Kellie Harper discussion/debate thread [merged]

[djtee]

We have about three or four players that their body can do what their mind tells them to do. I think the rest have very high IQ's but the body can't achieve what the body is requesting. I think we could come with five players to give them or anyone a good game, but we don't have five that are in shape enough to play forty minutes or more likely we just choose to not do it. The group we had together most of the second quarter could play with them evidently they didn't have the stamina to play the entire game. Cause why change that group? At least Coach Harper saw quickly that Karoline was getting dominated in the post and Jill came in and done an effective job. Tess knows what to do body can't do it. I am still trying to understand why Walker was guarding Senechal Lopez.

I`m puzzled by Walker guarding Senechal ? And i agree with you on Harper knew Striplin was out matched in this game.

 

[Amb3096]

Bingo, overall low IQ defensively. And honestly, she’s a good on ball defender but I’ve seen her still get lost a lot on defense. Wynn knows how to keep a man in front of her but if she has to navigate cuts, know when to go up/over screens, that’s when she’s in trouble.

Yup. Lou is the most dangerous when she doesn't have the ball and she's zig zagging around the court and you have to a.) stay with her with all of the cuts and multiple screens and b.) figure out when she's going to catch the ball and what she's going to do with it. I'll take Walker in that scenario 100% of the time over Wynn.

 

[Cb153181]

I`m puzzled by Walker guarding Senechal ? And i agree with you on Harper knew Striplin was out matched in this game.

yeah she should’ve just let her guard Muhl, but this is bad coaching just like the stanford game she has Walker guarding Haley Jones, doesn’t make sense.

 

[Prophet1]

I posted in another thread about slow moving , flat- footed , non- athletic tanks in the starting lineup. Well, guess what?
You haven't seen the worse of it . uconn don't play elite defense , those girls are at sc and lsu.

 

[Orange_Mamba]

This program needs an exorcism. Been plagued with turnovers and bad decision making for a long time now. No kind of offense whatsoever just relying on players athleticism to win games.

 

[Amb3096]

I`m puzzled by Walker guarding Senechal ? And i agree with you on Harper knew Striplin was out matched in this game.

Because otherwise, Walker would have been stuck trying to guard Griffin. That would have ended poorly (well, more poorly than it did last night).

Muhl hitting that 3 to open the game probably set the stage for the result. I'm sure they were like, "We'll take our chances on Muhl" at the onset, and she changed that narrative in the first 15 seconds.

 

[mudcat1973]

My quibble was with the coaching last night! Both quarters UCONN sucked the life out of us - 1st and 3rd, Kellie didn’t have our best unit on the floor. It scares me that Kellie and her staff didn’t recognize the need to start Horston and Jillian from the get go and starting the 3rd quarter. She quickly recognized Striplin was overmatched in the 3rd, but why even start her after halftime. Come out with your same lineup that got you back in the game in the 2nd quarter.

There’s so much I want to say but I’ll just wait until after the season, I just us to win, it’s so disheartening but it’s just our new reality I guess, my mind accepts it, but my heart won’t.

horston was still geting over sickness but by start her anyway . and do know if hollingshed knees right now can take starter mins.

 

[Orange_Mamba]

In for the long haul next season probably the next few seasons. You ain’t replacing the production of Rickea, Jordan, and Key in the portal.

 

[Amb3096]

I posted in another thread about slow moving , flat- footed , non- athletic tanks in the starting lineup. Well, guess what?
You haven't seen the worse of it . uconn don't play elite defense , those girls are at sc and lsu.

Muhl isn't the fastest player out there, but she's like that freakin' mosquito that you can't get away from and is just constantly irritating you. And as a whole, they play really good team defense.

 

[Coach Jumper]

.... Come out with your same lineup that got you back in the game in the 2nd quarter...

bingo

 

[Prophet1]

I am testing Kellie womanhood against LSU on Monday. If she refuses to start her best 5 against LSU we will never beat the great teams this season.

Why does she refuse to start Walker, Horston, Hollingshed, Jackson and Darby together. Those are our best 5 right now tess is a liability on defense but we can’t have her not starting. Walker has to start bc her defense is better than Powell.

