I agree, which is why I think Reeves addition is so important because I think she is that type of get in your face (if thats what it takes coach). Diamond has a hunger that we didn't quite get to see last season that I think we see so far with everything she has done this off-season and against Carson-Newman. She wants to go down as one of the greats and by leading this program back to a Final Four after a 8/9 year absence could in fact do that.
She
is one of the greats.
I wish you guys could have seen her in her youth. I saw her at 13-14-15. She was amazing. Won everything. . . Now, she is looking for a way to do it in college. One of the very few times I used the phrase 110% was due to a 3rd qtr where she went off for about 18. Not a single basket looked like the others. What was worse, she was equally active on defense. DD is like many athletes I have coached. . .
"If you can't show them the answer to their problem(s)...You can't get their respect.
DD has won championships, but now is now. she naturally, would want to have one in college...other wise she would have chosen to go anywhere. She chose UT. She chose here because we get natty's.
We have one of the top female ballers in the country,,,actually, 11 of them. But they got to be coached.
I see a similar spirit in Shaqui. She has to learn a new concept in guarding at the arc. I watched her "lean her body forward" and try to play an out of reach player. If someone that big leans forward, I am taking her to the paint right then. She needs to study Jaime for this. Jaime's vertical stance and no-wasted motion, movement on defense is fantastic. Jaime uses her feet,. to position her body on defense. She never leans. She plays the offensive-players "lead-foot", and she closes out on opponents if they pick up their dribble. all of this is textbook. Between her and Meme, I saw two players controlling their quarry.
Re DD
Consider:
If DD walks to the bench looking like "she got away with it" and no one gives her the right words,,, She'll keep doing things like that until she finds someone can say the right words. Jollette did this last year, but this is not a one time job...It is a responsibility...Players like DD, sometimes she needs to be lifted, sometimes lowered, and if neither is necessary,,,leave her alone and let do her business. . .
I too hope Reaves is this type of influence.