Tennessee's shooters remain on target in one respect. They're validating any ongoing comparisons involving them and the stock market.
Save for an occasional spike, the Lady Vols' field goal percentage remains in a depressed state at 40.8 percent. The total is virtually unchanged from the 40.6 of early December, when the problem first was chronicled.
The Lady Vols sank to a new single-game low against Duke Monday night, misfiring at a 32.1 percent clip from the field (18 for 56) in a 62-54 loss.
Their free throw shooting is in a downward spiral as well. They shot 56 percent against Duke (14 for 25) and are shooting 55.2 percent (21 for 38) for the last two games, plunging their overall accuracy to 66.3 percent.
No. 13 Tennessee (18-7, 7-3 SEC) spent most of its preparations for Thursday's game at Kentucky (TV: FSS, 7 p.m.) addressing this issue. All other concerns (defense, rebounding, competitiveness, etc.) have been impacted by the resulting anxiety.
"It's five people working together for a common goal to get the best shot every possession you can get,'' UT coach Pat Summitt said. "That doesn't always happen."
The depth of this problem is underscored by the fact that, even at this late date, Summitt isn't certain about the preferred pace for Tennessee's offense.
"I've contemplated how much should we push tempo and how much should we set up and try to execute in the half court,'' she said. "I know part of that depends on the game and the opponent but it has been difficult.
"Glory Johnson's background is as a track runner. Everything she does, she wants to do at an all-out pace. To get her to know when to play more slow-to-fast or fast-to-slow, that has been a process and we're still learning.
"We've got players like Lyssi (Brewer), she's had to learn to sprint the floor hard to get to the rim and my big challenge for her right now is to be able to create a scoring opportunity before she gets the ball."
With Briana Bass back in the starting lineup against the Wildcats (13-12, 3-7), the Lady Vols figure to get up the court tonight in short order. The return of the lone true point guard on UT's active roster will take some pressure off stand-ins Shekinna Stricklen and Alicia Manning. But they still have to assist Bass.
"All you have to do is make an entry pass and now we're all players, just make an entry pass,'' said Summitt, describing her advice to the reluctant back-ups. "In their minds, it's bigger than life."
Along with personnel, another big issue is the setting and usage of screens. Summitt described UT's execution as "the absolute worst I've had to deal with. Why? Youngest team I've ever coached."
The problem encompasses virtually everyone and leads to situations where, Summitt said, the post players and guards are "passing each other in the possession."
After Monday's struggles, sophomore guard Angie Bjorklund suggested less jumpers and more close-range attempts.
"I thought we needed to get the ball inside a lot more, especially when the outside game, we weren't hitting,'' she said. "Get the ball inside and work the high-low. You've got to do that earlier."
Summitt took the notion a step further and encouraged the guards to be more aggressive off the dribble.
Either way is bound to produce more high percentage shot attempts. Or the strategy sends a Lady Vol to the free throw line. That used to be a percentage move, too. During one four-game stretch in November (Virginia, Chattanooga, Louisiana Tech and Western Carolina) the Lady Vols shot an impressive 80.5 percent from the line (87 of 108). Seems like a long time ago now.
"I have no answer for that,'' Summitt said of the free throw drop-off. "We shoot them all the time in practice. Then comes game time, I don't know if they're feeling the pressure. It's been a thorn in our side."
One that really hurts.
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Comments » 24
gnm53108 writes:
I'm sorry,Lord please forgive me,but the title of this article is crackin me up.
dwa7#337691 writes:
prediction.....upset special....
Lady Vols 74
Mildcats 70
yes, we upset 'em........
gnm53108 writes:
Get back to the basics.Defense and reboundin.Reboundin and defense.
ps..get well Vicki.
xvolx writes:
why take the ball inside? none of the post players can shoot when they do. Cain can't hit a layup. Brewer is suppose to be a three threat. She's not a three threat from three feet. Someone had better recognize that these girls have no shooting skills, passing skills or basketball skills before they start talking about taking the ball inside. Either Tenn. has a problem with players that won't learn or a coaching problem. Summitt can coach. Maybe the asst. coaches aren't getting the job done. Whatever the problem, this team is in trouble.
airship writes:
our freshmen were greatly over rated comming out of high school. got to do a better job recruiting. GO LADIES.
jeff1vol writes:
Summitt has had the luxury of coaching the best players for a long time. This team and the teams of a few years back (pre-Parker) were not very good at all. Take it for what it's worth. I guess you could say MOST HOF coaches have had their fair share of premeir players to coach as well.
Players= 75%
Coaching= 25%
Great players make a coach look great and vice-versa.
1volk-nowi-tall writes:
We are a poor shooting team. All of our three point attempts come from set shots. Strickland may be the only player who can really shoot a jump shot. We are very weak at the guard position althouth Brewer will probably become a good guard. With Angie having to handle the ball so much she becomes easy to guard. Pat may need to go a little easier on these freshmen. They are becoming a little fearful of shooting. They need to learn to shoot the ball quicker after receiving it or coming off a screen. We do not shoot when a defender is near us and good shooters will let it fly and get the shot off with defenders in their face. Manning must contribute more offensively. We have several shooting guards and only one point guard. Think what would have happened if Chris Loften had had to play point guard. His numbers would have been way down. Need to recruit the point guards and shooters. Good shooters can become good defenders. Good defenders struggle to become good shooters.
98reax writes:
Seems everyone is a critique and/or expert. Not seeing a lot of supporters this AM. We need a win tonight. Hopefully we can beat the kittens and move on. Time's waning.
