For all the naysayers

[Lucy]

Seems to me we were hanging in there until Horston started giving the ball away every other possession and taking bad shots. What's the upside playing a player who is great 25% of the time and utterly horrible 75% of the time? Pretty much the same could be said for Suarez. Davis was practically a ghost. Thank God for Rhea and Keyes.

Should you be able to get player’s names correct before running their teammates down the road?

 

[creekdipper]

I get both the criticisms and defense of Horston. Someone asked why she and Davis don't get defended lije Saunders, but I woukd say that's mainly due to the higher expectations for the more highly-rated players/starters.

The biggest knock on Horston, IMO, is that she allows negatives (performance, mistakes, bad calls, fouls) to take her out of the game...tonight, almost entirely. Besides going 1-11, she had 4 TO. only 3 asst, and only 2 rebounds. Not just a non-factor but actually a negative. And she has a year's experience.

Compare that to Bueckers. Only 3-14 but the only pkayer on the floor to hit all her free throws (2) while getting 8 hustle rebounds and 7 assists. And playing 38 minutes...the last few while injured (during which tome she hit the shot to salt the game away).

Bueckers was having a miserable shooti g night but still found ways to contribute and hustled the entire gane. Horston just appeared to give up. It makes it look like either lack of confidence, or (worse) selfishness. When this becomes faitly obvious to observers, Kellie has to sit her down. Not doing so isn't helping Jordan, and it will eventually affect team chemistry. We're not expecting Horston to post the ki d ofnumbers that would justify the feature SI gave her in high school, but she needs to give consistent effort unless sick or injured. We know her potential and hope we'll see it shown consistently. But the lack of hustle cannot be tolerated.

On a positive note, Tamari logged 31 minutes and held her own or even outplayed N-O, who pkayed the same number of minutes. Nice sign!

 

[xtpsrh08123]

Bump

 

[DonDiego]

Should you be able to get player’s names correct before running their teammates down the road?

No, I don't think so. I guess you're referring to my spelling choice for Rae vs Rhea? Weak argument. I got her name right, just inadvertently used a variant spelling. Good Lord.

 

[Lucy]

No, I don't think so. I guess you're referring to my spelling choice for Rae vs Rhea? Weak argument. I got her name right, just inadvertently used a variant spelling. Good Lord.

Key not Keyes but keep trying.

 

[DonDiego]

Key not Keyes but keep trying.

I wouldn't bother because it has nothing to do with my point. But, never fear, the circle jerk club will be along soon to supply you with 'likes' for your great triumph.

 

[creekdipper]

Whoever said that we'd win if we could hold UConn to 60 was right on the money.

 

[#1LVLS MAN 4 LIFE]

Looking below the noise of UCONN vs TENN, this game was a strong continuance of "Trust the Process". This team is better than the team that played in Storrs last year at its most basic level, and they played like it tonight. The whole team and staff should come out of this with knowledge that they can do damage to top teams, and that their consistent growth will yield consistent gains. This game revealed that we still need more pieces, more fire power and dynamism in the back court and on the front line, save Rea. The UCONN team we played tonight will not be the same UCONN team that will play in the tournament, all championship teams understand the different seasons within a season. Like us, they too are rebuilding to some degree, but that's their deal. Three years ago this program was on fire and in shambles, and most people wanted CHW gone, but that didn't start with Evina Wesbrook. Today, as it stands, we are a once championship program trying to reclaim its rightful status as the premier program in women's basketball. In my opinion the irrational negativity toward EW is just unbecoming as a LV fanbase. You cannot expect top rank prospects to sign with this program with this kind of negativity possibly being heaped upon them if they're not to the liking of this fanbase. Some can be mad that she went to UCONN, but there should be more outrage that any of our players would be in a position at UT to want/have to leave to save their dream of being a National Champion. That was reason she choose UT in the first place. EW is a much better player now than when she was with us, by way of better coaching. This is an exact repeat of DD and MR, they faced this kind of negativity by the fanbase (more so DD), and played extremely well under Geno on the US national team, and were the two leading scorers for the US. And NO, I don't know EW, like I don't know Hayes, DeShields, Cooper, Massengill, Middleton, Elzy, and all the other players and coaches who got some of this negativity. Like it or not, we are being out recruited when it comes to program and game changing players. Just as the Lady Vols team is growing, I believe we as a Lady Vols fanbase need to grow in our positivity and support for our players.

