2024 Target List

#1,126
#1,126
onfocusgovols said:
But.. I think we could still have an All-American level player or two... I could see Zakai Zeigler being a potential All American. Especially since we have surrounded him by legitimate shooters from just about everywhere on the court with big men wings and other guards especially if we get Chaz Lanier.

And I think Chaz Lanier is a potential guy to look out for who could have a similar type of impact has the other all SEC players who came from the portal like Mark Sears, Antonio Reeves, Dalton Knecht Johnni Broome etc... Lanier has an it factor about him and the ability to be a go-to guy and offensive closer. With his efficiency that we were missing from shooting guard last year with Gainey & Vescovi - I think we could be better overall if our team stays healthy, together and if we land the Lanier guy I'm talking about.
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It's possible we may be better next year with more offensive balance and more production off the bench. But for UT to repeat as SEC conference champions, I think Lanier is going to have to be an All-SEC 1st team player or at least a 2nd team player with at least one other Vol (not named Zeigler to make the 2nd team - ie: Dubar or Milicic). I fully expect Zeigler will repeat on the 1st Team. Tough to replace a SEC player of the year (DK was not normal) and a 2nd team SEC player in Aidoo, who provided us with some post presence and expect the same results. And the last time we repeated as SEC regular season champions was in the 40's. Everyone will have to play up to potential and we need an alpha on offense. Knecht just lived for those moments (especially in conference play) when we needed a spark and he produced enough points for 3 guys.

Sears, Reeves, and Broome all played well in their initial year in the SEC but they were all around 12.5 to 14.5 pts per game, before each blew up (particularly Sears and Reeves) in their 2nd year in the league. Aaron Estrada was a 2x Coastal Athletic player of the year averaging 20 ppg before his production lowered to 13 ppg this past lone year with Bama. A very nice player. Lanier will need to be more than a nice player for us to repeat, in my opinion, and he only gets one year to do it (assuming he signs). Multiple guys in the 12-14 ppg range (Zeigler, Dubar, Lanier, Milicic) may work but I worry a bit about lack of post offense. Dubar may be sleeper as he has a 3 year track record of very efficient #. Can Mashack get to 10? Can Carr and Gainey provide consistent scoring off the bench? Defensively we will be fine, because we always will be under Barnes.
 
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#1,127
#1,127
Namorto1 said:
It's possible we may be better next year with more offensive balance and more production off the bench. But for UT to repeat as SEC conference champions, I think Lanier is going to have to be an All-SEC 1st team player or at least a 2nd team player with at least one other Vol (not named Zeigler to make the 2nd team - ie: Dubar or Milicic). I fully expect Zeigler will repeat on the 1st Team. Tough to replace a SEC player of the year (DK was not normal) and a 2nd team SEC player in Aidoo, who provided us with some post presence and expect the same results. And the last time we repeated as SEC regular season champions was in the 40's. Everyone will have to play up to potential and we need an alpha on offense. Knecht just lived for those moments (especially in conference play) when we needed a spark and he produced enough points for 3 guys.

Sears, Reeves, and Broome all played well in their initial year in the SEC but they were all around 12.5 to 14.5 pts per game, before each blew up (particularly Sears and Reeves) in their 2nd year in the league. Aaron Estrada was a 2x Coastal Athletic player of the year averaging 20 ppg before his production lowered to 13 ppg this past lone year with Bama. A very nice player. Lanier will need to be more than a nice player for us to repeat, in my opinion, and he only gets one year to do it (assuming he signs). Multiple guys in the 12-14 ppg range (Zeigler, Dubar, Lanier, Milicic) may work but I worry a bit about lack of post offense. Dubar may be sleeper as he has a 3 year track record of very efficient #. Can Mashack get to 10? Can Carr and Gainey provide consistent scoring off the bench? Defensively we will be fine, because we always will be under Barnes.
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Agree. Tons of potential on the team, but we'll need a dog like DK or a couple of dogs like Grant/Admiral to carry the offense when things get tough. ZZ is a great player, but there are nights when his size limits what he can do overall. Hoping Lanier and one of the others can be double digit consistent scorers. If so, high ceiling for the team again. As you said, nobody to dump the ball into and get consistent production. It'll have to come from the perimeter again this year.
 
