The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[TrumpedUpVol]

I'm hoping that Tennessee reveals its non-conference basketball schedule sometime before the season begins.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

 

[volz2wallz]

Final 4 team! GBO!!

 

[MoB_MoVols]

This summer was going to be pivotal to incorporate the four new transfers into the returning core on the roster, and by all accounts, that’s been a success. It’s looked good on the court, but probably just as importantly, the chemistry off the court and in the locker room has apparently been great. That’s a big deal for this program under Rick Barnes and the results have spoken for themselves over the years.

In terms of chemistry and bringing in guys that are fits, the staff does a TON of work in that regard in the recruiting process, vetting guys and steering clear of players who are obviously not cut out for Barnes’ program. But with such a tight window for recruiting the transfer portal, it’s possible that you might bring in someone who isn’t a great fit with your roster or culture. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Tennessee as everything we’ve heard this summer suggests that the integration of the new guys has gone well.

Chaz Lanier has shot the ball as advertised, consistently finishing tops in the team in most of the shooting drills that the staff charts. Cam Carr has had a great summer. Don’t look for him to dominate every night out, but from what we’ve seen he’s going to have some games where he’s the best player on the court, or at least some extended moments where that’s the case.

The backcourt is deep, especially on the wings. As we’ve mentioned before, Bishop Boswell arrived more physically prepared than anyone expected just with his body, and he’s had a nice summer. The jury is still out on whether he will carve out regular minutes as Zakai Zeigler’s back-up, but he’s given himself a chance at it.

We’ve talked before about how Tennessee’s front court could actually be improved from last season, and I’m more and more inclined to believe that could be the case. I think at worst Felix Okpara and Igor Milicic are going to be a wash from Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka, but I’ll be surprised if they don’t have a little higher ceiling.

Okpara will may never have an offensive play called for him but he’ll have a ton of dunks off of alley-oops and outbacks. Milicic as ourselves and others have noted, is just a different kind of ‘four’ than Barnes has had before with the ability to bang inside and step out and hit threes.

On the recruiting front the biggest bit of drama out there is whether or not five-star wing Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 overall player in the 2025 class, is going to schedule an official visit to Knoxville.

At the conclusion of the summer travel season Wilson dropped a top-12 that included Tennessee. He has indicated in interviews that he intends to officially visit the Vols, but has yet to set the date for that trip.

He told on3’s Joe Tipton on July 30 that he had set up two visits to Alabama (Sept. 6) and Kentucky (Sept. 13). He has previously taken official visits to Auburn, North Carolina and Kentucky (with John Calipari). Wilson’s father indicated in a subsequent interview that Oregon was also in line for a visit.

-VQ

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

-VQ

The Deacon, despite what the LotM detractors obsessively post, routinely overdelivers.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

The caller Jeeker died. Mostly a Basilio caller but he was a regular on other shows as well. The Sports Animal for one.

George Quarles Fan. GQF. Jeeker. Snow Ball. Another alias or two. Marty was another.

RIP. Even though his takes after losing games triggered my a**. Especially when he’d put Barnes on blast. He was a Johnny Majors fan, so IMO he must have been a pretty good guy.

Basilio will be taking calls with Jeeker/GQF/Snowball/Marty stories sometime after the regular Friday guest (Mike Hg) segment. He already teased with the time he asked that guy that shows up at every UT game with his wife (and is often caught by TV cameras) if they were the Tubbs (that’s not their name - it’s Basilio’s derogatory name for them). Mr. Tubbs wasn’t pleased.

 

[cardvolfan]

Basilio will be taking calls with Jeeker/GQF/Snowball/Marty stories sometime after the regular Friday guest (Mike Hg) segment. He already teased with the time he asked that guy that shows up at every UT game with his wife (and is often caught by TV cameras) if they were the Tubbs (that’s not their name - it’s Basilio’s derogatory name for them). Mr. Tubbs wasn’t pleased.

I don’t blame him.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I need to know the details lol.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I need to know the details lol.

Per Trilly:

- Scheduled to leave for the Bahamas today.

- When they got to the airport there were no flights booked, no hotel, and no games booked.

- Trip cancelled and some of the donors had already landed in the Bahamas when they found out.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

USA BABY!

