Colorado Postgame Report

[LucidZ]

No love for EJ? I thought he looked great.

I like his aggression and strength. His stats might have looked better if it weren't for some bogus calls against him. Like that block he had, which was clean. The refs sucked tonight.

In general, for the whole team...I wasn't exactly expecting too much considering how our practice schedule fluctuated alot. They just need more time together on the court. All-in-all though, I see some promise for this group and feel like we're actually pretty deep on our roster.

 

[cncchris33]

No love for EJ? I thought he looked great.

8. Anosike is strong as an ox, though he may have gone against the biggest guy he'll play against tonight in Battey. Battey made EJA look small. His shot was off tonight, but he got some big boards, early on.

 

[Volfan1000]

The defensive effort tonight was very solid and this team has a very good chance of being Barnes's best defensive team at Tennessee.

 

[TMvol10]

1. Tale of two games. At the 10:00 mark of the first half we had a 23-8 lead. We won 56-47. On pace for 92 points and we finish with 56. The 2-3 zone that Colorado went to really caused us problems.

2. When we managed to get the ball in the middle of that zone, our bigs couldn't buy a basket from 15 feet and in. Fulk, Pons, EJA, Nkamhoua, and Plavsic finished a combined 7-29 from the field.

3. Pons looked particularly off. His shot was flat and short all night long. Not all was lost, however. He did manage to lead the team in rebounds, which is the area I believed he could improve the most. He finished with 10 boards.

4. As I predicted, our length and athleticism, defensively, frustrated Wright (CU's leading scorer). We held him to 9 points while he came in averaging 22 ppg. Keon Johnson, particularly, seemed to aggravate him with his length and ability to recover. He only managed to get off 8 shots while averaging 14 attempts per game, and he turned it over 5 times.

5. Keon Johnson looked pretty solid defensively, and he got in a bit more of a rhythm on offense as the game went on. He was a little loose and careless with the ball, leading the team in TOs. He is aggressive on defense and looked to be pretty vocal and energized.

6. Springer looked better offensively than defensively, which I didnt expect. He got lost a couple times defensively, but hit two big 3s. He is going to need to attack the basket more going forward and work on his FT shooting. He took one and missed badly.

7. Bailey led the team in minutes, helping to contain Wright on defense. His stroke is really pretty and he had some big shots in the first half.

8. Anosike is strong as an ox, though he may have gone against the biggest guy he'll play against tonight in Battey. Battey made EJA look small. His shot was off tonight, but he got some big boards, early on.

9. Our ball-handling as a team looked really sloppy, at times. Vescovi has improved his right hand quite a bit, but he is still very left dominant. Bailey was loose, James was loose. Johnson and Springer looked like freshmen handling the ball. Hopefully that improves.

10. Vescovi looked like the most complete player on the floor in this particular game. Still has a pretty shot, finds open guys, still forced a couple things, and probably wakes up with a shiner in the morning courtesy of Keon.

11. Refs were awful, tonight. Just really bad and inconsistent, especially with regards to block/charge calls and deflections.

In response to your 11th point, the refs looked lost, like they didn’t understand the game. Missed probably half a dozen out of bounds calls. They didn’t know when or what to call in a block/charge situation. It was very odd. It seemed almost as if they don’t know the game but tried to read a book that tells them how to officiate. I hope that’s the worst that we see.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I hope that we start a lot of games like we did tonight... but put on more steam.

1, 2, 3, AND 7 (*40).

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

2. Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way - SCORE.

3. If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam.

4. Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.

5. Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

7. Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.

 

[BruinVol]

I hope that we start a lot of games like we did tonight... but put on more steam.

1, 2, 3, AND 7 (*40).

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

2. Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way - SCORE.

3. If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam.

4. Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.

5. Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

7. Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.

Please don’t bring that sport into this area
thanks

 

[Catbone]

Please don’t bring that sport into this area
thanks

Lol

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Please don’t bring that sport into this area
thanks

It’s okay. Brick by Brick, Champions of Life, Where’s Rommel, and Opportunity is Nowhere didn’t make the list. Aight?

