Game Thread: #25/RV LADY VOLS VS. #16/18 TEXAS A&M

#401
#401
Amb3096 said:
Key is not a good offensive player. She's tall and presents matchup problems because of her size. But she came into college with no reliable post moves, and probably won't have them until an off-season of hard work.

Horston has her bright moments. She clearly has some talent, but has very low bball IQ. Kellie needs to keep her off the ball. Massengill should be playing big minutes running the floor, with maybe Jessie providing a few minutes to give her a breather. Next year will answer the question about Kellie's player development skills.
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Been saying the same thing...Key has zero offensive game. I think this offseason (IF everyone decides to return) will be huge.
 
#402
#402
Horston was benched twice yesterday after a turnover. I'm not sure if anyone noticed this since I have heard no one comment on it. As far as not being able to figure out how to shut down Carter, who has? It's not like we have been the only team she has went off on. There is a reason she is up for player of the year folks. She is pretty good most games. We almost always go under screens and have for a long time now. I've griped about this forever it seems. You don't go under a screen with Carter. She will burn you. Switching is the best way to handle it if the switcher can handle her speed. The Lady Vols are still young and haven't played together that much so the on court communication isn't what it needs to be at times. I believe it will get better.
 
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#403
#403
Orange Maniac said:
Horston was benched twice yesterday after a turnover. I'm not sure if anyone noticed this since I have heard no one comment on it. As far as not being able to figure out how to shut down Carter, who has? It's not like we have been the only team she has went off on. There is a reason she is up for player of the year folks. She is pretty good most games. We almost always go under screens and have for a long time now. I've griped about this forever it seems. You don't go under a screen with Carter. She will burn you. Switching is the best way to handle it if the switcher can handle her speed. The Lady Vols are still young and haven't played together that much so the on court communication isn't what it needs to be at times. I believe it will get better.
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OM are you saying Carter is impossible to stop? There are defenses that can arrest teams with feature player like she is.... Belichick of the Patriots is pretty good at taking away opponents #1 weapon
 
#404
#404
LasVegasBill23 said:
OM are you saying Carter is impossible to stop? There are defenses that can arrest teams with feature player like she is.... Belichick of the Patriots is pretty good at taking away opponents #1 weapon
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Impossible. No, but how many have? You do realize everyone considers her one of the top players in the country. Let us know who has shut her down. She has had an off night here and there where her shot didn't fall but she still got her shots off. Lock down defenses would prevent her from getting those shots. I ask again, who has done that? That answer would be very, very few and definitely not with a team that has a new coach and mostly an 80% new starting line up from the previous year.
 
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#405
#405
Orange Maniac said:
Impossible. No, but how many have? You do realize everyone considers her one of the top players in the country. Let us know who has shut her down. She has had an off night here and there where her shot didn't fall but she still got her shots off. Lock down defenses would prevent her from getting those shots. I ask again, who has done that? That answer would be very, very few and definitely not with a team that has a new coach and mostly an 80% new starting line up from the previous year.
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Always some excuse. What will it be next year?
 
#408
#408
stlvolsfan said:
Love how the narrative is building that Rennie is a “hard worker” and JH is lazy. Not saying this particularly about you Frozen, but it’s definitely building on this board and I think it’s bs.
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I was pointing out why Rennie is not an ideal substitute for Horston. I really hope Rennie can improve on a couple of areas over the summer. Personally, I don't think Horston's problem is her work ethic...she works very hard on the floor. I think she's stuck in some mistake-prone place in her own head that's causing her to make bad passes and other errors. She might benefit from some time with a sports psychologist, and the team as a whole might benefit from similar help when it comes to FT shooting.
 
#409
#409
djtee said:
I know the Key sisters and mom i have met them
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She seems very supportive of her daughters. Key had so many injuries in high school I don’t know how much time she actually spent practicing. I believe a total year playing ball with a summer to improve will help her immensely.

I still see her getting frustrated but to me she is trying to initiate contact which we hadn’t seen all season and last night (after finally getting to watch the game) she got foul calls on back to back plays. Good for her. I also believe her FT shooting will improve and if she can just be a 70%er she will get a lot more points. Teams are showing her respect by doubling down and sometimes tripling down into the post and making her make decisions. That decision making will come too. Last night she had the right idea on a couple just poor execution (passing at a cutting Horstons feet and the same to Rae) right idea just bad execution but with more experience those plays will come.

