Only 2 teams have led CT at halftime so far this season

#1
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lvocd

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#1
Baylor led by 1 in their eventual blowout, and Tennessee led by three in a game that, if our unforced turnovers hadn’t done us in, we may have actually had a chance of hanging with them to the end.

As someone who thought their overwhelming home-court advantage, couple with their overwhelming advantage in quickness/precision ball movement, could result in a 30-pt slaughtet, I am extremely proud of that first half and feel like this game will help them going forward.

Thank you, Lady Vols, for going up there and giving them a scare for a while!
 
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#3
#3
lvocd said:
Baylor led by 1 in their eventual blowout, and Tennessee led by three in a game that, if our unforced turnovers hadn’t done us in, we may have actually had a chance of hanging with them to the end.

As someone who thought their overwhelming home-court advantage, couple with their overwhelming advantage in quickness/precision ball movement, could result in a 30-pt slaughtet, I am extremely proud of that first half and feel like this game will help them going forward.

Thank you, Lady Vols, for going up there and giving them a scare for a while!
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Nope.

That is what's wrong with us in the first place,,,we reward every player a trophy
I don't accept "good enough"
Good enough to me is never good enough.
If we did it in Q1 then we should do it Q2-3-4 too

These girls go through HS and AAU with coaches that call timeouts to stop runs.
They are programmed coming into college to have this help.
when they don't get it, they freak

yes, at some point you let them grow by playing out of their funk,,,but let them get to that point first!
 
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#4
#4
lvocd said:
Baylor led by 1 in their eventual blowout, and Tennessee led by three in a game that, if our unforced turnovers hadn’t done us in, we may have actually had a chance of hanging with them to the end.

As someone who thought their overwhelming home-court advantage, couple with their overwhelming advantage in quickness/precision ball movement, could result in a 30-pt slaughtet, I am extremely proud of that first half and feel like this game will help them going forward.

Thank you, Lady Vols, for going up there and giving them a scare for a while!
Click to expand...

I’m glad you’re in a mentally good place about it! I would probably feel better if I had been able to watch live. Watching the replay knowing the outcome might be too hard.

I am proud we led for a half. I’m sad we didn’t see any improvement in the things we really needed (turnovers/rebounds.)

I sort of hope we meet again in the tournament.
 
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#5
#5
I guess I’m just happy that the team nearly every CT fan on message boards had circled as a sure-thing 30-plus-point epic beatdown ended up being a game they actually trailed in at halftime. Instead of a beatdown it was, basically, handed to them by the Lady Vols moreso than because they’d done anything particularly spectacular themselves.
 
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#8
#8
Darth_Vol said:
LOL the moral victory thread. Maybe Kellie will hang a banner...
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I don't think Kellie is hanging any banners. I think she is probably staring out of a plane window thinking "where am I going to find players who can take care of the ball?" I doubt Harper views any of this as a win. I don't think anyone should. I can understand lvocd's mindset but in this case, Tennessee put out such a poor representation of the game and the program that I think there's no getting around it. It isn't about the fact they won or they lost. It's *how* they lost -- and the fact they had played Connecticut "evenly" for a half before doing so.
 
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#9
#9
Voltopia said:
but in this case, Tennessee put out such a poor representation of the game and the program that I think there's no getting around it. It isn't about the fact they won or they lost. It's *how* they lost -- and the fact they had played Connecticut "evenly" for a half before doing so.
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I completely agree. If Tennessee had battled in the second half like they did the first and still lost a competitive game, I think the tone here (including from myself) would be very different...
 
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#11
#11
Darth_Vol said:
I completely agree. If Tennessee had battled in the second half like they did the first and still lost a competitive game, the I think the tone here (including from myself) would be very different...
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Totally. And I can hear Summitt's voice in my head narrating the whole thing. "The sport of women's basketball deserves better than that second half. You cannot represent the sport that way. Especially not at Tennessee." She would have broken a clipboard tonight. I mean, granted, I've seen a lot of real bad basketball in the women's game, but Pat held the program to a higher standard and demanded that from her players. She was big on respecting the game and giving it everything you had.

And I'm not some kind of haughty "you don't deserve that uniform" person. That's for coaches or former players, the ones who have earned that sort of judgment. I am glad players come to Tennessee, and I want them to succeed and do well. But all those turnovers, and all those poor shots, all those loose passes ... where's the pride? Pride in the team, pride in their play. I just want them to find that and hold on to it. It's not just about winning (although winning is super cool and I encourage winning), it's about playing with full commitment. They way they lost that second half, and the way they keep losing the ball, they should want to hold themselves accountable for that stuff. Not to me, not to anyone else, but to themselves and their teammates.
 
