Vols 3rd longest streak being in AP poll

[ThatVolGuy]

I feel like the game against Vanderbilt is a prime example of how Knecht is essentially willing/talenting/scoring this team to the next level. In previous years, being down by 5 would've been a huge problem in that scenario. Without him, I think we'd lose games like that where the offense just isn't clicking.

 

[ColinS]

I’m willing to let you have yours as well. It’s just one of the silliest opinions I’ve ever seen shared on VN. DK might be the best player in the entire nation. No one on our team is more important than that. Hell Dalton is the most important player we’ve had since ChrisLofton, maybe longer.

Without Aidoo, we’d probably have the same record right now. Without DK, we’d have 7-8 losses already.

I'm not even saying Knecht is not the MVP. He has certainly been the MVP so far. It's the makeup of the personale of the roster that makes this so. We would not have the same record without Aidoo. That's a dumb take if I ever heard one. There have been several game that he has shut the opponent down at the rim. Georgia in the second half comes to mind. Again, if Knecht keeps putting up 35 I'm with you but I just don't see it happening.

 

[ColinS]

Which team would be better? One without Knecht but with Nkamhoua -or- one without Aidoo but with Plavsic? Or with Burns or Huntley-Hatfield? I think we’d be very average without Knecht this year. He has been filling a missing piece. But if Aidoo keeps playing at this level we’re very likely to at least match the best NCAAT run ever. Actually “runs”. Cuonzo also went 3-1 once.

Without either of these would have James and Vescovi shooting 15 shots a night and yes we would be average. Our defense would probably still keep us in games against good teams but we wouldn't be winning many without go to scoring or a true center. Both are essential but honestly I would be more comfortable playing a game without Knecht than Aidoo. We have won games that Knecht struggled in but when Aidoo struggles we have had little success.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

I'm not even saying Knecht is not the MVP. He has certainly been the MVP so far. It's the makeup of the personale of the roster that makes this so. We would not have the same record without Aidoo. That's a dumb take if I ever heard one. There have been several game that he has shut the opponent down at the rim. Georgia in the second half comes to mind. Again, if Knecht keeps putting up 35 I'm with you but I just don't see it happening.

What does the V stand for in MVP? You can’t call DK the MVP and then argue that Aidoo is more valuable to this team.

If DK averages 18-20 a game, he’ll still be the mos valuable player to this team.

 

[cncchris33]

What does the V stand for in MVP? You can’t call DK the MVP and then argue that Aidoo is more valuable to this team.

If DK averages 18-20 a game, he’ll still be the mos valuable player to this team.

It isn’t always that black and white, though.

Brock Purdy isn’t the best player for the 49ers, but he may be the least replaceable going into the Super Bowl.

Ronald Acuña is the best player for the Braves, but they won the World Series in 2021 with him on the bench with a torn ACL.

Being the best player doesn’t always mean you’re the most valuable asset to a team.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

I think one's opinion in this discussion mostly revolves around perspective.

Those who value the star player will side with the Knecht perspective believing that stars change teams.

Those who value the scarcity of our experience and talent in the post will side with the Aidoo perspective believing that we only have one real option in the post who can make a difference for this team.

I could probably make a case for either side if you forced my hand.

That being said, I think it's pretty illogical to think we'd have the same record without Aidoo as we do with him. We'd have lost to Illinois and UGA for sure, and the Bama, Florida, Ole Miss, Syracuse, and Wisconsin games would have all been much tighter. He averaged 13.7 pts and 9.1 rebs in those 7 games. You can't convince me that we go 7-0 in that stretch without his contribution. I'd bet we finish under .500, in fact.

So, as ridiculous as you find the assertion that Aidoo is as important as Knecht, those who support the Aidoo perspective believe we can more likely supplement the loss of DK with our guard depth and experience than we could Aidoo with our post depth & experience. I think that's a valid belief regardless of which guy I believe is more irreplaceable.

Well in 5 of those 7 games you listed, we won by an average of 18.4 points. So if youd bet we’d finish under .500 without Aidoo, then your opinion can’t really be taken seriously.

I’d have given you 5-2.. but DK averaged 24/game in those seven, so our record would’ve been worse without him than without Aidoo.

Aidoo’s been good for us. But his worst games have come against the best post players, and his best games come against teams that aren’t good in the post.

Let’s say we have an tournament matchup with Purdue, Kansas, or Mississippi State. Those are the 3 best bigs we’ve played. Aidoo averaged 7.3 points and 5.7 rebounds and fouled out twice in those three games. That’s why it’s a ridiculous assertion that Aidoo might be more important.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Well in 5 of those 7 games you listed, we won by an average of 18.4 points. So if youd bet we’d finish under .500 without Aidoo, then your opinion can’t really be taken seriously.

I’d have given you 5-2.. but DK averaged 24/game in those seven, so our record would’ve been worse without him than without Aidoo.

Aidoo’s been good for us. But his worst games have come against the best post players, and his best games come against teams that aren’t good in the post.

Let’s say we have an tournament matchup with Purdue, Kansas, or Mississippi State. Those are the 3 best bigs we’ve played. Aidoo averaged 7.3 points and 5.7 rebounds and fouled out twice in those three games. That’s why it’s a ridiculous assertion that Aidoo might be more important.

