mid-season report card

[bleedingTNorange]

i thought now that we are about 1/2 way through the season it would be a good time to take a step back and look at how each player has played. id like to hear everyones input as to who they think are the most surprising and dissapointing players so far this season, and maybe some predictions about players that will pick their game up in sec play. im going to include all the players stats so far this season and include my grade for each player.

PG-Trae Golden 31mpg 14.6ppg 3.1rpg 5.4apg 3to 1stpg
Grade B+...so far trae golden would definitely take my vote for team mvp this season. i believe he has been by far the most surprising player of the seaon for tennessee, and he still has room to improve. after hitting a little slump he seems to have picked his game back up and has presented himself as our best player and playmaker. i would like to see a little more consistency in his shot(it seems better lately) and a little bit better care of that ball. his turnovers are a bit high for a pg so that would be one improvement id like to see, and his on ball defense.

PF-Jeronne Maymon 26mpg 11ppg 8rpg 1ast 2to 1 spg
Grade B...if it wasnt for trae golden's emergence maymon would be my pick for mvp so far on this team he has played very well. he has provided us with a good physical presence inside, and has proven himself to be a great interior defender and rebounder. i would like to see his consistency improve as he seems to really dissapear sometimes for long stretches, and with his ability we cant afford him to dissapear. i would also like to see him finish more around the basket, his ppg should be around 15 or 16 but he coninues to miss a lot of those little bunnies around the basket.

SG-Jordan McRae 22mpg 11ppg 2rpg 1.5apg 2t.o 1st 1bl
Grade C+...Their are 2 huge factors with jordan mcrae, one is his inability to stay on the floor because of his defense, and two his inconsistency. when jordan has his head in the game and plays like he is capable of he has the ability to be the best player on our team, the only thing holding jordan back is jordan himself. he has shown spurts of greatness and then will dissapear, i hate to say it but looks alot like hopson. now i do think he is more level-headed than hopson, mcrae can be on the bench and will still be cheering his teamates on. he is always the first off the bench and that attitude i hope will turn to work ethic and he gets it figured out. a bright spot for him is ft% he leads our team at almost 86%.

SF-Cameron Tatum 28mpg 9ppg 4rpg 3apg 1.5 to
Grade C+...Cameron Tatum plain and simple has never turned out to be the player that we all hoped he would be. To his credit he has stuck to it and is probably one of our better perimeter defenders. He also have proven to be a legitimate outside threat, he is hitting at 41% which is pretty good. He has picked up his rebounding lately as well, so that is a good sign to see.

C-Kenny Hall 21mpg 7ppg 5rpg 1bpg 1.5topg
Grade C-...Kenny Hall continues to be a head scratcher you just really dont know what you are going to get from him. Just when it looks as though he has figured things out he will dissapear for a few games. There is absolutely no reason why our starting center should only be averaging 5 rebounds per game that is pathetic. on the positive, he seems to have been picking it up lately and is showing more of an offensive game lately. My main thing is he just needs to improve his rebounding and finishing on the inside.

SG-Skylar McBee 18mpg 7ppg 1rpg
Grade B...He gets a B because skylar has done exactly what ccm wants him to do, shoot when he is open and hit at a decent percentage 44%. He hustles and plays as hard as he possibly can unfortunately he just doesnt have the athletic ability to allow him major minutes without being a defensive liability. I would like to see him improve his ball handling so that when the press he doesnt look quite as lost as he has been.

PF-Renaldo Woolridge 18mpg 6ppg 4rpg
Grade B+...I feel like woolridge has finally found his niche and that ccm was the best possible thing that could have happened to him. i give him this good of a grade because honestly what did we expect from him at the start of the seaon, not much. he has really come on lately and is providing some good hard hustle minutes. his shot is also falling nicely as well and is providing a decent interior game which he never provided before. i would like to see him still pound inside more because that would make his outside game that much more effective but he has never really been to fond of that idea.

SG-Josh Richardson 15mpg 3ppg 2rpg 1apg 1tpg 1spg 1b
Grade B-...I give richardson such a high score because a lot of what he does is not on the stat sheet. he has proven to be our best on ball defender and that provides us with a huge boost, where would we be defensively without him. his offensive game is also starting to come around it appears, he does a great job of not forcing things and letting it come to him. he is very mature for his age and i really expect great things from him in the future.

