The 2020 Tennessee Lady Vols

#1

Volfan2012

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#1
Starting to look like the roster is set for 2020 team. If were adding any other player would think it would be in the next four or five weeks before the start of the second summer semester. Players will be working out and doing what they do during the summer as much as possible. I suspect if we don't see an addition before July 6th our roster for 2020 is final.

PG- Jordan Horston, probably backup Destiny Salary
2G-Rae Burrell backups Tess Darby, Jesse Renne
C-Tamari Key, Kushkituah Kasiyahna, Emily Saunders
PF-Keyen Green, Jaiden McCoy
WF-Rennia Davis, Marta Suarez

This is basically same team as last year except we lost Massengil and Harris. I don't count Green as a loss from last year's team because she didn't play.

Horston and Key need to show a lot of improvement we need both players to far exceed their contributions of last season. Same for Burrell she needs to step up to another level like she was beginning to reach late in the season last year. I see her working out, shooting shots on the videos they show of her. Burrell is a key player for us if were going to be a better team than last season. Also hoping that Green can give us far more at the four than we got last season. We got like 9 ppg from that position and very poor shooting percentage and free throw percentage. Hoping she can be as excellent a player for us as she was for Liberty. Rennia Davis so glad to see her back she should have more help than she had last year. You expect the sophomores to step up big and you hope that Burrell will play well enough to make it impossible to box and one Davis.


The Backups

Destiny Salary- Video I've seen of her she is an excellent shooter and ball handler. She knows how to get to the basket and score. I think she will be a lot better scorer than Massengill and just as good a handle hopefully won't make a lot of poor mistakes and can find the open players. Massengill was a superior assist to turnover player hopefully Salary can keep her turnovers down. Salary will have to learn and play with a higher motor. The game I saw her play she did a lot of jogging down court and way to much standing in the half court. She will have to get the energy up and not take plays off. I think she will find out quickly this is a lot different than high school. I think we'll be asking a lot of her as a freshman looks like our backup point guard.
Tess Darby- I saw her play four games last season one was when they played Salary's team. She hit fives threes versus Salary's team and a couple were close to thirty feet. She is a very active player in the games i saw her play very active on defense and really moved well without the ball. She also had a better handle than I expected. I doubt she does much driving to the basket but she can stop and pop the ten to 12 footer quite accurately. She is almost automatic at the free throw line.
Marta Suarez- Don't know much about her seems to be a fairly accurate three point shooter 35 percent and the small amount of video I have seen very excellent ball handler as well. I figure she will backup Davis which won't put to much pressure on her as expect Davis to go over 30 minutes a game as a senior.
Jesse Renne- I hope she has improved her on court dribbling and defense. She can shoot when she gets open, but is small 5'8" which means team has to get her an open look. I thought her defense was getting a lot better late in the season.
Jaiden McCoy- I like her energy on the court can give you some solid minutes if you have a key player in foul trouble. I hope she has worked on her free throw shooting she is the type player that get fouled a lot needs to be able to make the free throw shots.
Emily Saunders- You wonder what is going to happen with her. I am expecting her to play around five to 8 minutes in almost every game. My hope is that she has really improved her speed and strength and can help us next season.

Games I know we'll have on the schedule are Kentucky at home, SC at home, Stanford at home. Notre Dame at home, UConn at home, Texas on the road is one I think we'll still play. We'll probably still have a home and home with Vandy. Road games I think we'll have to play at Texas A&M, Miss St, Alabama, and Georgia. Schedule will be a lot tougher than last season won't see any 300 rpi teams.

The subs will be young and inexperienced at this level. Expectation is that the starting five will be one of the top groups in the SEC key of course is the improvement of the sophomores and Burrell. Biggest problem will be if the freshmen can give quality minutes at this level of play. There will be a learning curve for them as it is for all freshmen we need to them to give us quality minutes without mistakes. I feel they are all very good offensive players may struggle on defense as I doubt if any of the three have ever guarded the quality players that are on every team in the SEC. This team has to see the five starting players vastly improved and the subs be able to hold their own when a starter is on the bench.

