Article that is so true.

[VOL720]

UConn, Syracuse magnify Lady Vols’ shortcomings

 

[Volfan2012]

Yep one of the few times Adams is right and until we get a coaching staff that understands and corrects these problems we'll have a lot of bad losses. Holly needs to be out right now trying to find players that can shoot the basketball from the three and mid-range to join diamond and whomever can get better this summer.

 

[PointGuard]

It was a good read.

 

[volfanIND]

I haven't read the article, but the reason why we are not in the final four is guard play. The reason why USC is not in the final four, guard play.
Syracuse's guards ruled both games versus us and USC. Nobody wins a championship with mediocre play from guards.

 

[casetopia]

long story short - our guard play sucked last year.

 

[orangeluvr]

Winning: Offense: score the ball. Defense: stop the ball.

Recruiting:Sign scorers. Coaching: Develop scorers into defensive stalwarts, run a motion offense. no standing around with that deer in the headlights expression. Demand excellence and the hard work necessary to become an elite player. Don't like hard coaching and tough love? Transfer out. :dunno:

 

[djtee]

long story short - our guard play sucked last year.

You are correct and how do we fix the problem. DeShields will play more on the wing this year. So that leaves Carter, Reynolds,Cooper, Middleton.

 

[armchair]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember. Hornbuckle was pretty good, a good athlete, but not great. Who else? Guard play is a big reason we've fallen--/certainly/ not the only reason, but a big reason. Even if we don't have naturally great guards, our guards could have been and should have been better last year. I blame that on coaching and confidence. Carter is a good athlete with a nice jump shot, but seems to play offensively with little confidence. Middleton could be more productive--knows the game, good passer, should be a pretty good shooter, but Warlick keeps her on the bench. Reynolds was our best guard, overall, last year--good size, pretty good assist/turnover ratio. She needs to take charge of the team, IMO. I think Warlick played Cooper too much last year--she was a freshman, not ready to face college zone defenses--and she was not good in a lot of games, including the Syracuse loss. That was more of Warlick being Warlick. We'll have five guards next year--including Jackson, who has size and athleticism--but how the minutes will be doled out and how they play will be a big question. With only 1 legit big, we'll play a small, guard heavy lineup quite a bit next year---we'll have to. Even if the staff manages to bring in another big, she'll not likely be ready to play much if at all.

 

[madtownvol]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember. Hornbuckle was pretty good, a good athlete, but not great. Who else? Guard play is a big reason we've fallen--/certainly/ not the only reason, but a big reason. Even if we don't have naturally great guards, our guards could have been and should have been better last year. I blame that on coaching and confidence. Carter is a good athlete with a nice jump shot, but seems to play offensively with little confidence. Middleton could be more productive--knows the game, good passer, should be a pretty good shooter, but Warlick keeps her on the bench. Reynolds was our best guard, overall, last year--good size, pretty good assist/turnover ratio. She needs to take charge of the team, IMO. I think Warlick played Cooper too much last year--she was a freshman, not ready to face college zone defenses--and she was not good in a lot of games, including the Syracuse loss. That was more of Warlick being Warlick. We'll have five guards next year--including Jackson, who has size and athleticism--but how the minutes will be doled out and how they play will be a big question. With only 1 legit big, we'll play a small, guard heavy lineup quite a bit next year---we'll have to. Even if the staff manages to bring in another big, she'll not likely be ready to play much if at all.

Shannon Bobbitt and Lex were a dynamite back court tandem.

 

[56vol]

The puzzling thing to me is that everyone that follows LV basketball can see the problem clearly except the head coach and she should be the first one to see it. I keep hearing what a "walk on water guard" she was back in the day but she must have forgotten everything she knew about guard play when she decided to become a defensive guru. I agree that defense is important but so is scoring. It is great to say we are a defense first team but that is of little consolation when you are getting outscored by 20 points and the head coach says "if I knew what the problem was I would fix it." I think she should get every game tape she can get on Conn. and make her team watch their passing and scoring every day and then put it into her playbook if she has one. Totally frustrating!

 

[FlyFishnVol]

I don't care, JA is a douche, and anything he writes, I automatically discount regardless of the theories and explanations. The LVs had a lot of injuries playing on the court, although I believe Holly still should be replaced, JA doesn't know jack!

 

[Amb3096]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember.

Meighan Simmons was an All American (3rd Team, but AA nonetheless).

Ariel Massengale, Angie Bjorklund, Shannon Bobbitt, Alexis Hornbuckle, Loree Moore, Tasha Butts, Shanna Zolman, and Kara Lawson were all very good guards that have played from 2000-2015. All of them played in the WNBA (at least partially) after their college careers ended. Ironically, the one who didn't is the one who was the most recent AA.