GO LADY VOLS!
reachkim00 writes:
C'mon girls you can do this and win out. I have the faith!! GO LADY VOLS.. we're all behind you.
utcp3 writes:
Angie was doing a good job of creating space to get her jumper off now she dribbling too much, manning as well! They need to just play the game! They try so hard to run the set offense they miss the open man! Bri can play point she just needs the post to put the ball in the hoop!
98reax writes:
Last year we were averaging 76.7 ppg, and held the opposition to 58.6 ppg. We went a 'little lower' in the NCAA Tournament for a 68.3 ppg and held our opponents to 51.7%.
That was some decent defense. But yes, Dan, we could go lower. The awesome thing is, we could go way higher too! We are definitely missing the 809 points scored by Candace Parker last season, 28% of the season's total.
Pat QUOTE [[ "I've contemplated how much should we push tempo and how much should we set up and try to execute in the half court,'' she said. "I know part of that depends on the game and the opponent but it has been difficult.]]
Consider last season we had 5 starters very capable of bringing the ball up the court to set up whatever offense Pat wanted to run. We do not have that luxury with the present personnel. For that matter we had 4 or 5 players, Bobbitt, Hornbuckle, Cait, Parker & Berta who could run the point position efficiently, with Anosike set up down low to receive the pass, or Parker posted up for a sure shot.
Of course we don't have anything resembling a mature team to execute that offense, and we don't have the solid screen-setting capabilities that group of players had.
As for being aggressive off the dribble, my theory is this team has not developed the chemistry, the cohesiveness to trust each other to 'have my back' when I get trapped. I can see uncertainty in their handle thus 'easy pickin's' by opponents. Look at the TOs. Look at the assist to TO ratio. How low can we go?
All these inconsistencies crumble the confidence of the young, constantly changing team make-up. I agree 100% with Pat (anyone with a brain would) that good solid defense will fix all these woes. The shots will fall. It has always worked in the past.
This quote from Sports Illustrated: "Shopping had to be put on hold as the ('97) team negotiated an unfamiliar landscape of injuries and individual and collective funks. Said sophomore forward, Chamique Holdsclaw before the championship game, "we were wondering if anything positive would come out of the season."
Bottom line: It's never too late to overcome the 'collective funks' and start kicking some behind.
sgtvols writes:
we lost our entire starting team from last year/ 5 seniors. where the heck did the jr.s & sophs go? i have never heard of a team that did not have underclassmen being readied to take over the next year. i love pat and support her to the end but i do not understand how she could allow this to happen. now we have to be humbled by bf for the next 2-3 years.
98reax writes:
MIKE, your comments have no validity here.
Take this to your boneyard: We are plagued by lady bugs here in this area at this time of year. They serve no purpose but to annoy you by crawling all around and flying in your face. They crawl into your vehicle and your outbuildings piling on top of each other propagating into ugly clumps of filthy worthlessness. They smell horrible and there is no way to get rid of them except to smash them under foot and suck them up the vacuum. The insects were brought here and turned loose to make some environmental contribution. The experiment failed.
ladivolfan writes:
This article confirms it. Mike_from_Connecticut is Dan Fleser in disguise.
volnut1 writes:
While it is true that coach Pat has the young team this year just stop and think about something- if any other coach in the nation was coaching this team, where would they be-certainly not with the record of wins (18) that they have now. If any one can bring them out of this it will be Pat Summitt.
vscebail#247785 writes:
Hey Mike_from_Connecticut:
What's the matter? Have you gotten tired of watching our Lady Vols hoist the NCAA champoinship the last two years? Don't get too cocky - it's a long tournament, and Rutgers has seemed to have your number recently. I think that I would wait for all the smoke to clear before you start crowning yourself champions quite yet.
vols99#639914 writes:
Let's tell it like it is: Angie Bjorklund disappears in big games and is repeating what she did last year towards the end of the season not being able to put the ball in the hoop. The rest of the team is poor on defense and their shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Bass can push the ball down the floor but not much else. If the Lady Vols don't get a good point guard in next years class and also some shooters that can put the ball in the basket it going to be the same story next year.
mississippi writes:
I would think being a Lady Vol fan would make you trust Pat judgement in talent but once again i see that we have so called better talent researchers in this thread
mississippi writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
mississippi writes:
What team are you coaching right now?
xvolx writes:
looks like I should be coaching lady vols.
fan writes:
Proud of Kentucky, however you have no idea how hungry
people are here at Kentucky for a coach and here you
(Tennessee) have it all! You have a coach that took
the time after the loss to say something to the Kentucky
players for their efforts. You have the coach that is
tops in all of college baketball. I am a fan of Coach
Summitt and just wish we had the passion, the knowledge,
the drive, and the will to win that she teaches; in our
coaching staff. Don't ever take that for granted.
tenn32rebel writes:
You sir, are completely out of line. Your knowledge of the game is lacking so much that I doubt you could get a position as Lady Vol manager apprentice!!!
Before you go calling Pat out, you better have more than an opinion about how to coach basketball. Your posts are entirely too negative and prove that you dwell on the wrong points.
Keep posting but don't quit your day job at the chicken factory waiting for Joan to call you as Pat's replacement!!!
"rebel"
GO BABY LADY VOLS---OUR FUTURE CHAMPIONS!!!
anosikefan writes:
Pat is not the problem people! Really...she is the winningest coach in the HISTORY of the GAME!! Quit being idiots with your stupid comments and get a life!
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