Tennessee barely survives Chattanooga 59-57

[EricSD]

It's completely irrelevant. In 1974, there was no money (Pat made $250 a month), no AAU scene or national exposure, and her first year they played 6 on 6 with offensive and defensive players who never passed half court. Pat Summitt washed her teams uniforms, drove the team van and all of her players were from Tennessee her first season. No national recruiting, all local kids. No lists or experts saying who the top prospects were, it was a totally different era.

Compare that to now where Holly's roster includes players from all over the country, there are companies that rank a player based on potential collegiate impact and huge national AAU tournaments that draw college coaches from all corners of the country. Not to mention paid recruiting visits, social media, and all sorts of other components that women's basketball recruiting has today. Totally different scenarios so comparing Pat's recruiting in the 1970s to Holly's 40 years later is irrelevant.

LOL. Like I said, you are entitled to your opinion. 1974 was a different era. You could argue that no sport can be compared from today to back then, yet it's done all the time. Irrelevant would be comparing women's basketball today to mens basketball in 1974, not looking at the similarities in WCBB for one single program. It almost sounds like you want Pat on a pedestal and make her out to be a saint while trying to down play what Holly has accomplished.

You never answered my question - when did Pat start reeling in the top 5 recruits? From the list you provided earlier, it looks like it took her almost 22 years (1996 - Marciniak and Holdsclaw). But maybe she started getting them in the late 1980's? (Tonya Edwards and Bridgette Gordon)? So it took Pat over 12 years to start landing elite level recruits? Holly's done that in her first 4 years. Geno did it in his first 7 or so years landing Lobo.

You (or other Tennessee fans) can try to argue that Holly is a poor HC or recruiter all you want. I'm just trying to defend her and point out that from a recruiting standpoint she's been a top 10 recruiter the past 5 years. Oh, and I guess you will argue that Geno's 10 NC's can't be compared to Pat's either because he didn't even win his first NC till Pat had been a HC for 21 years. Different era after all.

 

[pinotbear]

I was 100% joking when I predicted that Chat might win this game, yet they almost did. Now I also predicted that TN would beat SCar this year. Honestly, that second prediction for me is a toss up. Nobody looks great right now. I am thoroughly perplexed.

Except that, if memory serves, Chat has beaten the Vols twice in recent years. So, your prediction wasn't without some foundation, or, at least, recent history.

 

[Nuyoika]

Except that, if memory serves, Chat has beaten the Vols twice in recent years. So, your prediction wasn't without some foundation, or, at least, recent history.

True. I thought that Cooper and DeShields would make a big difference for them though. Hasn't proved to be the case yet.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

It's alarming as a Lady Vol fan to see the same problems creep up this year that happened last year, such as poor shooting, turnovers, erratic substitution patterns by Holly, poor 3 point defense. The list goes on and on. Now, they did correct most of that last year as the season progressed, but had a huge setback with Harrison getting injured. I think Holly will get most corrected, but the poor shooting concerns me the most because that's what ended our run in the tourny last year. All the Lady Vols can do is keep forging forward and let's see where they are at the end of the season....

As far as UCONN is concerned, it must be nice being a fan..10 NC's and more than likely an unprecedented 11th title that would tie John Wooden. Two legendary coaches of WCBB and only one is still coaching..enjoy it all you can because once they aren't there coaching anymore, it's almost as if some of the life of that program went away with the coach..I miss CPS dearly, not just as a basketball coach, but just as a generally nice person and I had the pleasure to meet her several times, including while I was a student at UT. She has bigger battles ahead, and as someone who has been affected by dementia very recently, I can attest to the struggles that come with this horrid disease. I wish her well..I also wish Geno well and hope he continues to coach as long as it is fun for him. It's not the same without CPS in the sport and I don't think it will be the same when Geno decides to hang it up

 

[Husky Pete]

It's alarming as a Lady Vol fan to see the same problems creep up this year that happened last year, such as poor shooting, turnovers, erratic substitution patterns by Holly, poor 3 point defense. The list goes on and on. Now, they did correct most of that last year as the season progressed, but had a huge setback with Harrison getting injured. I think Holly will get most corrected, but the poor shooting concerns me the most because that's what ended our run in the tourny last year. All the Lady Vols can do is keep forging forward and let's see where they are at the end of the season....

