VTTW Board Index

https://www.yahoo.com/news/readers-weigh-kellie-harper-future-100452685.html

I think we all know that whether it’s this spring or 5 years from now, Kara Lawson is going to be our next coach. I’ve often decried the LV Mafia’s insistence on hiring a Pat protege, no matter how qualified, over better candidates. But now there’s one with an actual track record of success. Kara’s young. She’ll stay in this job 20 years or more if she’s successful. She’s done TV work, which should serve her well in recruiting. Seems like a slam dunk hire that should please most everyone.

What if her record is no better than Holly's or Kelly's after a few seasons? I say hire outside the Vol's circle. No one is up to following Pat. The biggest shortcoming now is recruiting. We just don't have the talent from top to bottom of the elite teams. Then the coaching x's and O's lacks. Not hard to see it. Can't expect to win any titles that way.

Here is what I think.

I think SEC play has been really good this year. I don't know what happened in the OOC season and need to dig into it, but our only losses are to the two best teams, and the LSU loss was on the road and close.

That is good enough.

Having said that, I want to see continued improvement next season and also what happens in the NCAA tourney.

You are okay with a Lady Vols team that is not ranked in the top 25? Is that really good enough? It sucks to think of them as not an elite program anymore. I'm a homer, but I feel all Vol money making sports should be at least top 25. I know it ain't easy.

Zero reason why the LVs with the resources...aren't in the top 10 most of the time and top 20 all the time....They started the season ranked 4th....they've had the talent to be a elite 8 minimum....They haven't been in the top 25 in months....She has zero recruits for next season and about to lose the majority of he points. She's probably going to do herself in by this time next season...

She was in over her head when she was hired....she didn't have the resume for this job. If she had not been a former Pat player she wouldn't have been considered for the job IMO.

Yes.  Because the reason they are not ranked is their overall record.  Their SEC record is excellent.  And...read carefully...it COMES LATER IN THE SEASON.

And guess what.  SO DOES THE TOURNEY.

Sorry to use my outside voice, but I thought all that was obvious from my original post.

And bro, WHO CARES ABOUT RANKINGS!  I have seen below in discussing the men's team that they are essentially meaningless. 

How many times have I seen you post this following most amazing revelation.  ALL THAT MATTERS IS THE TOURNEY.

Again.  I thought all this was obvious from my original post, but apparently not. 

Please do let me know if you need additional explanation.

If only the SEC record is considered, they would be top 10 absolutely. 

The question is whether the SEC is weak or not.  Which is why I carefully state that I a reserving final judgement until the NCAA tourney.

The SEC is basically a two team league this year. And honestly, the jury is still out on LSU, because they played no one in the OOC. This is easily the weakest this league has ever been.

Agree 100%...And again the LVs should be ranked in the top 10 the majority of the time and never ever out of the top 20.

Fair enough. I am still willing to see how the LVs do in the tourney.

Here is a list of OOC teams they have lost to with their current ranking:

OSU 14
Indiana 2
Virginia Tech 8
Stanford 6
U Conn 9
Gonzaga 15
UCLA 19

For that matter here are our SEC losses

SC 1
LSU 4
MSU unranked

So every single loss was to a ranked team with the exception of MSU, and that was in double OT on the road.  I do need to point out a mistake above, I thought we had lost x2 to SC but we have only lost to them once, the other loss was MSU and also I thought LSU score was a bit closer, but IIRC, that one was closer than the final score as they padded it with FTs at the end.

Anyway, I realize this is not great.  We can't seem to beat any ranked teams, only unranked ones.

Still and yet, iMO the play has improved over the course of the season and I am hoping they show out well in the NCAA.

Per BDVs point, only LSU and SC are ranked in the SEC.

Also, I realize that above I bad mouth the rankings, but what I was bad mouthing was saying that they matter for anything than a very subjective rating of team relative strength, which is what I am using them for here.  What I mean is, who will care that the men's team was briefly ranked 1, only the tourney really matters.  But during the season you can use rankings, warts and all, to at least assess team performance.