I don't have much of an idea how we'll match up in the SEC race will know a lot more when we play a few games during the season. I hope we can get this virus behind us really looking forward to the basketball season.




2020-21 Women's Basketball Roster - University of Tennessee Athletics
 
Last edited:
#3
#3
11 players with 4 seniors and 1 Juniors! That leaves 7 under class men..... = A young team ... The average height = 6’2” (with Rennie) and 6’ 2 1/2” without her .... That’s pretty impressive and should be intimidating... JMO
 
#4
#4
Starting to look like the roster is set for 2020 team. If were adding any other player would think it would be in the next four or five weeks before the start of the second summer semester. Players will be working out and doing what they do during the summer as much as possible. I suspect if we don't see an addition before July 6th our roster for 2020 is final.

PG- Jordan Horston, probably backup Destiny Salary
2G-Rae Burrell backups Tess Darby, Jesse Renne
C-Tamari Key, Kushkituah Kasiyahna, Emily Saunders
PF-Cheney Green, Jaiden McCoy
WF-Rennia Davis, Marta Suarez

This is basically same team as last year except we lost Massengil and Harris. I don't count Green as a loss from last year's team because she didn't play.

Horston and Key need to show a lot of improvement we need both players to far exceed their contributions of last season. Same for Burrell she needs to step up to another level like she was beginning to reach late in the season last year. I see her working out, shooting shots on the videos they show of her. Burrell is a key player for us if were going to be a better team than last season. Also hoping that Green can give us far more at the four than we got last season. We got like 9 ppg from that position and very poor shooting percentage and free throw percentage. Hoping she can be as excellent a player for us as she was for Liberty. Rennia Davis so glad to see her back she should have more help than she had last year. You expect the sophomores to step up big and you hope that Burrell will play well enough to make it impossible to box and one Davis.


The Backups

Destiny Salary- Video I've seen of her she is an excellent shooter and ball handler. She knows how to get to the basket and score. I think she will be a lot better scorer than Massengill and just as good a handle hopefully won't make a lot of poor mistakes and can find the open players. Massengill was a superior assist to turnover player hopefully Salary can keep her turnovers down. Salary will have to learn and play with a higher motor. The game I saw her play she did a lot of jogging down court and way to much standing in the half court. She will have to get the energy up and not take plays off. I think she will find out quickly this is a lot different than high school. I think we'll be asking a lot of her as a freshman looks like our backup point guard.
Tess Darby- I saw her play four games last season one was when they played Salary's team. She hit fives threes versus Salary's team and a couple were close to thirty feet. She is a very active player in the games i saw her play very active on defense and really moved well without the ball. She also had a better handle than I expected. I doubt she does much driving to the basket but she can stop and pop the ten to 12 footer quite accurately. She is almost automatic at the free throw line.
Marta Suarez- Don't know much about her seems to be a fairly accurate three point shooter 35 percent and the small amount of video I have seen very excellent ball handler as well. I figure she will backup Davis which won't put to much pressure on her as expect Davis to go over 30 minutes a game as a senior.
Jesse Renne- I hope she has improved her on court dribbling and defense. She can shoot when she gets open, but is small 5'8" which means team has to get her an open look. I thought her defense was getting a lot better late in the season.
Jaiden McCoy- I like her energy on the court can give you some solid minutes if you have a key player in foul trouble. I hope she has worked on her free throw shooting she is the type player that get fouled a lot needs to be able to make the free throw shots.
Emily Saunders- You wonder what is going to happen with her. I am expecting her to play around five to 8 minutes in almost every game. My hope is that she has really improved her speed and strength and can help us next season.

Games I know we'll have on the schedule are Kentucky at home, SC at home, Stanford at home. Notre Dame at home, UConn at home, Texas on the road is one I think we'll still play. We'll probably still have a home and home with Vandy. Road games I think we'll have to play at Texas A&M, Miss St, Alabama, and Georgia. Schedule will be a lot tougher than last season won't see any 300 rpi teams.

