The Xavier Postgame Report

#1
zjcvols

zjcvols

"On a Tennessee Saturday night."
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#1
1. The offense is still broke. The posts don't screen. They don't cut. They don't drive and dish. Cuonzo Martin better fix it quick. That was inexcusable. He made a bad decision not calling a timeout with a 1:30 after McRae's drive to cut it to seven where 30 seconds was wasted. I could probably write the whole postgame report on Martin's performance. That might have been his worst.

2. You know what bothers me more than the offense? The substitution pattern made no sense. None. Why is Chievous getting 20 minutes a game over Armani Moore when he didn't play a minute in the exhibition? I mean, I deserve a three page paper double spaced for that. That was so stupid. Why did Hubbs come in on a big defensive possession when he had not played in ten minutes of game time over Josh Richardson? Why did you have five of your bench players in at the same time with no Maymon or McRae when your offense wasn't doing anything? Why did you play eleven players in the first game on the road? Why did Chievous come in with six minutes to go when he didn't play the entire second half? I am so utterly confused.

3. Jarnell Stokes should be embarrassed for his performance. If I'm Cuonzo Martin, I make him watch that performance over and over again for the next 24 hours. That was the worst game I've ever seen him play. It was pitiful. I was embarrassed as somebody who has defended him over the years. Then he put up that game.

4. Josh Richardson got burned on defense too many times tonight. I don't know what his problem was tonight. I'll give him a pass since he's usually so good.

5. What was our defensive gameplan? Why didn't we pack the paint more? Our double teams never made sense and we got lost when we did double team. We overplayed cutters too much tonight. Our ball pressure on Christon was bad. We went over on ball screens when they wouldn't take a jump shot. I just don't get it.

6. A positive was we did force a good amount of turnovers. Our length on defense did create some problems. Barton did the best job on Christon with his length.

7. Bernard King Player of the Game: Jordan McRae. Without him, it would have been a thirty point loss. He is the only reason this was even close. Enjoy his last year people. You might not find a better guard scorer in the SEC. I wish we can figure out a way to give him the ball more moving where he can attack.

8. Free throws. 7-19. They should be embarrassed.

9. Good news? We shot the three ball well. McRae and Barton both really light it up from outside. 8-19 is a good number for Tennessee and I would take that all season. That's above 40%.

10. Xavier is a team that has a chance to make the tourney. Whoever decided to make this game the first game of the season is a damn idiot. Xavier was actually favored for this game. However, this was a sorry loss. They played like complete **** to be quite honest. The offensive game plan was terrible, and when Xavier adjusted in the second half on offense, there was no answer. I'm sure people will panic, which isn't surprising with the first game of the year. By no means is the season over. But if Martin wants to be a top 25 team, he better change some things and do it now.
 
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#2
#2
Difficult game to watch, but we can learn from it and come out strong next game.

Martin HAS to get his squad mentally straight.
 
#3
#3
It's a good thing the NCAA has changed the rules to help open up the offensive game. Opened the door for the Vols to score 20 points in the first half.

Oh, and by the way, Xavier's big man is left handed. It might have been a good job to overplay him that way.
 
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#5
#5
I agree with all points. I don't see Xavier making the tournament though. I also had no issue with us playing this game. We have a seasoned squad on the road against a traditionally good team who we should have beat by at least 15 points tonight. Maymon forced WAY to much and Stokes was wow....horrible. Martin is an idiot for the way he subbed folks in tonight. We needed to win this game and he looked unprepared, clueless and like he didn't even want to be there tonight. Absolutely no passion or fire. I am seriously disappointed in him.
 
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#7
#7
There was no off ball movement in this game at all. It was like watching a pickup game in that respect; everyone was just standing around waiting for the ball to come to them without actually working to get the ball in a good position.

We got dominated inside on both ends of the floor as well. Stainbrook was a man on the inside tonight, although now that I look at his stats, he wasn't as dominating as a I thought he was.

