Barnes: 'Z is a blessing God gave to me. I don't know if I'd still be doing this'

#1
JCP201

JCP201

VFL GIRL, better or worse.
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#1
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#5
#5
rocketskates said:
If the next level doesn’t work out for ZZ, I’d hope he’d consider coming back to coach. He just means so much to the basketball program at this point.
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ZZ is just too talented not to be in basketball --whether playing or coaching. You can tell from Barnes quotes that he's probably his all time favorite player--like one of his own kids. It's not conjecture to think Barnes will help ZZ as much as possible. Hopefully he'll have Z coach with him. I hate to see Barnes retire, although if it's on his own terms, I'm sure it won't be ugly like it's been in football.
 
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#6
#6
There’s no way ZZZ plays in the NBA, no way. Maybe can get paid in Europe, but not the NBA. We don’t have anyone on our roster that’s an NBA talent. What Barnes is accomplishing with this group is really something. He needs to recruit better or he will be left behind in today’s SEC and I’m as big of a Barnes supporter as anyone.
 
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#10
#10
BreatheUT said:
With the way this transfer portal and NIL has changed the game, I don't see Barnes staying around too much longer dealing with this.

I think he would retire with a deep tournament run.
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Agreed. Barnes is a relationship and developer type of coach. The new system isn’t as conducive for that due to the crazy roster turnover.
 
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#11
#11
JCP201 said:
ZZ is just too talented not to be in basketball --whether playing or coaching. You can tell from Barnes quotes that he's probably his all time favorite player--like one of his own kids. It's not conjecture to think Barnes will help ZZ as much as possible. Hopefully he'll have Z coach with him. I hate to see Barnes retire, although if it's on his own terms, I'm sure it won't be ugly like it's been in football.
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I hate it too. But like you said, Barnes will go out cleanly when he’s ready and in doing so will leave the program as a desirable landing spot for a good coach. But it’s probably one of the biggest hires in recent history for Tennessee when that happens because the wrong hire can tank the program.

We can cross that bridge when we get there, but I trust Danny White.
 
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#12
#12
Lanier might get drafted in the 2nd round but you’re not guaranteed anything if you fall that far. At best he’d probably get stuck on a two way deal and spend a lot of time in the G League trying to fight for a spot with the big boys.
 
#15
#15
Pretty sure Barnes has said he will stop coaching when he thinks his team can’t win. He is not sticking around for a rebuild year. Who knows when that will be.
 
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#18
#18
I've been thinking the last two seasons that Barnes would probably see it out that ZZ graduates. Also Mashack. He has had a few homegrown guys like JJJ, Santi, even Aidoo before he left. But that is all coming to an end.

Barnes has had alot of success through the NIL era. But the culture and defensive development that he likes to implement is becoming harder to do with guys here for a year or two and gone. After ZZ and Mashack there are no longer any Freshman to Seniors we have on the roster.

And when a guy like Carr leaves in the middle of the season when you are the #1 team in the nation, then it makes it difficult to coach these young guys. They want playing time and money or they will leave. They don't value the development factor. They aren't willing to stick around and go through the offseason bootcamp Barnes likes to put his players through. So Barnes is left to get guys in the portal. Which is helping from an offensive perspective, but the effectiveness of those guys is becuase of defensive players like ZZ and Shack doing alot of dirty work. Once we lose those guys, I'm not sure how things will go in the future. That's my long drawn out way to see that I could see this being Barne's last year.
 
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#19
#19
vavolfan6 said:
I've been thinking the last two seasons that Barnes would probably see it out that ZZ graduates. Also Mashack. He has had a few homegrown guys like JJJ, Santi, even Aidoo before he left. But that is all coming to an end.

Barnes has had alot of success through the NIL era. But the culture and defensive development that he likes to implement is becoming harder to do with guys here for a year or two and gone. After ZZ and Mashack there are no longer any Freshman to Seniors we have on the roster.

And when a guy like Carr leaves in the middle of the season when you are the #1 team in the nation, then it makes it difficult to coach these young guys. They want playing time and money or they will leave. They don't value the development factor. They aren't willing to stick around and go through the offseason bootcamp Barnes likes to put his players through. So Barnes is left to get guys in the portal. Which is helping from an offensive perspective, but the effectiveness of those guys is becuase of defensive players like ZZ and Shack doing alot of dirty work. Once we lose those guys, I'm not sure how things will go in the future. That's my long drawn out way to see that I could see this being Barne's last year.
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It's a disgrace to put Aidoo in the same sentence with JJJ and Santi.
 
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#21
#21
JCP201 said:

Rick Barnes: 'I Don’t Know If I’d Still Be Doing It' Without Zakai Zeigler | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes says he doesn't know if he would still be coaching without Zakai Zeigler.
www.rockytopinsider.com www.rockytopinsider.com

Maybe this has already been discussed, I haven't seen it though. Hopefully Z will make it in the NBA but he's not tall compared to most NBA professionals. Could he come and help Barnes coach? Is there a possibility that Barnes retires next year?
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ZZ has no shot in today's NBA, but could probably make a living playing overseas if he had interest, like Vescovi. It would be great if he came back to the program at some point, but it's hard to imagine he wouldn't continue playing for a while if he could make a living doing it.
 
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#25
#25
BreatheUT said:
With the way this transfer portal and NIL has changed the game, I don't see Barnes staying around too much longer dealing with this.

I think he would retire with a deep tournament run.
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I would say he will retire when he loses Ziegler. I would hope that means he gets one more year in after this one.

The semi fortunate thing about when Barnes does leave is that Danny White is very well connected in basketball so should be able to find a good replacement.
 
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