Lady Vol progress ....

#3
#3
And as we observe and look for positive signs, let's keep in mind that in team sports, improvement is seldom a straight-line progression--even more so with young players and transfers in a concept-driven system.

1768318731198.pngUntil we get a team where most players have 3+ years experience in the system, and only a few are in their 1st year, the likely narrative of each season under CKC will be up and down until suddenly everything clicks, and then the team looks confident and fans begin to feel confident.

And in a tournament concluding sport, you only need things to click just in time, as long as you can make the initial cut.

Worth a reminder that, more than any good team we'll face, we are depending on true freshmen to provide contributive bulk minutes in their first encounters with the big dogs of the SEC.
 
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#4
#4
The last two games showed some progress playing as a team but the next three games vs Bama, Ky. and Ole Miss will tell us just far they have progressed ....all three games are vs good teams.
Bama and Ole Miss are two of the games where we certainly seem to have a decent shot of winning on the road. Another is Georgia. Oklahoma less so and SC, LSU are really the toughest two. The way I see it is we need two of these six games which would give us a 4 and 4 road record in the SEC. I certainly hope to do better, but hope 4 and 4 is the minimum.

Home Miss St, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas. Love to win them all really need to win five. Four and two wins on the road makes us 10 and 6. Win all the home games left were certainly at ten and add two road wins 12. I think 12 would have to be considered a very successful SEC season even 11 and 5.
 
#6
#6
And as we observe and look for positive signs, let's keep in mind that in team sports improvement is seldom a straight-line progression--even more so with young players and a concept-driven system.

View attachment 806632Until we get a team where most players have 3+ years experience, and only a few are in their 1st year, the likely narrative of each season under CKC will be up and down until suddenly everything clicks, and then the team looks confident and fans begin to feel confident.

Worth a reminder that, more than any good team we'll face, we are depending on true freshmen to provide contributive bulk minutes in their first encounters with the big dogs of the SEC.
At least they are beginning to not look like freshmen anymore. They have certainly made strides in confidence to play at this level. Last two games have contributed 40 and 42 points in the two wins. If we can continue to get that out of them were in a great place to win any game.
 
#7
#7
I watched he ARK again and two things stuck out .........Arkansas has a really bad team ......probably the worst in the league and the color announcer is worse than that .
Yes they are and if we had shot well would've went over 100 points against them. They may can stay with teams like Missouri, Texas A&M, Auburn, and Florida if they get any of them at home. I would say that is their best chance for a victory.
 
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#8
#8
Bama and Ole Miss are two of the games where we certainly seem to have a decent shot of winning on the road. Another is Georgia. Oklahoma less so and SC, LSU are really the toughest two. The way I see it is we need two of these six games which would give us a 4 and 4 road record in the SEC. I certainly hope to do better, but hope 4 and 4 is the minimum.

Home Miss St, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas. Love to win them all really need to win five. Four and two wins on the road makes us 10 and 6. Win all the home games left were certainly at ten and add two road wins 12. I think 12 would have to be considered a very successful SEC season even 11 and 5.
I really hope they beat LSU and KM. Does it seen CKC is not changing lines as much now. She is leaving them in longer at times.
 
#9
#9
I really hope they beat LSU and KM. Does it seen CKC is not changing lines as much now. She is leaving them in longer at times.
Some games she appears to play top six or seven more minutes. Some were leveling out the minutes of about 10 players so looks like it is game to game how much and how long a player plays.
 
#10
#10
I really feel that the Alabama game is perhaps the biggest game, at least at this juncture. The reason is that the LVs have 9 more games against ranked teams, 8 in the SEC. IMO, the Alabama game is the most likely one of those that we might win, with a bonus for our tourney seeding due to it being a road game. Also, if we only won the Bama game among those involving rated teams and then win against all the SEC teams that are not rated, we will still come out with an improved 9-7 record in a league that is tougher this year. While that would be decent, I think we may need to win at least two against the rated teams and do not lose to the unrated teams to have a chance to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs. That equation would be transitive in that if we lost to an unrated team, then we might need to win 3 against the rated teams. For any of these paths, it will be difficult to achieve them with a loss at Bama. I will try to de-stress by reminding myself while watching the Bama game that you never really know what will happen till the season is played out. I am stating now "You never know"...."You never know"...., (Feel free to join me :p).
 
#12
#12
I really feel that the Alabama game is perhaps the biggest game, at least at this juncture. The reason is that the LVs have 9 more games against ranked teams, 8 in the SEC. IMO, the Alabama game is the most likely one of those that we might win, with a bonus for our tourney seeding due to it being a road game. Also, if we only won the Bama game among those involving rated teams and then win against all the SEC teams that are not rated, we will still come out with an improved 9-7 record in a league that is tougher this year. While that would be decent, I think we may need to win at least two against the rated teams and do not lose to the unrated teams to have a chance to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs. That equation would be transitive in that if we lost to an unrated team, then we might need to win 3 against the rated teams. For any of these paths, it will be difficult to achieve them with a loss at Bama. I will try to de-stress by reminding myself while watching the Bama game that you never really know what will happen till the season is played out. I am stating now "You never know"...."You never know"...., (Feel free to join me :p).
I'm hoping to win those six home games know three of them are tough ones still were really strong team at home. That six gives us ten. We should win one of Bama, Ole Miss and Ga. That is 11. For some reason unknown to me Bama always plays awesome against us at home and we play lousy down there. Still hoping we can pull it out I expect we will be rated the underdog by two or three points.
 
