Dick Vitale predicts UT not in sweet 16.

[njvols]

Idk what to expect from the team at this point. I wouldn't pencil them into the Sweet 16 either today. Looking forward to seeing the new squad in action.

I think we will be in the mix but we are like a lot of teams in portal era. How does talent + chemistry + culture line up. Rick gets it right more times than not…what many analysts fail to consider.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Agree with Vol423. All of these so called BB experts like Vitale have no idea, just like us fans, how this years team is going to mesh together and how the new players are going to perform in Barnes' system so they all take the safe route and pick a team low. Vol FB team in the same situation. Picked 7th in SEC. Nothing to get upset about.

Hopefully all the experts are proven wrong on the field and court.

 

[vegasvolfan]

He actually predicts 2 teams that walked off with UT players in portal as making it though (Arkansas and Arizona)

I feel like the loss of those 2 guys along with Knecht, Santi and JJJ is going to mean this team has a lot bigger hill to climb than most think. I think UT fans are underestimating those 2 players' impacts on this team because their contributions/talent were not obvious in the box score. It’s kinda how really good DT's get overlooked by most fanbases. Some positions do most of their work in ways that don't always show up in a box score. The one player this UT team missed most last year was not the guards we replaced but Uros Plasvic.

My only concerns are chemistry, losing Knecht and whether or not the same level of production can be sustained by the incoming transfers.

How quickly can we build chemistry? Barnes seems to be pretty good at that. Not to mention our senior most starter is also the PG. So, I trust that won’t be an issue.

Sure James was clutch in some games, and Vescovi had some key plays, but overall they both underperformed. Put simply, the game came down mostly to Knecht and ZZZ’s performances too many times, and we get one of them back. James was a pretty consistent defensively around the rim, and Vescovi was pesky on D, but I think the guys coming in seem to have better numbers on offense elsewhere than what Vescovi and James put up last year, and I believe at least one of them is a high level shot blocker.

So, I think they might make up for the lack of production from those two and perhaps compensate for SOME of Knecht’s production. The question there is, can they put up the same or better numbers in the SEC and with the level of effort Barnes requires on Defense. I do believe we have seen some transfers struggle to do that in the past.

 

[chuckiepoo]

I do believe we have seen some transfers struggle to do that in the past.

…oof troof.

 

[cardvolfan]

He actually predicts 2 teams that walked off with UT players in portal as making it though (Arkansas and Arizona)

I feel like the loss of those 2 guys along with Knecht, Santi and JJJ is going to mean this team has a lot bigger hill to climb than most think. I think UT fans are underestimating those 2 players' impacts on this team because their contributions/talent were not obvious in the box score. Its kinda how really good DT's get overlooked by most fanbases. Some positions do most of their work in ways that don't always show up in a box score. The one player this UT team missed most last year was not the guards we replaced but Uros Plasvic.

I’m not sure with all the change that has occurred what will really happen. We lost a ton of experience and one generational talent. However, at the very least it will be an interesting season and fun to watch how this team does. We’ve got some offensive firepower more evenly spread out across the board, so I’m curious how this plays out.

 

[kell7517]

Dick vitale is 85 years old and has about that same knowledge of lee corso does in football…also this didn’t need its own thread

But yet you took the time to read it and then comment….

 

[pimo1]

It’d be good to remind everyone that DK played for a losing 12-20 team in the Big Sky conference, and ended up averaging more at UT than he did there. Dalton also didn’t have that first real break out game until UNC. I’d trust in Barnes’ evals of the guys we picked up this off season. Personally I’m the most excited for Igor. Reminds me of a bigger version of DK. I’m sure the haircut has nothing to do with it

We also had a lot of veteran leadership in Santi and JJJ and outside of DK and Gainey all the contributors were guys that had been in the program. This year we are replacing 5 of our top 8 rotation with players new to this program. Losing Aidoo and Awaka was huge. Aidoo was ranked 12th in transfer portal. Lanier 38th Dubar 73rd Okpara 86th others unranked. 2024-25 transfer rankings: Where have the best players in the portal committed?

That's a lot of guys to have to develop and get gelling. ZZ is a great leader but he is pretty much the only returning Vol guaranteed a starting spot.

