BTO’s Florida Postgame Report

#26
#26
vol94 said:
Strange answer as Barnes always applauds this team’s experience and maturity as they are a veteran team.
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I mean he wasn’t wrong tho. Up 44-38 and then let Florida end a game on 29-10. Yes we didn’t get a call for over 9 minutes, but that same stretch. Played liked an immature team
 
#27
#27
Will say this though. 3 of the 4 losses, this team has gotten exposed in a way and figured it out.
1. Colorado- big head and learned it’s not a given.
2. Kentucky - lack of aggression can’t happen.
3. Florida- Lack of Maturity
Hopefully they learn from this too. Rather it happen now then in March.
 
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#33
#33
Clad in Big Orange said:
This team just won’t go far. I wouldn’t be surprised if the wheels come off and they end up a 4 seed.
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If being a 4 seed is having the wheels come off I would hate to see what being a bubble team feels like. Go ask Kentucky fans how they are feeling about this season other than their win over us. Btw you do realize a 4 seed is the equivalent of being a top 16 team? That’s not really having the wheels fall off.
 
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#34
#34
I think the weirdest part of this loss has been the number of people on #VolTwitter almost relishing in the loss because it proved their narrative that this Tennessee basketball team isn’t “the greatest ever”. Lots of mocking tweets.

I get it. People are upset. I lost a lot of trust with this team tonight, too. But, I just don’t understand why large portions of our fanbase just seem to get more enjoyment out of losses than wins.
 
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#35
#35
TheMookieMonster said:
I think the weirdest part of this loss has been the number of people on #VolTwitter almost relishing in the loss because it proved their narrative that this Tennessee basketball team isn’t “the greatest ever”. Lots of mocking tweets.

I get it. People are upset. I lost a lot of trust with this team tonight, too. But, I just don’t understand why large portions of our fanbase just seem to get more enjoyment out of losses than wins.
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The Legions of the Miserable are a hallowed Tennessee tradition, like the Vol Navy or running through the T.
 
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#36
#36
bleedingTNorange said:
1. This one sucked, but I don’t know that it’s a total shock, at least not to me. I said a few times analytics saw this as one of the tougher remaining games, add in desperate team at their house and defense that has good guard play and a 5 man that’s better than anything we have, not a great recipe. That’s no excuse and you should find a way to win, but not a total shock that this happened, the fashion in which it happened is what probably sucks most.

2. As for fashion….when we lose it seems to be because we can’t score the ball, which just from an optics standpoint seems to make it even more frustrating/miserable. We have a very contagious shooting team and it seems like when we are cold every single person is cold, that’s not a great trait to have. We really need to find someone that can give that consistent basket, or trip to the line, best chances seem to be Nkamhoua or Phillips, the latter of which has got to get more touched imo.

3. Shortened rotation…once again when things got tough Barnes went with a shorter bench, playing 8 guys essentially all game, and in all honesty I’m not sure Plavsic should’ve saw what he did. I’m not saying bench him forever, but Castleton’s eyes widened when he saw Plav and went to work, he’s just too quick for Plav, same for Aidoo, but a bit too tall and strong for Nkamhoua, that’s not a great matchup for us realistically. Keep that in mind, not many teams have competent posts 6’10”+, but those that do will likely cause us some issues, especially if they’ve also got length at guard position like Florida did. Quickly on Nkamhoua, I liked what I saw, wasn’t perfect by any means but seemingly more locked in than many games and 11 & 9 was nice to see from him.

4. You can’t shoot 28% from the field and expect to win, it might happen every now and again but that’s a pathetic number, thank our defense for that even being a game because it shouldn’t have been. Vescovi, James and Key combine to go 4-26, that just can’t happen, honestly I’m not sure how it does happen, I really don’t have an explanation…it truly feels we are such a contagious team, either JJJ is hitting 15’ turnaround J’s while Vescovi is drilling. 30 footers and Key is coming off screens at 40mpg and hitting 3’s…or none of them can hit a wide open shot on the same night, I don’t get it and likely never will, but it sucks.

5. Little overview, this definitely shrinks the margin for error quite a bit, 1 seed is an uphill climb now, same for SEC championship…I said 8-2 was the goal, obviously that now moves to 8-1, that’s not going to be easy by any means. This is a Q1 game so it’s not a bad loss in a nutshell, but more than anything it’s just not a good look, leaves a bad taste and doesn’t make you feel very optimistic. If you go 8-1 then this loss means nothing at all, it won’t hurt you and you’re still a 1 seed, if you learn from it and use those lessons in March then great, but drop another couple games and lose an early one in March in similar fashion and this after taste just gets stronger.
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Solid write up and I thought that Tennessee settled for too many three point looks when they should have shot a few more mid range shots.

