Pre-Season Top 5?

#1
D

DaddyChoc

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Apr 12, 2013
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#1
in no order:
Notre Dame
UConn
Tennessee
South Carolina
North Carolina?

TAMU?
Duke?
West Virginia?
Louisville?
Baylor?
 
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#4
#4
i don't put any stock in a pre season poll at all

they should wait till they have played around 10 games or so before a poll comes out

probably more than that
 
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#9
#9
I love all the Vols including the Lady Vols but it's football season so who cares about preseason poll for bball. I thought one of the crazy VN fans was saying in football next year we were going to be preseason top 5, I was like "What the h€ll are you on." Go Lady Vols.
 
#13
#13
ALLVOL24/7/365 said:
I love all the Vols including the Lady Vols but it's football season so who cares about preseason poll for bball. I thought one of the crazy VN fans was saying in football next year we were going to be preseason top 5, I was like "What the h€ll are you on." Go Lady Vols.
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Sounds like this may be the time to give up drinking. This is under the LADY VOL forum, and you were thinking it was about football?

Whatever the season, we care about our Lady Vols sports, as well as our men.

Go Vols and Go Lady Vols!
 
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#14
#14
The Lady Vols, in my opinion, have the talent to be a top 4 team. The question is going to be if they have the teamwork and if the coaches can harness that talent.

I was disappointed when they failed to reach the Final Four last season and I think I would be even more disappointed this season if they fail in that quest.

Jim
 
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#15
#15
CannonVol80 said:
The Lady Vols, in my opinion, have the talent to be a top 4 team. The question is going to be if they have the teamwork and if the coaches can harness that talent.

I was disappointed when they failed to reach the Final Four last season and I think I would be even more disappointed this season if they fail in that quest.

Jim
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Things need to go perfectly for the LVs. At their best, and with good foul management, they have the potential to be Top 4, assuming Massengale and Harrison are healthy. Take Massengale away and they are not a top 10 team. Take Harrison away and they are not a top 20 team. Take them both out and they are irrelevant. The lack of post depth and perimeter scoring will haunt them this year.
 
#16
#16
Our problem is that we are weak at the forward/wing position--really weak. At the moment we don't have a single good all-around player at those positions, despite the fact that we have a bench full of top recruits. Major issue. Graves can rebound but doesn't do anything else particular well: Gets points off of offensive rebounds but otherwise has no game. Burdick is versatile but is not much more than ok at anything. Jones is athletic but has little court smarts--a turnover waiting to happen. And those are our veterans! The others are incoming freshmen. Let us hope Nared and Dunbar are players, because we need them. Jones and Graves will be the key to the season, IMO. They both need to show major improvement over last season or this team will not accomplish much. If we had a well-drilled, ND-like offense that passed well, then some of our individual weaknesses would not be so glaring. But we don't.
 
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#18
#18
There is no way I would put USC as the no.2 team in the country. It should be Uconn, ND, A&M, UT, then USC. Call me crazy I just don't buy the USC hype can anybody name some quality opponents they played outside of the SEC last year and what was they record against the better half of the SEC.
 
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#19
#19
Orange_Mamba said:
There is no way I would put USC as the no.2 team in the country. It should be Uconn, ND, A&M, UT, then USC. Call me crazy I just don't buy the USC hype can anybody name some quality opponents they played outside of the SEC last year and what was they record against the better half of the SEC.
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Other than a very young UNC team, Tennessee didn't beat anyone of significance outside the SEC last year.

SC brings in two top 5 recruits, including the #1 player in the class, and another highly rated PG. They lose no one of significance. Tennessee loses their go-to player and leading scorer.

Even discounting the freshmen, SC returns more talent. Add the freshmen class, and SC is way better.
 
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#20
#20
Amb3096 said:
Other than a very young UNC team, Tennessee didn't beat anyone of significance outside the SEC last year.

SC brings in two top 5 recruits, including the #1 player in the class, and another highly rated PG. They lose no one of significance. Tennessee loses their go-to player and leading scorer.

