Tennessee Coach Holly Warlick Says Players Have Lost Passion for the Game

[johnnyc]

Typical Holly..all over the place. Funniest part: talking UConn. Says Geno picks kids who can play together. Reporter comes back with: But it's about getting the most talented players, right? Holly picks it up and "of courses" it.

I think Connecticut for the most part has learned how to maintain that.

Lol.....ya think?

 

[Bigboote]

If one of Holly's players lacks passion, that's on the player. If they all do, it's on Holly.

 

[reno tony]

No passion? I offer this as evidence otherwise. Chong's best assist of the year.

 

[Plebe]

At least one: Washington Huskies.

Plum and Osahor as the two leading scorers have accounted for 53% (30.5 and 15.5 respectively) of the team's average of 86.3 ppg. There are two tied at third at 9.7 ppg, which all totaled means the top 3 are averaging 64.5%.

Personally, I don't think we should be too hard on our LV guest. Their past several seasons have been disappointing - lots of injuries on top of questionable coaching has caused them to underachieve. Having three players averaging > 15 ppg is something to take as a positive (yeah, I know it means others on the team aren't clicking as well).

I'm guessing that if Kia was averaging a bit more and was above the 15 ppg mark, we'd be proud of having three players averaging that much.

And, anyways, when comparing players scoring ability, it is never a really true comparison because of differences in the abilities of your teammates, the talent level of who you're playing against throughout the season, and how many minutes you average per game.

And to main point of the OP, I like Holly as a person and I enjoyed reading the interview, but man, she does seem to lack the inner fire of Pat.

You raise many good points, but the fact that we have to reach for a team with a historically prolific scorer further illustrates both the good ("We're scoring points!") and bad (".... but in an unbalanced way") in that type of statistic.

Perhaps a better question for me to ask would've been: On what other team is there an 8-point drop-off between the #3 and #4 scorers?

I never meant to make this a Vol-bashing exercise; as I said earlier, the Vols have three very good players and, obviously, they're relying on them heavily. What I take issue with is the inherent disrespect of saying "We're the only team in the country that has [enter ostensibly positive stat]" without even bothering to check the truth of the statement.

 

[EricLA]

Congratulations to Tennessee for having 3 players who average 15 PPG or more so far this season. What a wonderful statistic and consolation prize. Sort of like that mythical Strength Of Schedule trophy Tenn used to win every year. Problem is that neither of those stats translate to success on the court, never mind NC's.

Tenn had a great history. The name Tenn will always mean something in WCBB. But the game and many other teams have passed them by. In the very near future, several coaches will pass Pat for all time wins. I also would not be surprised to see UCONN double up on Tenn for NC's before Geno is done at UCONN.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The Tennessee trio of Russell, Nared, and DeShields. Are the only trio in the country. That are all averaging 15 points or more.

One out of three ain't bad!! Nared---when she is in the game--she gives you everything she has--and you can count on her.

 

[EricLA]

Not that I really want to defend Holly, but in this case, I was thinking about it and I'll give it a stab.

Passion is not necessarily the same is intensity or fire. Intensity, fire, and other similar adjectives can be seen demonstrably on the court. Passion for the game, IMHO, far exceeds game time intensity. It encompasses players who are students of the game. Those who are truly passionate will spend extra time in the gym working on weaknesses. They will study game tapes, of them hoping to improve, or of others hoping to emulate. They will practice hard 99% of the time, encourage teammates, and be leaders in whatever way is comfortable for them (some are vocal, some lead by example).

Those are just a few examples of types of players who have "passion". Kids in general who love the game so much that they eat, sleep, and live for basketball. Passion also drives them to be better and to push themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of. Of course to get the most out of "passionate" players, you need coaches who "get it". Geno does, Holly does not. But my point was to point out that even Geno, to a degree, agrees with Holly.

Geno has lamented about kids "these day" on numerous occasions. They don't want to work as hard, are more invested in themselves, their style, their online presence (facebook, twitter, instagram, etc etc), have a sense of entitlement, and aren't as easy to coach. If that's what Holly meant (in general), I would say at least Geno probably agrees with her...

 

[BroadwayVa]

Is it not good to have three players score in double figures?

Is that 8 out of 10 games or 30 points one game and nothing the next 5??? What can you depend on in every game they play??
No only with the #90 th in the country..

 

[oldude]

No passion? I offer this as evidence otherwise. Chong's best assist of the year.

I get misty-eyed every time I see that basket.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Not that I really want to defend Holly, but in this case, I was thinking about it and I'll give it a stab.

Passion is not necessarily the same is intensity or fire. Intensity, fire, and other similar adjectives can be seen demonstrably on the court. Passion for the game, IMHO, far exceeds game time intensity. It encompasses players who are students of the game. Those who are truly passionate will spend extra time in the gym working on weaknesses. They will study game tapes, of them hoping to improve, or of others hoping to emulate. They will practice hard 99% of the time, encourage teammates, and be leaders in whatever way is comfortable for them (some are vocal, some lead by example).

