Missing that Punch

[volfanIND]

This season could of been a complete collapse, and it wasn't. As a basketball fan (all of basketball) it's great to see what this team did with what they were missing. With Izzy and Jones on the floor last night versus Maryland, complete different outcome. Maryland would NOT have an answer for the quickness of Izzy.

Every tournament comes down to this, making shots. Last night, Dayton/UCONN, Dayton hit shots in the first half. When Baylor lost to Louisville and when we lost to Louisville, Louisville hit shots.

I was proud of our defense, just wish we could make shots. I think as far as defense goes, we did what we were supposed to do. Holly is a defense/rebound coach just like Pat. We just didn't have the hot hand most of the season.

You can't blame shooting on a coach. You can't blame injuries on a coach, and you can't blame the best player in the country sitting out for a year on the coach.

30+ wins, regular season sec champs, finishing as one of the top 8 teams in the country again. Are we better than Maryland? I think we are pretty equal, we shot at 32%, if we were 38%+ we would of won the game.

We actually held Maryland to 52 points, the last 6 came from last second free throws (which I hate doing).

With how some of you are acting, I think you need to cut loose on the neck tie and let out some of the air in your head. The expectations you set are okay that we should be final 4 team each year is great. But realistically, we are missing our star player, so with the pieces we had, we had a shot at it. Next year, if we are not in final four with what we will have, then I would be worried. Proud of my Team!

 

[Amb3096]

This may have been a loss, but they never laid down and played dead like they did against Louisville and MD last year. They fought and never panicked, but were outmanned in the post and didn't have the shooters on the team that could overcome a shut down post game.

Ariel, Cierra and Bashaara left it all out on the court and shouldn't be too tough on themselves.

 

[orangeluvr]

The LVs didn't play with the toughness and determination they showed against gonzaga. Plus we didn't use our speed to push the ball down the floor, the terps were a step slower. Cold shooting streaks didn't help either.

Congratulations on your 30 win season ladies ! :dance:

 

[Amb3096]

The LVs didn't play with the toughness and determination they showed against gonzaga. Plus we didn't use our speed to push the ball down the floor, the terps were a step slower. Cold shooting streaks didn't help either.

Congratulations on your 30 win season ladies ! :dance:

Gonzaga was a different situation. I'm sure Tennessee knew they were a superior team and could get a stop whenever they wanted and score whenever they wanted.

MD's frontcourt is slow, but without Izzy, so is Tennessee's. Not Bashaara, but every time that Cierra attacks the basket, I feel like I'm watching a a slo-mo replay. That's just not her game.

MD's guards are just as fast and are taller and far better on the offensive end. Doesn't matter that they aren't that great defensively, but they only have to check Ariel.

I remember how disappointing it was watching them come out scared against Louisville last year, and playing the entire game vs. MD last year with fear on their faces. They were fighting until the end, but couldn't pull it off against a team that was significantly more talented than Gonzaga.

 

[VollyParton]

Back when it was announced that Mercedes was going to redshirt, many posters at that point gave up on the final four and said this team would only get to the sweet sixteen or the elite eight if lucky. And that was when we had Izzy, Jazzy and thought we might have Jannah. Who would have predicted we'd get to the Elite Eight with Bashaara and Nia as our centers? But after watching them all season, we knew they could even get to the Final Four with these players, so I guess you could say we both over-achieved and fell short of expectations. Personally, I love a Lady Vol team with great defense and a lot of fight, so i've enjoyed watching them play. I hope they bring as much of this personality back to start next year as they ended with this year.
Go Lady Vols!

 

[GameTime]

The girl's gave a maximum effort...No complaints.

 

[armchair]

We missed Russell and Izzy a lot more than Jones. Jones has the same offensive problems as everybody else on the team. She commits more turnovers than anybody.

 

[stubbs9]

You can only hide your injuries for so long. I think people forget about who is injured on our team because of our success but when you go this deep into the tournament, injuries start to take affect. Its hard for Graves and Burdick to battle in the post all night without much rest. That's when depth becomes an issue. I think we have had more injuries than any team in the country the past 3 years.

