Holly Warlick recruits:
First year she took a team picked 5th in conference to a top 2 finish, deep run in SEC tourney and NCAA tourney. Finished 27-8 (13-3 in conference) with an Elite 8 run.
Second year she took a relatively young team to a 29-6 record, SEC champs, Sweet Sixteen and that was with loss of Massengale (who was having a great season) the last 16 games. Cedes, our top recruit we learned was struggling with major foot issues all year that limited her mobility.
Third year they finish 30-6, SEC reg. season champs, elite eight and lost Izzy for the last month of season. Since Cedes was out as well Burdick was our only post option outside of Graves.
Fourth year 22-14 with elite eight after well documented early season chemistry issues and a looming needed coaching change. Diamond was also struggling with chronic injury pain/issues and it was Cedes first year back after surgery on both feet along with losing Jasmine Jones early in the year.
This season was the first where we truly had the highest of high expectations outside of maybe the 2014/15 class when Izzy ended her career with an ACL.
Prior to season beginning we lose Draya to chronic knee pain from injuries and our probable starting point guard tears her ACL leaving us with no true point guard and two guards who either saw very limited time as a freshman (Jackson) or was very much a role player rather than a consistent contributor (Middleton).
We most definitely lost games we had no business losing. But we relied heavily on three players, two of which had significantly better years than any previous seasons (Nared and Russell).
In WCBB you have to have strong guard play and at least some form of leadership. Reynolds was far too passive. Look at the best teams. UConn has Nurse with Dangerfield behind her. Baylor with Alexis Jones. Washington was able to be as good as they were because their best player was their point guard. Miss St. has Morgan William. Notre Dame has Allen. Pat's best teams always had a level headed and vocal lead guard who wasn't afraid to get in the face of others. Holly has not had that. Ariel had her moments but she spent the better half of her career with concussion issues or other various injuries.
I may be reaching some but there has been a lot that has happened to Tennesee's recruits, offseasons and coaches that no other elite program has had to deal with in terms of amount of said obstacles.
With that long rant, I remain opportunistic because Holly, if health is on our side, is going to have a full slate of potentially elite guards to go along with the top notch wing/s and added talent and depth in the front court.
I think there's a lot of excuse making for Holly here, but want to address some of these points.
1. She started a roster with 1 Sr, 3 Jrs, and 1 sophomore in her second season. That is not a relatively young team. They had a good length of time to adjust to the loss of Ariel, and played the whole SEC season without her. Did a bangup job with Andraya playing PG. They even beat SC and won the SECT. But they choked big time in the S16, there is no denying that.
2. Losing Izzy was tough, but you (and apparently Holly) overlook the fact that Nia Moore was sitting on the bench. Knowing that MR would be out for the season, Izzy was having health issues, and Nia got off to a torrid start in Izzy's place...why was she all but banished to the end of the bench by the end of the season? Holly has no one to blame but herself for not developing her only post option on the bench.
3. Interesting take on the 4th year. They were the preseason #4, and much of the buzz here and the press was that this was a FF caliber team. Mercedes was healthy, they had the McD AA MVP coming in...but as you point out, there was chemistry issues. I agree that a coaching change needed to be made, but clearly the fired the wrong coach.
4. This season, you've elevated Te'a to "probable starting PG" when Jordan has started there the last 2 seasons. Te'a wasn't even a good facilitator. Her ATO was about even. But yet she's now wistfully remembered as being much better than she was. Draya, bless her heart...I'm sure she was a nice person, but she was a lousy basketball player. She had some nice games when Ariel was out, but she was a mentally weak player who choked and would fall apart in clutch moments. What little she brought on defense did not overcome the fact that she stonewalled the offense when she was on the court.
So the loss of these two guards, neither of whom were true PGs, now sets up the "Tennessee had no true PG" excuse. Even though Jordan was recruited by Holly to play PG, played that position over Ariel (who missed half a season with injuries, not half her career), and was the most experienced player at that position. And behind her, there was only one other McD AA who was recruited by Holly to play PG. But they really needed Te'a. Doesn't make sense. If Tennessee needs "true" PG, then why does Holly insist on recruiting combo guards? Aren't all of the incoming guards "combo guards" as well? What will be the excuse next season when you have Cooper, Middleton, Westbrook and Hayes...all AAs...if they struggle at this position? "Oh, we needed a true PG".
