[sagebrush]

What an awesome coach she is. It is unbelivable how far she has come and the respect that she is getting.
Can't say enough about her. Being the coach of the Lady Vols and a special consultant for the Washington Mystics, she has and is making here knitch on the sport of basketball.

Go Coach Pat

 

[Gym Rat]

She is one hell of a coach. She scares the crap out of me. When she gets that look in her eye, yikes. What is interesting to me - is watch Pat and Geno go at each other. Geno is the only one that seems to get in her head. Geno makes her crazy. The next few years will be interesting now that Geno is down (Down for Geno is great for most) and Pat is climbing again.

 

[Coatesvillain]

What do people think about the rumors that Pat Summit might make the jump to coach the Tennessee men?

 

[BG7]

Definitely a good coach.

 

[TM]

What do people think about the rumors that Pat Summit might make the jump to coach the Tennessee men?

:laugh:

Although, I wouldn't put it past her.

 

[Cometsbiggestfan]

What do people think about the rumors that Pat Summit might make the jump to coach the Tennessee men?

I can't see her leaving her Lady Vols.

 

[TRACIELOVESCOMETS]

I love Pat!

Lets go VOLS!

 

[RockyTop]

A constant argument that I get into with friends is, "Who's the best coach, Geno or Pat?"

Clearly the answer is Coach Summitt.

While Geno has done some phenomenal things with the UCONN program, he has not even come close to being as great of a coach as Coach Summitt. Summit has the ability to be consistent in her program no matter who she has on her team. Year in and year out she produces a quality Lady Vols team capable of winning the National Championship. She also has the ability implement the fact that basketball is a team sport and to realize how fatal it is to a program when the coach builds the team around one great player (i.e., Geno, UCONN and Diana Taurasi). Summitt produces for the Lady Vols program a team like no other coach is capable of producing. No matter which five players are on the court, the Lady Vols are a threat to their opponents.

This is what makes Pat Summitt a coaching genuis.

Sure they didn't take it all this year, but they had a great year and progressed further than most people would've ever thought. All teams have good games and bad games. The important thing to remember is how far they got with what they had, fighting through injuries and still pulling it together to be one of the top teams in the Nation.

And looking ahead to next season - the Lady Vols only lose three seniors: Ely, Moore, and Jackson. Look out Division I. They Lady Vols will be back next year.

 

[Gym Rat]

Rocky Top... I certainly understand why you have your opinions about Geno vs. Pat. I am neither a UCONN fan nor a Tennessee fan - even though I was born and raised in Tennessee and I currently reside in Connecticut.

Pat has consistently built a great program every year. But it has been a long time since she won a championship. Geno didn't build his team around one player in Taurasi... Taurasi was part of the Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones teams too. I think it was sheer will that DT took that team to another championship without those other players. If you look at Geno's Championship teams, only ONE was built around a single superstar.

Geno built his program from nothing. Pat has been coaching the same team for years. Both are great, no matter how you look at it. But Pat hasn't won a championship in a long time. I give credit to Geno for some of that because he got into Pat's head... and he seems to make her crazy (in my opinion). I missed that at the Final Four this year. I wonder if Pat has lost her championship touch? Did you see that semi-final game? I thought Pat did a TERRIBLE job of coaching during the comeback. She didn't use a timeout to calm her team down during Michigan State's run... she did NOTHING. I was shocked.

No matter how you slice it, both are great coaches. If I had to hire one today... it would be Geno. 8 years ago... it would have been Pat.

 

[RockyTop]

Excellent rebuttal Gym Rat.

I will concede that Geno didn't build his entire team around Diana, but the focus last season was certainly on her as the center of that team. Now, good 'ol geno seems to be the same boat as Pat after she won her three-in-a-row in the 90's. (Courtesy of the three Meeks, "Ace" Clement, and Kellie Jolly, just to name a few.)

The interesting part will be to see how well UCONN can rebuild their team without Diana (among the many other great players that won their three-in-a-row). Maybe Geno will fall back in line just like Pat has over the past few years. Every team, dynasty or not, goes through a rebuilding stage and UCONN could very well be entering theirs now, while Tennessee appears to be on their way out of theirs.

Pat built her team from nothing as well, she just happened to have the opportunity a long time before Geno had his. I don't find it a very persuasive argument to say that Geno built his team from nothing, when they both have accomplished the same in that arena.

I was just as shocked as any Lady Vols fan when Michigan State sent us packing. As Pat said in the post-game conference, MS had the Vols on their heels and wecouldn't stop them. I guess we can all second guess the Coach's choice on not taking a timeout at the right time, but we'll never know if it would've made a difference. But we do know that next year, the team will be more determined than ever to not let it happen again.

It's nice to finally see the parity in the women's game, but that doesn't mean that Tennessee won't bring it next year, just like this year and for many years to come. They will just have a greater variety of teams that can compete on their level. We are in for some great games in the future as a whole in the women's game and they are more than welcome in my opinion.

