The Turnaround of Detrick Mostella

#1
iKrager

iKrager

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#1
I wanted to write an article on Mostella because I enjoyed watching Mostella take the court, and I always wondered why Mostella struggled as much as he did.


Mostella started off the 2014-15 season with a season high of 17 points against Shaka Smart's VCU squad; he was scoring every way, driving to lane, going to the free throw line, making 3 pt shots. One week later, he had a 13 point game against Bill Self's Kansas squad. You could see Mostella was on the verge of being a great freshmen.

After that game against Kansas, Detrick never scored in the double figures again, and even his minutes plummeted. What happened to Detrick? What made Detrick become a shell of his former self?

According to Detrick, he had attitude problems and had a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. He hit the inevitable "freshmen wall" and couldn't bounce back. He needed an offseason and he needed a coach with a simpler defense and style of play. The below quote doesn't say it, but Detrick is quoted as saying the match-up zone was "confusing" and "we'd get in trouble for missing a match up".

Detrick thoughts on his freshmen year:
“At the beginning of the season, there wasn’t no freshman wall there. I felt great and was doing things right,” he said. “The second half of the season, everything just changed — like how they was scouting me guarding me, the way I felt, everything. It was just a freshman thing, for real. I believe it now. I ran right into that wall everybody talks about.

“But it was good, for real. It taught me a lot of things, and now I’m more humble and more prepared coming into my sophomore year.”
Click to expand...


So what has Detrick done differently over the offseason to produce the type of season he expects?

When Rick Barnes came to Tennessee he told Detrick...:
Mostella has “been terrific,’’ Barnes said, “and I will tell you, we gave him every reason in the world if he wanted to transfer.’’.

“We opened the door and said, ‘here’s what we’ve heard, you can leave right now.’ ’’
Click to expand...

Detrick responded accordingly.

“Kevin [Punter] told me today that he is really impressed with [Mostella’s] attitude,” Barnes said. “So after he told me that, I talked to Detrick and asked him why people said he had attitude problems and he said, ‘I did, because when I came in here, I had no idea what to expect and I thought I was going to come in here and everything was going to go my way, and it didn’t. It was on me, but I’ve learnt from it.’”
Click to expand...


The best example of Mostella’s improved attitude came after he wrapped up his second session of summer school.

Before going home, Barnes told the 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard to box while away to continue to improve his coordination.

Mostella did just that, and with that attitude, he could be closing in on finding that potential he showed in his Vols debut.

“He’s worked hard,” Barnes said. “He’s very unorthodox [in the way he shoots the ball], but we’ve worked a lot with him on his coordination. The whole thing [about the boxing] was that it’s all about rhythm and getting him to sync his body up.”
Click to expand...


Mostella has worked his butt off to become better. The coaches are saying it and now the players are saying it. His biggest issues as a freshmen were A) mentality B) ball handling C) defense (in the matchup zone). He has already improved all three of those things (Rick Barnes defensive system is quoted as "easier" to learn). Expect great things from him.



A Detrick Mostella quote fitting for the end of this post:
“This is where I want to be, for real,” Mostella said. “I’m supposed to be here, with these guys and these coaches.”
Click to expand...
 
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#2
#2
iKrager said:
I wanted to write an article on Mostella because I enjoyed watching Mostella take the court, and I always wondered why Mostella struggled as much as he did.


Mostella started off the 2014-15 season with a season high of 17 points against Shaka Smart's VCU squad; he was scoring every way, driving to lane, going to the free throw line, making 3 pt shots. One week later, he had a 13 point game against Bill Self's Kansas squad. You could see Mostella was on the verge of being a great freshmen.

After that game against Kansas, Detrick never scored in the double figures again, and even his minutes plummeted. What happened to Detrick? What made Detrick become a shell of his former self?

According to Detrick, he had attitude problems and had a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. He hit the inevitable "freshmen wall" and couldn't bounce back. He needed an offseason and he needed a coach with a simpler defense and style of play. The below quote doesn't say it, but Detrick is quoted as saying the match-up zone was "confusing" and "we'd get in trouble for missing a match up".

Detrick thoughts on his freshmen year:



So what has Detrick done differently over the offseason to produce the type of season he expects?

