Loved The Win But....

#26
#26
VolsSportsFan said:
Seriously man, don't act obtuse here. Everyone knows exactly what a "I like....but..." sentence is doing.
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Guy, how about you quit assuming my intent. In my entire history of posting on VN for the past 15-16 years you will not find posts about me bitching over wins or overreacting to losses. I'm not a Barnes hater or a poster that brings up his NCAAT record. He is the best coach we have ever had....period.

So lighten the F up Francis and quit making assumptions....especially your ridiculous one post for each outcome scenario. My post this was a knock on KU not seeming as elite as usual as I was re-watching the game this morning. Last night was mostly me yelling aat the TV and being caught up in the win. Posters like cncchris33, Cardvol and creekerballer seemed to understand my point and were able to have a discussion about it. I don't expect people to agree with me but how about you don't put words in my mouth? K, thx, bye
 
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#27
#27
Seems like Kansas is lacking a big dominant 5 that they typically have each year. Other than that a very solid roster IMO
 
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#28
#28
joevols89 said:
Nope. Tennessee was favored in this game for a reason (and without JJJ expecting to play). They’d be ranked about where we are if they weren’t defending champs and a blue blood.
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I'm actually glad we played KU instead of Wisconsin. Better for our resume but I also think it was an easier game for us. Wisconsin should have beat Kansas and handled USC. We probably would have (and should have) beat Wisconsin but they are a scrappy team.
 
#30
#30
gainesvol82 said:
Kansas is not an elite team this year. They may end up being top 10 heading into the NCAA tournament but I also won't be surprised if they are closer to 20th and don't win their conference.

They are small in the front court, don't rebound or rim protect well and only have a couple of legit offensive threats from what I have seen. I don't see them making a deep NCAAT run unless Dick explodes in March. Maybe the Vols are just a bad matchup for them and made them look worse than they are. Anybody else feel like this Kansas team is weaker than usual?
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nope we took them out of what they want to do
 
#31
#31
walkenvol said:
Seems like Kansas is lacking a big dominant 5 that they typically have each year. Other than that a very solid roster IMO
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I also think they are missing a typical slashing wing but Williams plays an oversized version of that role for them. He just isn't quite fast enough to be as effective as they are used to having. Dick is a great 3pt shooter but not much else to his game if you take that away.
 
#33
#33
IMO the immediate transfer rule disproportionally hurts the blue bloods. They can no longer fill their rosters top to bottom with 5-stars that are in effect held hostage until they’re needed. The options for those unhappy with their playing time is no longer that they have to sit out a year as punishment for transferring or to be patient while riding the bench for a year or two.

But the blue bloods aren’t about to crash and burn either. The teams that will consistently be populating the top of the rankings will be those with the biggest budgets. All of the blue bloods generate a huge amount of money for their programs so they’ll always be in the mix. The best teams consistently come from the P-6, but every member isn’t capable of having a win-loss record sufficient to grab an NCAAT invitation since they put so many losses on each other. Instead of 4 or 5 blue bloods taking 60-75% of the FF spots and dominating the top 10 year in and year out, the regular participants are likely to become a few dozen.
 
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#35
#35
Coach Self said he believes this Tennessee team is good enough to make the final four and wishes his team was as good as the Vols when it comes to blowing up screens and physicality. Says that if we can shoot consistently behind the arc that we are a legitimate threat for the final four.
 
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#36
#36
The fact we beat KU by dbl digits without a true pg and JJJ out is quite impressive to me. As much as I love ZZ... hes not a pg. Seems Barnes didnt have a plan for losing Chandler. Our defense is elite, but pg will be an issue moving forward. Here's hoping ZZ keeps getting better.
 
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#37
#37
jeff1vol said:
The fact we beat KU by dbl digits without a true pg and JJJ out is quite impressive to me. As much as I love ZZ... hes not a pg. Seems Barnes didnt have a plan for losing Chandler. Our defense is elite, but pg will be an issue moving forward. Here's hoping ZZ keeps getting better.
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He played great 2nd half defense on Ellis 2 days ago.
 