 

[stlvolsfan]

Does that mean that Georgia is a top 10 team seeing how they beat Tennessee? You can't go by comparative scores. If UConn had hit their free throws the game would not have been close. Tennessee needs to cut down on fouls and turnovers. Tennessee is a top team but I don't know if you want to play UConn in the Tournament. Remember, Tennessee has won as many games as UConn has played. They have very little continuity in games played. None of your players have tournament experience and the tournament is a completely different thing than the regular season. Everything is harder to accomplish.

That’s not true. We’ve never missed a tournament and Re, Kasi, and Rae all have tournament experience. Evina’s tournament experience was in a UT uniform.

 

[stlvolsfan]

Looking below the noise of UCONN vs TENN, this game was a strong continuance of "Trust the Process". This team is better than the team that played in Storrs last year at its most basic level, and they played like it tonight. The whole team and staff should come out of this with knowledge that they can do damage to top teams, and that their consistent growth will yield consistent gains. This game revealed that we still need more pieces, more fire power and dynamism in the back court and on the front line, save Rea. The UCONN team we played tonight will not be the same UCONN team that will play in the tournament, all championship teams understand the different seasons within a season. Like us, they too are rebuilding to some degree, but that's their deal. Three years ago this program was on fire and in shambles, and most people wanted CHW gone, but that didn't start with Evina Wesbrook. Today, as it stands, we are a once championship program trying to reclaim its rightful status as the premier program in women's basketball. In my opinion the irrational negativity toward EW is just unbecoming as a LV fanbase. You cannot expect top rank prospects to sign with this program with this kind of negativity possibly being heaped upon them if they're not to the liking of this fanbase. Some can be mad that she went to UCONN, but there should be more outrage that any of our players would be in a position at UT to want/have to leave to save their dream of being a National Champion. That was reason she choose UT in the first place. EW is a much better player now than when she was with us, by way of better coaching. This is an exact repeat of DD and MR, they faced this kind of negativity by the fanbase (more so DD), and played extremely well under Geno on the US national team, and were the two leading scorers for the US. And NO, I don't know EW, like I don't know Hayes, DeShields, Cooper, Massengill, Middleton, Elzy, and all the other players and coaches who got some of this negativity. Like it or not, we are being out recruited when it comes to program and game changing players. Just as the Lady Vols team is growing, I believe we as a Lady Vols fanbase need to grow in our positivity and support for our players.

The difference with Evina and everyone that you mentioned is, none of them trashed the program on their way out. Most of us won’t have a bad word to say about Jaz or Zaay when we play them. As a matter of fact Jaz made it known that Kellie and her staff were great but she needed a change of scenery. Again, Evina is not some sort of victim. Her and her mother have trashed the school and program every chance they get.

 

[stlvolsfan]

Looking below the noise of UCONN vs TENN, this game was a strong continuance of "Trust the Process". This team is better than the team that played in Storrs last year at its most basic level, and they played like it tonight. The whole team and staff should come out of this with knowledge that they can do damage to top teams, and that their consistent growth will yield consistent gains. This game revealed that we still need more pieces, more fire power and dynamism in the back court and on the front line, save Rea. The UCONN team we played tonight will not be the same UCONN team that will play in the tournament, all championship teams understand the different seasons within a season. Like us, they too are rebuilding to some degree, but that's their deal. Three years ago this program was on fire and in shambles, and most people wanted CHW gone, but that didn't start with Evina Wesbrook. Today, as it stands, we are a once championship program trying to reclaim its rightful status as the premier program in women's basketball. In my opinion the irrational negativity toward EW is just unbecoming as a LV fanbase. You cannot expect top rank prospects to sign with this program with this kind of negativity possibly being heaped upon them if they're not to the liking of this fanbase. Some can be mad that she went to UCONN, but there should be more outrage that any of our players would be in a position at UT to want/have to leave to save their dream of being a National Champion. That was reason she choose UT in the first place. EW is a much better player now than when she was with us, by way of better coaching. This is an exact repeat of DD and MR, they faced this kind of negativity by the fanbase (more so DD), and played extremely well under Geno on the US national team, and were the two leading scorers for the US. And NO, I don't know EW, like I don't know Hayes, DeShields, Cooper, Massengill, Middleton, Elzy, and all the other players and coaches who got some of this negativity. Like it or not, we are being out recruited when it comes to program and game changing players. Just as the Lady Vols team is growing, I believe we as a Lady Vols fanbase need to grow in our positivity and support for our players.

