Pretenders Masquerading as Contenders

#1
cardvolfan

cardvolfan

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#1
Thought it might be interesting to get opinions and view points on this subject as the SEC season gets underway. The conference is loaded, obviously, but from games played to this point, do you see any SEC teams that are highly ranked, analytically endowed, or otherwise fit the bill for winning the SEC championship that are just pretenders? Who’s getting the acclaim but will fall flat on their face? Bring it, ladies and gentlemen.
 
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#5
#5
goldvol said:
every metric I find has us as a contender. do you have any support for why you think this team is a pretender, or just a feeling?
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I definitely don't think Tennessee is a pretender, easily a top-five team in my eyes, but the last two games weren't particularly amazing and the offense has been pretty unimpressive stretching back to Illinois.

That being said, three games ago was the defensive walloping of WCU so who knows. The Arkansas game is going to speak volumes.
 
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#8
#8
TMvol10 said:
I’ll probably get railed for this but I think we are closer to a pretender than we are contender
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My concern is shooting. If Milicic and Ziegler shoot average to better than average then we are a contender. If not, then we are a pretender. Of course, I have a tendency to see problems as opposed to everything through rose colored glasses.
 
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#10
#10
LibertyVol said:
My concern is shooting. If Milicic and Ziegler shoot average to better than average then we are a contender. If not, then we are a pretender. Of course, I have a tendency to see problems as opposed to everything through rose colored glasses.
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It doesn't have to be either/or unless you look at everything through a binary lens. We can have some issues and still be a contender. It's how we deal with those issues and adapt to them
 
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#13
#13
This is a hard question to answer because we’re narrowing it down to a group of pretenders from “those that fit the bill of winning the SEC.” You could probably argue that most teams have performed well enough in this non-conference to “fit the bill”. Even South Carolina who is the worst team in the league is 10-3 with a big win over Clemson (who beat Kentucky).

I’ll pick 3 teams.

I think Oklahoma is probably the obvious answer. Weak non-conference schedule and they’re over performing their metrics for the most part. I think Texas A&M is also a bit overrated. And lastly, I think Kentucky is going to struggle more than expected. I know they have big wins over Duke and Gonzaga, but they got blasted by a bad Ohio State team.
 
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#15
#15
cardvolfan said:
Thought it might be interesting to get opinions and view points on this subject as the SEC season gets underway. The conference is loaded, obviously, but from games played to this point, do you see any SEC teams that are highly ranked, analytically endowed, or otherwise fit the bill for winning the SEC championship that are just pretenders? Who’s getting the acclaim but will fall flat on their face? Bring it, ladies and gentlemen.
Click to expand...

We are definitely a CONTENDER in the SEC.
 
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#17
#17
cardvolfan said:
Thought it might be interesting to get opinions and view points on this subject as the SEC season gets underway. The conference is loaded, obviously, but from games played to this point, do you see any SEC teams that are highly ranked, analytically endowed, or otherwise fit the bill for winning the SEC championship that are just pretenders? Who’s getting the acclaim but will fall flat on their face? Bring it, ladies and gentlemen.
Click to expand...
Kentucky. I think they are a pretender as far as a top 10 teams.
If we're talking just SEC, we are definitely a contender. To win it all? Remains to be seen.

Excusing Lanier,we definitely need to start shooting better from behind the arc if we want to be a NCAA final 4 contender.

edit: After a quick look at percentages,
Gainey doing fine from 3. Mayshack even holding his own. Dubar hasn't really played enough to be to harsh with him.
Really it's just ZZ and Milicic that need to start hitting more in regards.
 
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#19
#19
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Kentucky. I think they are a pretender as far as a top 10 teams.
If we're talking just SEC, we are definitely a contender. To win it all? Remains to be seen.

Excusing Lanier,we definitely need to start shooting better from behind the arc if we want to be a NCAA final 4 contender.

edit: After a quick look at percentages,
Gainey doing fine from 3. Mayshack even holding his own. Dubar hasn't really played enough to be to harsh with him.
Really it's just ZZ and Milicic that need to start hitting more in regards.
Click to expand...
Had the same thought - feel like Gainey shooting pretty well, Mashack and Dubar shooting too few to really matter. Just need more firepower from ZZ and Igor, consistently.
 
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#20
#20
In a normal year some teams with a lot of talent don’t gel. I think Barnes is a good coach, gets the most out of his team all through the season. Maybe not an extra gear like some teams have. I.e. ohio State football. I like all fans are waiting to see if we have another gear to get to top 3-5 team at end of year. Probably Auburn and others have another gear, but we have a lot of newer unproven guys so we will see. That is what I think he means, easier sched, unproven so lets see, that is the fun part sometimes happy and sometimes not.
Go Vols!
 
#21
#21
TMvol10 said:
I’ll probably get railed for this but I think we are closer to a pretender than we are contender
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Don’t think we are a pretender as much as we are going to fall off due to lack of depth. One of the patterns that I see out of Barnes’s teams is that defense and rebounding always translates in the early season to wins, especially in the transfer and 1 and done era where there are a lot of teams figuring it out early. At that point, we have a schematic advantage. Later in the season, that advantage lessens some. I’m not sure we can win it all in March but right now I’d take us to win it.
 
#22
#22
I think we're a good team, but i worry we're going to fall into the same problems we've had with previous Barnes teams, lack of offense. I think the rest of the season depends on Milicic. If he can be a consistent 10-12 point scorer, we're going to be elite. If he's just a 5-7 point scorer, we're probably 6-7th in the conference, which is still plenty good to make the tournament.

Obviously Chaz is great, ZZ will get you some buckets, Gainey looks like he can be consistent, but we just need another guy that can get you a bucket.
 
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