'22 SC SF Julian Phillips (Tennessee commit)

[turbovol]

We didn’t lose because if a lack of inside points.

We lost because we had the worst 3PT shooting outing of our entire season

We lost because Michigan fought for 2 offensive putbacks and made a no look hook shot and got a block vs charge call

The Vols owned Toshibwe or Kesselr. Took them both outside the arc and isolated them. Ah geeze, just like Hunter Dickinson did.

We beat Michigan 8/10 times. We just went cold.

We were tooled to win it all. Couldn’t hit OPEN shots.

This is precisely why you want dependable inside scoring--it gives you some cushion against a poor or bad night of 3-point shooting.

 

[vol94]

We didn’t lose because if a lack of inside points.

We lost because we had the worst 3PT shooting outing of our entire season

We lost because Michigan fought for 2 offensive putbacks and made a no look hook shot and got a block vs charge call

The Vols owned Toshibwe or Kesselr. Took them both outside the arc and isolated them. Ah geeze, just like Hunter Dickinson did.

We beat Michigan 8/10 times. We just went cold.

We were tooled to win it all. Couldn’t hit OPEN shots.

Agree, but a big man who can score inside reduces the pressure when a team goes cold beyond the arc.

 

[kckempf]

Agree, but a big man who can score inside reduces the pressure when a team goes cold beyond the arc.

Sort of? If you're missing from deep, nobody needs to guard you out there. Inside of the line isn't a very big space to keep 5 defenders the size of college basketball players. It takes an elite interior scorer to produce inside when you have no perimeter threat.

Besides, we went 26-39 against Michigan inside the arc, uncharacteristically stellar and basically what we could get out of elite interior player. We took all the good looks we had, and somehow hit most of them, just bit behind that magic line. Hit all our free throws, though, and we're also in the game until the end.

Beyond everything else we lost because the defense just wasn't there. For whatever reason we would have a bad defensive game from time to time last season. If the coaches could find the reason for those aberrations that will do more than anything.

 

[Willy14]

Got a bad feeling he will want to join his friend yohan traore at Auburn....

 

[cwbytruckers]

Am i the only one feeling like a lot of guys think because KC may not be back that we are suddenly going to be bad or take a huge step back? I really think unless we have a lot of roster turnover we are going to be much better next year. Our bigs will take a step forward and ON will be really good next year. Let Phillips go to Auburn. JJJ will shut him down.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

Am i the only one feeling like a lot of guys think because KC may not be back that we are suddenly going to be bad or take a huge step back? I really think unless we have a lot of roster turnover we are going to be much better next year. Our bigs will take a step forward and ON will be really good next year. Let Phillips go to Auburn. JJJ will shut him down.

Make no mistake, losing a PG talent such as KC will be hard to overcome when talking about us being better than this year.

If James and Vescovi are back we will still be a solid a team. But I don't see us being better next year. Unless there are some surprise additions from the portal.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Am i the only one feeling like a lot of guys think because KC may not be back that we are suddenly going to be bad or take a huge step back? I really think unless we have a lot of roster turnover we are going to be much better next year. Our bigs will take a step forward and ON will be really good next year. Let Phillips go to Auburn. JJJ will shut him down.

Probably

 

[walkenvol]

Make no mistake, losing a PG talent such as KC will be hard to overcome when talking about us being better than this year.

If James and Vescovi are back we will still be a solid a team. But I don't see us being better next year. Unless there are some surprise additions from the portal.

All depends on the off season progress of our freshmen. Lots of talent, just needs development

 

[johnfnkelly]

Walker Kessler announced he's entering the draft and looking to hire an agent. Auburn may now look more appealing to Phillips now. They have one SF in Devan Cambridge who is transferring to Arizona State and two in Smith and Kessler going in the 1st round of the NBA draft. Hopefully we still have a chance and he wants to be a Vol.

I don’t see the correlation. They play different positions with completely different skill sets.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

All depends on the off season progress of our freshmen. Lots of talent, just needs development

I agree there is talent there and I do think this will be a solid team (again if James and Vescovi are back)...Edwards coming in will be a solid player, however I'm dont think he's on the same level as Chandler. Just don't see this team being as a good as they were this year. Should still be good enough to compete for a double bye in SEC tournament. But I don't think its a 27 win team.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

I agree there is talent there and I do think this will be a solid team (again if James and Vescovi are back)...Edwards coming in will be a solid player, however I'm dont think he's on the same level as Chandler. Just don't see this team being as a good as they were this year. Should still be good enough to compete for a double bye in SEC tournament. But I don't think its a 27 win team.

I don't know how much of an impact BJ Edwards has year 1. I don't think it will be a lot

 

[TrippieRedd]

I don't know how much of an impact BJ Edwards has year 1. I don't think it will be a lot

He won't be.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Make no mistake, losing a PG talent such as KC will be hard to overcome when talking about us being better than this year.

If James and Vescovi are back we will still be a solid a team. But I don't see us being better next year. Unless there are some surprise additions from the portal.

I do see us getting better next year. The weakest of our team last year was inside offense and inside defense. Ina addition, we missed as many layups as we made. Bunch of layups were blocked. We had a lot of turn overs in the paint. We had a lot of Freshman talent, but no experience in the middle. The off season will greatly improve our play at the 4 & 5 positions and will become one of the strengths of our team.

 

[NighthawkVol]

He won't be.

I think it depends on what you mean by impact. He'll play significant minutes, IMO. He'll be the backup PG and may need to come in at time to defend bigger Guards.

 

[JRVOL11]

i wouldn’t right off Edwards yet tbh. he is a big guard who can play defense and create to score. a lot of people thought zz would not play, you never know.

