I think between 10-15 is more like it. We are one outstanding guard away, IMO.
We need him to play like he did vs Arkansas (both times) last year. Makes me wonder... Arkansas applies a lot of pressure and makes you play uptempo. I wonder if he is just a better player under pressure? He also scored his 3rd highest points of the season against Auburn, another team that presses.It's as simple as this. We have to get good to great point guard play on a consistent basis for me to say we're a top 5 team. Can we play with any team in the country? Absolutley. Proved it last year. And to an extent even the year before, just didnt win as many games.
Do we have good to great point guard play? I really dont know. Bone has talent, but has struggled to finish around the rim. We will go as he goes when it comes tournament time. Until he shows otherwise, I've got us in the 10-15 range.
I think for sure that Bone is more comfortable at a frenetic pace. The chaos and breakdowns allow him more easy opportunities at attacking the basket, which is his bread and butter. Much tougher to do that out of a set play.We need him to play like he did vs Arkansas (both times) last year. Makes me wonder... Arkansas applies a lot of pressure and makes you play uptempo. I wonder if he is just a better player under pressure? He also scored his 3rd highest points of the season against Auburn, another team that presses.
Those 3 games
19.3 ppg
3.7 apg
3.3 rpg
1.3 turnovers
There are a ton of Texas fans who would disagree with you.We are rock solid at the coaching position, this is for sure. He is capable of punching buttons at the right time regardless of how the season flows.
There are a ton of Texas fans who would disagree with you.
I really like Rick, but this season is going to have a different feel to it. Last year he and the team were really under the radar until late in the season. This year there are big expectations right out of the gate and we are going to receive every team's best every game. I think we'll have a good year, but probably not as good as a lot of the fans are hoping.
What happened at Texas was a long track record of the opposite (doing less with more) and after a string of early tournament exits they fired him. It certainly wasn't a knee jerk reaction; the perception of him even during his peak years at Texas was that he underachieved relative to the talent he recruited. The last 4 years he was there they were really mediocre. 35-37 in Big 12 play, 1-2 in the tournament, and one of those years they missed the tournament and NIT.He started with nothing, sprinkled on magic dust and came up with 2 NBA players and assorted all star cast. The worst team he had at UT was well coached and competitive. I don't know what happened at Texas but guess after so many NCAA appearances they had a knee jerk reaction. Very lucky for us. Does more with less.
What happened at Texas was a long track record of the opposite (doing less with more) and after a string of early tournament exits they fired him. It certainly wasn't a knee jerk reaction; the perception of him even during his peak years at Texas was that he underachieved relative to the talent he recruited. The last 4 years he was there they were really mediocre. 35-37 in Big 12 play, 1-2 in the tournament, and one of those years they missed the tournament and NIT.
Perhaps Tennessee is just a better fit for him. He isn't going to be able to routinely land Josiah James-type players here, but maybe he does better with the Williamses and Schofields of the world and coaches them up.
I think there is a little less of a microscope being the head basketball coach in Knoxville than in Austin. Although ever since Bruce Pearl fans expect more out of the basketball program than they did in the past. And honestly with football being so bad there might be a little more of a desire for basketball to be successful than in years past too.He is exactly what we need at UT, like you said, a guy who can develop a team out of 3 star players. We will rarely get a 5 * player so its all thats left. Trying to compete for talent with the basketball schools is not a good game plan. They will chew you up and spit you out and it must be very expensive, just ask UK.
I think there is a little less of a microscope being the head basketball coach in Knoxville than in Austin. Although ever since Bruce Pearl fans expect more out of the basketball program than they did in the past. And honestly with football being so bad there might be a little more of a desire for basketball to be successful than in years past too.
I agree I can’t imagine us being top 5 in basketball!! Then again I couldn’t imagine a bag of dildos being more formidable than our shameful football program. Strange times we live in I’m looking forward to the season!!!I can be as big a homer as anyone. And, i'm not saying we won't be really good, but are we really a top 5 program? IMO 10-15 isn't out of the question. Even making a deep run into the elite 8 or final 4 isn't out of the question.
I just can't see us being sold as a top 5 team with all the elite programs out there. Guess it's just hard to wrap my head around us having a basketball team getting so much pre season respect. Not to mention, it'll give us something to look to should football season take a turn for the worse.
Dang really? That’s to bad, as a Tennessee fan it would be no nice to have something.There are a ton of Texas fans who would disagree with you.
I really like Rick, but this season is going to have a different feel to it. Last year he and the team were really under the radar until late in the season. This year there are big expectations right out of the gate and we are going to receive every team's best every game. I think we'll have a good year, but probably not as good as a lot of the fans are hoping.
No, I think Tennessee has less of a microscope with basketball than Texas does.In 2017-18 Texas only had 5 home games with attendance exceeding the lowest attended TN game at the TBA in 2016-17. Texas has less of a microscope?
