BTO’s Auburn Postgame Report

#26
#26
My mama always said, if you don’t got nuthin nice to say don’t say nuthin at all.

In all seriousness, I’m happy for the win. But, obviously, this game doesn’t do a lot for momentum and confidence in our shooters. AdjO dropped from #41 to #63 on KenPom in one game. Woof. Statistics say that ain’t going to cut it to make an E8 or F4 no matter how historic your defense is. Offense has to figure something out.

There is still plenty of time to build some momentum into the post-season, but really it needs to happen this week. Feast on weaker opponents. Get some confidence. If you don’t start building momentum now, I’m not sure when it happens.

I think one of the biggest reasons for our offense struggles has been the disappearance of Aidoo. No idea what happened to him. When we were at our best in January, he was having big games and he was getting a lot of love in the BTO postgame reports. Lately? He’s been non-existent and a borderline liability to even put on the court. I’m not sure how you regress that much that quickly, but it’s happened.

Finally, this is said every game and in every thread, but it holds true….I am baffled we do not try and get Phillips more involved in the offense. He took 3 shots tonight….3!! He absolutely has to be better than that. He has to be more aggressive. I just don’t understand what has happened to him.
 
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#27
#27
Don’t know what to think on the last two. Definitely a shooting slump. Had some good looks today and missed, but the D is still elite. We just can’t win 3 or 4 in a row against good teams with the offense the past two games. We can easily drop one of the two to Vandy or Mizzou. At the same time beat two tournament teams in the past 3 games. Whatever funk they are in now I hope is short lived.
 
#28
#28
ndubvols said:
Thought we had better looks today, just need to knock them down.

Agree on first substitution. Would maybe consider having zzz or jjj come off the bench again
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Especially ZZ. He seems to embrace that role and do better
 
#29
#29
TheMookieMonster said:
My mama always said, if you don’t got nuthin nice to say don’t say nuthin at all.

In all seriousness, I’m happy for the win. But, obviously, this game doesn’t do a lot for momentum and confidence in our shooters. AdjO dropped from #41 to #63 on KenPom in one game. Woof. Statistics say that ain’t going to cut it to make an E8 or F4 no matter how historic your defense is. Offense has to figure something out.

There is still plenty of time to build some momentum into the post-season, but really it needs to happen this week. Feast on weaker opponents. Get some confidence. If you don’t start building momentum now, I’m not sure when it happens.

I think one of the biggest reasons for our offense struggles has been the disappearance of Aidoo. No idea what happened to him. When we were at our best in January, he was having big games and he was getting a lot of love in the BTO postgame reports. Lately? He’s been non-existent and a borderline liability to even put on the court. I’m not sure how you regress that much that quickly, but it’s happened.

Finally, this is said every game and in every thread, but it holds true….I am baffled we do not try and get Phillips more involved in the offense. He took 3 shots tonight….3!! He absolutely has to be better than that. He has to be more aggressive. I just don’t understand what has happened to him.
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I think it's a normal trajectory. The defensive scout is out on him. And he is still trying to figure out how to utilize his talent and skill set to adjust to other scoring opportunities.

This is not as harsh as it sounds...he is not that difficult to guard right now as long as you have some athletic length and/or strength and length. He is not a consistent shooter from 3pt line. He is not strong enough to bully people in the paint. He is not twitchy enough to get blow-bys. He is not crafty enough with his footwork/angles/fakes to produce on his attacks. He has not even really been able to consistently rise up and shoot over defenders in the SEC. All that to say, I think he is struggling to figure out what his niche is on offense right now.
 
#30
#30
TheMookieMonster said:
My mama always said, if you don’t got nuthin nice to say don’t say nuthin at all.

In all seriousness, I’m happy for the win. But, obviously, this game doesn’t do a lot for momentum and confidence in our shooters. AdjO dropped from #41 to #63 on KenPom in one game. Woof. Statistics say that ain’t going to cut it to make an E8 or F4 no matter how historic your defense is. Offense has to figure something out.

There is still plenty of time to build some momentum into the post-season, but really it needs to happen this week. Feast on weaker opponents. Get some confidence. If you don’t start building momentum now, I’m not sure when it happens.

I think one of the biggest reasons for our offense struggles has been the disappearance of Aidoo. No idea what happened to him. When we were at our best in January, he was having big games and he was getting a lot of love in the BTO postgame reports. Lately? He’s been non-existent and a borderline liability to even put on the court. I’m not sure how you regress that much that quickly, but it’s happened.

