Non-Lady Vol Basketball News 2023-24

I think on paper that Tennessee's best win is Georgia, who is ~70-something in the RPI. They haven't lost to any bad teams, but they don't have any good wins and have played a weak schedule. Their RPI will not improve until they can get beat some decent teams. They will have some chances in the SEC, not just against the top 16 teams. They need to put away the other top 50 teams that they play.
I don't think were gonna beat UConn on their home court or South Carolina on theirs. So the ones that really are the opportunity are Texas A&M and Mississippi State neither of which will be easy. Arkansas gives them a modest chance which may not be one at all by the time we get to that game if Arkansas has lost a few more. Vandy is up in the 50's so winning against them certainly help if they are still there when we play them.. I don't know what our rpi will look like at seasons end but I think 20 wins gets an NCAA bid were in right now usually losing to someone ranked above you does not hurt your standing but losing to teams below could push you out of the tourney. We have to win the games were favored to win and that will be enough to make the NCAA even if we can't beat any teams ranked higher. As far as being ranked want really matter if we keep winning the games were favored to win and that looks like 7 of the final 13 we'll be the favorite which would give us 20 wins. Win those and pick up a couple of the others probably something like a six seed. A lot to be determined.
 
There was no disrespect meant for any team in the poll that might have gotten moved down after two wins this week. It was simply a matter of having to make room for Arizona State, who more than deserved to reenter the poll after going 2-0 against the highly-ranked Oregons. We’re still hangin’! :D
Thanks lvocd for the update
 
We've shown several reverses in trends of the past administration...Like:
  • Beating, who we're supposed to beat
  • Less standing around on offense
  • Individual player's development is more obvious
  • More signs of in-game adjustments
  • going for the kill, instead of just waiting for it to die
  • better team chemistry
  • Pressers that have specific areas of improvement coming from the coaches and emotions coming from the players...instead of the opposite
  • A presence of hope instead of a presence of "Groundhog Days"
  • No public calling out for bad shots and, passes.... ("You have to give them permission to fail,,,for them to have permission to succeed")
  • . . . . ~
Coach K has my 100.
She has from the gitgo.
Right from the moments she was being considered by Phil Fulmer

I am tough on her from here because if we ever do work on the same floors, she will know I will bring and expect, toughness.
I saw a calculated confidence in her in 1999-7-8 at McKenzie arena and I see it today.
She has a staff of leaders and ,,good leaders know when to follow.
 
Our rpi is still 82 so they are not giving us a lot of credit thankful they are giving us some. We need to prove we belong and the chances to do that are coming up in the next few weeks. If we can't beat some of these teams we have no reason to be ranked a top 25 team.
The schedule has actually worked out pretty good. The thing you want is to position yourself for the NCAA tournament. The Lady Vols have been playing together against lesser teams but it also builds confidence and allows Kelly to see what she has depth wise. I am sure the more players she plays the better the team will be for an exhaustive tournament. I wouldn't worry too much.
 
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We've shown several reverses in trends of the past administration...Like:
  • Beating, who we're supposed to beat
  • Less standing around on offense
  • Individual player's development is more obvious
  • More signs of in-game adjustments
  • going for the kill, instead of just waiting for it to die
  • better team chemistry
  • Pressers that have specific areas of improvement coming from the coaches and emotions coming from the players...instead of the opposite
  • A presence of hope instead of a presence of "Groundhog Days"
  • No public calling out for bad shots and, passes.... ("You have to give them permission to fail,,,for them to have permission to succeed")
  • . . . . ~
Coach K has my 100.
She has from the gitgo.
Right from the moments she was being considered by Phil Fulmer

I am tough on her from here because if we ever do work on the same floors, she will know I will bring and expect, toughness.
I saw a calculated confidence in her in 1999-7-8 at McKenzie arena and I see it today.
She has a staff of leaders and ,,good leaders know when to follow.

I like your list.
An observation, specifically about your second one (highlighted) in particular, and, if you please, yet another question?
When we are not so good offensively, we are not moving.
When we are not so good offensively, we are dribbling ...ten-fifteen seconds at a time. Just dribble, dribble, and dribble just a little more. Why is this? (The Chicken or the Egg dilemma).
I doubt that it's Coach Kellie's way of "resting their legs," since she is so quick to sub for that very reason.
What are the other possible factors?
One - Trying to make a play; the "put the team on my shoulders" approach?
Two - Teammates are simply tired. But again, lotsa subbing, so shouldn't be a factor.
Three - Return to high school AAU habits; also possibly attributable to tiring.
...and, there are probably several other factors that you (or anyone) could explain.
BTW, I do not think our Ladies are selfish. To the contrary, we've seen numerous examples of players - specifically Lou Brown and Jordan Horston - actually giving up scoring opportunities to assist a teammate. And, I think we've improved, however, there are those lulls in concentration and movement.
 
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I will address these "Baylor without Cox" statements about our win. This team is a team of mostly freshman. These players have also gotten better since the Baylor game...so...to insist that Cox would "now" make a difference is not a fact in any way. Baylor could lose with Cox in there now that our girls have played together for half a season....so...to say otherwise is just a pure speculative statement.

