The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[MoCo_Vol]

Freshman Santi had more confidence than nearly any player I’ve seen at UT. Need that swagger back.

Yeah, it's a grind and I feel like he's feeling it more now than anyone else. Losing a close family member before the season doesn't help either.

I think JJJ felt it last season, him working out with professionals and getting some time away to do that I think helped him get past it.

 

[berryvol]

Freshman Santi had more confidence than nearly any player I’ve seen at UT. Need that swagger back.

That first game against LSU was an electric factory

 

[Chaz-Vol]

I think with Santi's current struggles especially with attitude and mental aspect of the game. The team is lucky to have JJJ carry the leadership role right now and keep team together during rough patch.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Agreed. I said this in the game thread, too. He isn’t at USC Upstate anymore. Considering that we aren’t rebounding well, we can’t afford to have a bunch of empty possessions and he was letting it fly last night from behind the arc when it wasn’t going well.

I hope he is just in a slump, but we need efficiency out of him right now, particularly with Santi and Zieglar struggling to be as dynamic on offense as they were last year. If all 3 of those guys are struggling in a night, we’re going to be hard pressed to win that game.

Who else is/was gonna look to score though is my thing, especially when Knecht went down (where at least 3-4 of Gainey’s shot came from)? Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot, and he needs more room/time to get his shot off than Gainey. Even with his 1/9 last night Gainey is still our 3rd best perimeter shooter as things currently stand. That’s the thing about streaky shooters, you gotta let them shoot, because that 1/9 might well be followed by a 6/8 stretch and then bam, now he’s 7/17 and that’s 41%.

 

[Willy14]

Who else is/was gonna look to score though is my thing, especially when Knecht went down (where at least 3-4 of Gainey’s shot came from)? Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot, and he needs more room/time to get his shot off than Gainey. Even with his 1/9 last night Gainey is still our 3rd best perimeter shooter as things currently stand. That’s the thing about streaky shooters, you gotta let them shoot, because that 1/9 might well be followed by a 6/8 stretch and then bam, now he’s 7/17 and that’s 41%.

I still find it wild that Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot. That seems to be what’s really missing from this years team.

 

[cncchris33]

Interesting that our “Luck” metric is #332. That does speak to some very bad luck.

And it has tumbled recently. After a couple or three games, it was actually rather high, IIRC.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I still find it wild that Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot. That seems to be what’s really missing from this years team.

It’s been bizarre to say the least…I was hopeful he found something against Kansas but he looked like someone that was totally disinterested last night.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I think we as fans read far too much into player body language or coaching comments.

Santi could have just been annoyed by the early foul calls and it took him out of the game mentally. It has to get frustrating to work as hard as he does and constantly gets the raw end (from officials).

 

[Willy14]

It’s been bizarre to say the least…I was hopeful he found something against Kansas but he looked like someone that was totally disinterested last night.

I’m hoping that whatever the problem is can be resolved before SEC play starts. Really need Zeigler, JJJ, and Vescovi to be firing on all cylinders offensively by the time SEC play starts. Zeigler played better last night and JJJ played very well so I’m very hopeful with them. Vescovi just seems like a shell of his former self and I don’t know why that would be the case when this is his last year

 

[cncchris33]

I think we as fans read far too much into player body language or coaching comments.

Santi could have just been annoyed by the early foul calls and it took him out of the game mentally. It has to get frustrating to work as hard as he does and constantly gets the raw end (from officials).

If that is the case, then he, as a 5th year senior and a leader, has to be more mentally tough. Frustration is fine, but clearly he did or said something that pissed Barnes off enough to essentially bench him for a half. That's not ok and I applaud Barnes for holding that 5th year team leader just as accountable for his attitude as he held freshman Cameron Carr for taking a bad shot.

I said it in another thread, but this team's synergy just seems off, and the best way to grow them as a team/family is to demonstrate in a big spot that no one is above the team goals. I hope last night was the wakeup call that this bunch needed.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

If that is the case, then he, as a 5th year senior and a leader, has to be more mentally tough. Frustration is fine, but clearly he did or said something that pissed Barnes off enough to essentially bench him for a half. That's not ok and I applaud Barnes for holding that 5th year team leader just as accountable for his attitude as he held freshman Cameron Carr for taking a bad shot.

I said it in another thread, but this team's synergy just seems off, and the best way to grow them as a team/family is to demonstrate in a big spot that no one is above the team goals. I hope last night was the wakeup call that this bunch needed.

Yep I agree, I don't have an issue at all with how Barnes treated the situation.

 

[ndubvols]

Would like to see us run some of those set plays for santi early in the next few games to get him going and more assertive.

He hasn’t really played with any score first guards like Gainey and Knecht so think it’s taking some time to gel in the new offense. Need to get him involved early and hunting his shot to compliment those 2.

 

[ndubvols]

Was mashack in the doghouse last night too? Imo he needs more minutes but that’s 2 big games (Purdue) where he hardly played in the second half.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

If that is the case, then he, as a 5th year senior and a leader, has to be more mentally tough. Frustration is fine, but clearly he did or said something that pissed Barnes off enough to essentially bench him for a half. That's not ok and I applaud Barnes for holding that 5th year team leader just as accountable for his attitude as he held freshman Cameron Carr for taking a bad shot.

I said it in another thread, but this team's synergy just seems off, and the best way to grow them as a team/family is to demonstrate in a big spot that no one is above the team goals. I hope last night was the wakeup call that this bunch needed.

