The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

#4,676
#4,676
I said it before the Auburn game, and the team proved it.

If we play dialed in basketball we can beat anyone. That first half was about as dialed in as I've seen the team all season. Can the youth movement focus that same energy for a full game is the real question?

I like Florida at home and I think we could sweep Arkansas, they are in a bad spot with their injuries/depth right now. Need both these next 2 games honestly, if we're at 17 wins going into that Auburn game and pull off a win against them at home for our 18th riding that momentum into the SECT where we could win 2 more I like our chances.

Crazy to think there's still a shot for the NCAA, but the bubble this year isn't strong.
 
#4,677
#4,677
MoCo_Vol said:
I said it before the Auburn game, and the team proved it.

If we play dialed in basketball we can beat anyone. That first half was about as dialed in as I've seen the team all season. Can the youth movement focus that same energy for a full game is the real question?

I like Florida at home and I think we could sweep Arkansas, they are in a bad spot with their injuries/depth right now. Need both these next 2 games honestly, if we're at 17 wins going into that Auburn game and pull off a win against them at home for our 18th riding that momentum into the SECT where we could win 2 more I like our chances.

Crazy to think there's still a shot for the NCAA, but the bubble this year isn't strong.
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I do like our chances in the last game if there’s something to play for...winning these next 2 would do that.
 
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#4,679
#4,679
VolsSportsFan said:
I wish I had the same optimism, but I'm not seeing it. I'll be pretty surprised if we win at Arkansas. This team just panics when the pressure ramps up.
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I’m not saying it’s happening, I’m simply saying IF we were to win the next 2 I would feel better about the finale.

Honestly, if we win tomorrow at Arkansas I will feel better...Florida is beatable and they struggle at TBA, should be a good crowd as well.
 
#4,680
#4,680
VolsSportsFan said:
I wish I had the same optimism, but I'm not seeing it. I'll be pretty surprised if we win at Arkansas. This team just panics when the pressure ramps up.
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My confidence is waning, and really has been for a week or two. It just feels like this team is a bit short of what it needs to win at the highest level. They can compete at the highest level, but finding victory has been tough for this young bunch.

Now the benefit is that the team will be very experienced heading into next year and with the added talent to go with that experience, hopefully we see the fruits of their labor from this season.
 
#4,682
#4,682
cncchris33 said:
My confidence is waning, and really has been for a week or two. It just feels like this team is a bit short of what it needs to win at the highest level. They can compete at the highest level, but finding victory has been tough for this young bunch.

Now the benefit is that the team will be very experienced heading into next year and with the added talent to go with that experience, hopefully we see the fruits of their labor from this season.
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We aren't bad at all. We're literally one healthy Turner (IMO) away from being a safe NCAAT team. No way we lose some of the ones we have if he were out there. And if you really want to go wild, had Bone and Williams stayed with a healthy Turner, we're probably SEC Champions. But if and buts.

But the lack of a leader who doesn't panic is just so glaring. I mean we went from looking like world beaters to a Wade Houston team in the span of about 5 game minutes against Auburn. And while it's Auburn's thing to put pressure on, they really even didn't have to do much to make us piss our pants. We couldn't even get it across half court. It was painful.

Now having said all that we can win 3 of the last 4. But for the love of all that is holy if we beat Arky and UF (I'm conceding an L at Rupp), and we come home and lose again to Auburn I'm probably not coming back to this forum until next season.
 
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#4,683
#4,683
As long as we are working so hard on defense, I think that our team will continue to struggle on offense. It's unfortunate that our high energy defense doesn't result in many run outs for easy baskets.

The glass half full is that even as bad as it's gotten in several games, the defensive effort is almost always there. We have some really good defenders coming in. I bet we'll have more breakaway scores next year. We'll have 6 sophomores instead of 6 freshmen. However the roster will still have 9 underclassmen and 4 or more will be getting 20+ minutes per game.
 
#4,684
#4,684
Thunder Good-Oil said:
As long as we are working so hard on defense, I think that our team will continue to struggle on offense. It's unfortunate that our high energy defense doesn't result in many run outs for easy baskets.

The glass half full is that even as bad as it's gotten in several games, the defensive effort is almost always there. We have some really good defenders coming in. I bet we'll have more breakaway scores next year. We'll have 6 sophomores instead of 6 freshmen. However the roster will still have 9 underclassmen and 4 or more will be getting 20+ minutes per game.
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In college basketball, being an underclassmen isn’t nearly as daunting as it is in football, especially if you have talent, and half of our sophomores will have the experience (in terms of games and minutes) of some juniors and seniors. I’m not nearly as concerned from an experience standpoint, next year, as I was this year.
 
