The Xavier Postgame Report

[DowntownVol]

I've been a Cuonzo supporter since the outset of his tenure, but tonight shakes my faith. Xavier is a solid team, but they made plenty of mistakes - poor free throw shooting (except at the end when they HAD to have them), a clanged dunk, some bad turnovers, poor shot selection. They gave us every opportunity to win and we failed to seize the moment.

ZJC and others make great points that come back to Cuonzo: mindless substituting, playing too many players, why is Armani in the doghouse?, why did Q get so many minutes, why did Stokes play a completely half-assed game?

Give Xavier credit: every time we made a run to cut it to 4-5, they answered. But that's the kind of game a NCAA tournament team should win. They won, we didn't. This is by far Cuonzo's most talented squad. We are deep and athletic. I think Cuonzo has to realize that it's March Madness or GTFO this season. We can't dig yet another November/December hole by losing winnable games like that.

 

[volinreallife]

I've been a Cuonzo supporter since the outset of his tenure, but tonight shakes my faith. Xavier is a solid team, but they made plenty of mistakes - poor free throw shooting (except at the end when they HAD to have them), a clanged dunk, some bad turnovers, poor shot selection. They gave us every opportunity to win and we failed to seize the moment.

ZJC and others make great points that come back to Cuonzo: mindless substituting, playing too many players, why is Armani in the doghouse?, why did Q get so many minutes, why did Stokes play a completely half-assed game?

Give Xavier credit: every time we made a run to cut it to 4-5, they answered. But that's the kind of game a NCAA tournament team should win. They won, we didn't. This is by far Cuonzo's most talented squad. We are deep and athletic. I think Cuonzo has to realize that it's March Madness or GTFO this season. We can't dig yet another November/December hole by losing winnable games like that.

It sure does not help when your coach calls a timeout in the middle of one of those runs.

 

[BOP]

The lack of off ball movement drove me nuts.

Not to be too cynical but it made me wonder how much planning and effort Cuonzo put into this gameplan. Did he chalk this up as another exhibition? Because it felt like it. Particularly, like zjc mentioned, the substitution. I'm far from an expert, so even the casual observer is left scratching their head.

Ill be honest, I kind of hope they just wanted to play this like another exhibition because at least that would give them some kind of excuse for such poor play.

Its one game, and I don't think it will take until February this year. But if you have big time aspirations, you have to be at a higher level in OOC play. There is no doubt in my mind this team is going to be good this year. But that game could be the difference in a seed line for the tournament.

 

[NuclearVol]

The free throw shooting alone made this an extremely frustrating game to watch. 36.8% from the free throw line - yikes. Xavier at least broke 50% at 54.2%.

 

[Fijivol72]

I miss Bruce Pearl!

 

[Escape Goat]

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

Yeah, that is JYO. The were outmatched from the tip off. This was a beat down, and I'm sorry I had to watch even a second of it. I have no issue with you whatsoever, but it's not always rainbows and roses. If they play many more games like this the rest of the way, this team will be on par with the football team success wise. Something has to change.

 

[Escape Goat]

And there's the rub. My gut tells me what I already know in regards to his coaching. A leopard doesn't change his spots. Martin is not going to drastically be a great X's and O's coach all of a sudden. He better hope his talent bails him out because it appears his coaching can't/won't. I'm giving him this year, but tonight tells me pretty much what I already know. And anyone that is true to themselves should already know too.

Great post. Agree 100%

 

[Catbone]

I really don't have much faith in cuonzo. I feel like this loss is basically all on him.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

I really don't have much faith in cuonzo. I feel like this loss is basically all on him.

It is definitely on him, but I'm going to see if he can bounce back before I write him off. Between now and SEC play, Martin will be coaching next to the hotseat. If we do well, he'll have the chance to capitalize in sec play. If not, he will take a squat on the hotseat.

 

[Escape Goat]

I really don't have much faith in cuonzo. I feel like this loss is basically all on him.

And it was. Horrible game to suffer through. I'm sure this team will get better as the year goes on, but all teams do. Good god almighty was this a terrible game

 

[BadJerry20]

Not the least bit, just said they didn't contribute much at all. If I can only blame the loss on one thing it's the free throw line.

Ummm no, they shot bad from there as well. If anyone is blaming this loss on one thing and their answer isn't coaching they are delusional.

