Rick Barnes Approval Rating Thread (1-10)

#26
#26
BigOrangeMojo said:
Much like the grade for Butch Jones dropped after the USCe and Vandy losses, the same thing has happened to Barnes. A month ago, this grade was a 6-7, now it's 4-5. Not being competitive against Vandy at home and against an awful LSU team will do that.
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Pretty much this.

A month ago I would have said an 8 probably, but now I'd honestly have to say 4-5. The team fell apart from the second half of the Miss St. game on. I don't know exactly what is wrong but I'm starting to believe the narrative that Barnes has been too hard on the players. Even Rucker, who is usually closer to sunshine pumper than not, was commenting last night that it bothered him that there was no sense of urgency from the team, very little emotion, and that no one seemed angry at how bad they were playing.

Fair or not, Barnes is looking at Buzz levels of apathy going into next season.
 
#27
#27
I'm going 8 as the roster has been flushed and he's had to pretty much start over except for Hubbs who CRB was able to tap into his talent better than any of the prior coaches. I like how players get better, Punter for example. It appears the program is on an upward trajectory to me.

Now they need to make the dance next year. Barring crazy injuries, my opinion will drop to a 4-5 if they finish middle of the SEC pack again in 2017/18.
 
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#28
#28
kyvol98 said:
So what is the answer? You seem to enjoy tearing down everything but never offer an opinion on a solution.
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One facet of the solution is getting rid of Desmond Oliver. The TX supporters/boosters wanted Barnes to shake up his staff at his former job. Rick's refusal to upgrade his staff is a big reason he was ousted from that job. Barnes was wrong to bring his staff with him over to Knoxville. Oliver's been tasked with doing the majority of the recruiting because Rick either can't or won't get involved to the level that he should. Desmond Oliver is the Fredo of college recruiting. The biggest recruit Rick and/or his staff have landed so far is Yves Pons and he was brought to us by Michael Schwartz, not Desmond. And it looks like even Pons may turn out to be a project. So, Rick's either going to have to actively involve himself in recruiting or shake up his staff to get the roster up to snuff...
 
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#29
#29
Strong 6.5, took over a mess and for awhile made a serious NCAA tourney push.
 
#30
#30
2 he hasn't recruited very well and were in for a lot more of this if he can't get two or three better players in here by next season. I know Pons is one we need a couple consistent shooters think Fulkerson will fill the void inside. We have a couple guys that should never play another minute here.
 
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#31
#31
Otis07 said:
you are definitely crazy for giving this coach high marks.......I will give him a 3.0
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Well, I won't deny being crazy, but some of you have crazy expectations.

Look at Pearl at Auburn, another team loaded with freshmen. Lost 5 of their last 6.

Look at Howland at MSU, another freshman-heavy team. Lost last 7, and last 9 of 10.

And those were 2 higher-rated freshmen classes, with good coaches, that have bell-flopped down the stretch. It happens when you are heavily dependent on freshmen.
 
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#33
#33
On avg 4.

On Court Play - 6
Players discipline is inconsistent. We can see potential but team doesn't meet that potential consistently. Barnes scheme works when executed but a lack of execution isn't there.

Recruiting - 2
Barnes inability to recruit given his record is inexplicable. Tennessee needs talent.

If we don't trend up, I expect Currie to oversee another coaching change as Barnes retires. I hope Currie is as successful as his last hiring decision for UT basketball.
 
#35
#35
I'm going with 5. That grade could go lower or higher depending on how the team finishes out. The team overachieved at times and underachieved at times. I would probably had given them a 7 a few weeks ago before the tailspin. If you're going to give him credit for the team overachieving then you have to give him criticism for underachieving especially when you lose to a brain dead Johnny Jones led team. We've seen a lot of promise at times and then we've seen some disturbing trends. Typical year for a team loaded with freshmen (not named Ky).

This team needs to make a run next year or Barnes will be on a very hot seat. Year 3 was always going to be the year we knew if he is going to hang around or there was a change to be made. The team will still be fairly young but all those freshmen will now be sophomores and they will have logged many minutes. Injuries are a part of the game. We just have to hope we don't have too many and enough depth to overcome them next year.
 
#36
#36
Pretty sad though we've went from "go vols! Beat [insert team name]!" To 'go vols! For the love of god, please beat somebody!'
 
#37
#37
OrangeBalls said:
I'm going with 5. That grade could go lower or higher depending on how the team finishes out. The team overachieved at times and underachieved at times. I would probably had given them a 7 a few weeks ago before the tailspin. If you're going to give him credit for the team overachieving then you have to give him criticism for underachieving especially when you lose to a brain dead Johnny Jones led team. We've seen a lot of promise at times and then we've seen some disturbing trends. Typical year for a team loaded with freshmen (not named Ky).