#4,685
#4,685
VolsSportsFan said:
We aren't bad at all. We're literally one healthy Turner (IMO) away from being a safe NCAAT team. No way we lose some of the ones we have if he were out there. And if you really want to go wild, had Bone and Williams stayed with a healthy Turner, we're probably SEC Champions. But if and buts.

But the lack of a leader who doesn't panic is just so glaring. I mean we went from looking like world beaters to a Wade Houston team in the span of about 5 game minutes against Auburn. And while it's Auburn's thing to put pressure on, they really even didn't have to do much to make us piss our pants. We couldn't even get it across half court. It was painful.

Now having said all that we can win 3 of the last 4. But for the love of all that is holy if we beat Arky and UF (I'm conceding an L at Rupp), and we come home and lose again to Auburn I'm probably not coming back to this forum until next season.
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Agreed on all points. I’ve considered making the hypothetical about where we’d be with Grant and Bone, but didn’t feel like taking on the trolls over an “ifs and buts” hypothetical scenario and how Barnes should have been prepared, yada yada yada.
 
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#4,686
#4,686
To that point, though, what a lineup it would be to have Bone, Bowden, Pons, Williams, and Fulk. Turner, James, Johnson, Gaines, Plavsic, Pember.

Keeping Bone and Williams likely costs us one of Bailey or ON, and prevents Vescovi from enrolling early, which may have meant we didn’t land him.

A lot of moving parts that could shape our future, but that starting 5 would be real tough if you extrapolate the improvement we have seen in Pons and Fulk and add it to what we already had in Williams and Bone.
 
#4,687
#4,687
cncchris33 said:
In college basketball, being an underclassmen isn’t nearly as daunting as it is in football, especially if you have talent, and half of our sophomores will have the experience (in terms of games and minutes) of some juniors and seniors. I’m not nearly as concerned from an experience standpoint, next year, as I was this year.
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I'd agree moreso with sophomores. But freshmen gonna do freshmen things and it might be easier to hide on a football field as long as he can match up physically. On a basketball court you can't really cut back on a single player's responsibilities like you can with football. A freshman WR's job can be simply to run a deep route. A RB may sit out plays when the play calls for pass protection. I don't really know how to reduce a freshman basketball player's responsibilities... especially guards.
 
#4,688
#4,688
cncchris33 said:
To that point, though, what a lineup it would be to have Bone, Bowden, Pons, Williams, and Fulk. Turner, James, Johnson, Gaines, Plavsic, Pember.

Keeping Bone and Williams likely costs us one of Bailey or ON, and prevents Vescovi from enrolling early, which may have meant we didn’t land him.

A lot of moving parts that could shape our future, but that starting 5 would be real tough if you extrapolate the improvement we have seen in Pons and Fulk and add it to what we already had in Williams and Bone.
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And that’s why I have a hard time completely buying into the “Barnes should’ve built the roster better for $5/yr” crowd we are seeing. Given the early departures, whatever the situation was with Burns/Walker, Turner being gone, Bowden slumping, Plavsic missing half the year and JJJ being ailed by injuries...it’s hard for me to just sit back and 100% say it’s on Barnes ability to plan ahead and not just chalk some of it up to some really bad luck/breaks.
 
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#4,689
#4,689
bleedingTNorange said:
And that’s why I have a hard time completely buying into the “Barnes should’ve built the roster better for $5/yr” crowd we are seeing. Given the early departures, whatever the situation was with Burns/Walker, Turner being gone, Bowden slumping, Plavsic missing half the year and JJJ being ailed by injuries...it’s hard for me to just sit back and 100% say it’s on Barnes ability to plan ahead and not just chalk some of it up to some really bad luck/breaks.
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Have to agree to some extent, but I still think that a guy with 30 plus years experience at doing one thing, shouldn't be left in a situation where he's adding 4 or 5 project players in one class 5 years in. That's not all just bad luck. Looks more like WTF.
 
#4,690
#4,690
I also think that Barnes has been recruiting more finesse rather than bulk. A couple of years ago the rules were adjusted to allow more freedom of movement by offensive players. Apparently the SEC officials didn't read the memo since the enforcement seems to be "no blood, therefore no foul".
 