 

[Namorto1]

1. Tale of two games. At the 10:00 mark of the first half we had a 23-8 lead. We won 56-47. On pace for 92 points and we finish with 56. The 2-3 zone that Colorado went to really caused us problems.

2. When we managed to get the ball in the middle of that zone, our bigs couldn't buy a basket from 15 feet and in. Fulk, Pons, EJA, Nkamhoua, and Plavsic finished a combined 7-29 from the field.

3. Pons looked particularly off. His shot was flat and short all night long. Not all was lost, however. He did manage to lead the team in rebounds, which is the area I believed he could improve the most. He finished with 10 boards.

4. As I predicted, our length and athleticism, defensively, frustrated Wright (CU's leading scorer). We held him to 9 points while he came in averaging 22 ppg. Keon Johnson, particularly, seemed to aggravate him with his length and ability to recover. He only managed to get off 8 shots while averaging 14 attempts per game, and he turned it over 5 times.

5. Keon Johnson looked pretty solid defensively, and he got in a bit more of a rhythm on offense as the game went on. He was a little loose and careless with the ball, leading the team in TOs. He is aggressive on defense and looked to be pretty vocal and energized.

6. Springer looked better offensively than defensively, which I didnt expect. He got lost a couple times defensively, but hit two big 3s. He is going to need to attack the basket more going forward and work on his FT shooting. He took one and missed badly.

7. Bailey led the team in minutes, helping to contain Wright on defense. His stroke is really pretty and he had some big shots in the first half.

8. Anosike is strong as an ox, though he may have gone against the biggest guy he'll play against tonight in Battey. Battey made EJA look small. His shot was off tonight, but he got some big boards, early on.

9. Our ball-handling as a team looked really sloppy, at times. Vescovi has improved his right hand quite a bit, but he is still very left dominant. Bailey was loose, James was loose. Johnson and Springer looked like freshmen handling the ball. Hopefully that improves.

10. Vescovi looked like the most complete player on the floor in this particular game. Still has a pretty shot, finds open guys, still forced a couple things, and probably wakes up with a shiner in the morning courtesy of Keon.

11. Refs were awful, tonight. Just really bad and inconsistent, especially with regards to block/charge calls and deflections.

Spot on across the board on all points. Keon changed the momentum of the game with his defense early in 2nd half. That young man is relentless. Overall a good win against a quality opponent. Our zone offense looked horrid but if our forwards make 8 to 12 footers we win by 20+ and Colorado would have had to get out of the zone early and the game would have flowed better.

The biggest surprise to me was the rotation at PG. Vescovi is clearly the starter (not a surprise), but James/Johnson seemed to be co #2’s. I don’t see either Bailey or Springer playing the position much. The only other disappointing thing was that we really struggled to get a good shot when the clock was running down. An area I was hoping Springer would fill, but he wasn’t feeling good a few days ago and didn’t get a lot of minutes. Lastly Anoskie is a moose...he will help us a lot this year.

 

[njvols]

Overall, it was a solid win. Colorado is a good team. I think the team we saw the first 7 minutes of the game is the potential that this team has once they can clean up some early season jitters.

I don’t want to overreact or under react, but hey that’s what this board is for, right? So here are my thoughts.

#1) Pons and Fulkerson. What a disappointment. I expected more from the veterans and I believe their struggles are largely the reason the game was as close as it was. I’ll cut everyone some slack because of the weird off-season, but with all the talent on this team Pons might regret not declaring for the draft if he doesn’t shape up. He was abysmal on the offensive end which is the biggest reason he came back, to improve it.

#2) Keon and Jaden should be starting. I feel like in a few games, we’ll be seeing Santi and Josiah coming off the bench. It’s just one game, but I was far more impressed by the freshmen than I thought I would be by the end of the game.