The subs will be young and inexperienced at this level. Expectation is that the starting five will be one of the top groups in the SEC key of course is the improvement of the sophomores and Burrell. Biggest problem will be if the freshmen can give quality minutes at this level of play. There will be a learning curve for them as it is for all freshmen we need to them to give us quality minutes without mistakes. I feel they are all very good offensive players may struggle on defense as I doubt if any of the three have ever guarded the quality players that are on every team in the SEC. This team has to see the five starting players vastly improved and the subs be able to hold their own when a starter is on the bench.

I don't have much of an idea how we'll match up in the SEC race will know a lot more when we play a few games during the season. I hope we can get this virus behind us really looking forward to the basketball season.




2020-21 Women's Basketball Roster - University of Tennessee Athletics


Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.
 
#5
#5
Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.

Don’t think our sophomores Key and Horston to be able to handle their own?
 
#6
#6
Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.

A good coach can make an elite player
 
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#7
#7
Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.

The #4 spot is still a question mark. Green is a good pickup, but she has to prove that she can play night in, night out against P5 competition. They are strongest at the wing with Burrell and Davis. Key is a great defensive presence, but needs to be an offensive threat, and Jordan needs to show she can effectively run the offense as the full time PG. There are question marks in the top 5, but they have the right pieces. Beyond that...other than Kushkituah...they look thin. The bench IMO will be the difference between a top 25 team and a middle of the pack SEC team.
 
#8
#8
The #4 spot is still a question mark. Green is a good pickup, but she has to prove that she can play night in, night out against P5 competition. They are strongest at the wing with Burrell and Davis. Key is a great defensive presence, but needs to be an offensive threat, and Jordan needs to show she can effectively run the offense as the full time PG. There are question marks in the top 5, but they have the right pieces. Beyond that...other than Kushkituah...they look thin. The bench IMO will be the difference between a top 25 team and a middle of the pack SEC team.

I wouldn’t count out Suarez. She is the player we know least about and it would not be the first time a European recruit proved to be better than expected. Maite Cazorla was barely on recruiting services when she went to Oregon. Ended up being one of the better PGs in the country. Not saying Marta will be that good, but there is a good possibility she will contribute more than we know. Really like the film of her and her interview gives me good vibes. She sounds tough and like she loves basketball a great combination.
 
#9
#9
I have watched several of her Spanish league games via youtube "couldn't tell ya if she was in the games" but I enjoyed the way those teams moved the ball and shot the ball for the most part. The refs never called 3 seconds in the lane nor traveling calls so she may have some bad habits to correct. the ball was moved around like a hot potato. Wish Jas Massingil (sp?) could have mastered that.
 
#10
#10
I wouldn’t count out Suarez. She is the player we know least about and it would not be the first time a European recruit proved to be better than expected. Maite Cazorla was barely on recruiting services when she went to Oregon. Ended up being one of the better PGs in the country. Not saying Marta will be that good, but there is a good possibility she will contribute more than we know. Really like the film of her and her interview gives me good vibes. She sounds tough and like she loves basketball a great combination.

I suspect players from Spain will be fundamentally strong which will help her earn playing time earlier than she would otherwise. Back a few years ago, I would stay overnight in Madrid on the way back to the USA. Did it about 20 times so I can say without reservation basketball is VERY popular there. Saw it first hand.
 
#12
#12
I wouldn’t count out Suarez. She is the player we know least about and it would not be the first time a European recruit proved to be better than expected. Maite Cazorla was barely on recruiting services when she went to Oregon. Ended up being one of the better PGs in the country. Not saying Marta will be that good, but there is a good possibility she will contribute more than we know. Really like the film of her and her interview gives me good vibes. She sounds tough and like she loves basketball a great combination.
Excellent point on Cazorla. Love players from Europe. Suarez certainly could surprise.
 