 

[pimo1]

It’d be good to remind everyone that DK played for a losing 12-20 team in the Big Sky conference, and ended up averaging more at UT than he did there. Dalton also didn’t have that first real break out game until UNC. I’d trust in Barnes’ evals of the guys we picked up this off season. Personally I’m the most excited for Igor. Reminds me of a bigger version of DK. I’m sure the haircut has nothing to do with it

I'd like to remind everyone that DK was an extreme outlier. Anyone who says they knew he would turn out like he did is lying hard. Do you know how rare it is for a player to go from a conference like the Big Sky to the SEC and improve his stats? Not only did he improve his stats he improved his efficiency. He went from scoring 20 a game in 35 mins against the Big Sky to almost 22 in 5 less minutes a game. Thats wild. I am sure the staff helped but most of that was just on this kid he just wanted it. Expecting them to start cranking out offensive juggernauts is silly. To your point explain Gainey? He came from a similar background and pedigree and played against comparable competition before coming to UT and was a coaches son.

He is what is called an outlier. A once-in-a-decade moonshot.

 

[pimo1]

Alpacas??

LLamas

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

My only concerns are chemistry, losing Knecht and whether or not the same level of production can be sustained by the incoming transfers.

How quickly can we build chemistry? Barnes seems to be pretty good at that. Not to mention our senior most starter is also the PG. So, I trust that won’t be an issue.

Sure James was clutch in some games, and Vescovi had some key plays, but overall they both underperformed. Put simply, the game came down mostly to Knecht and ZZZ’s performances too many times, and we get one of them back. James was a pretty consistent defensively around the rim, and Vescovi was pesky on D, but I think the guys coming in seem to have better numbers on offense elsewhere than what Vescovi and James put up last year, and I believe at least one of them is a high level shot blocker.

So, I think they might make up for the lack of production from those two and perhaps compensate for SOME of Knecht’s production. The question there is, can they put up the same or better numbers in the SEC and with the level of effort Barnes requires on Defense. I do believe we have seen some transfers struggle to do that in the past.

Explain how they "underperformed". Were they not expected to have reduced roles offensively with a scoring machine like Knecht emerging?

 

[GoodTimeVol]

We also had a lot of veteran leadership in Santi and JJJ and outside of DK and Gainey all the contributors were guys that had been in the program. This year we are replacing 5 of our top 8 rotation with players new to this program. Losing Aidoo and Awaka was huge. Aidoo was ranked 12th in transfer portal. Lanier 38th Dubar 73rd Okpara 86th others unranked. 2024-25 transfer rankings: Where have the best players in the portal committed?

That's a lot of guys to have to develop and get gelling. ZZ is a great leader but he is pretty much the only returning Vol guaranteed a starting spot.

That’s literally every team in college basketball…they all lose starters and replace them through the transfer portal or freshmen, rinse and repeat next year

 

[GoodTimeVol]

Did they suddenly legalize drugs in TN?

Making a final 4 isn’t something our program can’t achieve… we just haven’t yet kinda like how baseball has never won a CWS until they did this year. I get that we are not supposed to be prejudice to our team when discussing their outlook, but it’s a weird take by a Tenn fan

 

[chuckiepoo]

LLamas

Quito sheep..

 

[bigorangepoppa]

Didn't Barnes make an adjustment on Knechts release? I trust him to recognize a deficiency in a shooters stroke and work with them to make the adjustment necessary to be more consistent.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Didn't Barnes make an adjustment on Knechts release? I trust him to recognize a deficiency in a shooters stroke and work with them to make the adjustment necessary to be more consistent.

Pretty sure Chaz Lanier has a hitch in his git along as his shot goes up. Curious if they try to make an adjustment.

 

[pimo1]

That’s literally every team in college basketball…they all lose starters and replace them through the transfer portal or freshmen, rinse and repeat next year

Way to oversimplify. Yes, all teams lose players every year.. that is common sense. But teams hoping to make the sweet 16 rarely do with that many new guys. Losing players and losing Key players are 2 different things. Last years team had a veteran core and the UNDER performance of JJJ and Santi (especially JJJ) is wildly overstated. JJJ had his best statistical year defensively as a VOL and averaged 2 points less than the year before Santi had an off-year offensively. Most of their offensive stepback was accepting lesser roles on that end and DK and ZZ took more. There are only so many shots out there. Santi took half as many shots and scored half as many points. But trust me without those 2 guys we don't make Sweet 16. They were leaders and VFLS we are replacing them with mercs.

 

[pimo1]

Explain how they "underperformed". Were they not expected to have reduced roles offensively with a scoring machine like Knecht emerging?

exactly not just him but ZZ and Aidoo had bigger offensive roles also.

 

[chuckiepoo]

exactly not just him but ZZ and Aidoo had bigger offensive roles also.

Two things bring me solace looking forward to next year. First, Gregg Polinsky has reestablshed himself at the college level and second, lack of staff turnover. I think we’ll do fine.

