My Record Prediction

[BigOrangeSZN_05]

Before Tennessee tips off against Mercer in five minutes, I will quickly predict our regular-season totals and a few player statistics.

Overall: 25-5
Home Record: 19-1
Road Record: 6-4
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Losses: at #2 Houston, at #3 Florida, at #15 Alabama, vs #20 Auburn, at #9 Kentucky

Best Win: vs #9 Kentucky
Worst Loss: vs #20 Auburn
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Offensive Player: Nate Ament (F)
Defensive Player: Felix Okpara (F)
Overall Payer: Nate Ament (F)

 

[NATHAN05]

That sounds like a potential 2 seed or certainly a solid 3 seed......I like it. I just hope we finally get over the hump into the final four. Just need to peak at the right time.

 

[Unimane]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

You may be right in the end, but I think anything below 20 wins would be pretty surprising at this time.

 

[Unimane]

You may be right in the end, but I think anything below 20 wins would be pretty surprising at this time.

I try to account for things which are correctable, but I see a lot of things which are likely not. Average quickness for the guards, lack of dynamic scorers, big men with poor hands, Ament looks like a classic case of a young slight freshman with amazing potential int 2-3 years who will struggle against good and physical teams, some real large concerns. I just don't see it with this team like I have the past 3-4 seasons.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

I try to account for things which are correctable, but I see a lot of things which are likely not. Average quickness for the guards, lack of dynamic scorers, big men with poor hands, Ament looks like a classic case of a young slight freshman with amazing potential int 2-3 years who will struggle against good and physical teams, some real large concerns. I just don't see it with this team like I have the past 3-4 seasons.

I think the amount of talent and potential commands a little more respect than that. Don't get me wrong, I see where you're coming from. This should be an interesting discussion when the OOC schedule concludes.

 

[FranklinVFL]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

Ehhh. I believe too much raw talent in this team. CRB will get the defensive lapses and TOs cleaned up.

 

[TheBigOne10]

lol at people making record predictions after one freaking game.

 

[BigOrangeSZN_05]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

After watching that performance, I can definitely say there will be lots of growing pains with this young team. However, we still beat Mercer by double digits, and it's still only the first game of the season. I would give it a couple more weeks to make any definitive decisions tbh

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

I would love to place as large a wager on that number as you’d allow, heck I’ll even give you 19 instead.

 

[Unimane]

I would love to place as large a wager on that number as you’d allow, heck I’ll even give you 19 instead.

I'll take it, just a friendly one, though. I was struck by a couple of items which really concerned me, the lack of quickness of the guards and the lack of the big men to assert themselves down low in a physically dominant way. They were backed down quite a few times by the Mercer big man and very sketchy around the rim for a team looking for the big men down low to lead them. Like I said, there's a lot of knee jerk reactions from opening games for a 5 month season. However, some of the items which aren't as fixable as turnovers, cohesion, boxing out better, etc. look troublesome, to me.

I'm liking our chances against Auburn, though.

 

[VolHoopsInTheMix]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

Much more leadership here than we had on that team. I think this team is better than the team you suggest

 

[Unimane]

Much more leadership here than we had on that team. I think this team is better than the team you suggest

I hope you're right. I'm not mad, either. This has been the best four year run in UT basketball history. I just think we take a step back this season and the conference is very unforgiving.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

Kinda feels like we’re still figuring out how to play together as a unit.

When’s the last time Barnes had to break in this many new guys at once? Let’s give it 5–7 games before hitting the panic button — if it still looks bad then, fair enough.

I mean, we didn’t look awful against Duke, even if it was just an exhibition. We lost by what, seven? And that was with Barnes mixing lineups and trying different looks. Meanwhile, Duke had their freshmen running 40 minutes like it was March.


Just give it about 5-7 games, let’s see if the can play together.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I'll take it, just a friendly one, though. I was struck by a couple of items which really concerned me, the lack of quickness of the guards and the lack of the big men to assert themselves down low in a physically dominant way. They were backed down quite a few times by the Mercer big man and very sketchy around the rim for a team looking for the big men down low to lead them. Like I said, there's a lot of knee jerk reactions from opening games for a 5 month season. However, some of the items which aren't as fixable as turnovers, cohesion, boxing out better, etc. look troublesome, to me.

I'm liking our chances against Auburn, though.

We played 11 guys major minutes, there was zero cohesion, I think Barnes is handling these first 5 games and 4 weeks like a full preseason and exhibitions, he’s trying to find what he’s got and keep improving. I don’t think what we saw tonight is going to be what we see in February, as for down low, they shot 14/38 (37%) from 2 we shot 23/44 (52%), we outscored them in the paint 44-22, we also out rebounded them 54 to 32…kinda seems like big men asserting themselves to me.

 

[Unimane]

We played 11 guys major minutes, there was zero cohesion, I think Barnes is handling these first 5 games and 4 weeks like a full preseason and exhibitions, he’s trying to find what he’s got and keep improving. I don’t think what we saw tonight is going to be what we see in February, as for down low, they shot 14/38 (37%) from 2 we shot 23/44 (52%), we outscored them in the paint 44-22, we also out rebounded them 54 to 32…kinda seems like big men asserting themselves to me.

I think you misread the quote. Cohesion is certainly one of the fixable things. Figuring out the rotation is going to be resolved in the next few months, no doubt.

Otherwise, I watched the game. The big men were not physically imposing on their frontcourt. Better depth, yes, but their center outscored our front court and was able to get to the basket regularly. We were not great at getting points on low post moves, either. The depth among the big men is a nice change from last year. None of them are going to regular double digit guys, unless we count Ament as a big.

Hopefully, though, my observations are proven wrong. I'd rather win than say "I told you so". We'll see how it works out.

 

[ColinS]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

I kind of share your opininion. Where is the scoring gonna come against real competition especially if Ament struggles with physical play? I do think it will flow better when Coach Barnes gets it narrowed down to his eight or nine guys. Some were concerned with turnovers but that's correctable. What concerns me is the inability to create them.

 

[Unimane]

I kind of share your opininion. Where is the scoring gonna come against real competition especially if Ament struggles with physical play? I do think it will flow better when Coach Barnes gets it narrowed down to his eight or nine guys. Some were concerned with turnovers but that's correctable. What concerns me is the inability to create them.

Yes, I agree. Our turnovers aren't worrisome to me. The fact we didn't have the athletes to turn over a mid-major at a higher level is. It's also a reminder as to how special ZZ and Jahmai were.

 

[orangemadam]

Gillespie will come around by Dec.
Brown may surprise many and be our main post player by March. He could become a major stud under the basket.
SG is our biggest concern. Need someone to come forward.

 

[Derek Reese's jumpshot]

I'm going with 18-12. Watching them play just screams, to me, an above average team. Kind of reminds me of the 2019-2020 team. A lot of players of average athleticism and few scorers. Part of the ebb and flow of the sport for us to take a dip after some great seasons.

I thought the exact same. It does not look like a talented perimeter group to me. Two guard looks like the huge weakness we thought it would be. Abram, Boswell, Burg looks like a very pedestrian unit.