Pre and Early season picks

[msf22b]

SORRY TO HAVE POSTED THIS TWICE, PLEASE REMOVE OR IGNORE



I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season.

On November 9th (seems like yesterday), Voulguy posted a thread noting that UTenn was losing its first game badly to an unranked team. 142 replies and 5,842 vies later, the subject had been exhaustedly explored, including Holly's inexperience and the seeds of her dismissal, the underachievement of the still, largely All-American (HS.) outfit, the absence of a coherent offense, yadda, yadda, all the usual boneyard loving gloom and doom. And of course, there were those voices in the wilderness querying the preoccupation with a team that we don't even play anymore.


Well, since that not-so-far away time, the Lady Vols have won two games, have looked pretty good (to the best of my knowledge, listening in on their radio broadcasts), Holly has started to get her system in and the kids are coming around, especially the bigger gals, Graves, (who we always recognized as a talent) and Isabelle Harrison who seems to be finding her way. The 24 assists were a big improvement too.

TO TOTAL SILENCE ON THE YARD

My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

And by the way: Graves was SEC player of the week and all their recruits signed on the dotted line.

 

[Icebear]

Shhhhh!

 

[Alydar]

All I can say is that losing to an unranked team (UTC) that hasn't beaten you in over 30 years is bigger news that beating an unranked team at home (Rice). It's the old story of "dog bites man" vs "man bites dog" with a large dose of Schaudenfreude mixed in.

 

[Sonny44]

Never root against anybody or team.

 

[Bestiarius]

I've really enjoyed participating in this community over the last two or three years, getting to understand what is PC and what is taboo, and coming to grips with its proclivities and habits.

Still, I have been slightly surprised and bemused over the Yard's coverage of the Lady Vols this current season.

On November 9th (seems like yesterday), Voulguy posted a thread noting that UTenn was losing its first game badly to an unranked team. 142 replies and 5,842 vies later, the subject had been exhaustedly explored, including Holly's inexperience and the seeds of her dismissal, the underachievement of the still, largely All-American (HS.) outfit, the absence of a coherent offense, yadda, yadda, all the usual boneyard loving gloom and doom. And of course, there were those voices in the wilderness querying the preoccupation with a team that we don't even play anymore.


Well, since that not-so-far away time, the Lady Vols have won two games, have looked pretty good (to the best of my knowledge, listening in on their radio broadcasts), Holly has started to get her system in and the kids are coming around, especially the bigger gals, Graves, (who we always recognized as a talent) and Isabelle Harrison who seems to be finding her way. The 24 assists were a big improvement too.

TO TOTAL SILENCE ON THE YARD

My point is, that we seem to love to wallow in their misery, but are completely willing to ignore any news positive except I suppose when it concerns or might threaten us.

And by the way: Graves was SEC player of the week and all their recruits signed on the dotted line.

Like Alydar implied with the dog bite example, losing to a team so far down the rankings when you have so many highly rated players is indicative of something abnormal and will get talked about extensively. They should have won the first game like they won the other two.

Not much can be analyzed by listening to a broadcast of their games, as the announcers are (as announced during the broadcast) approved by Univ of Tenn. You could have watched the games as they were live on the internet at the TN site. You would then have witnessed the bias first hand. Not a big deal as all announcers are homers, it's just a matter of degree.

There wasn't much to say about the last two games. For the first several minutes Rice did a good job and it looked like it might be a repeat of the first game. But then TN got rolling and Rice was awful from then on. It was mainly layup drills and open shots for TN. Easy shots close in. Their defensive energy was excellent and Rice was bewildered. Graves is a keeper. Much like Tuck except the supporting cast at TN isn't as good as Tuck's at UConn, thus her skills stand out more. Simmons was in her usual shoot the ball at every opportunity mode and without much opposition, she was making them. Their game with Miami on Sunday should be interesting and provide a more realistic assessment of their team for this year.