Is this year's team the Vols Most talented team since

#53
#53
I think the 07-08 team was our best team under Pearl. Brought us a regular season SEC championship, first ever number one ranking as a program, and a 31-5 record. Not too shabby if you ask me. The 09-10 team seemed to get hot and come together as a team at the right time. I dont think anyone can honestly say going into the tournament that year that they thought we would make the elite 8 and be a busted play away from the final 4 in a one point loss.
 
#54
#54
ainge10heisman said:
I think the 07-08 team was our best team under Pearl.
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I agree. IMO, McRae is the only one on this year's team with a chance of cracking that starting lineup, and even then, who do you bench? Lofton or Jajuan? Some will argue for Stokes over Chism or Tyler Smith, but their versatility made them more effective in Pearl's system than a one-dimensional Stokes.
 
#55
#55
cncchris33 said:
I agree. IMO, McRae is the only one on this year's team with a chance of cracking that starting lineup, and even then, who do you bench? Lofton or Jajuan? Some will argue for Stokes over Chism or Tyler Smith, but their versatility made them more effective in Pearl's system than a one-dimensional Stokes.
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I would take sophomore Jarnell over sophomore Wayne. Wayne was not the player he became till his senior year.
 
#56
#56
zjcvols said:
I would take sophomore Jarnell over sophomore Wayne. Wayne was not the player he became till his senior year.
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That's true to an extent. Chism was still more versatile, and probably a better fit for Pearl's system at the time due to his versatility and our run-and-gun mentality with the three guard lineup. Stokes did have a much more advanced skill-set in the paint as a soph. than Chism though. I'm just not sure that skill-set would have been beneficial to the way that team played. After this season, Stokes' true sophomore season, I might change my mind. Hopefully, we get to see what he's capable of with Maymon to draw the attention off of him.
 
#57
#57
cncchris33 said:
That's true to an extent. Chism was still more versatile, and probably a better fit for Pearl's system at the time due to his versatility and our run-and-gun mentality with the three guard lineup. Stokes did have a much more advanced skill-set in the paint as a soph. than Chism though. I'm just not sure that skill-set would have been beneficial to the way that team played. After this season, Stokes' true sophomore season, I might change my mind. Hopefully, we get to see what he's capable of with Maymon to draw the attention off of him.
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Yes but imagine Pearl running the half court game through Jarnell. Imagine all the room he would have with JaJaun and Chris spreading the floor. Imagine the driving lanes for Ramar and JP.
 
#58
#58
zjcvols said:
Yes but imagine Pearl running the half court game through Jarnell. Imagine all the room he would have with JaJaun and Chris spreading the floor. Imagine the driving lanes for Ramar and JP.
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I don't think Pearl coached the half court game very well, or perhaps he just didn't recruit for it well. Too many athletes and not enough basketball players after C-Lo and Jajuan left. Revisionist history is difficult to project, but your point is well-taken. Theoretically, Jarnell should have had room to operate with our outside threats, and may have done well. The closest thing to Stokes under Pearl was Brian Williams. He didn't light the world on fire, but Stokes is much more talented.
 
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#59
#59
cncchris33 said:
I don't think Pearl coached the half court game very well, or perhaps he just didn't recruit for it well. Too many athletes and not enough basketball players after C-Lo and Jajuan left. Revisionist history is difficult to project, but your point is well-taken. Theoretically, Jarnell should have had room to operate with our outside threats, and may have done well. The closest thing to Stokes under Pearl was Brian Williams. He didn't light the world on fire, but Stokes is much more talented.
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That elite 8 team looked just fine in the half court.
 
#61
#61
That last Pearl team should have been a top ten team.
 
#66
#66
We fell apart right after obtaining #7 and losing to Oakland.. Thanks to Keith Benson
 
#68
#68
zjcvols said:
That last Pearl team should have been a top ten team.
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Im not sure I agree with that. Outside of Hopson and Tobias we didn't have much star power. You never could tell what you could get out of Hopson any given night either. That roster was lacking on overall talent compared to previous Pearl teams. That team did have two new players on it that has turned out great for us, a freshman McRae and a transfer RS So Maymon would wasn't eligible to play that season.
 
#69
#69
ainge10heisman said:
Im not sure I agree with that. Outside of Hopson and Tobias we didn't have much star power. You never could tell what you could get out of Hopson any given night either. That roster was lacking on overall talent compared to previous Pearl teams. That team did have two new players on it that has turned out great for us, a freshman McRae and a transfer RS So Maymon would wasn't eligible to play that season.
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Um Maymon did play that season, not much but he played, and I disagree that team was stacked and should have been way better than they were. They just got effected with the pearl thing, cause in the beginning of the season they looked like a team that would go deep in the tourney.
 
