PG Dynamic Going Forward

[cardvolfan]

No. But it might have been to get him REALLY focused on getting better in practice instead of assuming that he’d immediately be granted more minutes.

Coach goes with who he has the most confidence until he has no choice. At this point, he’s going with who he believes can win him games, IMHO.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Coach goes with who he has the most confidence until he has no choice. At this point, he’s going with who he believes can win him games, IMHO.

We’ll see soon enough.

It won’t surprise me at all if TN is on the winning side of a Round 1 SECT or NCAAT game that BJE actually will see some developmental minutes. Not that it will pay off huge dividends, but it probably doesn’t hurt. It could actually be treated as more of a test though rather than an opportunity to develop.

 

[JMSqb11]

I’m not sure, but maybe. ZZ did a great job staying between his man and the basket. We will see if Mashack can as well.

ZZ is a much faster and elusive defender.... Definitely "faster" than Mashack, but the equalizer will be the length difference..... At end of the day, this team is deep and our defense, via an injury, is forced to go bigger.... I trust that our defense will hold firm if not improve.

Losing ZZ, my biggest fear is on offense. I have no issues or concern with our defense losing him. We are that deep.

 

[cardvolfan]

We’ll see soon enough.

It won’t surprise me at all if TN is on the winning side of a Round 1 SECT or NCAAT game that BJE actually will see some developmental minutes. Not that it will pay off huge dividends, but it probably doesn’t hurt. It could actually be treated as more of a test though rather than an opportunity to develop.

As with Mashack, it just takes time, and minutes played, to develop the skills necessary to compete and thrive in big game situations.

 

[cardvolfan]

ZZ is a much faster and elusive defender.... Definitely "faster" than Mashack, but the equalizer will be the length difference..... At end of the day, this team is deep and our defense, via an injury, is forced to go bigger.... I trust that our defense will hold firm if not improve.

Losing ZZ, my biggest fear is on offense. I have no issues or concern with our defense losing him. We are that deep.

Yes, looking with curiosity about the length and how that plays out. Conversely, ZZ has not been terribly good with the 3-ball. Could it be that Mashack’s driving ability more than offsets ZZ’s ability to hit the 3? I‘m an eternal optimist and believe that we might be good with Mashack overall.

 

[JMSqb11]

Yes, looking with curiosity about the length and how that plays out. Conversely, ZZ has not been terribly good with the 3-ball. Could it be that Mashack’s driving ability more than offsets ZZ’s ability to hit the 3? I‘m an eternal optimist and believe that we might be good with Mashack overall.

Mashack has shown he will not wait to drive if he has the ball which is nice, but hopefully he isn't "wild".....

I think Santi makes our offense slower and more methodical... not a bad thing, but just more directional. I hope Santi learns to take those 5-7 footers when he drives because he is going to get those looks... A few times vs Arky he drove and had a look and passed all the way out of the paint to the three point line....

 

[VolArmy74]

If Edwards isn't seeing the floor in the last few games of the season with our PG depth where it is and BJ having been here almost a full year now since he moved in in May 2022, he might be destined for the portal. We pretty much have recruited over him with Freddie and will likely be heavily in the transfer portal too. Plus Mashack looking like a PG minutes guy. The pickings for minutes become slim for Edwards going forward as well.

 

[cardvolfan]

Mashack has shown he will not wait to drive if he has the ball which is nice, but hopefully he isn't "wild".....

I think Santi makes our offense slower and more methodical... not a bad thing, but just more directional. I hope Santi learns to take those 5-7 footers when he drives because he is going to get those looks... A few times vs Arky he drove and had a look and passed all the way out of the paint to the three point line....

As he’s been instructed to do. That is Barnes’ strategy. Inside out produces better looks for the 3-ball.

 

[JoeMiltonsAgent]

I think Jahmai is now probably our second best option. He actually had 5 assists yesterday, which was tied for the team lead. He's got one skill which no one else on our team possesses, and that's the ability to break down his man off the dribble, which causes rotations to happen. Santi can do that off a pump fake, but not straight up. ZZ could a little bit for sure, but was better using a ball screen giving how slippery he was.

Tyreke and Jo can run the offense, but are not really point guards by any stretch.

Yeah...Mashack looks like he has definitely taken a step forward the past month or so.

I hope they don't just rely on the experience factor and have Vescovi handling it every time up for reasons mentioned.

Mashack also has been good on the defensive side lately too. 13 steals in the last 5 games.

 

[JMSqb11]

As he’s been instructed to do. That is Barnes’ strategy. Inside out produces better looks for the 3-ball.

With Santi being PG, we lose our best 3 pt shooter so him taking driving 5-7 footer looks are a greater chance of scoring than kicking out to 3 point line to weak 3 point shooter.

Put it this way, you rather Santi taking shots with 5-7 footers driving in lane mostly open or having Key/Phillips/JJJ taking a lot of kick out 3's?

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

If Edwards isn't seeing the floor in the last few games of the season with our PG depth where it is and BJ having been here almost a full year now since he moved in in May 2022, he might be destined for the portal. We pretty much have recruited over him with Freddie and will likely be heavily in the transfer portal too. Plus Mashack looking like a PG minutes guy. The pickings for minutes become slim for Edwards going forward as well.

I think that BJE is more of a combo guard than a pure PG. There are a lot of minutes opening up despite adding Dilione. SV. ZZ. Key. JJJ. He’ll get minutes if he’s patient. He wasn’t a one star recruit.