Kellie gave the game away last night when she started that 3rd quarter with Karo, and Puckett. She went away from what was working she does this in a lot of games. We can’t have those two on the floor together against athletic teams. Kellie has to be the only person who can’t see this. It’s very sad that her own head is in the way right now.

It wasn't so much the defensive players , it was the defense her husband chose to start with.
Man defense instead of zone.
Lightning ️ vs Tanks.
Franklin perhaps in the starting lineup.
Wynn instead of Walker/ Powell.
Staying in bed vs Coming to coach.
Horston not in the start.

 

[turbovol]

And that’s been our problem all year, Walker and Powell provide too little against the elite teams. If a team has good guard play, we’re cooked, if a team has good post players, we’re cooked (Without TK) I don’t think we’ll have any signature wins this year honestly and that’s concerning.

Agree: When we play good teams, we see that our guards are mediocre. And outside of Walker and Horston, we don't have players
who can play good man defense. So why hasn't Harper tried a zone occasionally? Maybe she has and I've missed it. You're not going
to beat anybody good with mediocre guard play and weak defense.

Harper's job should be in serious jeopardy because our recruiting has been TERRIBLE. She should have changed her staff last year--but she's
clearly part of the problem. Seriously, to not sign one high school prospect after signing just one (two?) the year before. Recruiting is amble cause
for a change.

 

[Amb3096]

It wasn't so much the defensive players , it was the defense her husband chose to start with.
Man defense instead of zone.
Lightning ️ vs Tanks.
Franklin perhaps in the starting lineup.
Wynn instead of Walker/ Powell.
Staying in bed vs Coming to coach.
Horston not in the start.

UConn would pick a zone apart with ease. The problem is that they need to have personnel to play man when needed, and they just don't. They need to cut down on the number of "tanks" and get more "lightning" that isn't a liability on offense.

 

[Prophet1]

Agree: When we play good teams, we see that our guards are mediocre. And outside of Walker and Horston, we don't have players
who can play good man defense. So why hasn't Harper tried a zone occasionally? Maybe she has and I've missed it. You're not going
to beat anybody good with mediocre guard play and weak defense.

Harper's job should be in serious jeopardy because our recruiting has been TERRIBLE. She should have changed her staff last year--but she's
clearly part of the problem. Seriously, to not sign one high school prospect after signing just one (two?) the year before. Recruiting is amble cause
for a change.

Change her staff? Who? Her husband ?
Who do you think is coaching ? She's the assistant coach , thought you knew.

 

[Lurker]

Agree. Bring Kara home.

Coach Harper and Kara Lawson are among my all time favorite Vols; however, I truly hope that the AD who leads the next coaching search looks in a far bigger pool than just former Lady Vols. Identify the very best coach available, female or male, and restore UT to the top of women's college basketball. Neither Harper nor Lawson is an elite coach and I can't name another former Lady Vol who is. Broaden the search.

 

[Majors]

My quibble was with the coaching last night! Both quarters UCONN sucked the life out of us - 1st and 3rd, Kellie didn’t have our best unit on the floor. It scares me that Kellie and her staff didn’t recognize the need to start Horston and Jillian from the get go and starting the 3rd quarter. She quickly recognized Striplin was overmatched in the 3rd, but why even start her after halftime. Come out with your same lineup that got you back in the game in the 2nd quarter.

There’s so much I want to say but I’ll just wait until after the season, I just us to win, it’s so disheartening but it’s just our new reality I guess, my mind accepts it, but my heart won’t.

Big game and she got in the way. That was a cause for concern yesterday before the game.

 

[glv98]

No kind of offense whatsoever just relying on players athleticism to win games.

To be fair, against non-elite teams, and even against Stanford, they have run much better O this year, better spacing, better movement, more assists, even fewer turnovers. It's just we can't do it against the better teams so far. Last night was the most we've seen the ball stuck in the point guard's hands in weeks. Our team isn't terrible, they're just not elite.

 

[VolBall09]

If college sports has been reduced to trying to out-bribe other schools for talent, then they should fold up college athletics altogether. NIL is a joke. It should be banned from having any role in recruiting. And I'd also argue that there should be no NIL deals for anybody until the end of their freshman season. That is the way to keep it from just being a bribery tool. If, after a year, a booster wants to give a player money for promotional activities, jerseys/T-shirts etc, fine--go for it. But it should be kept out of recruiting.

