The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[Thunder Good-Oil]

TN scored more than half their points in the paint last night. I don’t think that happens, or Knecht scores at his pace every time out, if Santi isn’t being respected by opposing defenses while roaming around beyond the 3PL. Even when he’s not scoring at a high level, he’s a bigger threat than ZZ, JM, JA, and the freshman guards and is impacting games.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

As long as we're winning games, I'm sure Barnes & company aren't too worried about adjusting the lineup.

Santi needs to shoot to get out of his slump though, and he's not doing that.

But a good portion of our fans only look at the now and forget the previous games. Cause Santi had a good stretch of games where he scored 10 or more and shot well. Bama, at Vandy, vs South Carolina and at Kentucky

Correct, that’s my bigger point…fans were hollering for Gainey to be benched and have his scholarship revoked, now they’re talking about how he needs to be in the starting 5 or in need of more minutes. My point as I’ve previously said being that coaches see these guys for hours everyday, watch them practice and put extra hours into the gym, they typically have a pretty good idea (more so than fans) as to who should/should not be playing.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Correct, that’s my bigger point…fans were hollering for Gainey to be benched and have his scholarship revoked, now they’re talking about how he needs to be in the starting 5 or in need of more minutes. My point as I’ve previously said being that coaches see these guys for hours everyday, watch them practice and put extra hours into the gym, they typically have a pretty good idea (more so than fans) as to who should/should not be playing.

I'll say this, watching DK and Gainey this season has really proven just how good of a coach Barnes is at player development, especially on defense. I'm excited we've got Gainey returning next year, I don't know if anyone can replace DK...but I like having Mashack, ZZ, Aidoo (hopefully/probably), and Gainey back for one more year.

Expect to see Awaka take some strides in year 3 and with more minutes available I think Freddie and Carr will be in the regular 8 rotation too.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I'll say this, watching DK and Gainey this season has really proven just how good of a coach Barnes is at player development, especially on defense. I'm excited we've got Gainey returning next year, I don't know if anyone can replace DK...but I like having Mashack, ZZ, Aidoo (hopefully/probably), and Gainey back for one more year.

Expect to see Awaka take some strides in year 3 and with more minutes available I think Freddie and Carr will be in the regular 8 rotation too.

Totally, agree. DK was arguably one of our best defenders last night. It’s been a match made in heaven for both sides. He’s been the scoring juggernaut we’ve needed for 5 years, and his defense is night and day from when he stepped foot on campus.

I do think a lot of the 3-point burst to start these last two games have come from teams shooting over our smaller defenders like ZZ and Santi. I’ve noticed Knecht’s length bothering people more and he’s done a great job at staying in front of his man and not letting them get to the rim. And then you couple that with the fact that last night when they did get to the rim he blocked 3 shots, he’s just legitimately a good defender now.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I'll say this, watching DK and Gainey this season has really proven just how good of a coach Barnes is at player development, especially on defense. I'm excited we've got Gainey returning next year, I don't know if anyone can replace DK...but I like having Mashack, ZZ, Aidoo (hopefully/probably), and Gainey back for one more year.

Expect to see Awaka take some strides in year 3 and with more minutes available I think Freddie and Carr will be in the regular 8 rotation too.

I’m hoping that this year was a sign to Barnes and staff (lesser extent) that getting proven scoring and teaching them defense is a better strategy than getting a defender and trying to teach them how to score.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Totally, agree. DK was arguably one of our best defenders last night. It’s been a match made in heaven for both sides. He’s been the scoring juggernaut we’ve needed for 5 years, and his defense is night and day from when he stepped foot on campus.

I do think a lot of the 3-point Burt’s to start these last two games have come from teams shooting over our smaller defenders like ZZ and Santi. I’ve noticed Knecht’s length bothering people more and he’s done a great job at staying in front of his man and not letting them get to the rim. And then you couple that with the fact that last night when they did get to the rim he blocked 3 shots, he’s just legitimately a good defender now.

It doesn't help that Santi even in year 5 will watch shooters catch and keeps his hands down until they are already in their shooting motion. Last night in the first half was really rough, he was late on getting his hand up on 3 or 4 early shots that all went in. At 6'3" guarding 6'5" you can't be late on putting a hand up.

DK and even Gainey were both challenging passes and shots far better with active hands and like you said with DK's length it really showed up last night. He had 2 steals and 3 blocks and even more plays where he disrupted his man forcing bad passes or rushed shots.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I’m hoping that this year was a sign to Barnes and staff (lesser extent) that getting proven scoring and teaching them defense is a better strategy than getting a defender and trying to teach them how to score.

I mean, DJ, Gainey, DK and even Freddie are all supposed to fit that bill of being proven scoring guys that need defense. The only difference is DJ and Freddie haven't quite earned enough trust defensively to get on the court long enough to showcase their offense.

I also think Carr is another one, if he takes the coaching as well as DK/Gainey he will be an ELITE defender on the perimeter with his size and length.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I’m hoping that this year was a sign to Barnes and staff (lesser extent) that getting proven scoring and teaching them defense is a better strategy than getting a defender and trying to teach them how to score.

This would certainly be ideal. We will have a lot of youth on the team next year. Barnes only has so many years left, so rebuilding isn’t something he is going to be interested in. We need to leverage this Knecht situation to get some alpha scoring options in the portal and teach them how to defend so we can keep the train rolling next year.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

This would certainly be ideal. We will have a lot of youth on the team next year. Barnes only has so many years left, so rebuilding isn’t something he is going to be interested in. We need to leverage this Knecht situation to get some alpha scoring options in the portal and teach them how to defend so we can keep the train rolling next year.

