Aftermath of Lady Vols Loss to Michigan

You could have run some double /triple screens for one or the other or both on different times down the floor.We had the wrong people being left open and taking shots ......Michigan knew who our shooters/scorers were and set up their defense to have two people in the face of each Davis and Burrell every time they touched the ball in the offense being run ....needed some variations in screening ......
The other night, Iowa State was doing a great job limiting touches for Ciera Johnson and N'dea Jones in the point. Blair countered by having them both right under the basket. State couldn't double team both, so N'dea was able to easily get the entry pass, keep the ball high and turn to Johnson for a lob pass and easy layup. They did this like three times in a row when they were making their comeback and forced Fennelly to change his post defense strategy. Knowing how to counter your opponent is the biggest difference between Gary Blair and Kellie Harper. Kellie hasn't shown yet that she can consistently adjust her team's gameplan when they take away option #1. They win games with option #1 (Rae and Rennia going off), but I haven't seen her successfully adjust when teams counter that.
 
The game against Michigan was about missing shots 17 layup attempts. I have very seldom seen Davis miss that many easy ones right around the basket. Lack of three point shooting was the other factor and will continue to be a problem until we get some three point shooters on the team. Their defense was physical but no more than team had seen in the SEC. Game was totally didn't finish shots some were rushed poor performance. You only get one chance and we blew it with very poor shooting. They had 8 threes to our two which is something we've had to overcome in most games we've played this season losing largely on the three point line and at the foul line. Even with out poor 33 percent shooting they scored only two more field goals, but additional points from the three and line were the huge difference in the game.
 
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Yes, it was my bad. Apologies. i had read that at the time the class was signed. I didn't think to revisit it later. I assumed everyone else's class was signed, too. So I see now the class is ranked 14th and 15th. Sorry to give everyone a start.

Thanks for stepping up and admitting the error. There are some in this forum that would have doubled-down rather than doing the right thing. Good on you and BTW, I agree with your observations.
 
I've said numerous times Kellie committed coaching malpractice by not addressing the point guard situation last offseason, which ultimately bit them in the butt. If she decides to run it back with the Jordans handling the point again, adding only a raw, inexperienced true freshman, there is no hope for her...

Be careful using Kellie and coaching in the same sentence!
 
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I've said numerous times Kellie committed coaching malpractice by not addressing the point guard situation last offseason, which ultimately bit them in the butt. If she decides to run it back with the Jordans handling the point again, adding only a raw, inexperienced true freshman, there is no hope for her...

Yes, you do keep saying that...

Let's work through this proposition. You do understand that Kellie can't call her GM and say we need to trade for a PG and we can give up 2 draft picks in exchange.

To "address" this season's PG issue, Kellie would have had to recruit a top flight PG right when she came in the door, since most top players commit before their senior season but she had Jordan Horston in the loop and obviously directed he efforts to keeping a top 2 or 3 in the fold. Had Jordan gone elsewhere, I am confident you would now be a massive JH fan and noting how not keeping her in the program spelled disaster from the start.

But, Kellie did address the shortfall by bringing in Walker who looked like a great signing at the time. From the wayback machine:

Walker, a 5-8 guard from Muskegon, Michigan, played for Western Michigan and started all 31 games last season for the Broncos. She averaged 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game. She chose the Lady Vols over several offers this summer, including Baylor, Clemson and Pitt, and her primary recruiter was Lady Vols Assistant Coach Jennifer Sullivan. Jordan Walker provides help at the point guard spot to sophomore Jordan Horston, who had been the only floor leader on the roster heading into the 2020-21 season. Walker’s paperwork has been certified by Tennessee.

“Jordan brings experience at the guard position and provides us much-needed depth on the perimeter,” Harper said. “She is a terrific addition to the rest of our roster, as she can knock down the open shot, create off the bounce and distribute the ball. I was impressed with her level of maturity, and I am excited for her to be a part of our family.”

Walker was considered a Power 5 prospect at Mona Shores High School, but a knee injury shifted her recruitment. She earned the Michigan Miss Basketball award in 2017.

This season Kellie has more PG's coming into the team and yes, they will be freshman because that is how time works.

I will give you that Jordans were an inconsistent PG combo but exactly what should have kellie done differently?; what uncommitted blue chip PG recruit was hanging around last off-season still waiting to commit?
 
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Yes, you do keep saying that...

Let's work through this proposition. You do understand that Kellie can't call her GM and say we need to trade for a PG and we can give up 2 draft picks in exchange.