On this, we agree whole heartedly. Nice post.

 

[volcruiser]

Kelly please stop recruiting slow, no defense and non athletic players. I don't care if they are #1 in their state. They can not compete on the Division 1 level and you do not know how to coach them up and run an offense that suits their basketball style. JUST STOP IT!! And stop recruiting players who can't shoot the ball.

 

[glv98]

Any thoughts on this? I thought this was an interesting take as I do see Kellie turn to him a lot. I was at the Arkansas game a couple of years ago and noticed this but didn’t really think anything of it. This group is pretty no holds barred so I blurred out the names!

View attachment 533201

Good Lord. Take off the tin foil hats. This is not new, nor a secret. Kellie has long said her staff is in charge of the ROUTINE sub rotation. There is a pre-planned rotation, down to the minute, to ensure players get rest at the right times. Coach Joy is who I see keeping up with that, but sometimes Jon may actually tell the player to go in. Meanwhile, Coach Kellie coaches the game.

Important to note that both Coach Kellie and circumstances (fouls, injury, etc) have total over ride on the routine subs. So no, the assistants are not taking over, they are doing what KJH considers an administrative task.

 

[Lurker]

Harper's job should be in serious jeopardy because our recruiting has been TERRIBLE. She should have changed her staff last year--but she's
clearly part of the problem. Seriously, to not sign one high school prospect after signing just one (two?) the year before. Recruiting is amble cause
for a change.

Coach Harper has landed only One high school recruit in two cycles and JP (a HS All American and a U18 USA National Team player) doesn't play here. Maybe JP isn't good enough. Maybe she is good and the coach is making a mistake. I don't really care why she isn't playing, because these recruiting failures alone tell us that something is terribly wrong with the Lady Vols.

 

[Lurker]

Kelly please stop recruiting slow, no defense and non athletic players. I don't care if they are #1 in their state. They can not compete on the Division 1 level and you do not know how to coach them up and run an offense that suits their basketball style. JUST STOP IT!! And stop recruiting players who can't shoot the ball.

It looks like these are the only players willing to come here. You are what your roster says you are.

 

[Lurker]

College players go to schools to play for coaches, not to wear the school colors like the fans. Move Pat to Vanderbilt in the early 1980's and it is almost a certainty there would never have been a Lady Vol tradition. "Anchor down" would have been the story. High school standouts aren't going to Columbia, SC for USC, they are going for Coach Staley. And heaven knows, no one goes to UConn for the campus or weather - they go for Geno who, despite his "sparkling personality," gets the job done on the court. It's the same in mens sports. Until UT gets a big dog coach, we will rinse and repeat - sometimes bad, sometimes better and never dominant like the fans aspire to.

 

[SGMVols]

College players go to schools to play for coaches, not to wear the school colors like the fans. Move Pat to Vanderbilt in the early 1980's and it is almost a certainty there would never have been a Lady Vol tradition. "Anchor down" would have been the story. High school standouts aren't going to Columbia, SC for USC, they are going for Coach Staley. And heaven knows, no one goes to UConn for the campus or weather - they go for Geno who, despite his "sparkling personality," gets the job done on the court. It's the same in mens sports. Until UT gets a big dog coach, we will rinse and repeat - sometimes bad, sometimes better and never dominant like the fans aspire to.

Fun fact: we almost lost Pat to Kentucky in the 70s but they wouldn’t give her $300 in relocation assistance that she needed to help her move to Lexington. She had grown up a UK men’s basketball fan and it was a dream job for her at the time.

 

[Raebo]

I know the information isn’t readily available but it would be interesting to know how much our players receive in NIL vs what other top teams get. I have to think we are at or near the top but don’t have any hard evidence.
We got some decent transfers which makes me think the NIL is pretty good but then I look at the high school recruiting which makes me wonder. Is it NIL, is it lack lack of effort, is there a lack of connection between recruits/staff, are other schools/coaches just more attractive than us or is it something else??
It seems like Kellie is a player’s coach, the atmosphere and tradition are great here, I think the NIL is good her so what is happening? Are we going to rely on the portal to build our team?