2024-2025 Tennessee Basketball Team Discussion

#329
#329
It’s hard to find much to be critical of with Tennessee’s basketball team right now. The Vols are out of the gate with the best start in school history in terms of wins/losses at 8-0 and that’s not an empty record.

Tennessee is playing some great basketball, especially at this point of the season. And yes—WE KEEP SAYING IT—it’s really impressive that they’re doing it with three veteran transfers being worked into the starting line-up and relied on heavily.

We’ve thrown a bunch of numbers out there lately about where the Vols are statistically in a bunch of different categories. No one is surprised about the defensive numbers, that’s been happening for years.

But Tennessee’s offensive numbers in terms of efficiency and simple shooting percentage are all in the upper crust of college basketball.

Rick Barnes and his staff deserve credit for meshing this group together so quickly. Behind the scenes the staff will tell you that Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack both deserve a ton of that credit.

The senior duo was praised for not only providing a welcoming environment for the newcomers, but also for being the kind of peer leaders not only set and maintain the standards of this program but get others to live up to that as well.

Look around college basketball, in this age of the transfer portal and NIL, blending new faces into an existing infrastructure that’s already been highly successful while also dealing with the egos of young men can be like conducting a three ring circus.

Barnes and his staff have adjusted as well as anyone in college basketball to the times when you look at the success of last year’s group and what’s happened so far this season.

One of the more promising developments on the team in the last couple of weeks has been Darlinstone Dubar popping up and making some contributions after not playing in the first couple of weeks of the season while he dealt with some off-the-court, personal issues.

With JP Estrella lost for the year getting some rotational minutes out of Dubar at the four would be a nice boost for this squad.

That is definitely still the case, but we strongly suspect after talking with some people that the seven minutes he played against Syracuse will be used as a teaching tool with him regarding what this program is about.

Two examples. Dubar checked in with 8:04 left in the first half on Tuesday, launched and missed a three :56 later and was subbed out at the next dead ball.

Dubar wouldn’t return to the floor in the blowout until the 5:03 mark after that. Then he closed the game by driving for and making a lay-up right at the buzzer with Tennessee leading 94-70.

Not a Rick Barnes kind of move.

Neither of those things are huge transgressions. Not in the least. But those are two things that a guy battling to just to get on the court should learn from.

Speaking of that SEC/ACC Challenge, the powers that be had initially hoped that Tennessee would accept a road game in the event, even though they traveled to North Carolina last year. (Teams are not expected to play away games the event in consecutive years)

Our understanding is that Tennessee’s response was that they would go on the road this year, but if they did that, then two ACC opponents of the caliber of UNC and Duke would come to Knoxville in the following two years in the event. Tennessee obviously played at home.
Click to expand...
-VQ
 
  • Like
Reactions: TrapVol, Willy14, A.Vol70 and 7 others
#333
#333
VolsNetClippers2025 said:
I hope that the teaching tool can turn into a positive for Dubar! Could see it negatively affect some egos and really hope that's not the case here.
Click to expand...
Dubar just doesn't seem like a good fit. Barnes had a discussion with him after the Austin Peay game about how to end the game.
 
#334
#334
Vols All Day said:
Dubar just doesn't seem like a good fit. Barnes had a discussion with him after the Austin Peay game about how to end the game.
Click to expand...

Barnes didn’t like how he closed out the Syracuse and UT-M games either. I hope that it’s something that Dubar hadn’t figured out due to lack of playing time rather than going rogue. Barnes was really pissed at the end of UT-M. At the end of Syracuse CRB seemed to just say something to him and dropped it rather quickly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cardvolfan, FeelVol and chuckiepoo
#335
#335
Vols All Day said:
Dubar just doesn't seem like a good fit. Barnes had a discussion with him after the Austin Peay game about how to end the game.
Click to expand...
That seems a bit premature.

"With JP Estrella lost for the year getting some rotational minutes out of Dubar at the four would be a nice boost for this squad.

That is definitely still the case, but we strongly suspect after talking with some people that the seven minutes he played against Syracuse will be used as a teaching tool with him regarding what this program is about."

Seems like VQ people think he's still very much part of the plans and a fit.