Even discounting the freshmen, SC returns more talent. Add the freshmen class, and SC is way better.
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So Texas and MTSU weren't quality wins either or Gtech who was ranked in the top 25 when we beat them. My point is even though we lost to Stanford and ND at least we played a tough opponent. Heck we could have went undefeated if we played USC schedule last and if you look at their schedule this year all cupcakes except for uconn.
No USC DOES NOT have more talent than UT. Even with the loss of Simmons do you not know how many McD All-Americans are on this team. Not to mention we return our starting pg and add some more 3 point shooters. In order for USC to be great they have to have an outside presence something they still do not have.
 
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#22
#22
Last season Tenn was No 4 preseason in both polls while SC was 21st & 22nd. They ended up splitting the SEC titles and going to the S16. I'll pick the team on the rise.
 
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#23
#23
Orange_Mamba said:
There is no way I would put USC as the no.2 team in the country. It should be Uconn, ND, A&M, UT, then USC. Call me crazy I just don't buy the USC hype can anybody name some quality opponents they played outside of the SEC last year and what was they record against the better half of the SEC.
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South Carolina's record in the SEC last year was 14-2. So I guess against the top half of the SEC they were 5-2. They did lose to Kentucky in the SEC tournament.

The addition of A'ja Wilson and Jatarie White will be huge for them! That said, I,too, feel that the Lady Vols will be the better team this season. I do not,however, feel that any team can afford to sleep on the Lady Gamecocks.

Jim
 
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#24
#24
With the talent on the two teams being about even I think Dawn Staley brings a lot more intensity to her group than Holly does. Holly has yet to prove that she can get the level of play needed to beat teams with similar talent. We did beat SC last season they are better this season remains to be seen if we are any better. It all comes down to playing hard nosed defense for forty minutes which we didn't do in several games last season. South Carolina has to be the SEC favorite this season since they have added two top ten players to their roster.
 
#25
#25
Orange_Mamba said:
So Texas and MTSU weren't quality wins either or Gtech who was ranked in the top 25 when we beat them. My point is even though we lost to Stanford and ND at least we played a tough opponent. Heck we could have went undefeated if we played USC schedule last and if you look at their schedule this year all cupcakes except for uconn.
No USC DOES NOT have more talent than UT. Even with the loss of Simmons do you not know how many McD All-Americans are on this team. Not to mention we return our starting pg and add some more 3 point shooters. In order for USC to be great they have to have an outside presence something they still do not have.
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Is this what the Lady Vols have been reduced to? Their signature OOC wins are mid-major MTSU, a middling B12 Texas Team and a "they used to be ranked in the first week!" Georgia Tech team? To answer your question...no, those are not quality wins. At least not by Lady Vols standards. Nor should they be.

I still stand by my statement that SC returns more talent. True, they have fewer McD AAs then Tennessee, but they do have players that have proven their abilities at the college level instead of peaking in high school. Even Tennessee's best returning player wasn't a HS AA, so that is a meaningless accolade after you've played your first college game. Aleghsa Welch was not a HS AA, but I'll take her any day over McD AA and supposed #3 player in her class Cierra Burdick. Tiffany Mitchell wasn't a HS AA either...but she was the SEC POY and a collegiate AA. That's more impressive than Bashaara Graves McD AA status.

SC brings back their starting 5 along with the SECFOY of a team that won the SEC title outright. Tennessee loses Simmons, their leading scorer. Simmons was also Tennessee's biggest 3 pt threat. None of the returning players are proven outside shooters. Mitchell made more 3s last season than any of Tennessee's returning players, and also shot a very high percentage. SC also brings in the HS FOY. There is not comparison between the talent level of these 2 teams, and unless 3 of Tennessee's starters (Graves, Burdick, Carter) have improved tremendously in the off season, I will pick SC to win this year's contest handily. Even if they do come back improved, I'd still give SC the edge if Wilson comes in at the same level as other #1 ranked HS players not named Mercedes Russell.
 
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