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#12
#12
I think it's the fact that we did play a pretty good first half (can't be great with 15 turnovers) that keeps it from being a total disaster and a "poor representation of the game and the program." You have to give UCONN credit for turning up the pressure and exposing our weak ballhandling. The unforced errors were present in both halves, yet we led by 3 at the half. We actually committed fewer turnovers in the second half. If we had committed the same number in both halves and won by six, there would be joy in Mudville regardless.

I seem to remember Parker's national championship team blowing a huge halftime lead to lose by a wide margin, and no one called that team "garbage." Yes, cutting out turnovers is Priority #1. But it can be done. We've got a thin team with some outstanding talent mixed with youth, lack of mobility due to injuries or conditioning, some one-dimensional reserves, and a new team and staff.

These are the bumps in the road we expected, and they are frustrating, especially when the potential can be seen. The ball handling and passing have to improve, and the careless passes have to stop. If these players aren't capable of doing that, they have to be benched in favor of (future) players who will take better care of the ball. Current players who get careless need to come out and settle down; unfortunately, there's a huge dropoff when that happens.

I would never put Kasi and Kam on the floor together unless there was absolutely no other choice. The reserves, IMO, need to only come in to give the first six a blow and the team should try to maintain at least four of the first six on the floor at any given time.

Glad to have this over-hyped game over. It would have been fun to win, but it's a lot more important to address the glaring weaknesses. Maybe it will be more a priority now that the team sees what could be possible with smarter work ethic.
 
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#13
#13
creekdipper said:
I think it's the fact that we did play a pretty good first half (can't be great with 15 turnovers) that keeps it from being a total disaster and a "poor representation of the game and the program." You have to give UCONN credit for turning up the pressure and exposing our weak ballhandling. The unforced errors were present in both halves, yet we led by 3 at the half. We actually committed fewer turnovers in the second half. If we had committed the same number in both halves and won by six, there would be joy in Mudville regardless.

I seem to remember Parker's national championship team blowing a huge halftime lead to lose by a wide margin, and no one called that team "garbage." Yes, cutting out turnovers is Priority #1. But it can be done. We've got a thin team with some outstanding talent mixed with youth, lack of mobility due to injuries or conditioning, some one-dimensional reserves, and a new team and staff.

These are the bumps in the road we expected, and they are frustrating, especially when the potential can be seen. The ball handling and passing have to improve, and the careless passes have to stop. If these players aren't capable of doing that, they have to be benched in favor of (future) players who will take better care of the ball. Current players who get careless need to come out and settle down; unfortunately, there's a huge dropoff when that happens.

I would never put Kasi and Kam on the floor together unless there was absolutely no other choice. The reserves, IMO, need to only come in to give the first six a blow and the team should try to maintain at least four of the first six on the floor at any given time.

Glad to have this over-hyped game over. It would have been fun to win, but it's a lot more important to address the glaring weaknesses. Maybe it will be more a priority now that the team sees what could be possible with smarter work ethic.
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Yes, on the button, overhyped. The important game is Sunday. I would have loved to win against the cons but would trade for another SEC win.
 
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#14
#14
Voltopia said:
Totally. And I can hear Summitt's voice in my head narrating the whole thing. "The sport of women's basketball deserves better than that second half. You cannot represent the sport that way. Especially not at Tennessee." She would have broken a clipboard tonight. I mean, granted, I've seen a lot of real bad basketball in the women's game, but Pat held the program to a higher standard and demanded that from her players. She was big on respecting the game and giving it everything you had.

And I'm not some kind of haughty "you don't deserve that uniform" person. That's for coaches or former players, the ones who have earned that sort of judgment. I am glad players come to Tennessee, and I want them to succeed and do well. But all those turnovers, and all those poor shots, all those loose passes ... where's the pride? Pride in the team, pride in their play. I just want them to find that and hold on to it. It's not just about winning (although winning is super cool and I encourage winning), it's about playing with full commitment. They way they lost that second half, and the way they keep losing the ball, they should want to hold themselves accountable for that stuff. Not to me, not to anyone else, but to themselves and their teammates.
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Until she demands it and stops all of the lovey dovey stuff I don't see it changing. Allowing us to get that far behind in the 3rd quarter and having two timeouts left at the end of the game was inexcusable because we saw that two many times last season. I remember she had three left and called one with 3 minutes left in the game down by 16 points. I don't know another coach especially in the SEC that would allow the girls to play the way they did tonight without calling a timeout and meeting them as they come off the court and not in a good way
 
#15
#15
I remember watching a few games when CHW was in charge and thinking they almost looked like pick-up games. This happens when you recruit a team full of very athletic 'stars' without having a true game managing court general (usually your point guard) to keep order and demand set plays be ran. Our point guards are often the wildest ones on the floor. Hopefully, CKH is working on that. I suspect she is.
 
