Looking ahead to next year

#1

bballnut90

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#1
Might be too soon to write this thread, but I'm doing it anyway....what are everyone's thoughts going into next season? To be honest, aside from the biggest issue of Holly likely still coaching this program, I'm extremely concerned about the roster and fear a really really ugly season. Here's what concerns me:

1. Coaching. I wont dive into this...every other thread on this board addresses it, but in summary, if Holly is running the show, it's going to be another long year.

2. Front court play. For as much as we criticize Russell, losing a 6-6 center who can finish inside and is good for 15/9 every night is massive. Our replacement options are KK, Harris, Green and the #73 recruit in the country. That scares me. Especially when there are players like Kalani Brown, Azura Stevens, Teaira McCowan, Brianna Turner, Ruth Hebard, etc. at other top programs who will dominate us inside.

3. Turnovers. We struggled horribly with turnovers this year. We have another freshman coming in at PG next year who everyone is hoping replaces our current highly touted freshmen point guards who struggled with turnovers. Who is to say Massengill wont have the exact same issues? Our team had about a 1:1 A/TO ratio, and that isn't going to cut it.

4. No experience. Our roster will have 2 seniors, 1 seldom used junior, 4 sophomores and 4 freshmen. The last time I can remember a roster that stacked with youth was 2008-09 when we were bounced by Ball State in the first round.

5. Lack of an offensive system. This is an issue every year, but for next year stems off of the front court play. The clear focus of this year's team was to get the ball to Russell and put her in a position to score. When that didn't work, we usually jacked up bad shots from the perimeter. Next year we wont have Russell. Will we finally implement an offense where there's ball movement and we'll have the luxury of seeing a pick being used? Doubtful, but we'll see.

6. Player motivation. Body language, effort, and player cohesion was awful today outside of our seniors IMO. That does not bode well looking ahead to next year and beyond. Such a stark contrast from big chunks of the first part of the year and the first half of the Notre Dame game. Can players play well together on the court and bring their best efforts night in and night out? If they're struggling with their shot, can they refocus on contributing on other ways?


If we can get a new coach, I think the outcome could be drastically different, but I fear the program could sink to a new low under Holly next season if our roster and coaching is what it's projected to be today.
 
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#2
#2
Well, we're graduating our best two players by a large margin. If we still have Holly, we'll likely be a borderline top 25 team if we are lucky.
 
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#3
#3
Can I sleep on it, Lordy Lordy! Can I sleep on it? Can I sleep on it and give you an answer in the morning?
 
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#4
#4
It's unrealistic to expect the LVs to perform at the same or higher level with this staff and the returning players. Nared and Russell provided the only leadership the team had, as well as a lot of the offense. We lose Dunbar, our best outside shooter. We have issues at PG and that could be ongoing. We haven't had much player development. We've seen how relying on FR works out and how costly their mistakes can be.

Other SEC teams are improving while the LVs have been getting worse. The program is at its lowest point. Without significant change, a steeper decline seems inevitable. This isn't Pat's program. Not anymore.
 
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#6
#6
Might be too soon to write this thread, but I'm doing it anyway....what are everyone's thoughts going into next season? To be honest, aside from the biggest issue of Holly likely still coaching this program, I'm extremely concerned about the roster and fear a really really ugly season. Here's what concerns me:

1. Coaching. I wont dive into this...every other thread on this board addresses it, but in summary, if Holly is running the show, it's going to be another long year.
2. Front court play. For as much as we criticize Russell, losing a 6-6 center who can finish inside and is good for 15/9 every night is massive. Our replacement options are KK, Harris, Green and the #73 recruit in the country. That scares me. Especially when there are players like Kalani Brown, Azura Stevens, Teaira McCowan, Brianna Turner, Ruth Hebard, etc. at other top programs who will dominate us inside.

3. Turnovers. We struggled horribly with turnovers this year. We have another freshman coming in at PG next year who everyone is hoping replaces our current highly touted freshmen point guards who struggled with turnovers. Who is to say Massengill wont have the exact same issues? Our team had about a 1:1 A/TO ratio, and that isn't going to cut it.

4. No experience. Our roster will have 2 seniors, 1 seldom used junior, 4 sophomores and 4 freshmen. The last time I can remember a roster that stacked with youth was 2008-09 when we were bounced by Ball State in the first round.

5. Lack of an offensive system. This is an issue every year, but for next year stems off of the front court play. The clear focus of this year's team was to get the ball to Russell and put her in a position to score. When that didn't work, we usually jacked up bad shots from the perimeter. Next year we wont have Russell. Will we finally implement an offense where there's ball movement and we'll have the luxury of seeing a pick being used? Doubtful, but we'll see.