When Rick Barnes came to Tennessee he told Detrick...:


Detrick responded accordingly.




The best example of Mostella’s improved attitude came after he wrapped up his second session of summer school.




Mostella has worked his butt off to become better. The coaches are saying it and now the players are saying it. His biggest issues as a freshmen were A) mentality B) ball handling C) defense (in the matchup zone). He has already improved all three of those things (Rick Barnes defensive system is quoted as "easier" to learn). Expect great things from him.



A Detrick Mostella quote fitting for the end of this post:
Click to expand...

I'm really anxious in seeing how he's matured. Hopefully by his junior year he'll be doing what he did at prep school; etc.
 
#3
#3
Heck yea, awesome stuff Krager!!!

a guy with a similar game, who also had attitude issues, is Jordan McRae. I don't know how many recall him being in the dog house his freshman year, but he had some attitude issues for sure. This credit he straightened up and the rest is history, if we could see that same sophomore jump from Mostella, where he a 8-10ppg contributor, this team just got much better.
 
#4
#4
Dallasbowlin said:
I'm really anxious in seeing how he's matured. Hopefully by his junior year he'll be doing what he did at prep school; etc.
Click to expand...

He will likely NEVER do what he did at prep school, that's a very odd statement. Do you expect Hubbs to do what he did in high school? Competition is night and day, not even a discussion.
 
#5
#5
Excellent post, OP. Thank you. Very encouraging. Glad DM is getting his act together and equally glad to hear how CRB goes about his job. Breath of fresh air from both - as well as with Punter acting as a leader.
 
#6
#6
Ready to see Punter, he clearly is Barnes man, I think we are going to see a much more confident player and quite possibly see Punter on an All-SEC team at the end of the year.
 
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#7
#7
iKrager said:
I wanted to write an article on Mostella because I enjoyed watching Mostella take the court, and I always wondered why Mostella struggled as much as he did.


Mostella started off the 2014-15 season with a season high of 17 points against Shaka Smart's VCU squad; he was scoring every way, driving to lane, going to the free throw line, making 3 pt shots. One week later, he had a 13 point game against Bill Self's Kansas squad. You could see Mostella was on the verge of being a great freshmen.

After that game against Kansas, Detrick never scored in the double figures again, and even his minutes plummeted. What happened to Detrick? What made Detrick become a shell of his former self?

According to Detrick, he had attitude problems and had a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. He hit the inevitable "freshmen wall" and couldn't bounce back. He needed an offseason and he needed a coach with a simpler defense and style of play. The below quote doesn't say it, but Detrick is quoted as saying the match-up zone was "confusing" and "we'd get in trouble for missing a match up".

Detrick thoughts on his freshmen year:



So what has Detrick done differently over the offseason to produce the type of season he expects?

When Rick Barnes came to Tennessee he told Detrick...:


Detrick responded accordingly.




The best example of Mostella’s improved attitude came after he wrapped up his second session of summer school.




Mostella has worked his butt off to become better. The coaches are saying it and now the players are saying it. His biggest issues as a freshmen were A) mentality B) ball handling C) defense (in the matchup zone). He has already improved all three of those things (Rick Barnes defensive system is quoted as "easier" to learn). Expect great things from him.



A Detrick Mostella quote fitting for the end of this post:
Click to expand...

That's great news on Mostella. Its a good thing he realized these issues early in his college career. Expecting him to contribute more this season.
 
#8
#8
bleedingTNorange said:
He will likely NEVER do what he did at prep school, that's a very odd statement. Do you expect Hubbs to do what he did in high school? Competition is night and day, not even a discussion.
Click to expand...

I'm sure he just means being a force. Not averaging the same numbers.

Do you have to contest every post made on this board?
 
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#9
#9
bleedingTNorange said:
He will likely NEVER do what he did at prep school, that's a very odd statement. Do you expect Hubbs to do what he did in high school? Competition is night and day, not even a discussion.
Click to expand...

Not an exact replica,stats wise, but just be the player he was. Finish through contact, be an consisten jump shooter, etc. I know he's never really been known for his jumper, but hopefully he's improved that. I should've worded my post better.
 