 

[Bellevue vol]

You can only hide your injuries for so long. I think people forget about who is injured on our team because of our success but when you go this deep into the tournament, injuries start to take affect. Its hard for Graves and Burdick to battle in the post all night without much rest. That's when depth becomes an issue. I think we have had more injuries than any team in the country the past 3 years.

Are the injuries a training issue, or just bad luck. It seems like some teams never suffer a rash of injuries like we did.

 

[LVJeff]

Are the injuries a training issue, or just bad luck. It seems like some teams never suffer a rash of injuries like we did.

I have wondered the same thing. I mostly count it as bad luck - bunions and concussions are just plain weird. And ACL's are of course quite common. But at some point if it continues I'll begin to wonder if there isn't a systemic component.

 

[volfanIND]

Are the injuries a training issue, or just bad luck. It seems like some teams never suffer a rash of injuries like we did.

You know I was watching the UCONN game and I was like, when do their stars get injured? Like never. Any why is that? The only thing I could think of is... competition.

The SEC is the MOST PHYSICAL conference of all, and has been since the 90's. Izzy got hurt battling with a rebound with 5'8 guard from KY. The SEC is just rough and tough. You think of Massengale with Florida last year.

How tough are these other conferences? I like the SEC because of our reputation but also don't like it because it is so tough, our players are more injury prone. I mean KY had a player break a leg.

Also, nobody else in the country has the same conference style of play. When we go to match up outside of our conference, it's kind of a mess because those teams are finesse teams and here we are piling on the weights and ready to bang.

Does the style of play in the SEC is work against us come tournament time?

 

[Amb3096]

You know I was watching the UCONN game and I was like, when do their stars get injured? Like never. Any why is that? The only thing I could think of is... competition.

The SEC is the MOST PHYSICAL conference of all, and has been since the 90's. Izzy got hurt battling with a rebound with 5'8 guard from KY. The SEC is just rough and tough. You think of Massengale with Florida last year.

How tough are these other conferences? I like the SEC because of our reputation but also don't like it because it is so tough, our players are more injury prone. I mean KY had a player break a leg.

Also, nobody else in the country has the same conference style of play. When we go to match up outside of our conference, it's kind of a mess because those teams are finesse teams and here we are piling on the weights and ready to bang.

Does the style of play in the SEC is work against us come tournament time?

ACC looks pretty physical from what I've seen. UNC plays with the same reckless abandon as UK. Duke is quite physical as well.

Izzy got hurt in the first game against Penn, who isn't known as a physical team. Freak plays happen...whether it's Penn or KY. I don't think level of competition has anything to do with it. If players are flying to the ball with abandon, these things will happen.

 

[UCMiami]

volfanIND - last year Morgan Tuck was lost for the year to a knee and KML was lost for 12 games with an elbow injury and then had mono, this year the first freshman off the bench in at the start of the season was lost for two months to a stress reaction and hasn't been the same since - no team is immune. I do think the SEC officiating allows more physical play than maybe some other conferences, but I doubt there is a D1 player who doesn't have bruises on top of bruises at this time of year - otherwise it is just dumb luck, because a lot of injuries occur with minimal contact and are the result of just landing wrong, or landing on another players foot, or tripping at the wrong moment.

On your OP - 'you can't blame shooting on a coach' - actually I think you can. Dayton doesn't have 'better players' than TN, but they have a great offensive system in place that works the ball around and creates good, wide-open shots and against the best defense in D1 they shot 70% from 3 and 51% overall in the first half. Even after struggling in the second half they ended up at 52.6/45.2 which is 15 percentage points higher than Uconn's season defensive field goal percentage allowed. That is coaching and offensive execution by a team that runs a very good offense. We used to joke that TNs offensive system was 'chuck it and offensive rebound' - it was never that bad, but it is not a great offensive game plan and unless you have an amazing player like Parker, it can be a real grind. So, yes, I think you can blame coaches for not teaching and demanding players adhere to a good offensive system.

