Watching Tennessee and Oregon State is like watching a PAC12 game...

[VAMike23]

Actually on reflection I am now feeling sorry for the Tenn Vols and Vol nation as a whole. When you have high expectations and disappointedly don't even come close, it hurts worse.

Pshaw

 

[JordyG]

Someone mentioned the McDonalds All Americans that Tennessee has and it is a fair point.... Tennessee suited up a few today.... Oregon State dressed zero....

And three of those McD All Stars chose to leave Oregon and cross the country to play for Holly....

I feel badly for the Tennessee players. but also am happy for the Oregon State program

I agree with your sentiment 100%, although they do have some MDAA's on their team. Far fewer that Tenn though. But I agree. If watching Mercedes Russell's tears at the end of that game didn't move you, well, you're one stone hearted person. Her and Jaime are 2 fine young women, and Russell saved her best game of the year for the last.

For me the outcome wasn't expected. I predicted earlier in the year that Tenn would lose in the second round to a far less talented but disciplined team, and it proved true. It seems the Pac 12 once again this year will prove itself to be at least the second best conference in WCBB. And congrats to one of my very favorite coaches in CBB, Scott Rueck for continuing to build a culture of excellence there.

 

[Mdoggie]

The only one is Destiny Slocum who is sitting out as a transfer.

Westbrook to join her next year.

 

[willingtonfan]

The problem for Tennessee's coach is simply that top four seeds hosting the first and second rounds in the NCAA tournament have an overwhelming winning percentage. Now, a five seed beating a four seed on their home court, that will happen from time to time, but Tennessee was a 3 seed. I bet if you looked at the record of 1, 2, and 3 seeds hosting subregionals in the past, oh, say, ten years, they probably have made the sweet sixteen at least 90% of the time. Having failed to do so is what is bad for Tennessee generally, and Ms. Worlick in particular.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

I agree with your sentiment 100% although they do have some MDAA's on their team. Far fewer that Tenn though. If watching Mercedes Russell's tears at the end of that game didn't move you, well, you're one stone hearted person. Her and Jaime are 2 fine young women, and Russell saved her best game of the year for the last.

For me the outcome wasn't expected. I predicted earlier in the year that Tenn would lose in the second round to a far less talented but disciplined team, and it proved true. Hopefully people, once again, will see the Pac 12 for what it is, which is at least the second best conference in WCBB. And congrats to one of my very favorite coaches in CBB, Scott Rueck for continuing to build a culture of excellence there.

I thought coach Rueck's move to a 2-3 zone early in the game was crucial and got thrm back in the game. Hollys move to substitute hayes for westbrook in the 1st q was just dumb. Westbrook was instrumental in helping tennessee build that early lead.

 

[Centerstream]

Love the enthusiasm! Last time Baylor was heavily favored as well. But no Weisner and Wiese this time. Gulich had her hands full w/ Russell today and Brown is a much, much better player than Russell. And even bigger. That matchup scares me. Never mind Cox. Can Corosdale handle her? We'll see. But yeah, 3 point shooting has to be better for OSU to continue advancing. Hopefully Baylor isn't a full court pressing team. Probably not w/ Brown and Cox on the floor together.

As I watched this game I didn't get the impression that Gulich had trouble with Russell, early on, she had trouble playing with the way the refs were calling the game. She played her well enough after her second, and 3rd and especially after her 4th. Oh, and she had to pick herself up off of the court a dozen times and the refs just figured that she was clumsy, I guess. Oh, and despite all Gulich's "falling down", Russell had 1 foul. Unbelievable.

 

[Geew1992]

As I watched this game I didn't get the impression that Gulich had trouble with Russell, she trouble playing with the way the refs were calling the game. She played her well enough after her second, and 3rd and especially after her 4th. Oh, and she had to pick herself up off of the court a dozen times and the refs just figured that she was clumsy, I guess. Oh, and despite all Gulich's "falling down", Russell had 1 foul. Unbelievable.

But when Russell fell, gulich was called for the foul

 

[cbraarj]

My husband turns off the sound on the TV during the war chant.

Atlanta Braves also!

 

[Centerstream]

But when Russell fell, gulich was called for the foul

Exactly, just cause Gulich was in the same area code...

 

[cbraarj]

It was meant as a complement.......I don't think they have a top 75 kid in their program yet they handily defeated a team with probably seven or eight high school All Americans..they do what they do very well as a team although individually they are not as gifted as the Tennessee players.....if you want to take that as a criticism so be it....

High School AAs does not mean anything in D1 WCBB!

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I knew you guys wouldn't disappoint. Tennessee is our rival in all sports so I don't mind reveling in their failures.

 

[bags27]

Not sure this criticism is warranted, either. You’re blaming the players for believing Holly’s sales job. Trust is not a negative character trait.

Players, their coaches, and their parents were all gullible. Someone's got to be mature enough to make a reasonable decision. When I hear Holly's presser, I think: how is she capable of selling anything? how are these kids and their support systems buying it? If they chose TN because they like the proximity to home or the academic programs, terrific. But clearly, the school presents its WCBB as having the highest aspirations, and for kids with the same aspirations, they have to be able to see through the pretense.