I’m curious to really know how many years Barnes has left?

He’s one year away from 70.

I wonder if he hangs up it up whenever we lose a lot of our veterans?

Like you said, does he have the energy to take on another rebuilding year with a bunch of young guys?

If can we have just one game where luck is on our side in the NCAA Tournament, I think this is the team to make the Final Four.

 

[cncchris33]

I’m hoping that this year was a sign to Barnes and staff (lesser extent) that getting proven scoring and teaching them defense is a better strategy than getting a defender and trying to teach them how to score.

Bingo

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I’m curious to really know how many years Barnes has left?

He’s one year away from 70.

I wonder if he hangs up it up whenever we lose a lot of our veterans?

Like you said, does he have the energy to take on another rebuilding year with a bunch of young guys?

If can we have just one game where luck is on our side in the NCAA Tournament, I think this is the team to make the Final Four.

I fully believe he just wants one more Final Four to prove to people his first one wasn’t just a “fluke.” Not many coaches have taken two different programs to a final four. It would put him in an elite class of coaches in college basketball history.

Theoretically, if we were to make a final four this year, wouldn’t shock me at all if he retired.

 

[DowntownVol]

I fully believe he just wants one more Final Four to prove to people his first one wasn’t just a “fluke.” Not many coaches have taken two different programs to a final four. It would put him in an elite class of coaches in college basketball history.

Theoretically, if we were to make a final four this year, wouldn’t shock me at all if he retired.

I've had this same thought - if Barnes takes UT to its first Final Four, he silences the haters and doubters once and for all, and rides off into the sunset. Next year's team is not going to be as good as this one unless we catch lightning in a bottle again like we did with Knecht.

 

[Kas232323]

Whatever hope we had SV would regain his All SEC form and contribute in a meaningful way this season are dwindling fast. I have posted previously I would support SV as a 6th man at this point but we would give up the spacing his presence creates because he still commands tight D from opposing teams. Having said that, SV now has scored 6 or less pts in 11 of 24 games and 10 pts in 15 games while averaging 27 min.

There is a lot more to basketball than scoring points.

 

[BisonVol]

I fully believe he just wants one more Final Four to prove to people his first one wasn’t just a “fluke.” Not many coaches have taken two different programs to a final four. It would put him in an elite class of coaches in college basketball history.

Theoretically, if we were to make a final four this year, wouldn’t shock me at all if he retired.

I’ve thought about this for several weeks now, and my opinion is that next season is going to be it for Barnes. It’s ZZ’s and Aidoo’s final season, both guys that he’s pretty close with. Unless one or both end up leaving at the end of this season which I don’t really see happening, I think Barnes sticks around to coach those two guys’ senior season.

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

There is a lot more to basketball than scoring points.

But it’s technically the only thing that actually counts.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

It doesn't help that Santi even in year 5 will watch shooters catch and keeps his hands down until they are already in their shooting motion. Last night in the first half was really rough, he was late on getting his hand up on 3 or 4 early shots that all went in. At 6'3" guarding 6'5" you can't be late on putting a hand up.

DK and even Gainey were both challenging passes and shots far better with active hands and like you said with DK's length it really showed up last night. He had 2 steals and 3 blocks and even more plays where he disrupted his man forcing bad passes or rushed shots.

Santi also was hedging down to help JJJ a few times early in the game which left shooters open...not sure if that was by design to help with Graham or Santi just being too undisciplined.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

I’m not saying it’s an excuse but I wonder if the death of Santi’s grandmother is partially the reason why he’s struggled lately?

We don’t know how close their relationship was outside of basketball so it’s entirely possible it impacted his game on the court.

He’s really not been the same player since that happened.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Santi also was hedging down to help JJJ a few times early in the game which left shooters open...not sure if that was by design to help with Graham or Santi just being too undisciplined.

I have to think at this point it's a bit of both, but Santi sags more than any other perimeter defender we have and he had the early assignment of guarding their best scorer in Mark...now it was mentioned that we were playing the stats a bit as Arkansas rarely shoots or hits from deep. They're dead last in the SEC in makes and attempts.

 

[Kas232323]

But it’s technically the only thing that actually counts.

Quite the oversimplification. It is also the very last thing that happens during a possession if it in fact does occur.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I noticed in this video that DK has a compression sleeve on his left leg. Only player that I could tell has one. Is that the leg he twisted his ankle on earlier this year? Hopefully it's nothing new.

 

[Orange.]

I noticed in this video that DK has a compression sleeve on his left leg. Only player that I could tell has one. Is that the leg he twisted his ankle on earlier this year? Hopefully it's nothing new.

It was his left ankle that he hurt at UNC. But he has worn a white sleeve on his left leg every game. Idk about the relative compression of the sleeves.

 

[BallerVolFan]

I know this is off topic and a different place to post this but for those of you that will and believe in this if you’ll remember the family of the Deputy that was killed and my family and other families close to him. It’s a very hard road right now for a lot of people dealing with the loss. Such a good man to be around for 15+ years and he went out doing what he loved. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated. God bless y’all.

 

[Sea Ray]

So who do we root for today, Kentucky vs Auburn?

 

[Lukusw]

So who do we root for today, Kentucky vs Auburn?

I've asked the SEC front office to give both teams a loss. I'm waiting to hear back from Sankey.

 

[CornbreadVol]

So who do we root for today, Kentucky vs Auburn?

UK…as much as it pains me to say