As far as UCONN is concerned, it must be nice being a fan..10 NC's and more than likely an unprecedented 11th title that would tie John Wooden. Two legendary coaches of WCBB and only one is still coaching..enjoy it all you can because once they aren't there coaching anymore, it's almost as if some of the life of that program went away with the coach..I miss CPS dearly, not just as a basketball coach, but just as a generally nice person and I had the pleasure to meet her several times, including while I was a student at UT. She has bigger battles ahead, and as someone who has been affected by dementia very recently, I can attest to the struggles that come with this horrid disease. I wish her well..I also wish Geno well and hope he continues to coach as long as it is fun for him. It's not the same without CPS in the sport and I don't think it will be the same when Geno decides to hang it up

Geno and John Wooden currently are tied with 10 championships each.

 

[bballnut90]

LOL. Like I said, you are entitled to your opinion. 1974 was a different era. You could argue that no sport can be compared from today to back then, yet it's done all the time. Irrelevant would be comparing women's basketball today to mens basketball in 1974, not looking at the similarities in WCBB for one single program. It almost sounds like you want Pat on a pedestal and make her out to be a saint while trying to down play what Holly has accomplished.

You never answered my question - when did Pat start reeling in the top 5 recruits? From the list you provided earlier, it looks like it took her almost 22 years (1996 - Marciniak and Holdsclaw). But maybe she started getting them in the late 1980's? (Tonya Edwards and Bridgette Gordon)? So it took Pat over 12 years to start landing elite level recruits? Holly's done that in her first 4 years. Geno did it in his first 7 or so years landing Lobo.

You (or other Tennessee fans) can try to argue that Holly is a poor HC or recruiter all you want. I'm just trying to defend her and point out that from a recruiting standpoint she's been a top 10 recruiter the past 5 years. Oh, and I guess you will argue that Geno's 10 NC's can't be compared to Pat's either because he didn't even win his first NC till Pat had been a HC for 21 years. Different era after all.

I'm not sure when Pat started landing elite recruits, this was a time well before I was even born. I'm not sure there was any way to classify elite recruits back then. That said, she was competing in Final Fours in the early 80s, so she probably had strong players early in her career. Holly has done a solid job recruiting when you compare her classes to 95% of other programs, but not at the level Pat did or at the level needed to elevate Tennessee to be a title contender. Deshields/Russell are the first truly elite recruits Tennessee has had since 2008, but she'll need to do a better job of getting her team to play cohesive offense and defense before they'll be a title contender again. From what I've seen thus far, I'm hopeful but I wouldn't be on it happening this year or possibly ever as long as she is coach.

 

[Icebear]

Tennessee has the talented players on PAPER.....However, what is uncertain is their mentality and playing together versus poor coaching. IMO, it is both. Due to injuries and transfers this team has not played together that much. At least at UCONN, we have 4 returning starters and our 5th starter played all last season.

She has athletic players on paper, not necessarily basketballers. As Geno's says you have to have people who know how to put the rock in the hole.

 

[Icebear]

“When you’re 3-18 from the three-point line, you need to understand that it’s time to quit shooting,”

Therein lies the problem - actually just one of the many problems. If your shooters are cold you don't tell them to quit shooting. Warlick needs to listen to Auriemma's philosophy about that - paraphrasing "if your chuckin' bricks find another way to help the team - but if you have a shot, take it" How many times have we watched great outside shooters miss shot after shot and then one goes in and it's lights out."

Yup, no matter what you need to score the rock, somehow, someway, at sometime.