 

[cardvolfan]

With Santi being PG, we lose our best 3 pt shooter so him taking driving 5-7 footer looks are a greater chance of scoring than kicking out to 3 point line to weak 3 point shooter.

Put it this way, you rather Santi taking shots with 5-7 footers driving in lane mostly open or having Key/Phillips/JJJ taking a lot of kick out 3's?

You’ll have to ask Barnes that.

 

[youcancallmeAl]

I expect to see us get deeper into the 30 sec clock before attempting a shot which will result in poorer shots. Probably less foul shots to.

I'm interested to see if Barnes goes away from the motion offense at all. I don't really see how much he can at this point.

If he plays Vescovi, Maschack, JJJ, & Phillips - there's four guys who can penetrate and dish (vescovi and the others) or penetrate to score (Mashack, JJJ, and Phillips). Run Nate Oats offense. It can't be that difficult to run. Dribble drive and either score or dish.

 

[beachvol23]

And that’s exactly the mindset I hope we have. We do still have to score too but surely getting JJJ and JP back will help there. In the tourney you will definitely have a close game or two if you’re advancing. Teams will use high pressure and hope for FT misses if within about 12 around 1:00. It’s rare but I’ve seen double digits comebacks in the last minute. A&M did it in the dance a few years ago. If we have that problem it’ll be a good one to have as that means we’ve done well to get to that point but I know I’ll be nervous about it if we get there. I agree with you, Auburn will be interesting as we know Pearl will press and trap us a lot.

Auburn does not press and trap a lot this year. I don’t know why people keep saying that. They didn’t do either at all in the second half last night. I think Auburn will be exhausted after last night, and Cardwell may be out with the ankle. I think we kick their ass. All the pressure is on them!

 

[ColinS]

Auburn does not press and trap a lot this year. I don’t know why people keep saying that. They didn’t do either at all in the second half last night. I think Auburn will be exhausted after last night, and Cardwell may be out with the ankle. I think we kick their ass. All the pressure is on them!

I don't think they are deep enough for an all out pressing style but I do think we will see more than usual from them.

 

[hUTch2002]

Auburn does not press and trap a lot this year. I don’t know why people keep saying that. They didn’t do either at all in the second half last night. I think Auburn will be exhausted after last night, and Cardwell may be out with the ankle. I think we kick their ass. All the pressure is on them!

Because Pearl knows we’re down our best ball handler. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done in general this year, I’m expecting they will press and trap us more than usual to see if we can handle it.

 

[Lankykong]

If Edwards isn't seeing the floor in the last few games of the season with our PG depth where it is and BJ having been here almost a full year now since he moved in in May 2022, he might be destined for the portal. We pretty much have recruited over him with Freddie and will likely be heavily in the transfer portal too. Plus Mashack looking like a PG minutes guy. The pickings for minutes become slim for Edwards going forward as well.

BJ can play wing as well, and we’re losing like 4-6 guys. He is probably ahead of Jefferson since he has gotten playing time though I know Jefferson is redshirting. Even if Dillione is in front of Edwards next year, having 3-4 guys with good handles is critical. I still think Mashack overall is best suited for wing with occasional PG work ideally (essentially giving us the JJJ role), so he would be the other main competition along with Dillione, maybe Phillips, and the other true freshmen. He would be in that top 8 guys I would think.

Just look at Mashack, he hadn’t played much until a couple of injuries happened at the wing and some people speculated he might be unhappy here. Now, he’s seen as one of our best returning players.

 

[TNVOLFN]

ZZ is a much faster and elusive defender.... Definitely "faster" than Mashack, but the equalizer will be the length difference..... At end of the day, this team is deep and our defense, via an injury, is forced to go bigger.... I trust that our defense will hold firm if not improve.

Losing ZZ, my biggest fear is on offense. I have no issues or concern with our defense losing him. We are that deep.

I believe in our depth, but I wouldn't underestimate losing ZZ on defense - he was the only Vol named as a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalist... Very curious to see how our team evolves over the next two weeks.

 

[JMSqb11]

I believe in our depth, but I wouldn't underestimate losing ZZ on defense - he was the only Vol named as a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalist... Very curious to see how our team evolves over the next two weeks.

I understand that he was / is a special defender.... But I am not concerned that him going down for the rest of season takes away something from our defense..... I trust our depth and "new look" length.

It is very weird because yes ZZ is a special player, but it is also possible our defense improves in disrupting other teams because we are now longer.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I understand that he was / is a special defender.... But I am not concerned that him going down for the rest of season takes away something from our defense..... I trust our depth and "new look" length.

It is very weird because yes ZZ is a special player, but it is also possible our defense improves in disrupting other teams because we are now longer.

Quickness vs. Length, about to find out if you’re right that length is much more important than quickness. There’s something to be said about being able to keep an opposing PG from turning the corner and getting into the lane making us collapse imo.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Quickness vs. Length, about to find out if you’re right that length is much more important than quickness. There’s something to be said about being able to keep an opposing PG from turning the corner and getting into the lane making us collapse imo.[/QUOTE

Mashack sure isn’t slow. Obviously ZZ is going to get some low center of gravity points, is incredible at changing direction, but JM covers and recovers on drives well, and has incredible hand speed when the pass/shoot selection happens.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Oh I don’t disagree, but I’m just not sure I agree with the overall idea from the poster that our defense is going to be better without ZZ. It was literally already at a historically elite level, not sure how it can get better honestly.