Non-Lady Vol news 2018-19

Who I root for doesn't determine my dedication to the whole sport and who I choose to have knowledgeable basketball conversations with. There may have been a time in my life where that was the case, however, I now feel mature enough to have conversations with people I may not agree with in a civil manner about sports. I have friends on multiple WCBB forums. I contribute on about 10 of them (Baylor, Oklahoma, UCLA, Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke, South Carolina, Ohio State, Maryland, and this one). I'm not bent out of shape and said I respected your opinion and was trying to have a friendly discussion. I will reiterate, my suspicion was that your issue was with the who and not the what. I was inquiring whether you'd watch a Tennessee blow out or not.

I'm not sure who is saying UCONN and USF are rivals. They are obviously the best two in their conference but rivals, no. I don't know a knowledgeable WCBB fan who would say that.

As far as ratings go I will say this. Interest & demographics. You hinted at it in your original statement with "Why are you on a Tennessee board if you're such a huge UCONN fan?" That is the mindset of the casual WCBB fan. They don't watch or buy tickets for other teams outside of their own. Usually thy will maybe watch a conference game and not even the whole thing and that's about it. There are very few followers of the sport. Let me say that again.. THE SPORT. There are obviously large pockets of followers of a school or a team but the sport itself isn't a draw. It has nothing to do with UCONN. There are 364 D1 teams and now a days nearly all games are streamed either online or are on TV somewhere. UCONN plays on average 35 games a year w/ the vast majority going online and SNY. That means there is likely 10k games to watch in a season if you like the sport. You're telling me people across the nation are going to not watch their team because UConn is playing and killing someone? UConn's games on the major networks are usually vs a ranked opponent w/ the exception of the first 2 or 3 rounds of the tourney which they can't help who they draw. How many non-Tennessee, non-SEC games are you watching? You get what I'm saying? It doesn't add up.

The point I'm trying to make is I had this exact conversation on the Baylor forum a while ago. Many think they are WCBB fans but they really aren't. They are just a fan of their school. If you only watch your school and no other teams. You don't love the sport you love that team. That's okay but don't call yourself a WCBB fan say you're a UConn fan or a Baylor or a Kentucky or whoever fan.

That's why I find it hilarious when someone says UConn is the reason the ratings are bad then you find out they don't know a damn thing about the sport as a whole because they have only been watching 1 team or 1 conference play for 10 years. How on earth are you going to say anything about the sport as a whole when you haven't seen it? Furthermore, if you as a supposed WCBB fan are only watching one team how then would you expect as fan for the sport to grow if you don't even watch other teams yourself but you want others to? It makes no sense.

People need to understand the demographic in which the sport appeals to first, then understand how that demographic interacts within that industry. WCBB doesn't have a large number of fans as a whole. It instead has pockets of fans dedicated either to a certain team/region/or conference. The NCAA needs to build on that and go from there. You can't force nation wide acceptance. You take what you are given and spend your resources there.

I agree UCONN plays great defense, but it isn't the same playing against someone from Tulsa vs. an elite level athlete that can blow by you. Sure I would want them in a better conference and I'm sure if they had a choice in the matter they would move out of the AAC. Just like those who shout, "I back Pat and roll with Holly" I made the decision to be a UCONN fan in 2004 and haven't looked back.

I'm sure people do get tired of the same story line especially when it's not their team. Unfortunately, its up to the stewards of the sport (the coaches) to rise to the occasion on that and deepen the pool of teams that a can compete. Also it's up to the media to showcase others. I would love it if they didn't write a story about UCONN for a whole year and let them do what they do. Wouldn't bother me one bit. As it stands that isn't happening. You can bank on maybe 8 really good teams year in and year out in WCBB. That's the way it goes.

Like I said for me it's about the conversation. I appreciate a person who supports the sport no matter who they root for. I just like to pick people's brains when they say something I truly don't understand. Hopefully you aren't taking that as me being mean or whatever. I've had plenty of good conversations here.



They had a similar recruiting year the year they got Saniya Chong and the sky was falling then, and then it wasn't. Didn't Tennessee have a tough recruiting year a couple classes ago? Same for a few others South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State? For whatever reason WCBB fans have real short memories when it comes to recruiting. Recruiting goes in cycles for UCONN just like every other school.

You challenged the wrong person on this. I watch about 50 games a week, from all over the country, at all kinds of levels. If UT were playing in a weak conference and beating teams by large margins I wouldn't be regularly tuning into their games either unless necessary, it is not entertaining. What makes watching sports fun is seeing people work through adversity and becoming better. Watching a team of well coached, 5 star players, trounce a bunch of inferior athletes is bad for the game. Period.

