Penn State (Brianna Banks) On TV Tonight

[triaddukefan]

Penn State looks better than Duke... at least tonight they did. If only every fan was blessed with a team playing at an all world level from the get go. South Carolina struggled with a Clemson team that is easily one of the worst teams in WCBB and Notre Dame was sluggish versus Toledo. Peyton Whitted, Spann and Teniya Page all hit big shots and attacked. Bash and Russell handled the interior. Perimeter defense and fouls were horrendous... something that will improve. DeShields will be better as the season goes on and we still have Nared, Moore and Jackson to integrate into the rotation. The look of this team is a far cry from what we will see come conference time.

We may not have a UConn level team but we are one of the "best of the rest" based on what I've seen.

The opponent probably had a little to do with that Penn State's opponent that is. I guess you will be saying that they (Penn State) deserves to be in the top 25 as well.

 

[tennparker3]

The opponent probably had a little to do with that Penn State's opponent that is. I guess you will be saying that they (Penn State) deserves to be in the top 25 as well.

Not necessarily. Just saying tonight they did look better than Duke has so far. They were hitting open and contested shots. Penn State played a good game because they are capable. I think Duke is a top 15 team but they haven't looked like it so far. I think Tennessee is a top 5 team but they haven't looked like it so far. Nothing is definitive. It's the 2nd game for crying out loud.

Words like horrendous are what make me go . Sorry, some teams get better as the year goes on and some come of the gates on point.

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

 

[VA Huskie]

I've read many BY comments in the past months that a key for the Vols is not the amount of talent, but the degree to which it meshes. Based on tonite, I'd say they have a long way to go.

 

[triaddukefan]

Not necessarily. Just saying tonight they did look better than Duke has so far. They were hitting open and contested shots. Penn State played a good game because they are capable. I think Duke is a top 15 team but they haven't looked like it so far. I think Tennessee is a top 5 team but they haven't looked like it so far. Nothing is definitive. It's the 2nd game for crying out loud.

Words like horrendous are what make me go . Sorry, some teams get better as the year goes on and some come of the gates on point.

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

Your game friday should be interesting. Your 3pt defense better be solid cause Syracuse loves to bomb away.

Duke needs to settle on a smaller rotation... and play Salvadores more. She only played 18 minutes tonight....

 

[Icebear]

Well, folks. Tennessee completely exposed to be a pretender. Brianna goes down with an ankle sprain and the six win Nittany Lions of a year ago fight through typical Tennessee officiating to keep it close to the last minute.

 

[Kaizen]

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

I think you should add Penn State is going to be way better in the coming months too.

 

[Icebear]

Penn State should be a top 25 team

Penn State is far from a Top 25 team. They won 6 games last year and have lost two players to season ending injuries and lost Brianna who has been their best player on top of that now with what appears a high ankle sprain.

They are expected to be at 7 or 8 in the Big Ten.

 

[choochoo]

Not necessarily. Just saying tonight they did look better than Duke has so far. They were hitting open and contested shots. Penn State played a good game because they are capable. I think Duke is a top 15 team but they haven't looked like it so far. I think Tennessee is a top 5 team but they haven't looked like it so far. Nothing is definitive. It's the 2nd game for crying out loud.

Words like horrendous are what make me go . Sorry, some teams get better as the year goes on and some come of the gates on point.

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

keep smoking what ever you are! Uconn will defend and run and out rebound the vols or any of your

 

[EricLA]

Sorry Tennessee fans, but your team is flat out average. All the talent in the world can't seem to make it work. I'm sure fans can look for some sort of silver lining on the game (Graves and maybe Cooper), but Russell was OK and Deshields was average. To quote a LV fan who was on our board the other day, Diamond did not look anything like the top recruit in her class.

But enough heaping on them. Here's the problem with Tennessee - Holly is a disciple of Pat. Zero offense. She's been the HC for 3+ years now. Every single year we hear Tenn fans talk about the improved offense for next season, and how the coaches have been preaching guard play, ball movement, blah blah. And what do we see? Same old.

Offense consists of a few perimeter passes to start the possession, but very rapidly, it degenerates into a one on one game, a miss, and then CRASH the O-boards. That's what Pat taught for almost 40 years. And that's what Holly knows.

If they were to play together right now, even as shorthanded as UCONN is, we'd win by 40+. And that's with us being without Chong, Boykin and Butler. Don't fans realize that not only will Tennessee get better, but so will every single other team in WCBB? After all the hype for Tennessee, I was shocked at how average they looked.

