A few thoughts from BTO

[cardvolfan]

Ethan Burg is a worse version of Tyreke Key. Identical size, streaky shooters, questionable ball-handling, poor defenders. Probably room for Burg to improve as he was a late addition and is perhaps still adjusting, but he's also 23 years old. How much better can he really get?

Burg needed earlier acclimation to his new climate quite possibly more than anyone else on this team. I have to think he totally underestimated just how difficult it would be coming to Knoxville and adjusting to everything. His ball-handling makes me a nervous wreck, among other things you mentioned, but I truly can’t envision him helping us at all in any meaningful way this year. I would ride with Abram, but at least we can enjoy the competition among them.

 

[Vols All Day]

His ball-handling makes me a nervous wreck, among other things you mentioned, but I truly can’t envision him helping us at all in any meaningful way this year. I would ride with Abram, but at least we can enjoy the competition among them.

I still believe that Burg can provide something. Burg just isn’t a point guard. I know he has only taken 18 attempts, but he is shooting 44% from three. I would like to see him in a Vescovi type of role.

 

[cardvolfan]

I still believe that Burg can provide something. Burg just isn’t a point guard. I know he has only taken 18 attempts, but he is shooting 44% from three. I would like to see him in a Vescovi type of role.

Oh, he does have some positives for sure as you said. I hope I’m wrong, but the overall evidence concerns me.

 

[VOLtaism]

I still believe that Burg can provide something. Burg just isn’t a point guard. I know he has only taken 18 attempts, but he is shooting 44% from three. I would like to see him in a Vescovi type of role.

When I watched his film preseason he was a head down drive to the basket type player, just what we needed I was thinking. Have not seen him do that at this level.

 

[VolsNetClippers2025]

Three things keeping the team from being elite:

1. Free throws.

2. Turnovers.

3. Not enough consistent, willing outside shooters.


I genuinely think our defense can be up to scratch to compete with the best of them and JG is about as consistent as they get. But truly top teams make free throws, don't turn the ball over as carelessly, and have both a good post game and willing shooters from beyond the arc who can get their buckets from 3 and at the rim consistently. I can see us improve on the first two, although I would've thought the turnovers would have started to correct themselves a bit already, but unless Ament can get his shooting up, I don't see how we compete with the Michigan's of the world when all the chips are down. I was so much more optimistic at the start of the season than I am now, really hope I'm wrong.

 

[ColinS]

They’ve exceeded expectations, I’m saying we need a guard to step up (Henderson, Burg, Abram) because you likely can’t get 30+mpg from Boswell & Evans which is what you’d need to not need one of those guards. Ideally our best rotation imo would probably be…

Gillespie 35/Boswell 5
Boswell 25/Evans 15
Ament 30/Evans 10
Brown 15/Carey 25
Okpara 20/Estrella 20

But I don’t think Evans and Boswell can play that many minutes without hitting foul trouble

In other words your saying they need somebody else to step up and help them. I'm with you on that.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

Ethan Burg is a worse version of Tyreke Key. Identical size, streaky shooters, questionable ball-handling, poor defenders. Probably room for Burg to improve as he was a late addition and is perhaps still adjusting, but he's also 23 years old. How much better can he really get?

Exactly...I'm afraid what we've seen is all we are going to get

Edit: Great comp with him being a poor man's Key btw

 

[DMcVol]

I think we’re going to see more Henderson going forward, less Burg, maybe less Abram too…Like Evans, he’s played his way into more minutes…

 

[walkenvol]

I think we’re going to see more Henderson going forward, less Burg, maybe less Abram too…Like Evans, he’s played his way into more minutes…

I’ve watched all the games and I’ve seen Evans’ play that earning him more minutes but I’ve missed Henderson’s great play that’s going to earn him more minutes? CRB has committed positively about Henderson so I suspect he showing better in practice and maybe that’s going to earn him more minutes. Hope he keeps improving because we need a backup PG.

 

[Lankykong]

I’ve watched all the games and I’ve seen Evans’ play that earning him more minutes but I’ve missed Henderson’s great play that’s going to earn him more minutes? CRB has committed positively about Henderson so I suspect he showing better in practice and maybe that’s going to earn him more minutes. Hope he keeps improving because we need a backup PG.