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#13
#13
How ya doin CJ? Hadn't seen you in awhile.
Did you happen to catch the Wilt 100 on ESPN last night? Bill Russell was the narrator and I never knew that Russ and Wilt were really close friends.

I didn't get to see it, no, but I do remember the last two years of Wilt's career (I started watching NBA in 1972). Bill Russell retired in 1969 ans was said to be one of the only ones who could stop Wilt.

Every great player has an anomaly defender. . . For MJ it was Craig Ehlo (Although Gary Payton got the press for being MJ's hardest defender). . . For Shaq, it was John KonKack, (or as he was known in Atlanta John "Contract") toughest most thought Alonzo Mourning handled him best. Atlanta paid JK way too much money for the simple reason that he could handle Shaq when nobody else could.
 
#15
#15
Don’t think our sophomores Key and Horston to be able to handle their own?

I do think they will be fine, though I am skeptical of Horsten as a PG. That’s 3 spots 👍. I’m saying the five is a concern for sure as is the one, if JH is best used off the ball.
 
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#17
#17
Sometimes, but the upside is far greater if you start with elite talent.

Sometimes the elite talent had access to the elite coaches,,,only after they come under a new coach can the final analysis be made

I find that sometimes elite talent worked hard to get there, but the middle talent works harder TO get there
 
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#18
#18
Starting to look like the roster is set for 2020 team. If were adding any other player would think it would be in the next four or five weeks before the start of the second summer semester. Players will be working out and doing what they do during the summer as much as possible. I suspect if we don't see an addition before July 6th our roster for 2020 is final.

PG- Jordan Horston, probably backup Destiny Salary
2G-Rae Burrell backups Tess Darby, Jesse Renne
C-Tamari Key, Kushkituah Kasiyahna, Emily Saunders
PF-Cheney Green, Jaiden McCoy
WF-Rennia Davis, Marta Suarez

This is basically same team as last year except we lost Massengil and Harris. I don't count Green as a loss from last year's team because she didn't play.

Horston and Key need to show a lot of improvement we need both players to far exceed their contributions of last season. Same for Burrell she needs to step up to another level like she was beginning to reach late in the season last year. I see her working out, shooting shots on the videos they show of her. Burrell is a key player for us if were going to be a better team than last season. Also hoping that Green can give us far more at the four than we got last season. We got like 9 ppg from that position and very poor shooting percentage and free throw percentage. Hoping she can be as excellent a player for us as she was for Liberty. Rennia Davis so glad to see her back she should have more help than she had last year. You expect the sophomores to step up big and you hope that Burrell will play well enough to make it impossible to box and one Davis.


The Backups

Destiny Salary- Video I've seen of her she is an excellent shooter and ball handler. She knows how to get to the basket and score. I think she will be a lot better scorer than Massengill and just as good a handle hopefully won't make a lot of poor mistakes and can find the open players. Massengill was a superior assist to turnover player hopefully Salary can keep her turnovers down. Salary will have to learn and play with a higher motor. The game I saw her play she did a lot of jogging down court and way to much standing in the half court. She will have to get the energy up and not take plays off. I think she will find out quickly this is a lot different than high school. I think we'll be asking a lot of her as a freshman looks like our backup point guard.
Tess Darby- I saw her play four games last season one was when they played Salary's team. She hit fives threes versus Salary's team and a couple were close to thirty feet. She is a very active player in the games i saw her play very active on defense and really moved well without the ball. She also had a better handle than I expected. I doubt she does much driving to the basket but she can stop and pop the ten to 12 footer quite accurately. She is almost automatic at the free throw line.
Marta Suarez- Don't know much about her seems to be a fairly accurate three point shooter 35 percent and the small amount of video I have seen very excellent ball handler as well. I figure she will backup Davis which won't put to much pressure on her as expect Davis to go over 30 minutes a game as a senior.
Jesse Renne- I hope she has improved her on court dribbling and defense. She can shoot when she gets open, but is small 5'8" which means team has to get her an open look. I thought her defense was getting a lot better late in the season.
Jaiden McCoy- I like her energy on the court can give you some solid minutes if you have a key player in foul trouble. I hope she has worked on her free throw shooting she is the type player that get fouled a lot needs to be able to make the free throw shots.
Emily Saunders- You wonder what is going to happen with her. I am expecting her to play around five to 8 minutes in almost every game. My hope is that she has really improved her speed and strength and can help us next season.

