Just Relax

#27
#27
Bassmanbruno said:
We also got beat to almost all of the loose balls. It's pathetic with our athleticism.
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Bassmanbruno said:
Temple shot lights out for a freakin' reason. Reality check buddy. We were constantly out of position and falling down on the court. Can't switch off screens... can't play in transition. Shooting is the least of our worries. I don't think it's a coincidence that most of our opponents are shooting well over 50%.

Temple is hardly a good team and would not have beaten any quality top 25 team today.... because they would not have shot nearly 60% against a half decent defense.
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And True
 
#28
#28
CALISKING said:
Losing to 2 "mid-majors" in a couple weeks time is cause for concern. From what I've seen of this team, they lack heart and desire. Zags are a great team, so that is not a bad loss.

Great teams do not lose to the 3rd or 4th rated team of a "mid-major" conference. Good thing Vols play in the mighty SEC where they will cake walk to the Regular season championship.
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Gonzaga plays in a mid-major conference, but they have come far enough that they can't really be considered a mid-major TEAM any more. They have been a Top 25 team for a decade or more. As for the A-10, they certainly aren't a mid-major conference. Regardless of all that, Tennessee looked like they didn't even belong on the same court in either of their losses so far.
 
#29
#29
the big picture with this team is that they're not as good as last years so we shouldnt expect them to be worldbeaters or anything and just hope that things click when the ncaa tourney starts, wherever they start out
 
#30
#30
MTSUDaff said:
You know, I am not saying fire Bruce Pearl at all. No way..... BUT it is clearly evident if we are going to take that next step after establishing the program as a national stage school, that we need to get coaches in there that specialize in offense and defense. Donovan had to do the same thing down at Florida.

The lack of a half-court offense for three years has just really been so frustrating to watch. And the lack of ability to man up and move your feet on defense over that same period has been very discouraging. Thoughts about this season, though:

1. Tyler Smith is no NBA player. He isn't tough enough. He doesn't have a shot that was so widely reported he had developed this offseason. He just get manhandled in the lane when he is squared up against.

2. Our ENTIRE team has a lack of toughness. It's bad when your big men's first inclination after getting any pass in the post is to pass. I am confident Perl will recruit other big men who don't have this mentality and have toughness, but it isn't there yet.

3. How many full court layups are we going to give up this year? I mean.....really......

Look, the bottom line is I feel like Pearl still tries to use his system he used with the underdog teams and the little scrappy players. Bottom line is this is top tier talent you are getting now. You have to evolve, or you might turn into another Fulmer if you aren't careful.
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1.) I agree with your points about T Smith. I never thought he was going to be a force at the next level, but I hope he proves me wrong.

2.)agree, but in Pearl's system, we need big men that can run.

3.) That's a result of the press. You're going to give up layups, especially when you have young players running the system. Pearl has done very well with the press in his last three years, so I don't think that's too much of a problem early on in the season.


As for your comments about Pearl, who else do you think Tennessee could get? He's been to two sweet sixteen's in his first three years and he's a dominate force in his conference. Give him some time.
 
#31
#31
Lexvol said:
However, between the houses and the nail salons I have an eerie feeling about the focus of this team and coach right now.
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I agree Lex, focus starts with the coach and this doesn't seem like focused team at this point whatsoever.
 
#33
#33
Sudeepvol said:
3.) That's a result of the press. You're going to give up layups, especially when you have young players running the system. Pearl has done very well with the press in his last three years, so I don't think that's too much of a problem early on in the season.


As for your comments about Pearl, who else do you think Tennessee could get? He's been to two sweet sixteen's in his first three years and he's a dominate force in his conference. Give him some time.
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Well not really. That's the result of bad press being taught. I don't care who you're players are, anytime you are giving up this many open layups off of hte press then you aren't setting it up right. What's more is that our press was pretty horrible last year, as well. It was great in Bradshaw's senior season, but that's about it.

And I didn't say replace Pearl. I said he needs to get an offensive and defensive specialist on his staff. Clearly. This can't be argued. He has never had a half-court offense. Ever. He relies on nothing but 3's. That isn't an offense. And when you rely heavily on turnovers, but you can't teach a press that will get it done for you with the athletes you now have, there is a serious problem.
 
#34
#34
Some of you are beginning to sound like the catspause board. Lose- blame the coach and time for a change. I can remember TN basketball being mediocre at best, and now I look forward from game to game. Will we win them all? No, but at least we are competitive now, and watching TN basketball is fun. Give Bruce time; he is wise. If he has a weakness, he will find a way to fix it. He is not one of the youngest to reach 400 wins on luck. Get over it, and don't act like those on catspause.
 