Oh and she still won’t be a National Champion. If anything, her going to UConn proved that she’s an above average player but far from elite.

 

[creekdipper]

The difference with Evina and everyone that you mentioned is, none of them trashed the program on their way out. Most of us won’t have a bad word to say about Jaz or Zaay when we play them. As a matter of fact Jaz made it known that Kellie and her staff were great but she needed a change of scenery. Again, Evina is not some sort of victim. Her and her mother have trashed the school and program every chance they get.

Yeah, she basically extended both middle fingers and taunted the entire program on her way out. She wanted a change of coaches and got it, but never gave the new staff a chance. If she had stayed, she arguably could be playing for an undefeated team that would have beaten her current team this season.

So it's really hard to feel a lot of warm fuzzies toward her and act like we owe her our support. Plenty of us supported her when she was here, but that's past the expiration date. And any current criticism isn't any harsher than what's shown toward other opposing players even though Westbrook's recent comments made it clear that she was looking forward to sticking it to her former team and teammates. She burned her bridges a long time ago.

Under the circumstances, it's understandable that TN fans would especially enjoy beating her team and showing her that the team can do without her. And have the coach she spurned beat the genius she picked. No one is making ugly personal insults toward her or wishing her injury. The comments have been pretty restrained (with one or two exceptions).

 

[mudcat1973]

I don't know that I agree. Tennessee is maybe a Top 25 team. Could be a Top 15 team perhaps. But the conversation is South Carolina, UConn, Stanford, NC State (!?), and Louisville. Maybe Maryland and A&M. That's the conversation. UConn's got 1-2 road clunkers on a lot of their season schedules; I think Cincinatti one year, UCF another year. Seems to happen to them from time to time. But most of those teams who "almost" get them end up not being in the conversation either.

I would like it if Tennessee could learn something from this. Beyond that, I don't think we know much more about Tennessee tonight than we did last night. UConn has played us tight the last two times - I think the rivalry still gets them amped up to the point they're tight coming out. The size of Tennessee got to them, to be sure, but they also just play out of joint for a while before settling in. We haven't yet found a way to take advantage of that. Maybe we'll get another chance this year. Maybe next year.

salary was backup point we win and marta needs ball pass to her so does not have score her putbacks or steals . she be better as guard or wing. she been wide open wanting the ball no pass to her.

 

[VolBall09]

The difference with Evina and everyone that you mentioned is, none of them trashed the program on their way out. Most of us won’t have a bad word to say about Jaz or Zaay when we play them. As a matter of fact Jaz made it known that Kellie and her staff were great but she needed a change of scenery. Again, Evina is not some sort of victim. Her and her mother have trashed the school and program every chance they get.

Precisely. In fact I still love a lot of those players. Meme Collins as well.

I have ZERO respect for Evian. You don’t get to trash the program, ask for a new coach on national television right after laying an egg in the NCAA tournament and then transfer to our greatest rival of all time. And then expect everyone to just smile and wave at you? No. She and Geno are made for each other.

He poked Pat with a stick every time he spoke to her and then couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like him! Maybe because you’re a jacka** and Pat never had time for nonsense?

Evian is still slow. She’ll never play more than a season at the next level. If that. She has no WNBA stock and that knee is done.

