Tennessee 2025 season
- Thread starter stwainfan
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DaddyChoc
Choc Full of UConn
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Update please
TheFarmFan
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Did get awfully silent realfast...
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24 hr grace period for all posters after a loss
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For a game one….top level competition…both teams showed some mental toughness. Gritty stuff.
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C’mon BY family, give stwainfan some slack. It’s only their first game…..and NC State’s. 🤭 After all the scoring that NC State lost from last season and the athleticism that Tennessee gained, you would think that the outcome would have been in Tennessee’s favor. What happened to their substitution and speed advantage? Did CKC not have the right players in when it mattered most? I’m very puzzled, coach. 😵💫 I saw some very exhausted Tennessee players. NC State exposed that full court press.
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stwainfan
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Okay I also had a revival to work. But my take on the team. Two really good team's that can play deep in March. I think Tennessee will be fine. Civil and Mia Pauldo are going to be really good. It takes time Caldwell has said. I still think this is a team that compete for a championship.
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I watched a fair amount of this game. My thoughts are:
1. Without Cooper, Tennessee would be toast. Most of the reason that they didn’t get blown out was because Cooper put up a heroic effort.
2. It wasn’t enough time to adjust the loss of Whitehorn.
3. The substitution patterns seem to be a hot mess.
4. For the most part, the press was pretty ineffective. Tennessee took 77 shots in the game, NC State took 76. That alone tells you that they weren’t getting the amount of turnovers that they needed in order to play with controlled reckless abandon.
5. Tennessee shot much better on two point shots than they did on threes but 33 of their 77 shots were threes. I think they need to do a better job of looking for a good shot and not just taking the first shot. I know that goes against what Coach Caldwell is trying to do, but it would probably serve them better.
For what it’s worth, I think the NC State is over ranked. Wes has done a pretty good job cobbling together a roster, but this really isn’t a team that I see going deep into March. I think that Tennessee has the players to be pretty good, but they’re really reliant on freshman, and the coach is going to have to figure out some better strategies. Again, just my two cents.
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Great points. Regarding the over ranked point, it was mentioned during the broadcast that Coach Moore feels the same way.
Pretty fair takes IMO.
Cooper was the best player on the court I thought, to your point about substitution patterns...she played 31 minutes, to me she should have played 38. As a State fan watching, the Pack doesn't have much depth at all at this point in the season, so it is rather intimidating to see 4 or 5 Vols checking in every 2 minutes to keep applying pressure when you are trotting out the same 5 or 6 and are gassed. HOWEVER, it was always a blessing when Cooper wasn't on the court. At the minimum she should never have come out during the 4th quarter.
Your 4th point is spot on. Watching the game it felt like it got sloppy at times and was chaotic, however Tennessee had 11 turnovers while only forcing 10 for State despite pressing relentlessly. Now the press did speed the team up and State perhaps missed some shots they normally would make due to tired legs or playing too fast (State was 17/36 at the rim!). But overall the press didn't have it's desired effect.
#5 is a large reason State won. Tennessee at times settled for some DEEP 3s early in the shot clock that were simply terrible shot selections. Maybe they made 1 of those? I bet they took 7 or 8.
I agree that State is over ranked at this point in the season, however I will say I think State will improve throughout the year. This State team has 0 Seniors on the roster, so a lot of young pieces. Players like Quigley, Samuels and even Zam haven't played major major minutes at this level yet, not to mention the 2 Freshmen and Awou who didn't see the court yesterday (perhaps because of the press?). I think the depth of State's squad will improve as the season progresses and I think Zam will emerge to alleviate some pressure off of Zoe and allow her to be more efficient and not have to carry the load as much. I expect State to be right there contending for the ACC title by season's end.
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Two interesting points. I’m not sure what to make of NC St’s ranking. But they don’t seem to have a lot of depth. The core of Trygger Brooks Jones and Pierre is really solid, judging from this game. Samuels playing 30 mins given her offensive production is surprising. Her perimeter shot may return and that would be huge for the Wolfpack. I was very pleased by her defensive effort. She guarded Cooper most of the time and played her tough despite being physically overmatched. If she can sustain that defensive intensity she’ll continue to get good minutes. But if she doesn’t rediscover her shooting mojo and still gets major minutes, that is a sign of the weakness of their roster.
As for Tennessee, Cooper is clearly the key player. Given this, I wonder if it spells the end of Caldwell’s ‘hockey line’ substitution policy. And if Cooper and probably Spearman become go-to players, then it’s not clear how long they can sustain the all-out press. And then I have to wonder if Caldwell has the personnel to compete with a half-court game against the toughest competition.