C-Dwight Miller 8mpg 3ppg 2rbg
Grade D...After looking early on like he was going to be a contributor to this team he now appears like a player that wont be here next year. I dont really know what the reasoning is, just not talented enough or not playing hard enough in practice but something isnt there.

C- Yemi Makanjoula 10mpg 3 ppg 3rpg
Grade C...Nobody expected anything from yemi and so what we have gotten is all a positive. He has shown flashes of being a hell of a player for us one day so that is great to see. He is doing a good job of backing up Hall and that is all that we can ask of him as this stage of his career. i would like to see him continue doing exactly what he has been doing and be a bit more aggresive while in there.

PG- Wes Washpun 12 mpg 1ppg 1rpg 2apg 1topg
Grade C-...Obviously just like with Yemi most of us really had no expectations what so ever for wes. You can see the raw ability and athleticism that he has, and nobody could question his fight he is a very energetic young man. He absolutely needs to improve his shooting and his ball handling, especially his right hand which barely exsists. His strongest suit is definitely his defense as he is absolutely a tenacious defender. I would really like to see him improve his offensive game but time will tell.

Guys feel free to critique what i have come up with and add or subtract things. Hopefully you enjoy.

 

[Shaun1985]

Pretty nice!

Here's mine.

Trae Golden - B (Been excellent this season and plays with a lot of heart. You can tell this kid really wants to win and I think he makes everyone better. If he wouldn't have went MIA in a couple of games, we win those. I think he's really the only player we have to handle true pressure.

Maymon - C + (Too inconsistant for a B but borderline IMO. To even have a small chance of an NCAA bid or even NIT, he really needs to bring it every single night. I love his hustle and when he wants to bang in the paint, not many can hang with this guy. Freethrows are night and day better and the only thing hurting him is not bringing it everynight.)

Tatum - D - SR leader, only returning starter, and a complete bust to me. Tatum is way too soft and can't dribble the basketball to save his life. If he would attack the rim like we know he can, stop that 20% lean back jumper, and actually concentrate on dribbling, we got a good chance.

Hall - C+ - Playing a lot better than earlier in the year. Defense has gotten a lot better since last year and he seems to handle himself better. Still comes a little soft at times but he's been 10X more aggressive lately. This week is all Halls. he has the chance to be the MAN on this basketball team after facing the next two front courts.

Miller - B - and that's not a typo. I know he only had the true one good game but given his limited minutes, I think he has a decent basketball IQ, rebounds decently, and plenty capable of backing up Hall. wtf happend? Kid has a ton of potential and can be a beast but he's in the doghouse for whatever reason.

Yemi - C - Raw but improving. I like his "make something from nothing" attitude when he gets a board. He's explosive at attacking the rim on a brick. A year shooting freethrows and developing a higher basketball IQ could seriously look like a diamond in the rough.

McBee - C - Average score for an average player. He has a pretty shot but it's like a tornado, gotta have the perfect elements for the funnel to drop and life as a known 3 point shooter doesn't come with that and I'm fine with it. Length bothers him and he can't create his own shot. Most of the time, he's not quick enough to keep up with other guards but he hustles like crazy and represents UT well.

Josh Richardson - B - he's almost shocked me more than Golden. This guy can flat out play defense. He plays bigger than he is and knows his limitations on offense. He'll never be the star but a solid part of any foundation of winning we have. I really like this kid.

McRae - C - inconsistant but I think he'll come around.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Pretty nice!

Here's mine.

Trae Golden - B (Been excellent this season and plays with a lot of heart. You can tell this kid really wants to win and I think he makes everyone better. If he wouldn't have went MIA in a couple of games, we win those. I think he's really the only player we have to handle true pressure.

Maymon - C + (Too inconsistant for a B but borderline IMO. To even have a small chance of an NCAA bid or even NIT, he really needs to bring it every single night. I love his hustle and when he wants to bang in the paint, not many can hang with this guy. Freethrows are night and day better and the only thing hurting him is not bringing it everynight.)

Tatum - D - SR leader, only returning starter, and a complete bust to me. Tatum is way too soft and can't dribble the basketball to save his life. If he would attack the rim like we know he can, stop that 20% lean back jumper, and actually concentrate on dribbling, we got a good chance.