 

[Amb3096]

On your OP - 'you can't blame shooting on a coach' - actually I think you can. Dayton doesn't have 'better players' than TN, but they have a great offensive system in place that works the ball around and creates good, wide-open shots and against the best defense in D1 they shot 70% from 3 and 51% overall in the first half. Even after struggling in the second half they ended up at 52.6/45.2 which is 15 percentage points higher than Uconn's season defensive field goal percentage allowed. That is coaching and offensive execution by a team that runs a very good offense. We used to joke that TNs offensive system was 'chuck it and offensive rebound' - it was never that bad, but it is not a great offensive game plan and unless you have an amazing player like Parker, it can be a real grind. So, yes, I think you can blame coaches for not teaching and demanding players adhere to a good offensive system.

There were at least 10 possessions where they used great ball reversal to isolate a perimeter player for a wide open 3...and either the player decided not to shoot or they missed the shot. That has to fall on the players.

 

[volfanIND]

volfanIND - last year Morgan Tuck was lost for the year to a knee and KML was lost for 12 games with an elbow injury and then had mono, this year the first freshman off the bench in at the start of the season was lost for two months to a stress reaction and hasn't been the same since - no team is immune. I do think the SEC officiating allows more physical play than maybe some other conferences, but I doubt there is a D1 player who doesn't have bruises on top of bruises at this time of year - otherwise it is just dumb luck, because a lot of injuries occur with minimal contact and are the result of just landing wrong, or landing on another players foot, or tripping at the wrong moment.

On your OP - 'you can't blame shooting on a coach' - actually I think you can. Dayton doesn't have 'better players' than TN, but they have a great offensive system in place that works the ball around and creates good, wide-open shots and against the best defense in D1 they shot 70% from 3 and 51% overall in the first half. Even after struggling in the second half they ended up at 52.6/45.2 which is 15 percentage points higher than Uconn's season defensive field goal percentage allowed. That is coaching and offensive execution by a team that runs a very good offense. We used to joke that TNs offensive system was 'chuck it and offensive rebound' - it was never that bad, but it is not a great offensive game plan and unless you have an amazing player like Parker, it can be a real grind. So, yes, I think you can blame coaches for not teaching and demanding players adhere to a good offensive system.

I see your point about injuries, I just wonder because of the style of play that we portray, puts us more at risk. UCONN is by far a more polished, finesse style. While our's is rough and tough.

Tennessee was built on defense and rebounding. Offense has never been our ammo and at this point that isn't going to change. At times we've had really gifted athletes who can flat our score, Catch, Holds, Lawson, Parker.

Our offense changes yearly. Depending on the personal. It's not consistent, and I agree our offense on the court shows it's not the main priority. But also being a Tennessee fan for over 20 years, defense is our game and has been our game. That's what the foundation was built on and what the current coaching staff are pushing for. It's also proven and has won championships. Tennessee will not change it's stance on this. To expect that our coaching staff will pursue offense is just wasting your breath. The fact of the matter, it's always been this way. And again, it's won championships. It's not changing. I've read countless interviews where PS and HW both talked about players staying after or coming in before and working on their shot because it's not done in practice.

 

[Amb3096]

I see your point about injuries, I just wonder because of the style of play that we portray, puts us more at risk. UCONN is by far a more polished, finesse style. While our's is rough and tough.

Tennessee was built on defense and rebounding. Offense has never been our ammo and at this point that isn't going to change. At times we've had really gifted athletes who can flat our score, Catch, Holds, Lawson, Parker.

Our offense changes yearly. Depending on the personal. It's not consistent, and I agree our offense on the court shows it's not the main priority. But also being a Tennessee fan for over 20 years, defense is our game and has been our game. That's what the foundation was built on and what the current coaching staff are pushing for. It's also proven and has won championships. Tennessee will not change it's stance on this. To expect that our coaching staff will pursue offense is just wasting your breath. The fact of the matter, it's always been this way. And again, it's won championships. It's not changing. I've read countless interviews where PS and HW both talked about players staying after or coming in before and working on their shot because it's not done in practice.

