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Tennessee topics (merged threads)

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wbbfan said:
Diamond didn't start tonight because she turned her ankle 2 days ago the commentators said.
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Yet she was OK to play the last what - 15 or 20 minutes of the game? I don't get it.
The announcers asked her how her ankle was before the game and she said "Good enough". Who knows what's going on there.
 
j66kicker said:
It IS amazing how much space we devote here to trying to point out that TN has become irrelevant. Or at least relishing in their misery. But it's fun. We REALLY, REALLY dislike them.
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Speaking for myself, at this point I dislike their fans much more than I dislike the team. After all the team and coaching personnel has changed.
 
Blueballer said:
How do you explain this line from the Box Score:

Diamond DeShields G 1-4 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 3 3 (1-4 from field) (1 of 2 from line) 1 assist NO rebounds. 3 TO's , 3 total points .
Man that's brutal for a player of her caliber. Sulking because she's not starting? I just don't understand it.
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The announcers said she was injured earlier this week. Not to make excuses though. That last shot she took in regulation was forced and bad.
 
Blueballer said:
Speaking for myself, at this point I dislike their fans much more than I dislike the team. After all the team and coaching personnel has changed.
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Sorry - shouldn't have tried to speak for others. Let me rephrase: "I really, really dislike them." And, by the looks of the endless analysis of their coach's ineptitude, players' futility and fans' moral terpitude, I'm guessing I am not alone in feeling this way. :cool:
 
I am stretching a bit.

Per Wikipedia definition (my first use of per) a Kabuki Drama is a full-length play occupying five acts. The first corresponds to jo, an auspicious and slow opening which introduces the audience to the characters and the plot. The next three acts correspond to ha, speeding events up, culminating almost always in a great moment of drama or tragedy in the third act (Lady Vols led by 12 or so) and possibly a battle in the second and/or fourth acts (MSU battled back to tie the game). The final act, corresponding to kyu, is almost always short, providing a quick and satisfying conclusion (Not sure about the quickness. The conclusion was very satisfying indeed).
 
j66kicker said:
Sorry - shouldn't have tried to speak for others. Let me rephrase: "I really, really dislike them." And, by the looks of the endless analysis of their coach's ineptitude, players' futility and fans' moral terpitude, I'm guessing I am not alone in feeling this way. :cool:
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OK. But look for the L-Vols to move into the top ten in this week's coaches poll. After all, they played a tough team, and it was close. And hey, it went to overtime.
 
IMHO Bad Loss for Lady Vols although many in Media won't think it is as Miss St is ranked higher. No excuse to only score 8 points in last 15 minutes of the game. They have more talent then Miss St. Good win by Miss St as they end a 36 game losing streak to the Lady Vols.
 
j66kicker said:
It IS amazing how much space we devote here to trying to point out that TN has become irrelevant. Or at least relishing in their misery. But it's fun. We REALLY, REALLY dislike them.
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I understand; I feel that way about Clemson. Georgia is our second biggest rival, but it's not even close.
 
Wbbfan1 said:
IMHO Bad Loss for Lady Vols although many in Media won't think it is as Miss St is ranked higher. No excuse to only score 8 points in last 15 minutes of the game. They have more talent then Miss St. Good win by Miss St as they end a 36 game losing streak to the Lady Vols.
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That is really the reason the game was as close as it was - it took a long time for State to believe they could beat Tennessee and a long time for Tennessee to believe they could lose to State.
 
I posted a couple of days ago, the way to beat TN is stay close going into the 4th period and wait for them to implode!
And TN ahead 13 points in 3rd period and lose 65 -63! Creme had TN a 4th seed on UCONN's bracket! How do they deserve a 4th seed?
1st win after 37 straight loses! Good for Miss St biggest win in their history!
Vic Schaefer at Miss St is a good coach, he was with Gary Blair at TX A&M for years!
It really makes a UCONN fan appreciate Geno & his staff even more when you watch other teams do the stupidest things late in games to blow the lead or fail to win a winnable game! I've watched 4 games this week alone where stupidity reigned supreme!

I like Paul Sunderland announcing also!
 
Bayareahusky said:
Who was it who said, "Good coaches can take theirs and beat yours, and could take yours and beat theirs"
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Bum Phillips. Regarding Don Shula.

A little OT, but that's my second favorite Bum Phillips quote. #1: (When told it seems like Earl Campbell gets up kind of slowly after being tackled) "Yeah, but he goes down kind of slow too."
 
Kaizen said:
May be D1 top 25 team record?
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Wasn't there an SEC team that scored zero in the third quarter, and then pumped in 25 in the fourth to pull out the win about a month ago!
 
Practices will be very short the first week or month as players are thrown out of practice on a regular basis in a battle for the mind and heart of the team. If the team is salvageable at this point, a huge if because the inmates have been in charge for too long, then slowly the ship and fate of TN may be turned but no they don't beat UCONN very soon because the culture here would endure in the current players for a time the same as it must be rebuilt there.
 
Tenn needs to go back to the drawing board. I would take DD out till she heals. You can see flashes of brilliance. The girl has game. Chemistry gets affected when a player of her caliber is not in a position to inspire the others to work together and work hard to achieve better results. By the results, Tenn should go off the top 25. They are also at risk of not making the big dance. There is time, they can work their way back..
 
Topdawg said:
Tenn needs to go back to the drawing board. I would take DD out till she heals. You can see flashes of brilliance. The girl has game. Chemistry gets affected when a player of her caliber is not in a position to inspire the others to work together and work hard to achieve better results. By the results, Tenn should go off the top 25. They are also at risk of not making the big dance. There is time, they can work their way back..
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You way over value DD vs to the disruption and problems she creates in the team.
 
