Week 5 - Dec 2 to 8 | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Week 5 - Dec 2 to 8

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Trailing by 7 at the half. Maryland better wake up. Would be a terrible loss.
 
Plebe said:
Dystopia has truly arrived
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I knew reading all those dystopian novels would come in handy one of these years. :D From Heinlein (Farnham’s Freehold) to Clark (Childhood’s End) to Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games), I’ve enjoyed them all. Heck, I even love it when Steely Dan gets in on the act.

 
Stagnant said:
Trailing by 7 at the half. Maryland better wake up. Would be a terrible loss.
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Appears that they did...leading by 10 midway in the 4th.
Saylor Poffenbarger was in the starting lineup, according to ESPN, and has a double double.
 
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Usually I can find something good about a team, but Oregon is challenging me. A nursing home has more energy.
 
LwrcasefaN said:
Usually I can find something good about a team, but Oregon is challenging me. A nursing home has more energy.
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That was an ugly game. USC looked like they were gonna run away with it in the 2nd quarter, but Oregon hung around after that. Trojans weren't overly impressive. Juju had one good quarter, was saddled w/ foul trouble the whole 2nd half and eventually fouled out. Iriafen was pretty good. I look at Marshall and Akunwafo and am continually amazed that both developed as little as they did in 3+ years at USC.
 
Iowa Coach Jensen’s pregame speech about Tenn;
“They might be a little bigger. They might be a little more athletic. But they’re not better basketball players than us.”
 
Cal Baptist finally got a win today. 1-9 on the season.
 
nwhoopfan said:
I look at Marshall and Akunwafo and am continually amazed that both developed as little as they did in 3+ years at USC.
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The only thing continually amazing is that you would expect otherwise under Gottlieb. I'm telling you, she's an awesome off-the-court mentor, a passionate spokesperson for the game, and a delightful person. But she's a mediocre player development coach, and her record for developing her players is really pretty meh. Her philosophy for coaching JuJu is, and I quote, "let JuJu be JuJu." Well, if that's your plan, no surprise JuJu is hardly better as a sophomore than she was as a freshman.
 
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Vols 22-62 with 19 fouls thru 3q
Only 7 turnovers, but just 5 assists
 
TheFarmFan said:
The only thing continually amazing is that you would expect otherwise under Gottlieb. I'm telling you, she's an awesome off-the-court mentor, a passionate spokesperson for the game, and a delightful person. But she's a mediocre player development coach, and her record for developing her players is really pretty meh. Her philosophy for coaching JuJu is, and I quote, "let JuJu be JuJu." Well, if that's your plan, no surprise JuJu is hardly better as a sophomore than she was as a freshman.
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Yeah, you got me there. Anigwe was a stud from day 1 at Cal, I suppose she didn't really change that much during her career either.

That probably means we'll have to wait til Juju is a pro for her to really develop her game.
 
Vowelguy said:
Vols 22-62 with 19 fouls thru 3q
Only 7 turnovers, but just 5 assists
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Tennessee doesn't care about assists. They care about opponent turnovers and shot volume. Opponents thus far -- pretty weak schedule and not one road game -- are shooting a better FG% than the Vols who throw up a ton of bricks. The staff is willing to live with the bricks in exchange for pace, wearing teams down, turnovers and shot volume. The remainder of the preseason non-conference schedule is more of the same (weak and all but one at home).
 
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KnightBridgeAZ said:
Canyon in the paper before the game were spot on. And our defense is actually pretty awesome.

I see the same problem with her that I saw throughout the years with Vivian Stringer - she sees and knows what needs to happen but the players struggle to execute.

3 biggest reasons we lost - our foul shooting
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Kitty defense was really amazing particularly in the first half were they really bothered TSA. There were a number of steals and constant disruption which is consistent with Barnes philosophy on the defensive end. Interestingly enough Molly Miller employs the same type of philosophy and implemented it as well.

Ultimately I think the result rested on the shoulders of TSA. The Lopes have a leader on the floor and she showed up and was a dominant force for her team. I didn't see that kind of player emerge on the kitty side.

