The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[Col_Cathcart]

Remind me to stay away from this forum on Saturday

Unless we win…

 

[berryvol]

Gainey is shooting a FT on 45% of his attempts, so he's attacking the basket a lot more this year which is a positive imo.

Don’t have any data to back this up, but to my BV Eye Test it seems the offense is much more lethal when 2 things are happening: when we push the pace off misses/TOs and when we look to get Gainey involved inside the 3 point line. We’ve made runs against some of the stiffest competition we’ve played with Gainey attacking the paint and looking for the catch and shoot at the elbow.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Don’t have any data to back this up, but to my BV Eye Test it seems the offense is much more lethal when 2 things are happening: when we push the pace off misses/TOs and when we look to get Gainey involved inside the 3 point line. We’ve made runs against some of the stiffest competition we’ve played with Gainey attacking the paint and looking for the catch and shoot at the elbow.

Yeah, when we take good shots without over passing or rushing we usually click pretty good. Taking them too early without moving the ball or taking em late after trying to milk clock seems to create misses

 

[chuckiepoo]

Yeah, when we take good shots without over passing or rushing we usually click pretty good. Taking them too early without moving the ball or taking em late after trying to milk clock seems to create misses

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I also think there’s a lot of folks who look for ways to put down folks who try to live a Christian life, hence the “Deacon” remarks. TIFWIW

Yeah I'm not buying that at all. Knoxville and UT are hardly hostile places for professing Christians and the only time I've seen the "Deacon" nickname wasn't as an insult. Heupel is a professing Christian and I've seen more people use the fact he's kinda fat used against him more than that.

There may be a slight minority that do but the majority that dog Barnes I dont' think his beliefs have anything to do with it. I've seen no evidence of that.

 

[berryvol]

Yeah, when we take good shots without over passing or rushing we usually click pretty good. Taking them too early without moving the ball or taking em late after trying to milk clock seems to create misses

Yup. Anytime we walk the ball up the court and start our sets with under 20 seconds on the shot clock, you can go ahead and pencil in a low percentage shot at the buzzer for that possession.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Glad to see us take care of business last night, and especially glad to see Lanier get some baskets.

At this point, I don't think we're in the same top tier as last season's team or the '18-19 team. I think it's possible to get there, but our depth leaves no margin for error. I just don't think it's realistic to expect an SEC championships or #1 NCAA seed. There's still a lot of bball to be played, and the season could play out a million different ways. At this second, I'm guessing we finish somewhere in the 3-5 range in the SEC standings and a similar NCAA seed, more likely 3-4 seed in that scenario. Of course I could be completely wrong on all of this, but for the time being, I'm considering this squad to be in the 2nd tier of top teams this season. If we had another serviceable PG and post player, we'd probably be comfortably in that top tier imo. I say all of this while keeping in mind that we have the talent and potential to tear through the rest of the schedule and contender for a championship; I'm just skeptical of the likelihood.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Yup. Anytime we walk the ball up the court and start our sets with under 20 seconds on the shot clock, you can go ahead and pencil in a low percentage shot at the buzzer for that possession.

Or a ZZ blow by layup. He seems to have a knack for that in late clock situations. Of course that’s also potentially low-percentage if it’s contested

 

[ColinS]

Some general thoughts…

-nice couple game bounce back from Lanier to snap out of the cold spell, hopefully that’ll calm some folks down. No shooter is gonna be on every night, but that should ease some folks mind about his ability to get it done in league play. 17 & 23 points the last 2 games, 9-18 from 3 which is a blistering 50%. Again, can’t expect him to always shoot 50%, but benching him or cutting minutes also isn’t the move, you’re talking about a guy tracking as finishing the year with the best single season 3pt shooting display Tennessee fans have ever seen, he’s a weapon and you need him. Thought his defense and overall attention was better tonight, 0 turnovers in 31 minutes, and again, thought the defense was very good.

-Okpara continues to look better and better, he’s playing more physical and showed a better rebounding effort tonight which has been a point of emphasis, no reason he can’t be a double double guy if he’s going to get 30+ minutes like he did tonight, he’s also got a really solid FT stroke which is nice for a big man.

