GBOP's Analysis for the rest of the season

[orangemadam]

I don't understand the problem with our big men. Barnes and co. seem to be able to develop players except for the bigs. No improvement in Kyle, Fulk, and Kent. Jury still out on Burns. Anybody got thoughts on this that they can share with us?

 

[1974Vol]

IMHO
1. Kentucky was just the more motivated team. They out hustled and out muscled the Vols all night
2. Changing up the defense late in the second half to a 2-3 zone got Kentucky out of their offense a bit. I don't know if we have anyone who can keep Williamson off the low block in Man. Maybe we need to play more zone.
3. Our offense always runs best through No. 2. Get him the ball early in the possession and good things usually happen. We got away from that and too many guys were just trying to create their own shot.
4. There are a few things we could do scheme wise (CRB knows way more than me) but it won't make a difference if we just sleep walk through another one. Winning by double digits with a ¾ effort lulled the Vols into a bit of complacency. No one can beat the likes of Kentucky and LSU unless they're dialed in.
5. I think this team will respond. We’ll see tonight and Saturday.

 

[1974Vol]

I don't understand the problem with our big men. Barnes and co. seem to be able to develop players except for the bigs. No improvement in Kyle, Fulk, and Kent. Jury still out on Burns. Anybody got thoughts on this that they can share with us?

Alexander just needed to get bigger and stronger and more aggressive in the off season. He is what he is now. Nice player but will get man handled a bit by stronger bigs. Fulkerson has improved significantly IMO. His defense is much better, blocking shots, rebounding well. His offense would improve if he had a better mid-range jumper and could pull up and pop from 12-15 feet with consistency. He also needs to get bigger and stronger if he’s going to play inside. If he could develop a shot he’s probably more a 3 than a 4 or 5. I just don’t see him ever getting big enough to play inside in this league. Haven’t seen enough of Kent and Burns to have an opinion. OTOH Walker looks better and better.

 

[hUTch2002]

IMHO
1. Kentucky was just the more motivated team. They out hustled and out muscled the Vols all night
2. Changing up the defense late in the second half to a 2-3 zone got Kentucky out of their offense a bit. I don't know if we have anyone who can keep Williamson off the low block in Man. Maybe we need to play more zone.
3. Our offense always runs best through No. 2. Get him the ball early in the possession and good things usually happen. We got away from that and too many guys were just trying to create their own shot.
4. There are a few things we could do scheme wise (CRB knows way more than me) but it won't make a difference if we just sleep walk through another one. Winning by double digits with a ¾ effort lulled the Vols into a bit of complacency. No one can beat the likes of Kentucky and LSU unless they're dialed in.
5. I think this team will respond. We’ll see tonight and Saturday.

We do need to mix in some zone but we certainly can’t go to it exclusively. I’m not even sure we can be in a zone the majority of the game. Our rebounding isn’t strong enough. I would say it would hurt our 3-point D as well but that’s been pretty poor the last month and a half anyway. I agree with what another poster said. We just need to play harder on D. Kentucky got whatever they wanted.

 

[1974Vol]

We do need to mix in some zone but we certainly can’t go to it exclusively. I’m not even sure we can be in a zone the majority of the game. Our rebounding isn’t strong enough. I would say it would hurt our 3-point D as well but that’s been pretty poor the last month and a half anyway. I agree with what another poster said. We just need to play harder on D. Kentucky got whatever they wanted.

I think it’s more about changing the D up a bit throughout the game to make it harder for the other team to get in an offensive rhythm than just going zone. The full court pressure seemed to help as well. Kentucky got one 10 second call and was close on a couple others. Anything that could disrupt them from getting into their half court set with 18 + on the shot clock and feeding the ball to their post players – particularly Williamson would help.