You are severely discounting the impact of Aidoo's mere presence on the court, how thin we are in the post, and the skill/effectiveness gap between Aidoo and the rest of the posts. We are in trouble if either go down, but you are entirely out of line in your vehement insistence that there's no way losing Aidoo would be more detrimental than losing Knecht. I'm personally not saying one or the other would be worse because it's really close and a good debate. Hopefully I'm misinterpreting your tone and sentiments because it seems like you're trying to be an ass at this point.

 

[cncchris33]

Well in 5 of those 7 games you listed, we won by an average of 18.4 points. So if youd bet we’d finish under .500 without Aidoo, then your opinion can’t really be taken seriously.

I’d have given you 5-2.. but DK averaged 24/game in those seven, so our record would’ve been worse without him than without Aidoo.

Now quantify Aidoo's impact on both the offensive and defensive end in those games. What about his rebounding effect? So far, your entire argument has been very surface level.

We won those five games by an average of 18.4 points. Guess what? Aidoo averaged 17.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in those five games. Take that away and you still just flippantly assume we go 5-0 versus Syracuse in Maui, @Wisconsin, and against Ole Miss, Florida, and Bama at home?

I admire a dreamer, but my goodness...

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

You are severely discounting the impact of Aidoo's mere presence on the court, how thin we are in the post, and the skill/effectiveness gap between Aidoo and the rest of the posts. We are in trouble if either go down, but you are entirely out of line in your vehement insistence that there's no way losing Aidoo would be more detrimental than losing Knecht. I'm personally not saying one or the other would be worse because it's really close and a good debate. Hopefully I'm misinterpreting your tone and sentiments because it seems like you're trying to be an ass at this point.

It’s dumbfounding to me that anyone would think this is debatable. I get that most of this board are football fans more than basketball but this debate is laughable. We have a guy some analysts are predicting to be a top 5 pick (best ever for tennessee), others saying he’s the best transfer in portal history, currently averaging the most points per game in conference play since Pistol Pete.

The argument should be who’s the 2nd most valuable player, aidoo or ZZ? It’s much closer, with my opinion being that ZZ is 2nd and Aidoo is third.

If that makes me an ass, then so be it, but I’ve only said that people’s opinions are silly; you’re the one name calling.

 

[Chris4Vols22]

It’s dumbfounding to me that anyone would think this is debatable. I get that most of this board are football fans more than basketball but this debate is laughable. We have a guy some analysts are predicting to be a top 5 pick (best ever for tennessee), others saying he’s the best transfer in portal history, currently averaging the most points per game in conference play since Pistol Pete.

The argument should be who’s the 2nd most valuable player, aidoo or ZZ? It’s much closer, with my opinion being that ZZ is 2nd and Aidoo is third.

If that makes me an ass, then so be it, but I’ve only said that people’s opinions are silly; you’re the one name calling.

Agree to disagree. It seems blatantly shortsighted to definitively declare one or the other; valid arguments can certainly be made for both. We'd have Zeigler, Aidoo, Vescovi, Gainey, and James to help make up for Knecht's hypothetical absence with scoring. We only have James, Awaka, and Estrella to make up for Aidoo's post presence, blocking, and rebounding. Awaka can't stay out of foul trouble, Estrella is a freshman, and James doesn't have the size. Not giving any credence to Aidoo argument is by far the most dumbfounding aspect of this discussion, especially coming from someone who declares themself as especially knowledgeable in bball.

This team will always be better with Zeigler on the court, but we did advance to the S16 last year without him. It would hurt to lose him, but we could more easily make up for his absence than either Aidoo or Knecht imo.

Hopefully we won't see anyone in this discussion be proven right or wrong.

 

[daj2576]

He’s won 50% of his NCAAT games and something like 90% of his teams make the field. How about spinning that instead.

I read somewhere that based on tournament seeding, Barnes has the lowest win percentage in the tournament of any coach. Or something like that.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I read somewhere that based on tournament seeding, Barnes has the lowest win percentage in the tournament of any coach. Or something like that.

Seeding hasn’t necessarily helped. TN was a #5 in 2021 and had a first round game versus a major conference tournament winner tgat was seeded #12. Then a year later as a #3 seed they drew historically one of the Big 10 ‘s best in the 2nd round. Seeds don’t usually play out close to how they should theoretically for non-blue bloods like TN. Just those 2 games kill the winning percentage versus seeding math. Minus 7 plus minus 8. Minus 15 in just 2 tournaments.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Seeding hasn’t necessarily helped. TN was a #5 in 2021 and had a first round game versus a major conference tournament winner tgat was seeded #12. Then a year later as a #3 seed they drew historically one of the Big 10 ‘s best in the 2nd round. Seeds don’t usually play out close to how they should theoretically for non-blue bloods like TN. Just those 2 games kill the winning percentage versus seeding math. Minus 7 plus minus 8. Minus 15 in just 2 tournaments.

The original intent of seeding was supposed to have mostly p6 teams as single digit seeds, with mid majors occupying the double digit seeds. There's some who think 1 and 2 seeds should be bracketed automatically into the sweet 16