I just don't get it!!!!

[Brave Volunteer]

You seem okay with that.
Personally I'm not okay with " we're just not a FF program, be happy we're in the tournament".

Yeah at some point as a program, you have to break through that ceiling. Barnes has this program winning 20+ a year and making the tourney most years. That's good but at some point we must ask ourselves, is that enough? Is that acceptable? That's the 64,000.00 question. Do we WANT to be an elite final four program? If so, is Barnes the coach that will get us there? All evidence points to no. So what are we doing? I just don't think the kind of money we're paying Barmes is reflective of losing to teams like FAU in the Sweet 16. How does a program like that manage to construct a roster capable of outplaying ours when we have way more resources and supposedly a better coach? I just don't think Barnes' coaching philosophy and roster construction is conducive to winning in March.

 

[imbubbaspitcup]

FAU is a very well coached team! I was amazed at those box outs! A lot of teams will be trying to get this coach! He made those comments about the "Ruby" to get inside our heads & it worked! Awaka is our best rebounder, he is strong, BOXES OUT, & he only played 1 minute! Go Figure!

 

[Jimmyandjoes]

Once FAU pulled within a possession in the 2nd half, we played tight and looked liked the moment was too big

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

I disagree. Those numbers are terrible. They were mostly open looks. We had 13 more shots

Tennessee was outschemed and outhustled. They were outrebounded by 4 by a significantly smaller team (where was Awaka?). They gave up 40 points in the second half and the defense had no answers to stop the bleeding. FAU took 4 more FTS that UT and I cannot figure why Barnes wouldn't have the offense drive to the hole over and over again. Barnes refuses to call timeouts to stop runs, when FAU was on an 8-0 run and took the lead, he should have called one then, but allowed a 20-4 run to pretty much put them out of the game. I knew once FAU had a 8+ point lead, the Vols were done, they did not have the offensive firepower to overcome that which is a testament to their lack of offensive strategy. When will the Vols break through to the elite 8 and beyond? Barnes hasn't gotten us there and if you view the roster for next year, will probably not be next year either. This team fell apart after that big Texas win and they never recovered. Barnes had no plan B for PG once ZZ went down. The Vols are not a Final 4 program !

 

[Cartervol]

Letting them own us on the glass I don't get. Playing a zone probably wasn't the best idea either.. I think the game plan whatever it was was absolute shat.. That is on Rick. He let that FAU coach coach circles around him. Need quicker guards, a decent big man wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

When’s the first football game?

 

[RDU VOL#14]

People have made the same comments on this site even before the play offs began, that if we run into a hot-shooting team regardless of their seed, we will be coming back home. Tonight was that night.

They were 8/27 from 3. A Conference USA team scored only 62 points and we lost . We played tight offensively, we didn’t play loose, we were hesitant to take open shots and made too many extra passes which led to taking bad shots at the end of the shot clock. You allow a 13-2 or 15-2 run or whatever it was and you don’t take a timeout and allow the game pressure to mount after that under 8 timeout. That was a perfectly created storm.

 

[Post4Vols]

Did anyone see one player drive to the basket the entire game? Never seen a college offense run their half court set in such slow motion as UT, they used to do hard cuts CONSTANTLY to the rim, now everyone just jogs around until Vescovi takes a 30 foot 3.

 

[EasternVol]

Did anyone see one player drive to the basket the entire game? Never seen a college offense run their half court set in such slow motion as UT, they used to do hard cuts CONSTANTLY to the rim, now everyone just jogs around until Vescovi takes a 30 foot 3.

Off the top of my head Mashack had a couple. I think Key and Philips too.

 

[orbs son]

Did anyone see one player drive to the basket the entire game? Never seen a college offense run their half court set in such slow motion as UT, they used to do hard cuts CONSTANTLY to the rim, now everyone just jogs around until Vescovi takes a 30 foot 3.

JM took a couple to the rim and that was it. JJJ, Vescovi, Phillips, Key, and ON were all too scared on offense. I don't understand players that love physicality on defense but shy away from contact on the offensive end. 3s, long jumpers, and fadeaways. That's what you get when people are scared.

 

[Good2bavol]

I wonder what people are saying about the Purdue coach.

 

[Cartervol]

JM took a couple to the rim and that was it. JJJ, Vescovi, Phillips, Key, and ON were all too scared on offense. I don't understand players that love physicality on defense but shy away from contact on the offensive end. 3s, long jumpers, and fadeaways. That's what you get when people are scared.

ON with that turnaround jumper instead of trying to drive to the basket kills me. That's just way too soft for a guy that size..

 

[ColinS]

You want UT to win, but deep down I knew we were going to lose! There is no way we should have been running a 2-3 zone on defense! That has two of our players chasing the ball & leaving open all of those 3 shots that they took! Rick Barnes run the man to man defense! Plavsic you started off good, but you on the bench with your "they are TOO SMALL antics , then that DumbAZZ cheap shot elbow was garbage! They out played us in the paint, their 6'2" guards were out rebounding our bigs, their defense was better, they attacked the rim & they out coached us! We have to update our offense, it's a pattern that has been going on all year! Our 11 losses speaks for that!

