Mercedes Russell

#1
Decker Moss

Decker Moss

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#1
IMHO I have been a little disappointed in Russell so far this year, but in yesterday's game I actually saw some flashes of what she could become. She genuinely showed some muscle and had a few power moves to the basket. Maybe the weight lifting is starting to pay off.
 
#2
#2
I believe you are right. It has taken her some time adjust to the speed of the college game. As she gets stronger and faster then look out. She could become another Brittany G..
 
#6
#6
Another one of those "despite being a freshman, she hasn't dominated everyone and looked better than Candace Parker so she must be a bust" threads. SMDH.
 
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#7
#7
Decker Moss said:
IMHO I have been a little disappointed in Russell so far this year, but in yesterday's game I actually saw some flashes of what she could become. She genuinely showed some muscle and had a few power moves to the basket. Maybe the weight lifting is starting to pay off.
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Don't be deluded by a performance against a team like Lipscomb. I'm pretty good too when I play against the 6th graders at the local grammar school.
 
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#8
#8
I can recall many former freshman post players who at the end of the year stated how they needed to get stronger. Izzy was the most recent example.


And I can also remember how many complaints were about Glory in her freshman years about rushing her shots. And as an earlier person on this thread stated - she wasn't as dominating as Candice was.

The years come and go with our views on players (in all sports) thats why we sit in reclining chairs.

have a good 2014 in life as well as enjoying the LVs
 
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#10
#10
Convoluted said:
Don't be deluded by a performance against a team like Lipscomb. I'm pretty good too when I play against the 6th graders at the local grammar school.
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Such a positive person! Of course, you probably don't have children, so you seem to have no perspective about young people who actually have loads of ability, but need time to adjust to a completely new atmosphere.

She is getting better with each game, and she will be another Lady Vol we will appreciate so much for her commitment to keeping our Lady Vols at the top.

Proud she is a Lady Vol, and am proud of the character she has displayed.
 
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#11
#11
jim43 said:
Such a positive person! Of course, you probably don't have children, so you seem to have no perspective about young people who actually have loads of ability, but need time to adjust to a completely new atmosphere.

She is getting better with each game, and she will be another Lady Vol we will appreciate so much for her commitment to keeping our Lady Vols at the top.

Proud she is a Lady Vol, and am proud of the character she has displayed.
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I think the point of their post was to not get too excited over one game against inferior competition. On a side note I think defense needs to improve how to guard the ball not the man (woman). Start improving the defense and scoring on offense becomes easier.
 
#12
#12
jim43 said:
Such a positive person! Of course, you probably don't have children, so you seem to have no perspective about young people who actually have loads of ability, but need time to adjust to a completely new atmosphere.

She is getting better with each game, and she will be another Lady Vol we will appreciate so much for her commitment to keeping our Lady Vols at the top.

Proud she is a Lady Vol, and am proud of the character she has displayed.
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Well, I have 4 terrific boys. I don't consider what I said to be negative. Just realistic.

If she had done even moderately well against Stanford, your case would have been better made. But to heap praise when the opposition is 6 to 10 inches shorter and not at the same level is just setting the person up for a big let down. The expectations for MR (and other players rated #1 over the years) are much greater than players who were not rated #1. That may be unfair as she didn't give herself that rating, but it's something that she'll have to live with, and so will the fans.

Also, you'd be more realistic if you said, "keep the Lady Vols NEAR the top." It's been years since the LVs have been "AT the top."
 
#13
#13
Russell will be a good player for UT. She doesn't have the wow talent that a lot of No. 1 recruits have, but she has size and skills and BB intelligence, and she moves pretty well. She will be an asset--and possibly a big one. She definitely needs to get stronger and learn to use her body to advantage in the paint. I think she has the potential to become a very good low-post scorer if she learns some basic moves--and players with size and a shooting touch can score pretty regularly in the paint if they learn the fundamentals (which are quite simple), but I've frankly never been hugely impressed with the UT asst. who works with our bigs--they all seem very slow to develop offensively. With Russell, Graves and Harrison we have the potential to give teams serious problems inside, but maybe I'm too optimistic. I certainly didn't expect one athletic big at Stanford to completely dominate our team.
 
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#14
#14
armchair said:
Russell will be a good player for UT. She doesn't have the wow talent that a lot of No. 1 recruits have, but she has size and skills and BB intelligence, and she moves pretty well. She will be an asset--and possibly a big one. She definitely needs to get stronger and learn to use her body to advantage in the paint. I think she has the potential to become a very good low-post scorer if she learns some basic moves--and players with size and a shooting touch can score pretty regularly in the paint if they learn the fundamentals (which are quite simple), but I've frankly never been hugely impressed with the UT asst. who works with our bigs--they all seem very slow to develop offensively. With Russell, Graves and Harrison we have the potential to give teams serious problems inside, but maybe I'm too optimistic. I certainly didn't expect one athletic big at Stanford to completely dominate our team.
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You would think after several years of her and her sister having career high numbers against us, we would devise some kind of scheme to stop her. UConn was able to slow her down, why couldn't we? I heard Holly say in an interview that Ogumike was going to get her points. Maybe that's the problem..Holly was content to let her score at will without trying to stop her. Of course it didn't help that they shot 60+ percent from the perimeter. It's a game we could have won and even Holly admitted that there were some coaching mistakes during the game. Holly was an AA at the point for Tennessee and defense was her specialty. Why then are we having so many issues with guarding perimeter shots and just letting ppl drive to the basket uncontested? I'm afraid if we played UConn or even Louisville in the tournament, they will smoke us behind the arc for a lot of points. I hope Holly can figure out a way to cut down on so many perimeter points. It's killing us!! BTW, I liked the 2 3 zone we played in most of the second half. Seems like the players are more comfortable in that defense. Only allowed the other team like 13 points. As far as Russell is concerned, I'm not to concerned about her slow start this year. I expected it. For one, she is still playing behind Harrison and Graves. She might have some confidence issues, but she shows flashes of an AA type player every now and then. I think she will be fine. Like others have said, a year in the weight room will do wonders for her. I think she will even be much more improved by post season play..
 
