The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

#21,230
#21,230
From all that I've been reading, this team may be better defensively overall and also
more athletic. That sounds very encouraging. Just hope our post play is much
improved, which is all we needed last season to put us in FF.
 
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#21,231
#21,231
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#21,234
#21,234
With coaches now off the road recruiting for the summer the focus for the staff is now exclusively on the offseason program. We’re still a long way from knowing what the final picture is going to look like with this team, but right now there seems to be plenty of reason to think that Rick Barnes will once again have a team competing for an SEC title and one that’s capable of making a deep run in March.

Chaz Lanier was understandably a much coveted prospect in the transfer portal with his scoring prowess and status as an in-state guy. He has certainly not disappointed this summer, he looks like someone who is going to provide some offensive punch for sure. But the staff seems to be feeling pretty good about all four of the transfers. Tennessee probably hasn’t had a guy like Igor Milicic since Barnes has been here. He’s a legit 6-10 guy that can bang inside and step out and consistently hit the three.

I don’t know that it would be entirely accurate to say that Milicic and Okpara are ‘better’ than the duo of Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka, but it might be safe to say that the style of that duo is more in line with what Barnes wants in the post. Okpara probably won’t have an offensive set called for him all year long and he won’t mind. He’s a high level rim protector, a high-motor guy on the boards and someone who is probably going to catch a couple of alley-oops from Zakai Zeigler every game.

As we noted on the board earlier this week it looks like the staff is going to see if Darlinstone Dubar can flourish in the Josiah-Jordan James ‘small-ball-four-role.’ We wouldn’t say that’s going to be the only way Dubar is going to get on the floor at all, but obviously with the success Barnes has had going small with James over the last couple of years the head coach wants to keep that card up his sleeve.
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On the recruiting front now that the summer evaluation period is over the next step is to see who is coming in for an official visit and maybe when.

Point guard Darius Adams, the No. 18 overall prospect in the 2024 class, is slated to be in to kick things off on Sept. 13. Tennessee has been on Adams for a long while and he made an unofficial visit last fall. Michigan State and UConn are two of the major competitors there.

Four star shooting guard Braylon Mullins from Indiana, the No. 26 overall player in the ’24 class, is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 19.

Other prospects we feel fairly confident will be official visitors this fall—but don’t have dates written in stone yet—are five-star Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 overall player in the ’24 class.

Four-star point guard Acaden Lewis, one of the highest rising prospects of the summer is a likely visitor. Tennessee didn’t really get on him hard until the spring but made themselves a factor.

Four-star power forward Zymicha Wilkins from Christ School is another potential visitor in October.

Five-star forward Nate Ament, the No. 7 overall player in the class, from is a possible visitor though he may potentially wait until the spring to make a decision.

Four-star point guard Isaiah Dennis from the Charlotte area isn’t someone we’ve talked a lot about, but that’s one to keep an eye on as a possible visitor depending on how things go with Lewis. The same could probably be said for four-star point guard Chance Mallory out of Charlottesville.

Virginia is involved with both Lewis and Mallory, so that could be something to pay attention to in regards to their recruitment.

Lastly, four-star wing Tounde Yessoufou, an Admiral Schofield-type, from California is someone that Tennessee is putting some effort into trying to make a trip to Knoxville for an official visit.
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-VQ
 
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#21,236
#21,236
MoB_MoVols said:
-VQ
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I am confident that our 4 and 5 positions will be much stronger offensively and defensibility than they were last year. They have more strength, length, and shooting ability than we have had at those two positions in a number of years. This team is likely to be the best team Barnes has put on the floor at Tennessee.
 
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#21,237
#21,237
VOLINVONORE said:
I am confident that our 4 and 5 positions will be much stronger offensively and defensibility than they were last year. They have more strength, length, and shooting ability than we have had at those two positions in a number of years. This team is likely to be the best team Barnes has put on the floor at Tennessee.
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Aidoo/Awaka was kinda an odd couple down there in more ways than one.
 
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#21,238
#21,238
VOLINVONORE said:
I am confident that our 4 and 5 positions will be much stronger offensively and defensibility than they were last year. They have more strength, length, and shooting ability than we have had at those two positions in a number of years. This team is likely to be the best team Barnes has put on the floor at Tennessee.
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I hope we have great post production, but Awaka is physically stronger than anyone on our current roster and Aidoo is much more offensively capable than Felix. Maybe when we add JP in the mix our current 3 guys can at least match if not exceed last year’s production, but it’s far from a given at this point IMO
 
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#21,239
#21,239
walkenvol said:
I hope we have great post production, but Awaka is physically stronger than anyone on our current roster and Aidoo is much more offensively capable than Felix. Maybe when we add JP in the mix our current 3 guys can at least match if not exceed last year’s production, but it’s far from a given at this point IMO
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So you don’t think think combined Milicic/Okpara can average 38.5mpg/16.5ppg/11.9rpg? And as you said, that’s obviously without factoring in JP.
 
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#21,244
#21,244
bleedingTNorange said:
The OP started that convo by specifically mentioning the 4/5 which @walkenvol replied to and then brought up Awaka, so that’s what I referenced.
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In that case, you’d probably need to include more than just Aidoo+Awaka stats since others played the 4 last year too. That’s harder to do though since most of those people also played the 3
 
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#21,246
#21,246
Col_Cathcart said:
In that case, you’d probably need to include more than just Aidoo+Awaka stats since others played the 4 last year too. That’s harder to do though since most of those people also played the 3
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JJJ/Awaka/Aidoo/JP/Cade claimed probably 95%+ of the 4/5 minutes last year, so you can say the 4/5 combined to give us…

80mpg 27.4ppg 14rpg

Between Dubar, Milicic, Okpara, Estrella and Cade I think both of those numbers are surpassed.
 
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#21,248
#21,248
bleedingTNorange said:
So you don’t think think combined Milicic/Okpara can average 38.5mpg/16.5ppg/11.9rpg? And as you said, that’s obviously without factoring in JP.
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Yea, I do think that’s possible. I know we had a proven competitive pair last season that I for one regret losing. I’m optimistic but not seeing it as a given. JMO, TIFWIW, AARP
 
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