I will not go so far as to say they aren't a top 10 team because I have no idea how good the rest of the top 10 teams are. But at this point, in order of the top 4-5, I'd say...

UCONN
Baylor
ND/SC (pick em)
Maryland

Say what you will about Freese - she does way more with far less talent than Tennessee. Better coach than Holly. I'm just so surprised... I mean this is the PSU team who needed OT to beat Holy Cross, AND they were without Banks. Sheesh!

 

[j66kicker]

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

I saw part of the TN-PSU game. I was impressed with TN's talent - especially Graves, Russell, Cooper and DeShields. Cooper is insanely athletic on defense. Clearly they will get a lot better as they play together more.

But besides ND, Duke, TN, SC, OSU and Baylor, UCONN is also notorious for being considerably better later in the season than in their first game. Just sayin...

 

[Kibitzer]

Notre Dame, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor and numerous other teams are going to be way better in the coming months.

I can think of one more.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Disappointed to see Brianna leave early......

I mean WOW..... do you think Penn State could learn to box out? Many easy rebounds and second chances for Lady Vols.....

Mercedes did look good albeit vs. a bad defensive effort..... she looks in shape, and the feets be lookin healthy..... good for her

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I watched the first 1/2 and TN sucked big time! Gosh they're the 4th ranked team in the nation! Has Holly the wonder coach ever seen an offense? Two or three passes then who ever happens to have the ball shoots!
Comparing Holly to Geno would be comparing Mr. Ed to Secretariat!
TN is done! Stick a fork in them..........
They will never reach a Final 4 again! An Elite 8 might be out of the question as well!
TN fans will say. "remember when we used to be good?"
PSU lost their best player in the 1st period and still kept it close! Maria must be crying tonight!

 

[mudcat]

Sorry Tennessee fans, but your team is flat out average. All the talent in the world can't seem to make it work. I'm sure fans can look for some sort of silver lining on the game (Graves and maybe Cooper), but Russell was OK and Deshields was average. To quote a LV fan who was on our board the other day, Diamond did not look anything like the top recruit in her class.

But enough heaping on them. Here's the problem with Tennessee - Holly is a disciple of Pat. Zero offense. She's been the HC for 3+ years now. Every single year we hear Tenn fans talk about the improved offense for next season, and how the coaches have been preaching guard play, ball movement, blah blah. And what do we see? Same old.

Offense consists of a few perimeter passes to start the possession, but very rapidly, it degenerates into a one on one game, a miss, and then CRASH the O-boards. That's what Pat taught for almost 40 years. And that's what Holly knows.

If they were to play together right now, even as shorthanded as UCONN is, we'd win by 40+. And that's with us being without Chong, Boykin and Butler. Don't fans realize that not only will Tennessee get better, but so will every single other team in WCBB? After all the hype for Tennessee, I was shocked at how average they looked.

I will not go so far as to say they aren't a top 10 team because I have no idea how good the rest of the top 10 teams are. But at this point, in order of the top 4-5, I'd say...

UCONN
Baylor
ND/SC (pick em)
Maryland

Say what you will about Freese - she does way more with far less talent than Tennessee. Better coach than Holly. I'm just so surprised... I mean this is the PSU team who needed OT to beat Holy Cross, AND they were without Banks. Sheesh!

I don't think they are "average". What's frightening is that they probably are better than average (I don't think anyone is going to argue they don't belong in the top 25). But they appear far behind the Huskies: And to those that argue that the other teams (MD, ND, SC TN, etc.) are going to be better in four months, "What do you think the UCONN players and coaches are going to be doing over the same period".

 

[Icebear]

As to UCONN being better consider Dejanae, Chong and Butler being healthy, plus Katie Lou and Collier continuing to learn the UCONN system and developing. Yeah, I think UCONN is significantly better.

 

[John Glass]

I love when coaches are "wired" - you get an inside look at how clueless they are

 

[BroadwayVa]

Should be a blowout - PSU needed overtime to get past pesky Holy Cross in their opening game.

Sorry Tennessee fans, but your team is flat out average. All the talent in the world can't seem to make it work. I'm sure fans can look for some sort of silver lining on the game (Graves and maybe Cooper), but Russell was OK and Deshields was average. To quote a LV fan who was on our board the other day, Diamond did not look anything like the top recruit in her class.

