Game Thread Lady Vols at Penn State

#401
#401
I agree we need to be a lil tougher I thought we were not patient with the offense, we made one or two passes and then throwing the ball at the rim. And diamond is looking to pass to much for my liking . She needs to be ball dominant
 
#402
#402
mlindsay said:
Wow who are those numbers against? How many did she do last season against teams with players at least 6'3" or taller

Texas
Russell
6pts, 7rebs 3Blks

Boyette
11pts, 9rebs, 1Blk

Stanford
Russell
7pts, 8rebs

McCall
14pts, 10rebs, 1Blk

Oregon State
Russell
12pts, 2rebs, 2Blks

Hamblin
6pts, 12rebs, 3Blks

Notre Dame
Russell
6pts, 6rebs, 1Blk

Turner
14pts, 9rebs, 5Blks

That's just to name a few. If we are going to be great and Holly is going to demand the ball go into Russell she should be averaging 25 and 10 realistically. She is averaging 8pts and 6rebs for her career. That is unacceptable to a #1 recruit, excuse me if the bar is set high.
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That's so low to compare, cos all those teams had better guard play, all of em. Our guard play improved heading into the NCAAS, post her stats for those games.

Our guards didn't know how to make entry passes into the post, and looking at last nite game still a struggle, that's just being lazy, they all been playing basketball for a long time.

Mercedes had better guards, she would average that double/double with ease every nite, but our guards are never in attack mode 100% of the time.
 
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#403
#403
ladyvosl23 said:
I agree we need to be a lil tougher I thought we were not patient with the offense, we made one or two passes and then throwing the ball at the rim. And diamond is looking to pass to much for my liking . She needs to be ball dominant
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Yea, sometimes it seems like Diamond lose confidence in her ability to score, its all mental for her, so she's too scared to shoot.

She needs to go out and just play, that's all the coaches want her to do, but if her head ain't in the game, we will struggle.

Thank God, help is on the way, it might take two of the recruits, two years to get up to speed, but hopefully Davis and Ervina can push for minutes right away.
 
#404
#404
Voltopia said:
I would suggest folks stop worrying so much about Mercedes Russell being the #1 ranked recruit in her class, and just be more honest about what her strengths and weaknesses are. Recruiting rankings aren't the whole story for any player. And I wouldn't advise anyone to pin their expectations for her against an imaginary number. She didn't ask for that ranking or want that ranking, she just wanted to play at Tennessee. Evaluate her play if you want, but I'd suggest folks try to leave that mythical recruiting ranking out of it.
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Dat part!
 
#405
#405
UCMiami said:
Maybe that is why their zone offense is so poor - when they practice against their own zone defense it works like clockwork. They need to practice against a better zone! :thud:
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I thought they practiced against male practice players simulating whatever defense Holly requested.
 
#406
#406
ladyvosl23 said:
I agree we need to be a lil tougher I thought we were not patient with the offense, we made one or two passes and then throwing the ball at the rim. And diamond is looking to pass to much for my liking . She needs to be ball dominant
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Nared pretty much called the team lazy that game, we were just standing around, nobody was cutting or moving, we made it easy for them to defend us in the zone.

Leadership on display. Nared and Russell, both I am not happy with that performance and calling em out. Dat part!

I want to see Diamond put the ball in the basket with better efficiency and when other team go on runs, she leads her team back, yes I would like to see her dominate games, maybe she's not that player, that is made for leadership, cos to be true leader you gotta be consistent in your role. I want to see her be the best player on the floor every nite, but...

8 points 4-15 shooting, wuteva. Maybe she's not built like the past Lady Vols greats who led us to National Championship, maybe that pressure is too much. :blink:
 
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#407
#407
Hoya Saxa said:
I thought they practiced against male practice players simulating whatever defense Holly requested.
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"In the first half, we were moving the ball around the zone," said Nared, who played 40 minutes. "Nobody was cutting. Nobody was driving. It caused everyone to play us out and all we were doing was shooting threes. We had no movement. When you don't have any movement, it's easy to guard in a 2-3 zone."

