The Tennessee Lady Vols are in the Women’s Basketball Sweet 16 because Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell are becoming a Volunteer Dynamic Duo.
For much of the regular season, Holly Warlick was not starting North Carolina transfer Diamond DeShields because of her lack of production. For the SEC Tournament, she did not start Mercedes Russell.
Both have seriously under-achieved given the hype surrounding them when they arrived on campus. But both are finally forming a duo that could save the program’s future…and save Warlick’s job.
Yes, Bashaara Graves has played a huge role in this postseason, but she is a senior, and the inside-outside scoring punch of DeShields and Russell could be the missing piece of the Lady Vols for the future.
In the first-round victory against Green Bay, DeShields had 14 points, albeit 4-of-15 shooting. But Russell was 4-of-5 and very efficient underneath the basket for 8 points. Aggression from both of them is needed to help the team win, even if the shots aren’t falling, and DeShields took control in the first game.
In the second game, the Lady Vols dominated heavily-favored Arizona State thanks to the play of those two. DeShields dropped 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and Russell finally looked like a superstar center with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting with six rebounds.
Aggression and efficiency from both players, which they clearly have the ability to show, is what will carry this Lady Vols team.
Unfortunately Warlick, in one of her many coaching blunders, did not give this duo a chance to develop and showed little patience for it during the regular season. But now, they are finally forming a team. And Warlick should let it thrive, for her sake, their sake, and the Lady Vols’ sake.
Russell fits right in with the inside presence the Lady Vols program has always loved, but she needs help from one superstar guard, and DeShields is that superstar. This team will go as far as these two take them, and the program will go as far in the future for the same reason.
Graves is still the person to rely on at this moment to do the smart thing, but for this tournament she and Russell have formed an amazing inside combo. DeShields should be the unquestioned leader of the backcourt.
And she is developing a rapport with Russell that Warlick can only screw up if she tries to do too much. If this is done right, DeShields and Russell can be Alexis Hornbuckle and Candace Parker. And for the purposes of this tournament, Russell and Graves can be the Parker/Nicky Anosike combo down low.
Against an Ohio State team that has reeled down the stretch but advanced to the Sweet 16 by beating mediocre teams on the backs of amazing games by guard Kelsey Mitchell, DeShields is good enough to neutralize that if Warlick uses her. DeShields with Russell backing her up underneath the basket, on both ends, is good enough to make that matchup lethal.