2022 Recruits

Did you and I recruit these players?

So, from now on Volunteer fans should refer to Volunteer players as THEIR players instead of OUR players? That sounds like no fun at all.

A point worth making twice. Did you know Tom Brady was a sixth round pick in the NFL draft.?

Another point worth making twice: It doesn't always take a top 20 recruit to make a great player.

Harper coached four years at a program that has finished in the top 10 the last three seasons, and made the Sweet 16 in their last three postseasons.

You really wanna go here? OK, if you insist: 1) At the time Harper got to NCSt, your "high level" program had never been past the SS, and still hasn't. 2) When Harper took over, your "high level" program had not been to the national tournament for four straight seasons, and 3) at the time Harper took over your "high level" program, said program had been to only oneSS in ten seasons. It's irrelevant what has been done since Harper was there, it was not a high level program program when she arrived.
 
When Dean Smith retired there was very little drop off and when it did drop they hired Roy Williams, who won big.
Guthridge was the first up. He did make the final 4 in his first and third year but lost in the first round in his second year and UNC dropped out of the rankings in his third year for the first time in forever.
 
17 seasons IS a long time to accumulate coaching experience, but coaching a mid major is a little different than coaching a major elite university like Tennessee. A mid major like Missouri State do have some fine players, but these are players fall under the radar, and in fact are very good players who are unknown to most services. Still, these are not players that will bring a NC to a school, so now Kellie has to work to get that same kind of commitment from the elite players that could possibly bring the NC to Tennessee. Arizona was just a good team until they got Macdonald to transfer in, an elite player that was a huge factor in their F4 run. As it was already mentioned, SC was just a very good team before A'ja Wilson was signed. My point was that Kellie has to show the elite High School players that she is a top notch coach, and coming to Tennessee can make their dreams come through. As far as rankings, most of it is perception, as there are alot of players undervalued in the rankings, but getting one of these players, combined with Kellies coaching, will entice others to take a longer look at Tennessee for their college career. IMHO, she is the right person for this task, but by the end of next year she has to show results. I think she will.

Ari Mcdonald was not considered an elite player as a 4 star and was ranked number 55 out of High school. That is not what people on this board consider "elite", yet she was a game-changer that made a huge impact on Arizona's program. Take a look at Vic Shaefer's teams that made their final four runs. Not one McDonald's All American and I don't think that had any 5-star athletes either, yet they beat up on a lot of teams who had never lost a game to them (Tennessee) with all kinds of top-rated recruits. Days are long gone when it is going to be a definite 1-2 teams that are going to make the championship game and the 60 point blowouts in the first and second rounds of the tournament a thing of yesterday. Kellie has not even coached 2 full seasons at Tennessee, yet she put two teams on the floor that were expected to finish 7th or below and they both finished 3 and in year two, beat everyone they were supposed to plus some and they were competitive in every game. Tennessee is definitely on the right trajectory and this freshman class that is coming in is going to be a lot better than most think, even though their rankings don't necessarily indicate that.
 
Disagree. Five years after Geno leaves U conn will be on their second coach and be a sweet 16 program. The first coach after Geno will be a pariah by then because Geno left them everything yet they led the program to ruin. I feel fairly confident in this prediction because we’ve seen this movie before.
Truly just a question here . Can anyone think of a dominating program where the legendary coach left and the next coach was able to keep the program at that level for more than a couple of years? I tried to think of basketball and football and couldn’t come up with any but maybe someone else can think of a “second generation “ success.
Oklahoma football - Stoops to Riley
Ohio State- Tressel, *Fickle gap year, Urban, Day

Ideally under your hope, Geno needs to not win another one before that 5 year window starts.
 
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So, from now on Volunteer fans should refer to Volunteer players as THEIR players instead of OUR players? That sounds like no fun at all.



Another point worth making twice: It doesn't always take a top 20 recruit to make a great player.