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#40
#40
Thunder Good-Oil said:
He played great 2nd half defense on Ellis 2 days ago.
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Dont get me wrong... ZZ is playing his ass off. He's a freaking fighter. But right now... he just doesnt look very comfortable running the show. Hes had quite a few to's and forces passes. He looks like hes trying too hard sometimes. Hopefully he becomes more and more comfortable. Its a TOUGH gig!!
 
#41
#41
jeff1vol said:
Dont get me wrong... ZZ is playing his ass off. He's a freaking fighter. But right now... he just doesnt look very comfortable running the show. Hes had quite a few to's and forces passes. He looks like hes trying too hard sometimes. Hopefully he becomes more and more comfortable. Its a TOUGH gig!!
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He gets to the rim regularly. But rarely converts. Being small was going to be a problem at this level. But I think he’ll be really good his last 2 years if he keeps working hard.

His speed is also something that takes time to adjust to. Awaka and Aidoo will have a lot of bunnies as they get better at hanging on to the lightning quick dishes.
 
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#42
#42
gainesvol82 said:
Fair point but I also think Duke is down a bit this year. It's early but I don't necessarily see any teams that are going to separate themselves as favorites to win it all. Seems like there will be a cluster of teams near the top....I just am not incredibly impressed with KU. Maybe they settle in during conference play.
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And if they had beaten the Vols, you would have cited how far behind the true elites this program sits. Seen this movie. 😴
 
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#44
#44
gainesvol82 said:
Totally agreed. I am very happy with our performance and it was an impressive tournament. Just because I don't feel like KU is AS elite as usual does not mean that I'm not thrilled with the victory, especially considering that we were missing JJJ.

If JJJ comes back healthy and Phillips continues to progress then this could be the best season we have ever had. I don't see many games where Santi, Key, JJJ and ZZ are all off from 3. We have two 7ft rim protectors/rebounders at the 5, ORN is very athletic, a good rebounder and a good shooter at the 4 or 5. We have 3 guys in JJJ, Mashack and Phillips who are in the 6'6 - 6'8 range, can defend and have a good mix of shooting and slashing ability.

Our defense, rebounding and shot blocking are elite. 3pt shooting is good and can be elite some nights. Mid range game can be very good and we have 3-4 guys that can penetrate and get a shot or dish to an open man. If we can develop a backup PG in case ZZ gets hurt or has foul trouble and can get some reliable scoring down low from our bigs then we are a complete team and will be able to win in multiple ways.
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I was thinking about this yesterday. To me, Mashack just seems like a poor man's Pons. The thing is, he is only listed as 6'4". To me, he plays much bigger than that.

As for this game, I felt like Kansas' hands were elite. It was like almost every pass was contest, and you dared not dribble anywhere near the lane. Now does that make for a championship team? No, but it is a great place to start. I think it took a great effort to beat them, and we pulled it off. So, it bodes well for our chances in March, if we can simply have our own act together. There is enough parity in college basketball that you can't take a night off. I'm glad that we hopefully learned that lesson early on.

Edit: We will win a lot of games if we can hold teams in below 60. To hold them to 50 is worth writing home about.
 
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#47
#47
Winning against Kansas when you commit 24 turnovers is hard to believe. It tells you how well we played in every other area. Barnes hates turnovers worse than anything, so he will get this corrected. I think a lot of it was due to good hands by Kansas, but also just forcing things that are not there. Also, being aware that someone is always close by swatting at the ball. Be stronger and protect that basketball.
 
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#49
#49
gainesvol82 said:
Kansas is not an elite team this year. They may end up being top 10 heading into the NCAA tournament but I also won't be surprised if they are closer to 20th and don't win their conference.

They are small in the front court, don't rebound or rim protect well and only have a couple of legit offensive threats from what I have seen. I don't see them making a deep NCAAT run unless Dick explodes in March. Maybe the Vols are just a bad matchup for them and made them look worse than they are. Anybody else feel like this Kansas team is weaker than usual?
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Oh yeah? WTF are you talking about? A lot of people like every season are picking Kansas to win the whole thing. They've got 5*s on the bench. This is a great win for multiple reasons!
 
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