 

[VolBall09]

Yeah, she basically extended both middle fingers and taunted the entire program on her way out. She wanted a change of coaches and got it, but never gave the new staff a chance. If she had stayed, she arguably could be playing for an undefeated team that would have beaten her current team this season.

So it's really hard to feel a lot of warm fuzzies toward her and act like we owe her our support. Plenty of us supported her when she was here, but that's past the expiration date. And any current criticism isn't any harsher than what's shown toward other opposing players even though Westbrook's recent comments made it clear that she was looking forward to sticking it to her former team and teammates. She burned her bridges a long time ago.

Under the circumstances, it's understandable that TN fans would especially enjoy beating her team and showing her that the team can do without her. And have the coach she spurned beat the genius she picked. No one is making ugly personal insults toward her or wishing her injury. The comments have been pretty restrained (with one or two exceptions).

I’m one of the exceptions and I’ll admit it full and well. She’s a classless individual and it was on display last night.

 

[VolBall09]

Yeah, she basically extended both middle fingers and taunted the entire program on her way out. She wanted a change of coaches and got it, but never gave the new staff a chance. If she had stayed, she arguably could be playing for an undefeated team that would have beaten her current team this season.

So it's really hard to feel a lot of warm fuzzies toward her and act like we owe her our support. Plenty of us supported her when she was here, but that's past the expiration date. And any current criticism isn't any harsher than what's shown toward other opposing players even though Westbrook's recent comments made it clear that she was looking forward to sticking it to her former team and teammates. She burned her bridges a long time ago.

Under the circumstances, it's understandable that TN fans would especially enjoy beating her team and showing her that the team can do without her. And have the coach she spurned beat the genius she picked. No one is making ugly personal insults toward her or wishing her injury. The comments have been pretty restrained (with one or two exceptions).

And let’s not forget she, her psycho mother and Geno tried to smear the entire program saying it was a “toxic environment.” And even suggesting an investigation . Only thing toxic about that environment now lives in Storrs.

He literally said he didn’t know why anyone would have their daughter play at Tennessee. That was after the coaching change. He was being immature and pig headed as usual because Evian didn’t get her waiver.

 

[PRG]

True. Only 26 points in the second half when UConn played zone almost exclusively. We played the fourth quarter like we didn't want to lose the game, rather than playing to win the game.

We held the mighty UCONN to 20 points below their average for this year ! Everyone knows UConn play’s cupcakes most of the time. Already scored over a 100 a couple of times . We didn’t play anywhere close to a good game and stayed with them all the way up to the end ! We could have won this game and the other games we lost ! I am also wondering how UConn would do in the SEC? .

What a breath of fresh air ..... We are young ...., Starting a Freshman and a couple of Sophomores.... even our senior players are limited (KK) and inconsistent (RE) . More help on the way !

I am excited and finally enjoying watching The Lady Vols ! It has been awhile. Just Saying

 

[VolBall09]

We held the mighty UCONN to 20 points below their average for this year ! Everyone knows UConn play’s cupcakes most of the time. Already scored over a 100 a couple of times . We didn’t play anywhere close to a good game and stayed with them all the way up to the end ! We could have won this game and the other games we lost ! What a breath of fresh air ..... We are young ...., Starting a Freshman and a couple of Sophomores.... even our senior players are limited (KK) and inconsistent (RE) . More help on the way !

I am excited and finally enjoying watching The Lady Vols ! It has been awhile. Just Saying

Agreed. Even in the losses we are a much better team. I love that Kellie says, “no moral victories.” You have to let your losses propel you to wins. You can’t pat yourself on the back and say, “you played great and we just fell short.” We have to get better.

Tired of being a ‘young’ team as well. We’ve been a young team for 4 or 5 season. Really hope Kellie is the kind of coach who can recruit and retain. With the system she likes to run on offense we would be much better with a veteran PG. Something we haven’t had since probably Draya Carter. Reynolds played all 4 seasons but I was never very impressed with her.