 

[SlyStone]

Idk what to expect from the team at this point. I wouldn't pencil them into the Sweet 16 either today. Looking forward to seeing the new squad in action.

Exactly, Chemistry is going to be the key for this team. Lots of new pieces to get working as a team. It may take a minute for it to all come together or it could all fall apart. I believe this coaching staff won't let that happen.

 

[SlyStone]

It’d be good to remind everyone that DK played for a losing 12-20 team in the Big Sky conference, and ended up averaging more at UT than he did there. Dalton also didn’t have that first real break out game until UNC. I’d trust in Barnes’ evals of the guys we picked up this off season. Personally I’m the most excited for Igor. Reminds me of a bigger version of DK. I’m sure the haircut has nothing to do with it

I'm hoping for that breakout season from Cam Carr.

 

[kckempf]

Way to oversimplify. Yes, all teams lose players every year.. that is common sense. But teams hoping to make the sweet 16 rarely do with that many new guys. Losing players and losing Key players are 2 different things. Last years team had a veteran core and the UNDER performance of JJJ and Santi (especially JJJ) is wildly overstated. JJJ had his best statistical year defensively as a VOL and averaged 2 points less than the year before Santi had an off-year offensively. Most of their offensive stepback was accepting lesser roles on that end and DK and ZZ took more. There are only so many shots out there. Santi took half as many shots and scored half as many points. But trust me without those 2 guys we don't make Sweet 16. They were leaders and VFLS we are replacing them with mercs.

Duke makes the cut for him, and they have replaced 10 players I think. That's putting a lot of value in two returning players (who weren't really leaders) if that's what guiding him.

He releases these lists every year and they aren't any better or wise than anybody else's. None of this analysis ever seemed to deep to me, he's more of a super-fan than anything.

 

[pimo1]

Two things bring me solace looking forward to next year. First, Gregg Polinsky has reestablshed himself at the college level and second, lack of staff turnover. I think we’ll do fine.

From a scouting perspective? I am not that familiar with Polinsky other than his resume he last coached in 1999 and has spent over half his career (the most recent parts) in he NBA in scouting/personnel. Not knocking the guy or arguing just asking for some clarity? I totally agree on the staff retention being key.

 

[pimo1]

Duke makes the cut for him, and they have replaced 10 players I think. That's putting a lot of value in two returning players (who weren't really leaders) if that's what guiding him.

He releases these lists every year and they aren't any better or wise than anybody else's. None of this analysis ever seemed to deep to me, he's more of a super-fan than anything.

comparing UT to Duke is a tad silly. Duke is an outlier not the norm. Duke will be on everyone's Sweet 16 list every year for the foreseeable future just like Bama will be seen as a playoff hopefully every year in football. Fair or not they have the cache for that and can recruit blindfolded no matter the coach or situation.

Duke has missed the tourney 3 times in the last 41 years. in those 38 trips they have lost in the first round twice and won 5 Nattys. 29 sweet 16's. Oh and their recruiting class has 5 freshmen all in the top freaking 30 headlined by Cooper Flagg. Are you being serious here?

The other teams on that list you could have pointed out are Arkansas and Kentucky but oops they filled their transfer slots with top 50 guys instead of top 200's and have multiple top 40 freshmen coming in.

Look at what the teams lost and what they brought in. Duke loses multiple players to the NBA every year and fills their spots with more. We do not and did not. Duke has had 28 first-round draft picks the last 10 years. They average almost 3 a year. UT has had 4 (13 all-time). Kentucky has a similar track record and Arkansas funny enough sends players to the NBA regularly and they stole some 5 stars from Kentucky in the portal. So no, no team in Vitales list is comparable in situation to UT or even close. Never join a straw grasping competition my friend.

 

[pimo1]

Pretty sure Chaz Lanier has a hitch in his git along as his shot goes up. Curious if they try to make an adjustment.

Does our staff have a history of messing with guys shots? Dude is a career 40% three-point shooter and a senior. I would be very reticent to mess with that. It's one thing for a young guy you're gonna have time with. This guy has to come in and be the man. right? He is the offensive punch to this portal class afaik and the highest-rated guy by far we brought in.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Does our staff have a history of messing with guys shots? Dude is a career 40% three-point shooter and a senior. I would be very reticent to mess with that. It's one thing for a young guy you're gonna have time with. This guy has to come in and be the man. right? He is the offensive punch to this portal class afaik and the highest-rated guy by far we brought in.

Plus, Knecht’s issue was mostly verticality at the top of his release. I agree that there is alot more to adjust with Chaz, hence my curiosity.