On the Brink of Collapse...

#26
#26
LawVol13 said:
These next two games are going to tell the tale of this season. If our level of play isn't much, much better, we will absolutely suffer two consecutive blowouts on our home floor. If that happens, expect a complete collapse.

At this point, we can still accomplish every goal that we thought was a near lock after Pittsburgh and Villanova. The question now is: how much are the impending NCAA sanctions weighing on our players' minds, and more importantly, how much are the sanctions and lack of job security weighing on Bruce Pearl's mind? From the outside looking in, it appears to be causing an extreme lack of focus.

I've criticized Pearl a lot on here, but there is one thing I'll give him. He's resilient. And he's going to have to be to bring us back from the brink.
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You said it. I was just thinking the same thing and was going to actually start a thread about it.

Wonder if the players know something that we don't know, like Pearl is gone after the season and they are in a major funk.

No way this team should be struggling against these mis majors like this.

If Bruce is gone after the season, though I hope he's not, then he needs to pull his team together.
 
#27
#27
tvols75 said:
No Bruce Pearl led team will collapse. Some can question anything in his coaching, personal life, etc... but his teams will not collapse no matter what the circumstances are. As you stated in the OP, he is resilient and his team will always be resilient. Every year there are going to be weaknesses. I'm glad that are weaknesses are being exploited now instead of seeing them heading into March because they can be addressed. Every year this discussions seems to be made about will the season collapse or will this be the team to not make the tourney under Pearl or not win 20 games. And the answer is always no.
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That's rich.
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#31
#31
Bruce needs to find 7 players maybe 8 and stop this rotating all the time crap...It is killing us and Hopson is terrible on D...We should never have Pearl in at the end of a game that is close unless we have fouled everyone out...No not Doom and Gloom but very concerned to say the least!
 
#32
#32
I am concerned as well. There was another post that said that it is a good thing all these is happening now instead of in the SEC or NCAA. GO VOLS!!
 
#33
#33
We miss W.Chism's leadership & fire on the court. Nobody has stepped up to fill this huge gap...Hopson is incapable of such, going into lapses & funks when shots don't fall. Pearl haters, give it a rest. He revived UT basketball. If he's fired, then many of us will never again follow UT bb.
 
#35
#35
feathersax said:
We miss W.Chism's leadership & fire on the court. Nobody has stepped up to fill this huge gap...Hopson is incapable of such, going into lapses & funks when shots don't fall. Pearl haters, give it a rest. He revived UT basketball. If he's fired, then many of us will never again follow UT bb.
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I agree to this 110%....:dance2:
 
#36
#36
LawVol13 said:
These next two games are going to tell the tale of this season. If our level of play isn't much, much better, we will absolutely suffer two consecutive blowouts on our home floor. If that happens, expect a complete collapse.

At this point, we can still accomplish every goal that we thought was a near lock after Pittsburgh and Villanova. The question now is: how much are the impending NCAA sanctions weighing on our players' minds, and more importantly, how much are the sanctions and lack of job security weighing on Bruce Pearl's mind? From the outside looking in, it appears to be causing an extreme lack of focus.

I've criticized Pearl a lot on here, but there is one thing I'll give him. He's resilient. And he's going to have to be to bring us back from the brink.
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With all due respect, I think that's a little alarmist. The wheels are just as close to coming off in Memphis. It's no secret that when it comes to BB, I'm a Memphis fan first :mf_surrender: and I freely admit that Memphis has a long way to go to beat Tennessee right now, despite all of UT's problems. Memphis escaped Austin Peay. It remains to be seen whether Miami or LSU have decent teams this year. Memphis was never in the game against Kansas or Georgetown (Georgetown beat Memphis BAD b/c they play such an incredibly beautiful/disciplined style of the Princeton). Like Tennessee, Memphis is very talented, but young and undisciplined. Witherspoon is clearly the veteran, but is not a star. Memphis has no inside game -- it's like a comedy of errors under the rim. Barton and Jackson are very good, but no threat of being one and done by any stretch. There is no "team" in Memphis yet, just a bunch of guys running around trying to make individual plays. With that said, Memphis has a completely smothering trap defense that will be really fun to watch as it's offense develops over the next year or two. EDIT: And I'm not completely sold on Pastner yet, whereas I'd take BP as my big-game day coach any day.
 
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#38
#38
misplacedfan#1 said:
Now that is the kind of postings we need to have here. Not all of these doom and gloom. GO VOLS!!
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It has nothing to do with doom and gloom. There has been a lot made about people claiming to take the "realist" stance here over the last few years, but this time that is absolutely the case. The reality of the situation is this, This team is not getting better. In fact, they seem to be doing the exact obvious. That is flat out unacceptable going into conference play, and whether any of you like it or not, the coaches deserve every bit as much of the blame as anyone
 
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#39
#39
emainvol said:
It has nothing to do with doom and gloom. There has been a lot made about people claiming to take the "realist" stance here over the last few years, but this time that is absoluteky the case. The reality of the situation is this, This team is not getting better. In fact, they seem to be doing the exact obvious. That is flat out unacceptable going into conference play, and whether any of you like it or not, the coaches deserve every bit as much of the blame as anyone
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Yes the coaches do deserve some of the blame. But the funny thing is that somehow people believe that between the Pitt and Oakland game, we know our "punishment." This team is only as good as their shot. We have no guy like Prince that can create off the dribble, no guy like Chism that can dominate down low. We are a team full of inconsistent players. However, I, for one, cannot wait to start a quote thread with the "sky is falling" crowd. We are going to look like world beaters some nights and have off nights some nights. I've learned to deal with that with a team "lead" by Hopson and Williams.
 