6. Player motivation. Body language, effort, and player cohesion was awful today outside of our seniors IMO. That does not bode well looking ahead to next year and beyond. Such a stark contrast from big chunks of the first part of the year and the first half of the Notre Dame game. Can players play well together on the court and bring their best efforts night in and night out? If they're struggling with their shot, can they refocus on contributing on other ways?


If we can get a new coach, I think the outcome could be drastically different, but I fear the program could sink to a new low under Holly next season if our roster and coaching is what it's projected to be today.

First of all fire Holly and get s competent coach. Let’s not give Holly any excuses, she is just not a very good coach.
 
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#7
#7
Might be too soon to write this thread, but I'm doing it anyway....what are everyone's thoughts going into next season? To be honest, aside from the biggest issue of Holly likely still coaching this program, I'm extremely concerned about the roster and fear a really really ugly season. Here's what concerns me:

1. Coaching. I wont dive into this...every other thread on this board addresses it, but in summary, if Holly is running the show, it's going to be another long year.

2. Front court play. For as much as we criticize Russell, losing a 6-6 center who can finish inside and is good for 15/9 every night is massive. Our replacement options are KK, Harris, Green and the #73 recruit in the country. That scares me. Especially when there are players like Kalani Brown, Azura Stevens, Teaira McCowan, Brianna Turner, Ruth Hebard, etc. at other top programs who will dominate us inside.

3. Turnovers. We struggled horribly with turnovers this year. We have another freshman coming in at PG next year who everyone is hoping replaces our current highly touted freshmen point guards who struggled with turnovers. Who is to say Massengill wont have the exact same issues? Our team had about a 1:1 A/TO ratio, and that isn't going to cut it.

4. No experience. Our roster will have 2 seniors, 1 seldom used junior, 4 sophomores and 4 freshmen. The last time I can remember a roster that stacked with youth was 2008-09 when we were bounced by Ball State in the first round.

5. Lack of an offensive system. This is an issue every year, but for next year stems off of the front court play. The clear focus of this year's team was to get the ball to Russell and put her in a position to score. When that didn't work, we usually jacked up bad shots from the perimeter. Next year we wont have Russell. Will we finally implement an offense where there's ball movement and we'll have the luxury of seeing a pick being used? Doubtful, but we'll see.

6. Player motivation. Body language, effort, and player cohesion was awful today outside of our seniors IMO. That does not bode well looking ahead to next year and beyond. Such a stark contrast from big chunks of the first part of the year and the first half of the Notre Dame game. Can players play well together on the court and bring their best efforts night in and night out? If they're struggling with their shot, can they refocus on contributing on other ways?


If we can get a new coach, I think the outcome could be drastically different, but I fear the program could sink to a new low under Holly next season if our roster and coaching is what it's projected to be today.
For those of you who are not familiar with bballnut90, he's a long time,realistic and very knowledgeable LV fan. Give credence to what he's saying.
 
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#8
#8
I actually think the overall youth combined w/ the 2 very good recruiting classes over the past 3 years is why Holly will stay. I honestly don't see any scenario when she would be fired. Period. However, I see your concerns. They will be very very young. They were inconsistent when they had experience so expecting them to not be plagued by inconsistencey as they continue to get younger is silly. If the talented freshman from this year as well as Green and Jackson progress over the summer they could have another season similar to this one. This season as whole wasn't bad but I do think the start may have made some think they wouldn't see some of the stuff they saw near the end.

Just like every team they will have questions that need to be answered. Who is the leader on the court? Who is responsible for setting the tone with their play and their voice? Unless they indentify who that is, I agree that next year could get rough early. On the upside, they have all the potential in the world and if they do in fact implement a motion offense and teach these kids how to pass, as well as principles for beating a zone, and what help side defense is they will be alright.

Holly doesn't have to have all the answers. Some people are great instructors (they can build you a process doc on how to do something like no other) but they are poor teachers (they don't have the ability to show or explain what they see in their head to a student in a way that the student can receive in the info and then reproduce the same or similar results) She gets 3 paid assistants though, so she must find someone who does have the answers and put them on her staff. You can't go year after year, recruiting class after recruiting class, different players, different offense (supposedly), yet still have the same problems. That is systemic and infers that either you don't know what is wrong or you haven't found a way to teach it. I have watched plenty of the videos that the LV staff does after practices which it sounds like the staff knows what is wrong, so where is the disconnect?
 
#9
#9
I have wondered if Westbrook has been happy for this whole year. I know her personality is not a ra ra type but she just looks frustrated to me. Anyone other that me think she may transfer. I hope she stays but i have been around and coached boy and girls in HS and believe something is going on with her. JMHO
 
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#12
#12
If you can't put together a respectable team with Mercedes Russell and Diamond Deshields, then what do you expect to do when your star center is a JV transfer who barely played on a team bounced in the second round, no true point guard with any college experience, and your best player is now a Sophomore (Rennia Davis)?

We have no top 10 players in the 2018 class.