#1,128
#1,128
TrippieRedd said:
Enjoy this. Hammond destroys Montverde
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For 9 minutes it looked like you sold me a dog turd and called it a Snickers, but Hammond had a really good 4th quarter. I wouldn't describe his performance as "destroying Montverde", but he acquitted himself nicely and probably put to rest the idea that he's too short or can't play at the SEC level. Finished with 12 points and a handful of assists, as well, against the #1 team in the country.

Disclosure: For others, if you're watching and all you want to see is Hammond, you can skip to just before the 9:00 mark.
 
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#1,129
#1,129
cncchris33 said:
For 9 minutes it looked like you sold me a dog turd and called it a Snickers, but Hammond had a really good 4th quarter. I wouldn't describe his performance as "destroying Montverde", but he acquitted himself nicely and probably put to rest the idea that he's too short or can't play at the SEC level. Finished with 12 points and a handful of assists, as well, against the #1 team in the country.

Disclosure: For others, if you're watching and all you want to see is Hammond, you can skip to just before the 9:00 mark.
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I'm not expecting him to be the next ZZ. IMO, we caught lightning in a bottle with that kid. Having said that, I see Hammond as having a similar game. I see him being able to come in and provide minutes as a competent backup his first year and in the case if injury, I'd feel a lot better with him running things than Gainey or Mashack. He'll be a 4 year guy unless we recruit over him and he hits the portal. Pretty much the best possible outcome and fit right now. Anderson is my first choice, but I think he'll have a ton of suitors and expect a lot of minutes at the jump which we obviously cannot offer. Another benefit is not needing to play Lanier at the point in a pinch which saves him over the course of a long, tough season. Yeah, the thought of Hammond and Lanier to finish this portal year is very, very appealing to me....which is precisely why I don't see it happening. Too good to be true.
 
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#1,130
#1,130
Namorto1 said:
It's possible we may be better next year with more offensive balance and more production off the bench. But for UT to repeat as SEC conference champions, I think Lanier is going to have to be an All-SEC 1st team player or at least a 2nd team player with at least one other Vol (not named Zeigler to make the 2nd team - ie: Dubar or Milicic). I fully expect Zeigler will repeat on the 1st Team. Tough to replace a SEC player of the year (DK was not normal) and a 2nd team SEC player in Aidoo, who provided us with some post presence and expect the same results. And the last time we repeated as SEC regular season champions was in the 40's. Everyone will have to play up to potential and we need an alpha on offense. Knecht just lived for those moments (especially in conference play) when we needed a spark and he produced enough points for 3 guys.

Sears, Reeves, and Broome all played well in their initial year in the SEC but they were all around 12.5 to 14.5 pts per game, before each blew up (particularly Sears and Reeves) in their 2nd year in the league. Aaron Estrada was a 2x Coastal Athletic player of the year averaging 20 ppg before his production lowered to 13 ppg this past lone year with Bama. A very nice player. Lanier will need to be more than a nice player for us to repeat, in my opinion, and he only gets one year to do it (assuming he signs). Multiple guys in the 12-14 ppg range (Zeigler, Dubar, Lanier, Milicic) may work but I worry a bit about lack of post offense. Dubar may be sleeper as he has a 3 year track record of very efficient #. Can Mashack get to 10? Can Carr and Gainey provide consistent scoring off the bench? Defensively we will be fine, because we always will be under Barnes.
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You typically don’t see a team win the conference without having at least 2 All-SEC players or an All-SEC selection coupled with an All-Defensive selection. If we want to win a conference championship then that would have to happen in any given year.
 
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#1,131
#1,131
I
cncchris33 said:
For 9 minutes it looked like you sold me a dog turd and called it a Snickers, but Hammond had a really good 4th quarter. I wouldn't describe his performance as "destroying Montverde", but he acquitted himself nicely and probably put to rest the idea that he's too short or can't play at the SEC level. Finished with 12 points and a handful of assists, as well, against the #1 team in the country.

Disclosure: For others, if you're watching and all you want to see is Hammond, you can skip to just before the 9:00 mark.
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I like Hammond's potential. I think he'll have some growing pains as expected going from HS to the SEC but if he chooses to commit and sticks it out at TN for 3-4 years, he'll be a solid facilitator and scorer at PG.
 
