VaTech 67, TN 63, final

[trb123]

Tennessee will make both the AP and the coaches poll.
Their ranking will go down.
Too many vol fans/UConn haters vote there for the lady vols to go out.

 

[EricLA]

One rebound short of the triple double! I would have loved to have seen it happen.

She had a double-double - 15 points and 10 turnovers. Just not the kind you want to brag about.

 

[rugbymate]

LV's with 11 assists and 20 turnovers....that will never happen to a UCONN team that is coached by Geno and staff...

 

[Zorro]

Nevertheless, we are DOOOOOOOOOMMED!

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Kenny Brooks after the game....

" all these mcdonalds all Americans on the floor and I'll take Hicks over all of them"

I'm paraphrasing but it made me lol

 

[trb123]

Will DD jump to WNBA at the end of the season?
Or will she avail of the 5th year of eligibility and continue to benefit from Tennessee's coaching to improve her game?

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Lol. She will leave after this season. I'm interested to see if Russell does as well!

 

[Nuyoika]

Kenny Brooks after the game....

" all these mcdonalds all Americans on the floor and I'll take Hicks over all of them"

I'm paraphrasing but it made me lol

Watching her play I would've too... those steals she had.

 

[toadfoot]

 

[trb123]

All I can say is... lawd have mercy. The commentator for that game was not shy about calling players shots ugly... for both teams LOL.

Would have been more colorful if they quoted Shakespeare.
"Full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

 

[j66kicker]

I only saw the 4th quarter, but it looked to me like 1)TN had a huge talent advantage, and 2) (just like everyone's been saying) they don't play much offense. Remember 2-3 times DD was so intent on playing 1 on 1 she either continued an ill-advised drive to the basket into a double team and got stripped or run out of bounds, or had to give it up and re-start by passing all the way back out. After this 2nd bad loss don't they HAVE to drop out of top 25?

 

[OldAlum]

While some will want to fire Holly, wont that risk losing their recruits if they do?

 

[Plebe]

I only saw the 4th quarter, but it looked to me like 1)TN had a huge talent advantage, and 2) (just like everyone's been saying) they don't play much offense. Remember 2-3 times DD was so intent on playing 1 on 1 she either continued an ill-advised drive to the basket into a double team and got stripped or run out of bounds, or had to give it up and re-start by passing all the way back out. After this 2nd bad loss don't they HAVE to drop out of top 25?

Ranked teams typically drop 4 to 6 spots after a loss to an unranked team. So much of it depends on where you start out ranked. From #17 it's unlikely Tennessee would fall out completely. Probably #22 or #23.

 

[Geew1992]

While some will want to fire Holly, wont that risk losing their recruits if they do?

I don't think they are going there specifically for her. There is a lot of playing time unlike other schools. And they may like the school the team and the surroundings

 

[Charliebball]

While some will want to fire Holly, wont that risk losing their recruits if they do?

If they continue to play that way they could loose them anyway!!!!

 

[UcMiami]

While some will want to fire Holly, wont that risk losing their recruits if they do?

The recruits have already signed their LOIs, so it is unlikely - if they watch the film of these games, maybe they will join the chorus calling for a new coaching staff!

 

[cbraarj]

VT beat them last year in Tenn.

 

[Plebe]

Watching her play I would've too... those steals she had.

As ugly as this game was, Hicks deserves all the praise. Tennessee's coaches will be having nightmares about her defense and quickness.

 

[bags27]

I'm probably among the last non-Tenn-fans to continue to feel some compassion for DD. I know she's a prima donna, but Geno saw something in her. If she had gone to UConn and if (it turns out now to be a gigantic "if") she had allowed herself to be coached properly, her whole life would be different. She would today be part of a terrific UConn team and a near certainly to be a top 5 (maybe higher) draft choice. Instead, no matter where she's drafted, she just doesn't have the mental discipline or developed skills to be more than a journeyman athlete with a bit more sparkle and charisma, which will assure her of playing time but not prominence. Wasted talent is always a sad thing.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I don't understand how a team with all this talent can struggle? Is it the coach? Team?

There were admitted chemistry issues last season. Does that still exist?

Again...too talented for this.

Potential vs talent. They are not too talented. History of WCBB is littered with HS AAs who disappeared in college because they could not/did not make the big step up. Certainly it does not help that UT has a coaching staff led by someone whose constant refrain is: "I don't know."

Can't wait for Holly's presser to go up.

 

[UcMiami]

bags27 - I agree about DD if she had gone somewhere with a strong coaching staff - her raw skills are impressive, but since she has been in college I have never been impressed including her freshman year where she got all the accolades - she was the least efficient player on the UNC team by quite a bit - she has never shot more than about 40% from the field and about 30% from three and has had stretches where those percentages were a lot worse. She has never had a 1.0 A/TO ratio, usually coming in around 0.75-0.80 - and she has always dominated the ball for her teams, shooting 30% of the teams shots and usually about 40% more than her nearest teammate both from 3 and overall.

The word that they are trying to 'install' a motion offense to me is hard to believe - I have seen nothing from this TN coaching staff that suggests anyone there has more than a very rudimentary handle on defensive or offensive 'theory' - it appears they learned what 'setting a screen' means, and then went for the advanced degree on this new fangled concept called a pick and roll - they worked really hard on that and think they have it down, but didn't think they could really get through the doctorate level degree that included something called a pick and pop. At the other end they figured out what a defensive stance looks like and teach it strenuously, and they understand the idea of boxing out. This zone concept things is a little difficult, but they are working hard on it, but haven't quite figured out the difference between 2-1-2, 1-2-2, 2-3, and 3-2. They understand that it all adds up to five, but ... haven't figured out why five is a magic number.

That last bit may also explain why they have had such a hard time understanding any of the books and videos about playing offense against a zone - they all keep using that strange sequence of numbers with this mystical total of 5.

Sarcastic, but ...?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Tennessee is now in LAST place in the SEC.

 

[vtcwbuff]

While some will want to fire Holly, wont that risk losing their recruits if they do?

Maybe they are risking it if they don't.

 

[Intpseeker]

ut has never, never run effective offense. Throw it up and let your studs get 2nd/3rd attempts.

Accedental offense grounded in great talent.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I don't give a flying swiss cheese burger about Tennessee's players, because they had ample warning of the Holly & Co. train wreck. Wanting to be a jewel in a faded crown is hardly worthy of sympathy once it is achieved. Nor do I do anything but relish the agony of the Vol fans who go out of their way to spit on Geno and UConn with their careworn pack of lies. But the great majority of Vol fans deserve better than what they are getting out of the University.