GameTime
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2008
- Messages
- 5,188
- Likes
- 12,167
I would love to see the Lady Vols 2021 recruiting class ranking on World Exp. Report might tell us why Dan Olson has us as the #5 recruiting class in the nation for the 2021 cycle.Includes Updated Blue Star 2021 rankings. Sorry about the highlights on UConn players. This was from The Boneyard.
View attachment 324344
I would love to see the Lady Vols 2021 recruiting class ranking on World Exp. Report might tell us why Dan Olson has us as the #5 recruiting class in the nation for the 2021 cycle.
Includes Updated Blue Star 2021 rankings. Sorry about the highlights on UConn players. This was from The Boneyard.
View attachment 324344
The point is recruiting does matter, but player rankings can be all over the board.
On an individual, that is sometimes true. But, as it turns out, the teams that get the most top three to five players win the most because the star rate is high. Arguing otherwise ignores the results. UConn and SC are good bets for continued success.
Eh recruiting makes some difference. I believe it’s primarily the coaching though. As has been proven both directions, many times over.
Holly had top recruiting classes and was never going to sniff a title because she couldn’t coach basketball. Vic Schaefer built a program at MSST on “nobodies” and had them competing way above their expectations before he ever started pulling in big names.
Doesn’t matter how talented a program’s players are if they aren’t being guided appropriately. I felt very similarly about Lindsay Gottlieb. She was an overrated coach IMO. Her teams got worse and worse as her players got more and more talented. Her best team was the one she inherited her first season. Karen Aston, same thing. Plenty of top 5 talent, no results.
Eh recruiting makes some difference. I believe it’s primarily the coaching though. As has been proven both directions, many times over.
Holly had top recruiting classes and was never going to sniff a title because she couldn’t coach basketball. Vic Schaefer built a program at MSST on “nobodies” and had them competing way above their expectations before he ever started pulling in big names.
Doesn’t matter how talented a program’s players are if they aren’t being guided appropriately. I felt very similarly about Lindsay Gottlieb. She was an overrated coach IMO. Her teams got worse and worse as her players got more and more talented. Her best team was the one she inherited her first season. Karen Aston, same thing. Plenty of top 5 talent, no results.
Do you consider the talent on the Mississippi State team in 2017 as above average? They achieved a lot with what I thought was average talent. Then again, Maybe it was above average. I believe average and mediocre are the same.So throw water in a pot and a good cook will make a great stew? Great programs typically have great players and great coaching. A team with great players and poor coaching will achieve little and a team with great coaching and mediocre players will do the same.
There are always occasional exceptions to the general rule, and that was one of them. But MSST still had two AP AAs on that team who both ended up as top 8 WNBA draft picks. McCowan and Vivians weren't elite players when they were recruited, but they were by the time Vic was done coaching them. Kellie is not on Vic's level as a coach, so it's not a foregone conclusion she can replicate what he did with less heralded recruits.Do you consider the talent on the Mississippi State team in 2017 as above average? They achieved a lot with what I thought was average talent. Then again, Maybe it was above average. I believe average and mediocre are the same.
Victoria Vivians ESPN #24; Morgan William ESPN #25; Teaira McCowan ESPN #45; Dominique Dillingham ESPN #59; Blair Schaefer ESPN # 62; Chinwe Okorie ESPN Not ranked (Lagos Nigeria). They stuck a knife through UConn hearts that may never heal.Do you consider the talent on the Mississippi State team in 2017 as above average? They achieved a lot with what I thought was average talent. Then again, Maybe it was above average. I believe average and mediocre are the same.
I'd double check your rankings for William, Dillingham and Schaefer. Maybe that was their rankings at their positions, but no way that's a national ranking.Victoria Vivians ESPN #24; Morgan William ESPN #25; Teaira McCowan ESPN #45; Dominique Dillingham ESPN #59; Blair Schaefer ESPN # 62; Chinwe Okorie ESPN Not ranked (Lagos Nigeria). They stuck a knife through UConn hearts that may never heal.
Do you consider the talent on the Mississippi State team in 2017 as above average? They achieved a lot with what I thought was average talent. Then again, Maybe it was above average. I believe average and mediocre are the same.
There are always occasional exceptions to the general rule, and that was one of them. But MSST still had two AP AAs on that team who both ended up as top 8 WNBA draft picks. McCowan and Vivians weren't elite players when they were recruited, but they were by the time Vic was done coaching them. Kellie is not on Vic's level as a coach, so it's not a foregone conclusion she can replicate what he did with less heralded recruits.
How is this a foregone conclusion...she has yet to be given this same opportunity....Vic had years to take average talent and make them better. We have to give Coach K a chance and a little time before we can make such a statement.
People on here know me and know I am harder on coaching than on any aspect of the program. I am a coach and I define progress by my own internal barometer and by the experiences, both personally and without. If coach K fails to advance in a timely manner, I will be the first to call her out....But for right now she has done as good a job as I could see myself doing in the same given time frame.
Year one: introduction to the conference, level and program
Year two advancement in the inherited personnel, acquiring personnel to fill voids, improvement in in-game coaching and winning the games you are supposed to and maybe stealing a couple you are not supposed to win.
Year three markedly improvement in all aspects, including and especially recruiting.
Year four Elite 8 minimum and for this program, , , Final Four should be the goal by then