Went to my first WBB game yesterday with my daughter. Not going to sit here and make accusations because honestly, this was the first WBB I watched this year. I know Tenn is good, but there seemed to be a big discrepancy in talent. I thought JT was a good coach from what I read when she came over, but know the results haven't followed here (yet). Is it a lack of support/funding so we aren't getting the high end talent? Are the players not clicking with Taylor? or is Taylor maybe not what she was billed to be? Could there be injuries as well?

Not trying to disparage anyone, just curious what the consensus is from you all who are way more knowledgable than I when it comes to this team.

sirhc said:

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Went to my first WBB game yesterday with my daughter. Not going to sit here and make accusations because honestly, this was the first WBB I watched this year. I know Tenn is good, but there seemed to be a big discrepancy in talent. I thought JT was a good coach from what I read when she came over, but know the results haven't followed here (yet). Is it a lack of support/funding so we aren't getting the high end talent? Are the players not clicking with Taylor? or is Taylor maybe not what she was billed to be? Could there be injuries as well?

Not trying to disparage anyone, just curious what the consensus is from you all who are way more knowledgable than I when it comes to this team.

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we could debate this all day long... we aren't recruiting at a high clop, to be honest. i imagined we would have success in that arena due to Joni's USA basketball ties. so far, in terms of recruiting top talent - abject fail. she was able to pull in some quality NIL transfers (AC, Ware (others tbd in terms of impact and production), but she's also lost A LOT of talent to the portal. in her defense, i don' think you add players just to add players, and i applaud her for not handing out offers if she doesn't believe they fit into her vision of our program; however, the reality is, we are not landing and KEEPING any big-name players. the one elite she brought with her - who was loyal to her during the transition - bailed after two years of mediocrity (from us as a program and her as a player, to be fair). in comparison, you see other basketball programs with first- and second-year coaches doing very very well (tennessee, tcu, etc). i absolutely do not buy the "we don't have enough NIL money to compete" when we are losing to texas a&m corpus christi (among others). also, look at the success of the volleyball, softball, and tennis teams. they have LESS NIL opportunities and are still winning based on being able to recruit talent and coach that talent. i think joni's seat has to be hot after this season, and the fact that we see other programs doing well in year one and two with new basketball staffs does not make me cringe about starting over again. i desperately want her to succeed, but something isn't clicking.

believe it or not, yesterday was probably the best basketball we've played all season.

Thanks! Appreciate the insight. I was also shocked to see she is the 7th highest paid coach in all of WBB???

I did leave at halftime and know they turned it around some. But first half, they just seemed to lack energy

Taylor was not a good hire. She never elevated the program at Georgia that Andy Landers gave her. It was an average tourney type program but nothing special. You need to look for coaches that elevate programs.

JT has not improved the program, largely because she is unable to recruit or retain highly talented players. Aggie WBB is not meaningfully competitive in the SEC, and likely will not be under her leadership. The lack of success at Georgia and here appear to be clear indicators that college BB is not her strength. I expect her next job will be with the WNBA.

I anticipate that like Coach G, Alberts will let her die on the vine, to the great detriment of the program.

Fire her, honestly I'd be ok to just forfeit the rest of the season. It's going to be ugly. I'd rather just not see her on the sidelines and look like a deer in the headlights