I think he just doesn’t make disastrous TOs quite as much as our other backup PG options currently. That’s good enough for me

 

[ColinS]

I think he just doesn’t make disastrous TOs quite as much as our other backup PG options currently. That’s good enough for me

We don't need some great offensive output from the backup point guard spot. Just come in take care of the ball and stay in front of your man. Burg's came in and single handedly changed the momentum in the Arkansas game. Coach Barnes couldn't even steal a couple of minutes from him up 5 in that second half.

 

[DMcVol]

I’ve watched all the games and I’ve seen Evans’ play that earning him more minutes but I’ve missed Henderson’s great play that’s going to earn him more minutes? CRB has committed positively about Henderson so I suspect he showing better in practice and maybe that’s going to earn him more minutes. Hope he keeps improving because we need a backup PG.

More practice minutes and Barnes’ comments. That was the same scenario with Evans before he got more playing time.

 

[oldaaucoach]

I think we’re going to see more Henderson going forward, less Burg, maybe less Abram too…Like Evans, he’s played his way into more minutes…

I would like to see Amaree Abram get more minutes. He is a good defender, not a TO machine, and is a 3pt shooter - albeit a bit streaky. I don't think we've seen his best when he just gets a couple of spot minutes here and there.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

I would like to see Amaree Abram get more minutes. He is a good defender, not a TO machine, and is a 3pt shooter - albeit a bit streaky. I don't think we've seen his best when he just gets a couple of spot minutes here and there.

Been waiting and expecting him to get more time...seems like a prototypical CRB player and, yes, he has shown flashes of finishing at the rim and has a nice career 3-pt %'age. I really hoped coming out of the 3-game losing streak we would see a lot more of BB+AA with coaching to be more aggressive in looking for their shots. Evans has been a great surprise so I'm fine with him getting min as well since there are plenty to go around.

 

[Lankykong]

We don't need some great offensive output from the backup point guard spot. Just come in take care of the ball and stay in front of your man. Burg's came in and single handedly changed the momentum in the Arkansas game. Coach Barnes couldn't even steal a couple of minutes from him up 5 in that second half.

I didn’t get to watch the game but I blamed Burg for the loss when listening on radio (in addition to all of the other issues like FTs). It seemed like he couldn’t run the offense against Arkansas

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I said in my original post if you could go 6-3 to start league play that would be a win, and we did exactly that…now they need to take advantage of a lightened up back half of the SEC slate. Saturdays game is one of the hardest projected games remaining, winning that one would really move the needle quite a bit for the Vols.

 

[Willy14]

I said in my original post if you could go 6-3 to start league play that would be a win, and we did exactly that…now they need to take advantage of a lightened up back half of the SEC slate. Saturdays game is one of the hardest projected games remaining, winning that one would really move the needle quite a bit for the Vols.

Looking at the rest of the 9 games of our schedule, we have the bottom 4 teams in the SEC (@Miss State, LSU, @SC, OU) and then we should defend home court (Vandy, Alabama) which leaves us with our 3 tougher road games (@UK, @Missouri, @Vandy).

Looking at the schedule if we can take advantage of the easier schedule and go 7-2 in this stretch, and finish 13-5 that should get us close to the 3 seed line which I think is a great goal considering it seems the top 10 teams in the nation aren’t losing right now unless they are playing each other.

We do need some help though and need teams that we are fighting for seeding for like Virginia, BYU, and Texas Tech to start dropping some games.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Looking at the rest of the 9 games of our schedule, we have the bottom 4 teams in the SEC (@Miss State, LSU, @SC, OU) and then we should defend home court (Vandy, Alabama) which leaves us with our 3 tougher road games (@UK, @Missouri, @Vandy).

Looking at the schedule if we can take advantage of the easier schedule and go 7-2 in this stretch, and finish 13-5 that should get us close to the 3 seed line which I think is a great goal considering it seems the top 10 teams in the nation aren’t losing right now unless they are playing each other.

We do need some help though and need teams that we are fighting for seeding for like Virginia, BYU, and Texas Tech to start dropping some games.

Regarding your point on seeding, we’re in a really tough spot. There is pretty clear separation between the one seeds and the rest of the country, and we’re trending towards that 4-5 seed range. Getting a 3 is going to be difficult. I’m not so certain I wouldn’t prefer to be a 6 than a 4 or 5 to avoid playing a team like Michigan, Arizona, or Duke.

 

[Willy14]

Regarding your point on seeding, we’re in a really tough spot. There is pretty clear separation between the one seeds and the rest of the country, and we’re trending towards that 4-5 seed range. Getting a 3 is going to be difficult. I’m not so certain I wouldn’t prefer to be a 6 than a 4 or 5 to avoid playing a team like Michigan, Arizona, or Duke.

