A Reluctant Criticism of Barnes

#1
J

JACK8254

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#1
We are very lucky to have Coach Barnes , no one reasonablefan would argue that. That said, this year he did a poor job of extracting a gold mine of talent on this team. Was it Covid, lack of team chemistry , too young, an unhealthy Fulky, no true pt guard, Jupiter out of alignment, lack of a team therapist, - pick your favorite. The cold fact is that there was a lot of talent on this team ( sweet 16 at least) and very little of it was utilized and that is on the coach. This team had a hard year and individually , they are a likable bunch. I cant remember a team that was this up and down and that again goes to coaching. This year should have been better.
 
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#2
#2
Is there a lot of talent on this team? Besides the freshman and Pons, I'm not so sure.

Pember, Gaines, EJ, ON look like they should be at a smaller school.

JJJ is a bust. Who knows about Walker

VB and SV are not reliable at all. One good game followed by several bad ones is their pattern.

Fulky is the mystery. Don't buy the Covid excuse.
 
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#3
#3
vols 30 said:
Is there a lot of talent on this team? Besides the freshman and Pons, I'm not so sure.

Pember, Gaines, EJ, ON look like they should be at a smaller school.

JJJ is a bust. Who knows about Walker

VB and SV are not reliable at all. One good game followed by several bad ones is their pattern.

Fulky is the mystery. Don't buy the Covid excuse.
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Vegas is the gold standard of talent and the Vols were FAVORED IN EVERY GAME THIS YR EXCEPT the last Bama game. They think the talent is present. Me- I am not sure.
 
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#4
#4
JACK8254 said:
We are very lucky to have Coach Barnes , no one reasonablefan would argue that. That said, this year he did a poor job of extracting a gold mine of talent on this team. Was it Covid, lack of team chemistry , too young, an unhealthy Fulky, no true pt guard, Jupiter out of alignment, lack of a team therapist, - pick your favorite. The cold fact is that there was a lot of talent on this team ( sweet 16 at least) and very little of it was utilized and that is on the coach. This team had a hard year and individually , they are a likable bunch. I cant remember a team that was this up and down and that again goes to coaching. This year should have been better.
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Why is TN lucky to have coach Barnes? He is getting paid a King’s Ransom and delivers below expected results most of the time. Bottom line is that TN isn’t hanging Banners from the rafters and I don’t see this happening under Barnes. He is to old, tired and stubborn to adjust his offense and that is not going to change. Get prepared for under achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied with the results Barnes is putting on the court.
 
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#5
#5
Cherokee Orange said:
Why is TN lucky to have coach Barnes? He is getting paid a King’s Ransom and delivers below expected results most of the time. Bottom line is that TN isn’t hanging Banners from the rafters and I don’t see this happening under Barnes. He is to old, tired and stubborn to adjust his offense and that is not going to change. Get prepared for under achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied with the results Barnes is putting on the court.
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You are aware that all those national champion banners in TBA are for women’s basketball, right?
 
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#7
#7
JACK8254 said:
We are very lucky to have Coach Barnes , no one reasonablefan would argue that. That said, this year he did a poor job of extracting a gold mine of talent on this team. Was it Covid, lack of team chemistry , too young, an unhealthy Fulky, no true pt guard, Jupiter out of alignment, lack of a team therapist, - pick your favorite. The cold fact is that there was a lot of talent on this team ( sweet 16 at least) and very little of it was utilized and that is on the coach. This team had a hard year and individually , they are a likable bunch. I cant remember a team that was this up and down and that again goes to coaching. This year should have been better.
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“Lucky” has a context. Only UT would hire a Bammer AD, who then would go mute on the “bring back Bruce” nonsense, and then forgo a search firm and hire a guy like Donnie Tyndall. He was basically bailed out of fireable miscues by Texas letting Barnes go at the most opportune time.

Barnes against that backdrop looks pretty damn good. So far, he has caught lightning in a bottle one year, and has looked pretty pathetic the rest of the time. His tourney woes followed him here.
 
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#8
#8
CB did a poor coaching job with the talent he recruited. It appeared to me, the team lost something as he worked in the talented freshman. Earlier in the year, they were a final four team. CB lost this team and he better figure out why because none of his players appeared to enjoy playing at the end of the season.
 
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#9
#9
vols 30 said:
Is there a lot of talent on this team? Besides the freshman and Pons, I'm not so sure.

Pember, Gaines, EJ, ON look like they should be at a smaller school.

JJJ is a bust. Who knows about Walker

VB and SV are not reliable at all. One good game followed by several bad ones is their pattern.

Fulky is the mystery. Don't buy the Covid excuse.
Click to expand...
JJJ isn't a bust. He is just not the kind of 5* player that most people wanted or think of when they see five stars by the name and they go gah-gah. You were warned before he ever stepped foot on campus not to expect immediate dominance, that he wasn't an alpha personality, or a big-time scorer. The 5* label was as unfair to him as it was to Robert Hubbs. Good players, but not great. People were warned about both and to cautiously temper expectations. Thru the first third of our season, JJJ was our team MVP, in my opinion. We were also undefeated. Not sure what happened.
 