In fact I was surprised and unimpressed with Cunningham. She has the ability to dominate and I would have thought there would have been a more consistent effort to get the ball in her hands down low.

As I said in my post after the game it's a wonderful atmosphere at McKale and the kitties fans really show up. It looks like the official attendance was slightly over 6,200 making this the second largest women's attended game I've had the pleasure to be at. The highest attendance was an ASU game down in the dirty t two or three years ago.

So as to coaching I think this game exemplifies two different types of coaches. Molly Miller, as the third highest active winning percentage coach exceeds expectations and I think really gets the most out of her players. This is a team that's evolving over the years but always shows up with their trademark defense, a clear game plan, and most often the players follow that game plan successfully.

Barnes while a huge improvement over the recent past in coaching is notable for not meeting expectations particularly after McDonald left for the w. It could be as simple as fans in the dirty t need to readjust their expectations and accept that Barnes will generate an interesting product on the court which will be average by Big 12 standards or slightly below average. The kitty fans can take solace and a 100% lock that they will beat their rivals up in Tempe as long as the ASU administration remains indifferent to women's basketball there and Adair a fine person who's way over her head remains at the helm.

I think this year's performance against NAU and Grand Canyon provides a reality check for those who expect success in championship terms in the dirty t. Both Loree Payne and Molly Miller at least in the games this year out coached Barnes. (Remember Barnes has the better players. The difference in athleticism between Big 12 kitties and the Jacks and Lopes was obvious) Their teams were better prepared, played to the game plan for the games, rose to the occasion, and beat the kitties. In fact Payne's squad opened up a can of whoop #@$ on the kitties and I had the sense that the kitties well they deflated down the stretch of that game to put it kindly.

If I were a kitty fan the Grand Canyon loss would be particular deflating. A home game that was close down the stretch with a really large crowd supporting the team and the Lopes out played the kitties when it really mattered. As I said it's my view that TSA was the deciding factor but Superior coaching was a close second.

So the kitties a mid-range Big 12 team got pounded by a Big Sky team and beaten at home in a close game by a WAC team. I think that's an illuminating coda when one evaluates Barnes.

With that said as an ASU fan I would take Barnes over Adair every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Of course that would only be after Payne and Miller rejected the job offer as any sane person would.

Later today I'm driving over to Phoenix to watch the Lopes play Utah State. I am continually impressed when I see well managed athletic programs and Grand Canyon is on the same level of U of A in that regard. It's a wonderful facility in Phoenix to watch a game and when school's in session they have really solid attendance and enthusiastic fans. The administration really does care and supports the team. I just got an email indicating that as a season ticket holder I was entitled to an additional free ticket for each of the remaining December games.

Going into Mckale Thursday night was a revelation. I got there early enough I was able to walk around and notice how they've honored their past successful athletes and it was the teddy bear toss. I didn't think it would stop raining stuffed animals lol. I've been at the ASU teddy bear toss and well it was pathetic 200 fans could only generate a tiny number of donations for deserving kids.
 
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I don't think Tennessee has the bigs to contest with the best-of the best and I have a feeling that is going to be a flaw with Kim Caldwell's system for years to come, as I think it will be hard to recruit a 6'4" PF/C to play in that system (unless she happens to snag the next Candice Parker). I think she builds a system that is good for winning games but not winning championships at this level. It worked at a lower level because there are less dominant bigs at those smaller schools but I guess we will find out...I'm kind of interested to see how her system fairs during the SEC grind. Call me an intrigued skeptic but I think she may have to modify her system to include more traditional post play (i.e., give more minutes to Hollingshead and Puckett) against the upper third of the SEC.
 
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More of my thoughts on Tennessee.

-Caldwell still has some of Harper’s players. And they don’t necessarily fit the system.

-Iowa probably should have won. A lot of the turnovers were inexcusable. A lot weren’t even against the press. They occurred on post entry passes.

-will they shorten this rotation and drop the press against good teams? Good teams will break the press and punish them imo. I remember how Ohio state destroyed UConn with the press. But then had to abandon it against Virginia tech because they were getting killed.
 