I'm not ready to get on the "Fire Cuonzo" bandwagon just yet, but man that game was just a pile of hot garbage to watch. This would be a game that you'd put on for a youth team and tell them, "You see all this. Now, to be successful, do the exact opposite of what the team in orange is doing."

McRae was legit though, probably one of the very few bright spots tonight.
 
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#9
#9
It's their first game. Let's see how they improve from now until December. The Vols have to win in December unlike the past three years.
 
#10
#10
Liked what Barton brings.
We'll be tough by conference play.
Reverse the first 2 games we probably win this one. dumb scheduling.
 
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#11
#11
Here's the thing that worries me the most about Stokes: he seems to have no awareness of his inadequacies. He seemed completely shocked last year when NBA people were telling him he wasn't going to be drafted high. I'm sure they told him that he needs to vastly improve his inside game and they'd like him to be able to knock down the 10-15 foot jumper.

I think all he heard was "knock down the 10 to 15 foot jumper." It doesn't seem like Cuonzo is telling him anything otherwise.

He needs to realize two things real quick.
1. The NBA needs to see vast improvement in his inside game. He has to establish himself as a presence in the lane, finish around the basket, and grab rebounds.
2. He does not need to work on "specialized skills" to the detriment of his team. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more mid-range jump shots out of Stokes this year, and that is not a good thing.
 
#12
#12
The talent we have should be playing better...there are just no two ways about it. The blame for our lackluster outings is starting to zero in on ccm for sure, but we still have to see what this season brings.
 
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#13
#13
zjcvols said:
1. The offense is still broke. The posts don't screen. They don't cut. They don't drive and dish. Cuonzo Martin better fix it quick. That was inexcusable. He made a bad decision not calling a timeout with a 1:30 after McRae's drive to cut it to seven where 30 seconds was wasted. I could probably write the whole postgame report on Martin's performance. That might have been his worst.

10. Xavier is a team that has a chance to make the tourney. Whoever decided to make this game the first game of the season is a damn idiot. Xavier was actually favored for this game. However, this was a sorry loss. They played like complete **** to be quite honest. The offensive game plan was terrible, and when Xavier adjusted in the second half on offense, there was no answer. I'm sure people will panic, which isn't surprising with the first game of the year. By no means is the season over. But if Martin wants to be a top 25 team, he better change some things and do it now.
Click to expand...

1. Making it through that ugly first half without using any timeouts is up there with CCM's worst moments.

10. Thank you for backing up what I've been saying about scheduling this game as the opener. I hadn't analyzed the schedule much and didn't realize until last week that the Xavier road game was the opener. This was a really stupid gamble, and we were burned.
 
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#14
#14
roberthunter said:
Here's the thing that worries me the most about Stokes: he seems to have no awareness of his inadequacies. He seemed completely shocked last year when NBA people were telling him he wasn't going to be drafted high. I'm sure they told him that he needs to vastly improve his inside game and they'd like him to be able to knock down the 10-15 foot jumper.

I think all he heard was "knock down the 10 to 15 foot jumper." It doesn't seem like Cuonzo is telling him anything otherwise.

He needs to realize two things real quick.
1. The NBA needs to see vast improvement in his inside game. He has to establish himself as a presence in the lane, finish around the basket, and grab rebounds.
2. He does not need to work on "specialized skills" to the detriment of his team. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more mid-range jump shots out of Stokes this year, and that is not a good thing.
Click to expand...

I hate to say it, but I think he might be somewhat lacking in the intelligence department. I'm not trying to be mean, but he just doesn't seem very smart.
 
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#15
#15
zjcvols said:
1. The offense is still broke. The posts don't screen. They don't cut. They don't drive and dish. Cuonzo Martin better fix it quick. That was inexcusable. He made a bad decision not calling a timeout with a 1:30 after McRae's drive to cut it to seven where 30 seconds was wasted. I could probably write the whole postgame report on Martin's performance. That might have been his worst.

