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Seems to me that we have had some good point guard players but the scoring input has been inconsistent. If we get someone that will help Simmons (existing or incoming) take the pressure off of the inside players we can be VERY good. Kamiko was good at slashing (sometimes). Spani was sometimes a deadly shooter. Sometimes not so good. If either Reynolds or Tucker can come and consistently hit from the wing and penetrate sometimes, we'll be a really good team. The Lady Vols already have a really great inside team for the next season. It may get better.

OK - I found the list. Two from Tenn, two from GA, three from Conn, etc, etc, etc. Looks like 18 college freshmen and 16 HS players. Probably, Graves will make the team. Stewart most likely. Interesting that DeShields isn't on the list. It'll be fun to watch the trials and follow the games. Is it going to be on ESPN3 or anything?

I share the concerns of SummittsCourt about the injuries. When was a Tenn player or an incoming player "wounded" in the summer leagues and International tournaments? But then, the marvelous opportunity to play in places like Lithuania can be once in a lifetime experience for many of those young persons.

Where does the financing come for the the international competitions?

I don't know about Chattanooga yet, but Tyler will be a head coach somewhere pretty soon. Maybe a JUCO or a Division II team first. I'd hate to see him get involved over his head. Seems some things would be hard for him. Assistant coaches for one thing. I imagine that Wes Moore will take (did take) the better assistants to NC State with him. With a total lack of experience and his age, could Tyler attract help that can get the players to come to UTC instead of going to Georgia State or similar schools that recruit the same players?

I have just been visiting the comments on the news about Pat Summitt's developments and I just can't hardly stand all the quibbling that goes on. I doubt if this tread will be revisited but it gives me something to talk about that is less controversial (of course all the "controversing" commentators are persons who rarely visit the Lady Vols side of GoVols). So let's just talk basketball. As Volforlife says JJ may be that jewel that occasionally shows up in recruiting classes. Add some range to her beautiful shot, and maybe a little improved dribbling ability and she will be scary good. Not many coaches are looking forward to playing against Harrison, Jones, Burdick and Graves. And, oh by the way, there is going to be a couple of more presences in there. Besides M. Russell let's not forget Nia Moore. From what I saw of her this year she has a lot of athletic ability but sometimes just didn't know what to do. Look forward to a year of teaching/coaching by the Lady Vol staff and expect a huge improvement. A few more pounds of muscle will give her the ability to bang it inside. This past year we just didn't have enough "inside bangers" to be able to play physical against some teams. One girl gets three fouls and we had to go into defensive mode.

You said "Jannah will be the key". For sure guard play will be the key. Simmons and Massengale are proven. But their backups are the totally unknown. Carter showed us what she could do at the beginning of last season. We just hope that shoulder comes all the way back. There is a lot of hype about Reynolds and Tucker but it's scary to have to count on a freshman. Some come in and sit on the bench for four years. Then again, how many years in a row has a freshman started the season for the Lady Vols. Seems like every year I think they have a "Pat" hand and am surprised by a freshman starting. (Simmons, Carter, Massengale). Ya just never know!

Good for you!

For sure Kelsey Mitchell is probably on everyone's wish list (included mine) but since her freshman year at Tennessee she would have Massengale (senior), Carter (sophomore) and Jordan Reynolds (sophomore) already on the team. But then again, I don't know how much attention high school seniors pay to that sort of thing.

It's sort of like the thing with two very good point guards, Jordin Canada (#2) and Recee Caldwell (#6) committed to UCLA. Seems to me that they both won't sign with UCLA. Since Middleton is a "local" I thought she might want to stay in Tennessee.

I really don't know anything about such things, but it gives me something to think about for the next five months. I'd like to see some Tennessee commitments show up on the ole HoopGrulz list.

Thanks for all your hard work digging out these stats. While we're talking about stats, do coaching staffs have graduate assistants to dig through those stats. For instance, if a person has a season average of 343X can they go deep enough into those stats to tell how much of that 343 was against lower ranking teams versus against teams with good defenses? The past season if over and let us let it pass. But sometimes is seams to me that just a glance at the overall statistics doesn't always tell it all. I want one that'll bat .100 against the bottom rung and bat .800 against Notre Dame and UConn. Semper Fi!

My USWAG (unscientific wild A-- guess) is Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and LSU. Because it is off season I will address your question as to why, but it'll take me a couple of days. I don't thing Georgia graduated much of what we saw in the tournament. South Carolina the same. LSU had a couple of their stars out for the season. The same with Vandy. But I think the Vandy star that missed the whole season was a senior. Like I said It'll take me a couple of days - or you can just take my word for it. I wouldn't, but it is a long off season and we've nothing else to do.

Yes I agree with you that the Lady Vols were harmfully thin at Posts this year. Graves spent most of the season playing post when she is a forward. How good could she have been if she could have played her position all season? With Harrison, Russell and Moore in the center, maybe we'll see Graves, Burdick and Jones playing aggressively with, as you pointed out, not having the fear of picking up a foul.

I've watched every minute of every game (2-3 times when possible) but my memory is clouded. Can Bashaara drive from the top of the Key effectively? Seems to me most of her points was hard fought baskets down under.

Theo, most of the persons on this Blog aren't ready yet to talk about the future. They're still bashing each other about what cannot be changed. No matter how much we wish, the Lady Vols still aren't gonna be in the final four. Move on!