UConn plays defense every bit as aggressively and physically as Tennessee does. They also play as aggressively on offense. I don't think they are finesse at all. Stewart may be finesse, but they've had their share of rough and tumble players. I don't think anyone would use "finesse" and "Stefanie Dolson" in the same sentence.

Do you remember Tiffany Hayes for UConn? She would put her head down and drive into the defense El Toro style. My nickname for her was The Human Bowling Ball. To my knowledge, she didn't suffer any serious injuries during her playing days at UConn. If there was ever a candidate for concussions, she was it. I'm amazed that she never got any serious injuries from her assortment of strikes, spares and ten pin splits.

 

[governmentmule]

you got to remember that the other team plays a soft schedule,so if somebody gets banged up a bit,Geno will just rest em,that makes a big difference come Tournament time ,they can afford to sit players

 

[Slydell]

Here's hoping for a healthy season for the LV's which equals a longer bench for support. Go LV's. Grind and shine in '16.

 

[governmentmule]

You can only hide your injuries for so long. I think people forget about who is injured on our team because of our success but when you go this deep into the tournament, injuries start to take affect. Its hard for Graves and Burdick to battle in the post all night without much rest. That's when depth becomes an issue. I think we have had more injuries than any team in the country the past 3 years.

hopefully the Lady Vols will have a fairly injury free year for a change,it would be nice to see CHW have the same players at the end of the year,as the ones she starts with

I do have to give CHW a A+ for handling the injury bug as well as she has ,the team could have fell apart,but they didn't,which is a testament to team play


now carry this seasons effort forward and play with the same intensity this coming season and stay healthy,for a change and we will see where the wins will fall

 

[WVU05UT09]

I see your point about injuries, I just wonder because of the style of play that we portray, puts us more at risk. UCONN is by far a more polished, finesse style. While our's is rough and tough.

Tennessee was built on defense and rebounding. Offense has never been our ammo and at this point that isn't going to change. At times we've had really gifted athletes who can flat our score, Catch, Holds, Lawson, Parker.

Our offense changes yearly. Depending on the personal. It's not consistent, and I agree our offense on the court shows it's not the main priority. But also being a Tennessee fan for over 20 years, defense is our game and has been our game. That's what the foundation was built on and what the current coaching staff are pushing for. It's also proven and has won championships. Tennessee will not change it's stance on this. To expect that our coaching staff will pursue offense is just wasting your breath. The fact of the matter, it's always been this way. And again, it's won championships. It's not changing. I've read countless interviews where PS and HW both talked about players staying after or coming in before and working on their shot because it's not done in practice.

You are correct its won championships--but 6 of those came prior to 2000. Its 15 years later...things change. The game now is not the same one that Pat helped develop. This isn't just happening in WCBB--its happening in every sport. Fans and viewers demand exciting action--scoring, great plays. Hell, look at college football over the past few years. 40 points may not be enough now to win. The big conversation in mens basketball post tournament is how to speed up the game and make it less defense oriented. Softball--look at some of these scores now. Tennessee lost a 12-9 game to Auburn. 12-9! 5 years ago 9 runs is dominating a game.

I certainly hope someone within the program understands whats happening and makes an adjustment. History is littered with great empires that refused to change and as a result were swept into the dust bin of history. Sears? Whens the last time you bought something there or got a catalog? Kodak? Ask a 15 year old what that is and they'll probably stare at you like an idiot. Change happens--you either adapt or get shoved aside. The same thing will happen with Tennessee.

