What should be expected of UT mens basketball this year?

#27
#27
Shoot. We put up 87 points against one of the best bball teams in the nation with 5 freshman, 2 juniors and Dane Bradshaw! Not to shabby, huh?
 
#28
#28
Is that some kind of moral victory? I like to leave those to Vandy. A loss is a loss, we got railed by Butler.
 
#32
#32
bigdaddy said:
Is that some kind of moral victory? I like to leave those to Vandy. A loss is a loss, we got railed by Butler.
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Butler did the same thing to us as we did to North Carolina. The two teams just came out into the 2nd half with more fire. We fell asleep in the 2nd half against Butler and the Tarheels fell asleep against us in the 2nd half. Did you not see Roy Williams get angry at his players and take off his jacket when TN. began its run? I did. You must have not watch the game because you thought the tn boys were going to get blown out, which they did not.:blink:
 
#33
#33
Realisticly, this team is probably heading for a 17-18 win season. I don't know though... I think if there is alot of improvement in the post this team can win 20. So, with that I'll step out on the limb and predict the Vols go 20-11 and 9-7 in the SEC. Hope I'm right. Lofton is going to have to step up and lead this team night in and night out, which he is capable of, or this might be a long season.
 
#35
#35
Too many variables to accurately predict the course of the season. To me, it comes down to two things:

(1) Whether or not Ramar Smith can actually play point guard. We are NOT going to get into the Dance with Jordan Howell starting all season.

(2) Whether or not Crews and Chism can give us consistent production in the paint. They've both struggled to finish around the basket - shades of Major - but Major did play better defense.

I think a berth in the Dance is about 50/50 at this point. Our RPI should be strong, so I think 18 wins will be the water mark. I do think this team will get better as the season progresses, but we might be looking at being taken behind the woodshed by Memphis, Texas, and Ohio State. We HAVE to win one of those 3 games, IMHO, to have a shot.
 
#36
#36
mtt2d said:
Butler did the same thing to us as we did to North Carolina. The two teams just came out into the 2nd half with more fire. We fell asleep in the 2nd half against Butler and the Tarheels fell asleep against us in the 2nd half. Did you not see Roy Williams get angry at his players and take off his jacket when TN. began its run? I did. You must have not watch the game because you thought the tn boys were going to get blown out, which they did not.:blink:
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Yes I did watch the game from beginning to end and we were beat the entire game. NC let down a little in the second half but we had NOTHING for them in the post. I am not interested in coming close or little runs and scoring points and losing by 14 pionts. That is a beating by any means u look at it. Wins are all that counts in the end. I just don't think that this team will make it as far as last years. They need a point guard bad, need to hit FT, need some kind of post presence, and need to stop turning the ball over 20 times a game.
 
#37
#37
DowntownVol said:
Too many variables to accurately predict the course of the season. To me, it comes down to two things:

(1) Whether or not Ramar Smith can actually play point guard. We are NOT going to get into the Dance with Jordan Howell starting all season.

(2) Whether or not Crews and Chism can give us consistent production in the paint. They've both struggled to finish around the basket - shades of Major - but Major did play better defense.

I think a berth in the Dance is about 50/50 at this point. Our RPI should be strong, so I think 18 wins will be the water mark. I do think this team will get better as the season progresses, but we might be looking at being taken behind the woodshed by Memphis, Texas, and Ohio State. We HAVE to win one of those 3 games, IMHO, to have a shot.
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I agree that Crews and Chism have got to get better on defending the post and have to be more consistent finishing around the basket. Though, I do have to disagree that with your statement that we are not getting to the "Big Dance" with Jordan Howell starting at the point. Jordan is handling the ball a whole lot better than Ramar has in his playing time. Jordan has the experience you need at that spot. He has distributed the ball well and at times gives you that optional 3 point threat. Ramar is going to be good but, my thoughts are he is better off coming off the bench for us. I believe Jordan will only get better running the team as the season progresses. As far as the big 3 non-conference games go. I believe the Texas and Memphis game are a tossup. Home court advantage for us is a definate plus. After watching the Ohio St. game the other night, they would run all over us especially with Greg Oden being back.
 