#12
#12
k-town_king said:
DM has the potential to be a 15 ppg scorer. Tyndall's horrible offense made a couple of people look bad.
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of Tyndall the coach, and I'll admit, he should've changed his offense once he saw it wasn't working as he expected.
 
#14
#14
Dallasbowlin said:
Not an exact replica,stats wise, but just be the player he was. Finish through contact, be an consisten jump shooter, etc. I know he's never really been known for his jumper, but hopefully he's improved that. I should've worded my post better.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, makes more sense. Again that's competition though, in prep/high school the opposing shooting guard likely isn't 6'4" 200lbs, and the 5 man waiting down low for you isn't 6'11" 270lbs.
 
#16
#16
bleedingTNorange said:
He will likely NEVER do what he did at prep school, that's a very odd statement. Do you expect Hubbs to do what he did in high school? Competition is night and day, not even a discussion.
Click to expand...

Drop 30 points a game...no. But be a good player that helps his team win like he did at prep school and Hubbs did in hs...yes, I think we can hope for that.
 
#18
#18
vols 30 said:
The real reason Mostella struggled: Donnie T.
Click to expand...
Detrick signed the LOI to Tennessee, fully aware that Tyndall ran a matchup zone. It was Detrick's attitude that conflicted with Tyndall, not Tyndall himself.

Trying to point the blame on Tyndall is foolish. He had his negatives as a coach (being a liar), but to say it's Tyndall's fault for Detrick's freshmen season is a complete stretch.
 
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#19
#19
iKrager said:
Detrick signed the LOI to Tennessee, fully aware that Tyndall ran a matchup zone. It was Detrick's attitude that conflicted with Tyndall, not Tyndall himself.

Trying to point the blame on Tyndall is foolish. He had his negatives as a coach (being a liar), but to say it's Tyndall's fault for Detrick's freshmen season is a complete stretch.
Click to expand...

Ok SD, I mean Krager. 😀
 
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#20
#20
bleedingTNorange said:
Ready to see Punter, he clearly is Barnes man, I think we are going to see a much more confident player and quite possibly see Punter on an All-SEC team at the end of the year.
Click to expand...

I think you'll see guard play in general improve this season.
And the core of this team is senior guards:punter , Baulkman, Moore
With some strength in the post and especially if Turner can contribute this team wins 20+.
Called it last season at .500. We're at least 4 wins better.
JMO
 
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#21
#21
calban said:
I think you'll see guard play in general improve this season.
And the core of this team is senior guards:punter , Baulkman, Moore
With some strength in the post and especially if Turner can contribute this team wins 20+.
Called it last season at .500. We're at least 4 wins better.
JMO
Click to expand...

OOC will be key, I know bold statement lol. Barnes is too good of a coach to just lay an egg in SEC play, and even though the league is improving there's still some very winnable conference games. If they can avoid the bad losses, they can go 10-3 OOC and put themselves in a good spot to win 18-20 games.
 
#22
#22
bleedingTNorange said:
OOC will be key, I know bold statement lol. Barnes is too good of a coach to just lay an egg in SEC play, and even though the league is improving there's still some very winnable conference games. If they can avoid the bad losses, they can go 10-3 OOC and put themselves in a good spot to win 18-20 games.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
 
#23
#23
vols 30 said:
Ok SD, I mean Krager. 😀
Click to expand...
Explain why you think it's Tyndalls fault when Detrick said it himself, he had an attitude problem, and also how he thought his talent would be enough to win a starting position. I feel like that attitude would piss just about any coach off. (example: Jordan McRae was in the doghouse under Pearl).
 
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#24
#24
iKrager said:
Explain why you think it's Tyndalls fault when Detrick said it himself, he had an attitude problem, and also how he thought his talent would be enough to win a starting position. I feel like that attitude would piss just about any coach off. (example: Jordan McRae was in the doghouse under Pearl).
Click to expand...

You think He's going to openly say something negative about a coach , any coach ?
 
#25
#25
Wasn't very disciplined on the court. Several attempts at SportsCenter highlights types of passes instead of high percentage when scores were critically needed. His PT was cut way back after a few of those. Don't have his stats in front of me, seems like his free throw percentage was below average. Didn't seem like he committed a lot of fouls but that might reflect a lack of effort on D.
 
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