2025 Transfer Portal Thread

[All Vol!]

One of those Gainesville, FL, Frenchmen.

 

[nateernst]

Starters (59.5 total):
Gillespie 18 ppg
Abram 7.5 ppg
Ament 15.5 ppg
Carey 11 ppg
Okpara 7.5 ppg

Bench (22.5 total):
Estrella 5 ppg
Phillips 6 ppg
Massamba 6.5 ppg
Evans 4 ppg
Boswell 1 ppg

Redshirt:
Brown
Henderson

 

[TrippieRedd]

Starters (59.5 total):
Gillespie 18 ppg
Abram 7.5 ppg
Ament 15.5 ppg
Carey 11 ppg
Okpara 7.5 ppg

Bench (22.5 total):
Estrella 5 ppg
Phillips 6 ppg
Massamba 6.5 ppg
Evans 4 ppg
Boswell 1 ppg

Redshirt:
Brown
Henderson

Honestly....if Shack can average 6 and Igor can average 9, then surely to hell Abram can get at least 9-10ppg

 

[i2amavol]

Take away 3 from Gillespie. Give 3 to Abram. If Boswell was only good for 1 ppg, then why is he still on the team? Hopefully, he can add 4 ppg at least.

 

[cncchris33]

Starters (59.5 total):
Gillespie 18 ppg
Abram 7.5 ppg
Ament 15.5 ppg
Carey 11 ppg
Okpara 7.5 ppg

Bench (22.5 total):
Estrella 5 ppg
Phillips 6 ppg
Massamba 6.5 ppg
Evans 4 ppg
Boswell 1 ppg

Redshirt:
Brown
Henderson

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but without looking, can you tell me how many Barnes-coached, Tennessee teams have averaged 80+ ppg?

Obviously, I'd love for your numbers to be right, but I'd venture to guess you might have them pumped up by about 6-8 ppg total across the board.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Hope you like my decimals

Gillespie 13.5 / Boswell 0.5
Abram 10.6 / CM 6.5
Ament 14.7
Carey 12.3 / Cade 4.8
Okpara 7.6 / JP 5.2

75.7 and that's without whatever Evans, Henderson, Brown contribute.

(Abram = Gainey's SR season stats and CM = Gainey's JR season stats)

Here @cncchris33 75

 

[nateernst]

Take away 3 from Gillespie. Give 3 to Abram. If Boswell was only good for 1 ppg, then why is he still on the team? Hopefully, he can add 4 ppg at least.

That is fair, I am just unreasonably high on Gillespie and think he’s going to compete for 1st team all SEC next year, with that said I probably am being a little too harsh on Abram just trying to be cautious there. And for Boswell I truly think Massamba and Evans will eat up all his minutes, I just can’t get myself there with him.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but without looking, can you tell me how many Barnes-coached, Tennessee teams have averaged 80+ ppg?

Obviously, I'd love for your numbers to be right, but I'd venture to guess you might have them pumped up by about 6-8 ppg total across the board.

Knecht's season was the closest with 78.8


edit: nope, 2019 had 82

 

[VolHoopsInTheMix]

Starters (59.5 total):
Gillespie 18 ppg
Abram 7.5 ppg
Ament 15.5 ppg
Carey 11 ppg
Okpara 7.5 ppg

Bench (22.5 total):
Estrella 5 ppg
Phillips 6 ppg
Massamba 6.5 ppg
Evans 4 ppg
Boswell 1 ppg

Redshirt:
Brown
Henderson

Without second thought i believe Nate Ament will undoubtedly be our #1 option averaging the most points next season as a Vol.

 

[cncchris33]

Knecht's season was the closest with 78.8

The 18-19 Grant, Admiral, Bone team averaged 82. But in 10 years, they are the only one. The Knecht year was the next closest, though. 75 is probably a much more likely goal for next year's group with so many unknowns.

 

[TrippieRedd]

The 18-19 Grant, Admiral, Bone team averaged 82. But in 10 years, they are the only one. The Knecht year was the next closest, though. 75 is probably a much more likely goal for next year's group with so many unknowns.

Yeah, I fixed my post about it.

I also agree, I think we will be around the 75 mark.

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

I don't mean this in a snarky way, but without looking, can you tell me how many Barnes-coached, Tennessee teams have averaged 80+ ppg?

Obviously, I'd love for your numbers to be right, but I'd venture to guess you might have them pumped up by about 6-8 ppg total across the board.

That's what we need though. I made a post with a little more detail yesterday, but IMO I think 80+ ppg ( 80-82, somewhere in is the number IMO) is where we need to be at to achieve that balance we've not exactly had last few years.
Honestly, I think Barnes knows this as he seems to be trying to get us in a position to have a few more points this year. I don't think he plans on necessarily sacrificing any defense to get those points per se, but more he knows he has a lot of 1st year guys so a defensive unit like last year or two might be really hard to achieve.
Even if we do achieve it, still need more points.

 

[omghulkhands]

I think PPG is a meaningless stat to debate.

It doesn’t take into account pace.

We run a motion offense, which is not a fast paced offense. And we defend well, which makes opponents possessions last longer.

The stat to care about is KenPom offensive efficiency.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

The 18-19 Grant, Admiral, Bone team averaged 82. But in 10 years, they are the only one. The Knecht year was the next closest, though. 75 is probably a much more likely goal for next year's group with so many unknowns.

How many top 10 offenses has Barnes had at UT, that same 1?

 

[cncchris33]

How many top 10 offenses has Barnes had at UT, that same 1?

