What Tenn should Do

[Wbbfan1]

Not that Tenn needs my advice or would they ever accept it, especially from a UConn fan, but here it goes.

Tenn should hold a 4 team Beginning of the Season or Thanksgiving tournament that benefits the Pat Summitt foundation. The Lady Vols should be one of the teams and the other three teams should be ones that traditionally are in the Top 20. Don't have teams like Buffalo and FIU or similar teams that are in the World Vision Classic and other similar tournaments. In the years that Stanford and Texas are scheduled to play Tenn in Tenn, they could be one of the teams in this tournament. UConn should be considered for an invite just like any other team that is traditionally in the Top 20. However, I suspect it will take a few more years, before Tenn's Athletic Administration would invite UConn.

The benefits are the Lady Vols fans would sell out their arena, and if the tournament had all Top 20 teams, ESPN would televise the tournament. They would raise hundred of thousands of dollars if not more in the first year.

While it won't happen if they happen to have this tournament next year, I propose they invite, Baylor, Notre Dame and Delaware to participate with the Lady Vols. A made for television event, with the Lady Vols, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins all playing each other. Since it would benefit the Pat Summitt foundation and be televised, I don't see any team not playing in the tournament.

 

[sarals24]

I would love to see this. I think the UConn Tennessee game each year could be some sort of benefit type event as well.

I hope it gets renewed. Water under the bridge and all that.

 

[VAUConnFan]

We have the Maggie Dixon Classic. Why not try to top it marqueed with a name synonomous with women's basketball. Great idea all the way around! Why not stage this tournament at a unique venue like an aircraft carrier, near a man made or natural wonder, or at the new World Trade Center?

 

[sarals24]

We have the Maggie Dixon Classic. Why not try to top it marqueed with a name synonomous with women's basketball. Great idea all the way around! Why not stage this tournament at a unique venue like an aircraft carrier, near a man made or natural wonder, or at the new World Trade Center?

I don't think anyone is trying to upstage the Maggie Dixon Classic. That is just two games, if I'm not mistaken, not a tournament. The more exposure for WCBB, the betetr, IMO.

 

[Dairyair]

Not that Tenn needs my advice or would they ever accept it, especially from a UConn fan, but here it goes.

Tenn should hold a 4 team Beginning of the Season or Thanksgiving tournament that benefits the Pat Summitt foundation. The Lady Vols should be one of the teams and the other three teams should be ones that traditionally are in the Top 20. Don't have teams like Buffalo and FIU or similar teams that are in the World Vision Classic and other similar tournaments. In the years that Stanford and Texas are scheduled to play Tenn in Tenn, they could be one of the teams in this tournament. UConn should be considered for an invite just like any other team that is traditionally in the Top 20. However, I suspect it will take a few more years, before Tenn's Athletic Administration would invite UConn.

The benefits are the Lady Vols fans would sell out their arena, and if the tournament had all Top 20 teams, ESPN would televise the tournament. They would raise hundred of thousands of dollars if not more in the first year.

While it won't happen if they happen to have this tournament next year, I propose they invite, Baylor, Notre Dame and Delaware to participate with the Lady Vols. A made for television event, with the Lady Vols, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins all playing each other. Since it would benefit the Pat Summitt foundation and be televised, I don't see any team not playing in the tournament.

Sounds like a great idea, win/win all around!

 

[Bayareahusky]

This is indeed a good idea for TN I think.... Wouldn't that be great for a program looking to rebuild itself (TN fans I would imagine would contest that they are in rebuild mode.... and still in the top 3-5 echelon still) to play such a tournament. I would love to see an "anyone, anywhere, anytime" mentality, though I have heard rumors that they are going to dial back on their schedule difficulty index. Think of what this could do for their profile, though. Wow.

 

[Bestiarius]

I don't think it would be a good idea for Tennessee to do what you suggest at this time. I believe they would get wiped out, and that wouldn't be good PR for their program or Pat's image if they lost all or most of the games.

 

[Bayareahusky]

So what are they going to do, water down the schedule as many have conjectured? Same thing ND football has tried to do to an extent.

 

[Sonny44]

Not that Tenn needs my advice or would they ever accept it, especially from a UConn fan, but here it goes.

Tenn should hold a 4 team Beginning of the Season or Thanksgiving tournament that benefits the Pat Summitt foundation. The Lady Vols should be one of the teams and the other three teams should be ones that traditionally are in the Top 20. Don't have teams like Buffalo and FIU or similar teams that are in the World Vision Classic and other similar tournaments. In the years that Stanford and Texas are scheduled to play Tenn in Tenn, they could be one of the teams in this tournament. UConn should be considered for an invite just like any other team that is traditionally in the Top 20. However, I suspect it will take a few more years, before Tenn's Athletic Administration would invite UConn.