 

[BadJerry20]

Jordy played well, how about a couple pick n rolls for him. Barton was solid. Maymon is rusty, he'll be ok. Josh played bad d tonight. Stokes...well he fouled some people that was about it. I see some promise in DT. I barely noticed the other freshman, unless the announcers said they were subbing. The rotation and combination of players on the floor was atrocious at best. Please for the love of god play Armani more. The offense is still a problem, we can't jerk around for most of the game and rely on Jordy to bail us out. Coaching was just turrible, it's ok to push the pace we have good athletes. A little fire from the bench would be nice for a change too. Zone to change things up would be nice, heck press more, Barton, Jordy, Josh, Armani and Stokes/Maymon could cause a little havok. FTs were bad but so was theirs. The refs were a pain for both teams and bogged the game down badly. It's one game in the end, but damn was it a bad game. Sorry I needed to let that out.

 

[Special Ed]

We all know the one coach who's ready, willing, and able to fix what ails this team.
Dare I say his name?

 

[YankeeVol]

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.

That's part of Martin's problem. His teams start slow. We aren't making the torney with a start like last season.

 

[phowell23]

I preface this post that I'm definitely not a basketball expert. However, I felt like I was watching last year's team. Pass it inside then kick it out and pass it around the 3 point line and try a 3 pointer. Why isn't Stokes bullying his way to the basket? Why do we have to settle for jumpers with Maymon back? Martin's offense is so boring to watch. Say what you want about Pearl, but at least his offense was very entertaining.

 

[SeanJean]

We've seen Martin coach for 2 years now, and this is the product he puts on the floor. Really, really ugly offense with no direction, no gameplan, and really poor fundamentals. It's a really hard team to watch, and an especially frustrating one. They play pretty good man to man defense, but have consistently had bad rotations and struggled to defend the basket over his two years.

Despite all the hype every year, I've consistently said as long as Martin is the coach, this team is going to struggle to win 20 games and make the NCAA tournament. They don't seen to be any different than they were last year, except now they have Maymon back on the floor. It's hard to win games consistently when you can't even shoot 50 percent from the charity stripe and struggle that hard to score points, minus McRae. It's a shame, because this team has talent, it just has basketball Dooley coaching them.

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

Year 3. More of the same.

Offense: Garbage

Defense: Decent in spurts

Rebounding: pathetic considering the potential of Stokes and Maymon

Free Throw Shooting: Grade school level

Coaching: no clear cut strategy, no improvement in players, no discernible idea on how to distribute playing time

 

[volboy81]

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.

They should win a lot. USC Upstate, Citadel, TN State, TN Tech, Morehead, Tusculum...Gee!

 

[dal9]

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.

Early sub patterns made it hard to get rythym going. Moore seemed to deserve more minutes.


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.
Christon is a very good player. Also made some tough shots on J-Rich, which made his performance seem worse than it was.


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.
Yes. DT played better on defense than expected.

Pops played like he at least belonged, especially on D/boards. But his 0-3 FT hurts. Hubbs could not have had a worse game.

 

[Special Ed]

I preface this post that I'm definitely not a basketball expert. However, I felt like I was watching last year's team. Pass it inside then kick it out and pass it around the 3 point line and try a 3 pointer. Why isn't Stokes bullying his way to the basket? Why do we have to settle for jumpers with Maymon back? Martin's offense is so boring to watch. Say what you want about Pearl, but at least his offense was very entertaining.

And successful.
We all know in our hearts that the Vols would not have lost to Xavier had Bruce been leading the charge.

 

[HARTUPM]

We looked like a very poorly coached team. That's on Martin. I stand by that I don't think he is our guy.

 

[FRO]

I take it we lost......

 

[OrangeInKy]

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.

Not sure about the coaching part, but Martin has motivated a team the last 2 years that was dead at the halfway point in the season. I know that the first half of the season the last 2 years has been bad, but if he could not motivate, they would not have rallied the last 2 years on February like they have

 

[OrangeInKy]

I have been a Cuonzo fan and apologist since day 1, but I am starting to waver.

I like him and hope he does well, but it seems he needs to get out of his own way. When the team gets desperate and he lets them play, success seems to follow. He has players, he needs to let them run. Maybe the Big Ten is a better fit for him, but I sincerely hope he gets it done here.

 

[Boca Vol]

I take it we lost......

by 30!