You really wanna go here? OK, if you insist: 1) At the time Harper got to NCSt, your "high level" program had never been past the SS, and still hasn't. 2) When Harper took over, your "high level" program had not been to the national tournament for four straight seasons, and 3) at the time Harper took over your "high level" program, said program had been to only oneSS in ten seasons. It's irrelevant what has been done since Harper was there, it was not a high level program program when she arrived.
NC. State made the Final Four in 1998. During the Kay Yow era, NC. State was mostly 3rd or 4th fiddle behind either in no particular order, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. It should be noted that Kay Yow was terminally ill with cancer for the last 3 years as a head coach.
 
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17 seasons IS a long time to accumulate coaching experience, but coaching a mid major is a little different than coaching a major elite university like Tennessee. A mid major like Missouri State do have some fine players, but these are players fall under the radar, and in fact are very good players who are unknown to most services. Still, these are not players that will bring a NC to a school, so now Kellie has to work to get that same kind of commitment from the elite players that could possibly bring the NC to Tennessee. Arizona was just a good team until they got Macdonald to transfer in, an elite player that was a huge factor in their F4 run. As it was already mentioned, SC was just a very good team before A'ja Wilson was signed. My point was that Kellie has to show the elite High School players that she is a top notch coach, and coming to Tennessee can make their dreams come through. As far as rankings, most of it is perception, as there are alot of players undervalued in the rankings, but getting one of these players, combined with Kellies coaching, will entice others to take a longer look at Tennessee for their college career. IMHO, she is the right person for this task, but by the end of next year she has to show results. I think she will.
She took MST. to the Sweet Sixteen. I bet none of those players ranked more than three stars.
 
NC. State made the Final Four in 1998. During the Kay Yow era, NC. State was mostly 3rd or 4th fiddle behind either in no particular order, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. It should be noted that Kay Yow was terminally ill with cancer for the last 3 years as a head coach.
Made it hard for any coach to take her place.
 
Another point worth making twice: It doesn't always take a top 20 recruit to make a great player.

Any points on telling the difference between "exceptions" and "rules?"

You really wanna go here? OK, if you insist: 1) At the time Harper got to NCSt, your "high level" program had never been past the SS, and still hasn't. 2) When Harper took over, your "high level" program had not been to the national tournament for four straight seasons, and 3) at the time Harper took over your "high level" program, said program had been to only oneSS in ten seasons. It's irrelevant what has been done since Harper was there, it was not a high level program program when she arrived.

Not sure what you're arguing here. NC State has a good history in women's basketball led by a longtime Hall of Fame coach (RIP). No, it wasn't at a high level when Kellie took over, that's why she got the job. It also wasn't at a high level when she left four years later, hence the reason she was booted. Then her successor was hired. After cleaning up Kellie's mess, NC State is miraculously playing at a high level again not seen since Yow's heyday. Amazing how making the right hire can revive a long dormant program, and not a good look for Kellie.

The original point was Kellie isn't a career mid major coach, she has power 5 experience. In fact one of the PR narratives when she was hired was how she had learned from her mistakes at NC State making her ready for this job...
 
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Ari Mcdonald was not considered an elite player as a 4 star and was ranked number 55 out of High school. That is not what people on this board consider "elite", yet she was a game-changer that made a huge impact on Arizona's program. Take a look at Vic Shaefer's teams that made their final four runs. Not one McDonald's All American and I don't think that had any 5-star athletes either, yet they beat up on a lot of teams who had never lost a game to them (Tennessee) with all kinds of top-rated recruits. Days are long gone when it is going to be a definite 1-2 teams that are going to make the championship game and the 60 point blowouts in the first and second rounds of the tournament a thing of yesterday. Kellie has not even coached 2 full seasons at Tennessee, yet she put two teams on the floor that were expected to finish 7th or below and they both finished 3 and in year two, beat everyone they were supposed to plus some and they were competitive in every game. Tennessee is definitely on the right trajectory and this freshman class that is coming in is going to be a lot better than most think, even though their rankings don't necessarily indicate that.

There are examples. And McDonald is a unicorn at 55. But, in the modern era neither PS, Gino or Dawn went to final fours much less won a championship without a top five player coming into their program.

And, exceeding those expectations isn’t a good measure of success. It can and usually does mean you have not put together a very talented roster.
 
