Vols Basically Killing Each Other in Practice According to Rucker.

#51
#51
cotton said:
I wasn't aware that Woolridge and Maymon invoked the "Reverse Eligibility" rule. It still doesn't change the fact that the guys who were supposed to be contributing aren't while walk-ons get their minutes.
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Whatever. Woolridge was a name grab. If his name was John Smith he'd be a 2 star. Prooves my point about hs v college ball. Maymon wasn't a recruit out of hs. He was brought in to help. If you think either one should be getting minutes, you don't know what you are watching. Heads up, not every recruit to a college to play ball pans out.
 
#52
#52
LawVol13 said:
Isn't everything you're describing just part of the evaluation process? The bottomline is this: either Pearl can't develop the players he gets or he sucks at evaluating players.
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This wasn't my point or the point of this thread. Your point was the guys are beating each other up in practice...but that's exactly what you want as a college coach. You want competitive practices with guys competing for playing time. You want four star guys on your practice squad. It makes everyone better. But like I said, just because practices are extremely competitive does not mean they are not working on their half court sets. And just because they have not been improving in that area does not mean they're not working on it.
 
#53
#53
How many physical intense practices do they have to have before they put it all together in a whole game?

In the immortal words of Yoda...."Try...try not. Do or do not there is no try."

yoda-slam-dunk-18639.jpg
 
#55
#55
pl3 said:
Whatever. Woolridge was a name grab. If his name was John Smith he'd be a 2 star. Prooves my point about hs v college ball. Maymon wasn't a recruit out of hs. He was brought in to help. If you think either one should be getting minutes, you don't know what you are watching. Heads up, not every recruit to a college to play ball pans out.
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No, but a scout team full of four-star recruits who sit and watch Pearl and McBee play in the games is a hell of a failure rate.
 
#56
#56
LawVol13 said:
I don't think he's a terrible game coach, and I don't think he's a bad recruiter. I do think he really struggles developing what he has. And most of that is because of the offensive system, or lack thereof, that we run.
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I think some of the problem is that we have had to keep papering over the PG position (which ties into both recruiting and development and is probably Pearl's biggest "on-court" failing at this point).

I'm curious, so a quick glance at adjusted offensive efficiency as far back as kenpom.com goes:

2003 (UWM): 4th in Horizon League; 65th national
2004: 1st; 56th
2005: 1st; 61st
2006 (UT): 2nd in SEC; 8th national (5 of the top 17 were in the SEC East)
2007: 3rd; 14th
2008: 2nd; 19th
2009: 1st; 21st
2010: 8th; 64th
2011: 5th; 79th

So Pearl has generally had decent-to-good offensive teams until recently (although pace and transition arguably have had a lot to do with that).

The interesting years to me are 2009 and 2010. 2009 was the year we slowed down, averaging about 4 possessions less per game. However, we maintained good offensive efficiency even with the slower pace (also without Lofton for the first time, and with Maze in his first year).

In 2010, with largely the same group of players (before Tyler's dismissal), with an extra year of experience, and while playing at the same tempo, the offense went in the tank (though the defense improved a ton).

I don't really recall any style changes that would have made a difference there. I remember some suggesting that Tyler was clogging up the offense before his dismissal (he had a really high offensive efficiency, though), and Hopson's efficiency fell as he took a greater role, but the other individual ratings look pretty similar.

I was going to try to draw a conclusion, but I'm not sure what it would be (I'm definitely not an expert). 2009 is similar on the surface to this year's team, with a new JUCO starter at PG and no consistent outside shooting (2011 Scotty is better than any significant shooters from 2009). 2009 also showed that a Pearl-coached team can execute offensively in a slower system.

I don't think our starting lineup has as much talent this year as it did in 2009, but what changed in 2010 (last year)? Thoughts?
 
#57
#57
Vercingetorix said:
No, but a scout team full of four-star recruits who sit and watch Pearl and McBee play in the games is a hell of a failure rate.
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Mcbee only played last game (maybe 2 minutes?) because 4 star golden stunk it up in the first half and Golden can't play D anyway. SP can guard the 4 and relieve Harris. Tell me which talented 4 star can come in and play the 4. Hall?-too slow and can't defend outside. They would pick and roll him to death. Maymon?-please-had 3 mental errors in 1 minute on D last game, Golden?-pg, Mcrae?-not the 4, though I wish we could see him in for Cam at the 3. Woolridge?-gets shoved around at the 4, though he is as wide as a doorway.
 
#58
#58
pl3 said:
Mcbee only played last game (maybe 2 minutes?) because 4 star golden stunk it up in the first half and Golden can't play D anyway. SP can guard the 4 and relieve Harris. Tell me which talented 4 star can come in and play the 4. Hall?-too slow and can't defend outside. They would pick and roll him to death. Maymon?-please-had 3 mental errors in 1 minute on D last game, Golden?-pg, Mcrae?-not the 4, though I wish we could see him in for Cam at the 3. Woolridge?-gets shoved around at the 4, though he is as wide as a doorway.
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Then why did Pearl recruit all those guys?
 