But enough heaping on them. Here's the problem with Tennessee - Holly is a disciple of Pat. Zero offense. She's been the HC for 3+ years now. Every single year we hear Tenn fans talk about the improved offense for next season, and how the coaches have been preaching guard play, ball movement, blah blah. And what do we see? Same old.

Offense consists of a few perimeter passes to start the possession, but very rapidly, it degenerates into a one on one game, a miss, and then CRASH the O-boards. That's what Pat taught for almost 40 years. And that's what Holly knows.

If they were to play together right now, even as shorthanded as UCONN is, we'd win by 40+. And that's with us being without Chong, Boykin and Butler. Don't fans realize that not only will Tennessee get better, but so will every single other team in WCBB? After all the hype for Tennessee, I was shocked at how average they looked.

I will not go so far as to say they aren't a top 10 team because I have no idea how good the rest of the top 10 teams are. But at this point, in order of the top 4-5, I'd say...

UCONN
Baylor
ND/SC (pick em)
Maryland

Say what you will about Freese - she does way more with far less talent than Tennessee. Better coach than Holly. I'm just so surprised... I mean this is the PSU team who needed OT to beat Holy Cross, AND they were without Banks. Sheesh!

I watched most of the first quarter and part of the second. Tenn did not impress me.
I checked out the Penn St site Roster and they listed Banks as #3. I didn't see her in the game or on the bench--how did I miss her??
I only checked out the game to watch Brianna.
After the first game for Penn st I would have thought Tenn would be up by 30 in the first quarter.
Tenn's best offense was passing to the Bigs under the basket.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I saw part of the TN-PSU game. I was impressed with TN's talent - especially Graves, Russell, Cooper and DeShields. Cooper is insanely athletic on defense. Clearly they will get a lot better as they play together more.

But besides ND, Duke, TN, SC, OSU and Baylor, UCONN is also notorious for being considerably better later in the season than in their first game. Just sayin...

The most common thing for MOST well coached teams--they get better as the season progresses. Geno works to have them peak about April 1st.

 

[AnotherVolFan]

I must say I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed reading this thread!!!

 

[Ctpaul0825]

Watched the game and was disappointed in UT. This team is loaded with talent and I mean AA type talent but as a team I saw no leaders, lot of one on one play (13 assists) and no cohesion. They have the talent to be great but are missing a leader to get them there. Honestly I would take any one of their kids they are that talented, I think UT will either settle with their new normal or replace Holly, kind of sad as when I first became a fan they were the team to beat.

 

[xHunt3r]

It is interesting to watch and see how long UT lets Holly coach the team. I think it is pretty clear (and has been for awhile) that she is not the right coach to get the team to championship level of play.... but do they really care? They continue to make the NCAA tournament and win 2-3 games... and they continue to be one of the leaders in attendance (2nd last year with over 10k a game last year). Maybe that's good enough for the AD. WBB isn't a huge revenue generator for Universities. If they are ahead or even (which i have to assume UT is), then that maybe be good enough.

 

[HGN]

I am going to chalk this game up to 1st game type jitters for both teams. Neither team was in , lets say mid-season form , to be kind. As to say neither team looked that good. But again , its early.
Sorry to see Breanna Banks hurt again...........Hopefully its not too bad. But the boot on the ankle/foot didn't look too encouraging.

 

[Intpseeker]

[QUOTE="j66kicker, post: 1478632, member: 444.
Carolyn Peck gave Penn State sort of a faux compliment at the end: "These young bucks will be able to COMPETE in the Big Ten!" Basically a diss on the the B1G (left unsaid: "...but of course NOT in the ultimate supremacy that is the SEC...of course...")[/QUOTE]

I was surprised by CP's choice of words here. If she had said 'young cubs' ' ( Lady Lions), that would have been ok, but 'young bucks'??

But, hey, that's just folksie, ol' Carolyn for ya.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Take a good look at Tennessee because that will be us in 5-10 years when Geno is gone.

 

[VAMike23]

UTenn's problems last night looked very familiar:

1. a startling inability to take care of the ball
2. disorganization on defense that moots their athletic and/or size advantages at different positions
3. an offense that only occasionally generates good ball movement

Their bigger problem is that these are the same things that have been plaguing the team at the end of their recent seasons, not just at the beginning. If Holly & Co. really knew how to coach them up, we'd be used to seeing a different look come March, but IMHO these problems have been persistent for them and have consistently led to early exits from the tourney.

They will improve but not very much in those key areas -- at least that would be my guess based on Holly's recent squads. Elite 8 looks to be the ceiling once again.