Thoughts from Fayetteville

[BigPapaVol]

1. Opponents with good basket protectors make Ramar Smith dramatically less effective.
2. Candace Parker excepted, no player in the SEC makes as much of impact on his team as Chris Lofton.
3. Our inside game was borderline embarrasing today, on both ends.
4. Crews misses more dunks than any player I've ever seen, and there's nobody close.
5. Our half court D is mediocre at best, but did show some signs of life today.
6. If Stan Heath were a coach, he would have pounded the ball relentlessly today and the outcome would likely have been different. They also looked shocked by the press in the 2nd half. They did the same against Missouri and there was no doubt about the game Anderson was bringing. No revelation here, but Heath's days are numbered in Fayetteville.
8. Stephen Hill is a terrible offensive player, but is a much better athlete than he gets credit for.
9. Our offense stagnates often because it initiated so far from the basket. We also screen poorly. Part of that is weak effort on the screener's part, the rest is the lack of effort in setting up the defender for the screen, especially for the back screens along the baseline.
10. Dane made a 3 in the game today and that was as many as I saw him make during warm ups. When he's on the floor, we're playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end.
11. Our FT shooting is abysmal and let AR back in that game.
12. If everyone else on the team went after boards like JuJuan, we'd average a +15 rebound differential.

 

[StunnA N' Orange]

There is only about of what you just posted that we can agree on..

 

[BigPapaVol]

There is only about of what you just posted that we can agree on..

Could you translate that for me please?

 

[tvolsfan]

Lol

 

[StunnA N' Orange]

Could you translate that for me please?

Sure, Ramar will always be effective no matter who is on the inside.. He'll always draw contact to initiate a foul whether he finishes or not.. And I have seen plenty more people miss dunks than Duke.. It's not easy dunking on 7 footers or guys that are 6'10..(Townes knowcked the one dunk from him) He had one dunk taken away because of the shotclock.. Also, we don't screen poorly, sometimes Jajaun and Chris just decide to take it on themselves.. And it's kinda hard to have a nice inside game with a 6'4 power forward and relying on two freshmen and a sophmore to get it done on the road.

 

[SMVTT]

Right now I'll take Dana over Crews anytime. As I've said before, Dana is the brains of this team and is the floor leader; for his size he gets more done from a defensive stand point than any other Vol. Take Dana and Chris out of the game and the Vols have little to no shot against any good team.

 

[BigPapaVol]

Sure, Ramar will always be effective no matter who is on the inside.. He'll always draw contact to initiate a foul whether he finishes or not.. And I have seen plenty more people miss dunks than Duke.. It's not easy dunking on 7 footers or guys that are 6'10..(Townes knowcked the one dunk from him) He had one dunk taken away because of the shotclock.. Also, we don't screen poorly, sometimes Jajaun and Chris just decide to take it on themselves.. And it's kinda hard to have a nice inside game with a 6'4 power forward and relying on two freshmen and a sophmore to get it done on the road.

He did draw contact today and made exactly 50% of his free throws. Maybe we don't screen poorly, it just appears that way. I'm not looking for reasons why our inside game was non-existent, I'm just stating what I saw.

I think we have a good team, but some areas that we need to continue addressing.

 

[StunnA N' Orange]

Fair enough.. I think Chism will continue to get better. I think when Duke moves to the 4 next year, he'll be producing much better.

 

[lacrossepro70]

9. We also screen poorly. Part of that is weak effort on the screener's part, the rest is the lack of effort in setting up the defender for the screen, especially for the back screens along the baseline.

You think Wayne Chism screens poorly on the baseline??

 

[cotton]

1. Opponents with good basket protectors make Ramar Smith dramatically less effective.

I would say that is true about any guard that tries to penetrate.

 

[Heebs]

If "Dana" is the brains why is he stepping on the line with the ball, dishing on the inside to no one, playing lazy D on Beverly, and taking 3's that he knows he can't make (except for the one miracle)? The guy is rattled, bad. And he is hurting us, sorry.

 

[BigPapaVol]

I would say that is true about any guard that tries to penetrate.

Not those that can pull up and shoot with any effectiveness.

 

[cotton]

Not those that can pull up and shoot with any effectiveness.

That certanily helps, but even a pure jump shooter can be bothered by a big presence inside that allows the rest of the defense to go out and get him without worrying about help.

