Next season predictions

[zaqhhh]

Usually I am a bit more cautious, but this team has a little bit of everything right now, great balance of complementing styles.

1. 12th
2. Chandler, Bailey, JJJ, BHH, Fulky. (I think Bailey is the best natural scorer of the 3, Powell did his best against lesser competition and struggled in the admittedly small sample he played in the SEC)
3. 2 Seed

 

[Vol49er]

Usually I am a bit more cautious, but this team has a little bit of everything right now, great balance of complementing styles.

1. 12th
2. Chandler, Bailey, JJJ, BHH, Fulky. (I think Bailey is the best natural scorer of the 3, Powell did his best against lesser competition and struggled in the admittedly small sample he played in the SEC)
3. 2 Seed

I mean Powell did well against Memphis and Bailey struggled in a much larger sample against the SEC. Bailey gets fewer minutes than Chandler, Bailey, Vescovi, and JJJ ideally. Mashack might overtake him by the end of the year too

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Have you actually seen Powell play? He was balling out for Auburn before his concussion. Powell is bigger and more versatile than Vescovi. Plus, Vescovi is/was a defensive liability in a lot of games. Also, Vescovi can't consistently create his own shot. Vescovi didn't start a lot of games last season. I'm confused as to why you think he would consistently start in games next season.

4 games out of 27 is “a lot”?

 

[Vol49er]

Just imagine the pick and rolls next year between KC/BHH/Aidoo. Gonna be a lot of oops lol

I hope we actually run them a lot. I was watching the warriors last night and they were running a lot, which is different then when they were going to the finals every year. Thought that was interesting

 

[LeannaVol]

1. 12
2. PG. Chandler 30/Vescovi 10 SG. Powell 20/Vescovi 15/Bailey 5 SF. JJJ 30/Powell 5/Mashack 5 PF. BHH 25/Fulky 10/ORN 5 Center. Fulky 15/Aidoo 10/ Plavsic 5
3. NCAA 4

I understand we are in the mix for a couple of more transfers that could change things but this is my prediction for now.

 

[Fatman Photos]

40-0

 

[zaqhhh]

I mean Powell did well against Memphis and Bailey struggled in a much larger sample against the SEC. Bailey gets fewer minutes than Chandler, Bailey, Vescovi, and JJJ ideally. Mashack might overtake him by the end of the year too

I don't totally disagree. just not as impressed with Powell (hope I am wrong). Mashack or the other new SG could definitely compete if they show out.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Bobby I never said it was. But our roster has all the key pieces at this point to make a prediction.

All 3 answered could change depending on who is added

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

Powell will start over Vescovi

 

[TrippieRedd]

AGAIN

Chandler
Powell
JJJ
BHH
Fulky

who cares about starters, everyone on that roster should be able to play

 

[lastlap]

I hope we’re not ranked period. They were overrated last year all season long.
Let’s earn our ranking and keep the expectations to a minimum.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

I hope we’re not ranked period. They were overrated last year all season long.
Let’s earn our ranking and keep the expectations to a minimum.

Most likely we’ll be ranked 15-20 range

 

[AngryButchJones]

40-0

Glad you said it, because I was going to.

No. 1 overall
No. 1 overall seed
National champs

Obviously

 

[youcancallmeAl]

Based on the roster right now
1. 15th
2.Chandler, Vescovi, JJJ, BHH, Fulky.
3. 4 seed

This is what I would have as of today. I think Vescovi starts to begin the year, but Powell may replace him before too long, but we will see.

That's my prediction exactly. I choose SV over other two's because Barnes trusts him, he is a second PG on the floor (Barnes like that), he knows Barnes system very well, Powell didn't play very much his freshman season and is an unknown, especially defensively, and this is his first exposure to Barnes system. Plus Bailey hasn't shown he can play defense to Barnes satisfaction (I hope that changes this offseason). But I also think Vescovi might not stay the starter all season. We shall see.

I'm also not sure BHH will start from day one, either. Barnes and raw freshman sometimes aren't a good mix. But he will probably start sooner than later if he takes to Barnes coaching quickly.

 

[walkenvol]

Have you actually seen Powell play? He was balling out for Auburn before his concussion. Powell is bigger and more versatile than Vescovi. Plus, Vescovi is/was a defensive liability in a lot of games. Also, Vescovi can't consistently create his own shot. Vescovi didn't start a lot of games last season. I'm confused as to why you think he would consistently start in games next season.

