Bruce Pearl Leaving: Crow Thread

#79
#79
Back to no star player rankings for recruits.

Yeah, like Yarbrough, Hathaway, Victor, Black, Slay, Tony Harris, CJ Watson, just to name a few of the no-namers that we got stuck with before Pearl started bringing in all the NBA draft picks.
 
#81
#81
Golden, Mcrae, Hall, Maymon, Mcbee, Ware, Jones, Tatum Woolridge.

It's certainly not the least talented roster we've put on the court in recent history.

there is talent, but there isn't much inside presence, and none of them are really proven at this level
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#83
#83
That roster wasnt great, but there were some guys who had proven they could play
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Wingate? Patterson? Asumnu? Bradshaw, the former backup PG, at PF?

If we want that lineup back we can replicate it by poking Hall's eyes out so he can't shoot, breaking Tatum's hands, and moving Trae Golden to power forward.

Lofton was a big help, no doubt, but to claim next year's overall talent level is "far worse" is just silly.
 
#85
#85
Pearl inherited Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and the only competent point guard he's had in his entire tenure, C.J. Watson. Assuming Hopson and Harris go, who's coming back next year that can compare to that?

You're going with JaJuan Smith? Really?

OK...JaJuan was a walkon. The year before Pearl arrived he averaged less than 7 minutes a game, shot 35% from 2, 29% from 3, and 44% from the FT line.

In Buzz's last year, Watson had 96 turnovers. Guess how many current vols have 96 turnovers this year? (Hint: it's zero) Watson shot 44% from 2-point range that year, and a rather average 37.5% from 3.

Lofton, of course, hasn't been replaced in ANY year since he left, and won't be next year either.

And then there was Wingate, and Patterson, and Asumnu, and Bradshaw. And that's it--nothing else at all. We basically played 7 guys, none of which was any kind of offensive post threat at all, and only one of which could guard a post.

Next year we will continue to not have Lofton or Watson (just like we didn't this year or last), but otherwise the lineup, top to bottom, will be better than Pearl's first squad.

Any prospective coach with even half a testicle will look at our roster and believe he can win with it.
 
#86
#86
I'm going with JaJuan Smith the basketball player he turned into, not the walk-on he came in as. Which of course gets you right into the chicken and egg argument of: which has been Pearl's problem, recruiting/evaluation or player development? If you give Pearl credit for developing Smith and Watson, then that makes you wonder if his own recruits have stalled out because they're overrated and not very good to begin with. If Pearl doesn't deserve any credit for developing Smith and Watson, then that does make you feel better about all these highly ranked players we have that can't see the floor, because maybe it's just his coaching. But then that takes you right back to Pearl inheriting some good players, and when you look at the roster coming back it's hard to see who those players are going to be. The only guy we've got coming back next year who's averaged more than 3 points a game is Tatum, who is a freaking disaster.

I don't doubt that any prospective coach will look at our roster and all our highly ranked benchwarmers and figure that it has to be just that Pearl was screwing it up. But see, I do think that Pearl did a nice job developing the roster he inherited, and I have been worried for several years that Pearl was recruiting guys who were athletes rather than basketball players, and so I think there's a pretty good possibility that the problem with all the guys on our four-star scout team is basically that they just suck.
 

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