 

[cncchris33]

I'll always be a Jordan>LeBron guy (no need to transform this discussion into that debate), but what LBJ is doing at his age against the best players in the world is so dang impressive.

 

[Kas232323]

I'll always be a Jordan>LeBron guy (no need to transform this discussion into that debate), but what LBJ is doing at his age against the best players in the world is so dang impressive.

Not disagreeing - it is very impressive - but Steph is only 4 years younger and they don’t win semis or gold without him. You could probably remove any single player except Steph from that team and they still win. He is amazing.

 

[cncchris33]

Not disagreeing - it is very impressive - but Steph is only 4 years younger and they don’t win semis or gold without him. You could probably remove any single player except Steph from that team and they still win. He is amazing.

They really had to dig deep in both the semis and the final. I'm not sure they win if you remove any single player of the main core of guys (Steph, LeBron, KD, Davis, etc).

And I agree, Steph is amazing...best shooter ever, IMO...but a lot of his game is finesse, skills which father time is slower to rob from us. The athleticism, strength, and then obviously his hardly diminished skill is what I was referring to with James.

 

[Kas232323]

They really had to dig deep in both the semis and the final. I'm not sure they win if you remove any single player of the main core of guys (Steph, LeBron, KD, Davis, etc).

And I agree, Steph is amazing...best shooter ever, IMO...but a lot of his game is finesse, skills which father time is slower to rob from us. The athleticism, strength, and then obviously his hardly diminished skill is what I was referring to with James.

I completely understand your point/observation. It is quite impressive at 40.

 

[Lefteye]

I'll always be a Jordan>LeBron guy (no need to transform this discussion into that debate), but what LBJ is doing at his age against the best players in the world is so dang impressive.

I agree. Not intending to transform this comment into anything, but lost a good buddy today so have had a few and curious your thoughts on MJ being >.

When I have this discussion with friends, and my contribution to the convo is usually short cause it starts and end with this… Lebrons frame allows him luxuries that MJs didn’t. And I could expand but that might seem like I was making an argument. But imo that and his antics at times will prevent me from ever changing my opinion. Which is the same as yours in case this post is as clear as mud.

Having said ALL that, I’ve got more love for LBJ than I ever have after these Olympics.

 

[cncchris33]

I agree. Not intending to transform this comment into anything, but lost a good buddy today so have had a few and curious your thoughts on MJ being >.

When I have this discussion with friends, and my contribution to the convo is usually short cause it starts and end with this… Lebrons frame allows him luxuries that MJs didn’t. And I could expand but that might seem like I was making an argument. But imo that and his antics at times will prevent me from ever changing my opinion. Which is the same as yours in case this post is as clear as mud.

Having said ALL that, I’ve got more love for LBJ than I ever have after these Olympics.

Yes, LBJ has some key physical advantages that MJ didn't have. And that really is the primary difference in their games. Both had similar abilities as all-around players, but James does it at 6-9, 250 lbs. For this reason, a Jordan-Kobe debate is more reasonable. Additionally, Jordan lost a couple years of his prime during the championship run for the Bulls, and then obviously retired earlier and lost 3 years to college that LBJ didn't, so the numbers will almost always favor James.

I generally won't argue with those who favor LeBron because I think a case exists for him if that's how someone leans, and it's an unprovable point, anyway. The longer James is able to keep this level of play up, the more impressive his résumé gets.

 

[Lefteye]

Yes, LBJ has some key physical advantages that MJ didn't have. And that really is the primary difference in their games. Both had similar abilities as all-around players, but James does it at 6-9, 250 lbs. For this reason, a Jordan-Kobe debate is more reasonable. Additionally, Jordan lost a couple years of his prime during the championship run for the Bulls, and then obviously retired earlier and lost 3 years to college that LBJ didn't, so the numbers will almost always favor James.

I generally won't argue with those who favor LeBron because I think a case exists for him if that's how someone leans, and it's an unprovable point, anyway. The longer James is able to keep this level of play up, the more impressive his résumé gets.

Well said. And agree

But I don’t roll my eyes as hard as I used to to the comparison.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Well said. And agree

But I don’t roll my eyes as hard as I used to to the comparison.

Yeah. I think the comparison started too early when it clearly wasn’t warranted and a lot of people dug in on both sides. It’s a much more interesting debate now but it got played out years ago. I’m just glad I got to see them both play.

