Mercedes Russell Expected To Redshirt

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Women's basketball head coach Holly Warlick announced Thursday that Mercedes Russell is expected to redshirt during the 2014-15 season.

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#4
#4
It's good to know we'll have some good shooters on the outside for 2014-2015 to take up the slack for the lack of height on the inside. We'll miss her but we need her to get healthy. I hope she comes back in better shape for the 2015-2016 year.
 
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#5
#5
I hope she can get to 100 percent by taking a redshirt year. It certainly is a blow to our team we can't afford any injuries to Graves, Harrison, or Moore. Looks like Moore will see her role increased or we'll be playing a lot of small ball.
 
#9
#9
Many former LVs who were tall have experienced back, knee and feet problems. Playing year round from age 13 while in growing spurts does take a toil on youthful bodies.
 
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#13
#13
She supposedly played while nursing a foot injury I believe most of last season. Yes, this will hurt us on the inside but the young lady needs to get well. Having her and Diamond both coming back as "sophomores" in 2015/2016 is huge and will be big for this team in the coming years.

Graves and Moore are really going to have to step up their games this season and help Harrison out.
 
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#14
#14
Wow, this wasn't the news i wanted to hear but i'm hoping that her having the extra time off to fully recover and be at a 100% will be beneficial not only for us but also for her career in the long run so i'm wishing her a speedy and healthy recovery.


I do hope that Moore does see more minutes now though.
 
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#15
#15
If Moore gets more playing time, I sure hope she has put on a little weight and spent the spring and summer improving her game.
 
#16
#16
I hope Moore has has spent the summer eating cheeseburgers....Way to thin for the post.
 
#17
#17
One of the problems I have had with UT recruiting is that we are always short at one position or another. For a long time it was point guard. Now it is center and power forward.

Even when we have depth it is not always quality depth. I realize that kids don't want to sit on the bench so you have to have a mix of higher rated ones and ones who are just glad to be here. But even when we were on top and could pretty much pick our team we would have gaps.

Holly has done a good job going out and getting us some talent. But I think she hasn't done as good a job with the mix of players we are getting.

The football team has a similar problem at qb. If Butch doesn't make it here it will be because he didn't get a quality qb on campus early enough. It is looking like 2016-2017 might be the soonest we can have an SEC quality qb who isn't a freshman. Similarly with the women's basketball team, we will have one quality center this year, and unless we recruit one at the 11th hour, one quality center next year. With the way they are calling fouls now this is a disaster.

You can win a lot of games with a team put together like ours. But you aren't going to win any national championships. If Holly wants to hang a banner she is going to have to find some way of assembling all of the necessary pieces and then she is going to have to raise the level of execution. Just hanging around the top ten isn't going to be enough. I think she has done a fairly good job, but there just seem to be some problems looming that she will have to be proactive about if she wants to get over the hump. DeShields was a huge get. Now it is incumbent on us to go out and get the pieces that will allow her to flourish.
 
#18
#18
Voluble2 said:
One of the problems I have had with UT recruiting is that we are always short at one position or another. For a long time it was point guard. Now it is center and power forward.

Even when we have depth it is not always quality depth. I realize that kids don't want to sit on the bench so you have to have a mix of higher rated ones and ones who are just glad to be here. But even when we were on top and could pretty much pick our team we would have gaps.

Holly has done a good job going out and getting us some talent. But I think she hasn't done as good a job with the mix of players we are getting.

The football team has a similar problem at qb. If Butch doesn't make it here it will be because he didn't get a quality qb on campus early enough. It is looking like 2016-2017 might be the soonest we can have an SEC quality qb who isn't a freshman. Similarly with the women's basketball team, we will have one quality center this year, and unless we recruit one at the 11th hour, one quality center next year. With the way they are calling fouls now this is a disaster.

You can win a lot of games with a team put together like ours. But you aren't going to win any national championships. If Holly wants to hang a banner she is going to have to find some way of assembling all of the necessary pieces and then she is going to have to raise the level of execution. Just hanging around the top ten isn't going to be enough. I think she has done a fairly good job, but there just seem to be some problems looming that she will have to be proactive about if she wants to get over the hump. DeShields was a huge get. Now it is incumbent on us to go out and get the pieces that will allow her to flourish.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to contribute more to the Recruiting Fund.
 
#19
#19
Well, as you probably know, Voluble2, Holly has put a significant effort into getting Kalani Brown. There are also one or two other bigs from the class of 2015 who are ranked in the top 100 who are getting looks as well, so it's not as if the effort isn't there.

One problem with centers and posts that I have seen over the years is that the is frequently less development of their skills at the high school level. In my opinion, this is because they are too frequently able to rely strictly on their size without having to develop post skills in order to post gaudy stats against the majority of their opponents.

That having been said, I also have seen too much reliance being placed on athletic wings as the saviours of the program and, unfortunately, I think that reliance has been misplaced.

Jim
 
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#21
#21
CannonVol80 said:
One problem with centers and posts that I have seen over the years is that the is frequently less development of their skills at the high school level.

Jim
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That is true. There are also fewer of them to start with. Because of this the ones who can really play are at a premium. Outside of that you just have to project who you will be able to develop.

I am not saying it is an easy task. Degree of difficulty never enters into it. It is just something that has to be done regardless of how difficult it is. You have to have enough good quality players at every position or you will lose to UConn. Just having the players isn't sufficient, but it is necessary. So if that is our goal, beating UConn or winning a national title, we have to do these difficult things.

Who do you think the first sub will be for Izzy this year? I know it will depend upon the situation, but in general, who do you think will get the bulk of the minutes?
 
#23
#23
With Mercedes out, I think that the post rotation will primarily come down to Izzy, Bashaara, Nia Moore and Jasmine Jones. We could see Jaime Nared and Kortney Dunbar in at the 4 spot some depending on their development and the need.

Nia Moore actually has been one of the more productive players on the team on a per minute basis. I think that her errors are magnified because of general perception and because she typically comes in late and in games where the outcome is generally clear. But, personally, I think she can be a valuable sub for Izzy.

Jim
 
#24
#24
armchair said:
Say goodbye to this season. Now the Vols have NO size inside.
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Not sure if we can say goodbye to the season but it`s a big blow.We try Graves at the 5 last year and it was a disaster. Izzy will start at the 5 but when she go to the bench ?
 
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