It was odd, but it follows in line with Barnes coaching and he deserves a lot of credit for whatever led to him taking this action. Santi has been off all season, for whatever reason we can only speculate. But something reached the boiling point last night. Have heard rumblings around here about some discontent regarding the key roles that some transfers have gotten - and if that's the case (and to be clear and fair, I have no idea if it is), then the leaders on the team need to be better than that.

Hopefully it's a wakeup call and brings the team together. To use your term, the team has had very little synergy this season - even in the wins. We are going to need that more than just about anything else if we are to make a run and get to where we need to be in the SEC and in March.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I overreacted with Kansas and Purdue. After watching last night, we are definitely a good ****ing team.

Just trying to gel as a team. Lose now, win later. We have the scorers and the defense this year, it’s obvious as day. Hopefully by the time January rolls around we’re firing on all cylinders.

I think Vescovi is just trying to learn how to play with someone that has the same type game as him. (Kind of) I think he will come around as well. Need him, Knecht, and Gainey to feed off one another. ZZ needs to quit trying so hard, it almost feels like he feels that he’s sort of forgotten.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

Who else is/was gonna look to score though is my thing, especially when Knecht went down (where at least 3-4 of Gainey’s shot came from)? Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot, and he needs more room/time to get his shot off than Gainey. Even with his 1/9 last night Gainey is still our 3rd best perimeter shooter as things currently stand. That’s the thing about streaky shooters, you gotta let them shoot, because that 1/9 might well be followed by a 6/8 stretch and then bam, now he’s 7/17 and that’s 41%.

I just wish he would be a little more selective in the shots that he puts up. Sometimes he pulls up and lets go with a man fully contesting the shot or doesn't work the clock or the ball to get into a better position. I think he would be hitting at a better % if the shot selection was there. That may have worked at USC-Upstate, but at this level and in the SEC, he's going to have to be prepared to be selective at times and work for the shot he wants.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

We probably have an extra win or two if the officiating is consistent on both ends as well.

Not an excuse, just a part of the **** officiating that exists in college. We proved that we belonged, cutting a 24 point lead to 6 on the road against UNC is big...and if DK doesn't go down there is a very real chance that game comes down to the last possession.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Like I said, I’m not ready to panic by any means. Does failing to win just 1 of our 3 biggest non-conference games suck? Sure. Doubt we’re realistically going to be a #1 seed now.

But there is a lot of ball left to play and the only real thing I’m concerned about right now is Knecht’s health. These next 6 games will tell me a lot about this team and if we’re actually the real deal. Go into conference play at 10-3 and that is a respectable performance in the non-conference and sets us up nicely for a soft January conference schedule.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Like I said, I’m not ready to panic by any means. Does failing to win just 1 of our 3 biggest non-conference games suck? Sure. Doubt we’re realistically going to be a #1 seed now.

But there is a lot of ball left to play and the only real thing I’m concerned about right now is Knecht’s health. These next 6 games will tell me a lot about this team and if we’re actually the real deal. Go into conference play at 10-3 and that is a respectable performance in the non-conference and sets us up nicely for a soft January conference schedule.

Yeah sometimes when you play Purdue, Kansas and @UNC back to back to back it doesn't go well.

If you were to choose a three game losing streak it would be that one and its in November.

I think we do need to run the table the rest of the OOC. GMU, Illinois and NC State are all solid to good wins. Get back in a groove for conference play. We are very battle tested now. Time to do damage.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Yeah sometimes when you play Purdue, Kansas and @UNC back to back to back it doesn't go well.

If you were to choose a three game losing streak it would be that one and its in November.

I think we do need to run the table the rest of the OOC. GMU, Illinois and NC State are all solid to good wins. Get back in a groove for conference play. We are very battle tested now. Time to do damage.

We are definitely battle tested. Don’t think anyone can deny that at this point. You just have to hope that this early adversity will pay dividends moving forward. As long as we learn from it, we’ll be fine. We’ll see how things go.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Yeah sometimes when you play Purdue, Kansas and @UNC back to back to back it doesn't go well.

If you were to choose a three game losing streak it would be that one and its in November.

I think we do need to run the table the rest of the OOC. GMU, Illinois and NC State are all solid to good wins. Get back in a groove for conference play. We are very battle tested now. Time to do damage.

Throw in about 20 hours of flying time to the other side of the planet and a holiday as well. Plus injuries to Dilione, Awaka, and Knecht while ZZ hasn’t fully recovered. Plus Santi’s game is off. AND a couple of freshmen are already contributing while far from being developed. I’m not concerned. It’s still November.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

If you're going to lose games, now is the time to do it. We've lost to 3 good teams and none have been blowouts. Last nigth was as close to one as it got but we made it a game.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

If you're going to lose games, now is the time to do it. We've lost to 3 good teams and none have been blowouts. Last nigth was as close to one as it got but we made it a game.

In the midst of the 1st half fiasco I was expecting a 40 point loss and never thought cutting it to 6 with a shot to win was a possibility.

 

[MCScots4]

Haven't been back to a game @ TBA since I graduated in 2011. Looking around for tickets to the Vandy game Feb 17th. What's the best section to look for a decent seat maybe under $100?

 

[walkenvol]

Who else is/was gonna look to score though is my thing, especially when Knecht went down (where at least 3-4 of Gainey’s shot came from)? Santi doesn’t appear to have any desire to shoot, and he needs more room/time to get his shot off than Gainey. Even with his 1/9 last night Gainey is still our 3rd best perimeter shooter as things currently stand. That’s the thing about streaky shooters, you gotta let them shoot, because that 1/9 might well be followed by a 6/8 stretch and then bam, now he’s 7/17 and that’s 41%.

Sounds like a description of Victor Bailey? Just hope Gainey finds those 6/8 nights regularly