I'm honestly shocked at how underwhelming Shaka has been. He was the hottest name for every open coaching position for the longest time. You know Texas fans have to feel all kinds of bad emotions seeing that CRB has the real UT as a top 10 team, while they have a coach entering his 4th year as .500 coach and on the hot seat. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.No, I think Tennessee has less of a microscope with basketball than Texas does.
Both Texas and Tennessee are football schools but Texas really expects to be great at everything because they are Texas. Barnes recruited at a really high level, pulling guys like T.J. Ford, Kevin Durant, D.J. Augustin, LaMarcus Aldridge, etc., and thought that his returns with those guys would have been a little higher. The expectations got really high in the mid-2000s because of the players he had and don't discount the fact that they were really good at football at that time even adding to it. H
He only went to the Sweet 16 4 times in 17 years. That'd be great at Tennessee, but Texas wants more than that. I think Shaka is on more of a hot seat than they lead on.
Yep. I'd love to hear a Texas fan's take on Rick now. They wanted Rick gone, and frankly I can see why. He was replaced with undeniably the hottest name available at the time and it was universally thought of as a great hire.I'm honestly shocked at how underwhelming Shaka has been. He was the hottest name for every open coaching position for the longest time. You know Texas fans have to feel all kinds of bad emotions seeing that CRB has the real UT as a top 10 team, while they have a coach entering his 4th year as .500 coach and on the hot seat. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
No, I think Tennessee has less of a microscope with basketball than Texas does.
Both Texas and Tennessee are football schools but Texas really expects to be great at everything because they are Texas. Barnes recruited at a really high level, pulling guys like T.J. Ford, Kevin Durant, D.J. Augustin, LaMarcus Aldridge, etc., and thought that his returns with those guys would have been a little higher. The expectations got really high in the mid-2000s because of the players he had and don't discount the fact that they were really good at football at that time even adding to it. H
He only went to the Sweet 16 4 times in 17 years. That'd be great at Tennessee, but Texas wants more than that. I think Shaka is on more of a hot seat than they lead on.
Texas is behind 4 other teams in their conference because the Big 12 historically has been a better basketball conference than the SEC has. Tennessee's basketball expectations have increased quite a bit since the late 2000s because of Bruce Pearl and because football has been so bad (we want something to get excited about). I think Texas has had some expectations over a longer period of time than that; they expected Barnes in particular to consistently be in at least the Sweet 16, which he was in the early-to-mid 2000s, not so much after that. Before Pearl arrived, the last time people really gave a rip about Tennessee basketball was during the Ernie and Bernie show. The level of interest in the program is not consistently high over long periods of time. Contrast this with football, which has been God-awful for a decade and not nationally relevant in nearly 20 years yet still moves the needle.TN built the largest basketball gym in the country. TN fans ran off 3 coaches immediately after making the NCAAT, the 3rd with 30,000 entries on an on-line petition. Texas is historically behind 4 other teams in their own conference and probably more than that if the Barnes era is excluded. TN's attendance exceeds Texas' in a less populated area. Texas is not a basketball school. TN, despite a 25 year run of mediocrity, is a basketball school.
Texas is behind 4 other teams in their conference because the Big 12 historically has been a better basketball conference than the SEC has. Tennessee's basketball expectations have increased quite a bit since the late 2000s because of Bruce Pearl and because football has been so bad (we want something to get excited about). I think Texas has had some expectations over a longer period of time than that; they expected Barnes in particular to consistently be in at least the Sweet 16, which he was in the early-to-mid 2000s, not so much after that. Before Pearl arrived, the last time people really gave a rip about Tennessee basketball was during the Ernie and Bernie show. The level of interest in the program is not consistently high over long periods of time. Contrast this with football, which has been God-awful for a decade and not nationally relevant in nearly 20 years yet still moves the needle.
Neither Tennessee or Texas is a basketball school. It is not thought of as superior to or more important than the football program at either school. In basketball I'm not really sure attendance or max capacity of the facility is the best proxy for how "big" the program is. Duke plays in a glorified high school gym that seats 9,314. Over two TBAs could fit inside it. Does that mean Duke isn't a basketball school?
That's a function of playing them at least once a year. Even if you are awful against them historically (which we are), you'll rack up more wins than other schools purely because you play them often.The Big 12 hasn't even been in existence for 25 years yet. Actually, from the Big 8 you can add Missouri and OK State as having a better basketball history than Texas. I was only thinking of Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Oklahoma as better programs. The SWC was a horrible basketball conference. TN was #2 to KY, the winningest program in college basketball, for a long time before Dickey's neglect allowed them to slip. The NCAAT only took 1 team per conference until the mid 1980s. If KY was in the SWC then the rest of those schools may have never even been invited.
KY is the winningest team in college basketball. Which school has more wins than any other against them?
The SEC doesn't take a back seat to any conference not named the ACC.