Am I being too negative?

[tripper]

Their guards were SMALL. TH JR must weigh a buck fifty. I met TH SR and he must weigh at least 200 plus, cool guy. It was pretty electric when SR put up 51.
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[johnnybravo]

...Which is another problem. Despite spurts of defensive intensity, we have been plagued over the past few years by an inability to closely guard the hot shooter(s) [see: Jodie Meeks].

Well, the if it's answer that you seek from your thread topic, then from every post you have posted, the answer is definitely YES!!!

 

[kiddiedoc]

You're probably right. I would think most teams will be in "tourny shape" come March. Most are not ready to go to the big dance in Nov.

But, I think most teams qualified for a deep tourney run should perform better on 3 days of rest against the CoC.

It's not the lack of energy that I'm terribly concerned with. We brought the heat against Purdue: it's obvious that we can "flip on the switch" when necessary. It's the lack of any sort of idea on offense and the terrible passing and play under the rim that I'm concerned with.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Well, the if it's answer that you seek from your thread topic, then from every post you have posted, the answer is definitely YES!!!

OK. I just expected to see some serious progress on O this year. I doubt that I am alone with my frustration.

 

[3 Rocky Top Cove]

It's a trick! The other teams are intentionally trying to keep the Vols from scoring!

 

[volroadwarrior]

We will lose some games this year because we can't shoot foul shots. Book It!!!!!

 

[johnnybravo]

OK. I just expected to see some serious progress on O this year. I doubt that I am alone with my frustration.

Last year through 6 games vs. this year through 6 games.

Both teams 5-1.
2008 Vols get beat pretty bad by Gonzaga in the finals. This year Vols had a chance to beat #6 Purdue in the tourney finals.
2008 through 6 games FG% vs 2009
49.6% vs. 50.5%
FT% 70.4% vs. 74.2%
3PT% 37% vs. 45.5%
PPG 87.17 vs 88.2
Ast. 18.5 vs 19.8

We are scoring more at a better percentage, shooting the 3 considerable better, and FT% has improved.

 

[JManVolFan]

Again, I LOVE what CBP has brought to the program. But, at what point does it become painfully obvious that we are clueless when we have to slow down and play offense?

Man you are so right, we can't even control tempo against lesser competition. If a team wants to run slow against us they have a 90% chance of doing it sadly. Getting a little sick of it myself.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Last year through 6 games vs. this year through 6 games.

Both teams 5-1.
2008 Vols get beat pretty bad by Gonzaga in the finals. This year Vols had a chance to beat #6 Purdue in the tourney finals.
2008 through 6 games FG% vs 2009
49.6% vs. 50.5%
FT% 70.4% vs. 74.2%
3PT% 37% vs. 45.5%
PPG 87.17 vs 88.2
Ast. 18.5 vs 19.8

We are scoring more at a better percentage, shooting the 3 considerable better, and FT% has improved.

All of which are good news. Scotty (esp. from deep) has helped those stats, for sure. That's one positive I see thus far.

I also think our press defense looks better, but we really haven't faced very good competition, with the exception of Purdue.

Again, I'm far from a "nega-Vol." I just think that we need some real improvement from set offensive plays to evolve into a tourney threat.

 

[johnnybravo]

Man you are so right, we can't even control tempo against lesser competition. If a team wants to run slow against us they have a 90% chance of doing it sadly. Getting a little sick of it myself.

I guess it was easier to just not watch them and care when they were 1-5 vs. 5-1. Being in the top 10 also sucks. I wish we could just drop a few games and get out of that stupid poll thing.

 

[mtvols]

We were playing our 4th game in 7 days with a long trip home from the Virgin Islands. That includes a 4 hour bus ride home from the Atlanta airport. CBP practiced them yesterday for 3 hours. So, yes they were tired and everyone is reading too much into us only winning by 17 points. CBP admitted in post game comments that they are tired and maybe he shouldn't have practiced them so hard on Thursday. We are not going to win every game by 30+ points.

 

[johnnybravo]

All of which are good news. Scotty (esp. from deep) has helped those stats, for sure. That's one positive I see thus far.