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#11
#11
Mightyvol said:
CB did a poor coaching job with the talent he recruited. It appeared to me, the team lost something as he worked in the talented freshman. Earlier in the year, they were a final four team. CB lost this team and he better figure out why because none of his players appeared to enjoy playing at the end of the season.
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^^^^^^^THIS
 
#12
#12
This team had no inside game whatsoever, needed a true point guard and we could not knock down 3 pointers consistently to save our lives. Once Florida exposed UT and how to defend us in the first meeting every team we played used a similar approach. Also we did not have a true leader like Grant or Admiral to lead this team and I think the true freshman are good , but showed their youth and inexperience at critical times. Barnes needs to get aggressive in the transfer portal and fill some glaring weaknesses in the roster
 
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#14
#14
JJJ is a solid player that could be All SEC next yr but he’s got to become alittle more selfish and aggressive with the ball. Keon is the other extreme. Throw to ball to him down low & you might as well go back on defense.
 
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#15
#15
Cherokee Orange said:
Why is TN lucky to have coach Barnes? He is getting paid a King’s Ransom and delivers below expected results most of the time. Bottom line is that TN isn’t hanging Banners from the rafters and I don’t see this happening under Barnes. He is to old, tired and stubborn to adjust his offense and that is not going to change. Get prepared for under achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied with the results Barnes is putting on the court.
Click to expand...
Barnes does not deserve to be on the hot seat here at this moment in time if you look at the situation "in a vacuum". Barnes also does not deserve to be a top five paid coach in the nation. Both can be true to a certain degree, but eventually one of those scenarios wins over the other one. He is sitting in the "tug of war" zone firmly now.
 
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#16
#16
Talent and leadership are two different things. We didn't have anyone on the court that could take the team on their back in a tough game and will the team to victory, like Grant Williams.

JACK8254 said:
We are very lucky to have Coach Barnes , no one reasonablefan would argue that. That said, this year he did a poor job of extracting a gold mine of talent on this team. Was it Covid, lack of team chemistry , too young, an unhealthy Fulky, no true pt guard, Jupiter out of alignment, lack of a team therapist, - pick your favorite. The cold fact is that there was a lot of talent on this team ( sweet 16 at least) and very little of it was utilized and that is on the coach. This team had a hard year and individually , they are a likable bunch. I cant remember a team that was this up and down and that again goes to coaching. This year should have been better.
Click to expand...
 
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#20
#20
JACK8254 said:
We are very lucky to have Coach Barnes , no one reasonablefan would argue that. That said, this year he did a poor job of extracting a gold mine of talent on this team. Was it Covid, lack of team chemistry , too young, an unhealthy Fulky, no true pt guard, Jupiter out of alignment, lack of a team therapist, - pick your favorite. The cold fact is that there was a lot of talent on this team ( sweet 16 at least) and very little of it was utilized and that is on the coach. This team had a hard year and individually , they are a likable bunch. I cant remember a team that was this up and down and that again goes to coaching. This year should have been better.
Click to expand...
Goldmine of talent? We've got 2 talented TRUE freshmen. Fulky is a solid 6th man on most really good teams. Pons would have a longer pro career as a TE. Outside of that I see only fools gold. I'd welcome Fulky back next season and I'd also like to see what Walker can do. Other than that, I'd like to see us flip the entire bench and try to surround Chandler with some decent basketball players.
 
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#21
#21
HarderKnox59 said:
Achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied

Same can be said for most all Tennessee athletics. Vol fans deserve better !
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Whoa. Nationally men's baseball #10, tennis is #3, track finished indoor season in top ten. Women's softball, roundball, soccer ranked.

I'll give you the football disaster, but otherwise our all-sports prospects are better than they've been in a while.
 
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#22
#22
Cherokee Orange said:
Why is TN lucky to have coach Barnes? He is getting paid a King’s Ransom and delivers below expected results most of the time. Bottom line is that TN isn’t hanging Banners from the rafters and I don’t see this happening under Barnes. He is to old, tired and stubborn to adjust his offense and that is not going to change. Get prepared for under achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied with the results Barnes is putting on the court.
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First, he gets us to the dance which is not something to be taken for granted around UTK. As for mediocrity and under achieving, this is UT friend. What were you expecting? I'm well past 60. In my lifetime...over SIX DECADES, I've seen exactly one football natty and only 7 SEC basketball championships. We've never sniffed a final 4 in hoops. When you recognize your position in the world of college sports historically, you'll find things a lot less stressful.
 
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#23
#23
I think it is Simple that the OFFENSIVE Scheme that Barnes installed this Season did not Work and he never Adjusted.
 
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#24
#24
Cherokee Orange said:
Why is TN lucky to have coach Barnes? He is getting paid a King’s Ransom and delivers below expected results most of the time. Bottom line is that TN isn’t hanging Banners from the rafters and I don’t see this happening under Barnes. He is to old, tired and stubborn to adjust his offense and that is not going to change. Get prepared for under achieving mediocrity if TN continues to be satisfied with the results Barnes is putting on the court.
Click to expand...
Barnes is robbing us. Paying anybody $5M to get the type of results we have gotten is nothing more than highway robbery. Stubborn and arrogant are two perfect descriptions for him. He came here to ride out his retirement and our previous administration bought into it we Will continue to suffer for it. He is possibly one of the worst coaches in March ever to coach. The only worse one I can think of is Mick Cronin
 
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#25
#25
Rocky Top Raby said:
I can't believe people worship this guy after his continued underachieving and the fact he tried to bail on us for UCLA then pinned the whole thing on "god" when he didn't get the contract he wanted.
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Without Grant Williams Barnes has only won 52% of his games. Reminds me of a football coach named Butch that only won when he had Josh Dobbs at QB
 
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