Next year will be IMO the worst team, on paper, since the 2008-2009 season. But, at least that team had Pat and 3 classes who practiced with National Champions. The ONLY silver lining is Wilson from South Carolina and Vivians from Mississippi State graduate. But, they still have a decent and great coach respectively. We still have a mediocre one.
 
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#13
#13
Might be too soon to write this thread, but I'm doing it anyway....what are everyone's thoughts going into next season? To be honest, aside from the biggest issue of Holly likely still coaching this program, I'm extremely concerned about the roster and fear a really really ugly season. Here's what concerns me:

1. Coaching. I wont dive into this...every other thread on this board addresses it, but in summary, if Holly is running the show, it's going to be another long year.

2. Front court play. For as much as we criticize Russell, losing a 6-6 center who can finish inside and is good for 15/9 every night is massive. Our replacement options are KK, Harris, Green and the #73 recruit in the country. That scares me. Especially when there are players like Kalani Brown, Azura Stevens, Teaira McCowan, Brianna Turner, Ruth Hebard, etc. at other top programs who will dominate us inside.

3. Turnovers. We struggled horribly with turnovers this year. We have another freshman coming in at PG next year who everyone is hoping replaces our current highly touted freshmen point guards who struggled with turnovers. Who is to say Massengill wont have the exact same issues? Our team had about a 1:1 A/TO ratio, and that isn't going to cut it.

4. No experience. Our roster will have 2 seniors, 1 seldom used junior, 4 sophomores and 4 freshmen. The last time I can remember a roster that stacked with youth was 2008-09 when we were bounced by Ball State in the first round.

5. Lack of an offensive system. This is an issue every year, but for next year stems off of the front court play. The clear focus of this year's team was to get the ball to Russell and put her in a position to score. When that didn't work, we usually jacked up bad shots from the perimeter. Next year we wont have Russell. Will we finally implement an offense where there's ball movement and we'll have the luxury of seeing a pick being used? Doubtful, but we'll see.

6. Player motivation. Body language, effort, and player cohesion was awful today outside of our seniors IMO. That does not bode well looking ahead to next year and beyond. Such a stark contrast from big chunks of the first part of the year and the first half of the Notre Dame game. Can players play well together on the court and bring their best efforts night in and night out? If they're struggling with their shot, can they refocus on contributing on other ways?


If we can get a new coach, I think the outcome could be drastically different, but I fear the program could sink to a new low under Holly next season if our roster and coaching is what it's projected to be today.

7. How many players will we lose during the off season ?
They had front row and back door passes in watching this tragedy unfold. Many thinking they would bring
UT back to its glory days.
May be having second thoughts about
now. Sigh.
 
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#14
#14
For those of you who are not familiar with bballnut90, he's a long time,realistic and very knowledgeable LV fan. Give credence to what he's saying.

I’m not familiar with him but he’s wrong in following ESPN’s player rankings. Anybody who follows women’s basketball knows that you take espn rankings of recruits with a grain of salt. Collins is not the #73 player in the nation. I’m fact she was a top 5 finalist for national player of the year. Collins will be a big bodied rebounder for us and we are blessed to have landed her. She doesn’t rely on her height and she works hard for position.

Player wise only - the future is bright for the lady vols. What the OP left out is that next year we will have the deepest bench that a lady vols team has had in a long while. Yes we will be extremely young, but the talent of our players will be close allowing for a deeper bench.
 
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#15
#15
7. How many players will we lose during the off season ?
They had front row and back door passes in watching this tragedy unfold. Many thinking they would bring
UT back to its glory days.
May be having second thoughts about
now. Sigh.


It seems apparent to us that this should cross their minds, but players who come to Tennessee rarely transfer under Holly. The only notable departures I can think of had unusual circumstances that led to them leaving (Cooper, Deshields, and Tucker).

All of the big players returning should get big minutes next year and will be big scorers for a legendary program. If playing time, campus atmosphere, liking your teammates, etc are top priority, they’ll stay. If reaching their potential as a basketball player is top priority, it’s in their best interest to transfer.
 
#16
#16
I’m not familiar with him but he’s wrong in following ESPN’s player rankings. Anybody who follows women’s basketball knows that you take espn rankings of recruits with a grain of salt. Collins is not the #73 player in the nation. I’m fact she was a top 5 finalist for national player of the year. Collins will be a big bodied rebounder for us and we are blessed to have landed her. She doesn’t rely on her height and she works hard for position.

Player wise only - the future is bright for the lady vols. What the OP left out is that next year we will have the deepest bench that a lady vols team has had in a long while. Yes we will be extremely young, but the talent of our players will be close allowing for a deeper bench.

I am wrong...Collins is #69 on the Hoopgurlz top 100. The awards she’s hauling in may indicate that she’s a better player than Hoopgurlz projects, but we’ll see how she pans out.