My point was simply that Ramar is not alone amongst penetrating guards that find the going rough when the inside gets clogged. I wish we could find a good clogger ourselves; it could mean the difference next year in being a good team and being a contender.

 

[StunnA N' Orange]

That certanily helps, but even a pure jump shooter can be bothered by a big presence inside that allows the rest of the defense to go out and get him without worrying about help.

My point was simply that Ramar is not alone amongst penetrating guards that find the going rough when the inside gets clogged. I wish we could find a good clogger ourselves; it could mean the difference next year in being a good team and being a contender.

If we get Anothony McClain in the spring, we might be a contender..

 

[BigPapaVol]

That certanily helps, but even a pure jump shooter can be bothered by a big presence inside that allows the rest of the defense to go out and get him without worrying about help.

My point was simply that Ramar is not alone amongst penetrating guards that find the going rough when the inside gets clogged. I wish we could find a good clogger ourselves; it could mean the difference next year in being a good team and being a contender.

Agreed on the clogger making tight man to man better and especially tough on shooters.

I wasn't talking about the pure shooter types like Redick. I'm talking about the penetrator type that have mid-range games, to include the jump shot, the floater and the runner. He has the latter two down, but not the jumper.

I like Ramar's game and what he provides our team. I think he will be a great defender when he puts his mind to it and he puts pressure on the D that nobody else in orange can. He just struggled today because he couldn't pull up and shoot. Going all the way to the hole resulted in blocks, fouls (and missed FTs), TOs with no assists that I can remember nor any layups that I can remember.

 

[StunnA N' Orange]

Agreed on the clogger making tight man to man better and especially tough on shooters.

I wasn't talking about the pure shooter types like Redick. I'm talking about the penetrator type that have mid-range games, to include the jump shot, the floater and the runner. He has the latter two down, but not the jumper.

I like Ramar's game and what he provides our team. I think he will be a great defender when he puts his mind to it and he puts pressure on the D that nobody else in orange can. He just struggled today because he couldn't pull up and shoot. Going all the way to the hole resulted in blocks, fouls (and missed FTs), TOs with no assists that I can remember nor any layups that I can remember.

He made two layups.. One contested. He had 5 assisits and one turnover in today's game..

 

[BigPapaVol]

the assists were on the break (granted he probably would have had more had he gotten some finish help)as best I remember and two to's were averted by fortune (especially the horrendous full court pass that went over Chism's head and hit the board). In our half court offense, he struggled. No two ways about it.

Half court O is a problem on this team. When he's a danger to score or dish, we're a much better team. Today, he was not that threat, even though he could have beaten any defender at any time he wished.

 

[UT IE 95]

1. Opponents with good basket protectors make Ramar Smith dramatically less effective.
2. Candace Parker excepted, no player in the SEC makes as much of impact on his team as Chris Lofton.
3. Our inside game was borderline embarrasing today, on both ends.
4. Crews misses more dunks than any player I've ever seen, and there's nobody close.
5. Our half court D is mediocre at best, but did show some signs of life today.
6. If Stan Heath were a coach, he would have pounded the ball relentlessly today and the outcome would likely have been different. They also looked shocked by the press in the 2nd half. They did the same against Missouri and there was no doubt about the game Anderson was bringing. No revelation here, but Heath's days are numbered in Fayetteville.
8. Stephen Hill is a terrible offensive player, but is a much better athlete than he gets credit for.
9. Our offense stagnates often because it initiated so far from the basket. We also screen poorly. Part of that is weak effort on the screener's part, the rest is the lack of effort in setting up the defender for the screen, especially for the back screens along the baseline.
10. Dane made a 3 in the game today and that was as many as I saw him make during warm ups. When he's on the floor, we're playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end.
11. Our FT shooting is abysmal and let AR back in that game.
12. If everyone else on the team went after boards like JuJuan, we'd average a +15 rebound differential.

1. You can place any slashing guard's name in that sentence.
2. Gordon comes to mind.
3. borderline embarrasing?...nahhh
4. Crews has bad touch around the rim but I'm not prepared to call him the worst ever.
5. Our half court D is better than you give credit.
6. I agree - completely.
8. I would not put Hill in any category of athlete - period.
9. Our offense is entirely based on a screen. On the majority of the 1,457 we set a game I wouldn't call it poor technique.
10. With Dane you think we're playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end? Seriously?
11. Duke Crews is about as good dunking the ball as he is at making free throws. He'll improve, hopefully.
12. The differential wouldn't matter because everyone on our team would foul out by halftime.