 

[LadyVols_WBK]

swarms of South Carolina fans on twitter believe that we should fire Kellie Harper for this loss and that we should have never fired Holly Warlick .....a big part of their fanbase dont like Kellie I wonder why???? The always seem to have an opinion on OUR coaches...Kellie must have been the right hire if they want Holly back so bad

 

[VolBall09]

swarms of South Carolina fans on twitter believe that we should fire Kellie Harper for this loss and that we should have never fired Holly Warlick .....a big part of their fanbase dont like Kellie I wonder why???? The always seem to have an opinion on OUR coaches...Kellie must have been the right hire if they want Holly back so bad

They’re scared. They see it slipping away already haha. UT headed for the top with Kellie. We aren’t there yet but we’re a heck of a lot better team. And she’s doing it with a combination of inherited players from a broken system, a transfer with a bad knee and a couple unheralded freshman. Dawn has an entire roster of 5 stars and the gap is much smaller already.

Also think Dawn is a great coach but she’s whiny as all get out. That’s going to catch up to her. Hanging banners that don’t matter is gonna hurt them as well. Can’t be gassing your players up like that over literally nothing. Tournament never happened. They’re gonna get knocked outta this one early on because their ego is in the way.

 

[PRG]

swarms of South Carolina fans on twitter believe that we should fire Kellie Harper for this loss and that we should have never fired Holly Warlick .....a big part of their fanbase dont like Kellie I wonder why???? The always seem to have an opinion on OUR coaches...Kellie must have been the right hire if they want Holly back so bad

All of our competitors want Holly back !

 

[LadyVols_WBK]

They’re scared. They see it slipping away already haha. UT headed for the top with Kellie. We aren’t there yet but we’re a heck of a lot better team. And she’s doing it with a combination of inherited players from a broken system, a transfer with a bad knee and a couple unheralded freshman. Dawn has an entire roster of 5 stars and the gap is much smaller already.

Also think Dawn is a great coach but she’s whiny as all get out. That’s going to catch up to her. Hanging banners that don’t matter is gonna hurt them as well. Can’t be gassing your players up like that over literally nothing. Tournament never happened. They’re gonna get knocked outta this one early on because their ego is in the way.

must be the reason they are so concerned with OUR affairs was going back and forth with a South Carolina fan all night becuz they were taunting Jordan H awful game....as if their PG Destanni Henderson didnt score only 2 pts vs GA last night

 

[PG1]

I am just thankful for Holly’s recruits. I am kinda concerned about where we will be when they all move on

 

[VolBall09]

must be the reason they are so concerned with OUR affairs was going back and forth with a South Carolina fan all night becuz they were taunting Jordan H awful game....as if their PG Destanni Henderson didnt score only 2 pts vs GA last night

Dude clearly doesn’t know much about basketball. Kellie was the only reason we were in that game. If you can’t coach you’re going to get beat by at least 20 by Geno. Kellie had an excellent game plan and it worked for about 36 minutes of that game. There was a 3-4 minutes stretch in the fourth where we fell apart.

Even after that she rallied them back from down 9 to down 2 with under a minute to play. Bueckers hitting that 3 is next to uncontrollable aside from the fact we had fouls to give and could have stopped the clock and made them inbound. In the moment that’s tough to execute though.

They want Holly back because they can see the improvement and they don’t like it. A good Tennessee Lady Vol program is bad news for SC. Means we compete with them for a lot of the same recruits going forward and they don’t just own the conference. Really hope we knock them off this season. We have the matchups to get it done but we will have to play 40 minutes. That’s our biggest issue still. It’s getting better every game though. By February this team could be scary good if they continue to buy in and improve.

 

[VolBall09]

I am just thankful for Holly’s recruits. I am kinda concerned about where we will be when they all move on

I’m not. The players we have coming in fit the system we are running much better. They can all shoot it, have a high basketball IQ and rebound the basketball. Horston literally had an SI piece done on her in HS and we see how that’s going.

Expect to see Kellies teams averaging 7+ 3s a game within 2 seasons. We’re going to be able to truly play inside out again. Right now we don’t have the shooters to do it consistently. That Bama game is what she’s going for night in and night out but right now Burrell is our only pure shooter.

I think Davis’ wrist is bothering her or something. Her shooting looks very different this season.