Looking Ahead: Vols (ESPN)

#1
Chris4Vols22

Chris4Vols22

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#1
Tennessee's gloom lingered all season as alleged NCAA violations at Southern Miss created an odor around former coach Donnie Tyndall, who was ultimately dismissed as a result of the investigation at his former school. But the Vols quickly filled their vacancy with a quality hire when Rick Barnes arrived in April.

Barnes had coached Texas for 17 years. He led the program to the Final Four in 2003 and the Elite Eight in 2006 and 2008. After those fruitful seasons, however, Texas never returned to the late stages of the NCAA tournament and Barnes was ultimately fired after a disappointing 2014-15 season.

He wasn't unemployed for long.

Tennessee needed a legitimate coach.

The Vols took a risk on Tyndall. But Barnes wasn't a gamble. He has experience, name recognition and the respect of his peers. That's what the Vols needed.

We'll get to all of that later. First, it would be prudent to examine recent developments that could affect Barnes and the program.

After Cuonzo Martin left Tennessee for Cal, key Tennessee recruits chose to take their talents elsewhere. That disrupted things in Knoxville. Then the school's top coaching targets rejected Tennessee's advances, so they ended up with Tyndall. That didn't work out.

Barnes seemed to be a perfect fit. However, the Chronicle of Higher Education released a report earlier this week detailing allegations of academic misconduct by former Texas players, a situation that could affect Barnes in the future. Texas responded Wednesday with a statement that said the university had contacted the NCAA about allegations that former Texas players P.J. Tucker, Martez Walker and J'Covan Brown received improper academic assistance during their careers.

"The university has no information that suggests former Men's Basketball Coach Rick Barnes knew of or was involved in any academic improprieties," Texas' statement said.

So Tennessee was forced to address academic misconduct allegations linked to a new men’s basketball coach for the second consecutive season.

"Obviously we can't talk about what happened in the past at another university," Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart said in a statement. "... Coach Barnes has a sterling reputation as a person of very high ethical standards at every institution he has represented and we are excited to have him lead our men's basketball program."

Barnes has not been accused of anything. And it's far too early to make assumptions about the outcome of this situation.

But it's cloudy again in Knoxville. And the school and coaching staff will be forced to address questions about the situation at Texas early in Barnes' tenure. For Tennessee fans, it almost seems unfair.

What the immediate future holds: Josh Richardson (16.0 points per game) deserved better. The former Vols star gave everything he had to will a short-handed and undersized SEC team to a 7-11 record in conference play and a 16-16 record overall.

New coaches love to start with a guy like Richardson. But Richardson is gone.

Barnes, however, will have five of Tennessee's top six scorers from last season. Now, if he can just get those returning players to upgrade their defense. Tennessee finished 145th in adjusted defensive efficiency, per kenpom.com. Their opponents shot 37.1 percent from the 3-point line (296th) and 49.1 percent inside the arc (225th).

The Vols were tough, though. They finished 18th in defensive turnover rate but that wasn't enough to avoid seven losses in their last nine games.

Barnes will rely on seniors Armani Moore and Kevin Punter, both of whom averaged 10.3 points last season, to create a winning culture at Tennessee.

With Richardson gone, four-star freshman Lamonte Turner, who turned down offers from other Power 5 programs, could log significant minutes. Forwards Ray Kasongo (6-foot-9) and Kyle Alexander (6-10) are a pair of Canadian prospects who will give Tennessee some much-needed size. And Barnes seems excited about three-star wings Shembari Phillips and Admiral Schofield, too.

But Robert Hubbs is the guy who has to prove something in 2015-16. He was ranked 29th in the 2013 recruiting class by ESPN RecruitingNation. He averaged 7.2 points last season. He scored a season-high 16 points against a ranked Arkansas squad in January. The Vols need that Hubbs to show up every night. If he emerges, Barnes' first season could be brighter than expected.
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Looking ahead to 2015-16 Tennessee Volunteers basketball - Men's College Basketball Blog - ESPN
 
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#3
#3
bigsteve13 said:
I agree, it's Hubbs' team. He's got to have a break out year like Richardson and McRae had.
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As of now, I'm calling a streaky start to the season for him, but I'll venture to say he'll average around 13-3-1.5 for the season. Add on 1.5-3 more PPG for SEC play...
 