-the defense from the tip was light years better than Saturday at Vandy, was quite clear that the players realized how poorly they were on that end. Much better job of communicating screens, they don’t run as good of stuff as Vandy but still a good job, and a much better job keeping the ball in front of you and not getting beat which causes us to help and then get into a rotation which Vandy seemingly did all night, need that effort and focus defensively going forward.

-complete the 2nd of 6 three game schedules, said the goal was to go 2-1 each time out and that gets you to the 12-6 goal, that’s where things stand as we’re 4-2 a still have a great resume. This next 3 game stretch could quite possibly be the toughest of the year when we look back, @ Auburn then home to Kentucky and Florida, 2-1 definitely feels like it would be a win with that slate. I’ve said it 100x but protecting home court is so important this year, Kentucky has an elite offense and will really test our defense, and we definitely didn’t appear to match up very well with Florida’s size, but hopefully we want revenge in that one.

-as for Auburn, I know this is going to fall on deaf ears, but can we please not do the freak out thing? Going on the road to #1 in what is arguably one of the toughest places to play, with college gameday there, Pearl always extra amped up to play Tennessee, like this has Florida beat down written all over it, I will be quite surprised if this is a very close game late. Again, doesn’t mean we suck or need to fire someone or that the season is over, no protections have us winning that one, it’s a house money game that doesn’t hurt us losing and can just be a giant boost with a win. Again, I’m sure come Saturday it’ll be doom and gloom in here, but I tried.

Maybe we should be allowed to freak out but have a time limit on it. Maybe we can talk about heading to the NIT or fahring Barnes for up to two hours after the game.

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Don’t have any data to back this up, but to my BV Eye Test it seems the offense is much more lethal when 2 things are happening: when we push the pace off misses/TOs and when we look to get Gainey involved inside the 3 point line. We’ve made runs against some of the stiffest competition we’ve played with Gainey attacking the paint and looking for the catch and shoot at the elbow.

Gainey has the elbow shot down pat. Whether it’s catch and shoot or off the dribble, he’s become lethal from there. Feel like we kind of are underutilizing him in that way.

 

[knoxvol52]

Always the burro, never the bride.






Georgia ~ prolly.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Glad to see us take care of business last night, and especially glad to see Lanier get some baskets.

At this point, I don't think we're in the same top tier as last season's team or the '18-19 team. I think it's possible to get there, but our depth leaves no margin for error. I just don't think it's realistic to expect an SEC championships or #1 NCAA seed. There's still a lot of bball to be played, and the season could play out a million different ways. At this second, I'm guessing we finish somewhere in the 3-5 range in the SEC standings and a similar NCAA seed, more likely 3-4 seed in that scenario. Of course I could be completely wrong on all of this, but for the time being, I'm considering this squad to be in the 2nd tier of top teams this season. If we had another serviceable PG and post player, we'd probably be comfortably in that top tier imo. I say all of this while keeping in mind that we have the talent and potential to tear through the rest of the schedule and contender for a championship; I'm just skeptical of the likelihood.

couple thoughts:

1. 3-5 place finish in the league appears likely headed towards 11-7/12-6, 12-6 is what most analytic projections have had us going in league play while simultaneously projecting a 1/2 seed to go along with that. Maybe a 3 seed I could see being tossed out there but 4/5 seed just seems a bit wild to me, imo.

2. Bracketmatrix & Lunardi have had 5 SEC teams projected on the top 2 seed lines for awhile now, that would seemingly suggest for the most part that finishing 1-5 in the league has you as a Top 2 seed, especially a team with the OOC we have, it’s much better than most of the SEC teams.

3. The PG comment throws me off, I don’t feel like we’re losing games because of 3-4 mpg that Gainey is playing PG when ZZ sits. We can point to Vandy, but even with him back for the entire 2nd half we didn’t exactly look like a team that was going to beat Vandy, and you could’ve brought Allen Iverson to Florida with us and I’m not sure it would have mattered. If he gets injured then sure, but that seems like an odd hypothetical to worry about as likely happening, right now he’s arguably a Top 3 PG in the country and I’m just fine with him getting 36-37mpg.