I also think our press defense looks better, but we really haven't faced very good competition, with the exception of Purdue.

Again, I'm far from a "nega-Vol." I just think that we need some real improvement from set offensive plays to evolve into a tourney threat.

DePaul might end up being a pretty good team.

 

[kiddiedoc]

I guess it was easier to just not watch them and care when they were 1-5 vs. 5-1. Being in the top 10 also sucks. I wish we could just drop a few games and get out of that stupid poll thing.

Don't go off the deep end. I am certainly not.

My question is this: At what point do we demand more consistency on offense when we are forced to slow down and take advantage of our mismatches?

 

[johnnybravo]

Don't go off the deep end. I am certainly not.

My question is this: At what point do we demand more consistency on offense when we are forced to slow down and take advantage of our mismatches?

This is Pearl's most experienced team. Only time will tell if it will be Pearl's best team. Next year we take a huge step back. Tyler, Chism, Maze and possibly Hopson (not likely but possible) will be missed big time. Sit back and enjoy the ride. This could be a special year so enjoy it. Next year we will take some big lumps and may not be nearly as enjoyable.

 

[golf437]

If I say that this was one of the worst half-court offensive games I have seen from the Vols? We let a severely undermatched team stay with us for most of the game, hardly ever took advantage of our man-to-man advantages, threw sloppy passes out-of-bounds, and missed a ton of easy baskets underneath. If Scotty isn't shooting the three well in the first half, we likely go to the half down to....errrr....College of Charleston.

I wonder what the blind advocates of our current state of coaching will have to say about this game.

Again, I LOVE what CBP has brought to the program. But, at what point does it become painfully obvious that we are clueless when we have to slow down and play offense?

I like Bruce as a coach. You don't. Like all things there is no middle ground. So all that is left is someones opinion which doesn't change anything.

 

[Shaun1985]

We will lose some games this year because we can't shoot foul shots. Book It!!!!!

Fail.

Tennessee is shooting almost .750 from the line this year which is better than any single team Pearl has coached so far.

Also, another FAIL to whoever said that Tyler Smith is the only one shooting freethrows since he is averaging a 7th best on the team (out of 11).

Seriously, I'm not understanding all the negativity from so many fans on this board. It's not even December yet and we've only lost to 1 team (which happend to be an underachieving Purdue team that is ranked in the top 10 with an incredible amount of talent). Kind of surprises me that so many people would slam the Vols tonight for playing Charleston so close. Goudelock and Simmons have been the bread and butter for this team. Goudelock was an absolute no factor and Simmons had 5 baskets inside and went to the freethrow line 8 times to still get under his average. Monroe??? He made 1 three before this game and just shot lights out. They do tend to go in sometimes. I don't understand why when we play a team from a bottom feeder conference people just assume we should blow the doors right off the gym. Charleston has a great coach, decent guard play and they've had the privelages of playing teams like UNC, Temple a few times, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Vilinova, VCU, etc.. so playing in TBA wouldn't bother any of 'em. Also, maybe the team was tired. I don't really give a damn about their fatigue level for a tournament that is 3 months away when they have plenty of games for that. They did play a lot of games and they did practice pretty hard yesterday. We won!! and by 17 points. If so much judgement is going to be taken into consideration...I wouldn't bother picking and choosing....I'd actually consider it all! :furious3:

 

[NYYVol]

I like Bruce as a coach. You don't. Like all things there is no middle ground. So all that is left is someones opinion which doesn't change anything.

One's love or hate for Bruce should not get in the way of the fact this team has issues.
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[ZZ13]

Fail.

Tennessee is shooting almost .750 from the line this year which is better than any single team Pearl has coached so far.

Also, another FAIL to whoever said that Tyler Smith is the only one shooting freethrows since he is averaging a 7th best on the team (out of 11).

