Poll: What happened to this team?

[vavolfan6]

I think we played a tougher SEC schedule in February and were missing two key players for most of the month. Our identity is in our size, rebounding, and inside play. Missing JJJ and Phillips took away some of our size advantage and we could not hold on on the road. And even when down 2 key contributors, its not like we ever got blown out. Just lost close games on the road for the most part.


At full strength, on a nuetral court, I think we can beat anyone in the country and have proven that. Unfortunately, with no ZZ we are unable to realize our full potential. It sucks, because it seems the teams was just trying to get to the end of the season healthy and then have a major injury right when we got everyone back.

 

[jaguinn5]

None of the above.

I think you meant ALL of the above. And then some.

 

[VolAmerican]

Seemed like different reasons every game. If I could have voted 4 reasons, I would have. I left off free throw shooting which has plagued this team. We lost 2 games just off missed free throws at the end of the game.

 

[Volfan1000]

Aidoo and Awaka have a very good chance of becoming the consistent post scoring threats that Tennessee has lacked since Grant Williams graduated in 2018.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

schedule got tougher is underrated

 

[overseasorange2]

Fate: Something almost always seems to bite the Vols in the ass as the season comes to a close.

That seems to be true in all the major sports (Football, Baseball and Basketball). The luck of the VOLS!!

 

[sami]

There are a few problems from the list - inconsistent shooting, free throw struggles - but to me the primary issue is not having a real go-to guy in crunch time and big spots, a player that can create his own shot and create easy shots for teammates with his gravity.

We get no easy baskets - we get nothing in transition, and have to work on every possession in the half court and end up with mostly contested shots, because we have no one that can get his own shot and draw the defense's attention, resulting in open shots for teammates.

Barnes needs to find that player, because all the defense in the world isn't winning in March without the ability to score in crunch time.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

My thing is that most of these options are impacted by injuries.

Two things though that shouldn't be impacted by injuries are the free throw shooting (it's been bad all year as a team) and defense not being consistent. All these guys are practicing together with the same coaching and regardless of who is plugged into the line-up the individual efforts should be where they need to be and that's not happened.

 

[top5vols]

JJ

 

[zaqhhh]

To me I think it’s a mix of injuries, a tougher schedule, and then just weird circumstances like the buzzer beaters 2x in a row.

Still think we could go far but we definitely need to prioritize a go to scorer in recruiting which we never seem to do

 

[Cartervol]

dead legs

 

[hUTch2002]

Barnes never makes adjustments and just sits on the bench until it’s too late. He also doesn’t use his timeouts when a team is making a run.

We don’t have any real shooters that can carry a team. Phillips hasn’t developed like he should have, he has actually got worse as the season has gone on. And the main reason, we are just not as talented as we all thought we were.

I disagree with your last sentence. If we had one lucky win over a top team then maybe I’d agree but we’ve beaten Kansas, Texas, and Alabama. USC, Maryland, Arkansas and Auburn are pretty decent wins too. We’re capable of beating good teams consistently enough to not be a fluke. We’re 7-6 in Quad 1 games. I think 22-9 is about in line with what most projected, as is our ranking of 17th in the country. We’re likely a top 4 seed in the tournament unless we get punished for the ZZ injury so I think we’re right about where we were expected to be. Considering the injuries we’ve had a decent year. It just doesn’t feel that way because we overachieved for a while.

 

[tombowalker]

eh... all of the above? Maybe none of them?

Going loss by loss......

We lost back to back games on last second, low percentage miracles.

Then we ran into a red hot A&M at home. Followed by an Auburn team playing for their tournament bid, at home, without our point guard.

Lastly... some of us might need to adjust our expectations a bit. We have a good team. Certainly good enough to catch a heater and win the tournament. But in the SEC, the talent levels are close enough that you shouldn't be shocked by the occasional loss.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Coach should not have to tell guys to get more offensive minded and quit playing hot potato till late in the shot clock. Passing up a not so good shot for a worse shot by somebody with less time to deal with. We seem to have become enamored with a few very late passes to open corner shooters or wrap around passes at the goal and push that envelope too much.

 

[tdd]

I disagree with your last sentence. If we had one lucky win over a top team then maybe I’d agree but we’ve beaten Kansas, Texas, and Alabama. USC, Maryland, Arkansas and Auburn are pretty decent wins too. We’re capable of beating good teams consistently enough to not be a fluke. We’re 7-6 in Quad 1 games. I think 22-9 is about in line with what most projected, as is our ranking of 17th in the country. We’re likely a top 4 seed in the tournament unless we get punished for the ZZ injury so I think we’re right about where we were expected to be. Considering the injuries we’ve had a decent year. It just doesn’t feel that way because we overachieved for a while.

Agree with everything you said. Quality.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

We still have problems at the point and Center positions. In the last couple of games, we were giving up wide open drive down the middle of the lane. Those are high percentage shots for almost any team. We do not get much defense or offense from the 4-5 positions and the PG positions have had problems defending bigger/quicker players. we miss our PG from last year and need to find another one for next year.

 

[FeelVol]

We always like to have one reason or two reasons. It is never that simple in a complex system.
I am excited about playing on Thursday. It gives us another game to work on developing team chemistry post ZZ.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see BJ Edwards get a chance to play Thursday.

 

[volfan102455]

I could have selected several of those - but I think the injuries lead to some of the other issues.