Games I know we'll have on the schedule are Kentucky at home, SC at home, Stanford at home. Notre Dame at home, UConn at home, Texas on the road is one I think we'll still play. We'll probably still have a home and home with Vandy. Road games I think we'll have to play at Texas A&M, Miss St, Alabama, and Georgia. Schedule will be a lot tougher than last season won't see any 300 rpi teams.

The subs will be young and inexperienced at this level. Expectation is that the starting five will be one of the top groups in the SEC key of course is the improvement of the sophomores and Burrell. Biggest problem will be if the freshmen can give quality minutes at this level of play. There will be a learning curve for them as it is for all freshmen we need to them to give us quality minutes without mistakes. I feel they are all very good offensive players may struggle on defense as I doubt if any of the three have ever guarded the quality players that are on every team in the SEC. This team has to see the five starting players vastly improved and the subs be able to hold their own when a starter is on the bench.

I don't have much of an idea how we'll match up in the SEC race will know a lot more when we play a few games during the season. I hope we can get this virus behind us really looking forward to the basketball season.




2020-21 Women's Basketball Roster - University of Tennessee Athletics
McCoy, the enforcer! Salary,underrated, Darby the Dagger!!!
 
#19
#19
I didn't get to see it, no, but I do remember the last two years of Wilt's career (I started watching NBA in 1972). Bill Russell retired in 1969 ans was said to be one of the only ones who could stop Wilt.

Every great player has an anomaly defender. . . For MJ it was Craig Ehlo (Although Gary Payton got the press for being MJ's hardest defender). . . For Shaq, it was John KonKack, (or as he was known in Atlanta John "Contract") toughest most thought Alonzo Mourning handled him best. Atlanta paid JK way too much money for the simple reason that he could handle Shaq when nobody else could.
Russell never stopped wilt... no one did...
 
#21
#21
Starting to look like the roster is set for 2020 team. If were adding any other player would think it would be in the next four or five weeks before the start of the second summer semester. Players will be working out and doing what they do during the summer as much as possible. I suspect if we don't see an addition before July 6th our roster for 2020 is final.

PG- Jordan Horston, probably backup Destiny Salary
2G-Rae Burrell backups Tess Darby, Jesse Renne
C-Tamari Key, Kushkituah Kasiyahna, Emily Saunders
PF-Cheney Green, Jaiden McCoy
WF-Rennia Davis, Marta Suarez

This is basically same team as last year except we lost Massengil and Harris. I don't count Green as a loss from last year's team because she didn't play.

Horston and Key need to show a lot of improvement we need both players to far exceed their contributions of last season. Same for Burrell she needs to step up to another level like she was beginning to reach late in the season last year. I see her working out, shooting shots on the videos they show of her. Burrell is a key player for us if were going to be a better team than last season. Also hoping that Green can give us far more at the four than we got last season. We got like 9 ppg from that position and very poor shooting percentage and free throw percentage. Hoping she can be as excellent a player for us as she was for Liberty. Rennia Davis so glad to see her back she should have more help than she had last year. You expect the sophomores to step up big and you hope that Burrell will play well enough to make it impossible to box and one Davis.


