Couple thoughts---first, Tennessee just needs to get rid of Holly. It's so bad that I'm cheering against the Vols in hopes that her plummeting will for sure mean she is out next year. This team has 4 players who were top 6 recruits and several other McDonald All Americans. Russell looks like a big post who is soft with no real skill or ability inside, Wilson completely outplayed her. DeShields gets visibly frustrated, makes a few good passes during the game but will take every shot lot (good or bad.) She elevates as well as anyone in college basketball but is not cohesive with her teammates. Nared has moments where she looks solid and then will have moments where she looks completely lost on the court. All three point guards are so streaky, Graves is solid but underutilized. Crazy to think she was ranked a top player in a top loaded 2012 class alongside Stewart, Jefferson, Jones, Tuck and Loyd. She looked like she might be the best of the bunch at this point 3 years ago, but she hasn't improved at all.
Tennessee had a GREAT shot to win this game with the lead in the 3rd quarter. SC got some momentum and Holly never called a timeout to break it. Poor game management until the very end when the game was over.
A'ja Wilson is outstanding, she really outplayed both UT bigs and was able to utilize her quickness and ability to finish and bang inside. She's much more aggressive than she was as a freshman. Still confused as to how people think she has guard skills or would ever play out of the PF or Center spot in college, but she is developing into one of the nation's elite power forwards and would be my pick for SEC POY.
Who is going to play point guard for USC next year? Cuevas plays with energy but is just flat out bad 65% of the time. She was terrible tonight, every time she touched the ball it was a turnover or bad decision. With a lineup of Gray/Davis/Coates/Wilson, whoever is running the show will have a ridiculous array of weapons to choose from next year. It's not Cuevas unless she completely renovates her game, but who is it then?
Lastly, there's no way SC should be rated above Notre Dame. Did anyone watch ND this weekend? They murdered a good Miami team and have so many weapons to choose from. SC grinds out wins but I think ND is a solid 10-12 points better than SC this season.