return to that glare on the bench at every timeout.

 

[arch]

Some observations...

First, as much as i dislike Tennessee, it is incredibly hard to watch Pat on the bench. you can really tell the disease has gotten to her and it's so sad to see.

Having said that, i thoroughly enjoyed the ND smackdown, and to be honest, i didn't think ND played particularly well, at least not in the first half.

one very astute tennessee poster said "ND has an offense that works. Our problem is we do not have an offense that suites our skill set. The triangle offense only works when you have a STAR player, aka CP3 or Holdsclaw. The coaching staff needs to realize this and make changes." I believe his/her name was Catchingsfan24.

i point that out because it's something that other WCBB fans have noted for years. teams like RU and Tennessee have struggled on offense lately for several reasons. In Tennessee's case, the old adage of "recruit athletes, chuck up shots, hit the O-boards, and win by playing defense" no longer works. it was totally on display this game.

Massengale is good and is going to be VERY good but you can't expect a freshman to lead you to the promised land when the tools for the rest of the team have never been put into place. and by that, i mean teaching actual offense.

how much standing around, dribbling sideways, and doing things on offense that didn't result in moving the team towards a chance to score went on tonite? where was the passing? the motion offense? the screens? back screens? Tennessee did get 14 O-boards, but that won't win games any more. how many times did a guard dribble penetrate with no idea what she was going to do next?

i know you can't read an overly large amount of conclusions from one game, but if you look at how the team has played this year (close wins over a LSU team that got killed by a bad Arkansas team, the blowout to Stanford, loss to UVA, wins that were closer than they should have been) and you have to wonder where the improvement is.

and credit to ND as they played a solid game. but honestly i don't think they played as well as they did against UCONN. then again they didn't have to. this seems to be a tennessee team that, if not going backwards, is a shadow of its' former self...

this team has already lost more games (5) than their entire season last year. this team is filled with kids who were top 10 or 20 coming out of HS. i hate the thought of fans blaming the kids because you don't have that many HS AA's and under perform they way they are this year without looking at the coaching. i hope fans realize the coaching by committee is not working...

one final note... the amount of vitriol on their board towards the players is shocking. i get fan frustration, but i don't get the throwing the players completely under the bus...