That game was a mixed bag for me. I have such high hopes every year for the Lady Vols and when you're early in the season in a tight game with an unranked team at home it's hard to feel good about it. But, Penn State just wouldn't miss a LOT of tough shots. I thought the defense for the most part looked pretty tough from the eye test. But, when you've got foul happy refs who didn't seem to be consistent to both teams AND the other team just keeps hitting tough shot after tough shot, I'm not sure what else they could have done.
I thought the player substitutions were bad. Dunbar looked good early and got too few minutes. Jones looked bad and had too many minutes. I said it a lot last year and unfortunately will have to repeat myself this year but despite Jones athleticism, she is just not a top performing basketball player. She looks tentative and confused on offense. She CONSISTENTLY turns the ball over too much.
Speaking of turnovers, my gosh we are still turning the ball over too much. I just HATE that feeling that they don't value possessions. I can forgive and live with poor shooting any night but turnovers just drive me nuts and it seems to be a staple of the Lady Vols program lately.
I like that Mercedes seems to have improved her agility what looked 50% better than where it used to be. I wish her strength had improved similarly but tonight it only seemed maybe 10% to 15% better. I think she's going to have to learn to be a finesse player and that will require a lot of agility.
I like that Diamond and Tea look like they have a natural feel for the game high basketball IQ's.
I feel like the offense continues to lack movement and pace. I know it's early and I know the defense was playing a lot of zone, but the standing around is starting to be another bad trademark.
Graves looks like she finally is becoming the player we wanted after a breakout Freshman year. Hopefully she stays consistent.
The team shot 1 for 12 or 8% from the 3 point line. Ouch. Hopefully that was just a early season anomaly.
Moving forward I hope these are the starters, but unfortunately I rarely get to see the starting line-up I like to see:
Te'a Cooper G
Diamond DeShields G
Andraya Carter G
Bashaara Graves F
Mercedes Russell C
I thought the player substitutions were bad. Dunbar looked good early and got too few minutes. Jones looked bad and had too many minutes. I said it a lot last year and unfortunately will have to repeat myself this year but despite Jones athleticism, she is just not a top performing basketball player. She looks tentative and confused on offense. She CONSISTENTLY turns the ball over too much.
Speaking of turnovers, my gosh we are still turning the ball over too much. I just HATE that feeling that they don't value possessions. I can forgive and live with poor shooting any night but turnovers just drive me nuts and it seems to be a staple of the Lady Vols program lately.
I like that Mercedes seems to have improved her agility what looked 50% better than where it used to be. I wish her strength had improved similarly but tonight it only seemed maybe 10% to 15% better. I think she's going to have to learn to be a finesse player and that will require a lot of agility.
I like that Diamond and Tea look like they have a natural feel for the game high basketball IQ's.
I feel like the offense continues to lack movement and pace. I know it's early and I know the defense was playing a lot of zone, but the standing around is starting to be another bad trademark.
Graves looks like she finally is becoming the player we wanted after a breakout Freshman year. Hopefully she stays consistent.
The team shot 1 for 12 or 8% from the 3 point line. Ouch. Hopefully that was just a early season anomaly.
Moving forward I hope these are the starters, but unfortunately I rarely get to see the starting line-up I like to see:
Te'a Cooper G
Diamond DeShields G
Andraya Carter G
Bashaara Graves F
Mercedes Russell C