I look for Key to make a big jump in her offensive production, while being even better on defense--she will have a breakout season. We can only hope that Key will develop along a similar path as Burrell. As to Horston, I also expect a breakout year. Burrell, Key, and Horston will be the key to LV success this upcoming season.

To me, beyond reducing fouls, her taking a big step forward from a very solid 2020 is linked to conditioning and playing hard.
 
Oklahoma football - Stoops to Riley
Ohio State- Tressel, *Fickle gap year, Urban, Day

Ideally under your hope, Geno needs to not win another one before that 5 year window starts.
Good info but I don’t consider Stoops or Tressel legendary coaches. Their fan base loved them but not comparable to Bear Bryant, John Wooden, Pat Summit.
 
The original point was Kellie isn't a career mid major coach, she has power 5 experience. In fact one of the PR narratives when she was hired was how she had learned from her mistakes at NC State making her ready for this job...

I'm afraid your original post was that Kelly has had 6 years at a "high level" p5 program. That is false, as the facts reveal. The most you can say with a straight face is that she has had two.

And you have also failed to state relevant facts about her successor - It took him 5 years before he got to the sweet sixteen. Kellie was not given that fifth year. In two of his first three years, he did not make it to the ncaa tourney. He's had a good four year run, but hasn't gotten past the sweet sixteen. Looks like his program is stuck at that level. Might be the ceiling for him. i'm guessing that's what you would be saying about him if he were UT's coach.
 
I'm afraid your original post was that Kelly has had 6 years at a "high level" p5 program. That is false, as the facts reveal. The most you can say with a straight face is that she has had two.

LOL ok. Kellie has six seasons of coaching at p5 programs with a history of winning (obviously to widely varying degrees). If you want to keep making my point by saying NONE of her six years were "high level" who am I to argue? Whose job is it to take it to a high level again?

And you have also failed to state relevant facts about her successor - It took him 5 years before he got to the sweet sixteen. Kellie was not given that fifth year. In two of his first three years, he did not make it to the ncaa tourney. He's had a good four year run, but hasn't gotten past the sweet sixteen. Looks like his program is stuck at that level. Might be the ceiling for him. i'm guessing that's what you would be saying about him if he were UT's coach.

Like Kellie, Moore went to the NCAA his first year at NC State. Unlike Kellie, he actually gained traction toward gradual improvement the following seasons until he got the program back to the tournament his fourth year. Now it's once again a Sweet 16 staple as they were in Yow's prime, proving a decent coach can have some level of success there. Kellie couldn't...
 
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LOL ok. Kellie has six seasons of coaching at p5 programs with a history of winning (obviously to widely varying degrees). If you want to keep making my point by saying NONE of her six years were "high level" who am I to argue? Whose job is it to take it to a high level again?



Like Kellie, Moore went to the NCAA his first year at NC State. Unlike Kellie, he actually gained traction toward gradual improvement the following seasons until he got the program back to the tournament his fourth year. Now it's once again a Sweet 16 staple as they were in Yow's prime, proving a decent coach can have some level of success there. Kellie couldn't...
Kellie is a very good coach and her players love her. She just needs some seasoning!!!
 
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Kellie is a very good coach and her players love her. She just needs some seasoning!!!

I’ve tried to tell y’all….. Don’t fall for the Darth trolling ! It’s like that old saying…. “Don’t wrestle in the mud with a pig ! All you are going to do is get muddy and the pig likes it !”

His post are all negative…. Especially about our coaches! Just trying to get anyone to comment so he/she can start arguing…. You just give them what they want!!!!
 
Good info but I don’t consider Stoops or Tressel legendary coaches. Their fan base loved them but not comparable to Bear Bryant, John Wooden, Pat Summit.
You asked a question, those coaches won national championships and then turned the program over and it sustained success at the level it was at with no setbacks but in the hunt each year.
 
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Whose job is it to take it to a high level again?

Good point. Win some, lose some. She's working on it again, though. They say in life that if you get thrown off your horse, you need to get right back up on it. I guess you can't relate to that, eh? Always been a complete success, have you? Here's hoping she succeeds to the high level you have. (I'm assuming you're one of the top 16 or 32 in your profession nationally when I say that)
 

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