2022 Recruits

I have to give her credit for keeping it a secret no birdie in the nest or tweet from any coach. I looked at Harper's and nothing there either of course she is always silent on everything.

She visited Georgia last and they changed her dates to visit ???? Does Georgia facilities look better than ours ? The last visit usually has an advantage?
 
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She was waiting for the right players only and they felt they were not the right players….hopefully the 23 recruits will like us.
More complex. We stopped recruiting a few players because staff discovered they weren’t right for the program. Many offers to top 2022 recruits went out very late. Recruiting is a process.
 
She visited Georgia last and they changed her dates to visit ???? Does Georgia facilities look better than ours ? The last visit usually has an advantage?
No facilities not better but she had that friend there Richardson on the basketball team and that is a worry.
 
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As of last night at 11PM Georgia had not heard from Talaysia and they stated that they were still in it for her. My guess is that she will contact teams and let them know during the 11th hour. Joni have it away with Janiah. Many knew who it was before she announced. I didn’t want to say that people were right about who had verballed to Georgia. Talaysia is liking and Retweeting Georgia affiliated tweets. I honestly can see her going to Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina or FSU.
 
As of last night at 11PM Georgia had not heard from Talaysia and they stated that they were still in it for her. My guess is that she will contact teams and let them know during the 11th hour. Joni have it away with Janiah. Many knew who it was before she announced. I didn’t want to say that people were right about who had verballed to Georgia. Talaysia is liking and Retweeting Georgia affiliated tweets. I honestly can see her going to Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina or FSU.

I just went to Twitter and don’t see a ton of UGA retweets or likes.. she has a couple but about the same as her interaction with Tennessee… I like that she’s kept it quiet but would LOVE if she came here and paired up with Wynn in the backcourt.
 
More complex. We stopped recruiting a few players because staff discovered they weren’t right for the program. Many offers to top 2022 recruits went out very late. Recruiting is a process.

I know how recruiting works! I also know that the “process” doesn’t mean a thing if the player is excited by an opportunity or what the coach is selling. To me, our recruiting strategy sounds like this, we want you unless you want to go somewhere else and then you weren’t the “right” player. Pat was selective, but she recruited plenty of players that weren’t easy to deal with and some of those players ended up being great players and some transferred. Point is, if you are too selective, you don’t give a kid the chance to possibly change due to the culture in place already. You cannot have perfection. We are not winning enough to where we can be so selective that we don’t get recruits. If there are serious red flags…ok….if the kid is selfish or a diva, that can sometimes be fixed. Great players are divas sometimes. This is like someone wanting to find a date but saying I’m only going out with the best looking people…well, that’s great and all, but you may have just eliminated all of your candidates.
 
We are not winning enough to where we can be so selective that we don’t get recruits.

Unfortunately, Kellie doesn't have the leverage compared to other coaches who can afford to be picky. If she can build Tennessee back up to powerhouse status, then it's a different story. But she will need the elite players to do that, so it will be interesting to see if she sticks to her guns or adjusts her approach.
 
I know how recruiting works! I also know that the “process” doesn’t mean a thing if the player is excited by an opportunity or what the coach is selling. To me, our recruiting strategy sounds like this, we want you unless you want to go somewhere else and then you weren’t the “right” player. Pat was selective, but she recruited plenty of players that weren’t easy to deal with and some of those players ended up being great players and some transferred. Point is, if you are too selective, you don’t give a kid the chance to possibly change due to the culture in place already. You cannot have perfection. We are not winning enough to where we can be so selective that we don’t get recruits. If there are serious red flags…ok….if the kid is selfish or a diva, that can sometimes be fixed. Great players are divas sometimes. This is like someone wanting to find a date but saying I’m only going out with the best looking people…well, that’s great and all, but you may have just eliminated all of your candidates.
2 players that were eliminated ended up at the same school and of the two players, another program decided to end their recruiting of the same player. The program both players went to got rid of a player that was deem as not living up to the standards of that program. Its amazing how easy folk get amnesia when it comes to recruiting.

Let's look back on our recruiting shall we:
We saw how 2016 went (Kamara Harris and Cheridene Green) and followed that up with a #1 class.

From that #1 Class (2017) we had 1 dismissed, one transfer out, 1 who wasn't developed properly until Kellie arrived, and the final one of the class went on to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA.

2018 was promising as it was another top class, and from that class we had 1 dismissed, 2 transfered, and one likely to be another first round pick!

The persons responsible for the 2017/2019 class is no longer coaching basketball, I wonder why? Which leads me to the 2019 class!