Lastly I don’t like seeing posts put the ball on the floor but her adding taking a post off the bounce will be key (no pun intended). I was always surprised when Mercedes did it but it was always so effective I wished she would do it more.
 
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#410
#410
Prophet1 said:
Five stars players are also in need of a elite coach
like Dawn, Kim,Geno, or Vic.
Elite coaches can also take scrubs and pull out the
PROtential within and they come with coaching staffs
that develop players.
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That's right.

Dawn, Kim, Geno, and Vic would have won the national championship last year with Missouri State's players. And again this year.

And they all proved that they would immediately come in and be worldbeaters their first year coaching. Every single one of them.
 
#411
#411
VA_VOLFAN said:
She seems very supportive of her daughters. Key had so many injuries in high school I don’t know how much time she actually spent practicing. I believe a total year playing ball with a summer to improve will help her immensely.

I still see her getting frustrated but to me she is trying to initiate contact which we hadn’t seen all season and last night (after finally getting to watch the game) she got foul calls on back to back plays. Good for her. I also believe her FT shooting will improve and if she can just be a 70%er she will get a lot more points. Teams are showing her respect by doubling down and sometimes tripling down into the post and making her make decisions. That decision making will come too. Last night she had the right idea on a couple just poor execution (passing at a cutting Horstons feet and the same to Rae) right idea just bad execution but with more experience those plays will come.

Lastly I don’t like seeing posts put the ball on the floor but her adding taking a post off the bounce will be key (no pun intended). I was always surprised when Mercedes did it but it was always so effective I wished she would do it more.[/QUOTE
I agree with everything you just said, In the off season she knows what she will need to work on and we all will see much improvement.
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#412
#412
So, do we have to flop?

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On bouncing back from a tough four game stretch:
"The past four games have been tough. A competitor doesn't like to lose. I feel like tonight was good for us. I thought we played harder than we have played in a while. I also felt like it came down to free throws. I think that's mental. We just have to focus and hit those. They also shot double the amount of free throws we shot, so we have to get to the free-throw line a little bit more and knock those in."

Rae:
On guarding Chennedy Carter:
"I feel like I really didn't have that difficult of a time guarding her. I just tried to stay in front of her and sometimes she flops."


It’s so frustrating when we all see we could have won this game and others, and we can point to specific plays which really hurt our chances, especially in this game, with the missed layups, and late turnovers.

However, their team was given 33 free throws, making 28 (Carter made 14 of 16), while our Team was given 16, making 6. We were mauled at times with no calls.

It appears refs “bought” a lot of Carter flops, as well.
 
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#413
#413
Volfaninfl2 said:
So, do we have to flop?

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On bouncing back from a tough four game stretch:
"The past four games have been tough. A competitor doesn't like to lose. I feel like tonight was good for us. I thought we played harder than we have played in a while. I also felt like it came down to free throws. I think that's mental. We just have to focus and hit those. They also shot double the amount of free throws we shot, so we have to get to the free-throw line a little bit more and knock those in."

Rae:
On guarding Chennedy Carter:
"I feel like I really didn't have that difficult of a time guarding her. I just tried to stay in front of her and sometimes she flops."


It’s so frustrating when we all see we could have won this game and others, and we can point to specific plays which really hurt our chances, especially in this game, with the missed layups, and late turnovers.

However, their team was given 33 free throws, making 28 (Carter made 14 of 16), while our Team was given 16, making 6. We were mauled at times with no calls.

It appears refs “bought” a lot of Carter flops, as well.
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That when KJH needed to really go after the refs i think.
 
#414
#414
Tennessee fans showed up to support the Lady Vols. Lou gave a nice shout out to them.

Redshirt-Senior Forward Lou Brown

On the crowd:
"I just want to say quickly that we had 12,738 people in Thomson-Boling, and we really felt that. It was pretty incredible. I think they definitely played a huge part in the momentum of this game. It was awesome."
 