#38
#38
18 or 19 win season with the Vols going 9-7 in the SEC is what I expect. The team is very young, coaches will be better prepared to defend Pearls offense and able to handle the pressure defense. I will be happy to make the NCAA tournament.
 
#39
#39
bigdaddy said:
Yes I did watch the game from beginning to end and we were beat the entire game. NC let down a little in the second half but we had NOTHING for them in the post. I am not interested in coming close or little runs and scoring points and losing by 14 pionts. That is a beating by any means u look at it. Wins are all that counts in the end. I just don't think that this team will make it as far as last years. They need a point guard bad, need to hit FT, need some kind of post presence, and need to stop turning the ball over 20 times a game.
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I know. But if we score 80 plus points against everybody, imagine how many wins we we'll have.:yes:
 
#40
#40
mtt2d said:
I know. But if we score 80 plus points against everybody, imagine how many wins we we'll have.:yes:
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I agree with that..... The UNC game was the first time under Pearl where we have scored 80+ and lost the game. I think everyone agrees that the outcome of this season depends completely on how fast the Freshmen develop. If they develop quickly then we are fine, if they develop slowly then we could drop to the NIT.
 
#41
#41
I feel sorry for those awaiting Ramar Smith's emergence as a legit point guard.
 
#43
#43
mtt2d said:
I know. But if we score 80 plus points against everybody, imagine how many wins we we'll have.:yes:
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Not many when we allow 100+ and are trailing by 21 at half. Look, we struggled against ULL which is not that good of a team (only 1 win against Ouachita Baptist).
We will have a better picture of this team by the end of this month. I hope they get better. They are fun to watch when they are playing well. I just won't put high expectations on a young team without a PG or big man.
 
#44
#44
orange+white=heaven said:
This post reminds me that we have been missing Hat's input this week....
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I'm not trying to be contrarian, I just haven't seen anything yet from him that appears point guard-ish. I believe he has tremendous ability, but is a point guard about like DaJuan Wagner was at Memphis
 
#45
#45
We probably have one of it not the youngest teams in the nation. I think once Lofton is gone (whenever it might be) Ramar will be better. He's a SG, not a PG. We could put M. Johnson at the point and Ramar at the off guard spot
 
#46
#46
sickemsmokey10 said:
We probably have one of it not the youngest teams in the nation. I think once Lofton is gone (whenever it might be) Ramar will be better. He's a SG, not a PG. We could put M. Johnson at the point and Ramar at the off guard spot
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If Ramar is gonna play at the shooting guard spot eventually, he will need to work on his touch alot between now and then. What I've seen he doesn't have good range on his shot. He looks like most of his scoring will come from driving to the hoop rather than spotting up and knocking down jump shots. Ramar best chance at playing time at Tennessee is at PG rather than SG.
 
#47
#47
bigdaddy said:
Not many when we allow 100+ and are trailing by 21 at half. Look, we struggled against ULL which is not that good of a team (only 1 win against Ouachita Baptist).
We will have a better picture of this team by the end of this month. I hope they get better. They are fun to watch when they are playing well. I just won't put high expectations on a young team without a PG or big man.
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I don't compare my teams to the goats, I compare them to the greats. :yes: Most teams are not capable of producing points like NC. College basketball, and pro basketball, is an offensive sport. Pearl is an offensive coach and was able to match the offense of many good teams last year. Yea we did press a alot to make up our size on defense but that ultimately lead to points, which is very key in winning b-ball games. Football teams can hold opponents to zero points but b-ball teams can't. Its just the nature of the sport.
 
#48
#48
Right now, I think that they are an NCAA tourney bubble team. Hopefully, they'll get in.

But even if they don't do as well as last year, people don't need to get down on this team, coaches, etc. They are very young. I think that after this year, we will start to be a mainstay in the Top 25, and a school that is consistently in the NCAA tourney.
 
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