Those are just a few examples of types of players who have "passion". Kids in general who love the game so much that they eat, sleep, and live for basketball. Passion also drives them to be better and to push themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of. Of course to get the most out of "passionate" players, you need coaches who "get it". Geno does, Holly does not. But my point was to point out that even Geno, to a degree, agrees with Holly.

Geno has lamented about kids "these day" on numerous occasions. They don't want to work as hard, are more invested in themselves, their style, their online presence (facebook, twitter, instagram, etc etc), have a sense of entitlement, and aren't as easy to coach. If that's what Holly meant (in general), I would say at least Geno probably agrees with her..

You are correct ---Geno has had his low moment's with practices and games--your last paragraph is a truism!! Geno recruits ROLE players Kelly/Molly/Kyla/Doty---they are Gym rats---any time they can bounce a ball they have one---passion--that's why Geno likes them on his team--they infect the others...

 

[Huskie78]

"Matter of fact, there's a pretty good chance if you come to Connecticut you'll never lead the country in anything... except wins." - Geno A.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Given that HW's team just lost its 9th, and after leading by seven going into the fourth quarter, I suppose they just proved her right.

 

[meyers7]

The assertion was that no other team in the country had 3 players averaging more than 15 points per game. If the actual statistics belie this assertion, I don't see how that makes it a "good stat."

Whether the statement was true or not doesn't have anything to do with whether the stat is good or not.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

It's not a complete sweep. Tennessee does lead UCONN in turnovers.

Matter of fact Tenn absolutely dominant in that category!

 

[BigBird]

LV's lose at home again, this time because of a second chance rebound and score given up to TAM. Holly may be on to something. Rebounding is about "want to," and maybe her players just don't want to.

Such a shame. No, really, I am not being facetious. Not even a little bit.

Or maybe not.

 

[toadfoot]

The Tennessee trio of Russell, Nared, and DeShields. Are the only trio in the country. That are all averaging 15 points or more.

What of it? The only stats that matter... UConn 24-0, UT 16-9.

 

[Zorro]

Five points in the fourth quarter! How does a bunch of HSAAs manage to score only five points in a quarter?












a

 

[Waquoit]

I hope Holly is at UT for many years to come.

 

[Geno-ista]

Holly Warlick is absolutely correct about the players in Knoxville, TN.

Bamboo lover??? Does this include fly rods?

 

[oldude]

Bamboo lover??? Does this include fly rods?

Sadly, I've only been fly fishing a couple times years ago, and it was great.

 

[warbler1055]

TN lost by 1 basket. There were plenty of blames to go around!!! HW was not the only reason TN lost.

 

[Geno-ista]

Sadly, I've only been fly fishing a couple times years ago, and it was great.

Just curious- ironically, I just confirmed with Hoagy Carmichael, the son of the legend, that he will be coming to our Atlantic Salmon Fishing Camp in Sept. Hoagy is the best bamboo fly rod maker in the world- fly fishing is my 2nd religion-

 

[cabbie191]

LV's lose at home again, this time because of a second chance rebound and score given up to TAM. Holly may be on to something. Rebounding is about "want to," and maybe her players just don't want to.

Such a shame. No, really, I am not being facetious. Not even a little bit.

Or maybe not.

Had court side seats, courtesy of friends, for today's Michigan vs Wisconsin game. Badgers, who haven't won a conference game this year, kept it relatively close but whenever they got within a basket, managed to find a way to turn the ball over.

With the exception of only a few plays, players on both squads exhibited what I thought was pretty low energy on defensive help in the paint and going after rebounds. Kind of speaks to the point made about rebounding being an act of passion.

Side note - remember Michala Johnson who transferred to Wisconsin from UConn/ Her younger sister Maayna plays forward and center for the Badgers. She was the first off the bench. 6'4" according to the program guide. She could have used a UConn summer camp session on ball handling. So too could have most of her teammates.

 

[msf22b]

Swain:

The three team member you cited took about 900 shots (not exact, calculated and rounded out in my head).

The rest of the team took a grand total of about 250 shots.
The three shot under 50% as a group, Mercedes is the only one above 50...only one other player shot above 50% and she's not playing.

The 50 points a game you generally get from the three above is just not quite enough when the rest of the team supplies just 25 on average.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Just curious- ironically, I just confirmed with Hoagy Carmichael, the son of the legend, that he will be coming to our Atlantic Salmon Fishing Camp in Sept. Hoagy is the best bamboo fly rod maker in the world- fly fishing is my 2nd religion-

Sadly a stroke 4 years ago took me out of fly fishing with any skill, but I can still fling a mean Panther Martin on 6 lb test. We have a few reasonably good rivers here in western Montana.