While Cox is Dominant defensively she’s not as good offensively and Boston is a good defender as well. To each is own but having Cox back isn’t a guarantee for Baylor to win the National Championship!
 
While Cox is Dominant defensively she’s not as good offensively and Boston is a good defender as well. To each is own but having Cox back isn’t a guarantee for Baylor to win the National Championship!

I’ll bet you $100 Baylor gets further in the tourney than SC.
 
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I like your list.
An observation, specifically about your second one (highlighted) in particular, and, if you please, yet another question?
When we are not so good offensively, we are not moving.
When we are not so good offensively, we are dribbling ...ten-fifteen seconds at a time. Just dribble, dribble, and dribble just a little more. Why is this? (The Chicken or the Egg dilemma).
I doubt that it's Coach Kellie's way of "resting their legs," since she is so quick to sub for that very reason.
What are the other possible factors?
One - Trying to make a play; the "put the team on my shoulders" approach?
Two - Teammates are simply tired. But again, lotsa subbing, so shouldn't be a factor.
Three - Return to high school AAU habits; also possibly attributable to tiring.
...and, there are probably several other factors that you (or anyone) could explain.
.....

One- When I look at film for purposeful dribbling I look for no more than 5-4-3-2- or 1 dribble(s). If a dribbler can't make their play in four dribbles, they better be passing! It only takes a decent dribbler 4 dribbles to get from BL to BL,,,so to me once past half court 4 is twice as many as I like to see unless it is a purposeful movement.

Two- Not at this age. Unless out of shape, physically. I am 59 and can run as many as 3 games in a row before I melt. If a 18-22 yr old can't do it, they need to look at themselves.

Three- I am/was an AAU coach and I ran drills to limit dribbling. SO not all AAU coaching can be lumped...yes, some AAU coaches may let this go, as well as some college, church, YMCA, UPWARDS and Daddy coaches do.

Egg or chicken:
several possibilities for why the extended dribble
You can't cure an illness without examination...You can't cure basketball deficiencies without watching precisely for that condition and nothing else. I am not paid to, but I have watched a UT LV game for as many as 4X. I pick one or two players that I want to watch and watch the whole game just to pinpoint them. Or sometimes I will watch film just to key in on specific nuances,,,like; watching our set-offense, our fast breaks,,,Our zone defenses,,our post-play, etc.

If movement isn't started or already beginning when the ball makes it past HC, the dribbler has to alternate her entry, therefor extending it. So I'd watch for this and if I see it...TIME OUT for a teaching moment!

When doing team drills, I run different drills to work on specifics. Like dribbling......Such as:

scrimmaging with "no hand"-extending-defense,,,meaning, if defending without letting their hands break their body's "plane"(meaning hands cannot extend forward, past the shoulders,, works on (defending) (Using defensive footwork),,,

For dribbling,, I would change the scrimmage t o : scrimmaging with no dribble except for one attacking dribble. (purposeful dribbling) If they dribble for anything other than an a one-dribble-layup-attack it is a turnover...or maybe scrimmaging with limiting dribble to # of times a player can dribble. Silently counting backwards for 4-3-2-1-stop or 3-2-1-stop. (purposeful dribbling) If a dribbler is still dribbling when I get to stop while BHer has the ball=turnover...

There are drills for this.

So in essance, if I were AL Brown right now I would be looking at our films for exact facets and figuring them out...As I'm sure he is doing.
 
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Don't we wish we could have Cooper against UCONN?

Her points yes but the drama that she brought... NOPE! I think she has probably grown tremendously since being dismissed from TN and lela big S.C. so if we could get this version of Cooper yes but I don’t know if she would be this player without going thru what she went thru leaving two schools for whatever reason.
 
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I’ll bet you $100 Baylor gets further in the tourney than SC.
I like those Baylor kids alot, but between the two, I'm rooting for SC. Dawn challenges those girls with a tough schedule through the entire season, and I've got alot of respect for that. Seeing them run circles around Maryland in person, I'm convinced they've got what it takes to get to the championship game this year. And that Aliyah Boston is a future all star in the making, she truly is something special.

When Kim and Vic begin to schedule tougher, their girls will be better off for it come playoff time.
 
I like those Baylor kids alot, but between the two, I'm rooting for SC. Dawn challenges those girls with a tough schedule through the entire season, and I've got alot of respect for that. Seeing them run circles around Maryland in person, I'm convinced they've got what it takes to get to the championship game this year. And that Aliyah Boston is a future all star in the making, she truly is something special.

When Kim and Vic begin to schedule tougher, their girls will be better off for it come playoff time.

Baylor’s schedule caused them to struggle in the tourney so bad last year that the won the title. In fact, Kim has won 3 of em.
 
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Her points yes but the drama that she brought... NOPE! I think she has probably grown tremendously since being dismissed from TN and lela big S.C. so if we could get this version of Cooper yes but I don’t know if she would be this player without going thru what she went thru leaving two schools for whatever reason.
I notice a lot of people refer to Cooper as “drama”. What exactly did she do?( I’ve heard of the altercation with Nared) Maybe it was a lack of leadership that contributed?
 