 

[Centerstream]

Has Margo posted her post game tirade yet? It could be interesting today...

 

[Boxerpups4me]

So i did a little digging..

Oregon st has one mcdaa on their team and that is destiny slocum, who is sitting out a year after transferring. They do have two mcdaa nominees though in pivek and mcwilliams.

Tennessee put 5 mdaa on the court today and those 5 also were all top 15 5 star ranked players out of hs..

 

[Boxerpups4me]

High School AAs does not mean anything in D1 WCBB!

As far as holly is concerned, you are very right.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

High School AAs does not mean anything in D1 WCBB!

It matters when you have a competent coach

 

[nwhoopfan]

Are any talented HS players actually choosing to be coached by Warlick? Or are they choosing to play for Tennessee, kinda trying to pretend Summit is still there? I just can't see how anyone would actually be picking Warlick at this point. 6 years of evidence. She's a terrible coach. We all know this. It's mind numbing to me that she's still rolling in talented recruits.

 

[nwhoopfan]

As I watched this game I didn't get the impression that Gulich had trouble with Russell, early on, she had trouble playing with the way the refs were calling the game. She played her well enough after her second, and 3rd and especially after her 4th. Oh, and she had to pick herself up off of the court a dozen times and the refs just figured that she was clumsy, I guess. Oh, and despite all Gulich's "falling down", Russell had 1 foul. Unbelievable.

Gulich had a good second half. Russell had 21 points and 14 rebounds, one of her better games, especially going up against another good post player. I could say they battled to a standstill, but Russell was at least better statistically. And Like I said, Brown is much, much better than Russell.

Agree though, I saw Gulich on the floor a bunch of times w/ no foul called. Gravity must've been increased in her immediate vicinity today or something.

 

[Hayven]

This has to be the end for Holly. Does anyone know if Law is happy at SC?

 

[j66kicker]

I'm wondering if this game might help stem the exodus of top HS talent from Oregon to Knoxville....? (Or, as someone mentioned above, even reverse it)

 

[LesMis89]

This has to be the end for Holly. Does anyone know if Law is happy at SC?

Based on Law's prior results as a head coach, albeit brief, I think her strengths may lie in other areas.

I certainly wouldn't hand her the keys to the LV program.

 

[bballnut90]

Another year without a Final Four....honestly I'm not at all upset Tennessee lost today. If they beat Oregon State, we would've been slaughtered by Baylor, and hopefully back to back 2nd round . Today highlighted a lot of the shortcomings with Tennessee's program: terrible offensive execution against a zone, poor shot selection, forcing bad shots, virtually no picks set, poor outside shooting, and perhaps most of all, getting out hustled by the opponent. The only positive was the lack of turnovers, but that's because the ball movement was minimal against the 2/3 zone. Holly should have brought in Dunbar when the offense was struggling to see if she could provide a spark with a 3, but besides a 2 minute stretch, Kortney didn't get any PT. Even at the very end when Tennessee needed triples and had perhaps their best shooter on the bench.

Looking at the make up of each team, there is NO way a program like Oregon State should stay within 15 points of Tennessee. Tennessee has taller, stronger, quicker, and more athletic players at almost every position, yet OSU badly outplayed the Lady Vols today. It simply comes down to coaching. Rueck is one of the very best in the business, and Holly is abysmal. OSU is going to be a dangerous team next with Aquino and Slocum in the mix. I hope Rueck can land some more high profile players and really turn OSU into a power. Imagine how much better Nared/Russell would be if they stayed home and played under him or Graves.

That said, it was a tough way to go out for Nared/Russell. This was probably the most dialed in I saw Russell all season. She worked her butt off for 40 minutes and overall did quite a good job playing against Gulich. Even if the game was low scoring, the battle between the two was extremely entertaining. I was extremely impressed with Gulich today--great footwork, great hands, good touch, runs the floor well...I think she has the skills to make it as a pro. Much better prospect than Hamblin was from OSU a couple of years ago. Nared also was working her tail off even though shots weren't falling.

I'm hopeful but not optimistic that anything changes for Holly going into next season. Nothing is going to change for Tennessee as long as Holly is at the helm.

 

[DefenseBB]

I knew you guys wouldn't disappoint. Tennessee is our rival in all sports so I don't mind reveling in their failures.

Ah, em old enemy of my enemy is my friend theory...I like it

@cbraarj You need to rethink your absolutism of a statement that the 24 Girls selected as McDonalds AA don’t mean anything in D1 basketball as literally every D1 coach would disagree with you. These teams make up the majority of the USA Basketball Team Pools for all the junior teams and is why the top 6-9 programs put their efforts. It is what you do with that talent that will determine how successful you can be. Congrats to OSU but his days in this tournament are numbered either by Baylor or by Louisville as their talent plus coaching will doom him.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Post Game Presser; crfmmy audio Tennessee_PC_Sunday_1 same old, same old

 

[Wbbfan1]

Lady Vol Post Game Press Conference: