6 point lead at halftime turned into a 15 point loss at the end of the game. 21 point swing in two quarters. We had no clue and no answers how to stop oregons run. If I never see an opponent drive by hillsman for an easy crib shot again it will be too soon.

Disappointed

No real surprise here. Since the NC we have not been very good. Coasting on past reputation.

We simply are not competitive now due to inability to recruit and coach.

The matchup between Oregon and Louisville should be good. I think Louisville will win.

Bio,

I stand by my comments. You will see. Same every year. No improvement. If I am wrong I will buy you a steak dinner.

Houstonag said:

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Bio,

I stand by my comments. You will see. Same every year. No improvement. If I am wrong I will buy you a steak dinner.

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You have to remember we had Vic back then. We were a defensive minded team first

Is he wrong?

Agree with cs69ag. Don't want to dump on Hillsman but I see little improvement in her fundamentals the last year or two, and the lack of a competitive post puts us at a serious disadvantage to those who have one (or rmore). Even so, had we made half of the layups and putbacks we had it might have been a different game. I'm envious of good teams like Oregon that run motion, picks, give and go, etc. and wonder how the talent we have had recently would fare in such an offense. On defense, it seemed like they burned us on 4-5 pick and rolls in a row until we figured it out. They were very athletic, they exploited the seams, and when they started hitting 3's in the second half it was over. If Hillsman is quiet, which she was last night, our offense depends on Carter and Williams making plays/shots. Carter did her part but they really sagged on Williams. She really had to do alot of running and her shooting was off. The good news is a heavy dose of Carter and Williams, with Lashes' all around play and better help off the bench is going to beat most teams.

no

Houstonag said:

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Bio,

I stand by my comments. You will see. Same every year. No improvement. If I am wrong I will buy you a steak dinner.

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I think you're shifting the goalposts if you meant no improvement. Let's break it down. Perhaps I am misreading your comments

Quote:

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No real surprise here. Since the NC we have not been very good. Coasting on past reputation.

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I think most WBB board denizens would say that we were very good but not great before the NC. If we have not been very good since the NC, I read that as saying we are significantly worse, not a complaint about no improvement in the overall performance, which would be something like overall deeper runs in the NCAAs.

Quote:

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We simply are not competitive now due to inability to recruit and coach.

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Inability is the kind of overly strong bashing that is characteristic of the Zoo. Do we recruit at the level of the top schools in WBB? No. We never have. But this year's fish include Carter, who is a top 10 or better recruit and credible candidate for national FOY, plus two other ESPN top 100 players in Jones and Wells. Danni and Anriel were both top 100. So was Khaalia.

Inability to coach? Really?

I agree Bio plus it's still too early to throw in the towel people. Let's not forget we will see Oregon again in Vegas so hopefully we will have improved by then

We an't coach and develop 5 position players with this staff. Blair, Bond-White and Arky point guard all coach guards.

I am not sold on Starkey as a coach, and especially as a post player coach. Hillsman has not developed enough.
Still can't run the floor good enough. Still puts ball on floor for 5 ft guards to steal the ball. Has hands of stone.

Gilbert never developed. Mitchell never developed, although we hear she is doing well in Europe.
Even Bone struggled here in many games. Martin and Nichols don't look like they can go in for Hillsman....
we will need to go small. Martin had all last year to develop in practice.

I am tired of these large, slow 6'5" players who can't run, are really slow and have no offense.
Other teams have 6'2" to 6'4" players running circles around our post players...and they have offensive skills to score
yes...3 games in...we are good when other team has a 6 ft 5 position player. My thoughts are based on many years of poor post play here.

cs69ag said:

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We an't coach and develop 5 position players with this staff. Blair, Bond-White and Arky point guard all coach guards.

I am not sold on Starkey as a coach, and especially as a post player coach. Hillsman has not developed enough.
Still can't run the floor good enough. Still puts ball on floor for 5 ft guards to steal the ball. Has hands of stone.

Gilbert never developed. Mitchell never developed, although we hear she is doing well in Europe.
Even Bone struggled here in many games. Martin and Nichols don't look like they can go in for Hillsman....
we will need to go small. Martin had all last year to develop in practice.