#13
#13
For sure -- per Herhoops we are going up against #24 away, #11 at home, and #17 away. They have us ranked #20 presently. I want all 3 Ws but we really need 2 out of 3 because it gets way worse in February.

Shortly thereafter, we still have games remaining against #1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 12.
I can't even imagine! And here we are playing Butler and Xavier! I'd much rather have a few more losses but play in a competitive conference. Take it from one who knows...you guys are lucky.
 
#14
#14
The last two games showed some progress playing as a team but the next three games vs Bama, Ky. and Ole Miss will tell us just far they have progressed ....all three games are vs good teams.
Let's be real from Bama to Vandy to end the season it will be a gauntlet. Nothing will come easy going forward.
 
#15
#15
I really feel that the Alabama game is perhaps the biggest game, at least at this juncture. The reason is that the LVs have 9 more games against ranked teams, 8 in the SEC. IMO, the Alabama game is the most likely one of those that we might win, with a bonus for our tourney seeding due to it being a road game. Also, if we only won the Bama game among those involving rated teams and then win against all the SEC teams that are not rated, we will still come out with an improved 9-7 record in a league that is tougher this year. While that would be decent, I think we may need to win at least two against the rated teams and do not lose to the unrated teams to have a chance to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs. That equation would be transitive in that if we lost to an unrated team, then we might need to win 3 against the rated teams. For any of these paths, it will be difficult to achieve them with a loss at Bama. I will try to de-stress by reminding myself while watching the Bama game that you never really know what will happen till the season is played out. I am stating now "You never know"...."You never know"...., (Feel free to join me :p).
I agree! All things considered, the game against Alabama is probably the most important of the season for Tennessee so far. Win or lose, I feel like it could set the tone for the next month or more. They're a well-coached team that can get rolling and put a loss on us, but they are also beatable if the Lady Vols are hitting shots. I hate to say it, again, but I see this as another must-win game because we may be neck-and-neck with them in the standings at the end of the regular season.
 
#16
#16
I agree! All things considered, the game against Alabama is probably the most important of the season for Tennessee so far. Win or lose, I feel like it could set the tone for the next month or more. They're a well-coached team that can get rolling and put a loss on us, but they are also beatable if the Lady Vols are hitting shots. I hate to say it, again, but I see this as another must-win game because we may be neck-and-neck with them in the standings at the end of the regular season.
Also if teonni key is still out for Kentucky I don’t see them beating us so we need to get that one
 
#17
#17
I watched he ARK again and two things stuck out .........Arkansas has a really bad team ......probably the worst in the league and the color announcer is worse than that .
I totally agree that the color announcer was terrible. Every sentence she uttered began with or included the words “You know”. The only positive is that it might make a good drinking game. 😜
 
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#19
#19
Tennessee can and will beat Alabama on the road if they are able to play aggressive on defense while staying out of foul trouble.
Tennessee is far more talented than Alabama who is led by system players.
There’s no world (or court) where a healthy Tennessee team will struggle to earn home victories over Vanderbilt, Kentucky, or Texas.
Tennessee has a clear path to victory against each of those teams.
The challenge will be beating South Carolina on the road which is a feat that could be achieved but will be a difficult task when that date comes.
Ole Miss and LSU games will be toss ups on the road. I feel Tennessee is better than Ole Miss talent wise, yet again to win this game they have to stay out of foul trouble.
LSU and Tennessee are evenly matched teams. Things LSU get the benefit of the doubt for.. fans here don’t give to the LVs although Tennessee freshmen have played as good and better as of late than LSU freshmen.
Talaysia Cooper last season won the head to head matchup against F. Johnson on the court at Tennessee but the LVs didn’t close that game. Tennessee should’ve beat LSU in Knoxville last season.
The theme this season will shift if this team is able to close out games which they have the talent and coaching to do when everyone is on the same page.
 
#24
#24
I'm enjoying what I am seeing from the Lady Vols. After a bit of a dip in my optimism, I have found my groove and am hopeful as usual. Interestingly enough the Lady Vols are (according to the ESPN predictor) the favorite against 'Bama 57% and Kentucky 57%, but are in a pick 'em with Ole Miss at 49.3%.

Either way, I'm hoping for 3-0 during this stretch, but 2-1 wouldn't be a bad result. As long as they keep it close and show some continued improvement so they are peaking in March.

Go Lady Vols!
 
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#25
#25
I really hope they beat LSU and KM. Does it seen CKC is not changing lines as much now. She is leaving them in longer at times.
She's always said that players will play more minutes when they're capable of playing all-out for extra minutes.

Last season she had the girls in the best shape of their lives... but it came back to bite them down the stretch. This year she vowed to not repeat that, so they're getting into better shape over the course of the season rather than during preseason. I presume that is why we're seeing longer playing shifts now than before.
 

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