Florida had a unique game plan in that they did not hit the offensive glass and they made sure that Tennessee did not get any easy baskets by having all 5 players sprint back to the defensive end after running an offensive set.

Castleton is just a bad match up problem for Tennessee and the Gators can block a lot of shots inside the paint.

Auburn is a must win game on Saturday afternoon at TBA.
 
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#37
#37
TheMookieMonster said:
I think the weirdest part of this loss has been the number of people on #VolTwitter almost relishing in the loss because it proved their narrative that this Tennessee basketball team isn’t “the greatest ever”. Lots of mocking tweets.

I get it. People are upset. I lost a lot of trust with this team tonight, too. But, I just don’t understand why large portions of our fanbase just seem to get more enjoyment out of losses than wins.
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Are they really Tennessee fans or do they just claim to be Tennessee fans? Ask them to cut themselves to see if their blood bleeds orange. That’s a good way to find out 😜
 
#38
#38
bleedingTNorange said:
1. This one sucked, but I don’t know that it’s a total shock, at least not to me. I said a few times analytics saw this as one of the tougher remaining games, add in desperate team at their house and defense that has good guard play and a 5 man that’s better than anything we have, not a great recipe. That’s no excuse and you should find a way to win, but not a total shock that this happened, the fashion in which it happened is what probably sucks most.

2. As for fashion….when we lose it seems to be because we can’t score the ball, which just from an optics standpoint seems to make it even more frustrating/miserable. We have a very contagious shooting team and it seems like when we are cold every single person is cold, that’s not a great trait to have. We really need to find someone that can give that consistent basket, or trip to the line, best chances seem to be Nkamhoua or Phillips, the latter of which has got to get more touched imo.

3. Shortened rotation…once again when things got tough Barnes went with a shorter bench, playing 8 guys essentially all game, and in all honesty I’m not sure Plavsic should’ve saw what he did. I’m not saying bench him forever, but Castleton’s eyes widened when he saw Plav and went to work, he’s just too quick for Plav, same for Aidoo, but a bit too tall and strong for Nkamhoua, that’s not a great matchup for us realistically. Keep that in mind, not many teams have competent posts 6’10”+, but those that do will likely cause us some issues, especially if they’ve also got length at guard position like Florida did. Quickly on Nkamhoua, I liked what I saw, wasn’t perfect by any means but seemingly more locked in than many games and 11 & 9 was nice to see from him.

4. You can’t shoot 28% from the field and expect to win, it might happen every now and again but that’s a pathetic number, thank our defense for that even being a game because it shouldn’t have been. Vescovi, James and Key combine to go 4-26, that just can’t happen, honestly I’m not sure how it does happen, I really don’t have an explanation…it truly feels we are such a contagious team, either JJJ is hitting 15’ turnaround J’s while Vescovi is drilling. 30 footers and Key is coming off screens at 40mpg and hitting 3’s…or none of them can hit a wide open shot on the same night, I don’t get it and likely never will, but it sucks.

5. Little overview, this definitely shrinks the margin for error quite a bit, 1 seed is an uphill climb now, same for SEC championship…I said 8-2 was the goal, obviously that now moves to 8-1, that’s not going to be easy by any means. This is a Q1 game so it’s not a bad loss in a nutshell, but more than anything it’s just not a good look, leaves a bad taste and doesn’t make you feel very optimistic. If you go 8-1 then this loss means nothing at all, it won’t hurt you and you’re still a 1 seed, if you learn from it and use those lessons in March then great, but drop another couple games and lose an early one in March in similar fashion and this after taste just gets stronger.
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Just another one of those games where no one shows up on the offensive end. I thought shot selection was very poor at times. I would like to have seen more of Awaka, but Barnes knows what he's doing. Let's hope between this, Kentucky, and Colorado, we've just about gotten these out of our system. Now, let's take it out on the Weagles!
 
#39
#39
TheMookieMonster said:
I think the weirdest part of this loss has been the number of people on #VolTwitter almost relishing in the loss because it proved their narrative that this Tennessee basketball team isn’t “the greatest ever”. Lots of mocking tweets.

I get it. People are upset. I lost a lot of trust with this team tonight, too. But, I just don’t understand why large portions of our fanbase just seem to get more enjoyment out of losses than wins.
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VolTwitter? Look around here, we have some posting who are almost giddy at the thought of us not making it past the first weekend, like they can't wait to celebrate how right they are. And those "fans" can go pound sand.
 