 

[omghulkhands]

Any smoke of a Ledlum type situation where a player sees the writing on the wall about their playing time after workouts and transfers?

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

Any smoke of a Ledlum type situation where a player sees the writing on the wall about their playing time after workouts and transfers?

I'm not trying to hate on Ledlum at all, but of the new transfers that have come in, I don't see any of them being an issue. As for the players that were already in the program, that just doesn't seem to be a personality trait in our culture. So TL;DR, no I don't think so.

There's also not a JJJ-type player going to make a sudden and impactful return at a key transfers probable position, so that helps.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Any smoke of a Ledlum type situation where a player sees the writing on the wall about their playing time after workouts and transfers?

I wouldn’t think so, that was a case of 14 scholarship players essentially competing, 6 of them being post players, and 2 of them at the same spot being in their final year of eligibility. You also had the rule that graduates could transfer without penalty, that’s no longer the case with the current window for transfers having closed already.

 

[RyanWalkerPGH]

If anyone is interested, this Fanatics Knecht Lakers jersey is currently $55 with coupon code:

 

[VOLED]

JM not too much smaller than Pons was. Dude is ripped.

 

[Lefteye]

JM not too much smaller than Pons was. Dude is ripped.

Wish he had the same springs.

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Tennessee’s players and coaches, if they chose, had some time to get away last week and weekend before everyone reassembles for the final push of offseason workouts before preseason practice gets underway for real in less than two months (for real). As we’ve mentioned in this space multiple times there’s certainly a sense that this was a good summer for the team as a whole, and it really needed to be.

That’s because of the obvious detail that the Vols are blending four veteran transfers into the line-up that are all expected to play big minutes. Establishing some cohesion in the summer is a bigger deal than ever in college basketball due to the portal. If you saw the annual ‘end of summer’ traditional shirtless photo from the Volhoops account you could see that guys have put their time in the weight room to good use. As always Garrett Mendenwald does an excellent job in the strength and conditioning aspect of Tennessee’s program and the results are pretty obvious just from the eye test.

Individually Chaz Lanier probably isn’t going to have a Dalton Knecht-type of season, but after this summer most around the program would probably tell you he’s a Dalton Knecht-like shooter. Lanier routinely wins every shooting completion on both a daily and weekly basis on the drills that the staff charts.

Cam Carr’s biggest need this offseason was probably to get stronger, and while he’s never going to look like a linebacker, Carr has definitely added some weight and looks thicker in the shoulders. You typically expect guys going from their freshmen to sophomore years to make the biggest S&C gains in the summer and that’s been the case with car as well as JP Estrella and Cade Phillips. Having grown so tall so fast in high school, it’s probably going to take awhile for Estrella to really fill out, but Phillips’ gains are noticeable.

We continue to hear good things about the leadership of this team, which isn’t surprising considering that Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack are the two returning seniors on the squad. Zeigler has been one of the most vocal guys on the team since he was a freshman. It has been a very easy and natural progression for him this summer.

Similarly, Mashack doesn’t come across as the most vocal guy, but even as a young player he was one of the most respected guys in the locker room because of his work ethic and attitude. Those two guys have gotten high marks this summer for setting the example and taking charge.

On the recruiting front Tennessee is still pushing and waiting for an official visit date with five-star Caleb Wilson. The nation’s No. 4 overall player, Wilson has thus far only set two official visit dates. He’ll see Alabama on Sept. 6 and Kentucky the following week on Sept. 13. This is a highly competitive recruitment with Arkansas, Auburn, North Carolina, Oregon and others in the mix but the Vols are in here swinging for the fences.

Tennessee is also awaiting on Acaden Lewis to pencil the Vols in for an official. Lewis was a prospect who saw his stock soar maybe more than anyone this summer. He has released a final eight of Michigan, Syracuse, UNC, UConn, Kentucky, Duke, Tennessee, and Auburn.

Lewis has told some that he will visit all eight schools before deciding. That seems unlikely, so the Vols had probably better get a commitment for an early date if they want to be contenders. Lewis’ hesitation in setting dates, or in making them public, may be one reason Tennessee is bringing in Colorado combo guard Josiah Sanders for for a visit on Sept. 14.

-VQ