To "address" this season's PG issue, Kellie would have had to recruit a top flight PG right when she came in the door, since most top players commit before their senior season but she had Jordan Horston in the loop and obviously directed he efforts to keeping a top 2 or 3 in the fold. Had Jordan gone elsewhere, I am confident you be a massive JH fan and noting how not keeping her in the program spelled disaster from the start.

She did address the shortfall by bringing in Walker who looked like a great signing at the time. From the wayback machine:



This season Kellie has more PG's coming into the team and yes, they will be freshman because that is how time works.

I will give you that Jordans were an inconsistent PG combo but exactly what should have kellie done differently?; what uncommitted blue chip PG recruit was hanging around last off-season still waiting to commit?
Walker was supposed to be a little better than she was. The knee injury is still lingering anytime you still have to wear a full leg brace your not going to play as well as you can. Miles is a good point guard if they can reel her in just a little a little loose on the passes and drives to the basket.
 
I would like to note for all of us who are promoting fire KJH and get a successful coach from a successful program. Exactly who do these people believe the LVs can entice to leave a successful program? I can’t think of one. The way we low rate players, recruits and our coaches, who would really want to come to our program? As far as recruits are concerned, KJH does not have a five star coming in, but she has some quality four stars coming in. She addressed power, shooting and speed. In addition, she has a top fifteen recruiting class. Instead of jumping to conclusions, why don’t we give things a chance?
 
I would like to note for all of us who are promoting fire KJH and get a successful coach from a successful program. Exactly who do these people believe the LVs can entice to leave a successful program? I can’t think of one. The way we low rate players, recruits and our coaches, who would really want to come to our program? As far as recruits are concerned, KJH does not have a five star coming in, but she has some quality four stars coming in. She addressed power, shooting and speed. In addition, she has a top fifteen recruiting class. Instead of jumping to conclusions, why don’t we give things a chance?

I hope you're not insinuating that I am in this group.
Yes, Coach K has room to and needs to grow in the coaching gamesmanship, but hell no, I am not in any group that wants to see her fired.
Period!
Exclamation Point.
 
I hope you're not insinuating that I am in this group.
Yes, Coach K has room to and needs to grow in the coaching gamesmanship, but hell no, I am not in any group that wants to see her fired.
Period!
Exclamation Point.
My no means coach, not at all.
 
I would like to note for all of us who are promoting fire KJH and get a successful coach from a successful program. Exactly who do these people believe the LVs can entice to leave a successful program? I can’t think of one. The way we low rate players, recruits and our coaches, who would really want to come to our program? As far as recruits are concerned, KJH does not have a five star coming in, but she has some quality four stars coming in. She addressed power, shooting and speed. In addition, she has a top fifteen recruiting class. Instead of jumping to conclusions, why don’t we give things a chance?
Unless there's posts I'm not seeing, exactly NO ONE is promoting fire KJH. Some say if we had hired an elite we would have a better chance of returning to elite status sooner. Almost all realize probably no elite coaches would take the job, even if the AD would pony up the money. You're setting up an exaggerated false narrative

Also, not landing an elite coach or recruit has zero to do with our "low rating" anyone or anything, nor anything else that gets posted here. We have zero powers to "give things a chance". What we say and think counts for nada, we're just unqualified armchair critics. Chances will be decided by the Athletic Department. In the truest tradition of internet sports fans forums, jumping to meaningless conclusions is what we do.
 
watched it today and it makes our loss to Michigan sting a little less..need Baylor to beat Uconn in the Elite 8

It does show that Michigan was no fluke...but also shows that we were capable of beating Baylor. And then going on to put a beatdown on Conn, after which Lobo would have blown up real good.
 
Unless there's posts I'm not seeing, exactly NO ONE is promoting fire KJH. Some say if we had hired an elite we would have a better chance of returning to elite status sooner. Almost all realize probably no elite coaches would take the job, even if the AD would pony up the money. You're setting up an exaggerated false narrative

Also, not landing an elite coach or recruit has zero to do with our "low rating" anyone or anything, nor anything else that gets posted here. We have zero powers to "give things a chance". What we say and think counts for nada, we're just unqualified armchair critics. Chances will be decided by the Athletic Department. In the truest tradition of internet sports fans forums, jumping to meaningless conclusions is what we do.
Yes, we have low rated both our coaches and players many times on this forum. There have also been a lot of post eluding to the fact that we hired the wrong coach and we give her lest time to turn the program around. It is unfortunate but many of us fail to realize that it takes time to turn around a program headed South. And yes you, you as a fan, do have the power to give things a chance without hoping for immediate success when the program is headed the wrong way. Yes, the AD has the power to give a coach a chance, in terms of supporting, giving them the tools they need, hiring and firing but so does the fans. How do we give a coach a chance, by supporting them, not saying hurting things because things aren't going our way and not coming up with meaningless conclusions. I coached for several years in high school and faced one situation where the support of parents giving me a chance, and not prejudging me helped me turn a bad program around. In one instance I received zero support from school administrators because they could have cared less about women's sports. I don't know what your coaching experience is, but fans giving a coach a chance means a lot.
 
