The Official Tennessee vs. Louisiana State Game Thread, 12:00 PM ET, ESPNU

I hope when Barnes retires he rats out every coach on the way out that he knows has cheated and done things the wrong way.
Would be nice...but with our luck, they’d slap a show cause on our next coach for our former coach tattling.
 
Well, that’s what happens when you have 14 turnovers. You get beat. However, something is wrong and BS when LSU is attempting 14 FT to only 5 for us. They were reaching in mauling us all day and no calls.

Additionally, Nkamhoua had exactly ZERO rebounds the entire game, and 3 turnovers. Can’t have that. Have to box out and protect the lane. He acts like he would rather play more of the 3 than a 4, yet neither him or Pons dribble well enough to be a driving/slashing SF.

And finally, Bowden just completely didn’t show up. Absolute pitiful performance from him today. I see a lot of potential in Vescovi, but his 9 turnovers were the difference in the game. Can’t have that either. However I do believe Bowden and Vescovi will eventually learn how to play a little better together by seasons end, once they develop a little continuity. Bowden was just completely out of rhythm...too comfortable playing with only Turner, and it showed. Rapport will be developed eventually...
 
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Texas fans would agree with you.
However, he’s the best we’ve had since Bruce.
Now, whether that’s worth $5m a year or not is debatable.

That's really what I'm driving at. Great guy, good coach, and good recruiter.

I don't want to hang ridiculous expectations on him, but I'm seeing what I perceive to be inconsistency in game to game performance where I expect a littlemore urgency. To be fair, the team is a bit younger this year and UT lost some real difference-makers from last year, so maybe there's a little more growth required here.
 
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Vescovi ended up being our leading rebounder and even w/ all the TOs, our 3rd-most efficient player today. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him emerging as our best freshman this year.

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Despite the turnovers he was our best player on the floor today. That is both encouraging and unfortunate at the same time.
 
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Despite the turnovers he was our best player on the floor today. That is both encouraging and unfortunate at the same time.
JJJ played pretty well, I think. Didn’t make much of an impact in the 2nd half, but he played extremely well in the first
 
Will be exciting for sure, but we will still lack post play. Hate to say it but Jalen Johnson needs to graduate and go play elsewhere. We need another post player and he will never play with the class we have coming in.
I think Plavsic and the growth of ON will give us some good post play. Walker will contribute early and Fulky can go back to the role he feels more comfortable in.
 
Not sure I follow...because Barnes is the one taking shots for Bowden??
There’s nothing to “follow.” Only an imbecile suggests a HOF coach forgot how to coach. Clearly someone who never played or coached basketball.
 
Texas fans would agree with you.
However, he’s the best we’ve had since Bruce.
Now, whether that’s worth $5m a year or not is debatable.

It didn’t turn out as well as Texas had hoped. Barnes missed one NCAAT in 17 years, and Smart has missed 2 in 4 years with 2 first round losses. One year he was 11-22.

Pretty sure some Texas fans would be fine with Barnes as their coach.

At some point, you have to pay a premium to keep a successful coach. If we hire a new one, it’s a midmajor coach who you are gambling on. Our track record hasn’t been good. It’s simple economics- you pay just 1.0-1.5 million more to keep a coach who gets people in the seats. Next year will be fun.,
 
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Well, that’s what happens when you have 14 turnovers. You get beat. However, something is wrong and BS when LSU is attempting 14 FT to only 5 for us. They were reaching in mauling us all day and no calls.

Additionally, Nkamhoua had exactly ZERO rebounds the entire game and 3 turnovers. Can’t have that. Have to box out and protect the lane. He acts like he would rather play more of the 3 than a 4, yet neither him or Pons dribble well enough to be a driving/slashing SF.

And finally, Bowden just completely didn’t show up. Absolute pitiful performance from him today. I see a lot of potential in Vescovi, but his 9 turnovers were the difference in the game. Can’t have that either. However I do believe Bowden and Vescovi will eventually learn how to play a little better together by seasons end, once they develop a little continuity. Bowden was just completely out of rhythm...too comfortable playing with only Turner, and it showed. Rapport will be developed eventually...
We are not gonna shoot free throws playing this way. Get used to it.
 
Fulky should be our primary option in a half court set. He doesn’t get nor take enough shots. But he needs to do his part and demand the ball more. Due to lack of strength he gets pushed around and seems to tire quickly.
One of his problems is refs never call over the back on who he’s guarding. No matter how big or small they are, I guess because white guys are supposed to be gritty?
 
It didn’t turn out as well as Texas had hoped. Barnes missed one NCAAT in 17 years, and Smart has missed 2 in 4 years with 2 first round losses. One year he was 11-22.

Pretty sure some Texas fans would be fine with Barnes as their coach.