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#1,132
#1,132
CAVPUT said:
I'm not expecting him to be the next ZZ. IMO, we caught lightning in a bottle with that kid. Having said that, I see Hammond as having a similar game. I see him being able to come in and provide minutes as a competent backup his first year and in the case if injury, I'd feel a lot better with him running things than Gainey or Mashack. He'll be a 4 year guy unless we recruit over him and he hits the portal. Pretty much the best possible outcome and fit right now. Anderson is my first choice, but I think he'll have a ton of suitors and expect a lot of minutes at the jump which we obviously cannot offer. Another benefit is not needing to play Lanier at the point in a pinch which saves him over the course of a long, tough season. Yeah, the thought of Hammond and Lanier to finish this portal year is very, very appealing to me....which is precisely why I don't see it happening. Too good to be true.
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Limited clips but Hammond looks quicker than Anderson to me. Would love to sign him. Anderson is a deadly shooter though.
 
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#1,133
#1,133
b_gann said:
Agree. Tons of potential on the team, but we'll need a dog like DK or a couple of dogs like Grant/Admiral to carry the offense when things get tough. ZZ is a great player, but there are nights when his size limits what he can do overall. Hoping Lanier and one of the others can be double digit consistent scorers. If so, high ceiling for the team again. As you said, nobody to dump the ball into and get consistent production. It'll have to come from the perimeter again this year.
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I think Okpra will benefit greatly from ZZ driving the lane even more so from what we saw with Awaka which was often only limited minutes (Aidoo too often fumbled the pass it seemed). I also believe Estrella is going to surprise with his offensive production.
 
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#1,135
#1,135
I know Boswell is totally different body type but kind of interesting Barnes is bringing in another PG when Boswell was suppose to be coming in as PG.

Can never have too many ball handlers and was a lot of fun when Chandler and ZZ both played at the same time.
 
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#1,136
#1,136
Chaz-Vol said:
I know Boswell is totally different body type but kind of interesting Barnes is bringing in another PG when Boswell was suppose to be coming in as PG.

Can never have too many ball handlers and was a lot of fun when Chandler and ZZ both played at the same time.
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Isn't Boswell more of a combo guard? Just wondering
 
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#1,141
#1,141
Chaz-Vol said:
I know Boswell is totally different body type but kind of interesting Barnes is bringing in another PG when Boswell was suppose to be coming in as PG.

Can never have too many ball handlers and was a lot of fun when Chandler and ZZ both played at the same time.
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Hey Chaz, yeah Bishop Boswell is the build and measures out to be just like Mashack with height etc... and as the other guys said he has the same football background and is a defensive stud similar to Mashack. So he's versatile in that and won't be used as that main PG role as we usually see with the 6'4" build with guys like Boswell. Keep in mind that 6'6" Josiah Jordan James was seen as a point guard recruit on websites coming out of high school - but we clearly seen him not playing the traditional point guard role for us in any way at Tennessee...

I like how they are building this team...bringing in a true point guard does not take away from Boswell or Carr. Boswell at 2 & Carr is as versatile of a wing with a 7'1" wingspan - he can play the 3. They are recruiting to not recruit over the other guys they believe in...they are recruiting to compliment the pieces they already have, which is great imo
 
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#1,146
#1,146
CNeagleVolFan said:
Bigger fish on the line maybe?
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Maybe it's just being rescheduled? Perhaps Lanier wants to get things worked out sooner rather than later and he wants to come on in for a visit? One thing puzzles me in Lanier's recruitment. I keep reading all our eggs are in his basket. Maybe I'm just old school, but that's not an ideal position to be in when negotiating money. Lanier kinda has us by the short hairs in this "negotiation". Where do we turn if he asks for an obscene amount of money? Do we bite the bullet and pay his asking price or do we move on? To whom would we turn?
 
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#1,147
#1,147
bleedingTNorange said:
Hammond no longer visiting, staff decision.
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I wonder if they'd rather go forward with developing Boswell exclusively for that backup PG role? Boswell looks to have more talent, size & athleticism than Hammond that could better translate to the SEC. Interesting decision though.
 
#1,149
#1,149
tev.sm said:
I wonder if they'd rather go forward with developing Boswell exclusively for that backup PG role? Boswell looks to have more talent, size & athleticism than Hammond that could better translate to the SEC. Interesting decision though.
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Maybe Barnes really likes Mashack / Gainey / Carr as our #2 if Lanier doesn’t work out? Not like we don’t have any options at the 2 without getting a portal addition.
 
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