New Rivals 150

#26
#26
This is a rebuilding program, progress happens over time. I'm saying we're getting quality recruits and people judge players by their star ratings and not how they actually play, therefore they come on the message boards and wine because they saw we have 3* players instead of 4*s. I'm not expecting 'roses and butterflies' especially on a board depicted for the state of Tennessee.

We are not rebuilding....we have a top 25 team on campus right now. Either you can recruit or you can't....Zo is doing a decent job but still has a lot of room to improve in that area. None of us knows how any of these guys will actually perform on the court....all we have to go by is how we rank against the rest of nation and our conference.

Last yr we were not a top 25 class and it looks like we might not be a top 25 class again. That is not getting it done in recruiting. So far out of his recruits only J Richardson has surpassed his lower ranking, although A Moore does show some potential.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#27
#27
We are not rebuilding....we have a top 25 team on campus right now. Either you can recruit or you can't....Zo is doing a decent job but still has a lot of room to improve in that area. None of us knows how any of these guys will actually perform on the court....all we have to go by is how we rank against the rest of nation and our conference.

Last yr we were not a top 25 class and it looks like we might not be a top 25 class again. That is not getting it done in recruiting. So far out of his recruits only J Richardson has surpassed his lower ranking, although A Moore does show some potential.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying. He has room to improve in recruiting. He's probably not going to have the type of success I'd like to see consistently until he wins some games.

I will also say that he's getting solid recruits that deserve scholarships at UT. In the past he has recruited a couple of kids that were not the caliber of players we need at UT. I know some hold that first class against him but I give a complete pass on that class. He stepped into a disaster and was adding bodies to a degree.

If you stay in the top 150 range you're going to build solid teams. However, when you're signing multiple guys in the 100-170 range, you really need to add a centerpiece to the puzzle. I'm not disappointed in any of our commits. Just hope he lands the big fish for this 5th spot. I don't want to see us sign someone just to sign them.
 
#28
#28
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. He has room to improve in recruiting. He's probably not going to have the type of success I'd like to see consistently until he wins some games.

I will also say that he's getting solid recruits that deserve scholarships at UT. In the past he has recruited a couple of kids that were not the caliber of players we need at UT. I know some hold that first class against him but I give a complete pass on that class. He stepped into a disaster and was adding bodies to a degree.

If you stay in the top 150 range you're going to build solid teams. However, when you're signing multiple guys in the 100-170 range, you really need to add a centerpiece to the puzzle. I'm not disappointed in any of our commits. Just hope he lands the big fish for this 5th spot. I don't want to see us sign someone just to sign them.

And I concur with this. The biggest issue with this class is its "good field, no hit." You want to not only balance size and positions, but also offense with defense. This class is like signing a class full of DE, LBs and DBs with no RBs or WRs. If you go that way, you have to win a lot if low scoring games without much room for error.
 
#29
#29
Looks like everyone see's this class the same way. A lot of noise in the beginning and kinda fizzeling out in the end. Adding the long shot in Looney and CCM hits a grand slam with this class. IMO this class will help keep TN in the top half of the SEC, but it's not going to put us in position to compete for championships after this class leaves. CCM needs to win big this year. He needs to impress. Win the SEC. Make the tourney with a decent seed and run. Send Stokes and McRae in the NBA. Do all that (which is not unreasonable expectations this year) and CCM recruiting gets a little easier.
 
#31
#31
We are not rebuilding....we have a top 25 team on campus right now. Either you can recruit or you can't....Zo is doing a decent job but still has a lot of room to improve in that area. None of us knows how any of these guys will actually perform on the court....all we have to go by is how we rank against the rest of nation and our conference.

Last yr we were not a top 25 class and it looks like we might not be a top 25 class again. That is not getting it done in recruiting. So far out of his recruits only J Richardson has surpassed his lower ranking, although A Moore does show some potential.

Yes we will
 
#32
#32
What I do find funny is that everyone seems to be saying let's go off rivals and not look anywhere else. Someone could just as easily come along and say, we have four 4* committed and a top 5 class currently and they would be 100% accurate. It a depends on what service you want to go off of, and lets be honest, outside of the top 20 it's mostly a crap shoot anyways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#33
#33
What I do find funny is that everyone seems to be saying let's go off rivals and not look anywhere else. Someone could just as easily come along and say, we have four 4* committed and a top 5 class currently and they would be 100% accurate. It a depends on what service you want to go off of, and lets be honest, outside of the top 20 it's mostly a crap shoot anyways.

Agreed. It seems we have 4 guys that are gonna be ranked between 75-160 depending on the service you look at.
 
#34
#34
Agreed. It seems we have 4 guys that are gonna be ranked between 75-160 depending on the service you look at.

Right.

One other thing and then ill get off my soap box...London is a consensus top 100 guy, along with a consensus 4*. When we were pursuing him there was alot of negative talk about him, saying he wasn't impressive, saying he wasn't high major etc. So now people wanna complain because we don't have top 100 guys, but yet would've also complained had we signed London.

The fact is, we've got 4 signees who are all SEC caliber players, none of them were reaches. This class in all likelihood is gonna be ranked top 25 by 247 composite if not higher.