#3) We still struggle with all the classic Rick Barnes’ coached-team flaws. Long stretches without any baskets and frequent turnovers. You have to mitigate those droughts or it’s going to cost you come tournament time. Just one year I’d like to see a Barnes’ team be more consistent with this but I know it’s tough.

#4) The defense is elite. Not much else needs to be said. It’s championship caliber. Bravo.

Agree on #4. Keon and Jaden would have been on floor more if not for their turnovers. Whoever starts, it's going to be quite a rotation w/ them, Vescovi and Bailey. This team literally hasn't had much time to practice, w/ everyone else getting on w/ the season. I wouldn't expect to see this sort of offensive performance in too many games once Fulk and Pons get their mojo going. Pons did have 10 rebounds which was good. Johnson looked like best athlete on the floor, but quietly James had 8 points 6 rebounds 3 assists and 3 steals. I'd like to see James be more aggressive to the rim, but that's not a bad box score, EJ is going to be valuable off the bench....just doesn't need to always shoot when he's open and it's not in his "down low" wheelhouse. Once this team locks in, there's not another team in the country we can't go toe to toe with.

 

[Vol49er]

Agree on #4. Keon and Jaden would have been on floor more if not for their turnovers. Whoever starts, it's going to be quite a rotation w/ them, Vescovi and Bailey. This team literally hasn't had much time to practice, w/ everyone else getting on w/ the season. I wouldn't expect to see this sort of offensive performance in too many games once Fulk and Pons get their mojo going. Pons did have 10 rebounds which was good. Johnson looked like best athlete on the floor, but quietly James had 8 points 6 rebounds 3 assists and 3 steals. I'd like to see James be more aggressive to the rim, but that's not a bad box score, EJ is going to be valuable off the bench....just doesn't need to always shoot when he's open and it's not in his "down low" wheelhouse. Once this team locks in, there's not another team in the country we can't go toe to toe with.

In the future, when he gets the ball 10-15 feet from the basket like that I'd love to see him put his shoulder down and go to the basket and see if he can't get the other teams' bigs in some foul trouble. Leave the midrange block shots to Yves and John

 

[ArdentVol]

OP offered a lot of good observations, and I doubt I can add anything to what has already been said. .Those first 10 minutes were scary good, and it[s hard to imagine this group suffering from as many droughts as it did tonight. Love the defense and the ability to go with many different lineups. If COVID doesnt derail the season, we could see one of the deepest and versatile groups. ever at UT.

Shoot, it would not botder me if we eight guys average 7.5 to 15 ppg and go 12 deep on many nights

 

[The Dog]

MY Google updates had an 'everything Rick Barnes said, after the Colorado game" story, pretty good. Will try to post it, but English did, help get this Colorado game scheduled

 

[TrippieRedd]

We have a Villanova type team and I’m here for it.

 

[BreatheUT]

Agreed on all points, especially on Vescovi. I was throwing hands and yelling at the TV when he turned the ball over against that weak half court trap all because he refused to go right. No clue how that hasn’t been fixed more by now, but I’m gonna try to reserve judgement for a few games. This team plays like the did they first 10 minutes and there’s not many out there who are capable of beating us.

Bone turned the ball over a lot early in his career.

 

[Freak]

 

[GojiraVol17]

Imo, this game definitely showed some first game jitters and the fact of having to pause for virus reasons. But, all in all we still showed flashes of our potential. I believe it was said before, I think the score may have been 26-3 or something..that’s dang good against a very solid team like Colorado. That zone was giving us fits, but it does everyone and we’re not immune. Freshman guys looked really good for freshman but they have a little to work on. All in all, good team win and plenty to build on. I’m sure coach Barnes will be doing rebounding drills all week with the boys. That’s one of the negatives that I did see. One series the Buffs had 4 consecutive offensive rebounds and then scored. Can’t let that happen often or we’ll get spanked.