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#16
#16
creekdipper said:
I think it's the fact that we did play a pretty good first half (can't be great with 15 turnovers) that keeps it from being a total disaster and a "poor representation of the game and the program." You have to give UCONN credit for turning up the pressure and exposing our weak ballhandling. The unforced errors were present in both halves, yet we led by 3 at the half. We actually committed fewer turnovers in the second half. If we had committed the same number in both halves and won by six, there would be joy in Mudville regardless.
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When I say, or rather when I dramatized the whole "poor representation of the game" thing, I was more thinking about the turnovers -- although scoring 14 points in a half is pretty hard to understand too. But I agree the game wasn't a disaster. I didn't call it a disaster. Winning the first half was a pretty good sign, actually. I don't really want to do the "hey at least we won the first half" thing, but I am not blind to the effort they put into the first half. I was proud of that part. But 27 turnovers? So much careless passing? That is a poor representation of basketball, and who these players are, and who Tennessee is. They have too much potential and talent to be turning the ball over that much. And they have too much potential and talent to just go through the motions for most of a half.

Anyway, I think when this thread started, I was mainly saying that I don't think Harper is naive about any of this. She knows how gut-wrenching it is to have turned the ball over that much. I doubt she's celebrating anything about it. I would bet she's asking herself "what can I do to help this team with its limitations." And, also, wondering where she's going to get ball handlers who can run the offense.
 
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#17
#17
you mean that 2nd half tennessee played was even called basketball..it looked more like a clown show..they should have made kk, burrell, horston, and key all wear those big floppy shoes and red noses and made kellie the ring leader i dont think it could have looked much worse
 
#18
#18
I think we outplayed them for the first 15 minutes or until their post player left the game with 2 fouls. I thought with her gone maybe our post players would become dominant but that obviously did not happen. It seemed like UConn became quicker and played with a lot more intensity. It use to be said that the first five minutes of the second half is very telling and I think that was very true for last night’s game. UConn is good but I think we basically played poorly.
I realize everyone is disappointed but I am sure no one is near as disappointed as CKH. We are a decent team and with our height, which can be a disadvantage sometimes, will give a lot of other teams trouble. Let’s move on to SEC play and play better ball!
 
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#19
#19
UConn definitely not the same as they have been the past several years. That was a winnable game for the LV’s and they basically gave it away with senseless turnovers in the second half
 
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#23
#23
Creekdog said:
Did LVs give it away or did UConn take it away with amped up second half defensive pressure?
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Chicken or egg. Hard to say. Many of our t.o.s seemed unforced (as usual) more a case of our younguns reacting to the idea of the amped up D than the reality of it. KJH nailed it in her presser - we lost composure. She even admitted she called the obvious time out to try to pull them back together but was unable to do so.

IMO, this is the huge challenge and huge op for a positive takeaway - staff figuring out how we lost our collective minds mid-game under increased pressure and how to restore order in the heat of a meltdown. No question the problem has been correctly ID'd by coaches. media and at least 8 million times on this board. Unfortunately, fixing issues of focus and concentration are way way harder to fix than to identify.

Hard to know how much of this is attributable to a hangover from the previous regime, where it happened with numbing regularity, or to the current staff. So far, because its relatively early, the team is relatively young, and the turnover virus was so pervasive in the immediate past, I'm willing to give KJH some more time.

It's probably a coach's toughest challenge; almost anyone can do x and os, but fixing intangibles like decision-making and confidence with the ball is much more nebulous and much harder. Good luck to the staff in conquering this killer beast. Doing so IMO will be the difference in making even a semi-decent run down the stretch.
 
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#24
#24
congrats to the Lady Husky...we gave them many opportunities and they graciously took advantage of them...we were our own worst enemy...that female Husky assistant coach (don't remember her name) is the real coach of that team, Coach A is just the face of the team...:D

GO LADY VOLS!
 
#25
#25
Coach Jumper said:
Nope.

That is what's wrong with us in the first place,,,we reward every player a trophy
I don't accept "good enough"
Good enough to me is never good enough.
If we did it in Q1 then we should do it Q2-3-4 too

These girls go through HS and AAU with coaches that call timeouts to stop runs.
They are programmed coming into college to have this help.
when they don't get it, they freak

yes, at some point you let them grow by playing out of their funk,,,but let them get to that point first!
Click to expand...
Two timeouts left at end of game-- why??
 
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