Yes, we have low rated both our coaches and players many times on this forum. There have also been a lot of post eluding to the fact that we hired the wrong coach and we give her lest time to turn the program around. It is unfortunate but many of us fail to realize that it takes time to turn around a program headed South. And yes you, you as a fan, do have the power to give things a chance without hoping for immediate success when the program is headed the wrong way. Yes, the AD has the power to give a coach a chance, in terms of supporting, giving them the tools they need, hiring and firing but so does the fans. How do we give a coach a chance, by supporting them, not saying hurting things because things aren't going our way and not coming up with meaningless conclusions. I coached for several years in high school and faced one situation where the support of parents giving me a chance, and not prejudging me helped me turn a bad program around. In one instance I received zero support from school administrators because they could have cared less about women's sports. I don't know what your coaching experience is, but fans giving a coach a chance means a lot.
We'll have to agree to disagree. You're example of parents having a say so on a high school team is a world away from a couple of dozen fan forum posters having influence, especially on a big time college program. Obviously fan support as in buying tickets and making donations is important. We are not

I'm aware its very important to some posters to believe we count more in the actual real LV world than we do. Don't tell them, but we don't count at all.
 
We'll have to agree to disagree. You're example of parents having a say so on a high school team is a world away from a couple of dozen fan forum posters having influence, especially on a big time college program. Obviously fan support as in buying tickets and making donations is important. We are not

I'm aware its very important to some posters to believe we count more in the actual real LV world than we do. Don't tell them, but we don't count at all.

But the wiser posters on this forum know that players, fans, future recruits and their families as well as present players and their families all know of and often drop in on this board,,,,However, over time, they have learned who the fans are, who the knowledgeable posters are and who the negavols are.

So I won't argue with your self inclusion and the "we", that you speak of,,,,,,ya'll don't!
 
But the wiser posters on this forum know that players, fans, future recruits and their families as well as present players and their families all know of and often drop in on this board,,,,However, over time, they have learned who the fans are, who the knowledgeable posters are and who the negavols are.

So I won't argue with your self inclusion and the "we", that you speak of,,,,,,ya'll don't!
I know some of you claim players, families, etc look in, and its usually those of you who so badly need your LV experience to be personal. When I knew people directly connected with the program, they thought forums like this were laughable and sort of pathetic. The lowest flunkie had the hated duty of occasionally monitoring them to look for possibly dangerously obsessed kooks and weirdos, which . . .

I'll go a step further: if anyone directly involved does read here, its such a dumb and misguided thing to do that I don't even care. Sure wouldn't change anything I post. I would be interested to know exactly WHY they would do such a thing, which is advised against by every program past church league. What Earthly good does it do them to know who the "negavols" are? Who cares? Especially when their time is so scarce and their focus so vital. I'm pretty sure its way more important to some of you to imagine you are impressing them as "fans".

Do those players and parents go around the arena during games and try to overhear what random fans are saying about the game? Follow groups of fans to their cars afterwards to see what the chatter is? I have friends at work I discuss the LVs with. They want a zoom call for these conversations? This is not different. Don't go fishing for insults, you are highly likely to find them.
 
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Walker was supposed to be a little better than she was. The knee injury is still lingering anytime you still have to wear a full leg brace your not going to play as well as you can. Miles is a good point guard if they can reel her in just a little a little loose on the passes and drives to the basket.

Injuries aside, the fact that Walker didn't even play point guard at her previous school should have been a pretty big red flag. Kellie SHOULD have brought in a veteran point guard to stabilize the position until she could recruit and develop one of her own, whether that's Miles or whoever. Now a year later, when it will be an unprecedented offseason of college free agency, Kellie has no excuse not to find an experienced point guard for next season because Miles won't be ready and both Jordans are disasters at pretending to be point guards. If she doesn't, she's an idiot...
 
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