7th in the Coaches Poll this week

[CannonVol80]

The Lady Vols jumped to 7th in the Coaches poll to match their ranking in the AP poll. Both polls have Texas at 8.

I'm not surprised that Texas tumbled from 4 to 8 in the coaches poll, but I was somewhat surprised by the fall in the AP poll.

Jim

 

[clkou]

I was surprised we passed Texas in the AP as well.

 

[Amb3096]

I was surprised we passed Texas in the AP as well.

Texas was #2 because they started the season there and won their games to date. They also haven't played the toughest schedule. They deserved to drop down when you have other teams in the top 8 who have scored marquee wins. They don't have a solid win on their resume to this point, and being a preseason #2 isn't justification to keep them above an undefeated Tennessee team they just lost to.

 

[clkou]

I'm not saying they didn't deserve to drop. I'm just saying they were #2, we were #11 - that's 9 spots difference. Most of the time a team doesn't rise or fall that much after one game.

 

[Rickster]

I hope this is not the case but perhaps the voters are still skeptical about how good Tennessee is. That should be answered soon enough.

 

[Amb3096]

I hope this is not the case but perhaps the voters are still skeptical about how good Tennessee is. That should be answered soon enough.

I'd say "were" skeptical, and the Texas win was enough to move them up.

On paper with the personnel they have, they were too good to be #14 or 16 or whatever they were. They were being punished and forced to prove they were were a top 10 team. They got the job done against the weaker teams, and beat Texas so all seems forgiven.

I think there isn't much separating #2-10 anyway. I expect there to be quite a bit of movement in those spots all season, much like last year.

 

[NoBackBoard]

I'd say "were" skeptical, and the Texas win was enough to move them up.

On paper with the personnel they have, they were too good to be #14 or 16 or whatever they were. They were being punished and forced to prove they were were a top 10 team. They got the job done against the weaker teams, and beat Texas so all seems forgiven.

I think there isn't much separating #2-10 anyway. I expect there to be quite a bit of movement in those spots all season, much like last year.

There wasn’t much separating #1 from #2 a few weeks ago. Why not include 1-10?

 

[Amb3096]

There wasn’t much separating #1 from #2 a few weeks ago. Why not include 1-10?

In fairness to UConn, they had their best player miss large stretches of the game with an injury and another All-American who stayed on the bench the 2nd half with migraines. I know ND has their share of injuries this year, but those players are not coming back this year yet UConn's are. I still wouldn't bet against them, unless they lose a player (or two or three) for the season.

 

[Prophet1]

They didn't lose a player or two last
years.Sorry , ucunn is beatable like any other team.
And I always bet against them.

 

[Chitownvol1129]

In fairness to UConn, they had their best player miss large stretches of the game with an injury and another All-American who stayed on the bench the 2nd half with migraines. I know ND has their share of injuries this year, but those players are not coming back this year yet UConn's are. I still wouldn't bet against them, unless they lose a player (or two or three) for the season.

Or play a team with quick spunky guards like Mississippi State...and Geno was out coached there too. Injuries happen, they are one knee away from a 2 seed and some loses, they are not nearly as good since Stewy graduated. Geno needs to be fired.

 

[tennparker3]

In fairness to UConn, they had their best player miss large stretches of the game with an injury and another All-American who stayed on the bench the 2nd half with migraines. I know ND has their share of injuries this year, but those players are not coming back this year yet UConn's are. I still wouldn't bet against them, unless they lose a player (or two or three) for the season.

Notre Dame was leading before either player was held out or went down. UConn's big run came right after Katie Lou went out with the injury.

I do think the gap between #3-12 or 13 is small.

 

[Chitownvol1129]

Notre Dame was leading before either player was held out or went down. UConn's big run came right after Katie Lou went out with the injury.

I do think the gap between #3-12 or 13 is small.

They had their "6th" man...the officials. Was a horribly called 4th quarter.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Notre Dame was leading before either player was held out or went down. UConn's big run came right after Katie Lou went out with the injury.

I do think the gap between #3-12 or 13 is small.

Also you lose KLS/Gabby Williams and you gain Azura Stevens who helped them gain that advantage. Let’s not forget Geno also has the UK transfer on the bench (unless she is out injured?) but she was pretty good in the SEC...she may not be Williams but she knew how to play D and rebound at UK.

 

[Amb3096]

Also you lose KLS/Gabby Williams and you gain Azura Stevens who helped them gain that advantage. Let’s not forget Geno also has the UK transfer on the bench (unless she is out injured?) but she was pretty good in the SEC...she may not be Williams but she knew how to play D and rebound at UK.