From that class (2019) we have 2 who probably weren't initially of Lady Vols ability (and it is no knock to them) but they have made the most of their time and have shown that they believe in our coach and what she is doing. The other two have shown flashes of being WNBA prospects. Kellie did an awesome job keeping these 4 players here and the latter two look to play huge roles this year while if the former two can continue to develop may be able to provide us what KK did her final year here (quality minutes and play when we need it the most).

Kellie's first class many would say is this 2021 class. We have yet to see what any of them can do outside of high school accolades and footage. They all seem to have what Kellie desires. And although satisfied with this class, Kellie was not satisfied with what she saw taking place with the 2022 class and felt the need to make a coaching change. Yes that coach gave us a gem who many had no clue about but is turning out to be one of the best in her class. That player could've have left when the coach responsible for bringing her to UT was left go, but she believes in what Kellie is building and chooses to stay committed.

Kellie added 2 great assistant coaches (one is highly respected in a lot of circles and has brought a lot of talent to a lot of different programs) lets give them time to identify who they want for the program and trust them to get it done.

I'd rather her select the right players and build us back to what we once were rather than adding pieces that do no fit and those pieces destroy everything that she has had to rebuild so far.

We are heading in the right direction, give it time. PLEASE!
 
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2 players that were eliminated ended up at the same school and of the two players, another program decided to end their recruiting of the same player. The program both players went to got rid of a player that was deem as not living up to the standards of that program. Its amazing how easy folk get amnesia when it comes to recruiting.

Let's look back on our recruiting shall we:
We saw how 2016 went (Kamara Harris and Cheridene Green) and followed that up with a #1 class.

From that #1 Class (2017) we had 1 dismissed, one transfer out, 1 who wasn't developed properly until Kellie arrived, and the final one of the class went on to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA.

2018 was promising as it was another top class, and from that class we had 1 dismissed, 2 transfered, and one likely to be another first round pick!

The persons responsible for the 2017/2019 class is no longer coaching basketball, I wonder why? Which leads me to the 2019 class!

From that class (2019) we have 2 who probably weren't initially of Lady Vols ability (and it is no knock to them) but they have made the most of their time and have shown that they believe in our coach and what she is doing. The other two have shown flashes of being WNBA prospects. Kellie did an awesome job keeping these 4 players here and the latter two look to play huge roles this year while if the former two can continue to develop may be able to provide us what KK did her final year here (quality minutes and play when we need it the most).

Kellie's first class many would say is this 2021 class. We have yet to see what any of them can do outside of high school accolades and footage. They all seem to have what Kellie desires. And although satisfied with this class, Kellie was not satisfied with what she saw taking place with the 2022 class and felt the need to make a coaching change. Yes that coach gave us a gem who many had no clue about but is turning out to be one of the best in her class. That player could've have left when the coach responsible for bringing her to UT was left go, but she believes in what Kellie is building and chooses to stay committed.

Kellie added 2 great assistant coaches (one is highly respected in a lot of circles and has brought a lot of talent to a lot of different programs) lets give them time to identify who they want for the program and trust them to get it done.

I'd rather hell select the right players and build us back to what we once were rather than adding pieces that do no fit and those pieces destroy everything that she has had to rebuild so far.

We are heading in the right direction, give it time. PLEASE!
THANK YOU!!! Perfectly said.
 
Unfortunately, Kellie doesn't have the leverage compared to other coaches who can afford to be picky. If she can build Tennessee back up to powerhouse status, then it's a different story. But she will need the elite players to do that, so it will be interesting to see if she sticks to her guns or adjusts her approach.
In a generic sense, how many coaches are there that can be that picky. Three? The pickiness starts to come in as the recruiting develops. For example, Let's say Kiki calls KJH and says I want to go to UT but I'm going to wait until after I visit Duke to commit publicly. Then a call comes from the 20th ranked point guard who says I want to commit now. KJH may say to the 20th point guard, "Please hold off on your commit for a week. We need to see how some things develop. Kiki commits to UT and the 20th ranked point guard gets a sweet sincere phone call informing her that if she chooses UT there may not be many minutes for her and she should reconsider her commit to UT. If Kiki is blown away by Kara and Duke and commits to Duke. The 20th ranked point guard gets the call they wanted to get. That is the picky and duplicitous nature of big time recruiting.
 
In a generic sense, how many coaches are there that can be that picky. Three? The pickiness starts to come in as the recruiting develops. For example, Let's say Kiki calls KJH and says I want to go to UT but I'm going to wait until after I visit Duke to commit publicly. Then a call comes from the 20th ranked point guard who says I want to commit now. KJH may say to the 20th point guard, "Please hold off on your commit for a week. We need to see how some things develop. Kiki commits to UT and the 20th ranked point guard gets a sweet sincere phone call informing her that if she chooses UT there may not be many minutes for her and she should reconsider her commit to UT. If Kiki is blown away by Kara and Duke and commits to Duke. The 20th ranked point guard gets the call they wanted to get. That is the picky and duplicitous nature of big time recruiting.
Yikes, that must be a luxury! If I was a coach I would never recruit in that manner. First come, first served if I’m recruiting you.
 