This year was really the first time where the guards, namely Jordan and Andraya, were truly awful. Neither of them can play, nor would they start for any team in the upper half of the SEC standings (and debatable if they would start for any of the SEC teams at all). Sadly, Middleton seems to have modeled her game after them and looks awful midway through her college career. Then you have Cooper, who is either very good or awful, but rarely in between.

Unless Cooper becomes the player we all thought she would be or Jackson becomes an unsung hero (it seems unlikely the other three will "get it" at this stage of their careers), I suspect guard play will again be horrible next year.

 

[djtee]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember. Hornbuckle was pretty good, a good athlete, but not great. Who else? Guard play is a big reason we've fallen--/certainly/ not the only reason, but a big reason. Even if we don't have naturally great guards, our guards could have been and should have been better last year. I blame that on coaching and confidence. Carter is a good athlete with a nice jump shot, but seems to play offensively with little confidence. Middleton could be more productive--knows the game, good passer, should be a pretty good shooter, but Warlick keeps her on the bench. Reynolds was our best guard, overall, last year--good size, pretty good assist/turnover ratio. She needs to take charge of the team, IMO. I think Warlick played Cooper too much last year--she was a freshman, not ready to face college zone defenses--and she was not good in a lot of games, including the Syracuse loss. That was more of Warlick being Warlick. We'll have five guards next year--including Jackson, who has size and athleticism--but how the minutes will be doled out and how they play will be a big question. With only 1 legit big, we'll play a small, guard heavy lineup quite a bit next year---we'll have to. Even if the staff manages to bring in another big, she'll not likely be ready to play much if at all.

Armchair: You hit the nail right on the head about Carter confidence and playing Cooper to much. Also I`m all good with playing small only if we can score some points and right now with our guards i don`t have confidence that they can score when needed. As you said Reynolds and Jackson has has good size, But to me the two lack the offensive game we need. As for Middleton i like her game to she don't have the ability to create her own shot. Also to your point about Cooper playing to much her lack of defense was a big problem and sat a lot because of fouls. Not sure how this 2016 recruiting will end but Holly needs to makes some offers and now.

 

[WVU05UT09]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember. Hornbuckle was pretty good, a good athlete, but not great. Who else? Guard play is a big reason we've fallen--/certainly/ not the only reason, but a big reason. Even if we don't have naturally great guards, our guards could have been and should have been better last year. I blame that on coaching and confidence. Carter is a good athlete with a nice jump shot, but seems to play offensively with little confidence. Middleton could be more productive--knows the game, good passer, should be a pretty good shooter, but Warlick keeps her on the bench. Reynolds was our best guard, overall, last year--good size, pretty good assist/turnover ratio. She needs to take charge of the team, IMO. I think Warlick played Cooper too much last year--she was a freshman, not ready to face college zone defenses--and she was not good in a lot of games, including the Syracuse loss. That was more of Warlick being Warlick. We'll have five guards next year--including Jackson, who has size and athleticism--but how the minutes will be doled out and how they play will be a big question. With only 1 legit big, we'll play a small, guard heavy lineup quite a bit next year---we'll have to. Even if the staff manages to bring in another big, she'll not likely be ready to play much if at all.

Let's say you are an All-American top 10 overall high school guard with a multitude of options in front of you as to where attend and play. Lets say for the sake of this argument you have two options. Option 1 is a team that runs a post oriented offense around feeding the ball to the interior and in the event the defense swarms the paint you will get the kick out. By nature the style of play is built for the posts to be the superstars. You will get points but you aren't the focal point of the offense.

Option 2 runs more of a motion read centered offense where you are expected to play smart, share the ball like a good teammate because all 5 positions will be capable of scoring 20+ a night from any position on the floor and you are given freedom to take shots--including contested threes if you are feeling it.

So all other factors like location from your home, head coaching style, and academics being equal if you are the next Moriah Jefferson where are you going to school? Where your job is to feed the paint? Or where you build a Wade Trophy type career?

 

[HoopDR]

I don't know that I can buy into the "We are a feed the post" offense. I know that is what chw likes to say but of the 2197 shots attempted by the LVs this season, only 562 were attempted by the NAMED post players.

We all know that DS is the LVs GO TO player. I think the problem lies in the fact that they pretty much stand around...dribble around....and then pass the ball to DS and say GO TO IT. I hear a lot of excusses for this. No system, just bad players, no plays,..... the most mentioned around the halls of TBA is that they have plays but the ones trying to lead them don't know/remember them. Whatever the reason...it all falls on the laps of 4 people.