#15
#15
Decker Moss said:
IMHO I have been a little disappointed in Russell so far this year, but in yesterday's game I actually saw some flashes of what she could become. She genuinely showed some muscle and had a few power moves to the basket. Maybe the weight lifting is starting to pay off.
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Two things:

1) No Center in women's college basketball has dominated from their Freshman year. That includes Griner. To be honest, there aren't even a lot of great women centers to begin with.

2) Our team has a great inside presence with Graves and Izzy, so it's even tougher for a Freshman to come in and dominate when she's competing for playing time.

boxerpupsrcool said:
UConn was able to slow her down, why couldn't we?
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Our game was in Palo Alto. Their game was in Storrs. Had our game been at the Summit, it probably would have been totally different. Candace Parker didn't win in Palo Alto either. Despite Ogwumike's game and it being on the road, we damn near won it anyway.
 
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#18
#18
boxerpupsrcool said:
You would think after several years of her and her sister having career high numbers against us, we would devise some kind of scheme to stop her. UConn was able to slow her down, why couldn't we? I heard Holly say in an interview that Ogumike was going to get her points. Maybe that's the problem..Holly was content to let her score at will without trying to stop her. Of course it didn't help that they shot 60+ percent from the perimeter. It's a game we could have won and even Holly admitted that there were some coaching mistakes during the game. Holly was an AA at the point for Tennessee and defense was her specialty. Why then are we having so many issues with guarding perimeter shots and just letting ppl drive to the basket uncontested? I'm afraid if we played UConn or even Louisville in the tournament, they will smoke us behind the arc for a lot of points. I hope Holly can figure out a way to cut down on so many perimeter points. It's killing us!! BTW, I liked the 2 3 zone we played in most of the second half. Seems like the players are more comfortable in that defense. Only allowed the other team like 13 points. As far as Russell is concerned, I'm not to concerned about her slow start this year. I expected it. For one, she is still playing behind Harrison and Graves. She might have some confidence issues, but she shows flashes of an AA type player every now and then. I think she will be fine. Like others have said, a year in the weight room will do wonders for her. I think she will even be much more improved by post season play..
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Tennessee used to be a TOUGH man-to-man defensive team. That's another of the basketball virtues that we've lost over the last decade. We just don't have a lot of hard-nosed man defenders. Last year our perimeter defense was WEAK because Simmons, Spani and Massengale were lousy defensively. Simmons was getting pushed around, Spani slow and Massengale was lazy. By all accounts Simmons and Massengale are trying harder this year. That's something. Last year ND embarrassed us with their pick and passing game--they must have had 20 layups. Lame performance. This team is better defensively but there remains much room for improvement.
 
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#20
#20
Decker Moss said:
IMHO I have been a little disappointed in Russell so far this year, but in yesterday's game I actually saw some flashes of what she could become. She genuinely showed some muscle and had a few power moves to the basket. Maybe the weight lifting is starting to pay off.
Click to expand...

Named SEC freshman of the week! Sorry your disappointed DA!
 
#21
#21
You guys aren't remembering Candace too well who is probably one of the greatest women players of all time. It took her almost all of her redshirt freshman year to adjust to Division 1. Davis for GT looks better but I think it is easier for shorter players to adjust. The taller players like Russell have to strengthen their bodies. That's why little women gymnasts do better than taller initially.
 
#22
#22
I really can't say too much because I haven't seen many games on TV/online, and maybe I'm a lil bit tough on her but I really think she has a hiiiigh ceiling & will eventually come into her own & be the great player we all expected.
She's only a freshmen, hasn't lifted any type of weights before, & never really had much competition in H.S.
Congrats to her being named Freshmen kf the week!

One thing that stood out from one of Holly's interviews was that Mercedes can be told once to do something & you don't have to tell her again. Talk about a student of the game.
 
#23
#23
Armchair

How can you play tough defense with the way they call games now? Stupid refs have ruined the game...imho
 
#24
#24
Kev415 said:
I really can't say too much because I haven't seen many games on TV/online, and maybe I'm a lil bit tough on her but I really think she has a hiiiigh ceiling & will eventually come into her own & be the great player we all expected.
She's only a freshmen, hasn't lifted any type of weights before, & never really had much competition in H.S.
Congrats to her being named Freshmen kf the week!

One thing that stood out from one of Holly's interviews was that Mercedes can be told once to do something & you don't have to tell her again. Talk about a student of the game.
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Holly should tell her to keep the ball high then. Tall players do have the hardest time adjusting because they have generally been used to being the biggest person on the court. A lot of their advantages are erased when they play equally talented teams. She'll catch on.
 
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