Yeah we are in a tough spot, wish we could have the Kentucky game or Syracuse game back, but that’s in the past. Definitely want a 3 seed this year to avoid the 1 seeds more than any other year. I agree with you if we get the 4 or 5 then it will be tough to be matched up with those 1 seeds.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Regarding your point on seeding, we’re in a really tough spot. There is pretty clear separation between the one seeds and the rest of the country, and we’re trending towards that 4-5 seed range. Getting a 3 is going to be difficult. I’m not so certain I wouldn’t prefer to be a 6 than a 4 or 5 to avoid playing a team like Michigan, Arizona, or Duke.

Hard disagree on the trending towards a 4-5…we were a 8 seed a couple weeks ago, we’re now a 5 most, clearly trending up. I don’t think we just stop moving up with continued wins, we’ll have 2 games against Vandy that’ll obviously be huge, you’ve also got like 5-6 B10 teams and 5-6 B12 teams currently ahead of us, those teams are gonna hand each other some L’s and 1-2 teams from each of those conferences will drop down imo.

 

[wtmvol]

Hard disagree on the trending towards a 4-5…we were a 8 seed a couple weeks ago, we’re now a 5 most, clearly trending up. I don’t think we just stop moving up with continued wins, we’ll have 2 games against Vandy that’ll obviously be huge, you’ve also got like 5-6 B10 teams and 5-6 B12 teams currently ahead of us, those teams are gonna hand each other some L’s and 1-2 teams from each of those conferences will drop down imo.

If we want anything over a 4 seed, we almost have to win out the regular season. That sounds crazy, but looking at the resumes of what I consider the top 12-14 teams, it's going to be tough sledding otherwise.

As it is, we have no chance of passing these teams regardless of what we do:
Arizona
Duke
Michigan
UConn
Iowa State
Illinois

It's possible that in the Big 10 grouping of Nebraska, Purdue, and Michigan State that someone could fall apart, but right now their resumes are far superior to ours. We could sneak past 1 of these teams, but sneaking past more than that would be a feat.

So right there, that's 8-9 teams that I just don't think we can pass. We just can't afford to drop any games if we want to pass 3 of the 5 teams among Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Florida, and BYU.

 

[LibertyVol]

I still believe that Burg can provide something. Burg just isn’t a point guard. I know he has only taken 18 attempts, but he is shooting 44% from three. I would like to see him in a Vescovi type of role.

You mean you are not going to say he sucks and why does he have a scholarship.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I said in my original post if you could go 6-3 to start league play that would be a win, and we did exactly that…now they need to take advantage of a lightened up back half of the SEC slate. Saturdays game is one of the hardest projected games remaining, winning that one would really move the needle quite a bit for the Vols.

Yep, based on sports-reference

at Kentucky
at Vandy
vs Bama
vs Vandy

Are the 4 toughest games remaining...so really need to win a couple there to end the season strong. 7-2 to close out and finishing 23-8 (13-5) would put us in a good spot for a 3-5 seed I think, possibly a 2 seed if we see more carnage at the top in the Big 10 & Big 12 as those teams start facing each other now.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

If we want anything over a 4 seed, we almost have to win out the regular season. That sounds crazy, but looking at the resumes of what I consider the top 12-14 teams, it's going to be tough sledding otherwise.

As it is, we have no chance of passing these teams regardless of what we do:
Arizona
Duke
Michigan
UConn
Iowa State
Illinois

It's possible that in the Big 10 grouping of Nebraska, Purdue, and Michigan State that someone could fall apart, but right now their resumes are far superior to ours. We could sneak past 1 of these teams, but sneaking past more than that would be a feat.

So right there, that's 8-9 teams that I just don't think we can pass. We just can't afford to drop any games if we want to pass 3 of the 5 teams among Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Florida, and BYU.

Again, there’s 5-6 from B10 and another 5-6 from B12 that are ahead of us currently, they aren’t all getting through unscathed, especially since they’ll be playing each other. You’ve also got Florida and Vanderbilt ahead of us, even got Vandy twice on the schedule to close out the year. I think if we go 7-2 were right in the 2/3 seed conversation, I would be stunned if we were 4.

 

[cardvolfan]

Call me crazy, but I had this thought before the Auburn game that we might win 10 of the last 11, or at least that it could happen. Probably silly, but definite upward trend!