The benefits are the Lady Vols fans would sell out their arena, and if the tournament had all Top 20 teams, ESPN would televise the tournament. They would raise hundred of thousands of dollars if not more in the first year.

While it won't happen if they happen to have this tournament next year, I propose they invite, Baylor, Notre Dame and Delaware to participate with the Lady Vols. A made for television event, with the Lady Vols, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins all playing each other. Since it would benefit the Pat Summitt foundation and be televised, I don't see any team not playing in the tournament.

Why not UCONN? Get the old rivalry going; reveal a new era.

 

[Bestiarius]

So what are they going to do, water down the schedule as many have conjectured?

Isn't it more than just conjecture? I seem to remember reading it was what they are going to do, but my photographic memory ran out of film years ago, so I could be wrong.

 

[Wbbfan1]

IMHO the Tenn Administration and especially the Tenn Fan Base is not ready to renew the series. Many would think it was a sell out to Pat. More time needs to pass before they'll feel comfortable renewing the series. Now if Pat, would come out with Geno and they both bury the hatchet in public and schedule a game that would benefit Alzheimers for Pat and Cancer (or other charity that Geno supports) for Geno then a game could be scheduled at a neutral site.

Why not UCONN? Get the old rivalry going; reveal a new era.

 

[Tonyc]

With all due respect its a nice thought but can Tenn,Pat and her staff and the Tenn fans bury the hatchet. No just go over and read their board. The hatred is still boiling over. Their biggest nitemare was for Geno and UConn to replace them as the lead dog in WCBB. Its happened. Geno and UConn have a winning record in regular season play and have never lost a NC to Tenn. Now with Pat ill their only rant is Pat is the winning coach in CBB. Well when Geno attains that record I can only imagine what it will be like in Tenn.

With all the kind words Geno has said in his various interviews regarding Pat, you go over and read their board and they are killing Geno. The pain, hatred and jealously still linger and imo will take years to overcome.

Tenn is no longer the team they were. If Tenn were to play UConn next season it would be an embarrassing. It would stir the pot even more and their blood pressure would rise to unlimited heights. I can feel for Pats illness but I cant forget what was done to our team, our organization, our former players and our fans. The feelings are the same. It hasnt stopped.

Tenn has a very very long way to go before they are a top 10 team again. Pat is still in the picture which means no coach can hold the reigns of the team as long as Pat is there. Until Pat is out of the picture no one appointed head coach at Tenn can run the team alone and imo thats why Tenn has Holley and not some of the other big named coaches hired. In other words no coach wants to share the duties of running the team with Pat and her Asst Coaches. When Pat steps down and the torch is passed to another coach with no strings attached , thats when Tenn will begin rebuilding.

As far as Tenn challanging for a NC in the near future, I dont see it happening. Right now they have two coaches Pat and Holley. Which coach leads the team? Who do you listen to? Who does the interviews? WHo gets the respect, the legend or the new coach? They have a young team, with no chemstry or disipline. They have many internal problems which have been evident for the past few years. Hey Micki was there, left, came back, and now has left again? What does that tell you? Do the other asst coaches see the writing on the wall and do they leave or do they go down with the ship? How can Tenn focus on anything when there are so many obstacles in front of them before they start the season? Fans are talking about Tenn winning a NC, lol, Tenn needs to focus on winning the SEC and with TAM UK Vandy all playing good ball thats going to be very hard. Tenn has alot of talent but talent isnt enough. Tenn had alot of talent the past 4 seasons and couldnt put it together. Now they have a talent bunch of inexperienced players???? Not hard to figure out whats going to happen when you dont have the coaching you once had. You have to be molded into a team, with disipline and thats something we havent seen in a long time.

After Pat leaves, if Tenn isnt winning, there will be more changes and then the rebuilding will begin. Until then this program is a train wreck waiting for something to happen, and not making anything happen and it wont as long as Pat has her hand in the cookie jar. There is no stability or direction as the program enters next season. Depending on how tuff of a schedule Tenn has next season will determine how many losses and how far they go. My guess is Tenn will be ranked 15-25 in the polls. Theyre roster is short and if they dont sign some players soon it will even be shorter the following season.

There alot of people thinking Tenn is what they once were. Pat is a legend, who could recruit along with Micki. Micki is no longer there and Pat is not what she was. Its not easy to see where Tenn is headed.

 

[Kibitzer]

Tony, Pat held the reigns. Holly now holds the reins.