UP is not a good player. He has a decent post up game and can score a little if the opponent puts no emphasis on stopping him but he can't rebound or protect the rim. Another guy who is a decent end of bench option but we want really miss him next year.

 

[orbs son]

ON with that turnaround jumper instead of trying to drive to the basket kills me. That's just way too soft for a guy that size..

Not only his size, but his athletic ability too. Look at some of his blocks and dunks this year. He should be attacking slow 4s off the bounce. He should have also killed those guards last night on the blocks. You make a defenders job easier when you fade away from the rim.

 

[VOLtaism]

We hit two less three's on 13 more shots. 13 shots...

That was the difference in the game because there were so many offensive rebounds for them to get and the ball was bouncing long off the rim. This allowed them to keep the score close and get into their offense. If the bricks had stopped the Vols would have been way ahead. They were taking good shots but the basket was closed. The defense will not work unless the offense is hitting a normal percentage from the floor.

 

[posivol]

we just didn't hit shots....period...this was the game we needed ZZ

 

[Vol4life2]

People have made the same comments on this site even before the play offs began, that if we run into a hot-shooting team regardless of their seed, we will be coming back home. Tonight was that night.

But that is true of every basketball game. Our offense did not go inside in2nd half enough. We did in 1st half and had a 5 point lead. Missing 3s consistently killed us.

 

[landscapingvol]

You want UT to win, but deep down I knew we were going to lose! There is no way we should have been running a 2-3 zone on defense! That has two of our players chasing the ball & leaving open all of those 3 shots that they took! Rick Barnes run the man to man defense! Plavsic you started off good, but you on the bench with your "they are TOO SMALL antics , then that DumbAZZ cheap shot elbow was garbage! They out played us in the paint, their 6'2" guards were out rebounding our bigs, their defense was better, they attacked the rim & they out coached us! We have to update our offense, it's a pattern that has been going on all year! Our 11 losses speaks for that!

I like Barnes and think he is a good coach but his offensive scheme is average at best, ineffective at worst. The constant excuse makers on the board will tell you how great of a shooter Vescovi is and I like him. He has heart but when your "best" shooter can't create his own shot and is wildly inconsistent then you aren't a good shooting team and those stats are obvious. At this point it is what it is, the team probably played above its potential for much of the season and may have inflated the expectations of many including myself but making the Sweet Sixteen was probably the ceiling for this team. With that being said, the opportunity to make the Elite Eight was there for the taking and the shooting inconsistencies prevented that in the end. You have to give Barnes credit for exceeding expectations with this group of players but you also have to acknowledge that if we are going to make a deeper run in the tournament it is going to take a lot of new faces and some changes at the coaching level. Barnes is 68 years old so I am not sure how realistic those changes are at this point in his career.

 

[volfeeva]

Tennessee was outschemed and outhustled. They were outrebounded by 4 by a significantly smaller team (where was Awaka?). They gave up 40 points in the second half and the defense had no answers to stop the bleeding. FAU took 4 more FTS that UT and I cannot figure why Barnes wouldn't have the offense drive to the hole over and over again. Barnes refuses to call timeouts to stop runs, when FAU was on an 8-0 run and took the lead, he should have called one then, but allowed a 20-4 run to pretty much put them out of the game. I knew once FAU had a 8+ point lead, the Vols were done, they did not have the offensive firepower to overcome that which is a testament to their lack of offensive strategy. When will the Vols break through to the elite 8 and beyond? Barnes hasn't gotten us there and if you view the roster for next year, will probably not be next year either. This team fell apart after that big Texas win and they never recovered. Barnes had no plan B for PG once ZZ went down. The Vols are not a Final 4 program !

If you go back and look at the games we lost late in the regular season many if not most of them we were leading in the first half and had momentum but came out after half time and lost the game. Other teams seem to make adjustments but we don't. Some of our losses we're up by 15 or 20 pts. Seem like coach could watch game film and replay what happened to fix this

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

If you go back and look at the games we lost late in the regular season many if not most of them we were leading in the first half and had momentum but came out after half time and lost the game. Other teams seem to make adjustments but we don't. Some of our losses we're up by 15 or 20 pts. Seem like coach could watch game film and replay what happened to fix this

^^^this^°° is correct

 

[RockyTopTexas]

this has been the offense all year. Nothing surprising

I knew with 7 min left we had lost this game and it was pretty damn obv if you have watched any vol basketball this year

 

[lynnh]

Open looks are what FAU got all game. Those are open looks. We had some but their offense got them an open 3 basically every trip down if they wanted it. Then when they missed they got the offensive rebound where we didn’t even bother boxing out most of the time. That’s effort.

Yes effort is something TN doesn't always get from inside players....weak

 

[djohnnyg]

When ZZ went down it was over. He was such a vital piece. Team did well do get to sweet 16 without him. Just an unfortunate season killing injury.

 

[djohnnyg]

Just foul Mashack was all FAU would have to do if game was tight at the end. Easy formula. 60% ain't gonna cut it...and he missed 3 of 4 at the end last night.

 

[brockytop]

People have made the same comments on this site even before the play offs began, that if we run into a hot-shooting team regardless of their seed, we will be coming back home. Tonight was that night.

Yeah, those comments have been made because its been obvious for a good part of the season.