Game Thread: #22/22 LADY VOLS AT #1/2 SOUTH CAROLINA

[Volfan2012]

Some people were expecting a lot more out of this team than they were going to get. We were picked for sixth in the SEC and we still may finish there but right now were still third and were certainly gonna win more games than last year when the team had several more experienced players that aren't here anymore. Sometimes you have to accept what we have on the floor. I agree that Coach has to do something about Horston's play she is creating half the turnovers and they are costing us big time. I think we look really good when we have five players Key, Davis, Massengill, Brown, and Burrell. Unfortunately as has been pointed out Key can't play forty minutes. Brown is also limited. The other three probably could and that may have to happen in one of the games coming up.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

The Lady Vols will be a much better team next year. There are a number of factors against them this year, (1) This is Kellie's first year at UT, (2) She has to rely on two freshmen in the starting lineup, (3) The lost of Zaay Green. IMHO, Coach Kellie needs to work on the turnover problem and re-assess her player substitution schemes in regards to her schemes as one possible cause of turnovers.

Every year it’s “next year we will be better “

 

[Twinsbornoncampus]

The loss of Zaay is felt in this game because she was our emotional leader. Everyone on the court is doing the whole “my bad” thing after a turnover but no one is fired up. No one is getting in their teammates’ faces. Who is our leader?

Our leaders are not far behind in the amount of turnovers so how can a freshman learn if upper class team members are making unforced turnovers. South Carolina had as many freshman but only 6TOs. I would rather lose with players trying to win than lose by giving the game to the opponent. So put in players that will value the ball and if we lose by 30 it will one day get better. The team at this point is totally lost what we need was not a new coach it was players who could be coached about the value of the ball. Holly had the same problem is it the water?

 

[tnvols72]

Who is Jordy?

Hortson

 

[PG1]

I thought she would at least bring some form of discipline wit her but like I said I dont see much difference between her and Holly.

Looks like she will let her so called star players get away with anything. This approach won’t be successful.

 

[tnvols72]

Every year it’s “next year we will be better “

Tennessee way , been saying this since the 90s , in all sports

 

[Volfan2012]

Please explain to me why Ladyvols do not recruit West Tn. Univ.of Memphis has a young guard who is better than anyone on Ladyvols from Bronsville Tn. She's quick and shoots the ball well. I know coach Summitt didnt recuit this area and Holly didn't either. Davis at Baylor and Ballard at Lsu were good players from Memphis that Holly need went after.

Holly never recruited West Tennessee and for the most part was stuck in Oregon think we had three players from there on the roster at one time. You may see more recruiting of West Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida going forward.

 

[GarnetGhost]

I despise dawn staley.

Now I know SC has arrived.

 

[tnvols72]

Looks like she will let her so called star players get away with anything. This approach won’t be successful.

I have noticed that ,Hortson and even Mass , it reminds me of Holly letting the players run the team

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

It shows that Harps doesn't know how to develop players just like her predecessor..look how well Dawn's freshman are doing and they were ranked behind Horston

Key leads the league in blocks. Horston has turnover issues but also is a SEC leader in assists.

How Burrell is a different player than last year. Rennia is much more assertive.

I will say this the freshman at SC are good and I mean really really good but even in their roles they have other players to lead them with Dawns coaching. Our freshman have largresponsibilities and roles and I honestly think with the talent they have it is still a lot and it’s overwhelming. Zaay would take pressure off of Horston and coach would be able to sit her more. We lose ground when going to the bench in the post but I think McCoy will help sooner rather than later.

All in all SC is a much better team than we are right now but to say Harper can’t develop talent I dunno too early to tell especially since both Horston and Key will probably make the all freshman team and Key the all defensive team.

 

[Chippo]

Who is Jordy?

Jordan Horston????

 

[KellywillwinNC]

Key has always been a great shot blocker, even in high school. Davis seems a bit more consistent than last year, yes. Burrell is doing pretty much the same stuff she did last year and thats charge into the lane out of control and either get the ball stolen or make a crazy low percentage shot..Horston, well ya she is getting some assists but not much else considering she was the number one guard coming out of HS. KK is DEF worst than last year and Harris hasn't improved much either. I don't know I just don't see much development yet...

