Andy Katz has Vols #1 in Power 36 Ranking

#5
#5
Too early to tell, but it appears this team will be more fun to watch than last year. We typically have a hard in the paint, which bites us at some point. As orangemadam says, it will depend on the development of some younger inside players. It’s nice to hear good things, but let’s not get carried away. The AP has us at 7.
 
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#7
#7
VolsSince78 said:
Some love this week from one of the top NCAA Hoops reporters/writers.

bit.ly

Tennessee, Arizona lead first men's college basketball Power 36 of the regular season

After big early season road wins, Tennessee and Arizona shoot to the top of Andy Katz's first Power 36 of the 2023-24 season.
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I feel like some of this love from national media types is a bit overboard. But if this team improves as the year goes on, the sky is the limit. I wanna see the freshmen (Dillione, Phillips, and Estrella) make steady progress. I wanna see Mashack, ZZ, and Santi round into form. I love what I see from JJJ so far. I think Awaka is our best post. Obviously Knecht and Gainey have been better than expected.
 
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#8
#8
NighthawkVol said:
I feel like some of this love from national media types is a bit overboard. But if this team improves as the year goes on, the sky is the limit. I wanna see the freshmen (Dillione, Phillips, and Estrella) make steady progress. I wanna see Mashack, ZZ, and Santi round into form. I love what I see from JJJ so far. I think Awaka is our best post. Obviously Knecht and Gainey have been better than expected.
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WTH, they went to E. Lansing, and Madison led the entire games; what more do you want. Not mention, Santi and ZZ didn't even play versus MSU.
 
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#10
#10
BACKDOC said:
WTH, they went to E. Lansing, and Madison led the entire games; what more do you want. Not mention, Santi and ZZ didn't even play versus MSU.
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I didn't say I "want more" at this point. I'm just not ready to proclaim this team #1 in the nation like Greenberg and Katz. But they don't need to be #1 right now to be a Final 4 team. Like I said, "if this team improves as the year goes on, the sky is the limit."

I'm very happy with where we're sitting at the moment.
 
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#13
#13
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Sure didn’t look like #1 tonight unless Wofford is this year’s Florida Atlantic.
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Meh, we won by 21 and never trailed. Ended up outrebounding them, held them under 40% shooting, forced 14 TOs and only had 8 of our own. We hit 11 3s on an efficient %.

We let them hang around too long, but they were a very good passing team and hit 10 3s, themselves. Several were tightly contested, too.
 
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#14
#14
cncchris33 said:
Meh, we won by 21 and never trailed. Ended up outrebounding them, held them under 40% shooting, forced 14 TOs and only had 8 of our own. We hit 11 3s on an efficient %.

We let them hang around too long, but they were a very good passing team and hit 10 3s, themselves. Several were tightly contested, too.
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Low possession game as well, which obviously lends itself to a closer game.
 
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#15
#15
bleedingTNorange said:
Low possession game as well, which obviously lends itself to a closer game.
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Which was kind of surprising, I think. Most reports on Wofford was them wanting to play fast, but they worked hard for open looks, perhaps due to our defense, which limited possessions.
 
#16
#16
cncchris33 said:
Which was kind of surprising, I think. Most reports on Wofford was them wanting to play fast, but they worked hard for open looks, perhaps due to our defense, which limited possessions.
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Yup…would guess that was what they felt their best strategy was, which makes sense, huge talent gap lower the possessions and hope you hit some 3’s
 
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#17
#17
bleedingTNorange said:
Yup…would guess that was what they felt their best strategy was, which makes sense, huge talent gap lower the possessions and hope you hit some 3’s
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Exactly, and they did just that and we still won by 21 points. I'm quite pleased with this win. A low-key trap game sandwiched between a trip to Wisconsin and a trip to Hawaii made for a prime opportunity for us to let our guard down.

Also, that's another 80+ pt performance from a stale, boring, outdated offensive system where Barnes coaches the offense out of guys. Currently #20 on KenPom.
 