Hall - C+ - Playing a lot better than earlier in the year. Defense has gotten a lot better since last year and he seems to handle himself better. Still comes a little soft at times but he's been 10X more aggressive lately. This week is all Halls. he has the chance to be the MAN on this basketball team after facing the next two front courts.

Miller - B - and that's not a typo. I know he only had the true one good game but given his limited minutes, I think he has a decent basketball IQ, rebounds decently, and plenty capable of backing up Hall. wtf happend? Kid has a ton of potential and can be a beast but he's in the doghouse for whatever reason.

Yemi - C - Raw but improving. I like his "make something from nothing" attitude when he gets a board. He's explosive at attacking the rim on a brick. A year shooting freethrows and developing a higher basketball IQ could seriously look like a diamond in the rough.

McBee - C - Average score for an average player. He has a pretty shot but it's like a tornado, gotta have the perfect elements for the funnel to drop and life as a known 3 point shooter doesn't come with that and I'm fine with it. Length bothers him and he can't create his own shot. Most of the time, he's not quick enough to keep up with other guards but he hustles like crazy and represents UT well.

Josh Richardson - B - he's almost shocked me more than Golden. This guy can flat out play defense. He plays bigger than he is and knows his limitations on offense. He'll never be the star but a solid part of any foundation of winning we have. I really like this kid.

McRae - C - inconsistant but I think he'll come around.

i dont have a problem with any of this even the miller thing i understand i just am guessing he is not oing something if he cant beat out yemi at back up center. the only thing i disagree with is tatum, he is definitely not what any of us thought he would be but i dont know that that is all his fault. i think that he has pretty much no knees left has really hurt himself alot, but thats not his fault. with that said he still brings it and puts effort in on the defensive end, unfortunately he is our best perimeter defender besides richardson. he also has really seemed to have bought into the thought of crashing the boards lately which has helped.

 

[sdowell]

i'm not going to do a player by player thing, but i will just do a team grade. C+. about where i expected this team would be. i can see us finishing with a winning record and going the NIT route.

 

[UT IE 95]

Too many B grades for a team with a .500 record and losses to the likes of Austin Peay.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Too many B grades for a team with a .500 record and losses to the likes of Austin Peay.

probably pretty true, i was probably a bit too generous with some of the players. my thought process was this though, what did we expect from those players. mcbee got a better grade than tatum, because nobody that is sane expected great things from mcbee so he has played pretty much what we expected if not a little better. on the other side tatum has probably dissapointed a little bit so thats why i give him a lower grade than mcbee even though he is a better player. i was grading more off of what were their expectations and how have they met those expectations so far this year.

 

[UT IE 95]

probably pretty true, i was probably a bit too generous with some of the players. my thought process was this though, what did we expect from those players. mcbee got a better grade than tatum, because nobody that is sane expected great things from mcbee so he has played pretty much what we expected if not a little better. on the other side tatum has probably dissapointed a little bit so thats why i give him a lower grade than mcbee even though he is a better player. i was grading more off of what were their expectations and how have they met those expectations so far this year.

Makes sense.

 

[CAVol]

If you are grading off expectations Richardson's should be a bit higher. People hated on him a lot when he was signed.

 

[DaDuRkEr]

I don't remember so many people hating. Just people saying they would've rather had Ware. He was a top 150 player and the cornerstone to this class.

 

[mgv]

Is there anyone else that thinks as inconsistent as he is McRae has the most upside?

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Seems to be the consensus among posters that have discussed it.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

If you are grading off expectations Richardson's should be a bit higher. People hated on him a lot when he was signed.

he was definitely the player i was most excited about in this class by far, he really seemed like the only one that would probably contribute much. i dont really remember too much hate for him, atleast not by people that know what they were talking about. as a previous poster said he was a top 150 player in the country and was receiving interest from some pretty decent schools. i am not at all surprised by how he has played really, it may be a bit above expectations but nothing crazy.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Is there anyone else that thinks as inconsistent as he is McRae has the most upside?

oh without a doubt he has the highest upside of anybody on our roster, im not counting stokes. that is why it is so frustrating when he just dissapears, unfortunately much like scotty used to. i really hope he figures out what it takes so that he can play 30 mins a night and be a consistent contributor. he is one of very few players on this team that have the ability to create plays for themselves.