BTO’s Ole Miss Postgame Report

It is apparently the influence (at least partially) of new volunteer analyst, Gregg Polinsky, formerly of the Detroit Pistons.
Barnes has had NBA guys come through in previous years as well, not saying this guy isn’t having a role but ultimately it was Barnes making/willing to change.
 
Barnes has had NBA guys come through in previous years as well, not saying this guy isn’t having a role but ultimately it was Barnes making/willing to change.
Well, yeah...obviously, it's Barnes's team. I think Polinsky was brought in to advise and provide analysis and NBA experience/insight on the offensive changes Barnes was wanting to put in place.
 
I mean, just based on last night, points 1, 2, and 4 all seem off.

While I strongly agree with the perception that Powell has vastly outplayed Bailey, last night wasn't necessarily a great example of it. Powell was timid and settled exclusively for outside shots. He has to make people respect his ability to get to the lane or he won't see open looks that aren't manufactured via ball screens and pick and rolls. That will be a problem since he can't really create his own looks.

JJJ was apparently quiet in leading the team in rebounding, and hit a huge 3 to keep us in the game. Your perception of his ability seems more fixated on his recruiting ranking rather than with what he actually is. 10 pts, 8 rebs, 1 asst, 1 stl, 1 TO and solid defense is a nice night in 35 minutes.

Uros played decent, bit far from his best game as a Vol. Still doesn't play like he's 7 feet tall, and missed an early gimme layup that would have been the difference in regulation.

Powell moves better when the ball isn't in his hands and generally just plays much more confident than Bailey. Teams also guard him tighter, which is why he hasn't gotten alot of looks lately. Bailey is left open all the time and his shots don't even look close to falling. At some point, we're just going to have to move on....it seems it's heading in that direction anyway.

I agree with you that JJJ contributes, but this team desperately needs him to be more of an aggressive attacking the rim. He's got an NBA guard body, but all he does is jack up 3s. We've got enough players that do that.

Uros, I'm afraid, is as good as he's going to get. He catches the ball better and he's not getting pushed around as much. Plus, he dropped in a few hooks.
 
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CRB said in the post game that Powell simply would not shoot several times and if he’s not going to shoot he needs to be on the bench. He’s on this team to shoot. Of course he’s got to play a little defense and Barnes did say it was better last night.
 
Powell moves better when the ball isn't in his hands and generally just plays much more confident than Bailey. Teams also guard him tighter, which is why he hasn't gotten alot of looks lately. Bailey is left open all the time and his shots don't even look close to falling. At some point, we're just going to have to move on....it seems it's heading in that direction anyway.

I agree with you that JJJ contributes, but this team desperately needs him to be more of an aggressive attacking the rim. He's got an NBA guard body, but all he does is jack up 3s. We've got enough players that do that.

Uros, I'm afraid, is as good as he's going to get. He catches the ball better and he's not getting pushed around as much. Plus, he dropped in a few hooks.

JJJ cut to the basket for two dunks last night. 10 points off of 7 shots.

Uros has continuously gotten gooder. No reason that that won’t continue over the next 2.5 years.
 
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Your last paragraph is patently false regarding the 3-ball. Our offense is completely different from just last season, even. Grant and Admiral played in an offense that demanded the ball touch the paint on nearly every possession, and also on mid-range jumpers. This year it's totally different.
I remember when attacking the post with those players didn’t work out, teams made us beat them from outside. That same outside game plan is intact today!
 
I remember when attacking the post with those players didn’t work out, teams made us beat them from outside. That same outside game plan is intact today!
But it rarely didn't work out with those players, and when it didn't, "beating them from outside" was our contingency plan. Now it has become the new modus operandi as our primary plan of attack.
 
We are attempting…

-66 shots a game which ranks 9th nationally
-28.6 3pt shots a game which ranked 22nd nationally

Those are much different numbers than any other Barnes Tennessee team, it’s a change if offensive philosophy towards much more modern basketball. Think Alabama, they are currently taking 64.3 shots a game and 29.7 3’a a game. If that is going to be how we play then we have to shoot the ball better, simple as that.
I think this philosophy can work with the players we have on the team if chandler steps up. Really need him to be able to penetrate and get to the rim/draw the defense in for a kick out. Last year’s Alabama team did a really good job of driving and kicking if they couldn’t get to the rim. Part of it was the zone, but we weren’t getting in the lane enough, especially in the first half.
 
Hopefully the guys start to take this to heart. We need to be more aggressive and not always look for the extra pass. Take the shot!


As much as we hate on Victor Bailey for not shooting the ball well, one thing you can't say about him is that he's ignoring this directive from his coach.
 
As much as we hate on Victor Bailey for not shooting the ball well, one thing you can't say about him is that he's ignoring this directive from his coach.

Agreed. His presence on the court gives me a migraine, but he does pull the trigger on open shots, I'll give him that. He just doesn't hit any of them.
 
As much as we hate on Victor Bailey for not shooting the ball well, one thing you can't say about him is that he's ignoring this directive from his coach.
Bailey never saw a shot he didn’t like. i do like his aggression until he shoots us out of games. However, I see that he’s still being a good teammate despite his reduced PT.
 
Hopefully the guys start to take this to heart. We need to be more aggressive and not always look for the extra pass. Take the shot!


Yea, apparently there was some heated words from Barnes to both Fulk and Powell…some chatter Fulk would pulled from lineup for Saturdays game, and that Barnes felt Powell passed up numerous looks that he should be taking…both players supposedly got the memo in Thursday’s video session, we shall see. Definitely seems to go against the idea that Barnes doesn’t allow these guys to take good shots, seems to be them understanding what is/isn’t a good look.
 
Yea, apparently there was some heated words from Barnes to both Fulk and Powell…some chatter Fulk would pulled from lineup for Saturdays game, and that Barnes felt Powell passed up numerous looks that he should be taking…both players supposedly got the memo in Thursday’s video session, we shall see. Definitely seems to go against the idea that Barnes doesn’t allow these guys to take good shots, seems to be them understanding what is/isn’t a good look.

That’s all I want from this offense at this point. Just take the open look. If they miss them, they miss them. Can’t do anything about that. But, I have faith if Powell would just take the open looks he’d make about 40% of them which is something we really need.
 
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That’s all I want from this offense at this point. Just take the open look. If they miss them, they miss them. Can’t do anything about that. But, I have faith if Powell would just take the open looks he’d make about 40% of them which is something we really need.

I thought the team took open looks against Texas Tech, Villanova, and Alabama, but missed them.

The difference in the Nova game was we settled for half court game and had less open shots. Better against Texas Tech, but their Defense was designed to clog lanes and force kick outs. We just didn’t hit shots.

Missing open shots vs Ole Miss or Alabama or anyone is missing open shots.

Coaches are coaching to take shots. Just got to execute
 
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Hopefully the guys start to take this to heart. We need to be more aggressive and not always look for the extra pass. Take the shot!


Yes....Rick has been as clear as possible about this. I NEVER fault a player (especially one who can shoot) from taking a wide open, feet and shoulders squared up, or catching the pass in the flow, from shooting. And we tend to be so critical of shooters taking shots especially when they are not falling. Thats why they are called "shooters" for pete sake. You would be hard pressed to find a coach who would disagree with this approach. CLEARLY there are times IMO (like when KC took the three at the end of regulation as I screamed out loud "take it to the hole and get fouled") when not shooting for strategy purposes would be appropriate but we cannot fault a shooter for shooting. That's gotten us in trouble multiple times already. Just my philosophy on the games nuisances.
 
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