 

[BigPapaVol]

1. You can place any slashing guard's name in that sentence.
2. Gordon comes to mind.
3. borderline embarrasing?...nahhh
4. Crews has bad touch around the rim but I'm not prepared to call him the worst ever.
5. Our half court D is better than you give credit.
6. I agree - completely.
8. I would not put Hill in any category of athlete - period.
9. Our offense is entirely based on a screen. On the majority of the 1,457 we set a game I wouldn't call it poor technique.
10. With Dane you think we're playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end? Seriously?
11. Duke Crews is about as good dunking the ball as he is at making free throws. He'll improve, hopefully.
12. The differential wouldn't matter because everyone on our team would foul out by halftime.

1. You're right, but he'll dominate every night when he is a slasher with at least a mid range game.
2. Gordon's not in the debate IMO. Our level of confidence on offense with him is in a different world.
3. On which end were we not dominated inside.
4. I didn't say he's the worst. I said he misses more dunks than anyone.
5. Back that assertion - somehow - please.
8. Hill is quick, jumps well and has good timing. Might have the worst hands on earth.
9. All man offenses are based upon the screen. I'm simply describing what I saw today.
10. Dane is an offensive liability period. He gets the rock on the perimeter and his defender sprints to the middle of the lane.
11. Duke wasn't the only one missing FTs. The only one making them was Lofton. Even JuJuan missed at least one on back to back trips at crunch time.
12. I'd take my chances with the aggressiveness on the boards.

 

[AmoebaVol]

C'mon ...

We didn't play GREAT today, but we didn't play poorly, either. If I didn't know anything and read BigPapa's post, I'd think Tennessee was garbage. We're not even close to garbage. Personally, I thought we were in for a down year after losing Watson to graduation and Wingate to weed. If you told me before the season that we'd have 20 wins with 2 games to go, I'd have thought you were hangin' out with Wingate too much.

But here we are ... quality wins against Memphis, Texas, Ok St., Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. We took the Ohio St. juggernaut to the wire AT their house. We survived a stretch of games where our best player was out or hobbled with a sprained ankle -- and actually improved because of it. Sure, we have deficiencies. We're not perfect. But, man, this team is pretty freakin' good ... and barring a horrible shooting night, we're going to be in just about every game we play.

I'll take it!

And wait until next year. It's going to be ridiculous how good we are when this year's freshman improve.

 

[tvolsfan]

barring a horrible shooting night

USC :no:

 

[BigPapaVol]

I simply posted some of my impressions after the game. I don't think we're garbage. I do think we benefitted from some very poor opponent coaching today to get our first win on the road. We are not garbage. We are very inconsistent because of some of the things I mentioned today. That makes us a tough pony to ride in single elim tourneys coming up. Doesn't mean I won't root for us as hard as ever and be mad as a hatter when we lose.

 

[Sudeepvol]

u know anyone who says dane bradshaw is a bad college basketball player needs to get slapped...the reason why he looks so bad at times is because he's a 6-4(probabely less) PF playing in the SEC, the toughest, most physical conference in the nation....which is why he looks like he cant shoot or score....but if the team didn't need a PF, dane could play SG/SF and be very effective....

 

[GAVol]

but if the team didn't need a PF, dane could play SG/SF and be very effective....

I love his heart, hustle and determination . . . but have you seen the guy shoot or try to finish around the basket lately? It may be the cumulative affect of inuries, but he looks awful. I'd hate to think where we'd be if we had to rely on him playing the 2 or the 3.

 

[UT IE 95]

u know anyone who says dane bradshaw is a bad college basketball player needs to get slapped...the reason why he looks so bad at times is because he's a 6-4(probabely less) PF playing in the SEC, the toughest, most physical conference in the nation....which is why he looks like he cant shoot or score....but if the team didn't need a PF, dane could play SG/SF and be very effective....

Dane looks like he can't shoot or score because he can't anymore. I agree with GA that the cumulative effect playing against bigger, stronger players for the last two years is killing him. He was Mr. Hustle-Johnny-on-the-spot all last year, but this year he's lost a step and any shooting ability. He's passing up wide open 4 footers for goodness sakes.

I love Dane and think he's been great for UT, but he's not the same player he was 15 months ago.