I am tired of these large, slow 6'5" players who can't run, are really slow and have no offense.
Other teams have 6'2" to 6'4" players running circles around our post players...and they have offensive skills to score
yes...3 games in...we are good when other team has a 6 ft 5 position player. My thoughts are based on many years of poor post play here.

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Khaalia had a tough outing but she is preseason all-SEC and on the Lisa Leslie award watch list. Did you get a concussion and completely forget the difference between her soph and junior years? Did you forget how she played vs Mercedes Russell in Knoxville?

Oregon starts 6-4 Hebard and 6-5 McGwire. They schemed to take away Khaalia by double teaming and it worked. She had a bad night by the standards we have come to expect. I think some of it is Khaalia needing to get back to midseason form on moving without the ball. But part of it is learning to work with Carter after getting spoiled by Curtyce. Chennedy has had some very nice assists, but the consistent timing isn't there yet. Some of the better feeds in the half court have come from Danni.



In man D Khaalia was mostly on McGwire.

Yes...Hillsman played better as a Junior than as a Soph...it should be that way.
Yes, she had a good game v. a mediocre Vols team with slow bigs.
She regressed v. Oregon

If I have a concussion, it is from banging my head against the wall watching the same old inconsistent play
at the 5 position for our Ags. Big game at home and no production at the 5. Agree that feeds from Carter will get better as season progresses, but the ones dished out that were good were fumbled or put on the floor in a crowd, or ended up with a missed bunny shot.

It is easy to see that a defense will double Hillsman and let Jazz shoot. Against good teams with tall defenders, the points will have to come from Danni, Carter and Lashes....likely won't be enough to beat good teams.

No way Hillsman is All SEC....maybe 3rd or 4th team if her game improves. USC, MSU, Mizzou and likely other teams will be better at the 5. Cierra Johnson may emerge next year after sitting out this year.

I think Hillsman is a good teammate, does well in the biz school and may develop with good coaching
elsewhere after her eligibility is up here. She needs to get mentally tougher and stronger on the court as a Senior.

cs69ag said:

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No way Hillsman is All SEC....maybe 3rd or 4th team if her game improves. USC, MSU, Mizzou and likely other teams will be better at the 5. Cierra Johnson may emerge next year after sitting out this year.

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I don't think anyone thinks a season of what we have seen so far is all conference worthy. But IF the rest of the team provides enough to create a little more space, then I think it's reasonable for her to make all conference. i.e. if she plays as well as last year. Yqou have to remember that all conference teams are not just 5 players any more. So to say maybe 3rd or 4th team - which don't exist - would be saying she's in the bottom of the SEC.

Wilson is better, obviously. She's a favorite for national player of the year, even with Coates gone.

Is McCowan better? We'll see. The preseason teams had McCowan behind Khaalia, so it's not obvious. She has a lot of potential but this season Vic will have to figure out how to use her as the starter instead of as the sub for Okorie. Looking at the box for their win vs Virginia, McCowan played 30 minutes had 7 points on 3-10 shooting and 10 boards and a couple of blocked shots. That was MSU's second game and 1-2 Virginia's first. The Cavs do have a 6-9 soph at Center. It will be interesting to see how Vic's girls do vs Oregon in Vegas.

Do you really think Cierra Porter is a better post? Mizzou is underperforming so far.

The post most would put above Hillsman is Russell.

I think Khaalia can plausibly anywhere from 2-4 in the SEC, which is 1st or 2nd team. Wilson (Hillsman/Russell/McCowan) Porter everyone else. With McCowan the most unpredictable.

No...at Mizzou, Frericks, a forward, will play circles around Hillsman like
she did 2 yrs ago...she was injured and sat out last year....an example of another 6'1: player who is quick, can jump, run the floor and who has some offensive skills! She van play D too.

Teamed with Cunningham and their well coached motion offense, it will likely be another long night for our Ags.
GB says they start 3 WNBA players!

It was like her feet were stuck in mud--and she is going to draw two defenders all year long! She also was having great difficulty getting the ball above the rim on the bunnies--we gave away at least 20+ paint points.

I think we all know this is not the same program it used to be when Vic was here. We've slowly descended into mediocre territory and that is not going to change until Vic comes home to take over.

I think we just need another coach that bring some fire and new energy. UT has Tina Thompson who has helped them. Maybe we can get a former WNBA player also.

But in other news, it looks like we are still ranked #19 so that's good that we didn't drop.