Finally, this is said every game and in every thread, but it holds true….I am baffled we do not try and get Phillips more involved in the offense. He took 3 shots tonight….3!! He absolutely has to be better than that. He has to be more aggressive. I just don’t understand what has happened to him.
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The “disappearances” people have been referring to (i.e., Aidoo, Phillips, Key) could be chalked up to 6 of our first 7 SEC games coming against the bottom feeders (including 3 games against teams that are currently 1-9 in conference (LSU, Ole Miss, USC)). That competition may have made them look better.
 
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#31
#31
This game goes to show that ON should not be playing at the 5. Couldn't score over Broome and also let him score 3 quick buckets to start the game. Once we put people with actual size in at the 5, Broome managed to go 2-10, one of which being a tip in late over ON.

As for the rest of the offense, who knows what to do. Barnes's offense generated plenty of good looks, people just need to hit shots. No idea whare happened to ZZ. He literally forgot how to shoot today, he had a different trajectory on every shot, and had some just really ugly looking jumpers.

I thought Mashack brought some really good energy to the game, even scored some points, which was a struggle for everyone. We have to get Phillips more involved on that end as well, I'm fine with more curls into a midrange jumper at this point. ON other problem is he's not a great screener, which is something Uros and Aidoo to a lesser extent are good at. Awaka also gave good energy today.
 
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#32
#32
bleedingTNorange said:
1. An ugly win beats a pretty loss any day of the week, although gauging by some reactions I do wonder if everyone feels that way. Regardless, winning is better than losing and we won…you can complain about scoring but at the same time not sure how you can holler Bring Back Pearl while complaining about Barnes offense and watching that slop offense Pearl throws out there! Needed a W and we got one, I’ll take it any way we can get it.

2. With that said, YES, the offense is in a funk and it’s not pretty…silver lining is defense is elite and so we can win a game like that, but with that said we gotta get the offense going. We had a number of good looks from 3, we also shot ~50% at the line, add in a few missed layups that should be gimmes and you’re talking about a game we should’ve easily scored 65-70. Now that’s not setting the world on fire but it’s looks much better than what we put out there…not sure if Vescovi is still hurting, if there’s a confidence issue, the Monstars stole our shooting touch or what, but we gotta figure it out. Yes there’s some things we could do different schematically, but with the system in place just hit shots at a decent clip and matched with our defense that’s gonna win a lot of games.

3. Shout out JJJ, didn’t have it shooting from deep but hit some mid range and grabbed 14 rebounds, 15pts and 14rbds to be exact. He’s a Swiss Army knife for us and does so many good things, really need him (and the rest of the team) to find the outside stroke, but even when it’s not falling JJJ still found a way to impact the game and will us to a W.

4. IDK what the solution/answer is with depth, pretty clear who your 5 are, but Key has really disappeared, Mashack and Awaka after not much last few games played some solid minutes tonight. Not sure what you do if you’re Rick. What I will say is I would like to see better substitution patterns, let’s not bring in Mashack and Key along with Uros at the same time, you’re really hamstringing that group offensively and not giving them much chance to succeed. I think all of these guys can serve a purpose and be beneficial, but put them in position to succeed.

5. Needed that win, and really need the next 2 as well, 2 very winnable games with 1 being a road trip…we currently sit 19-4(8-2), add in the upsets today and we are right back into the thick of 1 seed talk, at worst towards the top of the 2 seed line. Win these next 2 and we sit at 21-4(10-2) heading into a massive game against Alabama, obviously running the table is slim but in theory if we beat Bama and they drop 1 that’s all it takes, a H2H determines seeding and we would have that, obviously lots of hypotheticals there but just seems like people are acting as if Bama is 3/4 games ahead of us and that’s not the case. Regardless though bigger picture is NCAAT, and these next 2 are big for that, win those and our floor continues to raise itself, our first ever 1 seed like I said is still very much on the table.



GBO!!!
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Phillips needs to get a few more touches within the offense and Vescovi should stick to racking up assists and continuing to rebound the basketball at a high level as well as playing sticky defense.

Awaka is a rebounding machine that needs to get some of Plavsic's minutes.

Plavsic had a very stupid technical foul called on him for mouthing off.

BTO, it would be cool to find out when Tennessee last won a game scoring in the 40's.
 
#35
#35
Didnt watch the whole game, I tuned in when I had time, but Awaka was making plays every time I watched.

I wonder if the starters should be:
ZZ, Santi, JJJ, Awaka, Aidoo
Phillips as the sixth man, then ORN/Key after him.
 
