The Official #8 Tennessee vs. #12 Kentucky Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN

#1,927
#1,927
Mid Tenn Vol said:
Barnes needs to recruit better shooters, playing defense is great and all but it’s not gonna win a title you have to be able to score. We are sorely missing a guy like DK this year. Barnes has done great things here, but I don’t see him changing at this point. It is what it is. These are the types of teams he puts on the floor. The shooting slumps and going cold for minutes at a time seem to be characteristics of his teams.
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Idk why he can't just settle and find players who are just a tad less defensive potential but are better than 1/11 FG every game surely he could even coach James harden in his defensive joke years
 
#1,932
#1,932
Here's the bottom line - this is an offense built around 3-point shooting, for better or worse. Chaz, Igor, and D-Stone were brought in primarily due to their 3-point shooting at their previous spots, and Barnes' offense relies a lot on paint touches and kick-outs for open 3's. When looked at that way, the offense worked on Tuesday, as at least 3/4 of the 45 shots were good looks, many wide open looks.

The offense worked last year because if JJJ, ZZ, and SV weren't hitting their shots, they played iso ball and ran Dalton off high screens, but they don't have anyone this year who can take over games. Chaz is a great spot up shooter and great in transition, but he isn't a shot creator at this point like DK was.

We have no shot creators or penetraters outside of ZZ and to some degree Gainey, and Igor seems to have some ability there. But it's going to be 3-point shooting where this group will sink or swim - hit a decent % (35-38%), and we will beat most teams. Hit less than that, and we might be able to beat some people with our defense, but teams that shoot it like UK will be bad matchups.

One more point - it was alarming to me that Barnes was talking about getting Felix and Cade more post touches. I love both of them, but their strengths don't include post scoring. They are rim protectors and rebounders first and foremost. As frustrating as it is, this team's fortunes will ride on our shooters breaking out of this funk and getting some consistency.
 
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#1,934
#1,934
The Tall Gguy said:
Think this is bad? Just wait until next year when Barnes is gone as well as everyone else except Phillips, Estrella, and Boswell. Are there enough players in the portal to fill out the roster?
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Based on the last year or so, it seems like at least half of all players are available through the portal to fill out rosters. This is why I’m sensing Barnes winding down rather than any of the 4 recent loses. If we don’t bounce back, it can’t be very fun. If we do bounce back he might want to retire while his career peaks.
 
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#1,936
#1,936
The Tall Gguy said:
Think this is bad? Just wait until next year when Barnes is gone as well as everyone else except Phillips, Estrella, and Boswell. Are there enough players in the portal to fill out the roster?
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If Barnes leaves I think they will all hit the portal.
 
#1,938
#1,938
Zues1 said:
Do we have Igor for just one season?
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Yes. Igor, Chaz, and D-Stone are all seniors. Only Felix returns next season if he chooses to.

It's a shame, because all three could have used a year to prepare themselves for the step up in competition.
 
#1,939
#1,939
Based on the last 3-5 yrs, you would think Barnes would figure out that where our team falls short each season is just pure basic shooting... You see what one pure shooter in DK can do, yet Barnes still seems to focus on defense. I guess it will take a different coach when the time comes to change things up. Wouldn't it be easier to have a kid who can shoot the lights out come here and Barnes develops his defense instead of bringing kids here who are above average in most facets of the game, but not pure shooters, and trying to develop their consistency in shooting?
I would be interested to know with how many kids have come in and then left on their own/transferred the past three seasons, how that averages or stacks up against other top 10-15-25 teams in the country? May just be me focusing on our team, but it seems like quite a few when you think about how small bball scholarship rosters are...
 
#1,940
#1,940
volinbama256 said:
Based on the last 3-5 yrs, you would think Barnes would figure out that where our team falls short each season is just pure basic shooting... You see what one pure shooter in DK can do, yet Barnes still seems to focus on defense. I guess it will take a different coach when the time comes to change things up. Wouldn't it be easier to have a kid who can shoot the lights out come here and Barnes develops his defense instead of bringing kids here who are above average in most facets of the game, but not pure shooters, and trying to develop their consistency in shooting?
I would be interested to know with how many kids have come in and then left on their own/transferred the past three seasons, how that averages or stacks up against other top 10-15-25 teams in the country? May just be me focusing on our team, but it seems like quite a few when you think about how small bball scholarship rosters are...
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I agree with you. Barnes 'you play D or you don't play' philosophy I'm sure scares off some good shooters. D is critical to winning games but he needs to have some leniency with it.
 
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#1,942
#1,942
oldaaucoach said:
Huh? So, you wouldn't want a kid with that kind of confident offensive mindset?
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What are you talking about? I'm saying he may not want to come her if he thinks he is going to be the only scorer, thus a future of nothing but double teams and constant ball denial/ a whole team hyper-focusing on only him as a scorer.
 
#1,943
#1,943
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
What are you talking about? I'm saying he may not want to come her if he thinks he is going to be the only scorer, thus a future of nothing but double teams and constant ball denial/ a whole team hyper-focusing on only him as a scorer.
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I said... Hopefully he is the kind of kid who looks and says, "I can be that guy who carries this team offensively"
i.e. Hopefully he is a kid with a lot of confidence in his offense. You said Hopefully not. I don't think you interpreted my comment correctly or maybe I wasn't clear in what I was trying to convey.
 
#1,944
#1,944
oldaaucoach said:
I said... Hopefully he is the kind of kid who looks and says, "I can be that guy who carries this team offensively"
i.e. Hopefully he is a kid with a lot of confidence in his offense. You said Hopefully not. I don't think you interpreted my comment correctly or maybe I wasn't clear in what I was trying to convey.
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You said hopefully the kid says" I can be that guy that carries this team offensively "

I was saying hopefully he says/thinks that and hopefully not what I said .

I'm not disagreeing with you. I hope he says what you said rather than my quote.
 
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#1,945
#1,945
Volizona said:
What if Kim Caldwell and Barnes trade places for a month? Caldwell can coach offense for the men’s team and Barnes can coach defense for the Lady Vols.
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I don’t know about the Lady Vols, but the men might start clanking shots off of the bottom side of the rims.
 
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