It didn't help that DeShields went out for awhile in the first half with an ankle injury before picking up a second foul. She shot 2 for 7 from the floor in 10 first-half minutes and finished 4 for 15 with eight points. She had five assists but also committed four turnovers.

"She just wasn't on her game," Warlick said. "I thought she had moved past that. She's a great player and a great competitor. She didn't have it today. She didn't have it. When your best player doesn't have it, it's going to be a struggle."
 
#408
#408
travis929 said:
After the JMU game, Nared said that the team played at least three different defensive sets that they had never practiced in an attempt to shut down Precious Hall. I imagine the same could have been true last night against PSU. I think/hope a week of extended practice will help leading into the game against Virginia Tech.
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Please tell me you are joking? #1 How on earth could the staff expect them to succeed in something they had never done? #2 I know Hall was out last season with injury but the season prior she was the conference player of the year so I KNOW her name had to have been written on the white board in the locker room prior to the start of the game(at least I pray it was), what was the original plan?
 
#409
#409
mlindsay said:
She is 6'6" why is it so excuse driven around her. You either want it or you don't Courtney Paris was 6'4 and damn near 300 pounds and found a way to get 112 consecutive double doubles as well as put points on the board and she wasn't the #1 overall recruit in her class. By now (she is essentially a senior) she should be dominating and she isn't and that is a problem and you all don't see that.

Name the last #1 overall recruit that hasn't had great success in college. She's not even on the radar to be a 1st round pick in the WNBA draft and she is the #1 recruit in her class. That is a problem folks. She is not being developed as is a lot of our players and the coach has to take most of the blame for that.
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It's the guards not Russell. College WBB is a guard-oriented game, not center. You have to have 3 guards or guard-like players at all times on the floor. To date this season Russell has done her share - nothing spectacular, but her share. Not so the guards. This team will go as far as the guards decide to take them.
 
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#410
#410
They are basketball players, and they are called junk defense, its game time adjustments, which Holly doesn't make...wuteva.

And run them to throw another look at the team to see if can you break their rhythym or a player rhythym and you expect to succeed, cos your players has been playing basketball for how long, so you run junk defense cos you are confident in your team's ability to execute it, which they did cos the other players didn't really light us up, 5 vs 2.

I like those odds.
 
#411
#411
Pat4life said:
They are basketball players, and they are called junk defense, its game time adjustments, which Holly doesn't make...wuteva.

And run them to throw another look at the team to see if can you break their rhythym or a player rhythym and you expect to succeed, cos your players has been playing basketball for how long, so you run junk defense cos you are confident in your team's ability to execute it, which they did cos the other players didn't really light us up, 5 vs 2.

I like those odds.
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Wutevr !!
 
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#412
#412
LVJeff said:
It's the guards not Russell. College WBB is a guard-oriented game, not center. You have to have 3 guards or guard-like players at all times on the floor. To date this season Russell has done her share - nothing spectacular, but her share. Not so the guards. This team will go as far as the guards decide to take them.
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Nice post. I agree.
 
#413
#413
Everybody needs to remember we are missing two key players we thought we would have in Carter and Cooper. That is a pretty tough blow to take. This team needs an Al Wilson in the locker room. There is not enough want to in some of these players. I've said it before and I'll say it again, these girls like winning. The problem is the don't hate losing or at least don't hate it to the point of giving all you have to prevent losing.
 
#414
#414
I think we have to hope for 20 wins and another trip to the NCAA tourney. No lofty expectations for this team because I believe if they get 20 wins they have done a great job with what they have this season.
 
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#415
#415
Orange Maniac said:
Everybody needs to remember we are missing two key players we thought we would have in Carter and Cooper. That is a pretty tough blow to take. This team needs an Al Wilson in the locker room. There is not enough want to in some of these players. I've said it before and I'll say it again, these girls like winning. The problem is the don't hate losing or at least don't hate it to the point of giving all you have to prevent losing.
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Carter is a great LVFL. But the team doesn't miss her. However, I would much rather have Cooper - as undisciplined as she was - at PG than Reynolds.