2. You know what bothers me more than the offense? The substitution pattern made no sense. None. Why is Chievous getting 20 minutes a game over Armani Moore when he didn't play a minute in the exhibition? I mean, I deserve a three page paper double spaced for that. That was so stupid. Why did Hubbs come in on a big defensive possession when he had not played in ten minutes of game time over Josh Richardson? Why did you have five of your bench players in at the same time with no Maymon or McRae when your offense wasn't doing anything? Why did you play eleven players in the first game on the road? Why did Chievous come in with six minutes to go when he didn't play the entire second half? I am so utterly confused.

3. Jarnell Stokes should be embarrassed for his performance. If I'm Cuonzo Martin, I make him watch that performance over and over again for the next 24 hours. That was the worst game I've ever seen him play. It was pitiful. I was embarrassed as somebody who has defended him over the years. Then he put up that game.

4. Josh Richardson got burned on defense too many times tonight. I don't know what his problem was tonight. I'll give him a pass since he's usually so good.

5. What was our defensive gameplan? Why didn't we pack the paint more? Our double teams never made sense and we got lost when we did double team. We overplayed cutters too much tonight. Our ball pressure on Christon was bad. We went over on ball screens when they wouldn't take a jump shot. I just don't get it.

6. A positive was we did force a good amount of turnovers. Our length on defense did create some problems. Barton did the best job on Christon with his length.

7. Bernard King Player of the Game: Jordan McRae. Without him, it would have been a thirty point loss. He is the only reason this was even close. Enjoy his last year people. You might not find a better guard scorer in the SEC. I wish we can figure out a way to give him the ball more moving where he can attack.

8. Free throws. 7-19. They should be embarrassed.

9. Good news? We shot the three ball well. McRae and Barton both really light it up from outside. 8-19 is a good number for Tennessee and I would take that all season. That's above 40%.

10. Xavier is a team that has a chance to make the tourney. Whoever decided to make this game the first game of the season is a damn idiot. Xavier was actually favored for this game. However, this was a sorry loss. They played like complete **** to be quite honest. The offensive game plan was terrible, and when Xavier adjusted in the second half on offense, there was no answer. I'm sure people will panic, which isn't surprising with the first game of the year. By no means is the season over. But if Martin wants to be a top 25 team, he better change some things and do it now.
Click to expand...


I think you answered most of your own questions. It's obvious CCM can't motivate and he is not a good coach.. I have supported him since he has been here and think he is a great guy but after watching how he coaches , especially in game, I do not have much faith in his ability to coach. As for Stokes, he is a 4 year player unless he likes Europe. He was dominated by a slow white guy tonight . It's a long season but we have the same glaring issues we have always had under CCM. I doubt it's going to change.
 
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#16
#16
Maybe we should have used the exhibition games to run our offense. Running no offensive plays in 2 exhibition games showed tonight.
 
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#17
#17
Very unimpressive performance by the players (Stokes and Maymon, in particular) and their coach. Layed a big fat egg on national television. Defensive play is good for the most part, but the offense is painful to sit and watch. I don't think Martin has it in him to coach effective offensive basketball.

One of the most frustrating things about Stokes is just how little he seems to have progressed under Martin's tutelage. Maymon I can almost understand, because of his recovery from his injury. But Stokes seems to have regressed.

It's the first game of the season, but this group and their coach are already looking like they are primed to disappoint this season.
 
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#18
#18
Waisted opportunity. I didn't expect such a poor performance by either team. Give Xavier credit for the win. Vols gotta regroup and be ready for the next one.
 
#19
#19
Martin had better get this fixed quick or we're going to find ourselves clawing on the bubble again. The SEC is starting out bad, so we have to get some decent OOC wins to feel good about our tourney slot later in the year. Right now it's looking like conference play won't do much for us again.
 
