We continue to lose when…

#52
#52
Thunder Good-Oil said:
The regulars need work as well. ZZ missed the entire off season and Gainey/Knecht haven’t had many minutes with him. Plus Santi was away for a week or two. If UT has a deep NCAAT run it will be because of the 8 regulars, not the 5x freshmen.
Click to expand...
Yep, new veteran pieces mean they need time together. I do feel like our rotation seems to be pretty much set. Some years Barnes is still tinkering at this point. I haven’t seen as much of that so far in conference season.
 
#54
#54
pimo1 said:
We lost last night for one reason... we only have 2 valid post players and AIdoo has been historically foul prone.

Until we find a 3rd guy that can spell out 5-10 mins a game when needed that is gonna be a big problem when we go against teams with dominant big men.. Sadlyt our schedule this year has us facing a lot of the top 10 big men in the country.

If you can spell Awaka/Aidoo for 5 mins in the first half and a few in the second they likely don't foul out. The fact we didn't try says we just dont have anyone. This makes is super scary if either of them ever gets hurt. Our options outside of those 2 and JJJ are Estrella (not sure his problem) Cade Phillips (under 200lbs) and a senior walkon with 9 mins of playing time and one rebound in 2 years. I get not going with Cade and Coyne. But Estrella is at least a body to eat a few fouls and let the other 2 get a rest? JJJ ain't boxing out Tolu Smith or Jimmy Bell.

They beat us at the FT line. Smith alone took 12 FT's and made 9. We were 10-16 as a team. 3 point shooting killed us also as no one not named ZZ or DK made a single one. 0-11 ick
Click to expand...
MSU has three very good front line players and an elite guard. When they play well, they will be very tough for anyone to beat. IMO, they lost to Bama due to fatigue from the battle with the Vols. Tolu Smith was not in good enough game shape to come back in 3 days after only playing 3 games. Didn't look like the same player. Bama had an extra day's rest after an easy win over SC on Tuesday.
 
#55
#55
hUTch2002 said:
Yep, new veteran pieces mean they need time together. I do feel like our rotation seems to be pretty much set. Some years Barnes is still tinkering at this point. I haven’t seen as much of that so far in conference season.
Click to expand...

Yes. Ride the 8x upperclassmen and let the 5x freshmen compete for a possible role. Almost every year, somebody is hurt by NCAAT time - so a freshman or two could still make the rotation.

I think that Dilione could have been a regular but any type of injury makes it difficult competing versus SEC opponents and IMO his issue isn’t going to clear up in a matter of weeks. I also think that there’s a big gap between Phillips/Estrella and Aidoo/Awaka. They got a few minutes in the pre-SEC, but neither flashed greatness (freshmen not named King, Grunfeld, Houston, or Reggie rarely do) so they’re probably more like emergency options at this point. JJJ plus Mashack might be the first move if Awaka and Aidoo are both forced to the bench with fouls or injuries. At least mid-game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hUTch2002
#56
#56
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Yes. Ride the 8x upperclassmen and let the 5x freshmen compete for a possible role. Almost every year, somebody is hurt by NCAAT time - so a freshman or two could still make the rotation.

I think that Dilione could have been a regular but any type of injury makes it difficult competing versus SEC opponents and IMO his issue isn’t going to clear up in a matter of weeks. I also think that there’s a big gap between Phillips/Estrella and Aidoo/Awaka. They got a few minutes in the pre-SEC, but neither flashed greatness (freshmen not named King, Grunfeld, Houston, or Reggie rarely do) so they’re probably more like emergency options at this point. JJJ plus Mashack might be the first move if Awaka and Aidoo are both forced to the bench with fouls or injuries. At least mid-game.
Click to expand...
Estrella and Phillips will both be good. I like their footwork and they seem to have decent hands.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VOLINVONORE
#57
#57
LAVol1 said:
MSU has three very good front line players and an elite guard. When they play well, they will be very tough for anyone to beat. IMO, they lost to Bama due to fatigue from the battle with the Vols. Tolu Smith was not in good enough game shape to come back in 3 days after only playing 3 games. Didn't look like the same player. Bama had an extra day's rest after an easy win over SC on Tuesday.
Click to expand...
Miss St shot FTs at a much lower percentage than they did against us. That’s the difference.
 