I think you're right about the Al Wilson type player. It was called a "cop" when I played. Every team needs a cop. Someone that keeps everyone else in line. Logically this is either your best player or PG, although it doesn't have to be. For the LV's I assume either DeShields or Reynolds should be the cop. I don't know what goes on in the locker room, but on court neither of these seem to do anything to keep the others in line.
 
#416
#416
Nuyoika said:
Please tell me you are joking? #1 How on earth could the staff expect them to succeed in something they had never done? #2 I know Hall was out last season with injury but the season prior she was the conference player of the year so I KNOW her name had to have been written on the white board in the locker room prior to the start of the game(at least I pray it was), what was the original plan?
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So if what they practiced isn't working, Holly should just throw up her hands. And of course then be blamed for not trying anything else to see if it might work.
 
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#417
#417
We've got some personnel issues, and some player leadership issues (a major lack of it). But the bottom line is that we need a new head coach and staff. This program deserves an outstanding coach--right now. We should emulate what North Carolina did on the men's side: When Dean Smith retired, they gave the head job to his longtime assistant Bill Guthridge. He knew what he was doing--but I'm sure the AD gave him the job because that's what Smith wanted--a courtesy to a legendary coach. Warlick got the job here in the same way. After, I believe, four years, Guthridge retired and UNC hired Roy Williams away from Kansas--a great coach at another powerhouse program. We need to do the same thing, and stop wasting time about it.
 
#418
#418
armchair said:
We've got some personnel issues, and some player leadership issues (a major lack of it). But the bottom line is that we need a new head coach and staff. This program deserves an outstanding coach--right now. We should emulate what North Carolina did on the men's side: When Dean Smith retired, they gave the head job to his longtime assistant Bill Guthridge. He knew what he was doing--but I'm sure the AD gave him the job because that's what Smith wanted--a courtesy to a legendary coach. Warlick got the job here in the same way. After, I believe, four years, Guthridge retired and UNC hired Roy Williams away from Kansas--a great coach at another powerhouse program. We need to do the same thing, and stop wasting time about it.
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Carolina hired Matt Doherty after Gut. In three seasons UNC missed the NCAA tournament twice under his leadership, including an 8-20 season. That's what a disaster of a head coach is like.
 
#419
#419
I don't want Dave Hart to have anything to do with ANY decisions related to the Lady Vols. The next AD should make the decision on whether Holly stays or goes.
 
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#420
#420
xanamanax said:
So if what they practiced isn't working, Holly should just throw up her hands. And of course then be blamed for not trying anything else to see if it might work.
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Wrong question. If Nared said they tried 3 or 4 other options that they HADN'T practiced... how many had they practiced? Did it look like they tried 7, 8, 9 different options in that game? If they only practiced 1 option then yes the blame falls to the entire coaching staff for not having the team adequately prepared.

You prepare for the JMU's and Penn State's of the world the same way you prepare for your in conference rival and for the title game. How on earth can you expect a confident, scrappy, energized defense when no one knows what the heck they are doing. Of course you are going to second guess where you should be and reach and react slow because you along with your 4 other teammates were put in an uncomfortable situation and there is no player on the court to say... "If we do x then y should happen because we prepared for this."

Now if they went into this game with 3 practiced options and none of them worked then tip of the cap to Hall and the LV coaching staff they just got bested that night.
 
#421
#421
Pat4life said:
That's so low to compare, cos all those teams had better guard play, all of em. Our guard play improved heading into the NCAAS, post her stats for those games.

Our guards didn't know how to make entry passes into the post, and looking at last nite game still a struggle, that's just being lazy, they all been playing basketball for a long time.

Mercedes had better guards, she would average that double/double with ease every nite, but our guards are never in attack mode 100% of the time.
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That's the problem Holly was a guard and our guards have been a disappointment the past few seasons
 
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