That's my point. Unlike last year, UConn now has depth. Even if one of their Big 3 goes down, there is a really, really good player on the bench ready to sub in.

I'm hoping if they do get beaten this year, it's not wasted during the regular season and someone sneaks up on them in the tournament a la Miss State.

 

[Prophet1]

That's my point. Unlike last year, UConn now has depth. Even if one of their Big 3 goes down, there is a really, really good player on the bench ready to sub in.

I'm hoping if they do get beaten this year, it's not wasted during the regular season and someone sneaks up on them in the tournament a la Miss State.

Mississippi St didn't sneak up on UConn ,Conn got their A crack kicked by being out coached by a man who doesn't believe Geno is oh my god.
And a point guard that rammed it down their throats, call it sneaky but I saw it coming. NO ONE IS SCARE OF UCONN ANYMORE. How can you say UCONN didn't have depth last year or last ten years. That man have always had the best players one or two rated coming out of high school. Now how in the world did he manage to pull in A Stevens and the Kentucky post. And who saw Ono going there. I hate uconn .
Every school should beat the hell of them whenever. I hate uconn.

 

[lvocd]

I hope this is not the case but perhaps the voters are still skeptical about how good Tennessee is. That should be answered soon enough.

My guess is that coaches see that Tennessee still struggles a bit when forced to run an offense in the half court.

The Lady Vols have been terrific scorers off turnovers and breakaways, but until they show some growth in offense beyond that, I'm afraid the coaches are going to remain skeptical. And perhaps they have good reason to be.

I, too, would like to see an expanded offensive arsenal that does NOT include any players standing around waiting to see which one has the ball when tge clock gets to the point where someone has to just go one-on-one and hope for the best.

 

[Nuyoika]

They didn't lose a player or two last
years.Sorry , ucunn is beatable like any other team.
And I always bet against them.

Agreed they are beatable. Just like every other team in the nation until they prove they aren't. However, are you betting against them with real money? If so that is insane. They have lost like 15 games total in like 15 years and with the average season being a minimum of 37 games you would be in serious debt.

I think the SEC might be more interesting than I originally thought. As far as being 7th is seems pretty accurate. Based on overall SOS i'm not sure you could put them ahead of anyone that is in front of them but I also don't think they should be any lower than they are.

The interesting thing is I don't feel like anyone, including UConn, has really emerged from the pack in any grand way. Looks like 1-8 are fairly comparable, for now anyway. January will be interesting with a lot of good match ups around the country. I always felt like January is where you find out who the pretenders are.

That is where all the analytical fun comes in. I like to look for stats as compared to OOC opponents and conference opponents. Good teams v bad teams. Most specifically your "big game" stats vs all other opponents stats. If you are consistent then you are legit but if you are seeing 10%+ swings in shooting percentage & ft shooting production, the number of fouls, ect. then you maybe haven't figured out what you have on your team just yet.

Like some other posters alluded to, this years team is far more advantageous simply because they have more offensive minded players. I am eager to see what they do if they have to be stuck in a half court offense all game. This year though they have the perfect PG for that type of game in Westbrook.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Agreed they are beatable. Just like every other team in the nation until they prove they aren't. However, are you betting against them with real money? If so that is insane. They have lost like 15 games total in like 15 years and with the average season being a minimum of 37 games you would be in serious debt.

I think the SEC might be more interesting than I originally thought. As far as being 7th is seems pretty accurate. Based on overall SOS i'm not sure you could put them ahead of anyone that is in front of them but I also don't think they should be any lower than they are.

The interesting thing is I don't feel like anyone, including UConn, has really emerged from the pack in any grand way. Looks like 1-8 are fairly comparable, for now anyway. January will be interesting with a lot of good match ups around the country. I always felt like January is where you find out who the pretenders are.

That is where all the analytical fun comes in. I like to look for stats as compared to OOC opponents and conference opponents. Good teams v bad teams. Most specifically your "big game" stats vs all other opponents stats. If you are consistent then you are legit but if you are seeing 10%+ swings in shooting percentage & ft shooting production, the number of fouls, ect. then you maybe haven't figured out what you have on your team just yet.

Like some other posters alluded to, this years team is far more advantageous simply because they have more offensive minded players. I am eager to see what they do if they have to be stuck in a half court offense all game. This year though they have the perfect PG for that type of game in Westbrook.