 

[governmentmule]

I do buy my tools and appliances at Sears I got to say I like Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances

I do hate that they keep changing the rules and don't ever give the Defense a break,ever,in what ever sport,people think it is a better game by scoring a bunch of points,but I like to see defensive plays,not being hampered by rule changes

usually when you get to the championship games,you get to see some good defense and rebounding in basketball,if CHW can keep the Lady Vols playing great Defense and have some solid post play,all she will need is for a couple of players to step up and make some of the missed lay ups,chip shots and a few 3s and they will be just fine

 

[madtownvol]

You are correct its won championships--but 6 of those came prior to 2000. Its 15 years later...things change. The game now is not the same one that Pat helped develop. This isn't just happening in WCBB--its happening in every sport. Fans and viewers demand exciting action--scoring, great plays. Hell, look at college football over the past few years. 40 points may not be enough now to win. The big conversation in mens basketball post tournament is how to speed up the game and make it less defense oriented. Softball--look at some of these scores now. Tennessee lost a 12-9 game to Auburn. 12-9! 5 years ago 9 runs is dominating a game.

I certainly hope someone within the program understands whats happening and makes an adjustment. History is littered with great empires that refused to change and as a result were swept into the dust bin of history. Sears? Whens the last time you bought something there or got a catalog? Kodak? Ask a 15 year old what that is and they'll probably stare at you like an idiot. Change happens--you either adapt or get shoved aside. The same thing will happen with Tennessee.

I think you are spot on about the changing nature of sport and strategies for success.

However, I really don't think that Holly is trying to replay 1996-1998. (Even CPS adapted. She initially despised the three point shot but eventually recognized it was a vital part of the game).

I think Holly made a reasoned decision that her team was not built to outscore people. In other words, they did not have enough offensive firepower to play porous defense. And early on, their defensive intensity was really lacking.

Once that problem was solved, the LVs had some games, Texas A&M, Kentucky and few others, where their offensive execution was excellent (or at least very good). But they weren't consistent and, once Izzy went down, the team really suffered from the lack of a go-to player.

 

[Amb3096]

I do hate that they keep changing the rules and don't ever give the Defense a break,ever,in what ever sport,people think it is a better game by scoring a bunch of points,but I like to see defensive plays,not being hampered by rule changes

usually when you get to the championship games,you get to see some good defense and rebounding in basketball,if CHW can keep the Lady Vols playing great Defense and have some solid post play,all she will need is for a couple of players to step up and make some of the missed lay ups,chip shots and a few 3s and they will be just fine

The rule change didn't hurt UConn's defense, which was as smothering as ever even with a short bench.

Holly's emphasis on defense allows players to ignore their shortcoming on the offensive end. Then you get a bunch of players that dedicate themselves 100% to defense, but hesitate to take wide open 3's or continuously blank on easy 8 foot jumpers.

UConn's defense is every bit as suffocating as Tennessee's, if not more...yet they still find time to practice shooting, crisp passing and player movement. If Holly can't see that ignoring offense (or not emphasizing it as much as defense) is detrimental to the team's performance, then she is literally insane.

 

[Real Info]

The rule change didn't hurt UConn's defense, which was as smothering as ever even with a short bench.

Holly's emphasis on defense allows players to ignore their shortcoming on the offensive end. Then you get a bunch of players that dedicate themselves 100% to defense, but hesitate to take wide open 3's or continuously blank on easy 8 foot jumpers.

UConn's defense is every bit as suffocating as Tennessee's, if not more...yet they still find time to practice shooting, crisp passing and player movement. If Holly can't see that ignoring offense (or not emphasizing it as much as defense) is detrimental to the team's performance, then she is literally insane.

Now I know why you were/are such a Ariel fan. You don't like defense either!

 

[armchair]

If Warlick thinks she's going to win a title by just playing defense, she should quit UT and go coach a high-school team. You have to be good at defense AND offense to win a title--that's why UConn wins titles. We lost to Maryland because we stunk--again--on offense. Didn't even score 50 points. Anybody who thinks we're going to beat any good teams in the NCAA tournament scoring 48 points is crazy. Shooting is a matter of being cool and confident under pressure. Our teams lately have not played well under pressure. That is a function of coaching.