 

[RAVOL]

Who is Jordy?

Jordan Horston

 

[RAVOL]

Key leads the league in blocks. Horston has turnover issues but also is a SEC leader in assists.

How Burrell is a different player than last year. Rennia is much more assertive.

I will say this the freshman at SC are good and I mean really really good but even in their roles they have other players to lead them with Dawns coaching. Our freshman have largresponsibilities and roles and I honestly think with the talent they have it is still a lot and it’s overwhelming. Zaay would take pressure off of Horston and coach would be able to sit her more. We lose ground when going to the bench in the post but I think McCoy will help sooner rather than later.

All in all SC is a much better team than we are right now but to say Harper can’t develop talent I dunno too early to tell especially since both Horston and Key will probably make the all freshman team and Key the all defensive team.

Very good post. I believe we were not ranked before the season and then lose I believe your best player in Green because I believe she would have been the vocal leader on court that Davis is not. Having to have both Freshmen play like AA already.

 

[LurkerExposed]

Who is Jordy?

Gloyait's companion and faithful love interest. And now emotional intrigue has entered the plot.....

 

[teacherdean]

The Ladies had several issues today, too many thankless turnovers, not enough offense, the refs, occasionally being out of position on defense, etc. If we would have had less turnovers this would have been a different game. The Ladies was not great but not bad, on defense. They held USC under their scoring average. The Ladies did a good job blocking shots. The Ladies need to be more aggressive on their rebounds. Many times while USC was jumping for rebounds, the Ladies acted as if their feet were nailed to the floor. We have to recognize that USC is no joke, they are for real.Again, stop the turnovers and we are competitive against top ranked teams.

 

[Prophet1]

I think a lot of that has to do with the Lady VOls' size and depth of size. UConn fans think they played a terrible game against y'all, but again IMO your size has to be given credit. Tennessee is a very strong defensive team in terms of post defense - rebounding and shot-blocking - while USC is not as good as UT in the post, but they are pretty decent, and are also pretty good in terms of perimeter defense. Baylor lost to USC by shooting horrible overall, but shot very well against UConn, who are not that good defensively this season.

Usually UConn over the years has had great defense balance in the post and on the perimeter - they also had great offensive balance as well, and typically out-talented most all opponents, then they bloated their stats against a powder-puff conference slate, to make them look superhuman. They are something less than those past teams, and have been over the past 2-3 seasons, and it's mostly a lack of interior defensive depth. Baylor fans say that the return of Cox played the difference against UConn, but it was the VAST difference of effectiveness of Cooper and the perimeter players for Baylor between the USC and CT games, that truly made the difference....

Our size is excellent on defense and rebounding
but not so good on the offense side. Minus offensive rebounding duties.
Teams are starting to use guard quickness and speed
to compensate.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Every year it’s “next year we will be better “

Well look at that ... “next year we will be better” came earlier than thought our record most likely will be better than last year. I don’t want to hear about the scheduling because you play the teams your dealt. Last year we lost to Alabama (we beat them with less talent). We beat a more experienced LSU team that is ranked 24th in the RPI.

I truly believe we will get the marquee win we are looking for this season. I also think we finish higher than 6th this year.

 

[Volfan2012]

Strange things happening today Notre Dame over Georgia Tech and Florida over Kentucky on their floor. LSU over Texas A&M at the half 26 to 19 hope they can hold on.

 

[Prophet1]

Some people were expecting a lot more out of this team than they were going to get. We were picked for sixth in the SEC and we still may finish there but right now were still third and were certainly gonna win more games than last year when the team had several more experienced players that aren't here anymore. Sometimes you have to accept what we have on the floor. I agree that Coach has to do something about Horston's play she is creating half the turnovers and they are costing us big time. I think we look really good when we have five players Key, Davis, Massengill, Brown, and Burrell. Unfortunately as has been pointed out Key can't play forty minutes. Brown is also limited. The other three probably could and that may have to happen in one of the games coming up.