I think you could put them OVER Baylor to move them up one spot. We beat Stanford with their leading scorer returning to the game (yes carrington was out) on THEIR Home court. Baylor beat them without McPhee in Waco. I think if we beat UK to open up the SEC slate on their home court we leapfrog them. We can stay in 7th as long as we keep winning 😎. I would even say we could make an arguement for being tied for 5th with MSU. The best thing about this is we get to play some of the teams in front of us SC twice and MSU at home!

 

[Nuyoika]

I think you could put them OVER Baylor to move them up one spot. We beat Stanford with their leading scorer returning to the game (yes carrington was out) on THEIR Home court. Baylor beat them without McPhee in Waco. I think if we beat UK to open up the SEC slate on their home court we leapfrog them. We can stay in 7th as long as we keep winning 😎. I would even say we could make an arguement for being tied for 5th with MSU. The best thing about this is we get to play some of the teams in front of us SC twice and MSU at home!

I think the games vs MSU will be very good. I honestly don't know who wins the SEC this year. I originally was thinking for sure South Carolina but it seems like they are leaning too heavily on A'ja right now and I'm not sure they will be balanced enough to win the conference outright. Tennessee is playing well and as everyone gets more and more comfortable that should just get better and better. I do think it will be 1 of those 3 teams with Missouri and TAMU rounding out the top 5 teams in the conference. Lots of games to watch on SECN this season.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

I think the games vs MSU will be very good. I honestly don't know who wins the SEC this year. I originally was thinking for sure South Carolina but it seems like they are leaning too heavily on A'ja right now and I'm not sure they will be balanced enough to win the conference outright. Tennessee is playing well and as everyone gets more and more comfortable that should just get better and better. I do think it will be 1 of those 3 teams with Missouri and TAMU rounding out the top 5 teams in the conference. Lots of games to watch on SECN this season.

Yea, I still think we should be in the top 5 (even if tied with a team) especially being they played ok state AT home and beat we them by three and we beat them by double digits on the second night of three games in a row on a neutral court. I think it just shows how skeptical the voters are but I’m good with that because i think this team is fueled by taking one game/opponent at a time, restoring the LV legacy, and proving doubters wrong! They are just competitive! The SEC race will be very interesting and I also think it will depend on schedules and match ups.

 

[Nuyoika]

Yea, I still think we should be in the top 5 (even if tied with a team) especially being they played ok state AT home and beat we them by three and we beat them by double digits on the second night of three games in a row on a neutral court. I think it just shows how skeptical the voters are but I’m good with that because i think this team is fueled by taking one game/opponent at a time, restoring the LV legacy, and proving doubters wrong! They are just competitive! The SEC race will be very interesting and I also think it will depend on schedules and match ups.

I just dont know that there is enough of a difference between teams 5, 6, and 7, votes wise to really say the voters are too skeptical to move them into the Top 5. There just doesn't seem to be that big of a gap really even w/ the eye and stat comparisions. Like I said, from what I have seen 1-8 look pretty comprabale right now with all teams 1/3 of the way through the season.

 

[Undercovervol]

everyone after UCONN looks about the same until out of the top ten. Notre Dame doesn't look that great, USC relies on Wilson a ton, Louisville relies on Durr a ton, Baylor has played a fairly weak schedule and lost handily to UCLA. State looks more balanced, and so could be a more dangerous team than some would admit, though I think McCowan's numbers will fade against tougher opposition. Though we beat Texas, I think they still have all the pieces to reach the final four, and I would not like to play them again in the tourney.
UCONN looks far and away better than everyone else, though they aren't unbeatable.

 

[NoBackBoard]

everyone after UCONN looks about the same until out of the top ten. Notre Dame doesn't look that great, USC relies on Wilson a ton, Louisville relies on Durr a ton, Baylor has played a fairly weak schedule and lost handily to UCLA. State looks more balanced, and so could be a more dangerous team than some would admit, though I think McCowan's numbers will fade against tougher opposition. Though we beat Texas, I think they still have all the pieces to reach the final four, and I would not like to play them again in the tourney.
UCONN looks far and away better than everyone else, though they aren't unbeatable.

To be fair, Notre Dame was leading UConn by 11 in the fourth and UConn didn’t take its final lead until 3:54 in the fourth quarter.

In Baylor’s loss at UCLA, they were without their head coach due to family reasons, in addition to the absence of their second-leading scorer Lauren Cox due to health reasons.

 

[Only1COJ]

And once again, why are we so concerned with rankings right now? It’s still early guys!

 

[Rickster]

All will be made known by the end of January. Here's hoping the improvement continues and the injuries are avoided.