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#18
#18
cncchris33 said:
Exactly, and they did just that and we still won by 21 points. I'm quite pleased with this win. A low-key trap game sandwiched between a trip to Wisconsin and a trip to Hawaii made for a prime opportunity for us to let our guard down.

Also, that's another 80+ pt performance from a stale, boring, outdated offensive system where Barnes coaches the offense out of guys. Currently #20 on KenPom.
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Yup, offense continues to look great and taking steps in the right direction…not in the least bit worried about the defense because I know that’ll get focused on in scout and new guys will improve. I posted pregame that the line seemed like an overreaction from Vegas to a 2-0 start from Tennessee ATS, most analytics had this 24-26 points, and that was with it being around 69-70 possessions.
 
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#20
#20
bleedingTNorange said:
Yup, offense continues to look great and taking steps in the right direction…not in the least bit worried about the defense because I know that’ll get focused on in scout and new guys will improve. I posted pregame that the line seemed like an overreaction from Vegas to a 2-0 start from Tennessee ATS, most analytics had this 24-26 points, and that was with it being around 69-70 possessions.
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I took Wofford +29.5 when we were up 16-9. You could tell they came to play at that point and I knew we weren't likely to win by 30.
 
#22
#22
cncchris33 said:
Meh, we won by 21 and never trailed. Ended up outrebounding them, held them under 40% shooting, forced 14 TOs and only had 8 of our own. We hit 11 3s on an efficient %.

We let them hang around too long, but they were a very good passing team and hit 10 3s, themselves. Several were tightly contested, too.
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I was never worried that Wofford was going to steal a win, but they had the ball at 8 minutes with a chance to cut the lead to single digits. 21 points isn’t reflective of how close Wofford was most of the night.
 
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#23
#23
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I was never worried that Wofford was going to steal a win, but they had the ball very late with a chance to cut the lead to single digits. 21 points isn’t reflective of how close Wofford was all night.
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It was a double-digit lead from 11:32 on, though. Sure, 21 points isn't necessarily reflective of how competitive the game was, especially early on, but it was a comfortable lead for the final quarter+ and never really in doubt. I think Wofford also played above their talent level a little bit, likely encouraged by their ability to hang around for a while. They are probably also a better team than what they were predicted to finish in the Southern Conference (8th, I think Hamer said). They play VA Tech and Oklahoma St in the next month, so maybe we will get an idea of what they are against other high majors.
 
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#24
#24
cncchris33 said:
It was a double-digit lead from 11:32 on, though. Sure, 21 points isn't necessarily reflective of how competitive the game was, especially early on, but it was a comfortable lead for the final quarter+ and never really in doubt. I think Wofford also played above their talent level a little bit, likely encouraged by their ability to hang around for a while. They are probably also a better team than what they were predicted to finish in the Southern Conference (8th, I think Hamer said). They play VA Tech and Oklahoma St in the next month, so maybe we will get an idea of what they are against other high majors.
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49-60 at 8:35 and Wofford had the ball. The first half pattern was UT looking like the were about to pull away and then Boom! It was a 5 or 6 point game.

Didn’t look like a #1 team. UT looked like a marginal top 10 team playing down to their competition. 37-34 UT rebounding edge. Plus the inside scoring is going to have to get much more productive. Although Awaka did score 9 (5 at the FT line) in 14 minutes.
 
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#25
#25
Thunder Good-Oil said:
49-60 at 8:35 and Wofford had the ball. The first gave pattern was UT looking like the were about to pull away and then Boom! It was a 5 or 6 point game.

Didn’t look like a #1 team. UT looked like a marginal top 10 team playing down to their competition. 37-34 UT rebounding edge. Plus the inside scoring is going to get much more productive. Although Awaka did score 9 (5 at the FT line) in 14 minutes.
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To be fair, does anyone look like a #1 team right now? It’s Game #3 and there are a lot of examples of teams playing down to the competition early in the season.
 
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