So what are they going to do with JJ. She played 16 minutes a game this year as a freshman. If she and Nia Moore develop as much as Izzy did this past off season there is going to be some serious competition for playing time down inside. I guess we are all expecting Russell to get a good bit of that time, but even without her there's a lot of "big" girls down there. JJ is so good defensively, she demands playing time. But where? Do you think she can play further out? She has a really good short range jumper and I saw her make a couple of good moves off of short drives, but like you said, "can she shoot"?

You're right, where is "No Data"?

I agree with almost everything you said in your post. Especially, the part about being a freshman. M-Lewis didn't dominate as a freshman the way she did this year. At the beginning of the year, B Stewart didn't really start to show the brilliance she has showed the last couple of games. On the good part, by tournament time next year, Russell will probably be a big factor in all games. I too look forward (expect) to see a first game starting lineup (barring injuries or defections)of Graves, Izzy, Carter, Burdick and Simmons. Those shoulder operations can do bad things to ROM (range of motion, )been there, done that)). Hopefully Carter can return to the form she showed at the beginning of this season. As for Reynolds and Tucker, the first one that can shoot 40% of threes and 50% from the field will be getting a lot of playing time. (I put more importance to playing time than I do on Starting Lineup.) Counting Carter, we'll have three freshman guards next season. Hopefully, we'll get a good defensive point and a more reliable two guard out of the three-some.

Ms. Russell will have a lot of competition for being the next big star. B. Stewart will be great. What we should be looking forward to is watching Stewart and Russell go at it. Point Guards - she's already on the team and will officially be a freshman next year but we've already seen what she can do. I'm of course talking about Andraya Carter. Barring injury she would have have been the No 1 Point Guard this season. She's fast, she can play defense and she can shoot.

Vol Point guard - 27 minutes, 3 assists, 1 point, 2 rebounds, 2 steals

Notre Dame PG -24 min, 9 assists, 24 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals

Louisville PG 24 min, 3 assists, 24 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

And there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen!

It wasn't Simmons that ended their season it was Massengale. Good teams have a Schimmel or a Diggens, we have a ______?

Go SEC. Doesn't that mean we have three of the "elite 8 teams" remaining?

Don't forget Georgia. The SEC has 1/4th of the teams in the sweet sixteen.

Oh, and by the way - I thought the Creighton game was their best defense game of the year.

Are you people just plain stupid or crazy? The Lady Vols just won a game into the sweet Sixteen by a margin of 16 points, and all you can do is female dog. You must be Tennessee Football fans.

With this 50 or so comments I'm surprised that no one has asked where Spani was tonight. I don't get it. A girl that lights up 33 against A&M goes 1 for 7 tonight. I watched her and she was working hard to get in position for a shot. Is the offense not geared to get her open shots? Is she not able to get open shots when the defense tries to stop her? The shots that she took were not the ones that she is deadly good at - that being, getting a pass and putting it back up. Like I said, I just don't get it. I do think that the Lady Vols won't go much deeper into this tournament without her making a big shooting contribution.

And and all this respect for a sophomore coming from future All Americans like Burdick and Graves. Come. We may not win it all this year but those girls will have some Championship rings on their fingers. If Spani has a tournament like she had against A&M, and if Simmons does her normal great scoring, we can get a championship.

Putting Izzy back in there changes a lot. With her wingspan and skills the Lady Vols would have taken out A&M again. We are happy with a 2 seed and the chance to take out Oral Roberts, Syracuse, UCLA and Baylor so that we can get at the good teams.

Tennessee could have become a 2 seed by beating Kentucky and winning the tournament. There's really five "1 seeds" - UConn, ND, Duke, Stanford and Baylor. One of those One's have to be a Two so the remaining have had to fight to be a "Two".
Cals record shoos them in though I have my concerns over their schedule. I have the same concerns for Penn State. I hope we're lucky enough to get one of them in our bracket instead of Duke. Hey, we know we can beat Kentucky but we didn't - last time. Having said all that we can look for some surprises tonight. It's pretty for sure who the No. One seeds are going to be but the committee will decide where the 2 and 3 seeds go. That's were the difference between Creame and tonight's results will differ.

Thanks for putting it in perspective. He's the kind of person that caused the Russian Revolution. The "food stampers" will only be hungry for so long.

"Watch ND's offense and watch ours--the difference is embarrassing. They make six or seven passes and get a layup. We make three/four passes and then somebody hoists up a contested shot. We had a meager 7 assists yesterday--the mark of a team that does not run a good efficient offense and does not get good shots. Assist to turnover ratio will almost always show whether a team is efficiently offensively." - kazoo

Yea and watch ND (and the other good passing teams). When we pass the ball, its an arch of 5 players passing the ball around the circle. Well ocassionally a bad pass across it. The good teams have one or two players moving and cutting while the others do the passing, resulting in open shots or layups. When Tennessee is playing good ball they are running, running, running. They could outrun A&M but they stopped and started that ineffective half court ball.

Se are we going to be a 3 seed or a 4 seed?

You'll are crazy. Without Simmons the Lady Vols are probably 18 - 12, not 24 and 6.

Still, there has been no publication of what Izzy did to her knee. I know she "hurt" it, but what was it?