#20
#20
z, i'm not happy. The most unhappy I have been in awhile about basketball. I apologize if this is long, but I'm going to go on a not happy rant/vent:
I'm not happy:
-that we play a big and slow center and don't run him at all. We then walk it up and try to go right at him forcing and flailing like uncoordinated kids trying to make a team they aren't good enough to be on
-that we ran twice in 40 seconds to get 5 pts in the first half, after scoring a total of 7 in the first 13 minutes by not pushing the pace and running those guys out of the gym
-that cm killed momentum twice with timeouts. Doesn't have to happen. You can set up a d by signaling your pg at some point prior to tell the team we will be full court press after a bucket. We called it sting 3. At the ft line, you call sting 3 after next made bucket and save the momentum killing timeouts that probably ended up costing us several points on the possessions that followed.
-that it took till 30 seconds left in the game for us to send 2 picks to Mcrae to get him open.
-that the skillsets of several players are being held back by coaching due to the offense and spacing principles
-that he would put maymon and stokes with their backs to a bigger man on the offensive end
-that his sub pattern killed momentum on several occasions too
-that CM's coaching has been outcoached more than he has outcoached in his tenure here
-that there are no clearouts or pick and rolls with the other 3 players clearing out in an offense with slashers like mcrae, Richardson, hubbs, etc
-that other teams keep getting easy shots as we continue to struggle to get open shots
-that we don't use our strengths and get out and run. We run, we win that game handily with our depth.
-that I may end up apologizing to Trae if the offense continues to look like it did when he was here last year. I didn't expect the halfcourt game and wasted motion in the offense tonight. Very disappointed.
 
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#22
#22
I'm not throwing in the towel yet, but the offense need to change or this is going to be a very long season. I can not believe that after a whole year with the same core players on the team we come out and play like that. Clearly not the players fault. Yes shots were not falling but thats when Cuonzo needs to have a go to play to end the drought or at least tell Mcrae to drive and get fouled. This offense was pitiful, and with the new rules Mcrae/Barton/Richardson should be averaging at least 25 free throws a game combined. Hope Cuonzo figures something out or this is going to be a long season.
 
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#23
#23
Barton 30 minutes 10pts 4ast 1to 2stl 50%3pt


Just what the doctor ordered.


I don't think the scheduling was a big deal, but I will say if we had played a game Barton would've been the starter for this one. If Barton starts I don't think we get out to such a slow start and ultimately we win the game.

Jmo
 
#24
#24
ZJC and Sparty are dead on with their points. I've been hoping Martin would show is he can actually make adjustments during a game, but he is too hard headed and set in his philosophy, and if he doesn't change, it will cost him his job. There were just too many bad coaching decisions made tonight. He refuses to play zone when they are killing us inside. His hard head will make his seat hot if he doesn't adjust.
 
#25
#25
I agree on all points zjcvols. I thought you might give Martin and the team a pass and I was glad you didn't because tonight was awful. Yes, we were on the road against a decent team, but Xavier is beatable. We played awful and they didn't play all that well either.

Stokes was hot garbage tonight. If he thinks his game right now is going to translate to the NBA, he better learn a foreign language because his lazy ass will be in Europe and not the NBA. He and Maymon got outplayed. I'm not going to dog on Maymon because he hasn't played a real game in almost 2 years. He still gave effort, but he didn't always play smart. Stokes didn't play smart or give good effort. He was a damn embarrassment. If I were Martin, I would have his lazy ass running stairs when the team got back. He plays only when he wants to play. That's not fair to the team. Get off the court if you're not going to give effort.

I've said all along that Martin deserves 3 years. He better get his ass and the team's ass in gear. I'm sick and f'n tired of seeing this team sleepwalk through Nov and Dec under Martin against decent to good teams and miss out on winning a game that will pad your resume. The SEC is not going to be that good this year. Fla and Ky will make the tourney. We "should", but we better get some wins in non-conference play if we want to dance or we're going to be sweating it out again on Selection Sunday. If tonight is any indication, it's not going to be much different from the previous two Selection Sundays. Martin better learn to adjust or he'll be looking for another job.
 
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