I usually do not agree with a lot of things Doris Burk says, however, twice she hit the nail on the head. First she said that a lot of teams would be glad to have the active players that Tennessee has. That seems to be her way of questioning the coaching. Second, Burk stated that Tennessee did not have an identifiable leader on the floor. It was apparent, from the start, that we are not close to being in the same league as UCONN, Baylor, ND, South Carolina, and perhaps Mississippi State and Texas.
I agree with Doris that we have the players, however, we had no answer for Baylor. If Mulkey had left in her starters, they would have beat us by forty. The reality is, we need better coaching that has the ability to make in game and halftime changes. Holly and her crew simply do not have what is needed to make the Lady Vols a top 10 team. We need to quit fooling ourselves.
Doris, actually is loving this. She would take any opportunity to make a dig at the Lady Vols. wuteva?
Our guards haven't been playing good basketball, simply as that. Once, the other coach saw this team competitive fire, they would be looking to head back to their respective school.
The players' competitive fire cannot be solely placed on the players. Players usually emulate the personality of their coach.
I am not a big fan of Doris Burk, however, she did have two valid points. This team is trending downward and we need to do something if we have the desire to be a top 10 team. We cannot continue to say wait for next year. If our only loss came from Baylor, I say so be it, but loses to VT and PSU shows that we need a lot of work.
The good news is we get Cooper back back next year - a terrific PG as well as a fantastic rookie class including another terrific guard. The bad news is Mercedes and DD might be gone (DD being gone may be a good thing), and I don't believe the players we have coming in are more talented than the players who may be leaving.
My point is that if the coaches can't coach players like Nared, DD and Russell to be winners, how does anyone think it will be any better with Westbrook, etc?
You remember a different Cooper than I remember from last year--a quick shooting turnover queen.