MTFAN61 said:

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

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Monson got in for a few minutes in the first half, too, but no one else played.

When Arike transferred in, we were under the impression she would be playing limited minutes (25 minutes/game) with her history of concussions. So far she’s broken her career-high in minutes (38 vs. Grand Canyon) and is averaging over 31 minutes/game. She mentioned in last night’s presser that it is wearing on her body but admits she could be better about managing that fatigue. I can’t help but tie that to her shooting at the moment. Otherwise, this team desperately needs scoring from the 4. TTU was willing to let Arike shoot from deep and added an extra defender in the paint. I loved Monson in her limited minutes. TTU had a good scout and guarded Monson all the way out to the 3 point line and it’s not figure Boldyreva got 2 easy layups in that short amount of time. However, the philosophy of this team is defense first and Arike is great on that end.

MTFAN61 said:

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

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Can’t really disagree with anything you say. Guess we will have to be content with a HOF coach who wins 25 games a year and conference championships. Wish we had this problem with some others sports!

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

Would not be surprised to see Tech competing for conference crown. We had another excellent defensive performance, & Scott coming to play saved us tonight. Tech made our bigs look sloppy & out of sync. They had super quick hands, & were smartly double teaming whenever we tried to go down low. Didn't feel like Gregory had a 20 point night, but her free throw shooting was deadly perfect. Take 10 for 10 every night. Boldyreva & Arike shot from 3 way too much, & were missing badly. Could tell frustration sat in with both due to a number of missed layups, but Arike had 9 rebounds & Boldyreva 6 big blocks. So despite both of them getting frustrated they fought all night.
This was a good win, & another good opponent who showed us something different. Gave us more things to prepare for going forward with tournament around the corner.

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Tech has a good team. Point guard play was good and one was a freshman. Their bigs could also shoot outside. Made us work for everything.

Final 69-52

AB not having a good game. These smaller girls have her flummoxed

50-39 after 3. TTU well coached but this should not be that close IMO

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31-25 LR at half. Again, sloppy and shooting is suspect. Seem to miss Savannah Wheeler as we appear to be out of sync in several of our games

Great summary, thanks for posting!

So he was told to look at other options.

Watched back their 48-46 road win at Chattanooga on 11/7. A lot of good defense played. 50 total turnovers between the two teams (29 for TTU, 21 for Chatt). Some were from poor passing, but I would give both teams' man defense credit. Chattanooga was at their best when they pressed TTU with a 1-2-1. When Chatt sped up TTU's guards they made some poor passing decisions. When TTU got into their half court offense they ran a lot of 4 out and tried to find their star post Anna Walker (#4, 6'0"). They ran a few sets to get their 3 point shooters open, but those were few and far between (2/10 from 3).

Tennessee Tech has allowed 55 ppg in their 4-0 start, thats 1st in the OVC and top 50 in the country. Granted their D1 opponents have a combined 4-8 record, but the 34% Opp FG is also top 50. They play a good man defense and will force you to shoot contested shots. I believe they will overhelp on Boldyreva because they lack size (their tallest player listed at 6'2"). That means we're always a swing pass away from an open 3. If Anastasiia doesn't have a big game, I'm counting on Gregory to repeat her hot shooting from Sunday.

Offensively, Anna Walker was the star of their Chattanooga game (14 points, 13 rebounds) and is their second leading scorer at 11.3 ppg. She's not scared to shoot from 3, but does most of her damage in the post. Last year against MT she was forced to shoot more from range because of our length down low (2/9 from 3). The Lady Golden Eagles return Reghan Grimes (#33, 5'10" G) from local Ravenwood HS. The Junior is TTUs leading scorer with 12.8 ppg and scored 20 points against North Alabama last week where she shot 4/5 from deep, despite being a below average 3-point shooter (career 23% 3FG). Eastern Illinois Senior transfer Taris Thornton (#25, 6'0" F) has come off the bench in all 4 contest but has been an efficient scorer averaging 11.8 ppg in 23.8 minutes on 55% FG shooting. Her biggest weakness is the free throw line (11/20 on the season).

Similar to Alcorn State in that they have their go-to players but they have 5 players averaging double-digits so they have balance if someone is off. The recipe for running away with this one will be to dominate the paint like you did last year (26-20 points in the paint, 38-33 rebounding). Force TTU to hit the three. They shot 4/24 from deep in their contest last year and they are currently shooting 30% from 3 as a team this year. Same goes for the Lady Raiders, they will leave the weakside shooter open tonight to deal with Boldyreva. Knock down the open shots and get some confidence in our shooters ahead of the big Florida swing next week!

MTTim said:

Short answer is yes. I can tell from the lack of comments regarding all sports on this board apathy is still here.

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Me. I'm this person. First post in almost a week and I've made less than one post a day since Nov started.

Basketball doesn't interest me really until late February or so. Football I'm done with as we are out of bowl contention, so what's the point. No sense in watching when there is nothing to play for.
I'll watch WVU and hope for a firing/resignation at the end and pull for Boise to get a top 4 and piss the power conferences off.

Oh, and enjoy watching the SEC destroy each other. That UT loss was glorious! I tell ya, if you don't watch SEC Shorts or Roll Call each week, you are missing out. They have been hilarious.

Tech is definitely a step up fron Alcorn, but not the quality of GCU either. Thinking a 15-20 point margin at home.
Prediction,
Middle Tennessee: 72
Tennessee Tech: 53

Should be a fun one. I expect a big win but you never know with old school rivals.

jakeboldenbrp said:

Off the Board:

• Jaidynn Askins, 6'0" SF from Jackson Southside HS (Jackson, TN)
  • #22 in TN, verbal commit to Murray State
• Channah Gannon, 6'3" C from Coffee County HS (Manchester, TN)
  • #19 in TN, verbal commit to Southern Indiana
• Lauren Hurst, 6'3" PF from Cleveland HS (Cleveland, TN)
  • #1 in TN, #42 Nationally, signed to Tennessee

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As expected Hurst selects Tennessee over Clemson and NC State in her top 3. Look forward to next year's rematch with the Lady Vols in Murfreesboro.

Still monitoring Channah Gannon (6'3" C from Coffee County) and Jaidynn Askins (6'0" SF from Jackson Southside) as the only two that didn't sign during this early period.