Official Game Thread - SECT: Friday, 1pm (ESPN) vs. MSU

[vol94]

The committee has told us the Sunday final doesn’t matter for two years in a row now. Did you guys hear them say Lunardi said last night that Sunday wasn’t going to impact the seed line for the committee bc the bracket would be finalized by Saturday night?

Actually, a tweet was sent out yesterday stating the committee already selects the one seeds. Imo, INC was in the driver’s seat regardless.

Isk if that report is true but wouldn’t surprise me.

 

[BowlBrother85]

I can’t believe lack of motivation was an issue since competitors compete and strive to win every game. Plus they were fighting for a one seed.

Did you watch the game? They sure didn't look very inspired to me.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

There is no way in hell that's true.

Lose by 6 maybe, get embarrassed. Nah not buying it.

 

[BreatheUT]

I heard information that Tennessee won’t get a 1 seed in the 2024 MM College Basketball tournament.

That’s not disappointing since Tennessee is a great team that realistically could reach the Sweet 16 or possibly the Elite 8 even as a 2nd Seed.

Are you trolling?

 

[turbovol]

Our supporting cast simply does not shoot well enough--and so when Knecht has a bad game, and he had a very bad shooting
game today, we're in trouble.

When both Knecht and Aidoo have bad offensive games, we lose--period.
Aidoo had a pathetic 5 points today.
Knecht had 14 on 4 of 17 shooting.

That's going to be a loss for us 75 percent of the time, the other 25 coming when the rest of the team actually scores some points,
which they don't often do.

Season shooting %

Gainey--35%
Vescovi--37%
JJJ--39%
Ziggy--40% (I'm surprised his number is this high. He takes the second most shots in games, and his made percentage
is generally not that impressive, esp. from the 3-line. He was 4-12 from the 3-line today.

None of them shoot higher from the 3 line than 35 percent.

3-point shooting percentage:

Gainey--29% (pathetic)
JJJ---32% (not good)
Vescovi--33% (not good)
Ziggy---35 (decent, not great)

A lot of the problem is Vescovi and JJJ--but it's also Ziggy and Gainey. None of them has shot the ball well this year. That's a big problem. Gainey's been a bust, essentially. He plays pretty good defense--but his role is to really give us some scoring that we don't get from Vescovi and JJJ, and in that capacity he's simply not come through at all.

Knecht shoots at 47 percent. So there is a big drop in OUTSIDE shooting percentage after him. Aidoo is a 53 percent shooter--which is good.

Every BB game essentially comes down to shooting. We suxed today--EVERYBODY but Mashack was terrible.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Our supporting cast simply does not shoot well enough--and so when Knecht has a bad game, and he had a very bad shooting
game today, we're in trouble.

When both Knecht and Aidoo have bad offensive games, we lose--period.
Aidoo had a pathetic 5 points today.
Knecht had 14 on 4 of 17 shooting.

That's going to be a loss for us 75 percent of the time, the other 25 coming when the rest of the team actually scores some points,
which they don't often do.

Season shooting %

Gainey--35%
Vescovi--37%
JJJ--39%
Ziggy--40% (I'm surprised his number is this high. He takes the second most shots in games, and his made percentage
is generally not that impressive, esp. from the 3-line. He was 4-12 from the 3-line today.

None of them shoot higher from the 3 line than 35 percent.

3-point shooting percentage:

Gainey--29% (pathetic)
JJJ---32% (not good)
Vescovi--33% (not good)
Ziggy---35 (decent, not great)

A lot of the problem is Vescovi and JJJ--but it's also Ziggy and Gainey. None of them has shot the ball well this year. That's a big problem. Gainey's been a bust, essentially. He plays pretty good defense--but his role is to really give us some scoring that we don't get from Vescovi and JJJ, and in that capacity he's simply not come through at all.

Knecht shoots at 47 percent. So there is a big drop in OUTSIDE shooting percentage after him. Aidoo is a 53 percent shooter--which is good.

Every BB game essentially comes down to shooting. We suxed today--EVERYBODY but Mashack was terrible.

Spot on IMO

 

[BreatheUT]

Players play but isn’t that coaching? If the five on the floor won’t dribble penetrate to the rim, then put someone else into the game.

I'm not so sure if we have those players on the bench to do it.

 

[VolunteerVFL]

really? I did not know that

Don’t worry, I got you

 

[Orangeslide]

This I agree with. Honestly, maybe go with Shack and Gainey and bring SV and JJJ in from the bench. Aidoo has got to be more physical and not be intimidated when he goes against these type teams

Not trying to be negative, but Aidoo is who he is. He’s a finesse big that likes to play soft . Nothing will change between now and the tournament that says he will grow a set. Physically and mentally he just plays soft. Tobe has limited size for a 5 and no spring in his legs. Most times he will get his shot blocked or throw up a shot with little chance of scoring. I would say that we have the worst post play of all the teams currently ranked in the top 10.

 

[firestorm]

Yeah, the caller also said that TN would receive an extra week rest. They corrected him as it’s only two extra days. They laughed at the caller’s notion of not caring and said that TN basically shat the bed, today.

Mississippi State did outplay Tennessee, however the realistic Mississippi State basketball fans won’t overreact by saying they’re going to the Elite 8 or any other overreaction to a high bar achievement win in the 2024 SEC Basketball Tournament.

 

[KTrain]

I didn’t see game. Did State’s big men take over? They didn’t shoot the three ball well.