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#41
#41
bleedingTNorange said:
3. Shortened rotation…once again when things got tough Barnes went with a shorter bench, playing 8 guys essentially all game, and in all honesty I’m not sure Plavsic should’ve saw what he did. I’m not saying bench him forever, but Castleton’s eyes widened when he saw Plav and went to work, he’s just too quick for Plav, same for Aidoo, but a bit too tall and strong for Nkamhoua, that’s not a great matchup for us realistically. Keep that in mind, not many teams have competent posts 6’10”+, but those that do will likely cause us some issues, especially if they’ve also got length at guard position like Florida did. Quickly on Nkamhoua, I liked what I saw, wasn’t perfect by any means but seemingly more locked in than many games and 11 & 9 was nice to see from him.
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See: Michigan, University of, from last year's NCAA Tourney.

Same recipe: Big goon in the middle shuts down UT's bigs and nobody else steps up.

Uros has a tendency to get intimidated and there's really no reason for it other than between his ears. ON is still stuck on a roller coaster. With his tools, consistency is the difference between playing in the NBA and playing in Croatia. Again, the problem seems to be between his ears as well.

Inside play is akin to the offensive and defensive lines in football, get beat there and 9/10 you lose.
 
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#42
#42
Pretty damn simple. We shot the ball 20 more times then Florida and made it 2 less times than them, not including the 7 more free throw they hit. We took bad shots and missed them and we took some good shots and missed them. BTO is right, is seem contagious. Nearly everyone of our losses in the last 2 years and some of our near losses all looked similar and you could see it coming early in the game. Saw it tonight just like Colorado. The confidence gets shaken, guys either stand around or force bad shots. This team has to shoot well (not great) from outside to be successful. Our defense can carry us only so far when we shoot less than 28%. Sucks to get beat by Florida and it hurts all or our pride but does not really matter in the end as long as it gets fixed.
 
#43
#43
cardvolfan said:
Couldn’t get the ball inside consistently. Castleton was a huge problem defensively. When you’re not hitting outside, you have to get buckets down low. Castleton had a huge effect. Every team has off nights shooting.
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True, but Castleton is also a whiney-butt. Officials allowed him & other Gators to push, shove all night. Vols didn't play well, either. Bad combination.
 
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#44
#44
One thing, they won’t beat us in Knoxville in 2023. We just have to play this bad matchup away & possibly in SEC T.
 
#45
#45
walkenvol said:
Agree 100% on 4.

Don’t think Phillips needs more touches as the officials have started calling him differently from the early season. He’s expecting to shoot free throws when he launches himself into a wad of players in the paint. The officials were obliging him in the OOC games but that’s becoming a no call in conference games it appears. Phillips is very talented so hopefully he will adjust
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Phillips is weak. SEC defenses are pushing him around. He looks like a new born giraffe when he tries to go to the basket. I really can’t imagine his stock is very high right now. The same rules that allow us to play this oppressive defense are the same ones causing Phillips issues.
 
#46
#46
WaywardVol said:
Phillips is weak. SEC defenses are pushing him around. He looks like a new born giraffe when he tries to go to the basket. I really can’t imagine his stock is very high right now. The same rules that allow us to play this oppressive defense are the same ones causing Phillips issues.
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Yeah, I’m pretty disappointed in Phillips so far. I was hoping he would have a Kennedy Chandler type impact this year, but he just disappears for multiple games in a row quite often. He’s not providing the scoring juice I was led to believe he would. Disappointing.
 
#47
#47
I think this game should recalibrate expectations. Although the weak early schedule allowed us to get to #2, this team is nowhere near the 2nd best team in the country. This team has significant flaws. I don’t see a shooter on the team. All of our guards are just as likely to go 1-8 from the field as they are to go 5-8. We also may have the least athletic backcourt in the conference. I don’t know why, but part of our identity is tentativeness in offense. It’s almost like we sacrifice offense for defense. We’ll still win a lot of games, so I’ll enjoy the ride.
 
#49
#49
cbrown said:
I think this game should recalibrate expectations. Although the weak early schedule allowed us to get to #2, this team is nowhere near the 2nd best team in the country. This team has significant flaws. I don’t see a shooter on the team. All of our guards are just as likely to go 1-8 from the field as they are to go 5-8. We also may have the least athletic backcourt in the conference. I don’t know why, but part of our identity is tentativeness in offense. It’s almost like we sacrifice offense for defense. We’ll still win a lot of games, so I’ll enjoy the ride.
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No shooter on the team? Vescovi and ZZ are shooters.
 
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#50
#50
Tennessee has 2-3 more losses coming, Kentucky at Rupp, Alabama at home, @ Auburn and possibly at A&M. The adjustments to stop Castleton last night didn't work, the players seemed disinterested most of the game and their offense was atrocious (it wasnt just shots that werent falling, it was the terrible shot selection.) Also the refs calling double the fouls on UT over Florida didnt help either.
 
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