Martin had to sign a deep, but talented class this year and he has done that so far IMO. It's alot easier to land a 5* if you can focus on just him, but Martin had to set a wide net this year due to needing a large class. Next year he may only sign 2, hopefully that will allow him to target just a couple guys and bring in a big fish to go along with this solid class.

This class will likely be top 5 in the SEC or better, if our results match that isn't that right along with what most want? Compete for top 5 in SEC and be a tournament team year in and year out?
 
#35
#35
Right.

One other thing and then ill get off my soap box...London is a consensus top 100 guy, along with a consensus 4*. When we were pursuing him there was alot of negative talk about him, saying he wasn't impressive, saying he wasn't high major etc. So now people wanna complain because we don't have top 100 guys, but yet would've also complained had we signed London.

The fact is, we've got 4 signees who are all SEC caliber players, none of them were reaches. This class in all likelihood is gonna be ranked top 25 by 247 composite if not higher.

Martin had to sign a deep, but talented class this year and he has done that so far IMO. It's alot easier to land a 5* if you can focus on just him, but Martin had to set a wide net this year due to needing a large class. Next year he may only sign 2, hopefully that will allow him to target just a couple guys and bring in a big fish to go along with this solid class.

This class will likely be top 5 in the SEC or better, if our results match that isn't that right along with what most want? Compete for top 5 in SEC and be a tournament team year in and year out?
I was with you until the last graph. That's too low a bar to set for this basketball program. Top 3 - I'd say top 2 when/if Billy D leaves UF- along with making the tournament 8 out of 10 years with 3 Sweet 16s and an elite 8 in the 10 years. Do that and you'll stumble into a Final Four eventually. That was the CBP track and I don't think TN should settle for less.
 
#36
#36
C.J. Watson - Yahoo! Sports

Rivals is just hatin, but probably a little butthurt when we signed this 3* also. Austin is going to be a nice point guard for us. I for one will not be dangling my expectations off their opinion.
 
#37
#37
I was with you until the last graph. That's too low a bar to set for this basketball program. Top 3 - I'd say top 2 when/if Billy D leaves UF- along with making the tournament 8 out of 10 years with 3 Sweet 16s and an elite 8 in the 10 years. Do that and you'll stumble into a Final Four eventually. That was the CBP track and I don't think TN should settle for less.

Tend to agree. "Compete for top 5 in SEC" is way too low. This program should be consistently in the top 3 in this league. The hoops program was neglected by Dickey and fans don't realize how great this program can be.
 
#38
#38
I think if Calban uses Butler instead of Wichita State his point stands. They have consistently, under 2 different coaches, made the tournament. Including the 2 Championship games.

I understand that you would much rather have a team of 5 star guys, but there are equalizers. Getting the right staff, players that fit your system (regardless of * ranking), etc...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#39
#39
I think if Calban uses Butler instead of Wichita State his point stands. They have consistently, under 2 different coaches, made the tournament. Including the 2 Championship games.

I understand that you would much rather have a team of 5 star guys, but there are equalizers. Getting the right staff, players that fit your system (regardless of * ranking), etc...

Agree 100%.

Now how much did Calban pay you to help him make his point? :)
 
#41
#41
I think if Calban uses Butler instead of Wichita State his point stands. They have consistently, under 2 different coaches, made the tournament. Including the 2 Championship games.

I understand that you would much rather have a team of 5 star guys, but there are equalizers. Getting the right staff, players that fit your system (regardless of * ranking), etc...

They had a once in a century coach there who is gone now to coach in the NBA for one of the world's biggest sports franchises.
 
#42
#42
This is annoying..I believe in the talent of our recruits but people on here took star ratings way too seriously when CCM's recruiting was in question. I'm afraid people will hear of us having 4 3* without any prior knowledge of these recruits and go berzerk.
 
#43
#43
They had a once in a century coach there who is gone now to coach in the NBA for one of the world's biggest sports franchises.

You do realize that Todd Licklighter took them to 2 sweet sixteens in a 3 year span and was named national coach of the year BEFORE Brad Stevens was the head coach don't you?
 
#45
#45
Soooo now according to everyone here this class is average, but when they were higher ranked Martin was getting it done ... Unbelievable fan base we have.
 
#46
#46
You do realize that Todd Licklighter took them to 2 sweet sixteens in a 3 year span and was named national coach of the year BEFORE Brad Stevens was the head coach don't you?

No. I don't realize that because that didn't happen.

Lickliter took them to 2 NCAA tournaments in his 6 years there. First, in March 2003 and then 4 years later in 2007. It is true that he made the sweet 16 both times though.

So Lickliter did a good job. He won the Horizon League twice in his six years which got him a NCAA bid where he was able to make an impact. Stevens though, took it to the next step. He won the conference 4 years straight and made it to the finals twice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#48
#48
I was with you until the last graph. That's too low a bar to set for this basketball program. Top 3 - I'd say top 2 when/if Billy D leaves UF- along with making the tournament 8 out of 10 years with 3 Sweet 16s and an elite 8 in the 10 years. Do that and you'll stumble into a Final Four eventually. That was the CBP track and I don't think TN should settle for less.

I would agree with you if we were paying for a top 3 coach. It's pretty obvious IMO that our AD doesn't expect top 3 in the SEC, or he would go out and hire a coach who deserves a top 3 salary.
 

VN Store



Back
Top