I think UCONN is the best team in the country when it comes to fundamental basketball, nobody is questioning that. I just don't think their particular brand of basketball is fun to watch.

I'm also a huge advocate for WCBB and support many teams, but I do not have any desire to go post on their discussion boards, I occasionally read other boards but am not a member of any but volnation. If you review my previous posts you'll see I'm often posting about other teams/players throughout the NCAA, not just Tennessee.

I enjoy this forum as it is a great place to discuss basketball with like minded people, I'm not going hash out 30 pages of UCONN garble with you though.
 
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UConn-Notre Dame: I'm here for all the Pettiness

Just when you thought it couldn't get any pettier.

Muffet McGraw's Twitter account has blocked Breanna Stewart.

The Notre Dame coach apparently couldn't stand to see another tweet from Stewart, the former UConn standout and reigning WNBA MVP.

So, on Wednesday, Stewart did what any self-respecting UConn alumus would do and she put McGraw on blast:
https://twitter.com/breannastewart/status/1070326947950063617/photo/1
UConn-Notre Dame -- I'm here for all the pettiness
 
I agree, they were also self reported, seemed like a non issue to me. And the grades thing, who cares, as long as the athlete completed the necessary work to improve her grade why does it matter when she did it? Extensions are commonplace in college as the professor said, he would have done it whether she was an athlete or not and wasn't even aware that she was.

Kelly Graves was a violation of rules which was minor in the fact he had a coach participating in drills knowingly and did it anyways. Now, did that really give him an advantage ..prolly not but the rules are the rules.

Now with the track athlete that had her grade changed to be able to compete at the NCAA championships that is a very big deal. At the time her grades came out and checked it would of made her ineligible. But she was able to compete due to a grade she hadn’t earned.
 
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I had the same issue trying to figure out something I knew was going to be illiterate and downright stupid, so I put him on ignore. The new ignore feature is much better than the previous one. Now, when you ignore, you don’t see anything at all from the ignoree. No posts, no embedded post replies. It’s like they disappear with the small exception of seeing their name if they submitted a like. I highly recommend it. If you want to relegate someone to irrelevance in your personal world, the new ignore feature is the way to go. It also works great on UConn fans. I’m sure it would work great on me as well so Negas, here you go 😎

Best ignore is don't respond..
 
Alabama women lost last evening to their little sister - South Alabama. Many discussions on playing such games has very little "up-side" in the business of college athletics and budgets.
 
Alabama women lost last evening to their little sister - South Alabama. Many discussions on playing such games has very little "up-side" in the business of college athletics and budgets.

They have to be pay to play games which help keep a lot of small schools athletic budgets a float. So while it’s not competitive for many I guess if it’s instate it can be seen as an experience for the athletes and a way to help provide scholarships to others.
 
Why are you on a Tennessee board if you're such a huge UCONN fan? My statements are my opinion. No need to get bent out of shape.

I do personally find watching UCONN beat teams by 40 very boring. I believe a lot of other people do as well, which is why women's basketball TV ratings have dropped in the last few years. UCONN gets the most screen time, but it is rarely a good game, who wants to watch that? I'm not saying them being very good is bad for basketball, but I would like to see the best team in WCBB play in a better conference. Wouldn't you? Would be nice to see them tested through the conference season, it builds rivalries (like the ND rivalry) which are good for basketball and viewers.
I agree with you 100%. It is just horrible watching a dominating team dominate it's opponent. I would prefer to watch a top ten team play a someone like Stetson and not have a clue if they could beat a 1-7 top 300 team. Now that is exciting. Having a team come back from a 20 point deficit and win is exciting. Seeing them beat a team which has one win against NAIA team Webber International Warriors must have been exciting. Being a fan of a team that always gives their opponents a chance to win, no matter how bad, is definitely exciting. Being a UCONN fan can definitely be boring, but we respect the beauty of a well played game, no matter the opponent. My best to you and your exiting team and hopefully the NCAA tournament Gurus will put our two teams in the same bracket. And get ready to be bored, because Geno might not call of his dogs late in the game. Have a blessed day.
 
