Tennessee at Texas (Sun. 12/9, 1pm ET)

[Plebe]

Texas and Tennessee face big questions as rivalry resumes

I'll be reluctantly attending this game, as the memory of last year's slopfest in Knoxville is fresh on my mind. Perhaps if I go in with *extremely* low expectations, I won't be as disappointed.

 

[DefenseBB]

Go Longhorns! You have my full emotional support and my thumb/pinky fingers pointing out...I have faith you will bring forth victory to burst the Lady Vol bubble.

 

[Beemer]

Hook 'em Horns!!!!!

 

[noirwestern]

The battle of two teams stocked with talent that never seem to find their way out of the woods anymore. Perhaps a change in color schemes?

 

[gipke1]

I guess Destiny Littleton is getting some playing time in at the one (PG), as Chasity Patterson left? It's something because I always thought that Litltleton was more of a 2 guard and CP was more of a 1 ???

Any word on CP?

 

[MSGRET]

I predict that the team with orange and white colors will win.

 

[Wbbfan1]

For future tournament seeding, I think Texas needs the win more then the Lady Vols. Texas already have a loss to Miss ST and will probably lose to Baylor three times during the Big 12 season and tournament. They might also lose to TCU or OKla ST, although they should win against these teams.

Lady Vols remaining tough games are Stanford, ND, Miss ST and Ky. Due to the SEC unbalanced schedule Lady Vols only play Miss St and Ky once during the regular season. I think the Lady Vols are more talented then Missouri but since there's no love loss between them, they'll be a tough out. Lady Vols are more talented then all teams they face with the exception of Notre Dame and Miss St.

 

[oldude]

Two teams completely capable of playing up or down to their competition. People who love great basketball may find this one hard to watch.

 

[Bama fan]

Go Longhorns! You have my full emotional support and my thumb/pinky fingers pointing out...I have faith you will bring forth victory to burst the Lady Vol bubble.

Thumb?

 

[LoTrader]

Tossup on this one.

 

[Plebe]

Tossup on this one.

I'm actually seeing Tennessee as the favorite here. Both teams are dysfunctional and seem unable to harness their prodigious individual talents into any kind of coherent unit. Tennessee was downright lucky to survive UAB and came from 20 down to beat Stetson. Texas barely beat Quinnipiac and got steamrolled by Mississippi State. From their limited bodies of work so far, Tennessee just looks slightly less anemic than Texas.

In the absence of coaching or game-planning, it'll likely come down to individual playmaking, and Tennessee's playmakers are a little better than Texas's. I suppose if Joyner Holmes gets cleared to play, that could potentially tip the scales, but who knows.

 

[ProSkeptic]

Anyone here watching the game at 1:00 PM EST? It’s on ESPN2, so it comes with my DirecTV package. The same package that blacks out almost all of the UConn games. Question: both teams have orange as their color. Is there any difference between UT orange and Texas orange? Wanna make sure I’m wearing Texas orange.

BTW, much as I like Karen Aston, she seems to be in the same boat as Holly. Oodles of talent, but can’t quite get their teams to the next level. Feel free to discuss. Or not.

 

[UcMiami]

Texas is burnt orange and TN is puke orange ! (TX is a darker orange (more brown.)

FYI - ESPN streaming is blacked out within the SNY primary footprint (NY, CT, Western MA, and Northern NJ - it is part of the agreement between ESPN which owns all the American Conference TV rights and SNY which had bought the Uconn WCBB rights when it was still the Big East. SNY gets to broadcast the games that ESPN and CBS don't want and in return they provide ESPN with the stream of their broadcast, but only outside SNY's footprint.

I think you are right regarding Karen - she has solidified TX recruiting especially in Texas (doesn't hurt that TX has a HUGE athletic department budget) but her coaching leaves a lot on the table. Holly seems to live on the TN legacy. Overall I think Karen is a better coach by a smidgeon, but they neither seem really good.

 

[DaBball]

“Charles Moore, president of the university's athletic association, chose orange and white for the school colors on April 12, 1889. His inspiration is said to have come from orange and white daisies which grew on the Hill. To this day there are still orange and white flowers grown outside the University Center. Although students confirmed the colors at a special meeting in 1892, dissatisfaction caused the colors to be dropped. No other acceptable colors could be agreed on, however, and the original colors were reinstated a day later. The University of Tennessee's official colors are UT Orange (Pantone 151), White, and Smokey Gray (Pantone 426).”

Even Tennessee didn’t like their orange

 

[Wbbfan1]

I'll flip channels between NFL Red Zone and the game.

Not interested in Atlanta and Green Bay or Colts vs Texans which are the games on Fox and CBS in my area. I'll try to watch Patriots vs Dolphins online on my laptop.