At some point, you have to pay a premium to keep a successful coach. If we hire a new one, it’s a midmajor coach who you are gambling on. Our track record hasn’t been good. It’s simple economics- you pay just 1.0-1.5 million more to keep a coach who gets people in the seats. Next year will be fun.,
Listen, I’m glad we have him. And I hope he’s here for several years before riding off into the sunset.
However, it is debatable that he’s worth $5m a year currently.
 
We are not gonna shoot free throws playing this way. Get used to it.

Oh, I agree. We don’t have anyone who can dribble/drive, or take it to the hole themselves to even draw fouls. But a 14 to 5 FT disparity is still a little too disconcerting for me. JMO
 
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Listen, I’m glad we have him. And I hope he’s here for several years before riding off into the sunset.
However, it is debatable that he’s worth $5m a year currently.

As I indicated, that’s not the question. You pay him because you know what you have. I guess we could be paying some midmajor coach at 2.5.

It doesn’t matter if you are paid 5 million or 10 dollars, fans just want to win.
 
Well, that’s what happens when you have 14 turnovers. You get beat. However, something is wrong and BS when LSU is attempting 14 FT to only 5 for us. They were reaching in mauling us all day and no calls.

Additionally, Nkamhoua had exactly ZERO rebounds the entire game, and 3 turnovers. Can’t have that. Have to box out and protect the lane. He acts like he would rather play more of the 3 than a 4, yet neither him or Pons dribble well enough to be a driving/slashing SF.

And finally, Bowden just completely didn’t show up. Absolute pitiful performance from him today. I see a lot of potential in Vescovi, but his 9 turnovers were the difference in the game. Can’t have that either. However I do believe Bowden and Vescovi will eventually learn how to play a little better together by seasons end, once they develop a little continuity. Bowden was just completely out of rhythm...too comfortable playing with only Turner, and it showed. Rapport will be developed eventually...

I was with you until you got to Vescovi. Vescovi's 9 turnovers in the game wasn't the difference. If you think that then you just haven't been paying attention the last several games. Sure he needs to cut down on the turnovers but he is the best weapon on offense already.

What would be the excuse if Vescovi didn't play at all and we were held under 50. A lack of defense and no paint presence was the difference. Along with Bowden providing nothing like several other losses.
 
believe after Vescovi settles in the team will get better....still need a big in the paint...gonna be harder to make the NIT playing like today...well, it ain't over yet so hang in there...that's all we can do...:D

GO BIG ORANGE!
 
Hot Take: I rather have Bruce back😀

Don’t @ me

Pearl's program is pretty close to being run like Will Wade's. He has caught lightning in a bottle the last 2-3 years after about 4 subpar laughable years. As soon as some players that Chuck Person helped recruit are gone then he'll fall back to the pack. A couple of guys that had to sit out are still somehow on the team and Pearl was defiant with the NCAA.
 
I was with you until you got to Vescovi. Vescovi's 9 turnovers in the game wasn't the difference. If you think that then you just haven't been paying attention the last several games. Sure he needs to cut down on the turnovers but he is the best weapon on offense already.

What would be the excuse if Vescovi didn't play at all and we were held under 50. A lack of defense and no paint presence was the difference. Along with Bowden providing nothing like several other losses.

Sorry, completely disagree with you there. This was Vescovi’s first game so I’m giving him a pass. Like I said, SV looks to have a lot of potential, but if you don’t believe having 9 turnovers by one player, that being your PG, isn’t a problem then you are dead wrong.

Its not like we were winning every game in spite of a bunch of turnovers before Vescovi got here. It has been a problem several times this year no matter who was playing PG, and when it has happened we usually lose.....(Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Memphis, LSU, Florida State)- all of those were games with 14+ turnovers, and all of them were losses. It’s no coincidence two of our best wins (Washington, and Murray St) were games with less than 14 TO’s. This problem just reared it’s ugly head again today with a different PG. But we will improve. That is all
 
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Sorry, completely disagree with you there. This was Vescovi’s first game so I’m giving him a pass. Like I said, SV looks to have a lot of potential, but if you don’t believe having 9 turnovers by one player, that being your PG, isn’t a problem then you are dead wrong.

Its not like we were winning every game in spite of a bunch of turnovers before Vescovi got here. It has been a problem several times this year no matter who was playing PG, and when it has happened we usually lose.....(Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Memphis, LSU, Florida State)- all of those were games with 14+ turnovers, and all of them were losses. It just reared it’s ugly head again today with a different PG. That is all

The reason your post gets no likes is because in my opinion Vescovi's turnovers were not the difference in the game. There are a number of reasons we lost including your starting senior SG with 3 points and double digit misses. Was that the difference in the game? How about the 5 FT's? Yes, Vescovi needs to cut down on the turnovers but it wasn't the difference in the game. We had a post player with 3 turnovers and he doesn't handle the ball and he didn't give us much else. By saying if Vescovi has 0 turnovers then we win is flawed. We lost by double digits.

How many points did we score in the paint? I think that is the reason we lost.
 

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