#40
#40
I have to admit that I'm a little surprised at Pearl's reluctance to let anyone play more than 30-32 minutes per game, given the fact that we're not a run-and-gun, pressing team anymore.
 
#41
#41
tvols75 said:
Yes the coaches do deserve some of the blame. But the funny thing is that somehow people believe that between the Pitt and Oakland game, we know our "punishment." This team is only as good as their shot. We have no guy like Prince that can create off the dribble, no guy like Chism that can dominate down low. We are a team full of inconsistent players. However, I, for one, cannot wait to start a quote thread with the "sky is falling" crowd. We are going to look like world beaters some nights and have off nights some nights. I've learned to deal with that with a team "lead" by Hopson and Williams.
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This isn't a matter of the team slumping. You don't have highs like that followed by lows like this without some reason. Everyone is healthy, so what else is there? This is not simply a case of inconsistency.
 
#42
#42
emainvol said:
This isn't a matter of the team slumping. You don't have highs like that followed by lows like this without some reason. Everyone is healthy, so what else is there? This is not simply a case of inconsistency.
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We played good the opening game and the 3 game stretch of Villanova, MTSU, and Pitt. Outside of that we had to fight and claw all year. I would say that is pretty inconsistent.
 
#43
#43
The teams play is very inconsistent. It is not just one or two of the guys, it is everyone. I think from the coaching staff all the way down to practice players that something is off. I really think that the problem is there is no leader on the floor. That is something that we have had in the past, that is someone who leads the team on the floor. I thought coming in that that was going to be Goins. It has not turned out that way. Then you have another senior in BW that gets benched for the entire second half of a close game. A leader needs to emerge from this group of players or they will never be a team.
 
#44
#44
emainvol said:
This isn't a matter of the team slumping. You don't have highs like that followed by lows like this without some reason. Everyone is healthy, so what else is there? This is not simply a case of inconsistency.
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Exactly right. To pretend like poor outside shooting caused the game with UT Martin to be close is a complete joke. UT should have beaten Martin by 35 without even attempting a 3. The problems run much deeper than 3 point percentage.
 
#45
#45
LawVol13 said:
Exactly right. To pretend like poor outside shooting caused the game with UT Martin to be close is a complete joke. UT should have beaten Martin by 35 without even attempting a 3. The problems run much deeper than 3 point percentage.
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What was the reason for an exhibition ass whipping and outside of 4 games of playing well the other ones were just scraping by? Just because you want to believe there is something more than that doesn't change the fact that this team is very inconsistent.
 
#46
#46
tvols75 said:
No Bruce Pearl led team will collapse. Some can question anything in his coaching, personal life, etc... but his teams will not collapse no matter what the circumstances are. As you stated in the OP, he is resilient and his team will always be resilient. Every year there are going to be weaknesses. I'm glad that are weaknesses are being exploited now instead of seeing them heading into March because they can be addressed. Every year this discussions seems to be made about will the season collapse or will this be the team to not make the tourney under Pearl or not win 20 games. And the answer is always no.
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The results are telling me he is not in charge anymore.
 
#47
#47
supersmo18 said:
And you should be. As a UTC alum, I had the (not so much) pleasure of watching them kick my Mocs' asses each season (well, except for the conf. tourney a couple years ago, that was awesome). C of C is and always has been a VERY solid and complete team, and Bobby Cremins is a great ball coach (esp. for an old guy). I seriously think someone needs to light a fire under these guys or we will lose by 15 to a SoCon team. Book it.
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You are so completely wrong! They only won by 13.
 
#48
#48
G0V0LS33 said:
Bruce needs to find 7 players maybe 8 and stop this rotating all the time crap...It is killing us and Hopson is terrible on D...We should never have Pearl in at the end of a game that is close unless we have fouled everyone out...No not Doom and Gloom but very concerned to say the least![/QUOTE]


Only 2 Top 50 wins (8 and 24) and losses to RPI 63, 70, 108, and 229. UTK should be in crisis mode right about now.
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#49
#49
PMC2726 said:
With all due respect, I think that's a little alarmist. The wheels are just as close to coming off in Memphis. It's no secret that when it comes to BB, I'm a Memphis fan first :mf_surrender: and I freely admit that Memphis has a long way to go to beat Tennessee right now, despite all of UT's problems. Memphis escaped Austin Peay. It remains to be seen whether Miami or LSU have decent teams this year. Memphis was never in the game against Kansas or Georgetown (Georgetown beat Memphis BAD b/c they play such an incredibly beautiful/disciplined style of the Princeton). Like Tennessee, Memphis is very talented, but young and undisciplined. Witherspoon is clearly the veteran, but is not a star. Memphis has no inside game -- it's like a comedy of errors under the rim. Barton and Jackson are very good, but no threat of being one and done by any stretch. There is no "team" in Memphis yet, just a bunch of guys running around trying to make individual plays. With that said, Memphis has a completely smothering trap defense that will be really fun to watch as it's offense develops over the next year or two. EDIT: And I'm not completely sold on Pastner yet, whereas I'd take BP as my big-game day coach any day.
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Miami has 3 losses. Two to ranked teams. The problem with the Tigers is the program basically started from scratch in 2009. There is not a reliable veteran on the team and the majority of the minutes are being played by 5 Freshmen, 4 of which are backcourt players. Every "expert" has said that this team will be a tough out come late February/March once they have some more game experience.

Same folks have also said that in the next 2-3 years, this team will be really good.

Pastner has been a head coach exactly 1 year where he took over an inviscerated program, went 24-10 with a bunch of scrubs, signed the #3 recruiting class, has the Tigers in the Top 25, and has only lost to the #1 and #2 RPI teams, both of which were single digit deficits at half time. What more do you want?

You can keep BP as your "big game coach." I'll take him as my soon to be "no game" coach.
 
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