 

[Bestiarius]

The pain, hatred and jealously still linger and imo will take years to overcome.

Tenn is no longer the team they were. If Tenn were to play UConn next season it would be an embarrassing. It would stir the pot even more and their blood pressure would rise to unlimited heights. I can feel for Pats illness but I cant forget what was done to our team, our organization, our former players and our fans. The feelings are the same. It hasnt stopped.

Tenn has a very very long way to go before they are a top 10 team again.

IMO the reason why TN cancelled playing Uconn was fear of losing. They knew the orange reputation would suffer if they played Uconn. You know what orange is: red with some yellow mixed in.

 

[Bayareahusky]

TonyC - Great post. Your points are well taken..... Yes, the posting site over at UT is still full of hatred at our program.... the hatred is palpable.... if it wasn't for the wonderful Candace Parker teams of 07 and 08, they would not have won a NC in 14 years. As it stands, 2 for the last 14 yrs is un-volunteer like. What they are hanging onto are 2 things, you mentioned the PHS most-wins with 1098, which will be pretty hard to break for anyone, though if Tara and/or Geno hang around long enough they may do so. And the 2nd badge of honor, which presently is a bit precarious, is 8 NCs, with Geno clipping at their heels at 7. What Uconn has over TN is winning percentage, head to head (13-9 I believe), undefeated in NC games (4-0), and productivity (7 NCs in 27 yrs, as opposed to 8 NCs in 38 yrs)

I miss the rivalry, but I hope we don't go back to it..... As Geno has said, there are new rivalries to be developed..... UC - ND has been good of late.... UC - Stanford, UC - Baylor, UC Duke are every year events..... let UT duke it out with Georgia and S Carolina. The top reaches in WCBB in general are not clamoring to see a talent filled senior laden team chalk up 9 losses as they did last year.

What I find unsavory about UT is the wave of sniping we see from down there.... the "we did it the honest way" calls..... the accusations of Geno in particular as a cheater..... the allegations about Maya Moore and her family. The "I was probably talking about UConn" comments which Pat said publicly a couple of years back. With her dozen sorted UC allegations presented to the NCAA, Pat threw the hand grenade, then distanced herself in the form of silence. I was proud that Geno stepped up and addressed the situation publicly.

With all this said, I really don't have enmity toward UT, I really hope their program succeeds going forth. Pat has done well for WCBB, and deserves the accolades she has received. What I find less appealing is the wave of hate coming from the south. I can't imagine what it will be when GA gets #8, #9, and #10. He will be even more of an SOB in their eyes.

 

[Bestiarius]

TonyC - Great post. Your points are well taken..... Yes, the posting site over at UT is still full of hatred at our program.... the hatred is palpable.... if it wasn't for the wonderful Candace Parker teams of 07 and 08, they would not have won a NC in 14 years. As it stands, 2 for the last 14 yrs is un-volunteer like. What they are hanging onto are 2 things, you mentioned the PHS most-wins with 1098, which will be pretty hard to break for anyone, though if Tara and/or Geno hang around long enough they may do so. And the 2nd badge of honor, which presently is a bit precarious, is 8 NCs, with Geno clipping at their heels at 7. What Uconn has over TN is winning percentage, head to head (13-9 I believe), undefeated in NC games (4-0), and productivity (7 NCs in 27 yrs, as opposed to 8 NCs in 38 yrs)

I miss the rivalry, but I hope we don't go back to it..... As Geno has said, there are new rivalries to be developed..... UC - ND has been good of late.... UC - Stanford, UC - Baylor, UC Duke are every year events..... let UT duke it out with Georgia and S Carolina. The top reaches in WCBB in general are not clamoring to see a talent filled senior laden team chalk up 9 losses as they did last year.

What I find unsavory about UT is the wave of sniping we see from down there.... the "we did it the honest way" calls..... the accusations of Geno in particular as a cheater..... the allegations about Maya Moore and her family. The "I was probably talking about UConn" comments which Pat said publicly a couple of years back. With her dozen sorted UC allegations presented to the NCAA, Pat threw the hand grenade, then distanced herself in the form of silence. I was proud that Geno stepped up and addressed the situation publicly.

With all this said, I really don't have enmity toward UT, I really hope their program succeeds going forth. Pat has done well for WCBB, and deserves the accolades she has received. What I find less appealing is the wave of hate coming from the south. I can't imagine what it will be when GA gets #8, #9, and #10. He will be even more of an SOB in their eyes.