Remind us which games SV didn’t start last year....absolutely wasn’t “a lot”. I think CRB trusts SV and will have him starting and playing 25+ minutes a game. SV is not the defensive liability many claim him to be. He doesn’t force shots. He has an excellent assist to TO ratio. He is a solid rebounder. You guys continue to seriously under appreciate him, especially predicting a new transfer that’s played a total of 10+/- games will learn a new system and gain CRB’s trust and immediately push SV to the bench. Guess Powell will be a lottery pick in the next draft as it took most of the year and an injury to SV for those guys to push him out of the starting lineup. JMO

 

[youcancallmeAl]

Remind us which games SV didn’t start last year....absolutely wasn’t “a lot”. I think CRB trusts SV and will have him starting and playing 25+ minutes a game. SV is not the defensive liability many claim him to be. He doesn’t force shots. He has an excellent assist to TO ratio. He is a solid rebounder. You guys continue to seriously under appreciate him, especially predicting a new transfer that’s played a total of 10+/- games will learn a new system and gain CRB’s trust and immediately push SV to the bench. Guess Powell will be a lottery pick in the next draft as it took most of the year and an injury to SV for those guys to push him out of the starting lineup. JMO

Agree 100%. And we still haven't seen what he can do if he is allowed to focus on just being the two. He might shoot lights out if allowed to focus on hunting his shot.

 

[AngryButchJones]

Have you actually seen Powell play? He was balling out for Auburn before his concussion. Powell is bigger and more versatile than Vescovi. Plus, Vescovi is/was a defensive liability in a lot of games. Also, Vescovi can't consistently create his own shot. Vescovi didn't start a lot of games last season. I'm confused as to why you think he would consistently start in games next season.

Vescovi started 23 of 27 games last season and has started 42 of the 46 games he's played as Vol. So idk what you are talking about in that last part.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Vescovi started 23 of 27 games last season and has started 42 of the 46 games he's played as Vol. So idk what you are talking about in that last part.

Y’all arguing about Vescovi starting? He very well could, but let’s be honest, some of us are attached to the kid because of what he flashed his first season. No offense to him, but we need a more athletic guard that has immediate eligibility.

As for the Vescovi/Powell debate. Powell gives you more of what I said above. He can shoot just as well as Vescovi, is more athletic, and has more length. Regardless, both will play a ton.

 

[walkenvol]

Wish we could get a bet button on here so we could settle some of these disagreements like gentlemen

 

[Namorto1]

Hard to predict but will be very interesting what Barnes does at 2G. Vescovi, Bailey or Powell? Based on upside Powell would seem to have clear advantage but will he defend up to Barnes standards? Vescovi and Bailey have scheme and experience advantage. Vescovi a better defender, rebounder, playmaker and slightly better perimeter shooter than Bailey, despite being less athletic so figure he has edge between the two heading into next year.

I hope Barnes doesn’t go tepid with Chandler like he did with Keon and Jaden. Give him the keys, let him play and learn from mistakes. If he does it would be very unlikely that Vescovi would average the 29 minutes or Bailey the 25 minutes per game they respectively played last year. Both could be considerably less unless we play a lot of 3 guard lineups when JJJ gets a rest.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Hard to predict but will be very interesting what Barnes does at 2G. Vescovi, Bailey or Powell? Based on upside Powell would seem to have clear advantage but will he defend up to Barnes standards? Vescovi and Bailey have scheme and experience advantage. Vescovi a better defender, rebounder, playmaker and slightly better perimeter shooter than Bailey, despite being less athletic so figure he has edge between the two heading into next year.

I hope Barnes doesn’t go tepid with Chandler like he did with Keon and Jaden. Give him the keys, let him play and learn from mistakes. If he does it would be very unlikely that Vescovi would average the 29 minutes or Bailey the 25 minutes per game they respectively played last year. Both could be considerably less unless we play a lot of 3 guard lineups when JJJ gets a rest.

Barnes went tepid with Keon and Jaden? I don’t remember that. I do remember Springer injuring his lower leg immediately after he emerged and opponents knowing how to defend both freshman as the season progressed.

 

[Namorto1]

Barnes went tepid with Keon and Jaden? I don’t remember that. I do remember Springer injuring his lower leg immediately after he emerged and opponents knowing how to defend both freshman as the season progressed.

I contend he was tepid with them early on for sure. Barnes even said as much in media sessions early in the season. I “get it” ...he claimed short preseason was tougher on freshman, and he brought them along slowly particularly on offensive end. Neither started from Day 1, roles really never materialized early in a shortened COVID-19 season, and I think it probably hurt us in the long run. Both were unselfish almost to a fault early on. We had zero identity on offense, Fulky struggled, both Springer and Johnson had flashes, and we tried to morph mid-year and asked them both to be more aggressive. I think it was too late. It should have happened from day 1 and we never improved.