Strength of schedule doesn't matter if you lose 11 of them. Still gotta win the games. They will find plenty of ranked teams they will have to beat in the tourney if they get far.

:loco:

So... The LVs now are into moral victories...My how the once mighty have fallen.

As of right now the four No.1 seeds.....We played all of them.

LVs probably have the No.1 ranked SOS.....LSU has the 100th ranked SOS yet they will get home court in the NCAAs and the LVs won't. Playing 2-3 tough OOC games is ok....we played too many of them.

LSU didn’t even play one tough OOC game. Their toughest was probably Tulane. And when they played the one SEC team with a pulse, they lost by 24. That’s why I’m far from sold on them. I won’t be shocked if they get bounced early in the NCAAT.

If you have an app, you should put a bit on them losing.  Sounds like a great opportunity in sports gambling to me.   :naughty:

I never said it did?  Where do you see that in my remarks?  Where it DOES matter is in preparing your team.  The LVs have the second toughest schedule in lady bball. If it did not prepare them for the NCAA, then nothing will.

It may well have paid off. I will submit that the comeback against LSU is the most impressive win of the season.  For one thing, it's the only team that was ranked at the time we played them that we have beaten.  There may be one or two on the OOC schedule that we have beaten since.  And it wasn't number 25, it was no. 4, although I share BDVs opinion that LSU is overated, still that was a quality win.

Furthermore, this is our first trip to the SEC tourney final since 2015.  That is progress whether you  and the other BVS give up at the first sign of trouble the sky is falling negavol pessimists think it is or not.  I share the opinion that conference tourneys don't mean shizzle other than the chance for a low seeded team to steal an invite and the chance to add an SEC championship, but doing well in them still counts for something if we haven't done it since 2015.

Let me repeat what I was saying above, because it clearly hasn't sunk in yet.

I don't give a rat's ass that we lost a lot of games in the OOC season.  We all repeatedly say, till we are blue in the face, that only the NCAA tourney matters at the end of the day.  No one is going to care that we lost 8 games to OOC opponents if we make the FF or even the Elite Eight.  In that context, it matters that the opponents we faced in the OOC schedule were tough but the SEC with two exceptions is soft.

Thus the proof is in the NCAA tourney pudding.

So with all that in mind, I am going on record as saying I am cautiously optimistic we at least make the Sweet 16 and we might even go higher.

We will all find out soon enough!

I just might. I’ll have to see the matchups when they come out. I suspect they’ll be okay for the first two rounds, since they’ll be playing at home. But that second weekend, they’re in big trouble.

What is this in response to? Is somone out there idiot enough to say our  lose to USC yesterday "was close" even if it wasn't?  If so, yes we should squash that.

If your remark is directed at me, you need to be specific.  I don't believe that anywhere above I state that any loss is acceptable. It is fair though, to point out that although we have a lot of OOC losses it was a really tough schedule that...hopefully...has prepared the team for the NCAA. Frankly getting your team used to tough games and also building the NCAA resume is exactly why you schedule OOC games like that and I am glad Kellie or White or whoever put the schedule together did it that way.

But please do not accuse me of "claiming a moral victory" as that would be highly offensive to me, particularly since it is not true. Nowhere above do I excuse a single loss!

I will say this...sports fans in general, and you appear to be no exception, only seem to be able to see what is right in front of their respective noses and draw obvious, but sometimes erroeneous, conclusions from them.

To my point. If we swap our OOC conference schedule with LSU, likely we are in the top 5 and they are unrated.  At least, that seems possible.  Lets hypothetically assume that's true. In which case, right now, who do you like better in the NCAA tourney?  The team that blew a 17 team point lead in the conference semifinal, or the one that overcame it?

I know who my money is on.   :naughty:

The point is too many Blue hairs and so called LV fans are happy we play close to the top teams even though we lose.....When our program use to never blink and beat 95% of them. Now many are happy with moral victory's and tough OOC games/schedules.

If LSU makes it to the Sweet 16....and UT goes out the first round....nobody will care about our OOC schedule.

Nobody said you....read other boards and the LVs fans and you'll understand.