An Enigma Wrapped In A Riddle

#34
#34
Yeiser10 said:
So we need Zakai back?
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I do think that if we swapped Gillespie for Zakai this team would be elite. Been a noticeable drop off with Okpara’s production without ZZ, huge defensive drop off at PG, and I don’t think Gillespie is running the offense as effectively.

Yeah, hot take, I know lol. Bring back one of the best PG’s to ever play at Tennessee and we’d be a better team. Still, can’t help but wonder if ZZ managed to win his lawsuit how great this team would be.
 
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#35
#35
Keep feeding the ball down low. That's our best shot

Also we've got to figure out something on defense, every game we have lost an opposing guard eats us alive off the screen dribble drive to the basket and goes off for career high.
 
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#37
#37
bleedingTNorange said:
If this team shoots free throws like other Barnes teams and takes care of the ball they look a whole lot different…we’re likely 13-1 and a Top 5 team if we can hit FTs
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Yeah, that's the simple answer. I think the formula is much more complex, though. Most times, we have 3 bigs (I'm counting Ament) on the floor together because we don't have adequate guard depth and talent to routinely run 3 out at a time. Our bigs are the ones shooting our FTs because we are forced to run our offense thru the post, and those guys aren't historically good FT shooters. The reason for the missed FTs is where they are coming from. Our guards (sans Gillespie) aren't aggressive on offense and therefore don't draw fouls. And sadly, we don't have one single post player I feel confident sending to the line, right now. The FTs are going to be there, but I don't believe we will suddenly turn into a great FT shooting team mid-season. It's a problem I don't see getting fixed.
 
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#38
#38
Namorto1 said:
The miss at 2G spot in the portal was significant for this group. Gillespie needs a partner in the backcourt which isn’t a snub to Boswell who has improved a lot, but he is a role player. We need a wing perimeter scorer in the worst way.

This game did show us that Evans merits minutes at both wing positions. He was fearless against the Hawgs.
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I'd almost argue from another angle that we, instead, need another PG because while JG is improving, he is still a SG being asked to play PG. The ironic thing is that he stated he didn't come to Tennessee last year because Tennessee had Zakai Ziegler at PG. To me, they'd have paired perfectly.

To your point, though, he needs help no matter which guard position that comes from. The lack of quality options on the perimeter is glaring.
 
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#40
#40
I’m seeing a lot of Barnes criticisms about the free throws. I’m not a basketball guru, but I think I’d focus my time as a coach on defending and running plays and offensive shooting. Free throws should be homework that isn’t assigned. Every kid in the street, park, gym, complex, etc should be working on free throws. That shouldn’t have to be coached to 18 year olds.
 
#41
#41
cncchris33 said:
Yeah, that's the simple answer. I think the formula is much more complex, though. Most times, we have 3 bigs (I'm counting Ament) on the floor together because we don't have adequate guard depth and talent to routinely run 3 out at a time. Our bigs are the ones shooting our FTs because we are forced to run our offense thru the post, and those guys aren't historically good FT shooters. The reason for the missed FTs is where they are coming from. Our guards (sans Gillespie) aren't aggressive on offense and therefore don't draw fouls. And sadly, we don't have one single post player I feel confident sending to the line, right now. The FTs are going to be there, but I don't believe we will suddenly turn into a great FT shooting team mid-season. It's a problem I don't see getting fixed.
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This team was built to play inside out, dominate the post, it was talked about much of the off season what Barnes was going for…Okpara has seen his Ft% decline, same for JP, same for Carey…no clue what Ament shot in AAU from the line but doubt it was sub 70% also. I don’t think these guys were expected to shoot 90%, but I think these staff presumed they’d be solid at the very least.
 
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#42
#42
TheMookieMonster said:
Weirdly, assuming Barnes’ lasts another year, I feel much better about next year’s team than this year’s given how good the freshman have looked early on and another year of growth from Estrella/Carey/Boswell.
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You do know that Barnes has a lifetime contract at UT--one year is automatically added at the end of each season---try to keep up
 
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#44
#44
cncchris33 said:
It's hard to figure where to start describing this Tennessee basketball team. The best metaphor I can come up with to describe this bunch is like starting a 1000-piece puzzle that you're excited to assemble only to find out that the pieces in the box are from three different puzzles and they don't all fit together. Some of the pieces do and areas of the puzzle look really good together, but nothing ever all comes together to form a finished product.

In hindsight, this is maybe the worst constructed roster in Barnes's Tennessee tenure considering the era and available resources.
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It might be, and yet if this group can just hit FT's at even a half decent rate (70%) and stop being so loose with the ball, this is a top 10 team with a good shot at a 2-seed.

