Kent stepping away from the program

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Yeah I’d expect a RS Soph could put up those #s against Alabama St. But he’s not even finding the floor.

JJ is a good 3pt shooter. The problem is the rest of his game. He’s another one who has an opportunity to be a significant contributor but he’s not masking the most of it. Could really use him.

It's a long season. It'll be different this year for JJ. He won't be under as much pressure to be benched, but he'll still be getting pushed by Gaines and Pember to get more minutes. I doubt that he faces potentially playing zero minutes for consecutive games. Maybe he will emerge with less pressure. And if he's on track academically he has the grad transfer option next year. He needs to relax, have fun with it, and see if he can reach his potential.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

Pember has way more court awareness than Kent, and is more fluid in his movements. That is a true freshman versus a guy who is three years in a program - I know you have to look at the competition last night, but Pember scrapped for balls, challenged shots, etc. I saw none of that from Kent in his appearance earlier.

Pember just needs to get up to around 235 or so

 

[Dallasbowlin]

Each JJ three that hits the other side of the backboard inches him closer out the door.

My god that was ugly lol

 

[VolsSportsFan]

No, No, No another failure of Barnes. WHY WHY cant he rise up the incompetent to competence?

Disappointed.

I'm going to guess you didn't get many responses to this because you're on a lot of ignore lists.

Looks like you just made another.

 

[orangemadam]

Pember is going to be All-SEC in another 2 years. Add 20 pounds and he will be more than a handful on offense and defense.

 

[Kosmalski]

Supposedly he has added 20 in the lat year. he's 207. 220 will be fine

 

[TNnative]

In all seriousness, Zach Kent is the NCAA poster boy for why student athletes do not deserve compensation. He has had a scholarship for three years and I am not sure he has made three shots.

I am sure some stats fanatic will chime in, but in all seriousness, they don't televise the entirety of what happens in the practice facility. And even though fans like to be discriminating for what they see in games, the work they don't see is done by all. And that work prepares the skills of those who are poster boys for why they do deserve compensation. Forgive my momentary leaning toward liberalism. It was not pleasant.

 

[Catbone]

Meh

You are picking the wrong area to focus on if you are wanting to be negative about his play. He might be our best 3 pt shooter

Lol

 

[JoAllan]

Unless Fulk gets in foul trouble? It’s not a matter of if but when.

When Fulk gets into foul trouble, would we feel safer with Kent in there..........or Olivier, Pember, Pons?

 

[walkenvol]

Unless Fulk gets in foul trouble? It’s not a matter of if but when.

Don’t you think he’s settling in and doing a better job of not fouling?

 

[golfballs]

When Fulk gets into foul trouble, would we feel safer with Kent in there..........or Olivier, Pember, Pons?

Apprently he’s not good enough to even be considered for depth purposes. Surprised he even lasted this long if he’s that bad.

 

[walkenvol]

No doubt the more he shoots that 40% number will come down but the good news is he doesn’t need to shoot more. Just take a few a game and he can help.

It’s just way off base to point toward one bad 0/3 game and say he has a foot out the door Because he can’t shoot with the lights on. That’s dumb

If you think his play b this season will get him minutes next season then you think less of our signing class and the freshmen than I do

 

[walkenvol]

Need Plavsic bad now. Sounded like it was Kent's decision

Pember will likely be fine. He seems to be hustling and is tougher than he looks.

I hope so as he looks like he’s in middle school. Lots of room to mature and put on muscle

 

[golfballs]

Don’t you think he’s settling in and doing a better job of not fouling?

Absolutely. And I said it at the end of last year when people were fretting that he’d be logging a lot of minutes in the front court. He would be fine. Not worried about him I’m just saying he will inevitably find himself in foul trouble this year. Unfortunately ORN is probably going to foul even more.

 

[RockyTop140]

Yeah but he needs to get stronger. Not much bigger than he was in HS yet.

Heard an announcer say he put on 25 pounds since arriving at UT. Didn’t believe it for a second

 

[JoAllan]

I hope he isn’t on the run from Cornpop or something.

 

[cardvolfan]

Yeah but he needs to get stronger. Not much bigger than he was in HS yet.

Actually, he has gained more weight than most freshmen, and while still needing to add more, he's gotten surprisingly stronger.

 

[cardvolfan]

Pember has way more court awareness than Kent, and is more fluid in his movements. That is a true freshman versus a guy who is three years in a program - I know you have to look at the competition last night, but Pember scrapped for balls, challenged shots, etc. I saw none of that from Kent in his appearance earlier.

Pember just needs to get up to around 235 or so

Agreed with all your statements.

 

[Doctrippin]

It’s more confusing than frustrating to me. You’d think like with guards, Barnes has proven to develop big men too.
But the game is gearing more toward the 3pt shot and defense. I seriously don’t think a true big is as required as it used to be. It’s great if you have one but Villanova has had awesome success without a lot of bigs.

Purdue beat us with 3's last year. Ridiculous how many they kept hitting.

 

[zjcvols]

It’s a really good thing that Pons has become a beast because we’ve basically got nothing from the 17/18 classes after Pons.

 

[walkenvol]

A couple of lean years after Bowden / Bone / Williams till this freshman class which looks pretty strong so far

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

It’s a really good thing that Pons has become a beast because we’ve basically got nothing from the 17/18 classes after Pons.

Fahr the Deacon!

 

[TAD]

Pember looks pretty out of place inside ... and not quick enough to defend in perimeter .. he needs 40 pounds to handle inside plays.. he looked pretty iffy .. I think he spent more time on floor than standing up .. needs toughness and strength.. I saw where somebody said he would be all sec in 2 years .. lol . I want some of what he was drinking .

 

[zjcvols]

Fahr the Deacon!

A criticism of Barnes does not advocate for his firing. Barnes has done a great job with the 19/20 classes, but the previous two years were not great and maybe wouldn’t be in a position having to play guys 35+ mpg against OOC opponents.

 

[cardvolfan]

Pember looks pretty out of place inside ... and not quick enough to defend in perimeter .. he needs 40 pounds to handle inside plays.. he looked pretty iffy .. I think he spent more time on floor than standing up .. needs toughness and strength.. I saw where somebody said he would be all sec in 2 years .. lol . I want some of what he was drinking .

I guess if you call "iffy" 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 8 minutes. He was on the floor because he was inside banging around and hustling. That tends to happen to a lot of good players.