#4,691
#4,691
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I'd agree moreso with sophomores. But freshmen gonna do freshmen things and it might be easier to hide on a football field as long as he can match up physically. On a basketball court you can't really cut back on a single player's responsibilities like you can with football. A freshman WR's job can be simply to run a deep route. A RB may sit out plays when the play calls for pass protection. I don't really know how to reduce a freshman basketball player's responsibilities... especially guards.
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I definitely agree, but Springer, K. Johnson, and Walker are so far ahead of Pember, Nkamhoua, and Plavsic from a purely natural ability standpoint. They will have some “what the heck” moments, I’m sure, but I feel much more comfortable throwing next year’s group in the mix as FR playing heavy minutes than I did with this year’s group.
 
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#4,692
#4,692
calban said:
Have to agree to some extent, but I still think that a guy with 30 plus years experience at doing one thing, shouldn't be left in a situation where he's adding 4 or 5 project players in one class 5 years in. That's not all just bad luck. Looks more like WTF.
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Well he used two scholarships on players that weren’t guaranteed eligibility either, and then saved one scholarship (which worked out this year at least). And took two projects in the early signing period and another in April. And by December Williams was getting first round mock projections. So it wasn’t exactly perfectly planned. Bone leaving was unfortunate but the big thing was the 2017/2018 recruiting classes were disasters. Then Turner got hurt and the season was over.
 
#4,693
#4,693
calban said:
Have to agree to some extent, but I still think that a guy with 30 plus years experience at doing one thing, shouldn't be left in a situation where he's adding 4 or 5 project players in one class 5 years in. That's not all just bad luck. Looks more like WTF.
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The 2019 class had add 4-5 project players?
 
#4,695
#4,695
calban said:
Only 2 I see that aren't are JJJ and Sv. Would the other 4 have played anywhere in the SEC this season? Should have been 3 or 4 guys lined up behind Blacksheare. That's not bad luck, it's a bad plan.
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Blackshear dragged his decision out until what, June 26th? How many other options were there going to be available at that point? And how many of them would have been real impact guys? The decision to pursue him was a calculate risk that backfired. It didn't really lend itself to a contingency plan due to timing.
 
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#4,696
#4,696
calban said:
Only 2 I see that aren't are JJJ and Sv. Would the other 4 have played anywhere in the SEC this season? Should have been 3 or 4 guys lined up behind Blacksheare. That's not bad luck, it's a bad plan.
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Who are the 4? Pember, ORN and Gaines? And yes, I do think ORN and probably Gaines probably play minutes for teams like Vandy, Arkansas etc.


Who did Kentucky, Texas A&M or Virginia Tech land after Blackshear chose Florida?
 
#4,697
#4,697
bleedingTNorange said:
Who are the 4? Pember, ORN and Gaines? And yes, I do think ORN and probably Gaines probably play minutes for teams like Vandy, Arkansas etc.


Who did Kentucky, Texas A&M or Virginia Tech land after Blackshear chose Florida?
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Plavsic 's the 4th. Other teams don't have anything to do with the Barnes' Blackshear plan. there's only one person that's responsible for putting a team on the floor with zero leadership, zero ball handlers, a weak inside presence and zero consistent scorers. Like it or not it's the head coach. Talk all day about bad luck but after 30 years it should be about more than luck.
I expected a lot more from Barnes and I don't care what he's paid. Sorry. if you're okay with the excuses that's fine. I'm not.
 
#4,698
#4,698
calban said:
Plavsic 's the 4th. Other teams don't have anything to do with the Barnes' Blackshear plan. there's only one person that's responsible for putting a team on the floor with zero leadership, zero ball handlers, a weak inside presence and zero consistent scorers. Like it or not it's the head coach. Talk all day about bad luck but after 30 years it should be about more than luck.
I expected a lot more from Barnes and I don't care what he's paid. Sorry. if you're okay with the excuses that's fine. I'm not.
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I’m not, and it needs to be addressed and corrected, but it does happen...

Again, UNC this year, Calipari taking UK to the NIT, BD’s struggles at Florida? All these coaches/places had higher expectations than Barnes and Tennessee yet also had down years, it happens.
 
#4,699
#4,699
bleedingTNorange said:
I’m not, and it needs to be addressed and corrected, but it does happen...

Again, UNC this year, Calipari taking UK to the NIT, BD’s struggles at Florida? All these coaches/places had higher expectations than Barnes and Tennessee yet also had down years, it happens.
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Can't argue with that.
 
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