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#416
#416
stlvolsfan said:
Love how the narrative is building that Rennie is a “hard worker” and JH is lazy. Not saying this particularly about you Frozen, but it’s definitely building on this board and I think it’s bs.
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Jessie is a hard worker. Jordan is, too, at times. Both have shown frustration at times, and both have shown a lot of hustle.

My beef with Jordan right now (and one that was pointed out by the lady tv announcer) is that she lets her mistakes get in her head and then checks out on the next play (or tries to make up for a bad play and compounds the error by fouling). I can sympathize with the latter more than the former.

There have been several times in the past few games when Jordan just simply quit playing. She stood, she didn't go after a loose ball right in front of her (called out on tv), she walked to her spot in the half-court offense not even looking at the ball, etc. That may not be "lazy," but it doesn't indicate a toughness to overcome her mistakes and do what she can to help the team. If your shots aren't falling, play tougher defense. Box out better. Get some steals. Stay in front of the ball instead of landing on your butt when the defender blows by. Take a charge. Show some dang pride and competitiveness and quit sulking. You missed a wide-open layup...get over it and get better.

Maybe the standard for Jordan has been higher given the fact that Jessie Rennie wasn't profiled with a Sports Illustrated article. Adversity brings out character. Rennia had times in the past when she checked out, too. Even yesterday, when Carter was eating her lunch at times, Rennia kept playing hard. Jordan needs to use that example. Things aren't going to come as easy as they did in high school.

Reminds me of the apocryphal story Peyton Manning used to tell about when he first came into the Tennessee huddle as a freshman and started doing some sort of rah-rah jazz and a upper-class lineman snapped and said, "Just call the **** play, rookie!"

Or when Bird or Jordan would school some hapless former NCAA star in his inaugural season, make them look bad, and then taunt, "Welcome to the NBA."

On the positive side...

I did see Jordan to being more careful with the ball at times. It makes her tentative and may cause mistakes for that reason, but at least it shows that she's trying to make the safe pass at times instead of always trying to thread the needle even when teammates are closely guarded. I also saw Rae pull the ball back on a fast break when numbers weren't there in order to let the offense set up. To me, that's improvement.

The free throw shooting is mental. Players put up plenty of shots during practices, and free throw shooting is one skill that can be practiced anywhere there's a goal. If players want to simulate being game tired, they can run a few sprints or do some pushups before shooting free throws on their own. Again, this isn't rocket science. If their form is wrong, that can be corrected. But if it's just choking, that's something only the player (maybe aided by the coach or sports psychologist) can solve. Lots of players have turned themselves from poor shooters into good, clutch shooters with effort.
 
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#417
#417
I hope that Zaay bounces back in a huge way next year. Besides her ball handling and scoring, it would be immeasurable how much she could add if she could slow down the quick guards who have been our nemesis this year.

Hopefully, Salary can also come in and earn a lot of playing time by being a dependable defender who takes pride in shutting down good players. It takes time to learn all their tricks, especially when some of these star guards will be seniors.
 
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#418
#418
Our players lack quickness. That’s it. Unfortunately, quickness is a gift from nature, not nurture.
 
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#419
#419
creekdipper said:
I hope that Zaay bounces back in a huge way next year. Besides her ball handling and scoring, it would be immeasurable how much she could add if she could slow down the quick guards who have been our nemesis this year.

Hopefully, Salary can also come in and earn a lot of playing time by being a dependable defender who takes pride in shutting down good players. It takes time to learn all their tricks, especially when some of these star guards will be seniors.
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Zay was on the sideline yesterday without any brace on her knee and she appeared to be walking normally, no limp. Also, when sitting was bending both knees the same. Seems like a fast path to recovery.
 
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#421
#421
lvocd said:
Our players lack quickness. That’s it. Unfortunately, quickness is a gift from nature, not nurture.
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I dunno...

giphy.gif
 
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#424
#424
Missing free throws are the same as turnovers actually worse because you have a chance to make a short shot without being guarded. Even though we had 16 turnovers yesterday the big ones were at the free throw line. I've noticed that every recruit we have coming in next year and committed is over a 75 percent free throw shooter in high school. You need players with an all around game, but they definitely must be able to shoot the ball. Seeing that 90 percent of the games Refs call about the same amount of fouls on both teams need those players that can step up and make them. A&M can made like 23 of 25 yesterday.
 
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