Tennessee (25) @ Louisiana St - 2/13/20

[DaBball]

Good game.

Its still to early to say much with Harper but there are some deep issues that have to be fixed. IMO she or any other coach will need to strip the whole program down from what was left from the Holly era. There are some significant flaws with the current group the way they play that have carried over from Holly's tenure. Just lack of ball movement, awful decision making, lack of effort at times, leadership voids. Will Harper get Tennessee back to national competitive level? The jury is still out at this time but I think she is going to need her players. Some of the current kids look exactly like the imprinted stamp Holly left on them for the last few years. With the exception of Davis, there does not seem to be a lot of help. Horston seems to be in a major funk and Key has athleticism/potential but is still too raw right now. Zaay being out has hurt a lot because there is not a lot efficiency on offense outside of Rennia.

Harper signed her first crop of girls hand picked girls this year. I'm interested in seeing what y'all look like eventually when she gets her players and has her system in place. None of the current play looks anywhere close from the system she had going at Missouri State. It looks exactly the same almost as what Holly on the floor from the last few years, but with less talent obviously.

Trasi was terrific. She really did a nice job of filling the void left by Mitchell. She is deceptively quick and has a great long ball. Maybe adds a little bit of a different dimension with it.

Pointer just tore up Tennessee’s zone. Sliced through it time and time again. She was really good tonight.

The worst part of this loss was that Aifuwa only played 18 minutes, but Tennessee was not able to expose that. Kushkituah is bad. Is the tall blonde that bad that she is the only player not a part of their rotation?

As a recruit, I just don’t see how Tennessee could be an attractive landing spot, but I thought the same thing for years under Holly. Could certainly take some time for Kellie to turn it in to what she wants. Striplin, for example, does not seem like a player Holly would highly recruit, but Kellie made her a priority.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

It's just [Kellie's] first year and she doesn't have the two players who were supposed to carry this team.

I think time will tell. I didn't think it was an inspired hire.

 

[bballnut90]

Last season, many UConn faithful were sure that they would not be selected but they were. I don't think that this season will be any different...

Comes down to the bubble. Last years bubble teams all tanked at the end paving way for Tennessee to nab a spot. If it is stronger this year Tennessee isnt a lock. Holly's atrocious non conference scheduling doesnt help Tennessee this season. Wouldve helped big time to schedule more teams in the 10-50 range rather than all cupcakes and UCONN/Stanford.

 

[SimpleDawg]

It's just Holly's first year

It's just Kellie's first year?

 

[bballnut90]

This is not a really bad loss unless LSU horribly collapses in the remainder of the season.

Tennessee's resume isn't that great, but it's still a bit better than a bubble team. What's really helping them is they have no losses outside the top 50. They're probably about a 9 seed right now. If you look at the bubble teams in Creme's bracket, their resumes are worse than Tennessee's.

You know the overall landscape better than I do, but I think if they lose to both A&M and Arkansas theyll drop a bit further and their resume gets weaker. At that point theyll need to rely on a win or 2 in the SEC tournament. 1-9 vs top 50 teams and a weak RPI puts them in a dangerous area IMO.

 

[Plebe]

You know the overall landscape better than I do, but I think if they lose to both A&M and Arkansas theyll drop a bit further and their resume gets weaker. At that point theyll need to rely on a win or 2 in the SEC tournament. 1-9 vs top 50 teams and a weak RPI puts them in a dangerous area IMO.

It's tough to say anything in isolation because many other teams that were apparently safe-ish are faltering badly. Right now teams like West Virginia, Rutgers and North Carolina are actually in a lot more trouble, and their recent slides are making life easier for other teams just inside the bubble.

 

[willtalk]

So why were they still ranked at 25?

 

[Bayareahusky]

Didn't see the game last night.... but 10 point loss to LSU who was without Mitchell not a good loss....

Also I saw that LSU guard got 10 rebounds..... Tenn a size advantage and shouldn't give up that many rebounds to a 5'8" player.....

I have been looking at battles between Tenn and UConn in late 90s and early 2000s.... looking at the fight in both teams.... Tenn does not have a lot of fight in them the last few years.... watching the 50 50 balls.... they do not seem to come up with a lot of them....

Kellie has to turn the burner up

 

[Geew1992]

Does anyone else think that Tennessee is no better than last season under Holly?

Considering KJ didn’t recruit this team, I wouldn’t expect anything less

 

[Gamecockfan77]

It's just Kellie's first year?

My mind was not working last night.

 

[DefenseBB]

So why were they still ranked at 25?

To quote Forrest Gump, “stupid is as stupid does”. The media voters are not doing their vigilance on their role to vote appropriately for deserving teams. No one thought NS State was really the #4 team in the country and NO ONE other than Deb Antonelli thought Louisville was the #1 ranked team. The committee by very definition has to look at RPI and overall record in the various quadrants to Pick and justify their selections.

 

[oldude]

Up until last night's game, there were 2 real positives about LV basketball this year vs last year. Specifically, KJH has been much better than HW in media interviews. She does not throw her team under the bus. The other positive is that, up until last night's game, TN won all the games they should have won. But as pointed out by other BY'ers, the loss to LSU, who was playing without their best player, is a bad loss. Given the fact that the LV's have not beaten anyone of note, there is a legitimate concern in Knoxville as to whether or not TN will be shut out of the Big Dance for the first time in forever, particularly if they stumble in the last few regular season games as well as the conference tournament.

What was unfortunate for TN is that last night they found a new way to lose a game. Turnovers and bad shooting have plagued the LV's in their previous losses this season. Last night they had only 12 turnovers and they didn't shoot the ball terribly. Against LSU, the LV's were outrebounded by a much smaller team and their defense had more holes in it than swiss cheese.