 

[cwbytruckers]

We need to sign these five players. Gordon. Catching. Holdsclaw. Parker. And Charles. The theme here retired Jerseys. The other one we already have and can't get rid of.

 

[madtownvol]

I just read this "analysis." His profound insight is the LVs need to shoot better. Seriously, he gets paid to point out that fact?

His other claim "The game has evolved to the point that defense, rebounding and a dominant scorer — which were the prevailing factors in UT's eight national titles — are no longer enough" is actually not the case at all.

The Meek team had those three players plus Kelly Jolly. Candace could not win an NC until Shannon Bobbitt came to down, with help from Sid Spencer, Hornbuckle and so on.

Things have not changed that much really; Syracuse is the this year's Louisville who had been Maryland and so on.

 

[DR2]

Just having some "plays" doesn't do the trick on offense anymore. If you have just a limited set of plays with minimal options (throw it into Russell, pass back out if she's well guarded type) and have a slow developing offense that uses up a major part of the shot clock early on, the defense will likely have the tools set up to limit your scoring, even if they are Alabama. Today's top teams need offenses that move the ball around to different high potential shooting spots and have players confident enough to take a good open shot and not wait for some fantasy "perfect" shot that the coach drew up. Despite being wild sometimes, DD definitely is one of those players who can score from a number of spots and create a good shot, but there are not enough good confident shooters around her, which means defenses are allowed to put extra focus on DD and turn what should be good shooting averages into mediocre ones. The answer is obvious, but getting there very hard.

 

[MDVolFan14]

UT's guard play has mostly stunk for 20 years. When is the last time we had a legit All America guard? I can't remember. Hornbuckle was pretty good, a good athlete, but not great. Who else? Guard play is a big reason we've fallen--/certainly/ not the only reason, but a big reason. Even if we don't have naturally great guards, our guards could have been and should have been better last year. I blame that on coaching and confidence. Carter is a good athlete with a nice jump shot, but seems to play offensively with little confidence. Middleton could be more productive--knows the game, good passer, should be a pretty good shooter, but Warlick keeps her on the bench. Reynolds was our best guard, overall, last year--good size, pretty good assist/turnover ratio. She needs to take charge of the team, IMO. I think Warlick played Cooper too much last year--she was a freshman, not ready to face college zone defenses--and she was not good in a lot of games, including the Syracuse loss. That was more of Warlick being Warlick. We'll have five guards next year--including Jackson, who has size and athleticism--but how the minutes will be doled out and how they play will be a big question. With only 1 legit big, we'll play a small, guard heavy lineup quite a bit next year---we'll have to. Even if the staff manages to bring in another big, she'll not likely be ready to play much if at all.

Good and fair points Armchair..

Cooper has a lot of talent but it's uncoached talent. The same thing with DD.... They both need coaching and not a few tips here or there and let their talent lead them but the fundamentals and how to maximize their talents.

HS and AAU sold Cooper a false sense of security. In HS and AAU, she got a way with a lot of dribbling through double-teams and dribbling the ball to corner with no one aggressively trapping her. Also, slick passes work in AAU and HS because in HS you are typically more talented than most of the players you play against so you get away with more. AAU is like street ball tournaments where teams just travel and play, travel and play and the emphasis is more on winning tournaments and making flashy moves...... Cooper needs to understand the basic fundamentals of point guard play and stop relying on her talent only. When she masters the fundamentals, her talent will only enhance her game even more.

DD is so talented and athletic it's sick. But without being "coached" for three years now, she has not settled down into her that player. If you look at film of Bre Stewart, you never see her out of control and turning the ball over. She knows where to go on the floor and how to read what the opponents are giving her quickly. She is being coached by Geno. Even though he struggles with her at times because she knows how great she is, he still coaches the crap out of her and she responds. DD needs that type of coaching. Coaching that will not stop her sprints up the floor with the ball but turn them into gliding up the floor with her eyes open and under control and not looking out of control when a defender steps in her path. Knowing where to be on offense no matter what type of defense is being played. And really raising her BB IQ even higher, thus eliminating a lot of the turnovers she's had.

I don't think that this coaching staff can do that.....

 

[LasVegasBill23]

Yep one of the few times Adams is right and until we get a coaching staff that understands and corrects these problems we'll have a lot of bad losses. Holly needs to be out right now trying to find players that can shoot the basketball from the three and mid-range to join diamond and whomever can get better this summer.

Amen.... you are spot on....

and hey.... a reasonable column from Adams... what is the world coming to?

