Game Thread Lady Vols vs Chattanooga

[Darth_Vol]

How long have our squad/players being playing together, can you name two players besides Carter and Reynolds who have been playing together longer, I mean valuable minutes?

Bashaara Graves says hi.

For most coaches, returning three starters including the starting backcourt usually means fewer growing pains for the offense....

 

[Amb3096]

Yeah, and had one of the best shooter in the history of the game.

How long have our squad/players being playing together, can you name two players besides Carter and Reynolds who have been playing together longer, I mean valuable minutes?

Uconn has been fortunate to have not to deal with injuries to their key pieces, which helps build continuity.

Our ladies have the experience, but they don't have the experience of playing together every practice and every game = Team.

Uconn, Chatty battle Uconn never! lol

Tuck was an injured mess for 3 years. Last year was her first full healthy season (? think she tore her ACL in HS and missed her Sr. year or part of it).

KML had mono and a shoulder injury. Problem is when she came back, she didn't miss a beat.

I see the bigger problem being that Carter and Jordan have not improved at all since they stepped on campus, yet they're getting 25-30 min per game. At this point, I'd let them sit the pine and play Cooper, Middleton and Jackson more, because it's not last year's starters have set a high standard to overcome. I don't even know if it's that they are underachieving, struggling with team chemistry, or they just aren't very good. After two years and change with the pair (longer with Carter), I think it's the latter.

Dean needs to be working overtime with Russell. She has no back to the basket moves, and the lob-catch-score is neutralized when she's playing against someone closer to her size...and the top teams have no shortage of that. She's been great against 6'0 posts, but what works there won't work against the likes of Stewart, Turner, Coates/Wilson, and Brown/Mompremier. She needs to learn to rely on skill, not just being tall.

Having said that, until the guards start consistently making perimeter shots, games like Albany/Chattanooga will be the norm against lesser teams, and they will lost against teams that have the frontcourt to hinder Russell/Graves...and lose badly to teams that have solid backcourts. Sure, it's early, and anything can happen, but there needs to be some sign of progress that shows movement in the right direction.

In a best case scenario, Cooper gets over her freshman jitters and plays under control, Diamond continues to get healthy, Alexa establishes herself as a catch and shoot outside threat, Bashaara stays the course, and hopefully Russell learns a few post moves. If that happens, they can make the FF. If not, Elite 8 might be a stretch.

As it stands, I think road losses to Oregon State, ND, Miss State, TAMU, and Kentucky, and a home loss to SC would not be unexpected. Which would be a shame, considering how much talent there is in the frontcourt. The backcourt is killing them right now...at this point, none of them are getting a free pass, but the upperclassman are especially disappointing because they *should* be so much better than what they've shown to date.

 

[Trixietrouble]

I saw that UCONN plays UTC at their barn this week, so this may be a way to gauge where the Lady Vols are with respect to the so-called top of the mountain.

If UCONN only wins by 20, I won't feel so bad.

If UCONN wins by 40 at their place, not good.

If UTC wins,

So it was worse than 40. Not good. But it was good to see two teams really giving 100% for the full game.