Well, they said MSU scored more in the paint in the first half this game than they did the whole game vs LSU last night. When refs let them play street ball no blood no foul. Vols can't play that game vs teams like MSU USC Auburn etc. that have big men that bully you. Now if the refs are calling touch fouls, we can compete against the bully ball because of foul trouble. We did out rebound them but thats probably because we took 63 shots and just made 21% a lot of misses to rebound. I thought Aidoo had one of his worst games, Awaka had his worst game, Knetch had his worst game. Vescovi & JJJ had what has become a typical bad game. ZZ played bad first half had real good 2nd half and Mashack played well should have played more. As a team was worst game this year surpassed the bad play vs USCjr & the other loss at Stark Vegas.

 

[Orangeslide]

This game (and many others just like it) is why there is an extreme love/hate relationship with Barnes. He wins a lot of games and recruits good talent but when the lights shine the brightest, his teams fade like a cheap suit.

They don’t call him regular season Rick for nothing. For this team to string together 4 straight wins, some players would have to do a complete 180 offensively. It ain’t happening. But I would be happy to eat crow if it does. lol.

 

[orangefloyd]

We are just overrated and have been all season.

 

[KTrain]

The committee has told us the Sunday final doesn’t matter for two years in a row now. Did you guys hear them say Lunardi said last night that Sunday wasn’t going to impact the seed line for the committee bc the bracket would be finalized by Saturday night?

Out of over 100 Bracketology's Lunardi is in the Bottom half on accuracy but just because he's an ESPN employee he is quoted more than any other Bracketology's. Even though he always off. goes to show you advertising works get your name out there and ppl will believe you.

 

[GAVol]

We are just overrated and have been all season.

I don’t know that we’re that overrated, but there clearly is a brand of basketball that we don’t match up well against. If we’re not shooting well enough to keep physical teams from helping, we’re susceptible.

 

[Orangeslide]

We were favored by 10.5 today, lost by 17. Thats a 28 point swing. Something seems out of line??? We got Japslapped in the paint today.

 

[davethevol]

We were favored by 10.5 today, lost by 17. Thats a 28 point swing. Something seems out of line??? We got Japslapped in the paint today.

This team seems out of rhythm and they don’t seem confident.

 

[vol94]

Well, they said MSU scored more in the paint in the first half this game than they did the whole game vs LSU last night. When refs let them play street ball no blood no foul. Vols can't play that game vs teams like MSU USC Auburn etc. that have big men that bully you. Now if the refs are calling touch fouls, we can compete against the bully ball because of foul trouble. We did out rebound them but thats probably because we took 63 shots and just made 21% a lot of misses to rebound. I thought Aidoo had one of his worst games, Awaka had his worst game, Knetch had his worst game. Vescovi & JJJ had what has become a typical bad game. ZZ played bad first half had real good 2nd half and Mashack played well should have played more. As a team was worst game this year surpassed the bad play vs USCjr & the other loss at Stark Vegas.

Thanks for response. The refs usually let them play in the dance so this is concerning.

 

[vol94]

Our supporting cast simply does not shoot well enough--and so when Knecht has a bad game, and he had a very bad shooting
game today, we're in trouble.

When both Knecht and Aidoo have bad offensive games, we lose--period.
Aidoo had a pathetic 5 points today.
Knecht had 14 on 4 of 17 shooting.

That's going to be a loss for us 75 percent of the time, the other 25 coming when the rest of the team actually scores some points,
which they don't often do.

Season shooting %

Gainey--35%
Vescovi--37%
JJJ--39%
Ziggy--40% (I'm surprised his number is this high. He takes the second most shots in games, and his made percentage
is generally not that impressive, esp. from the 3-line. He was 4-12 from the 3-line today.

None of them shoot higher from the 3 line than 35 percent.

3-point shooting percentage:

Gainey--29% (pathetic)
JJJ---32% (not good)
Vescovi--33% (not good)
Ziggy---35 (decent, not great)

A lot of the problem is Vescovi and JJJ--but it's also Ziggy and Gainey. None of them has shot the ball well this year. That's a big problem. Gainey's been a bust, essentially. He plays pretty good defense--but his role is to really give us some scoring that we don't get from Vescovi and JJJ, and in that capacity he's simply not come through at all.

Knecht shoots at 47 percent. So there is a big drop in OUTSIDE shooting percentage after him. Aidoo is a 53 percent shooter--which is good.

Every BB game essentially comes down to shooting. We suxed today--EVERYBODY but Mashack was terrible.

These stats are concerning. You can’t win if you can’t score. This team found a way to win the SEC regular season but I’m not confident we will string together six consecutive wins against stronger competition.

Aidoo, Knecht, and ZZ must be on their game to have a chance. But we need Santi, JJJ, or someone to make open threes. They continue to miss uncontested, open threes.

 

[fear]

didn’t we have a worry thread after a&m beat us? should we bring that back??

 

[vol94]

I'm not so sure if we have those players on the bench to do it.

Yeah. That’s concerning.

 

[LakeMaryFLVol]

So is this what is going to happen again in round 2 or sweet sixteen . Undermanned team over performs Vols? Again? Really WT WT Really??

 

[Delmar]

I'm as frustrated as the next Vol fan but this is ludicrous. We won the regular season championship in the toughest SEC in recent memory. White doesn't need to say a thing to Barnes.

Exactly. Too many folks don’t understand that winning a regular season title over an 18 game grind is a lot tougher than getting hot for a couple of games in a row in Nashville. Didn’t expect them to look that bad but they did. Hopefully they’ll be ready to go next week. I think they will be.

 

[BreatheUT]

This team seems out of rhythm and they don’t seem confident.

I want assassins on the court, not players that lose confidence easily.

 

[JCP201]

Except for that foul, he did play well.