Edit: he also didn't play against Austin Peay, think you meant UT-M.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FeelVol and chuckiepoo
#336
#336
Really good comments from Lanier’s old HC. Really big praise.


Hope we can keep those relationships with their coach. They have a couple of really good younger players.


PG: Jaylen Smith (Soph)
11.9ppg / 2.4rpg / 5.7apg 43% FG
- 12 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assist against Neb
- 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assist against UGA
- 15 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assist against GT
- 16 points and 3 assist against USCjr



F: Josh Harris (Fr)
15.8ppg / 7.6rpg / 0.7apg / 1.0spg 63% FG
- 12 points and 6 rebounds against UGA
- 22 points and 7 rebounds against GT
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MinisterofDef#92, FeelVol and chuckiepoo
#337
#337
Personally, I’ve got no problem with that layup. If the other team wants to try and dunk on someone when we’ve stopped playing defense because it’s over they better get back on D if they don’t want me to score.

It’s one thing for them to take a lackadaisical jumper at the buzzer or end of the shot clock. Totally different thing to drive the lane for a dunk. Cuse brought it upon themselves imo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DMcVol, Chunkyvol12, chuckiepoo and 2 others
#341
#341
VolsNetClippers2025 said:
That seems a bit premature.

"With JP Estrella lost for the year getting some rotational minutes out of Dubar at the four would be a nice boost for this squad.

That is definitely still the case, but we strongly suspect after talking with some people that the seven minutes he played against Syracuse will be used as a teaching tool with him regarding what this program is about."

Seems like VQ people think he's still very much part of the plans and a fit.

Edit: he also didn't play against Austin Peay, think you meant UT-M.
Click to expand...
Yeah if they are shelving him or something, they wouldn't frame it as a "teaching tool."
 
  • Like
Reactions: FeelVol, Lankykong, chuckiepoo and 1 other person
#342
#342
It’s hard to find a lot of fault with what you’re seeing from the Tennessee basketball team right now.

Everyone thought this team would be good, would compete for another SEC title and should be capable of making some noise in March.

I don’t know that anyone expected them to be one of the darlings of the college basketball world six weeks into the season, ranked No. 1 in the country and a team that every talking head out there is mentioning as a strong Final Four contender.

It’s December. None of it may mean anything in two or three months, but Rick Barnes has his guys playing at a high level right now.

It’s also happening with the Vols at less than full strength.

Based on the production he’s given them so far, not having Darlinstone Dubar against Miami wasn’t a huge blow when you just look at the stat sheet. But going into a game with essentially seven rotational guys (yes, Bishop Boswell was available, but not much of a sub for Dubar) was hardly ideal.

Tennessee made it work. Miami has had a horrible start to the year, but they still have some talent, and Tennessee took their best shot with very little margin for error from a personnel standpoint.

A big reason for that is Jahmai Mashack. We talk about Mashack’s versatility all the time, but not many coaches would trust a 6-foot-5 guy to guard an opposing center in the closing moments of a tight game like Barnes did with Mashack the other night.

Mashack’s ability to pretty much guard every one allowed the coaching staff to adjust on the fly on Tuesday night with a short post rotation.

There’s no firm time table for Cam Carr’s return. Getting him back by Jan. 4 for the SEC opener with Arkansas would be ideal. Carr had surgery on Nov. 21 with an expected recovery time of 4-6 weeks. He has been progressing well since the procedure.

Most fans who had high hopes for Tennessee this season likely assumed that the talented Carr was going to make a big jump from his freshman to sophomore seasons. That may still happen, but the fact that the Vols have gotten off to the start they have without Carr (or JP Estrella for that matter) even being a part of the equation is noteworthy.

Carr is also talented enough that he could definitely be the kind of guy that can make an impact when he’s added to the mix. Obviously, chemistry is something the staff will consider when re-integrating him, but with this short of a rotation, Tennessee needs Carr and he could be a real X-factor for a squad that’s already exceeding expectations.

Tennessee is expecting to get a stiff test this weekend at Illinois. The Illini are a solid club with some young guys that are legit NBA prospects. This will be a seriously hostile environment and a good non-conference challenge in a schedule that hasn’t been full of them so far.
Click to expand...
-VQ
 
  • Like
Reactions: BruisedOrange, RavinDave, Willy14 and 9 others
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top