This team needs to make a run next year or Barnes will be on a very hot seat. Year 3 was always going to be the year we knew if he is going to hang around or there was a change to be made. The team will still be fairly young but all those freshmen will now be sophomores and they will have logged many minutes. Injuries are a part of the game. We just have to hope we don't have too many and enough depth to overcome them next year.
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The 2019 class is huge. We HAVE to get some high profile guys.
 
#40
#40
I'd give him a 7.5. The team has struggled down the stretch but he has gotten more out of this team than I ever thought he could. I didn't think this team could win more than 11 games this year so I'm happy but I was much happier 2-3 weeks ago. Last nights game left an especially sour taste but he has us trending the right way. Need more the next two years. Pons is a huge haul as well.
 
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#41
#41
7 - if you don't get too wrapped up in the last few games and take a step back, Barnes did a great job with the hand he was dealt
 
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#42
#42
As I recall when these freshman were recruited many of you were complaining about no man players. Well it has turned out they are pretty good. The bottom line is they are freshmen. Give him time before you start complaining.
 
#43
#43
Somewhere between 5 and 7. I think the success we had in the middle of the season warrants higher than 5, but hitting the wall and collapsing can't get you above 7.

Next season will shed a lot of light on Barnes's overall coaching ability.
 
#44
#44
Special Ed said:
One facet of the solution is getting rid of Desmond Oliver. The TX supporters/boosters wanted Barnes to shake up his staff at his former job. Rick's refusal to upgrade his staff is a big reason he was ousted from that job. Barnes was wrong to bring his staff with him over to Knoxville. Oliver's been tasked with doing the majority of the recruiting because Rick either can't or won't get involved to the level that he should. Desmond Oliver is the Fredo of college recruiting. The biggest recruit Rick and/or his staff have landed so far is Yves Pons and he was brought to us by Michael Schwartz, not Desmond. And it looks like even Pons may turn out to be a project. So, Rick's either going to have to actively involve himself in recruiting or shake up his staff to get the roster up to snuff...
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Fair assessment.
 
#45
#45
Special Ed said:
One facet of the solution is getting rid of Desmond Oliver. The TX supporters/boosters wanted Barnes to shake up his staff at his former job. Rick's refusal to upgrade his staff is a big reason he was ousted from that job. Barnes was wrong to bring his staff with him over to Knoxville. Oliver's been tasked with doing the majority of the recruiting because Rick either can't or won't get involved to the level that he should. Desmond Oliver is the Fredo of college recruiting. The biggest recruit Rick and/or his staff have landed so far is Yves Pons and he was brought to us by Michael Schwartz, not Desmond. And it looks like even Pons may turn out to be a project. So, Rick's either going to have to actively involve himself in recruiting or shake up his staff to get the roster up to snuff...
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Oliver didn't come with him from Texas. He hired him away from Charlotte.
 
#46
#46
cncchris33 said:
Oliver didn't come with him from Texas. He hired him away from Charlotte.
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I think we all know that, but he should have left him at Charlotte.
I haven't seen anything from Oliver yet to make him look like a quality addition to the staff.
 
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#47
#47
9 - team overachieved this year. Only "star" we have is playing hurt. Lost two players mid season. It sucks to finish the season this way, hopefully they can pull together and get the NIT. But we still won more than most expected. We played several ranked teams to the wire.

Hopefully a good recruiting class will get us to a tourney team next season.
 
#48
#48
Every one always talks about recruiting, but aren't most of the guys playing his?? Plus what we have coming year, we seem to be on rise. I'm like most as let's see next year what we look like and go from there. I'll give 7-8 as someone pointed out about other teams with freshman have struggled as well and not as good as we are. Pearl had a top rated recruiting class and look at his results. I think we'll be fine, but we shall see!!!
 
#49
#49
Let me blunt here....out of respect.

Barnes has done a good job overall. He inherited a dumpster fire. It was going to be hell for whoever took the mess of a situation over. He's getting a lot of flack and I don't believe he deserves it.

HOWEVER....and it dovetails with the previous statement.....just what the heck do y'all really think he was hired to do? Do you really believe he was hired to get Tennessee basketball to the promised land? He was 60 years old when he was hired. He was hired to do exactly what he is doing. He is a well respected name who is in the process of getting the program back on solid ground so that the next guy can take over a program that isn't a complete flippin mess.

The reality is that's his job. So, y'all need to save the angst about the direction of the program for the next guy because Barnes' job isn't to have Tennessee achieve basketball glory.

And, sorry to say for you all, he's not done yet. There are going to be a couple more years of mediocre seasons while Tennessee tries to stockpile some level of talent capable of competing for NCAA tournament bids when Barnes gets fired.

And he will get fired.

He was hired to get fired.
 
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#50
#50
The team exceeded expectations this year. Barnes and his staff get credit for that. Next year the expectation should be the NCAA tourney. Without a tourney by year 3, Barnes won't have much to hang his hat on with a new AD.
 
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