#4
#4
If Hubbs breaks out then this team will be much better than what people think. Hoping CRB and Lanier can help him realize that great talent he has and tap into it. I would love to see him have a 14 ppg year.
 
#6
#6
Hubbs is definitely the key to this season. We need him to emerge and be the star we all know he can be. We will go as far as he takes us. Hopefully he's got it in him.
 
#8
#8
Like most have said already, a lot depends on Hubbs.
 
#9
#9
Josh carried the team on his back last year and I give him ALL the praise for his hard work. But, We don't need another one man season. If we are gonna get to the ncaa tournament then EVERYBODY needs to step up and play like a major contributor.
 
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#10
#10
I'm really not feeling good about our rebounding, outside of McGhee we have no proven rebounder.
 
#11
#11
Dallasbowlin said:
I'm really not feeling good about our rebounding, outside of McGhee we have no proven rebounder.
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Kasongo is a rebounding machine. Armani Moore was maybe our best rebounder last year given his size.

Owens was a decent rebounder given his lack of size, but we replace him and Carmichael (who seemed allergic to rebounds at times) with Kasongo and McGhee.

That is major improvement IMO. Not entirely proven at the SEC level, as you mentioned, but their reputations have me confident that we will be much better in that department.

Also, Barnes preaches defense and rebounding, and I think that will rub off on the players. We will still undersized for what he eventually wants, but we won't be worse than we were last year IMO, especially in defensive rebounding, where we ranked dead last in the SEC.
 
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#12
#12
cncchris33 said:
Kasongo is a rebounding machine. Armani Moore was maybe our best rebounder last year given his size.

Owens was a decent rebounder given his lack of size, but we replace him and Carmichael (who seemed allergic to rebounds at times) with Kasongo and McGhee.

That is major improvement IMO. Not entirely proven at the SEC level, as you mentioned, but their reputations have me confident that we will be much better in that department.

Also, Barnes preaches defense and rebounding, and I think that will rub off on the players. We will still undersized for what he eventually wants, but we won't be worse than we were last year IMO, especially in defensive rebounding, where we ranked dead last in the SEC.
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Oh, there's no way we will be worse. I'm worried if kasongo can rebound against the bigs of the sec, Ben Simmons to compare.
 
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#13
#13
cncchris33 said:
kasongo is a rebounding machine. Armani moore was maybe our best rebounder last year given his size.

Owens was a decent rebounder given his lack of size, but we replace him and carmichael (who seemed allergic to rebounds at times) with kasongo and mcghee.

That is major improvement imo. Not entirely proven at the sec level, as you mentioned, but their reputations have me confident that we will be much better in that department.

Also, barnes preaches defense and rebounding, and i think that will rub off on the players. We will still undersized for what he eventually wants, but we won't be worse than we were last year imo, especially in defensive rebounding, where we ranked dead last in the sec.
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agreed
 
#14
#14
Turner comes in with the reputation of being a terrific shooter. We need more than one guy that can light it up from outside. If we can get the outside game going guys like McGhee, Moore, Kasongo, and Alexander will be able to get us enough scoring inside. Teams only collapse when you can't shoot the outside shot that is what this team has to bring to be successful.
 
#17
#17
Dallasbowlin said:
Ben Simmons, skal, Marcus lee, etc.
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Again, you're listing off the exceptions, not the rule. For every UK & LSU there is a South Carolina & Mississippi State. Skal isn't a banger though so not sure that supports your arguement, neither is Lee, I think Kasongo will do just fine if he's able to stay healthy and out of foul trouble.
 
#18
#18
bleedingTNorange said:
Again, you're listing off the exceptions, not the rule. For every UK & LSU there is a South Carolina & Mississippi State. Skal isn't a banger though so not sure that supports your arguement, neither is Lee, I think Kasongo will do just fine if he's able to stay healthy and out of foul trouble.
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Their not bangers no. But I wouldn't be surprised to see kasongo in foul trouble a lot.
 