 

[Wbbfan1]

How is the Lady Vols performance a touchy subject? UT is counting the ways

 

[OneTrickPony]

Anyone here watching the game at 1:00 PM EST? It’s on ESPN2, so it comes with my DirecTV package. The same package that blacks out almost all of the UConn games. Question: both teams have orange as their color. Is there any difference between UT orange and Texas orange? Wanna make sure I’m wearing Texas orange.

BTW, much as I like Karen Aston, she seems to be in the same boat as Holly. Oodles of talent, but can’t quite get their teams to the next level. Feel free to discuss. Or not.

Texas is burnt orange, I believe...

 

[ProSkeptic]

Texas is burnt orange and TN is puke orange ! (TX is a darker orange (more brown.)

FYI - ESPN streaming is blacked out within the SNY primary footprint (NY, CT, Western MA, and Northern NJ - it is part of the agreement between ESPN which owns all the American Conference TV rights and SNY which had bought the Uconn WCBB rights when it was still the Big East. SNY gets to broadcast the games that ESPN and CBS don't want and in return they provide ESPN with the stream of their broadcast, but only outside SNY's footprint.

I think you are right regarding Karen - she has solidified TX recruiting especially in Texas (doesn't hurt that TX has a HUGE athletic department budget) but her coaching leaves a lot on the table. Holly seems to live on the TN legacy. Overall I think Karen is a better coach by a smidgeon, but they neither seem really good.

Thanks for clarifying re: shade of orange. I don’t have anything in either Burnt or Puke Orange, alas, so I’ll just have to wear Husky blue.

As for SNY, I bought the package as an add on last year, and I STILL had problems. Grrrr!

 

[ProSkeptic]

How is the Lady Vols performance a touchy subject? UT is counting the ways

Thanks for the link. BTW, this piece was a MAJOR creep out. Can anyone even imagine a similar piece being written about UConn? “‘That’s when it all started,’ said Geno Auriemma, the UConn head coach who just won his first National Championship after defeating Tennessee in Minneapolis. ‘One day in practice Rebecca [Lobo] slipped and fell and Jen [Rizzotti] offered her a hand up. After that they just killed it. So now we work on our touching in every practice.’”

 

[JordyG]

Texas is burnt orange and TN is puke orange ! (TX is a darker orange (more brown.)

FYI - ESPN streaming is blacked out within the SNY primary footprint (NY, CT, Western MA, and Northern NJ - it is part of the agreement between ESPN which owns all the American Conference TV rights and SNY which had bought the Uconn WCBB rights when it was still the Big East. SNY gets to broadcast the games that ESPN and CBS don't want and in return they provide ESPN with the stream of their broadcast, but only outside SNY's footprint.

I think you are right regarding Karen - she has solidified TX recruiting especially in Texas (doesn't hurt that TX has a HUGE athletic department budget) but her coaching leaves a lot on the table. Holly seems to live on the TN legacy. Overall I think Karen is a better coach by a smidgeon, but they neither seem really good.

At least Karen's on court decisions and halftime adjustments go beyond, "We gotta get it inside more", and "We need to penetrate and kick". Also Karen's postgame analysis is more than, "I don't know what we can do". Karen also has a better feel for her forwards and how they and her guards can integrate their skills.

 

[Plebe]

 

[Wbbfan1]

Dan Fleeser Lady Vol Beat Writer tweet

Kasi Kushkituah (knee) not playing again for #ladyvols. Joyner Holmes is in for Texas. She hasn't played yet this season after suffering ankle injury on Oct. 8 and undergoing surgery.

 

[Undercovervol]

Two of the worst coaches in major women’s college basketball go head to head today. I predict an UGLY game.

 

[Plebe]

Some fun vintage footage here:

 

[RockyMTblue2]

How is the Lady Vols performance a touchy subject? UT is counting the ways

It's an interesting article, but the emphasis tells me that all the late summer protestations of great team chemistry were simply calendar based PR as they have been under Warlick for years. I suspect it starts in recruiting, with emphasis on what Tenn will do for the individual. I haven't seen a Tenn game this year so I'm curious to see the body language on the bench.

From the article:

"But he [Coach Lockwood] also believes that touching moments are an acquired taste for these players.

"It's not second nature," he said. "It's not natural to some people."

A practice drill called "David and Goliath" is designed, in part, to promote the process. One player is pitted as a defender against a practice player while her teammates circle the duel and shout encouragement.

"They're supposed to go nuts when they get a (defensive) stop," Lockwood said.

The players did go bonkers when freshman Rae Burrell got a stop last week. But there was a bit too much celebration when one set of hands clasped Burrell's throat."

Drills on instilling team spirit? Sorta reminds me when a coach had her team practice celebrating winning the Natie a few years back. can't recall who that was, can you?