The Backups

Destiny Salary- Video I've seen of her she is an excellent shooter and ball handler. She knows how to get to the basket and score. I think she will be a lot better scorer than Massengill and just as good a handle hopefully won't make a lot of poor mistakes and can find the open players. Massengill was a superior assist to turnover player hopefully Salary can keep her turnovers down. Salary will have to learn and play with a higher motor. The game I saw her play she did a lot of jogging down court and way to much standing in the half court. She will have to get the energy up and not take plays off. I think she will find out quickly this is a lot different than high school. I think we'll be asking a lot of her as a freshman looks like our backup point guard.
Tess Darby- I saw her play four games last season one was when they played Salary's team. She hit fives threes versus Salary's team and a couple were close to thirty feet. She is a very active player in the games i saw her play very active on defense and really moved well without the ball. She also had a better handle than I expected. I doubt she does much driving to the basket but she can stop and pop the ten to 12 footer quite accurately. She is almost automatic at the free throw line.
Marta Suarez- Don't know much about her seems to be a fairly accurate three point shooter 35 percent and the small amount of video I have seen very excellent ball handler as well. I figure she will backup Davis which won't put to much pressure on her as expect Davis to go over 30 minutes a game as a senior.
Jesse Renne- I hope she has improved her on court dribbling and defense. She can shoot when she gets open, but is small 5'8" which means team has to get her an open look. I thought her defense was getting a lot better late in the season.
Jaiden McCoy- I like her energy on the court can give you some solid minutes if you have a key player in foul trouble. I hope she has worked on her free throw shooting she is the type player that get fouled a lot needs to be able to make the free throw shots.
Emily Saunders- You wonder what is going to happen with her. I am expecting her to play around five to 8 minutes in almost every game. My hope is that she has really improved her speed and strength and can help us next season.

Games I know we'll have on the schedule are Kentucky at home, SC at home, Stanford at home. Notre Dame at home, UConn at home, Texas on the road is one I think we'll still play. We'll probably still have a home and home with Vandy. Road games I think we'll have to play at Texas A&M, Miss St, Alabama, and Georgia. Schedule will be a lot tougher than last season won't see any 300 rpi teams.

The subs will be young and inexperienced at this level. Expectation is that the starting five will be one of the top groups in the SEC key of course is the improvement of the sophomores and Burrell. Biggest problem will be if the freshmen can give quality minutes at this level of play. There will be a learning curve for them as it is for all freshmen we need to them to give us quality minutes without mistakes. I feel they are all very good offensive players may struggle on defense as I doubt if any of the three have ever guarded the quality players that are on every team in the SEC. This team has to see the five starting players vastly improved and the subs be able to hold their own when a starter is on the bench.

I don't have much of an idea how we'll match up in the SEC race will know a lot more when we play a few games during the season. I hope we can get this virus behind us really looking forward to the basketball season.
Good post and analysis.



2020-21 Women's Basketball Roster - University of Tennessee Athletics
 
#22
#22
We certainly have a lot of questions that need to be answered and we'll get them if the season is played. The starting five is basically the same taking out Brown and adding Green. Just from previous play that looks like an upgrade and Green did have some excellent games against top competition. She is a player we certainly need to make a difference at the four. We certainly have other options there McCoy, Suarez, or even KK could start there. I think Green gets the first shot at that position.
 
#23
#23
I do think they will be fine, though I am skeptical of Horsten as a PG. That’s 3 spots 👍. I’m saying the five is a concern for sure as is the one, if JH is best used off the ball.
Horston comes in as the player that is either going to make us a very good team or an average one. Her play has to go way beyond anything she did last season. She is the highest rated player on the team she has to be dynamic.
 
#24
#24
Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.
Key and Horston are certainly the players that have to step up if were going to be a good team. They play like last year in for a long season.
 
#25
#25
Thanks OP. It would be much more encouraging if we had added at least one elite player given we expected the kid that sat out then transferred to be that. I agree with your assumption about a key being the development of Burrell and Horsten alongside Davis. I was highest on Burrell‘s potential by year end. I expect the 1 and 5 to be issues against good teams.
I wanted to see us add a player as well a great one at the point. I don't think it is going to happen at this point. Gaulden still hasn't done anything don't know if we ever pursued her or even if she qualifies as a Grad Transfer. Right now looks like after what I think is the starting five the staff plans to play a lot of freshman a lot of minutes. I think all three are capable players, but none has ever seen this quality of competition and the big question is who will be capable and who will not be able to meet the challenge.
 
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