Love your five. Trade you Harris for Brown. Six man is
Jordan and Saunders replaces Keys.
Worth a try.

 

[Prophet1]

Love your five. Trade you Harris for Brown. Six man is
Jordan and Saunders replaces Keys.
Worth a try.

Sub for Keys. My bag.

 

[SGMVols]

Next 4 are MSU, @ LSU, A&M, and @ Arkansas. This stretch is the last chance before the SECT to pick up a marquee win, as the season ends with Vandy, Ole Miss, and @ Auburn which won't move the needle in a positive direction at all with the selection committee. Ideally they'd find a way to win at least 2 of the next 4, but the selection show could be a nervous time if they don't at least get one. Losing all 4 would put the team in jeopardy of missing the NCAAT.

 

[Prophet1]

Our leaders are not far behind in the amount of turnovers so how can a freshman learn if upper class team members are making unforced turnovers. South Carolina had as many freshman but only 6TOs. I would rather lose with players trying to win than lose by giving the game to the opponent. So put in players that will value the ball and if we lose by 30 it will one day get better. The team at this point is totally lost what we need was not a new coach it was players who could be coached about the value of the ball. Holly had the same problem is it the water?

Jas has the best asst/turnover ratio in the league, but
Jordan is in possession of the ball the majority of the game.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

Jas has the best asst/turnover ratio in the league, but
Jordan is in possession of the ball the majority of the game.

THIS is what puzzles me. I think Jaz should have the ball more and leg Horston play off guard with her passing ability she becomes more of a threat.

 

[luballer]

This team is offensively challenged. We have known that from day 1. That’s why Kellie has tried to focus so much on defense and rebounding. I rewatch most games once and sometimes twice and they actually run some nice sets to get people open. The problem is when they are open they miss wide open shots or are tentative and pass up the shot leading to a turnover. This is why Kellie shortened practices to get them extra shooting practice during the week. If you look at the type of players Kellie is currently recruiting versus what we currently have you will notice some of them appear to be a little less athletic, but they are physical, can shoot, and seem to have a high basketball IQ. The problems we’ve had in the past is we didn’t have that balance. Lou is the closet we have to that type of player but she is very limited due to her injury. However, in games you can tell the difference in our composure when Lou is not in the game.

I know many think we average so many turnovers because Kellie is not “tough enough” and doesn’t punish them enough for turnovers. I’m sure if that is all it took every team in America would never have a turnover. The problem is Kellie is not only teaching the freshman how to play smart basketball now that they are in college but she’s having to basically start from scratch with everyone. Re is our best player, as a JR, but even she has had turnover and consistency issues in the past. This is the most consistent she has been but she still has a few questionable turnovers every game. She’s also working on being a vocal leader. One poster mentioned Geno wouldn’t deal with Horston’s turnover, but let’s be realistic in stating that he wouldn’t have too because he has a veteran PG that she can learn from. Same with most of the top teams in the country. Good veteran leadership at PG can make an average team above average. Unfortunately, Kellie doesn’t have that luxury with Horston, so you take the good with the bad and hope that the game slows down for her before tournament time. Horston is very very talented but without veteran leadership even talented players struggle with that much pressure and responsibility as freshman. As far as Key, I think she’s coming along nicely. Part of the problem with her posting is the guards are always a second to slow in feeding her the ball. As a guard, you have to learn the tendencies of your post and know when to feed them. In the games that she has made herself a big body, our guards have flat out missed her. Battling in the post is tiring so they have got to do a better job of rewarding Key at the right time for her hard work.

I’ve seen a lot of positives this year to make me hopeful. For as frustrating as the losses against the ranked teams have been I still think Kellie can get it done. My only problem is the substitutions. I understand why and agree with the strategy early on but now that we are in the gauntlet portion of our schedules she has got to keep Key and Jaz on the floor. Give them a 1-2 minute breather each quarter and get them back in the game.