4. Obviously it can change, but this team is currently about 3pt/100poss better than last years, and is both more balanced as well as being ranked higher both offensively & defensively. So if this team finishes similarly, doesn’t win a league or tournament title, and gets a 2 or even 3 seed I struggle to see how they’re a tier below last years squad, and that’s without mentioning that this is being discussed as the best conference year in the history of the sport. If it’s just a gut feeling thing based on no facts/data then I get it, I guess, just curious what leads to that conclusion outside of just a feeling.


JMO

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Maybe we should be allowed to freak out but have a time limit on it. Maybe we can talk about heading to the NIT or fahring Barnes for up to two hours after the game.

I’ve just never understood the need, but sure.

 

[CornbreadVol]

couple thoughts:

1. 3-5 place finish in the league appears likely headed towards 11-7/12-6, 12-6 is what most analytic projections have had us going in league play while simultaneously projecting a 1/2 seed to go along with that. Maybe a 3 seed I could see being tossed out there but 4/5 seed just seems a bit wild to me, imo.

2. Bracketmatrix & Lunardi have had 5 SEC teams projected on the top 2 seed lines for awhile now, that would seemingly suggest for the most part that finishing 1-5 in the league has you as a Top 2 seed, especially a team with the OOC we have, it’s much better than most of the SEC teams.

3. The PG comment throws me off, I don’t feel like we’re losing games because of 3-4 mpg that Gainey is playing PG when ZZ sits. We can point to Vandy, but even with him back for the entire 2nd half we didn’t exactly look like a team that was going to beat Vandy, and you could’ve brought Allen Iverson to Florida with us and I’m not sure it would have mattered. If he gets injured then sure, but that seems like an odd hypothetical to worry about as likely happening, right now he’s arguably a Top 3 PG in the country and I’m just fine with him getting 36-37mpg.

4. Obviously it can change, but this team is currently about 3pt/100poss better than last years, and is both more balanced as well as being ranked higher both offensively & defensively. Last years team didn’t win a SEC championship, regular season or tourney, nor did they get a 1 seed. So if this team finishes similarly, doesn’t win a league or tournament title, and gets a 2 or even 3 seed I struggle to see how they’re a tier below last years squad. If it’s just a gut feeling thing based on no facts/data then I get it, I guess, just curious what leads to that conclusion outside of just a feeling.


JMO

I agree with everything BTO except last years team did win the regular season lol

 

[Chaz-Vol]

couple thoughts:

1. 3-5 place finish in the league appears likely headed towards 11-7/12-6, 12-6 is what most analytic projections have had us going in league play while simultaneously projecting a 1/2 seed to go along with that. Maybe a 3 seed I could see being tossed out there but 4/5 seed just seems a bit wild to me, imo.

2. Bracketmatrix & Lunardi have had 5 SEC teams projected on the top 2 seed lines for awhile now, that would seemingly suggest for the most part that finishing 1-5 in the league has you as a Top 2 seed, especially a team with the OOC we have, it’s much better than most of the SEC teams.

3. The PG comment throws me off, I don’t feel like we’re losing games because of 3-4 mpg that Gainey is playing PG when ZZ sits. We can point to Vandy, but even with him back for the entire 2nd half we didn’t exactly look like a team that was going to beat Vandy, and you could’ve brought Allen Iverson to Florida with us and I’m not sure it would have mattered. If he gets injured then sure, but that seems like an odd hypothetical to worry about as likely happening, right now he’s arguably a Top 3 PG in the country and I’m just fine with him getting 36-37mpg.

4. Obviously it can change, but this team is currently about 3pt/100poss better than last years, and is both more balanced as well as being ranked higher both offensively & defensively. Last years team didn’t win a SEC championship, regular season or tourney, nor did they get a 1 seed. So if this team finishes similarly, doesn’t win a league or tournament title, and gets a 2 or even 3 seed I struggle to see how they’re a tier below last years squad. If it’s just a gut feeling thing based on no facts/data then I get it, I guess, just curious what leads to that conclusion outside of just a feeling.


