Is this the best Tennessee basketball team ever?

#51
#51
You guys realize Bernard King was probably one of, if not the most prolific scorer in the NBA for a couple years before he blew his knee out the second time? He was the King of NY and played toe-to-toe with Bird and the Celtics when they were great and about all the knicks had was BK.

This is a great team this year but lets not kid ourselves. The college basketball was far different then than today. Players stayed 3-4 years all the time. Ralph Sampson played 4 yrs, Jordan 3, King 3, etc. Today, all of those guys would play 1 year.
 
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#53
#53
Williams is a top 5 all-time Vol, Admiral a top 20 all-time Vol. Alexander is the best center we've ever had and Bone is one of if not the best PG we've ever had in Knoxville. Bowden, Pons and Turner are perfect compliments to those 4 and all 3 will likely play professional basketball at some level. It's too early to tell about the younger guys but we've got 7 seasoned veterans, all with professional skills, 4 of which will likely play in the NBA, perfect size, athletic, fundamentally sound on both ends and led by a veteran HOF coach to be. We've had some great teams over the years but never any more talented than this group I feel.
 
#54
#54
wmcovol said:
You guys realize Bernard King was probably one of, if not the most prolific scorer in the NBA for a couple years before he blew his knee out the second time? He was the King of NY and played toe-to-toe with Bird and the Celtics when they were great and about all the knicks had was BK.

This is a great team this year but lets not kid ourselves. The college basketball was far different then than today. Players stayed 3-4 years all the time. Ralph Sampson played 4 yrs, Jordan 3, King 3, etc. Today, all of those guys would play 1 year.
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Absolutely realize how great both King and Grunfield were, obviously King was a generational type player. Any NBA team would have taken King after his first season at UT if they could have. He absolutely would have been a one and done, absolutely, no doubt about it!

That's what makes this team great! Precisely, the reason...they don't have that guy. That is not to say, they aren't talented or that Barnes hasn't developed them, quite the contrary is true, and some of these guys will have NBA careers...But...they, none of them, were one and done type guys. This is WHY, they are the best TEAM in Tennessee History and it's why we all love this group of guys.
 
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#55
#55
wmcovol said:
You guys realize Bernard King was probably one of, if not the most prolific scorer in the NBA for a couple years before he blew his knee out the second time? He was the King of NY and played toe-to-toe with Bird and the Celtics when they were great and about all the knicks had was BK.

This is a great team this year but lets not kid ourselves. The college basketball was far different then than today. Players stayed 3-4 years all the time. Ralph Sampson played 4 yrs, Jordan 3, King 3, etc. Today, all of those guys would play 1 year.
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I’m sure you saw the 30 for 30 on NC State. The teams they had to go through to win the ACC and then the National Championship were unreal. And how they kept coming back when down late and no shot clock was miraculous. Your post just made me think of it. Definitely one of my favorite 30 for 30s.
 
#59
#59
This team is great...unique to any I’ve seen. A March run is tough, but this team has multiple ways to score...

Bone IS the cog. Without him we go nowhere...jmo
 
#61
#61
Pacer92 said:
This team is great...unique to any I’ve seen. A March run is tough, but this team has multiple ways to score...

Bone IS the cog. Without him we go nowhere...jmo
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Having a basketball team with no PG is like having a football team with no QB
 
#62
#62
I'm 46 and this is the best UT "team" I've ever watched.

One or 2 of the Pearl teams may have been more talented (can't say for sure) but they were nowhere near as disciplined.
 
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#63
#63
They haven't played their best yet, sit back and enjoy the show.
 
#65
#65
savannahfan said:
I watch E & B teams, that is just what they were E&B, take one out and then we were a one man team otherwise a two man team. THIS is a whole squad team. They can just keep coming at you all the time. This is a much better "team".
Granted the E&B teams had guys to support E&B, but without EorB they didn't have anyone to support and were not good enough to make it without those guys. Last night showed this team can "go" even without it's two top players.
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Agreed. Without King, we couldn't even beat a crappy VMI squad consisting of mostly 6'-4" outside shooters. Most miserable game watching experience in my life, except for maybe the next year's NCAA tournament loss to Syracuse.
 
#66
#66
For sure. I remember that Ron Slay team in 99 or 2000 was pretty nice. I think it was his first year. A lot of nice depth. This team is better with more quality depth. It's the only team I could compare it to in my lifetime
 
#67
#67
While I love the way Alexander is playing, Boerwinkle was/is the best center at Tennessee. KA could be if he’d been redshirted like TB was. TB played 10 yrs in NBA. Chism was in that class also along with Kosmalski.

Pearls first team played with similar effort. They wore people down, gased them out with 4 guards. Devoe had a great overachieving team with Dale Ellis, Brooks, Beamon, Ray etc after losing Gary Carter at mid term. Tied a UK team with Bowie, Turpin, etc on a million dollar payroll for SEC title. They lost a heartbreaker in NCAA to Va with Ralph Sampson.

Tennessee’s basketball tradition is a lot more than Ernie & Bernie. This is a special team this year though. I loved the shot clock violation Mizzou had in 2nd half down 24! How many teams would play defense like that up 24 late in the game? Not many.
 
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#68
#68
I have seen a lot of good teams and a couple of great teams "Ernie and Bernie" but this one is without a doubt the best I have personally seen at UT and I am 54 years old so I have seen a lot of UT basketball...This one is so much fun to watch and has so much heart and soul top to bottom.
 
#69
#69
I am an old fart that loved watching Ernie & Bernie. This is the best Vol Team I have seen and it is not close. This Team, as they are currently playing, may not lose another game. However, I expect a couple of “big head” losses along the way. Hard to keep the players from reading the headlines.
 
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#70
#70
wmcovol said:
You guys realize Bernard King was probably one of, if not the most prolific scorer in the NBA for a couple years before he blew his knee out the second time? He was the King of NY and played toe-to-toe with Bird and the Celtics when they were great and about all the knicks had was BK.

This is a great team this year but lets not kid ourselves. The college basketball was far different then than today. Players stayed 3-4 years all the time. Ralph Sampson played 4 yrs, Jordan 3, King 3, etc. Today, all of those guys would play 1 year.
Click to expand...
Yeah this team is exceptional is how well they play together, work hard, and combine their strengths. Their success isn’t necessarily because any one of them is a legendary talent like King was.
 
#71
#71
Ernie and Bernie show was awesome. Might not ever see two guys mesh like that again. Dale Ellis was the man on offense and defense. Houston pretty shot. But this team is best ever. Enjoy. The love you see with these players is real. They should have won it all last year. They are on a mission. Barnes gonna get them there. Sit down and hold on. Go Vols. Williams and Admiral head liners. Bone is just as good. And turner is back looking good as ever. Alexander has developed into top quality big man. What a team. I'm excited just talking about them.
 
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#72
#72
golfballs said:
Yeah this team is exceptional is how well they play together, work hard, and combine their strengths. Their success isn’t necessarily because any one of them is a legendary talent like King was.
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The chemistry is extraordinary. The ball movement is by far the best I've ever seen at Tenn, and you can tell they love playing for each other. Enjoy the ride...
 
#73
#73
wmcovol said:
Having a basketball team with no PG is like having a football team with no QB
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That’s one of the reason it’s so hard to watch Cuonzo Martin coached teams. He didn’t use a true point guard in his system, and at times watching his teams play offense is similar to watching paint dry.
 
#75
#75
Time will tell if this is the best Vol team ever, but they might just be the funnest team I have ever watched play and that goes back to the 70's! I like what one of the announcers said the other night about The Vols playing the best TEAM ball right now of any team in college basketball
 
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