UConnCat said:
Tennessee doesn't care about assists. They care about opponent turnovers and shot volume. Opponents thus far -- pretty weak schedule and not one road game -- are shooting a better FG% than the Vols who throw up a ton of bricks. The staff is willing to live with the bricks in exchange for pace, wearing teams, turnovers and shot volume. The remainder of the preseason non-conference schedule is more of the same (weak and all but one at home).
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Remains to be seen how effective it will be, but let me tell you: it gets tedious to watch. First five or so minutes it was kind of amusing, but after a while, it just became a grind - other than the fast break shots from Tennessee, the whole affair is messy, chaotic, and haphazard. It's like the opposite of watching a UConn or Notre Dame this season, which are teams that have some really beautifully executed plays, as well as incredibly talented athletes. This was just a hot mess. I can't imagine watching a season of that as a Vols fan, yikes. But you do you, Kim...
 
TheFarmFan said:
Remains to be seen how effective it will be, but let me tell you: it gets tedious to watch. First five or so minutes it was kind of amusing, but after a while, it just became a grind - other than the fast break shots from Tennessee, the whole affair is messy, chaotic, and haphazard. It's like the opposite of watching a UConn or Notre Dame this season, which are teams that have some really beautifully executed plays, as well as incredibly talented athletes. This was just a hot mess. I can't imagine watching a season of that as a Vols fan, yikes. But you do you, Kim...
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I'm with you 100%. Tennessee fans are so hungry for success they'll happily take the wins even if it means covering their eyes for half the game.

The coach does need to upgrade the non-conference slate. Hopefully that happens in the future.
 
Caldwell's style of play requires better 3-point shooters than are currently on the roster. Not sure what is going on with Jewel Spear, whom I've always liked. Big guard, good shooter who I thought may be given a shot in the WNBA. She is struggling so far this season.

I will be interested to see the player development in this helter-skelter style of play. If players aren't leaving Tennessee pro-ready then recruits will look elsewhere.
 
UConnCat said:
Caldwell's style of play requires better 3-point shooters than are currently on the roster. Not sure what is going on with Jewel Spear, whom I've always liked. Big guard, good shooter who I thought may be given a shot in the WNBA. She is struggling so far this season.

I will be interested to see the player development in this helter-skelter style of play. If players aren't leaving Tennessee pro-ready then recruits will look elsewhere.
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Yeah, I'm not a Vols fan so I don't have to worry about this, but that was my reaction too: this is not a great system to get pro ready. It's extremely admirable how much the players seem bought into a system in which they already had 36 substitutions 4 minutes into the game, but there's no way that approach is going to be ideal from a player development perspective. It really just reminds me of the ASU hockey line substitutions system under CTT -- but on steroids. And I didn't begrudge CTT for doing it, precisely because the Sun Devils were never going to get top pro prospects, so her system was great for solid role players. I'm not sure I see this working the same way for a team like the Vols that is used to generating top pro players, but time will tell. Mostly... I just don't want to have to watch it! :eek:
 
At the half, Michigan only up 32-31 over Northwestern. No other surprises as of yet.
 
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No letdown for Molly Miller's crew following the big win over the kitties. 22-10 over the outmatched Utah State Aggies. I have to compliment the Aggies for playing with more cohesion and energy than Natasha Adairs Sun Devils.

Meanwhile could Lindy LaRoche pull off the upset? Rebs are within one at the end of the first quarter.
 
BRS24 said:
At the half, Michigan only up 32-31 over Northwestern. No other surprises as of yet.
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Nope, no surprises, so far it seems like the other teams ranked in the Top 25 have had cake walk wins.
 
Lopes paced by ex UNLV Rebs Durazo-Frescas (11) and Obiazor (10) to lead at the half. Lindy LaRoche doesn't miss either as Rebs are tied up in Waco.
 
Ouch. Gonzaga blew a 20 point halftime lead against Colorado St. Went to OT, they eventually lost by 2. Looks like Bettencourt has been pulled from the starting lineup.


Okay, that's weird. Both halves featured a 43-23 scoring discrepancy, but they obviously flip flopped from one half to the other.
 
At one point Villanova appeared to be in control against Fairfield. Can't remember what the margin was when I looked but it was double figures. Fairfield came back to win by 3.
 
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