 

[TNnative]

I don't care, JA is a douche, and anything he writes, I automatically discount regardless of the theories and explanations. The LVs had a lot of injuries playing on the court, although I believe Holly still should be replaced, JA doesn't know jack!

Thank you. For once, I did not have to say it first.

And to all you dipwads reading his trash column and keeping him in a job, he thanks for your loyal support and lack of functional brain cells.

 

[teacherdean]

Until our coaches get a clue and realize we run an outdated offense, we will be lucky to continue to reach the elite 8. We keep hoping Holly and her staff will get better, but it is just not going to happen. We take very good shooting guards and turn them into average or below guards. We just do not have what it takes to make our players much better than they were in high school. Yes we have he talen to beat average teams, and maybe a few teams a little better than average and reach elite 8s, however, we just do not have what it takes to get any better. Therefore, Holly supporters will remain over joyed to reach elite 8s untill we can no longer reach that plateau, then it will be at least we are reaching the Sweet 16. So if you love mediocre success then Holly is an outstanding coach.

 

[Sandvol]

Meighan Simmons was an All American (3rd Team, but AA nonetheless).

Ariel Massengale, Angie Bjorklund, Shannon Bobbitt, Alexis Hornbuckle, Loree Moore, Tasha Butts, Shanna Zolman, and Kara Lawson were all very good guards that have played from 2000-2015. All of them played in the WNBA (at least partially) after their college careers ended. Ironically, the one who didn't is the one who was the most recent AA.

This year was really the first time where the guards, namely Jordan and Andraya, were truly awful. Neither of them can play, nor would they start for any team in the upper half of the SEC standings (and debatable if they would start for any of the SEC teams at all). Sadly, Middleton seems to have modeled her game after them and looks awful midway through her college career. Then you have Cooper, who is either very good or awful, but rarely in between.

Unless Cooper becomes the player we all thought she would be or Jackson becomes an unsung hero (it seems unlikely the other three will "get it" at this stage of their careers), I suspect guard play will again be horrible next year.

Don't agree about Jordan. Andraya is outstanding defensively.

 

[WVU05UT09]

Don't agree about Jordan. Andraya is outstanding defensively.

She's good for our team but across the conference or nation not really. Outstanding defensive performances get you post season accolades. She wasnt even on the all SEC defensive team.

 

[armchair]

Meighan Simmons was an All American (3rd Team, but AA nonetheless).

Ariel Massengale, Angie Bjorklund, Shannon Bobbitt, Alexis Hornbuckle, Loree Moore, Tasha Butts, Shanna Zolman, and Kara Lawson were all very good guards that have played from 2000-2015. All of them played in the WNBA (at least partially) after their college careers ended. Ironically, the one who didn't is the one who was the most recent AA.

This year was really the first time where the guards, namely Jordan and Andraya, were truly awful. Neither of them can play, nor would they start for any team in the upper half of the SEC standings (and debatable if they would start for any of the SEC teams at all). Sadly, Middleton seems to have modeled her game after them and looks awful midway through her college career. Then you have Cooper, who is either very good or awful, but rarely in between.

Unless Cooper becomes the player we all thought she would be or Jackson becomes an unsung hero (it seems unlikely the other three will "get it" at this stage of their careers), I suspect guard play will again be horrible next year.

I loved Simmons' passion and personality, and while she had her moments, she was one-dimensional, a wispy, underweight shooter, and didn't shoot well enough to be a special player. Zolman was good at making stand-alone treys but pretty weak otherwise. Moore was athletic and could handle the ball--bit of enigma, as I recall, and don't think we were all that good during her years. Bobbitt wasn't great but she had a big tourney as a senior--made some clutch shots, so credit for that. Lawson was good--probably the best all-around guard we've had in 20 years, and could play either the 1 or 2. I had high for Massengale when I first saw her as a freshman but she turned out to be average at best. Bjorklund was more a wing player, no, and something happened to her her senior year. Not sure what.

There have been a lot of issues. You have to be GOOD on both ends if you want to have a genuinely good team now--a fact still lost on Warlick, who three weeks into EVERY season give us the lame "well, we really haven't practiced our offense that much cuz we've been concentrating on defense" spiel to explain why the offensive is terrible ONCE AGAIN. It was obvious at least eight years ago, maybe more, that our bad offense and habit of winning games ugly (because we were so turnover prone and inefficient and essentially bad on offense, despite fairly good talent) were causing us to fall behind the curve. It doesn't take a genius to see that slow ball and player movement and averaging, like 4 assists and 18 turnovers every game is going to catch up with you--but it's been like that for a decade.