Johnson averaged 18 minutes per game the first 7 games of the season which included initial SEC game against Missouri. Springer averaged 20 in same 7 games. Last 7 games of the year they averaged 33 and 30 respectively. They had the most upside, and were our best players from the moment they arrived on campus. Springer specifically was most polished offensive threat we had, only averaged 9 shot attempts per game for the entire season. It took 15 games into the season before he took more than 10 FG attempts in a game. Not enough. Likewise Johnson also averaged 9 FGA per game for the season.

My hope is that he doesn’t do the same with Chandler. Nor with BHH. If Chandler is sitting on the bench watching, at our first tip, first game.......and for multiple games early on much like Keon and Jaden, and not getting enough minutes or allowed to be aggressive, I think that would be a mistake. Chandler won’t be perfect, but he needs to be given latitude to play through mistakes. College basketball is a pretty short season. Roles need to be established early, identify rotation early and if done so, I suspect we will be considerably more consistent at the end of the season. Don’t get me wrong, I like Barnes quite a bit but I don’t think he managed the players, or roles well at all. Nkamhoua ....in my opinion also was an enigma how he was used given our deficiencies in frontcourt. Sort of makes me think Barnes either didn’t understand his personnel very well or perhaps moreso couldn’t figure out a way to communicate what he wanted them to do from the onset.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I contend he was tepid with them early on for sure. Barnes even said as much in media sessions early in the season. I “get it” ...he claimed short preseason was tougher on freshman, and he brought them along slowly particularly on offensive end. Neither started from Day 1, roles really never materialized early in a shortened COVID-19 season, and I think it probably hurt us in the long run. Both were unselfish almost to a fault early on. We had zero identity on offense, Fulky struggled, both Springer and Johnson had flashes, and we tried to morph mid-year and asked them both to be more aggressive. I think it was too late. It should have happened from day 1 and we never improved.

Johnson averaged 18 minutes per game the first 7 games of the season which included initial SEC game against Missouri. Springer averaged 20 in same 7 games. Last 7 games of the year they averaged 33 and 30 respectively. They had the most upside, and were our best players from the moment they arrived on campus. Springer specifically was most polished offensive threat we had, only averaged 9 shot attempts per game for the entire season. It took 15 games into the season before he took more than 10 FG attempts in a game. Not enough. Likewise Johnson also averaged 9 FGA per game for the season.

My hope is that he doesn’t do the same with Chandler. Nor with BHH. If Chandler is sitting on the bench watching, at our first tip, first game.......and for multiple games early on much like Keon and Jaden, and not getting enough minutes or allowed to be aggressive, I think that would be a mistake. Chandler won’t be perfect, but he needs to be given latitude to play through mistakes. College basketball is a pretty short season. Roles need to be established early, identify rotation early and if done so, I suspect we will be considerably more consistent at the end of the season. Don’t get me wrong, I like Barnes quite a bit but I don’t think he managed the players, or roles well at all. Nkamhoua ....in my opinion also was an enigma how he was used given our deficiencies in frontcourt. Sort of makes me think Barnes either didn’t understand his personnel very well or perhaps moreso couldn’t figure out a way to communicate what he wanted them to do from the onset.

CRB ought to have you on speed dial for those times when he forgot how to manage his players.

 

[youcancallmeAl]

Justin Powell played in only 10 games for Auburn last year before he had what Pearl called a "serious" concussion. He never saw the floor again He was played mostly at PG during those ten games. He averaged 27.6 mpg, 44.2% 3 pt %, & 7 asst., 1.3 stl, 3.8 TOV, 17 pts, & 8.8 reb per 40 min. His stats were for 2 conference games and 8 non-conf. He had high scoring games against Memphis , S Alabama, and Tx Southern.& St Josephs. Scoring in other games was pedestrian, but he was playing PG most of that time. I believe he was rated a 3 star recruit.

He may very well win the starting 2 spot by the beginning of the season. But he's barely more than a freshman, and he's going to face stiff competition for the job from very experienced players who have been through the SEC wars.. I could not find anything on how good of a defensive player he is. So that's an unknown to me. And given that he didn't play in conference competition, a lot about him as a player is an unknown, IMO. I wouldn't place a bet on him starting at the beginning of the season one way or the other, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is the first one off the bench for both the two and the three.

 

[Namorto1]

CRB ought to have you on speed dial for those times when he forgot how to manage his players.

Impressive and thoughtful reply. Barnes quotes at end of the year speak for themselves. It was a frustrating year for him and he didn’t manage it well. Who thinks he did? Consistently inconsistent and he had no answers, no matter what he tried. A Hall of Fame coach can have bad years. He had one and the results were disappointing. Not the worst ever in UT history as some posters have ridiculously noted but still disappointing. And folks have accused me of being a Barnes homer.