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As of last night at 11PM Georgia had not heard from Talaysia and they stated that they were still in it for her. My guess is that she will contact teams and let them know during the 11th hour. Joni have it away with Janiah. Many knew who it was before she announced. I didn’t want to say that people were right about who had verballed to Georgia. Talaysia is liking and Retweeting Georgia affiliated tweets. I honestly can see her going to Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina or FSU.

Well, if they (Georgia) "stated that" they have committed a recruiting violation.
 
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In a generic sense, how many coaches are there that can be that picky. Three? The pickiness starts to come in as the recruiting develops. For example, Let's say Kiki calls KJH and says I want to go to UT but I'm going to wait until after I visit Duke to commit publicly. Then a call comes from the 20th ranked point guard who says I want to commit now. KJH may say to the 20th point guard, "Please hold off on your commit for a week. We need to see how some things develop. Kiki commits to UT and the 20th ranked point guard gets a sweet sincere phone call informing her that if she chooses UT there may not be many minutes for her and she should reconsider her commit to UT. If Kiki is blown away by Kara and Duke and commits to Duke. The 20th ranked point guard gets the call they wanted to get. That is the picky and duplicitous nature of big time recruiting.
The top programs/coaches can be picky because they've earned the right to be. Dawn, Geno, Vic, Kim, Jeff, Tara and probably a few others have a leg up in recruiting in this regard. The top recruits are approaching them as much as the other way around. They can afford to say "no" because there is a long pipeline of kids that want to play for them. Kellie doesn't have this luxury unless she brings Tennessee back to the upper tier of teams, and that will be hard to do unless she can convince elite players to play for her. Justine is a good start, but she needs some more players at that level and above.

Your recruiting scenario sounds about right. I also don't see anything wrong with that if a coach can afford to take that gamble. Not all of them can, but there are certainly those that have those conversations several times a year...until they are in a position to call the shots themselves and let the 20th ranked player figure out the writing on the wall if an elite prospect commits afterwards.
 
🍿🍿🍿
2 players that were eliminated ended up at the same school and of the two players, another program decided to end their recruiting of the same player. The program both players went to got rid of a player that was deem as not living up to the standards of that program. Its amazing how easy folk get amnesia when it comes to recruiting.

Let's look back on our recruiting shall we:
We saw how 2016 went (Kamara Harris and Cheridene Green) and followed that up with a #1 class.

From that #1 Class (2017) we had 1 dismissed, one transfer out, 1 who wasn't developed properly until Kellie arrived, and the final one of the class went on to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA.

2018 was promising as it was another top class, and from that class we had 1 dismissed, 2 transfered, and one likely to be another first round pick!

The persons responsible for the 2017/2019 class is no longer coaching basketball, I wonder why? Which leads me to the 2019 class!

From that class (2019) we have 2 who probably weren't initially of Lady Vols ability (and it is no knock to them) but they have made the most of their time and have shown that they believe in our coach and what she is doing. The other two have shown flashes of being WNBA prospects. Kellie did an awesome job keeping these 4 players here and the latter two look to play huge roles this year while if the former two can continue to develop may be able to provide us what KK did her final year here (quality minutes and play when we need it the most).

Kellie's first class many would say is this 2021 class. We have yet to see what any of them can do outside of high school accolades and footage. They all seem to have what Kellie desires. And although satisfied with this class, Kellie was not satisfied with what she saw taking place with the 2022 class and felt the need to make a coaching change. Yes that coach gave us a gem who many had no clue about but is turning out to be one of the best in her class. That player could've have left when the coach responsible for bringing her to UT was left go, but she believes in what Kellie is building and chooses to stay committed.

Kellie added 2 great assistant coaches (one is highly respected in a lot of circles and has brought a lot of talent to a lot of different programs) lets give them time to identify who they want for the program and trust them to get it done.

I'd rather her select the right players and build us back to what we once were rather than adding pieces that do no fit and those pieces destroy everything that she has had to rebuild so far.

We are heading in the right direction, give it time. PLEASE!
 
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Unfortunately, Kellie doesn't have the leverage compared to other coaches who can afford to be picky. If she can build Tennessee back up to powerhouse status, then it's a different story. But she will need the elite players to do that, so it will be interesting to see if she sticks to her guns or adjusts her approach.

These are the lessons she was supposed to have learned from her mistakes at NC State. She had no idea how to recruit at this level then, and she still has no clue...
 

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