#40
#40
TrippieRedd said:
Didnt watch the whole game, I tuned in when I had time, but Awaka was making plays every time I watched.

I wonder if the starters should be:
ZZ, Santi, JJJ, Awaka, Aidoo
Phillips as the sixth man, then ORN/Key after him.
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Aidoo has been awful. Both Aidoo and Awaka get beat off the dribble every time they’re outside 5 feet to the basket. This lineup would have us down 20-0 before the under 16 timeout.
 
#41
#41
We are not just missing open shots save for a few. Teams don't respect our drive game and they are extended on our three point shooters. Most of our shots are rushed or too deep. We have to get some shots going to the basket or get more guys going from midrange like JJJ did in this game.
 
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#42
#42
Vols till I fall said:
I think part of our offensive woes is do to the fact that we play so hard on defense... takes a lot of energy out of you
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I would agree but the last 2 games we can out of the gates looking flat on O. Now if you told me they played a game earlier in the day might make sense energy wise.
 
#43
#43
ColinS said:
We are not just missing open shots save for a few. Teams don't respect our drive game and they are extended on our three point shooters. Most of our shots are rushed or too deep. We have to get some shots going to the basket or get more guys going from midrange like JJJ did in this game.
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Shotquality has thought our shots have been pretty good. I don’t think 100% of our 3s are being guarded, and 10% of 3s being made is below expected on guarded 3s anyway
 
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#45
#45
Volfan1000 said:
Phillips needs to get a few more touches within the offense and Vescovi should stick to racking up assists and continuing to rebound the basketball at a high level as well as playing sticky defense.

Awaka is a rebounding machine that needs to get some of Plavsic's minutes.

Plavsic had a very stupid technical foul called on him for mouthing off.

BTO, it would be cool to find out when Tennessee last won a game scoring in the 40's.
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2/11/1984 for one.

TN 45, MSU 42

Devoe, Willie Burton, Dan Federman, Fred Jenkins and Tony White as freshman. At Stokely.
 
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#46
#46
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I thought it was interesting, after Uros seemed to nearly lose his mind banging around his defensive assignment, and then picked up the technical foul barking at him, Barnes offered up a low five to Plav as he went to the bench. I was expecting the opposite. Uros must have been told to raise hell when he went in. He did.
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Uros has seen less playing time in the last couple of weeks. He has learned that decrease. He has become a liability to the team and is his only positive production is rebounding. He can no longer hit a free throw and can not dunk if contested. Again, I really hope one of our two incoming Freshmen this Fall can be athletic , hit free throws and as well as play defense without fouling and dunk the basketball. Our team would be greatly improved.
 
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#47
#47
VOLINVONORE said:
Uros has seen less playing time in the last couple of weeks. He has learned that decrease. He has become a liability to the team and is his only positive production is rebounding. He can no longer hit a free throw and can not dunk if contested. Again, I really hope one of our two incoming Freshmen this Fall can be athletic , hit free throws and as well as play defense without fouling and dunk the basketball. Our team would be greatly improved.
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Apparently Uros shared some of his free throw shooting tips with Awaka.
 
#48
#48
Lankykong said:
Shotquality has thought our shots have been pretty good. I don’t think 100% of our 3s are being guarded, and 10% of 3s being made is below expected on guarded 3s anyway
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I don't know how your missing it because we have had a lot of bad shots lately. ZZ and Vescovi for sure though some are just a situation of a shot clock expiring.
 
#49
#49
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I thought it was interesting, after Uros seemed to nearly lose his mind banging around his defensive assignment, and then picked up the technical foul barking at him, Barnes offered up a low five to Plav as he went to the bench. I was expecting the opposite. Uros must have been told to raise hell when he went in. He did.
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This speaks to what I was saying after Florida. Uros lets himself get intimidated and there's no reason for it except between his ears. Barnes may have told him to quit worrying about making mistakes and get out there and do some intimidating himself. I was happy to see him barking at the AU player and muscling for rebounds. I just think he needs to do his "barking" in Serbian and refs won't have a clue what he's saying.
 
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#50
#50
OneManGang said:
This speaks to what I was saying after Florida. Uros lets himself get intimidated and there's no reason for it except between his ears. Barnes may have told him to quit worrying about making mistakes and get out there and do some intimidating himself. I was happy to see him barking at the AU player and muscling for rebounds. I just think he needs to do his "barking" in Serbian and refs won't have a clue what he's saying.
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I’ve heard that the barking is okay (in any language) as long as it isn’t directed at an opponent. That puts it into the taunting category of offenses.
 
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