#19
#19
Dallasbowlin said:
Their not bangers no. But I wouldn't be surprised to see kasongo in foul trouble a lot.
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Very possible, but at this point that's based off nothing, as Chris said, as long as we stay healthy I think we will be much better in the post. Kasongo is a much better post player than anything we had on last years roster, and that will immediately pay dividends IMO
 
#20
#20
bleedingTNorange said:
Very possible, but at this point that's based off nothing, as Chris said, as long as we stay healthy I think we will be much better in the post. Kasongo is a much better post player than anything we had on last years roster, and that will immediately pay dividends IMO
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I hope he is. I think he'll have a rough time but once the mid season past he should come into his own.
 
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#22
#22
I think we have a chance to prove a lot of people wrong. Here are my five players who could really surprise some people not named Robert Hubbs.

Armani Moore. I start off with him, because he was our best player other than Josh. He lacked consistency on the offensive end, which was probably due to his small size and going against arguably the best "big men" in D1. I can see Armani even boosting to 15ppg. If he adds a consistent jump shot, he will force the opposing defender to guard him closer, which would be a huge mismatch problem because A)Armani is quick like a guard B)is stronger than most of the players guarding him that far out. Developing a jump shot is key if Armani wants to player professional basketball, IMO.

Jabari McGhee was our best rebounder not named Armani Moore, as soon as he went down, I pretty much knew we would struggle even more. Jabari will bring rebounding and a touch of offense.

Detrick Mostella is an offensive guru. Hopefully he's added muscle to his small frame, but I can see Mostella being a huge contributor to this year's squad, watch out for him to have a break out year. He has all the tools.

Devon baulkman is probably are most underrated player we have. Best 3pt shooter we have, and is actually great at slashing to the rim. Now that he's healthier, I could very much see Baulkman average like 10 ppg. His biggest weakness as a player was throwing lazy passes or making one too many dribbles, he needs to improve his decision making and learn to give "great spurts" the entire game.

Lastly,

Kevin Punter. Already praises by Barnes for a fantastic work ethic. Imagine how accurate he will become. Definitely will be a spot up shooter, if he can shoot it better than he did this year, imagine what we could do if teams respected him like the kid from Vanderbilt.


Idk if you guys agree, but I think theres SO much potential with this squad. Really just depends how much they are practicing and how much they want to get better.
 
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#23
#23
iKrager said:
I think we have a chance to prove a lot of people wrong. Here are my five players who could really surprise some people not named Robert Hubbs.

Armani Moore. I start off with him, because he was our best player other than Josh. He lacked consistency on the offensive end, which was probably due to his small size and going against arguably the best "big men" in D1. I can see Armani even boosting to 15ppg. If he adds a consistent jump shot, he will force the opposing defender to guard him closer, which would be a huge mismatch problem because A)Armani is quick like a guard B)is stronger than most of the players guarding him that far out. Developing a jump shot is key if Armani wants to player professional basketball, IMO.

Jabari McGhee was our best rebounder not named Armani Moore, as soon as he went down, I pretty much knew we would struggle even more. Jabari will bring rebounding and a touch of offense.

Detrick Mostella is an offensive guru. Hopefully he's added muscle to his small frame, but I can see Mostella being a huge contributor to this year's squad, watch out for him to have a break out year. He has all the tools.

Devon baulkman is probably are most underrated player we have. Best 3pt shooter we have, and is actually great at slashing to the rim. Now that he's healthier, I could very much see Baulkman average like 10 ppg. His biggest weakness as a player was throwing lazy passes or making one too many dribbles, he needs to improve his decision making and learn to give "great spurts" the entire game.

Lastly,

Kevin Punter. Already praises by Barnes for a fantastic work ethic. Imagine how accurate he will become. Definitely will be a spot up shooter, if he can shoot it better than he did this year, imagine what we could do if teams respected him like the kid from Vanderbilt.


Idk if you guys agree, but I think theres SO much potential with this squad. Really just depends how much they are practicing and how much they want to get better.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree with you more.
 
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