bleedingTNorange
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1. Great bounce back game from our Vols, Arkansas loss at their house wasn’t gonna hurt you unless you let it, Vols did a great job of avoiding that by picking up a near 20 point win in Columbia. No Missouri isn’t a great team, and yes this was their 3rd game in 5 days, but they’re a team that has played some teams tough at their place and Tennessee did exactly what they needed to, build a lead and never let them back in to it.
2. That quite arguably was Chandler’s best game as a Vol, he was more dominant closing that Colorado game but for a full 40 minute game that one may take the cake. 37mins 23p 8r 6a 2s 0to 9-12fg 2-4 from 3…the one negative would be free throws still as he was just 3-7 from the line. His pace was excellent and his movement without the ball, cutting to the basket was so impressive tonight. He struggled with with very questionable charge calls last game against Arkansas so it was great to see this rebound from him, when he plays like that it obviously makes us better.
3. Really thought BHH showed something in that 2nd half, had some dunks tonight’s we haven’t seen all year and same on some of those rebounds, really showed a different level of aggression. Maybe it’s Aidoo going past him for more minutes or maybe it’s just starting to figure things out, but there’s no doubt that the light coming on for him would be a good thing for us. Aidoo struggled a bit scoring, but liked his aggressiveness, he was really good defensively and his rim protection continues to be something no one else brings, same as BHH obviously, the more he can come on the better for us. I really like Aidoo as our 5 in that small ball lineup, can run with our guards in that uptempo page the shot blocking ability is great.
4. Raise your hand if you had Bailey as having a coming out game tonight….nobody? Me either
. I have zero confidence that it’s the start of something, but if we had to endure a 26 game cold stretch for him to give us a 10+ game heater then I’ll absolutely take it. Justin Powell didn’t even get off the bench tonight, and of late he’s just really not brought anything, he doesn’t look to score and outside of spot up 3’s doesn’t look to even shoot, his defense is on par with Bailey so if Bailey can give you what he did tonight that’s more than Powell is going to. Again I don’t have great confidence in that happening but I totally get trying it again and seeing what happens.
5. Somewhat of a continuation off #4 but I continue to be worried about lack of consistent rotation…outside of Zeigler, Chandler, Vescovi & James who your 5th is changes, same for 6/7/8. Tonight it was Aidoo/BHH/Bailey, that hasn’t been your 5/6/7 all year. You just don’t know what you’re going to get and that worries me, by this point in the season you’d really like to have a carved out 7/8 man rotation and know what you’re going to get, maybe it gets there by tourney time but time is ticking. And maybe it doesn’t matter, but I don’t recall too many successful teams that have those question marks. I will say that counter is what we’ve been saying, those 4 you believe in you role with in small ball, and then just rotate 5 men…maybe that’s what Barnes does down the stretch, it was definitely your best move tonight going small ball with JJJ at the 4, that’s almost entirely where our + tonight came from, 2 post lineups were just about a net 0.
6. Ok so big picture reset, that game was big for obvious reasons, a win doesn’t make much noise but a loss sure would’ve. From a resume standpoint that win now means that if you beat Georgia next Tuesday on the road it’s almost a certainty that Tennessee won’t have a single loss that isn’t Q1 on the season, that pays off on selection Sunday. We sit at 20-7(11-4), 3 games remaining, 2-1 the most likely outcome and what we all would have gladly taken weeks ago, but a huge opportunity Saturday against Auburn to try and turn that tide a little bit and possibly hope for more. With 3 games left before SECT the seed possibilities continue to narrow down, anything from 2-5 is on the table still with 3/4 seeming most likely, 2-1 close probably keeps 3/4 as most likely, find a way to go 3-0 and suddenly 3/2 seed seem most likely.
GBO!!!!
2. That quite arguably was Chandler’s best game as a Vol, he was more dominant closing that Colorado game but for a full 40 minute game that one may take the cake. 37mins 23p 8r 6a 2s 0to 9-12fg 2-4 from 3…the one negative would be free throws still as he was just 3-7 from the line. His pace was excellent and his movement without the ball, cutting to the basket was so impressive tonight. He struggled with with very questionable charge calls last game against Arkansas so it was great to see this rebound from him, when he plays like that it obviously makes us better.
3. Really thought BHH showed something in that 2nd half, had some dunks tonight’s we haven’t seen all year and same on some of those rebounds, really showed a different level of aggression. Maybe it’s Aidoo going past him for more minutes or maybe it’s just starting to figure things out, but there’s no doubt that the light coming on for him would be a good thing for us. Aidoo struggled a bit scoring, but liked his aggressiveness, he was really good defensively and his rim protection continues to be something no one else brings, same as BHH obviously, the more he can come on the better for us. I really like Aidoo as our 5 in that small ball lineup, can run with our guards in that uptempo page the shot blocking ability is great.
4. Raise your hand if you had Bailey as having a coming out game tonight….nobody? Me either
. I have zero confidence that it’s the start of something, but if we had to endure a 26 game cold stretch for him to give us a 10+ game heater then I’ll absolutely take it. Justin Powell didn’t even get off the bench tonight, and of late he’s just really not brought anything, he doesn’t look to score and outside of spot up 3’s doesn’t look to even shoot, his defense is on par with Bailey so if Bailey can give you what he did tonight that’s more than Powell is going to. Again I don’t have great confidence in that happening but I totally get trying it again and seeing what happens. 5. Somewhat of a continuation off #4 but I continue to be worried about lack of consistent rotation…outside of Zeigler, Chandler, Vescovi & James who your 5th is changes, same for 6/7/8. Tonight it was Aidoo/BHH/Bailey, that hasn’t been your 5/6/7 all year. You just don’t know what you’re going to get and that worries me, by this point in the season you’d really like to have a carved out 7/8 man rotation and know what you’re going to get, maybe it gets there by tourney time but time is ticking. And maybe it doesn’t matter, but I don’t recall too many successful teams that have those question marks. I will say that counter is what we’ve been saying, those 4 you believe in you role with in small ball, and then just rotate 5 men…maybe that’s what Barnes does down the stretch, it was definitely your best move tonight going small ball with JJJ at the 4, that’s almost entirely where our + tonight came from, 2 post lineups were just about a net 0.
6. Ok so big picture reset, that game was big for obvious reasons, a win doesn’t make much noise but a loss sure would’ve. From a resume standpoint that win now means that if you beat Georgia next Tuesday on the road it’s almost a certainty that Tennessee won’t have a single loss that isn’t Q1 on the season, that pays off on selection Sunday. We sit at 20-7(11-4), 3 games remaining, 2-1 the most likely outcome and what we all would have gladly taken weeks ago, but a huge opportunity Saturday against Auburn to try and turn that tide a little bit and possibly hope for more. With 3 games left before SECT the seed possibilities continue to narrow down, anything from 2-5 is on the table still with 3/4 seeming most likely, 2-1 close probably keeps 3/4 as most likely, find a way to go 3-0 and suddenly 3/2 seed seem most likely.
GBO!!!!