I'm glad it wasn't Uconn that cancelled the series, but I am not in favor of renewing it. The illogical hatred TN fans exhibit is not a good basis for a healthy rivalry. There are plenty of good teams with which good rivalries can be established. I enjoy establishing informal relationships with other teams fans when the interaction is based on a common interest, is good-natured in tone, and is not personal. There are several individuals on this forum, fans of other teams that exhibit these good characteristics, and I've observed that most Uconn fans here are very welcoming and interested in hearing the perspective of others.

 

[doggydaddy]

Tennessee will slip to 5th in the SEC behind Kentucky, Georgia, Vandy and Texas A&M. Maybe worse if they don't stay 100% healthy.

 

[sarals24]

I would love to see the series renewed. I don't know if Pat's retirement will do it, or if it will take a changing of the guard entirely (meaning when/if Holly leaves).

One, I would love to see UConn play more games with top teams. I know their schedule is pretty loaded, but it's so much fun to see games against top-25 teams like Stanford, Oklahoma, Duke, Baylor, etc, that are out of conference. Regardless of Tennessee's coaching situation, I don't see them dropping out of the top-25 any time soon, just based on talent alone.

Two, it might add a sense of normalcy to the rivalry. I fear that when/if UConn meets UT in the NCAAs, it is going to be a media circus with waaaaay too much attention paid to the past. If they start playing again during the regular season, it might be like that at first, but it will subside.

Three, the players on these teams and next season's don't have much animosity in terms of the rivalry, it seems. Most of the players played together in AAU, USA bball, etc, and seem to be friends. Since UConn hasn't played UT in five years, these girls didn't grow up with the "rivalry" the way DT and others did. It might not be nearly as heated and could just develop into another rival, much like Stanford or Baylor.

A great way to start this would be a round robin situation with no stakes like the original post suggests. It doesn't have to be all top four teams, but it could rotate with teams from the big conferences, i.e. the Big East, Big XII, SEC and ACC.

 

[DaddyChoc]

if it wasn't for the wonderful Candace Parker teams of 07 and 08, they would not have won a NC in 14 years.

I think you meant to say Shannon Bobbitt

 

[Bayareahusky]

Yes Shannon B was on those teams as well. She is from NYC, I believe. Good teams, for sure.

 

[EricLA]

Tennessee will slip to 5th in the SEC behind Kentucky, Georgia, Vandy and Texas A&M. Maybe worse if they don't stay 100% healthy.

There are about a zillion Tennessee fans who would disagree with you.

i'm not going to to into how i think each player will do next year - we already had a long thread on that, but they pretty much need a perfect storm of health, incredible improvement from current players, and great contributions from new players in order to even be in the top 2 in the SEC. it remains to be seen if that happens.

2 other things in replies to this thread. i think any kind of early season tourney for the Pat Summitt/Alzheimer's foundation would be terrific. similar to the Maggie Dixon Classic. nothing wrong with that.

And I echo Tony's sentiments with regards to Tennessee and Pat. There were a ton of false accusations and a "going after" of UCONN back when Pat was fully in charge. I think it's incredibly classy of Geno to forgive all that and move on and be as gracious as he has been given the way Pat and Tennessee went after UCONN. Their fans have only fanned the flames.

And count me as one of the fans who has a tremendous amount of compassion for Pat and her disease, but won't forgive or forget what Pat and Tennessee tried to do to UCONN and Geno. Having said that, i'm totally in favor of renewing the series. If nothing else, it would be fun for the UCONN fans to enjoy a beat down of gargantuan proportions.

 

[Bayareahusky]

ericsandiego - great post. I concur, or as they say "plus 1"..... with possible exception of continuing the series..... if UT hates on us so badly, let 'em live in their own world. But if series comes back, as you say, let 'em take the beatdown.

 

[doggydaddy]

There are about a zillion Tennessee fans who would disagree with you.

i'm not going to to into how i think each player will do next year - we already had a long thread on that, but they pretty much need a perfect storm of health, incredible improvement from current players, and great contributions from new players in order to even be in the top 2 in the SEC. it remains to be seen if that happens.

Well, you know I don't care what their opinion is on their team. It's more than biased, if there is such a thing. And while I certainly look at their team as a half empty glass, I really believe they will struggle next season.

My 5th place thought is based on who they have coming back, who they lost and the new players as well. And about the 4 teams I have listed above them, who have most of their starters (in Vandy's case all of them) coming back to teams that already beat Tennessee last year (except for Georgia and they didn't play Texas A&M).

 

[Tonyc]

Tony, Pat held the reigns. Holly now holds the reins.

With all due respect if Pat didnt hold the reigns, Holly and company wouldnt be there.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Holly doesn't have the reins completely. The training wheels have been employed at UT