Ahh I digress, back to Geno, I would have never made the Diana remark had he not opened every interview last season with the simple phrase, "Well, we've got Diana..." Please. He had that one coming. We'll see how long it takes for him to get his next National Championship, the clock has already started ticking...But for now, Pat Summitt is at the top of my hiring list, National Championship or not.

 

[Gym Rat]

Excellent rebuttal Gym Rat.

Ahh I digress, back to Geno, I would have never made the Diana remark had he not opened every interview last season with the simple phrase, "Well, we've got Diana..." Please. He had that one coming. We'll see how long it takes for him to get his next National Championship, the clock has already started ticking...But for now, Pat Summitt is at the top of my hiring list, National Championship or not.

You have a point about the Diana remark. I will be interested to see how long it takes Geno to win a National Championship again also.

So, Rocky Top... how did you get to be such a huge Tennessee fan? And, can you tell me why next year Pat Summit will only have 2 players from the State of Tennessee on her roster? Doesn't she recruit there? Two sophomores from Shelbyville, that is all. I don't come down on Geno about lack of players from Connecticut because he doesn't personify the state, like it is his own. Pat does.

 

[RockyTop]

So, Rocky Top... how did you get to be such a huge Tennessee fan? And, can you tell me why next year Pat Summit will only have 2 players from the State of Tennessee on her roster? Doesn't she recruit there? Two sophomores from Shelbyville, that is all. I don't come down on Geno about lack of players from Connecticut because he doesn't personify the state, like it is his own. Pat does.

First, I have to say that I love this discussion and that we seem to both be civilized people who can respect each other's opinion's although we may disagree. Thanks for that.

How did I get to be such a big Tennessee fan? I have to admit I started in the 90's as a bandwagon fan when they were going for two-in-a-row. There was quite a bit of coverage concerning the team and Coach Summitt. There were just a couple stories that caught my attention and in particular, I really gained respect for Summitt after HBO followed them for the documentary " A CINDERELLA SEASON: THE LADY VOLS FIGHT BACK." The way that she turned that team around from such a terrible start and produced back-to-back Championships really stood out in my opinion. It's not something that a lot of teams or coaches could do.

(Let me just give one small, totally off topic, shout out to my U's Div I Hockey team coming rallying from a 15-13-3 record to a 25-15-5 season after losing the National Championship to Denver on Saturday...Go UND Fighting Sioux and Congrats to Rookie Coach Dave Hakstol on a great start!)

Now - to your question concerning recruitment...I have to admit, I don't follow it that closely. I would assume however, and I may be very wrong, that most coaches at that level are looking for the best players they can get for their program. Minnesota has primarily MN residents on their roster and look at how far they got! But, I would also assume that the majority of applicants who want to play at UM are from MN. I really can't explain the Tennessee rationale on recruiting, but I would bet that they have a much bigger pool of players to choose from than most other schools, just because of its reputation. And as far as UCONN, I can't really comment on it, I wish I could, but it would be pure speculation and adhominem statements.

Finally, I am not if Pat personifies herself as Tennessee, I think the community has empbraced her as such. But she does do great things for the State and the University and her teams generate publicity and tourism no matter where the players are from.

Thanks again for the great discussion.
LB

 

[Gym Rat]

So where do you think Shyra Ely will go in the WNBA draft? I am very curious about that one. I like her game when she isn't playing in a "big game". I wonder how shaken her confidence is?

Will Loree Moore go higher than Shyra?

Saturday should be interesting!

 

[4ever_bball_fan]

For some reason I think that Ely is all hat and no cattle, as we would say in Texas. I think she performed as well as she could in the "system" she was in. The pro game will not make those accomodations for her. Everybody said how much better she played at the four than the three spot late in the season and in the Tournament...at this point in time, she will not be able to compete with the four's in the W.

Now, if she goes overseas, gets some seasoning and has to rough it out a bit...no private jets taking her to out of town games, etc....maybe she can build a game that will be better suited for the W.

This is no reflection on Coach Summitt...I think she gets the max out of the players with which she has to work. If you would have told me that Tenn would have been in the Final Four at the beginning of the season and actually be poised to take it all, I would have laughed in your face. But, the team came together and worked very hard to get where they were. They have nothing to hang their heads about...they will be back with a vengence next year.

 

[RockyTop]

I would have to concur on the "all hat and no cattle' remark. I think Ely lost a little towards the end of this season and probably didn't capitalize on as much as she could have, which is unfortunate.

I don't follow the WNBA much at all, so it's hard for me to speculate on where she will go in the draft. Hopefully they will still consider her overall talent and skills and not just her performance at the end of this season. I think she definitely has a future in basketball, but we won't know for sure until we can see how well she adapts to the professional style of game.

I believe that we often see athletes who can excel at the collegiate level, but fail to come through at the professional level. Sometimes things just don't go their way, other times they just can't make the adjustment.

All the best to Shyra in her future and to all those who will be drafted. Good Luck and Congratulations.