Seriously, I'm not understanding all the negativity from so many fans on this board. It's not even December yet and we've only lost to 1 team (which happend to be an underachieving Purdue team that is ranked in the top 10 with an incredible amount of talent). Kind of surprises me that so many people would slam the Vols tonight for playing Charleston so close. Goudelock and Simmons have been the bread and butter for this team. Goudelock was an absolute no factor and Simmons had 5 baskets inside and went to the freethrow line 8 times to still get under his average. Monroe??? He made 1 three before this game and just shot lights out. They do tend to go in sometimes. I don't understand why when we play a team from a bottom feeder conference people just assume we should blow the doors right off the gym. Charleston has a great coach, decent guard play and they've had the privelages of playing teams like UNC, Temple a few times, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Vilinova, VCU, etc.. so playing in TBA wouldn't bother any of 'em. Also, maybe the team was tired. I don't really give a damn about their fatigue level for a tournament that is 3 months away when they have plenty of games for that. They did play a lot of games and they did practice pretty hard yesterday. We won!! and by 17 points. If so much judgement is going to be taken into consideration...I wouldn't bother picking and choosing....I'd actually consider it all! :furious3:

My experiences show its human nature to build up and then tear down. The Pearl era is past the build up point which occurred during the first 3 years and is now well into the tear down phase. Contrast the content of this basketball page to the football page where nearly every post is building up Kiffin and the team. Anymore I try to stay away from this page as much as possible (although I occassionally check in to see if anything new and interesting gets posted - which usually isn't the case). The negative energy just turns me off.

 

[Lexvol]

I like Bruce as a coach. You don't. Like all things there is no middle ground. So all that is left is someones opinion which doesn't change anything.

Kiddiedoc....hater of all things Pearl....lol:

Reading comprehension can be your friend. Liking or disliking Bruce Pearl has nothing to do with the development of a competent half court offense. If we don't have one in March, we will not make a deep run.

 

[fromtheparkinglot]

Every team has its issues, even the great ones. But even with the lack of energy and lack of intensity the Vols were showing against an inferior opponent, I never doubted the eventual outcome of the game. It's nice to know that even on a bad night we still win by 17. If we played this team the first game of the season it would have been a 40 point rout. We lost a heart breaker to Purdue and will take a few games to get over it. I expect by the Memphis game the boys will be juiced up again and ready to beat down the Tigers!!!!

 

[Rockytopman]

There definitely was a lack of energy...maybe it was the jet-lag. But I do know one thing that just absolutely bugged the shat out of me, and that was the fact that B Williams and S Maze talked and laughed all the way through the National Anthem. That, along with our perimeter defense bugged the hell outta me.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Kiddiedoc....hater of all things Pearl....lol:

Reading comprehension can be your friend. Liking or disliking Bruce Pearl has nothing to do with the development of a competent half court offense. If we don't have one in March, we will not make a deep run.

Right. For those who don't know me personally (who already understand how much I like our coach), I believe I have stated multiple times that I love Bruce. It's beyond me why people seem to have a problem with a fan voicing legitimate concerns over a part of our game that has shown little to no improvement in 3 years.

I will say it again: we HAVE to come up with at least average half-court play to be a contender. We have the athletes (although jury is still out on our PG combo), and I'm hoping that we see some real progress by the Spring.

 

[vol1981]

Saying you are "tired" 4 days later is not acceptable. It certainly doesn't bode well when your are expecting a deep tourney run.

I apologize if this has already been posted in this thread: Pearl was quoted as saying he worked the team very, very hard in practice on Thursday. He said they kept messing up, so he kept working them. He kidded that the reason Hopson did OK in the first half was because Hopson didn't do anything in practice on Thursday.

 

[emainvol]

good to see that the knee-jerk reactions to anything remotely negative are still happening. Bottom line, Tennessee has looked like crap in the halfcourt on both ends for three games running, two of those were against inferior opponents, and one was against a team missing a helluva guard in Lewis Jackson. That's gotta change before the conference schedule. The SEC is bad, but there are enough competent guards in the league to make the Vols pay for that kind of play.

 

[Shaun1985]

There definitely was a lack of energy...maybe it was the jet-lag. But I do know one thing that just absolutely bugged the shat out of me, and that was the fact that B Williams and S Maze talked and laughed all the way through the National Anthem. That, along with our perimeter defense bugged the hell outta me.

haha I dono man...just saying shat about 3 times to myself just cracked me up for some reason. Wow I'm sad.

I agree though. That's pretty dumb and immature.