#59
#59
landscapingvol said:
James and Vescovi have zero business starting, it’s an automatic double team for everyone else because essentially you can leave them unguarded
Click to expand...
I 100% guarantee you rival coaches are not leaving Vescovi unguarded intentionally. I can also say James is someone coaches have to be aware of at all times. They’re not giving him open shots in most cases. Barring injury, those two guys will continue to start, regardless of your revelation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sami, terraceparkvol, BernardKingGOAT and 2 others
#60
#60
hUTch2002 said:
Miss St shot FTs at a much lower percentage than they did against us. That’s the difference.
Click to expand...
I thought that as well, but they shot 15/27 v Bama, 19/27 v Vols. Lost to Tide by 8. It was Tolu not having the spring in his step like he did vs. Vols. Totally different player in those 2 game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hUTch2002
#61
#61
LAVol1 said:
I thought that as well, but they shot 15/27 v Bama, 19/27 v Vols. Lost to Tide by 8. It was Tolu not having the spring in his step like he did vs. Vols. Totally different player in those 2 game.
Click to expand...
I know we lost by 5 but those 4 extra FTs change everything down the stretch and I bet we win if they **** the same as they did against Bama. Of course Tolu by himself basically shot as many FTs as our entire team did. That freshman guard they have is impressive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cardvolfan and BernardKingGOAT
#67
#67
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Yes. They’d both be playing lots of minutes at a mid-major. But by coming to the SEC this year entails a lot of watch and learn.
Click to expand...
Which they are doing. Both knew they had a lot to learn and they would not see a lot of action this season. They are stronger than Aidoo and should be able to help with rebounding, scoring, and defending the lane. Look forward in seeing them as they progress.
 
#70
#70
The difference this year is we have 5 guys that can on any given night carry the load. We can have nights where 2 or even sometimes 3 have off nights against most opponents. We are a much deeper team as far as scorers go than we have been in recent memory. Our problem is post depth. We are 2 deep. Those 2 are really good but foul prone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BernardKingGOAT
#72
#72
pimo1 said:
The difference this year is we have 5 guys that can on any given night carry the load. We can have nights where 2 or even sometimes 3 have off nights against most opponents. We are a much deeper team as far as scorers go than we have been in recent memory. Our problem is post depth. We are 2 deep. Those 2 are really good but foul prone.
Click to expand...
I’m becoming optimistic Estrella will address the post depth issue. Florida has a strong deep group of post players and I thought Estrella held his own yesterday. Loved his aggression on offense and he isn’t shy about physical play. Right now he appears to have the most upside for this season of any of the freshmen. Would like to see him earn regular minutes going forward and see what happens.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HendoCinco, VOLINVONORE and sami
#73
#73
cardvolfan said:
I 100% guarantee you rival coaches are not leaving Vescovi unguarded intentionally. I can also say James is someone coaches have to be aware of at all times. They’re not giving him open shots in most cases. Barring injury, those two guys will continue to start, regardless of your revelation.
Click to expand...

Agree. In order for this UT group to maximize what they can be, SV and JJJ need to be able to do what we've seen them do so often in the past but have only gotten fleeting glances of this year.

Santi contributes so much as a passer and with his defense, he just needs to be able to knock down those open looks he'll continue to get off of Knecht's gravity. Same deal with JJJ's non-scoring contributions, and he offers another potential go-to scorer when DK is sitting or just not sharp. Run some P&R with James and Aidoo - James can be lethal coming off a screen once he's in the paint, and Aidoo has already proven to be an effective roll man, either getting to the rim or popping that short jumper.

When Barnes figures out how to use all of these pieces to compliment what DK brings to the table offensively, maybe UT can finally avoid those killer shooting droughts that have sunk us so often in March. We finally have the weapons, and hopefully this group will really blossom during the SEC grind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cardvolfan
#74
#74
walkenvol said:
I’m becoming optimistic Estrella will address the post depth issue. Florida has a strong deep group of post players and I thought Estrella held his own yesterday. Loved his aggression on offense and he isn’t shy about physical play. Right now he appears to have the most upside for this season of any of the freshmen. Would like to see him earn regular minutes going forward and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Hoping that yesterday was a sign that CRB plans on making Estrella part of the rotation, as the kid got more confident as the game wore on. He doesn't seem to have any fear of the moment, and has a little swagger that you need in a rim protecting big.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VolsAgainstTheWorld15, HendoCinco, walkenvol and 3 others
#75
#75
sami said:
Agree. In order for this UT group to maximize what they can be, SV and JJJ need to be able to do what we've seen them do so often in the past but have only gotten fleeting glances of this year.

Santi contributes so much as a passer and with his defense, he just needs to be able to knock down those open looks he'll continue to get off of Knecht's gravity. Same deal with JJJ's non-scoring contributions, and he offers another potential go-to scorer when DK is sitting or just not sharp. Run some P&R with James and Aidoo - James can be lethal coming off a screen once he's in the paint, and Aidoo has already proven to be an effective roll man, either getting to the rim or popping that short jumper.

When Barnes figures out how to use all of these pieces to compliment what DK brings to the table offensively, maybe UT can finally avoid those killer shooting droughts that have sunk us so often in March. We finally have the weapons, and hopefully this group will really blossom during the SEC grind.
Click to expand...
The upside for this team is humongous, still. Yes, hopefully JJJ and Santi will take charge when Knecht isn’t Superman. The pieces to this Vol puzzle are there, and they just have to get them to fit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sami
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top