 

[INDEFENSE]

Well I agree, I wouldn't want to see Edwards LEFT off either.jk

 

[walkenvol]

i wouldn’t right off Edwards yet tbh. he is a big guard who can play defense and create to score. a lot of people thought zz would not play, you never know.

Huge difference in “I don’t expect him to contribute as a freshman” with “he’s talented, let’s see if he’s ready to play right from the start”. Personally, I’m in the second group as I feel that way about every freshman ranked outside the top 10. JMO

 

[Brick_By_Brick]

Got a bad feeling he will want to join his friend yohan traore at Auburn....

If so, it will be another concerning recruiting miss by Barnes. Since signing KC's class we've been getting spanked.

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

If so, it will be another concerning recruiting miss by Barnes. Since signing KC's class we've been getting spanked.

I don't view this one as a miss when it's a 2nd chance opportunity. He was committed elsewhere, and we've gotten an unexpected try. I doubt the pitch has changed much. RB and his team don't strike me as the type of staff to change course for 1 recruit. They have a plan and they stick to it. Obviously they think he will/can fit into that plan and want him to be a part of it, but they won't drastically change/alter that plan just for 1 player. The team and program is bigger than that.

 

[vol94]

Sort of? If you're missing from deep, nobody needs to guard you out there. Inside of the line isn't a very big space to keep 5 defenders the size of college basketball players. It takes an elite interior scorer to produce inside when you have no perimeter threat.

Besides, we went 26-39 against Michigan inside the arc, uncharacteristically stellar and basically what we could get out of elite interior player. We took all the good looks we had, and somehow hit most of them, just bit behind that magic line. Hit all our free throws, though, and we're also in the game until the end.

Beyond everything else we lost because the defense just wasn't there. For whatever reason we would have a bad defensive game from time to time last season. If the coaches could find the reason for those aberrations that will do more than anything.

Good points ,but I still want a big man beyond what we have.

 

[walkenvol]

If so, it will be another concerning recruiting miss by Barnes. Since signing KC's class we've been getting spanked.

KC’s class was last year? So you don’t like this year’s class in which we had one open scholarship and they signed Edwards? How did you expect them to recruit another top hs guy? “We really want you to be a part of our program, but you’ll have to walk on unless someone hits the portal “?

 

[cncchris33]

KC’s class was last year? So you don’t like this year’s class in which we had one open scholarship and they signed Edwards? How did you expect them to recruit another top hs guy? “We really want you to be a part of our program, but you’ll have to walk on unless someone hits the portal “?

In fairness, we recruited kids like we had more space. We whiffed on every single one of our top targets outside of BJE, who we had a lot of built-in advantages with.

Cason Wallace
Brandon Miller
Julian Phillips
Dillon Mitchell
Yohan Traore
Jalen Hood-Schifino
Ernest Udeh Jr.
Jett Howard
Justyn Fernandez
KyeRon Lindsay

Those are all top-100 kids that immediately come to mind that we pushed for and missed on. Hard to say we'd have told many of those kids no, especially those at the top half of that list.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

In fairness, we recruited kids like we had more space. We whiffed on every single one of our top targets outside of BJE, who we had a lot of built-in advantages with.

Cason Wallace
Brandon Miller
Julian Phillips
Dillon Mitchell
Yohan Traore
Jalen Hood-Schifino
Ernest Udeh Jr.
Jett Howard
Justyn Fernandez
KyeRon Lindsay

Those are all top-100 kids that immediately come to mind that we pushed for and missed on. Hard to say we'd have told many of those kids no, especially those at the top half of that list.

We backed away from Traore because "things got messy." LSU and Memphis were the 2 in the mix and then he went to Auburn. Not schools with the cleanest of records. We would've had a lot better shot at Wallace if Rod Clark didn't have to miss a couple months on paternity leave. There was no way we were landing Jett. We could've had JHS but Indiana guaranteed him a starting spot at PG and Barnes wouldn't do that. Completely new staff this year outside of Mitchell Schwartz. Throw in covid and it was a weird recruiting year for us. I think 2023 will be better

 

[RockyTop140]

Sort of? If you're missing from deep, nobody needs to guard you out there. Inside of the line isn't a very big space to keep 5 defenders the size of college basketball players. It takes an elite interior scorer to produce inside when you have no perimeter threat.

Besides, we went 26-39 against Michigan inside the arc, uncharacteristically stellar and basically what we could get out of elite interior player. We took all the good looks we had, and somehow hit most of them, just bit behind that magic line. Hit all our free throws, though, and we're also in the game until the end.

Beyond everything else we lost because the defense just wasn't there. For whatever reason we would have a bad defensive game from time to time last season. If the coaches could find the reason for those aberrations that will do more than anything.

A big part of the reason we were missing from deep is because Michigan was playing good perimeter D. They didn’t have to respect our inside game. If we were able to score more inside that would’ve probably gotten us some better looks

 

[cncchris33]

We backed away from Traore because "things got messy." LSU and Memphis were the 2 in the mix and then he went to Auburn. Not schools with the cleanest of records. We would've had a lot better shot at Wallace if Rod Clark didn't have to miss a couple months on paternity leave. There was no way we were landing Jett. We could've had JHS but Indiana guaranteed him a starting spot at PG and Barnes wouldn't do that. Completely new staff this year outside of Mitchell Schwartz. Throw in covid and it was a weird recruiting year for us. I think 2023 will be better

I'm keenly aware of the circumstances surrounding each recruitment. And Clark and Gainey were both brought in with recruiting connections in mind. So far, that hasn't panned out. 0 for 10.