I agree with you 100%. It is just horrible watching a dominating team dominate it's opponent. I would prefer to watch a top ten team play a someone like Stetson and not have a clue if they could beat a 1-7 top 300 team. Now that is exciting. Having a team come back from a 20 point deficit and win is exciting. Seeing them beat a team which has one win against NAIA team Webber International Warriors must have been exciting. Being a fan of a team that always gives their opponents a chance to win, no matter how bad, is definitely exciting. Being a UCONN fan can definitely be boring, but we respect the beauty of a well played game, no matter the opponent. My best to you and your exiting team and hopefully the NCAA tournament Gurus will put our two teams in the same bracket. And get ready to be bored, because Geno might not call of his dogs late in the game. Have a blessed day.

Oh look, they have reappeared! You UCONN fans sure seem to have a big boost in your confidence anytime we have a bad game.

Get on back over to the Boneyard and have fun sniffing each others butts.
 
Oh look, they have reappeared! You UCONN fans sure seem to have a big boost in your confidence anytime we have a bad game.

Get on back over to the Boneyard and have fun sniffing each others butts.
Here I was agreeing with you and complimenting your team on providing exciting basketball and you have to go into the gutter with your potty mouth. Plain truth is that most WBB fans are the same, they like their team and root for them. The difference here is that UCONN is a better team right now. I'm not confident about anything that I did to help them achieve that. Like you, I did nothing except cheer for my team. I am confident that they would beat UTENN right now, but not because of anything I or any other boneyarders did. TENN has picked up some fantastic recruits and should have a pretty good team very soon... with the right coaching. Who knows what might happen next year when the rivalry starts up again. Chill out Vo.
 
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Leaving the middle of the season does she lose her entire sophomore year of eligibility? Plenty of schools in her home state to play.

She can be a midyear transfer and play next season if she finds a school in time .... she can play after Finals which means she can usually start playing around the middle of December.
 
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Leaving the middle of the season does she lose her entire sophomore year of eligibility? Plenty of schools in her home state to play.

I believe she can retain her sophomore year of eligibility if granted a waiver. Don’t quote me though. That’s how it worked for Epinosa-Hunter
 
Miss. State vs Marquette was a barn burner last night. State kept getting beat down the floor by Marquette even on made baskets. They had a period where the looked like they didn't want to play D. Good thing it was at the Hump or MS. State could have picked up a loss. Entertaining game to watch.
 
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Miss. State vs Marquette was a barn burner last night. State kept getting beat down the floor by Marquette even on made baskets. They had a period where the looked like they didn't want to play D. Good thing it was at the Hump or MS. State could have picked up a loss. Entertaining game to watch.

It was a great game. I thought Marquette was the one (King) who kept beating State down the floor on either makes or misses. She knifed thru the State defense and beat McCowan down the floor to make her shot blocking a non factor of sorts. While both teams will get much better Marquette with the faster guards may have shown how some teams with guards that can hit shots will give them fits. That OU game with State should be good.
 
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Miss. State vs Marquette was a barn burner last night. State kept getting beat down the floor by Marquette even on made baskets. They had a period where the looked like they didn't want to play D. Good thing it was at the Hump or MS. State could have picked up a loss. Entertaining game to watch.

Three words: Too. Much. Size.

Howard has improved her game leaps and bounds. She’s always relentlessly pursued the basketball, but now she’s pursuing buckets and finishing shots.

I think her WNBA draft stock is through the roof.
 
It was a great game. I thought Marquette was the one (King) who kept beating State down the floor on either makes or misses. She knifed thru the State defense and beat McCowan down the floor to make her shot blocking a non factor of sorts. While both teams will get much better Marquette with the faster guards may have shown how some teams with guards that can hit shots will give them fits. That OU game with State should be good.
Ummm.. That's what I said.
 
Ummm.. That's what I said.

It is what you said but I was expanding what you said by giving the players name and basically how the guards impacted the game and took away McCowans shot blocking of sorts.

I also said I was looking forward to them playing Oregon.

But sorry I wasn’t trying to steal your thunder.
 
Wasn't worried about stealing my thunder. I don't care about that. It sounded to me like you thought I said the opposite. My mistake. Carry on.
 
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Would love for her to transfer here and scorch em for 30 next year! 😂😂😂

Only problem with that is that I really don't think she has the talent. This year 2.5 mpg averaging 0.3 ppg. Last year 3.9 mpg averaging 0.4 ppg. UConn has a very short bench and if she had anything to offer she would get PT. The other bench players are averaging over 10 mpg. I might catch crap for saying this, but I think she was a big recruiting mistake. I doubt very much that she'll end up on a ranked team.
 
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