Baylor’s schedule caused them to struggle in the tourney so bad last year that the won the title. In fact, Kim has won 3 of em.
That was last year.

I don't want to take away from their win at all, but you have to admit there is more competition this year. It's not enough to play a bunch of cupcakes and a relatively weak conference schedule. They have excellent players and are coached extremely well, it won't hurt to challenge them more! I think Vic is a bigger culprit on this than Kim, frankly, but I hope this changes in future seasons.
 
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I notice a lot of people refer to Cooper as “drama”. What exactly did she do?( I’ve heard of the altercation with Nared) Maybe it was a lack of leadership that contributed?

Yes she had an “altercation” with Nared (an altercation that got her dismissed from the University not just the team)

A lack of leadership could be a factor but it isn’t the defining factor because at work a lack of leadership doesn’t cause me to put hands on my coworkers when there is a disagreement ...

A lack of leadership on my division 1 track team didn’t cause me to put my hands on my teammate when we had a strong disagreement.

I just think maturing has to be part of the process and some people take longer than others. So my point was yes we would love her play and her points NOW but who is to say TN would get that if she hadn’t gone through what she had to go through! If that stuff came with the drama or immaturity I don’t want that from ANY player as we have seen how that can “toxic” (there is that dreaded word 😂) to a team.

I wish her the best because she can be a difference maker and I am glad to see doing well at Baylor but I know the lack of leadership excuse would have to be used at S.C. too if my understanding was correct or was it a mutual decision for her to transfer ?
Can someone from S.C. chime in
@SCspur or @JustaChicken or @superfly ?
 
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That was last year.

I don't want to take away from their win at all, but you have to admit there is more competition this year. It's not enough to play a bunch of cupcakes and a relatively weak conference schedule. They have excellent players and are coached extremely well, it won't hurt to challenge them more! I think Vic is a bigger culprit on this than Kim, frankly, but I hope this changes in future seasons.

My issue is you said when Kim schedules tougher, they will be better off for it come playoff time. Yet they’re the defending champions. Then you say that was last year. But this year’s tournament hasn’t started so you don’t know how far they will go. I don’t want to spend my time defending Baylor on a Tennessee board but your comment just doesn’t hold up to facts and then you tried to shift the discussion saying I have to admit there is more competition when my reply had nothing to do with that.
 
My issue is you said when Kim schedules tougher, they will be better off for it come playoff time. Yet they’re the defending champions. Then you say that was last year. But this year’s tournament hasn’t started so you don’t know how far they will go. I don’t want to spend my time defending Baylor on a Tennessee board but your comment just doesn’t hold up to facts and then you tried to shift the discussion saying I have to admit there is more competition when my reply had nothing to do with that.
I suppose I should wait until all singularities in the universe have collapsed before making simple statements about wbb, lol. Besides, my original statement included both schools, and the observation holds with Miss State, does it not? I lose respect for coaches that schedule weak and gain respect for those that schedule tough (regardless of their record at the end of the season), period. Have a good night.
 
I believe UConn has 3 great players instead of 4.

"Hard to answer really. If HCKH was still here do I think we'd be 13-2 and #18/19 in the country? No, I don't. ". Intentionally or unintentionally, the quoted comment is a slight knock on Coach Harper, "different" equates to "better". IMHO

No it doesn't. Just means Coach Mox has gotten results in a different way.

Harper was known for sacrificing the non-con to get everyone experience. Coach Mox settled in a solid rotation that led to wins.

Both are ok considering Harper finished her seasons strong. We'll see how Coach Mox can finish things off
 
Yes she had an “altercation” with Nared (an altercation that got her dismissed from the University not just the team)

A lack of leadership could be a factor but it isn’t the defining factor because at work a lack of leadership doesn’t cause me to put hands on my coworkers when there is a disagreement ...

A lack of leadership on my division 1 track team didn’t cause me to put my hands on my teammate when we had a strong disagreement.

I just think maturing has to be part of the process and some people take longer than others. So my point was yes we would love her play and her points NOW but who is to say TN would get that if she hadn’t gone through what she had to go through! If that stuff came with the drama or immaturity I don’t want that from ANY player as we have seen how that can “toxic” (there is that dreaded word 😂) to a team.

I wish her the best because she can be a difference maker and I am glad to see doing well at Baylor but I know the lack of leadership excuse would have to be used at S.C. too if my understanding was correct or was it a mutual decision for her to transfer ?
Can someone from S.C. chime in
@SCspur or @JustaChicken or @superfly ?
She didn't get along with the other players. She has a tendency to place herself "above" others. That is so problematic when you are trying to get these girls to play together...and no...I doubt she has changed. The Baylor girls might just be better at ignoring her idiocy or it may pop up again around tournament time as the clock winds down on her career.
 
Memphis gave UCONN a little scare last night. The final score was a 12 point win but it was down to 3 in the 4th for a bit. Memphis had a shot but the Huskies eventually pulled it out.
 
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