Yep

 

[cncchris33]

That's what we need though. I made a post with a little more detail yesterday, but IMO I think 80+ ppg ( 80-82, somewhere in is the number IMO) is where we need to be at to achieve that balance we've not exactly had last few years.
Honestly, I think Barnes knows this as he seems to be trying to get us in a position to have a few more points this year. I don't think he plans on necessarily sacrificing any defense to get those points per se, but more he knows he has a lot of 1st year guys so a defensive unit like last year or two might be really hard to achieve.
Even if we do achieve it, still need more points.

I think the key is that we need more offensive versatility and options. We can't be one-dimensional. We have to be able to score in a variety of ways. When the outside shot isn't falling, we need guys who can get buckets in the paint, guys who can take the ball to the hole, guards who can draw attention and offer lob opportunities, etc.

Assuming we defend at our usual high level, whether that offensive versatility/variety provides 75 or 85 points, I don't know if the amount matters.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Yep

Obviously the games have to be played, but doesn’t the fact that we’d be projected with a Top 10 offense for just the second time with this group mean that it’s quite possible, and potentially even probable we’d score more points than most other Barnes teams?

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

I think PPG is a meaningless stat to debate.

It doesn’t take into account pace.

We run a motion offense, which is not a fast paced offense. And we defend well, which makes opponents possessions last longer.

The stat to care about is KenPom offensive efficiency.

For sure on what you're saying, but I think next year we still going to need a few more ppg.
Reason I say that is because we can't keep relying on our defense to cover for our inability to score in games where we have to have some buckets. I mean we run into a team like Houston again, without some way to get more buckets, we're done for.
What you said will definitely work to help us get l to the NCAAT with a decent seed , but to be to get to that elusive final 4 we need to be able to put more points on the board this year. I just don't think with all the new guys it is realistic to expect anywhere near last year's defense.
In short, focus this year needs to shift more to offensive production. For example, if it was something like 70-30 in favor of defense last year, it needs to be 60-40 this year.

Btw, just my opinion. Not saying you or anyone else is necessarily wrong here. A lot of unknowns still at this point. A lot!

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

I think the key is that we need more offensive versatility and options. We can't be one-dimensional. We have to be able to score in a variety of ways. When the outside shot isn't falling, we need guys who can get buckets in the paint, guys who can take the ball to the hole, guards who can draw attention and offer lob opportunities, etc.

Assuming we defend at our usual high level, whether that offensive versatility/variety provides 75 or 85 points, I don't know if the amount matters.

I agree with the point you made for the most part. (definitely about being one-dimensional)
I just made a post explaining why I do feel we need a few more ppg to hulkhands, tho.
I won't repeat myself in this reply.
Like I said to him, you/he could be right.
Just giving my opinion whilst knowing in the back of my mind there are still so many unknowns at this stage.
Intuitively, it just feels like we need a bit more offensive fire power/prowess, tho.

 

[cncchris33]

Obviously the games have to be played, but doesn’t the fact that we’d be projected with a Top 10 offense for just the second time with this group mean that it’s quite possible, and potentially even probable we’d score more points than most other Barnes teams?

With 10 years of evidence, I'll ease into the idea with a "believe it when I see it" approach. Pardon the skepticism, but that roster has a lot of offensive impact question marks for me outside of Gillespie. What is Ament at the SEC level? Do you get serviceable production at the 2G spot? Can Carey improve his offensive output with an expanded role? Can Okpara maintain or expand his offense without ZZ feeding him lob after lob? What do you get from Estrella? Do anything of the freshmen offer much offense outside of Ament?

 

[bleedingTNorange]

With 10 years of evidence, I'll ease into the idea with a "believe it when I see it" approach. Pardon the skepticism, but that roster has a lot of offensive impact question marks for me outside of Gillespie. What is Ament at the SEC level? Do you get serviceable production at the 2G spot? Can Carey improve his offensive output with an expanded role? Can Okpara maintain or expand his offense without ZZ feeding him lob after lob? What do you get from Estrella? Do anything of the freshmen offer much offense outside of Ament?

I get it, but it’s not like it’s projecting a 40th best offense and I’m asking you to think it’s top 10, it’s projecting a top 10 offense and even if it’s 10 spots worse than that it would still be the second best offense Barnes has had. It’s not as if other years it’s been ranked Top 10-15 preseason and then it’s sucked and we’ve been in the 30s, it’s usually lopsided and slanted with a projected much better defense than offense.

 

[EasternVol]

Ben Hur brought Jonesville and PG together. Nobody thought that was possible...

True, there was no love lost between the two for years.

 

[HypeVol2020]

Truth of it is, we are replacing a lot of points from last year. If we are back to being a top 10 team again next year, it’ll be Barnes best coaching job with a basically full roster flip. I think we end up averaging a few more points offensively next year. And also prob give up a few more on D given what we are losing. Going to be interesting. Inclined to believe our coaches will get it done. Again.

 

[bbvols2]

Saw this posted on Trilly's Discord: "Cade Tyson update: recently visited Minnesota and Iowa. Might visit Ohio State. Gonzaga is also still loosely involved. Related: shot 29% last year and still expects 7 figures."

Not sure what world he and his reps are living in based upon last season's performance at UNC, and if that is the case, there is a zero chance that he ends up at Tennessee playing for Coach Barnes.

 

[StPeteVFL]

Hope you like my decimals

Gillespie 13.5 / Boswell 0.5
Abram 10.6 / CM 6.5
Ament 14.7
Carey 12.3 / Cade 4.8
Okpara 7.6 / JP 5.2

75.7 and that's without whatever Evans, Henderson, Brown contribute.

(Abram = Gainey's SR season stats and CM = Gainey's JR season stats)

Here @cncchris33 75

You know CM is averaging 11 ppg in the top pro league in France right now? I would flip him and Abram imo..