 

[Volle]

Bailey impressed me the most of all the new guys-- what a pure outside shot!

 

[1985Vols]

I disagree about the freshman starting. Vescovi is not losing his spot unless this changes quite a bit for him. He brings something offensively that neither of the freshman bring. And he is vastly improved defensively. Never going to be elite defender but he is a "contributing defender" now and that will help his minutes because of what he brings on offense. Keon starting for JJJ is not a stretch at all. That might happen sooner rather than later. The way Keon moves is just different. The bounce and quickness he possesses with his size and length is unfair. And he plays with great energy.

Peoples view of Springer is boosted by the fact that he hit two wide-open 3s. But everything else he did was not good, offensively or defensively. I don't say that to insinuate that he is not good. I really like his HS film and think he will be really good eventually. But Keon looks much more ready to contribute early. That is based on just one game so who knows. Going to enjoy whatever happens because this team is elite and his quality depth. I thought Nkamhoua looked much more comfortable and confident.

No disrespect to JJJ , but Keon is what a real 5* player looks like. I agree, he will replace JJJ in starting lineup by mid- season. Springer is going to be a huge contributor as well

 

[1985Vols]

I hope that we start a lot of games like we did tonight... but put on more steam.

1, 2, 3, AND 7 (*40).

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

2. Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way - SCORE.

3. If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam.

4. Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.

5. Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

7. Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.

If only our football team could follow these maxims.....

 

[calban]

i didn't read very much into the FIRST game. Pretty good opponent for your first. and they had already played 2 games.
Saturday might not be any easier.
Saw whole bunch of potential though.

 

[walkenvol]

Keon jumped off the screen to me. Obviously he is still learning how to play in the flow of the offense, but his defensive pressure - wow! It’s like he fully expects to take the ball away from the dribbler. Over the course of the season he will force our guards to raise their defensive intensity or loose their PT. We’ve never been this deep on the perimeter with 5 legit quality starters. Hope CRB extends the defense to a constant full court when Keon and Springer get fully acclimated.

 

[kyvol98]

In response to your 11th point, the refs looked lost, like they didn’t understand the game. Missed probably half a dozen out of bounds calls. They didn’t know when or what to call in a block/charge situation. It was very odd. It seemed almost as if they don’t know the game but tried to read a book that tells them how to officiate. I hope that’s the worst that we see.

Found post game in the refs locker room:

 

[GRRN7MAXIMS]

No love for EJ? I thought he looked great.

He reminded me of the Jerod Maymon and Jarnell Stokes type of player! Bully ball with way more athletes surrounding him. I though he missed the extra pass 3 times to the open man under the rim and settled for jumpers. Once he makes the extra pass his presence will be all reboundingand defense with a few good assists a game. That is all we need from him. I hope to heck we are working on how to break down a 2-3 zone this week. With that being said, if a team wants to play us man to man all night, we can put up 100. Our team is deep, athletic, and strong this year. I can see why analysts are high on the vols. We just have to work out the kinks we saw tonight. Ceiling is championship this year. I am excited to watch it play out.

 

[Volfan2012]

Tremendous defensive effort by the Vols forcing them into 23 turnovers and 33 percent shooting. Sad that we had a very poor shooting game as well especially since the 8 to 12 footer that we were getting in the zone is a very high percentage shot and all our bigs totally failed to make it. Of course bad shooting games happen in basketball and when you can lock down on defense like we did tonight and force them totally out of their offense on numerous possessions you still win the game.
They came into this game averaging 80 a game bet they thought no way we could hold them under 60 and I would have expected them to score that many. Our bad offense is the only thing that made it a game. Give them credit they are very good defensively as well.
For a first game the defense was tremendous. Keon is a fabulous defensive guard. The Colorado guards probably won't forget him soon he was all over them and making their possessions very difficult. Hope we don't have to win many game this season with just 56 point, but overall for a first game with a previous two week shutdown this was a terrific performance by our team.