It looks like Tenn does not make the NCAA tournament. Let me rephrase that, they shouldn't make the NCAA tournament as I see them losing more games before March Madness. But somehow I think somebodies will feel sorry for Tenn and put them in.
 
I woke up this morning to another day where TN lost the night before.... Typically, when I think they are going to lose I stay up and watch but they were just about to start the 4th quarter and my wife was talking my ear off so I said well maybe I should turn the game off. My wife looks at me and goes, "You aren't going to watch?" My exact words to her were, "Well, TN has a 12 point lead but they are still inept enough to lose this game. I will just check the scores in the morning." Might I say what a glorious morning it is!
 
If Geno had been coach, this would have been a fine, competent team, period.
Maybe a world-beater.
 
I used to exult in Tennessee losses as much as the next guy,
After Ball State, I was in 7th heaven, jumping for joy
(Not knowing that we were witnessing in living color the mental disintegration of a tough old coach)
Somehow, this is worse
Seeing this really talented group of individuals play like the Marx Bros
Gives no pleasure.
Some of these girls had the possibility of careers.
Unlikely now, tarred forever.
What is the administration thinking, to let this continue?
And of course, the greatest fear...Is this what will happen to us.
Phoenicia fell, Egypt fell, Greece fell, Rome fell, China fell......
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
It really makes a UCONN fan appreciate Geno & his staff even more when you watch other teams...
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UConn is the quintessential example of "TEAM;" Tennessee is NOT. And therein lies all the difference in the world. So why is one a successful team and the other is not?

Both teams are loaded with McDonalds All-Americans. Tennessee has 7 of them! DeShields was hailed as a once-in-a-generation kind of player; the 6'6" Russell was the #1 recruit in the land. Granted, god does not create every All-American equal, and neither Tennessee nor any other team has two kids even remotely as talented as Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson. But winning is about more than just talent. So how do you explain why Tennessee plays like they do, with the results they achieve, and in what ways is UConn so very different?

UConn players have 100% bought into the concept of team-first, team only. They are disciplined and unselfish- always. Geno unhesitatingly sits any kid (yes, Stewie) who is not playing the way he demands they play. They are constantly moving on offense- eagerly picking/screening for their teammates, always ready to make that extra pass, defending like demons. They always play with purpose. They are fundamentally so sound, it's like coach breaks them down, eliminates their bad high school habits, and then builds them up, teaching them the UConn way to play. The Geno/CD way. And that's good for the player- and even better for the team. It's tough, and it isn't for everyone. But the results have been singularly historic.

Seems to me that Tennessee has lots of great athletes but fewer top basketball players. While they can play very effective pressing defense at times, that seems mostly a function of their excellent individual athleticism. On offense they often seem lost, all dribble-dribble-dribble, too much one-on-one play with little screening or effective passing/sharing. I don't see an efficient, disciplined, ball-movement offense and that's on the coaches.

Kids will do what is demanded of them by their coaches, or they should get splintered behinds. UT seems like a physically gifted bunch of athletes playing dis-organized ball.
To me, this has to be laid at the feet of the coaches. For Tennessee to go 12-8, including two 2-point wins over ordinary Syracuse and Chattanooga squads and two 8-point squeakers over Penn State and Albany, going a pitiful 3-5 away from the home cooking of Thompson-Boling. Wow, this team could easily be 8-12.

"Kids" will be kids, and when not taught to play otherwise, when they are allowed to play undisciplined playground ball, the tendency is to do just that.
The UT kids play that sloppy, inconsistent, undisciplined, clunky-offensive ball because their coaches permit them to. Eighteen and nineteen year-olds need a firm hand to teach and guide them. They cannot be expected to figure it out on their own, and their great athleticism will carry a player only so far. It will build and carry a "team" even less. Without strong, demanding, knowledgeable coaches, little will change for Tennessee.
 
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Bestiarius said:
Further, DD would never agree to come to UConn, given Geno's clearly stated up front requirements. It's not the environment she was looking for or could cope with.

I recall a question and answer interview a while back where Diamond was asked to name the best ever player to come out of Georgia. Maya Moore's name was mentioned as a possible candidate. Her answer: "Me."

Whether it's true or not isn't the issue. Just isn't a UConn type response, therefore I doubt we'd see DD in a UConn uniform.
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Remember that Geno recruited Diamond and thought he was going to get her. He reportedly even stopped recruiting Bria Holmes because he didn't want to overload the "3" position.

I think you are right (based on Diamond's subsequent public statements) that she didn't come because she didn't want to do things Geno's way, or anyone's way but her own.

Can't you imagine Diana saying (especially as a college freshman) that she was the best player ever to come out of California? She also wrangled with Geno over similar issues, such as her uniform number. Diana wanted to wear "0" or "1", but Geno wouldn't let her. But notably, he won that battle (supposedly by telling her that "3" was Babe Ruth's number and he would help her become the Babe Ruth of WCBB -- which he did), and she didn't transfer when she didn't get her way.

I wonder if Diamond's thought process would be the same today if she could make that decision (not to come to UConn) again. I suspect that the School of Hard Knocks might have taught her a lesson by now.

One other thought: If Diamond had played for Tennessee when Pat was in her prime, Diamond would have fulfilled her potential and this team would be a Top 5 team. Pat may not have been an X's-and-O's genius, but she could wrangle egos and divas and get even her most talented and self-centered players to play as a team.
 
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