JMO

Last years team won SEC regular season championship...

 

[Vol49er]

I agree with everything BTO except last years team did win the regular season lol

He was probably getting confused and meant that the 18-19 team didn’t win a championship (only cause that LSU Anthony Jordan ref stole it though)

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I agree with everything BTO except last years team did win the regular season lol

Well I’m an idiot lol

 

[walkenvol]

Gainey has the elbow shot down pat. Whether it’s catch and shoot or off the dribble, he’s become lethal from there. Feel like we kind of are underutilizing him in that way.

Current coaching trends are to basically not take midrange shots - 3 pointers or at the rim only. The logic there is understandable but, if you’re not hitting those shots at a high enough percentage then the midrange has to be reconsidered IMO.

 

[CornbreadVol]

Well I’m an idiot lol

All good again, I predicted 13-5 before the season and am standing by that. I think we go 3-1/4-0 these next 2 weeks. Call me a sunshine pumper, I don’t care. I think we get hot and go on a little bit of a run

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Last years team won SEC regular season championship...

Edited

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Current coaching trends are to basically not take midrange shots - 3 pointers or at the rim only. The logic there is understandable but, if you’re not hitting those shots at a high enough percentage then the midrange has to be reconsidered IMO.

With teams adjusting to modern offenses being rim & 3 you’re seeing more teams use that drop coverage to guard the 3pt line and protect the rim also, leaving the mid range open by design. That’s going to be an open shot most nights, if Gainey & Lanier can hit those at about a 50% clip then it will really open things up.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

12-6 would be pretty great IMO

But that might be a tall order even with the games left and how the league looks.

at Auburn (1)
vs Kentucky (9)
vs Florida (5)
at Kentucky (9)
at A&M (13)
vs Alabama (4)
at Ole Miss (16)


Can't lose more than 4 of those 7 games if we wanna be 12-6 when the dust settles...these next 4 games are the important ones, all ranked teams but 3 of the 4 are at home. 4-0 is of course the best case, but ya really gotta hope 2-2 is the floor.

 

[cardvolfan]

Don’t have any data to back this up, but to my BV Eye Test it seems the offense is much more lethal when 2 things are happening: when we push the pace off misses/TOs and when we look to get Gainey involved inside the 3 point line. We’ve made runs against some of the stiffest competition we’ve played with Gainey attacking the paint and looking for the catch and shoot at the elbow.

This is absolutely true. The MSU game when the Bulldogs started climbing closer, Gainey had 2 catch and shoot plays during that run.

We also actually play better when we are pressuring full court. I know we can’t do it regularly because of some limitations, but the pressure seems to evoke some sort of energy offensively. We seem to be more in the flow and more aggressive with the urgency.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

12-6 would be pretty great IMO

But that might be a tall order even with the games left and how the league looks.

at Auburn (1)
vs Kentucky (9)
vs Florida (5)
at Kentucky (9)
at A&M (13)
vs Alabama (4)
at Ole Miss (16)


Can't lose more than 4 of those 7 games if we wanna be 12-6 when the dust settles...these next 4 games are the important ones, all ranked teams but 3 of the 4 are at home. 4-0 is of course the best case, but ya really gotta hope 2-2 is the floor.

As I’ve said to me protecting home is priority 1, if you can go 9-0 at home and win 3/9 on the road you’re there. That’s where the frustration of the Vandy loss really comes in, you’d be sitting in such a great spot right now, but I digress. We’re currently 3-0 at home & 1-2 on the road, got 6 home games left and 6 road games left, so 6-0 at home and 2-4 on the road gets it done.

Road games are: @Auburn, @Oklahoma, @kentucky, @Texas A&M, @lsu & @Ole Miss.

 

[omghulkhands]

If we win on Saturday, we have a tournament resume lol.

Meaning we could just forfeit the rest of our games and we’d still probably get in lol