Shooting is an issue, but backup PG is an even bigger one IMO. Burg should have been that guy, but he is clearly not ready for this level of play. It is a gamble, but I'd love to see Rick give Henderson some serious run there. Let the kid grow up in the fire.
 
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#46
#46
cncchris33 said:
Yeah, that's the simple answer. I think the formula is much more complex, though. Most times, we have 3 bigs (I'm counting Ament) on the floor together because we don't have adequate guard depth and talent to routinely run 3 out at a time. Our bigs are the ones shooting our FTs because we are forced to run our offense thru the post, and those guys aren't historically good FT shooters. The reason for the missed FTs is where they are coming from. Our guards (sans Gillespie) aren't aggressive on offense and therefore don't draw fouls. And sadly, we don't have one single post player I feel confident sending to the line, right now. The FTs are going to be there, but I don't believe we will suddenly turn into a great FT shooting team mid-season. It's a problem I don't see getting fixed.
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The way this team is built, it is Ament who was probably expected to be taking more FT's than anyone else. He's a foul-drawing machine who is an offensive mismatch most of the time, and I guarantee that's what Rick was envisioning with him as the season went on and he got comfortable with the physicality of the SEC game.

It might not be fair, but this season rests on the kid growing up and showing that the hype was real.
 
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#47
#47
Things are never as good or as bad as they seem at any given point. Arkansas was playing as good or better than anyone in the SEC heading into conference play. It was likely we were going to lose this road game. I think we go off the rails a bit, and this doesn’t include everyone in here, when we lose a game. Very bipolar crowd that is either high or low, except for the usuals who are negative in wins or losses.

Things need to be addressed, but we just don’t know what could happen these next 2 months. The sky didn’t fall last night and it certainly was not a bad loss to a bad team. Lots of positives about this team, and Barnes will do his best to figure it out.
 
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#48
#48
I’m convinced if Ament had gone to a blue blood program he would magically be an All-American. Every 5 star we get isn’t a total bust but more of a 3-4 star caliber player for us. We must put something in the water to diminish their talents or something. I can’t explain it but seems to happen every single time.
 
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#49
#49
cardvolfan said:
Things are never as good or as bad as they seem at any given point. Arkansas was playing as good or better than anyone in the SEC heading into conference play. It was likely we were going to lose this road game. I think we go off the rails a bit, and this doesn’t include everyone in here, when we lose a game. Very bipolar crowd that is either high or low, except for the usuals who are negative in wins or losses.

Things need to be addressed, but we just don’t know what could happen these next 2 months. The sky didn’t fall last night and it certainly was not a bad loss to a bad team. Lots of positives about this team, and Barnes will do his best to figure it out.
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Yes...nothing concerning or particularly troubling with losing to Arkansas in Bud Walton. My concern is that the biggest issues aren't really fixable halfway thru the season.

Bad FT shooting teams are just going to be bad FT shooting teams 14 games into the season. I don't see that making some miraculous turnaround, though it may regress toward the norm as many of these guys are shooting much lower from the line than last year.

Our lack of depth (and arguably offensive talent outside of Gillespie) at guard isn't getting fixed, either, unfortunately.

We are in sort of uncharted territory for a Barnes-coached Tennessee teams where there doesn't seem to be much roster clarity going into conference play. Lineups are still being tinkered with, playing time is still in flux. We have 11 players averaging over 10 mpg and only 4 averaging over 20 mpg.

I guess the hope is that the team is continually improving and will continue to do so, and that is tough for fans to adjust to in contrast with former teams who seemed more rigid and defined at this point.
 
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#50
#50
cncchris33 said:
We are in sort of uncharted territory for a Barnes-coached Tennessee teams where there doesn't seem to be much roster clarity going into conference play. Lineups are still being tinkered with, playing time is still in flux. We have 11 players averaging over 10 mpg and only 4 averaging over 20 mpg.

I guess the hope is that the team is continually improving and will continue to do so, and that is tough for fans to adjust to in contrast with former teams who seemed more rigid and defined at this point.
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This is the kind of cope I’m holding onto right now. With the lineup and rotations continuing to be undefined and tinkered with, there is good reason to believe this team has a lot of untapped potential left.

The flip side of this is Vitello also uncharacteristically tinkered with his lineup in conference play all of last season and it never really resulted in anything. We just didn’t have the right pieces and it resulted in an earlier than anticipated post-season exit. Hopefully that’s not the case here.
 
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