#59
#59
Vercingetorix said:
Then why did Pearl recruit all those guys?
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Good question. He and the staff have made some errors, and you never know about hs kids until they get on campus. Hall, Golden and McRae are just young. It's easy to think that freshmen should come right in, but that's mainly because of what Cal does with his NBA lottery picks and it's close to home. Freshmen generally don't make great contributions. Wool was just overrated by everyone.
 
#60
#60
pl3 said:
Whatever. Woolridge was a name grab. If his name was John Smith he'd be a 2 star. Prooves my point about hs v college ball. Maymon wasn't a recruit out of hs. He was brought in to help. If you think either one should be getting minutes, you don't know what you are watching. Heads up, not every recruit to a college to play ball pans out.
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Heads up, you don't know what you are talking about.

When Kenny Hall is on the bench and Stephen Pearl is on the floor, something is very wrong in player development or allocation of minutes or both.
 
#61
#61
Sudeepvol said:
That's what happens when you have five 4 star players on the scout team. Everyone wants playing time and everybody is going to practice harder because of it. Just because you have high intensity practice doesn't mean you aren't also working on your half court offense...
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Why did it take until the last day of February?
 
#62
#62
LawVol13 said:
100% correct. Obviously practicing hard is good. I'm just afraid we're not addressing our problem areas.
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When you can't coach half-court offense, you have intense practices. Pearl basically admitted yesterday that he can't coach the way we now play, that he had not done a good job recruiting players who fit his style because he is a transition, pressing coach. I also love how the scout team, some of whom never see the floor, consistently beat the starters in practice and that speaks well for the future. Guess we have appropriately written off this season. Also interesting that Pearl says we will sign a serviceable big man and another impact player in the spring. He is becoming completely delusional or simply proving that he is a compulsive liar.
 
#63
#63
Why aren't they doing this in the actual games? This team play ugly. It seems like Pearl started in December of last year with playing a half-court game and stuck with it. This only works if you have a PG that can penetrate and dish the ball. This just isn't Goins sytle.

Also why doesn't the PG pass to the low post? Why didn't we start recruiting someone who can actually shoot 3 pointers. Was this supposed to be McCrae?

To me, I would have this as starters and would have had this in December and stuck with it the rest of the year to let these guys gel.

Hopson, Williams, Hall, Bone, Harris

Backups:

Tatum, Goins, Maymon, Fields, McCrae

Never play unless blow out:

McBee, little pearl, little summit, Woolridge

RS - Golden
 
#64
#64
VolFanNC09 said:
Why aren't they doing this in the actual games? This team play ugly. It seems like Pearl started in December of last year with playing a half-court game and stuck with it. This only works if you have a PG that can penetrate and dish the ball. This just isn't Goins sytle.

Also why doesn't the PG pass to the low post? Why didn't we start recruiting someone who can actually shoot 3 pointers. Was this supposed to be McCrae?

To me, I would have this as starters and would have had this in December and stuck with it the rest of the year to let these guys gel.

Hopson, Williams, Hall, Bone, Harris

Backups:

Tatum, Goins, Maymon, Fields, McCrae

Never play unless blow out:

McBee, little pearl, little summit, Woolridge

RS - Golden
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Steven Pearl has earned every minute he has played. I don't know what games you have been watching if you think he doesn't deserve to be on the court.
 
#69
#69
cotton said:
Heads up, you don't know what you are talking about.

When Kenny Hall is on the bench and Stephen Pearl is on the floor, something is very wrong in player development or allocation of minutes or both.
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So Kenny Hall can guard the 4 on the perimeter? He can hedge on the high ball screen? He can switch when necessary and guard a smaller player? He can handle the ball when needed? Kenny Hall is a 5 who needs a mean streak, some hands, some weight, and to not drop the ball to his knees to gather himself for a putback. I know plenty.
 
#72
#72
pl3 said:
So Kenny Hall can guard the 4 on the perimeter? He can hedge on the high ball screen? He can switch when necessary and guard a smaller player? He can handle the ball when needed? Kenny Hall is a 5 who needs a mean streak, some hands, some weight, and to not drop the ball to his knees to gather himself for a putback. I know plenty.
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You appear to know everything. The problem is, a lot of what you know is wrong.

Stephen Pearl is a liability. The only reason to play him is because the other options are greater liabilities. The same is true for McBee. Bone isn't as big of a negative, but certainly isn't producing positively, either. There is a reason all of those guys were walk-ons, and when they are playing in front of people with more ability, there is a problem with either getting ability out of those players or in choosing who gets playing time.
 
#73
#73
cotton said:
You appear to know everything. The problem is, a lot of what you know is wrong.

Stephen Pearl is a liability. The only reason to play him is because the other options are greater liabilities. The same is true for McBee. Bone isn't as big of a negative, but certainly isn't producing positively, either. There is a reason all of those guys were walk-ons, and when they are playing in front of people with more ability, there is a problem with either getting ability out of those players or in choosing who gets playing time.
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I disagree that Pearl is a liability. He plays hard, makes a couple of defensive plays a game, and when he has to he can score. Him playing is the least of UT's problems.
 
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#74
#74
Orange Blazer said:
I disagree that Pearl is a liability. He plays hard, makes a couple of defensive plays a game, and when he has to he can score. Him playing is the least of UT's problems.
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Pearl absolutely is an offensive liability. He's not the reason we're losing games, but you're kidding yourself to think he doesn't hurt our offense.
 
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