Depth looks solid IF players make strides and the freshmen are ready to play. Considering the ups and downs we had with freshmen this year, I’m understandably a bit nervous about expecting a lot from an incoming group that isn’t as highly touted.
 
#17
#17
I feel like our Freshman played better in the 1st half than the second half of the season. If I'm right, that alone is a huge red flag.
 
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#18
#18
The LVs will be relying on FR and Sophs next year. I don't see how this sets up well for us. Davis is the only FR that progressed much this year and she worked on her game outside of practice. Her initiative and discipline make her a special player. Who knows if the other FR will elevate their game in the off-season?
 
#19
#19
I feel like our Freshman played better in the 1st half than the second half of the season. If I'm right, that alone is a huge red flag.


Competition was a lot tougher the 2nd half of the year and the wear and tear of the long season took its toll. I don’t think it’s a bad sign, but it’s a sign that we should ease them into it rather than throw them in the fire like we did. A lot of that was circumstantial since we didn’t have Cooper/Deshields, but the wear and tear showed in their play as the season wore on.

Other freshmen like Alexis Morris had more limited minutes much of the year and is now peaking at the right time. Curious to see if Walker at Connecticut makes similar strides after being in Geno’s doghouse most of the regular season.
 
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#20
#20
Rennia's post game interview, best of the bunch. She doesn't bs her answers.

Rennia Davis post-game vs. Oregon State - YouTube

Rennia was PISSED. You can tell she hates to lose. Some of the others say it but don’t show it. I look for her to be the team leader next year...vocally and stat wise. She wont have to defer to the seniors next year who were leaders by default.

She’s going to do awesome things next year. I swear she is. :rock:
 
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#21
#21
Competition was a lot tougher the 2nd half of the year and the wear and tear of the long season took its toll. I don’t think it’s a bad sign, but it’s a sign that we should ease them into it rather than throw them in the fire like we did. A lot of that was circumstantial since we didn’t have Cooper/Deshields, but the wear and tear showed in their play as the season wore on.

Other freshmen like Alexis Morris had more limited minutes much of the year and is now peaking at the right time. Curious to see if Walker at Connecticut makes similar strides after being in Geno’s doghouse most of the regular season.

Since you mentioned Cooper, its crazy that people thought we wouldn’t miss her and said that Annie was waaaayy better. Tea had more experience which is a huge advantage. Teammate confrontations aside, we DEFINITELY could’ve used Tea this year. She would’ve been the starting point guard as she could defend and was a better three point shooter than either of our freshmen.

Just interesting in hindsight.
 
#22
#22
It seems apparent to us that this should cross their minds, but players who come to Tennessee rarely transfer under Holly. The only notable departures I can think of had unusual circumstances that led to them leaving (Cooper, Deshields, and Tucker).

All of the big players returning should get big minutes next year and will be big scorers for a legendary program. If playing time, campus atmosphere, liking your teammates, etc are top priority, they’ll stay. If reaching their potential as a basketball player is top priority, it’s in their best interest to transfer.

Last night proved there is a first time for everything. And your last statement says it all. Russell and Nared was top ten players coming out
and never reached their full potential as players. Dunbar, if developed properly would have busted that zone but was developed to be a defense lawyer. Can Hayes be taught to be a perimeter threat?
Can Westbrook learn to be a better ball handler?
Will Davis learn that she should be more aggressive on offense?
Let's skip the rest of the players.
I don't think so.
And again what recruits would play where coaching staffs can't prime their skills?
This will be the last of the so-called
good recruited classes.
I don't think last night played very well in the minds of these ladies and I bet you Cedes and Nared are glad they're out of here.
Poor Rennia.
No one expected "what's her name" to transfer last year.
Middleton...the shooter. She would have fitted well on this team.

What big scorers? I didn't see anyone but Cedes.
 
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#24
#24
For those of you who are not familiar with bballnut90, he's a long time,realistic and very knowledgeable LV fan. Give credence to what he's saying.

Not sure he's that in the know if he thinks Mimi Collins is the 73rd ranked player. She was just named as one of 5 finalists for Naismith Player of the Year.

Edit: Sorry. I hadn't made it through the thread to see VOLFANIND had already mentioned this.
 
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#25
#25
Since you mentioned Cooper, its crazy that people thought we wouldn’t miss her and said that Annie was waaaayy better. Tea had more experience which is a huge advantage. Teammate confrontations aside, we DEFINITELY could’ve used Tea this year. She would’ve been the starting point guard as she could defend and was a better three point shooter than either of our freshmen.

Just interesting in hindsight.

Speaking of Te'a and her shooting. She was working out at the local YMCA the other day and I witnessed her drain at Keats 10 threes in a row. I think her shooting and ball handling has gotten better and it seems her strength in her knee has improved as well. I think she will be a totally different player next year.
 

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