#36
#36
MTSUDaff said:
Well not really. That's the result of bad press being taught. I don't care who you're players are, anytime you are giving up this many open layups off of hte press then you aren't setting it up right. What's more is that our press was pretty horrible last year, as well. It was great in Bradshaw's senior season, but that's about it.

And I didn't say replace Pearl. I said he needs to get an offensive and defensive specialist on his staff. Clearly. This can't be argued. He has never had a half-court offense. Ever. He relies on nothing but 3's. That isn't an offense. And when you rely heavily on turnovers, but you can't teach a press that will get it done for you with the athletes you now have, there is a serious problem.
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Supposedly Steve Forbes is that defensive specialist. I'm not sure if he got credit for Billy G's good defenses or not at A&M. His defenses haven't seemed to drop off much at UK.
 
#37
#37
lifelongvolfan said:
Some of you are beginning to sound like the catspause board. Lose- blame the coach and time for a change. I can remember TN basketball being mediocre at best, and now I look forward from game to game. Will we win them all? No, but at least we are competitive now, and watching TN basketball is fun. Give Bruce time; he is wise. If he has a weakness, he will find a way to fix it. He is not one of the youngest to reach 400 wins on luck. Get over it, and don't act like those on catspause.
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Overall I agree with your post, but TODAY, we were not competitive. On the bright side, we can probably count on one hand (maybe two) the number of times UT has not been competitive since Bruce came to town.
 
#38
#38
Not to come off as pessimistic, but I have real concerns about this team after the last three games.

1. We do not have a true threat from the three-point arc. I'm not really sure that you can just "develop" a great shooter.

2. Our big men are not getting it done inside. Chism. . . .I don't know what's happened to him. Hopefully, he has focused on his education, because the NBA is not going to be an option unless he has a spiritual revelation.

3. I'm starting to question whether or not our defensive style is really going to have staying power amongst the nation's elite. We aren't getting many turnovers off the press, give up easy fast-breaks, and teams are absolutely wearing us out from the perimeter.

4. We seem to lack the fire that so characterized the past couple of UT squads. It almost looks like we think we are good enough now to just go through the motions. We aren't.

Unfortunately, these areas of concern don't lend themselves to a a simple fix. I'm beginning to doubt that this group will live up to our expectations.
 
#39
#39
kiddiedoc said:
Not to come off as pessimistic, but I have real concerns about this team after the last three games.

1. We do not have a true threat from the three-point arc. I'm not really sure that you can just "develop" a great shooter.

2. Our big men are not getting it done inside. Chism. . . .I don't know what's happened to him. Hopefully, he has focused on his education, because the NBA is not going to be an option unless he has a spiritual revelation.
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1. Youth on the perimeter may hurt us this year, but Cameron, Renaldo, and Scotty have shown promise. I can see them coming through by tourney time.
2. Weezy's never gotten it done inside.
 
#40
#40
Hopson is shooting around 50% from 3-point range and Tatum will warm up considerably. I know we are not playing good D and giving up too many easy baskets, but these games were on the road, basically, and a young team will not play well early on the road, normally. Hopefully, with these glaring deficiences, Pearl will get things going. If not, it may just be that this group will not be able to perform well enough defensively to meet our expectations. Who knows, but I guess time will tell.
 
#41
#41
It just seems like Pearl isn't playing to the strength of some of his players.

Why is Woolridge always on the perimeter? I would certainly like to see some penetration from him and an occasional post-up. It honestly just seems like he's on the perimeter all the time. He's definitely got the body to become a T Smith like player with a shot.

Scotty Hop's has an extremely quick first step. Pearl needs to realize that. Same goes for Cam Tatum.

Negedu needs to get some more PT, we need our presence felt on the board with the demise of Big Wayne.
 
#43
#43
This is a poor defensive team. Simple. When we don't create bunches turnovers and have a night where we can't throw it in the ocean, we are going to lose. Simple.
 
#44
#44
bleedorange0037 said:
Overall I agree with your post, but TODAY, we were not competitive. On the bright side, we can probably count on one hand (maybe two) the number of times UT has not been competitive since Bruce came to town.
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True that. Ignoring the '07 games that were played without Lofton, I'll try.

1) 2006 @LSU
2) 2006 @Bama
3) 2007 #Butler
4) 2007 #UNC
5) 2007 @USCe
6) 2008 #Texas
7) 2008 #UofL
8) 2009 @Temple

Not too bad, Bruce.
The only ones that were truly awful when I expected MUCH better were '07 @USCe and '09 @Temple.
Again, not too shabby.
 
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