#70
#70
ainge10heisman said:
Im not sure I agree with that. Outside of Hopson and Tobias we didn't have much star power. You never could tell what you could get out of Hopson any given night either. That roster was lacking on overall talent compared to previous Pearl teams. That team did have two new players on it that has turned out great for us, a freshman McRae and a transfer RS So Maymon would wasn't eligible to play that season.
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I mean we won the pre season NIT for Pete sake, before the pearl lie came out
 
#71
#71
ainge10heisman said:
Im not sure I agree with that. Outside of Hopson and Tobias we didn't have much star power. You never could tell what you could get out of Hopson any given night either. That roster was lacking on overall talent compared to previous Pearl teams. That team did have two new players on it that has turned out great for us, a freshman McRae and a transfer RS So Maymon would wasn't eligible to play that season.
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I'm pretty sure Maymon had to sit out half of the season from transferring from Marquette. He played very little but from what I saw I knew he was going to be good, but not as good as he has become.
 
#72
#72
OrangeAllDay said:
Um Maymon did play that season, not much but he played, and I disagree that team was stacked and should have been way better than they were. They just got effected with the pearl thing, cause in the beginning of the season they looked like a team that would go deep in the tourney.
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Yeah you cant deny the whole Pearl scandal played a major role in how we finished our season. We seemed pretty solid in our first 7 games before then falling apart. What exactly makes you consider that team to be stacked? I just don't see a stacked team with the make up of that roster. You should go take a look at our starting 5 and who made up our bench. With the players being what they were at that point in their careers that roster was above average at best. You cant factor into that roster what McRae, Maymon, and even Golden to an extent turned into. You was right about Maymon, he did indeed sit out half the season, he played in 14 games averaging 9.1 mpg.
 
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#73
#73
ainge10heisman said:
Yeah you cant deny the whole Pearl scandal played a major role in how we finished our season. We seemed pretty solid in our first 7 games before then falling apart. What exactly makes you consider that team to be stacked? I just don't see it with that roster and the players being what they were at that point in their career and not what some turned into. You was right about Maymon, he did indeed sit out half the season, he played in 14 games averaging 9.1 mpg.
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I mean it's not every season at UT, that we have two 5 stars playing on the court. 2 five stars with the supporting cast that they had, is stacked to me
 
#74
#74
ainge10heisman said:
Yeah you cant deny the whole Pearl scandal played a major role in how we finished our season. We seemed pretty solid in our first 7 games before then falling apart. What exactly makes you consider that team to be stacked? I just don't see a stacked team with the make up of that roster. You should go take a look at our starting 5 and who made up our bench. With the players being what they were at that point in their careers that roster was above average at best. You cant factor into that roster what McRae, Maymon, and even Golden to an extent turned into. You was right about Maymon, he did indeed sit out half the season, he played in 14 games averaging 9.1 mpg.
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It may not be as great as I'm making it out to be, but it's not as bad as your making it out to be. That bench is solid and pearl and fields were pretty good on the defensive side coming off the bench. That team had potential and was not average at best. When we saw that team earlier in the year and they destroyed a good Villanova team and a really good Pitt team, you could see when that team played at their best, they could beat anyone in the country
 
#75
#75
OrangeAllDay said:
It may not be as great as I'm making it out to be, but it's not as bad as your making it out to be. That bench is solid and pearl and fields were pretty good on the defensive side coming off the bench. That team had potential and was not average at best. When we saw that team earlier in the year and they destroyed a good Villanova team and a really good Pitt team, you could see when that team played at their best, they could beat anyone in the country
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I never said the roster was bad, just that it was no where near stacked. I actually said it was above average at best. The one time I used the word average, I was referring solely to the roster and not how the team played or its potential. A good coach with the right system such as Pearl, can take a slightly above average roster and morph it into a good team that plays above their potential and gets winning results. That is exactly what he done with this team in the first 7 games. Besides scoring points off fast breaks and turnovers, that team only had 2 players capable of scoring consistently by creating their own shot. During games when Tobias or Hopson was shut down we became very limited as to what we could do on offense and it usually resulted in a low scoring loss. The Nova and Pitt wins both was very impressive at the time, but by seasons end it was evident from Novas 21-12 record that they was extremely over ranked at 7 when we beat them.
 
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