On to Basketball...

#1
JAllen18

JAllen18

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#1
Did anyone go to the Practice/Scrimmage yesterday?

Any updates on the team? How they looked?
 
#2
#2
Did all of Volnation skip this one? I've been asking for weeks if anyone had seen any of our players practicing but it seems no one has. I'm surprised more people are pumped for the upcoming hoops season. I would certainly go if I weren't so far away.
 
#3
#3
SEC prview on ESPNU just picked us to win the conf. Said we'll play solid D and expects BWill to improve greatly.

Picked Hopson as top frosh and Calathes as MVP.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#4
#4
BigPapaVol said:
SEC prview on ESPNU just picked us to win the conf. Said we'll play solid D and expects BWill to improve greatly.

Picked Hopson as top frosh and Calathes as MVP.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. I'm really interested to hear about and see B Wil's progress. I think he's gonna be very good from here on.
 
#5
#5
can't wait for basketball. Enough of this football season already. Never thought I would be more excited about basketball than football.
 
#6
#6
MphsBlues said:
Sounds about right. I'm really interested to hear about and see B Wil's progress. I think he's gonna be very good from here on.
Click to expand...
think I'd temper expectations about BWill. He'll be better, but I don't think he's Hakeem quite yet.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#7
#7
I see Hopson being top freshy in the SEC..
and T. Smith being the MVP..
Calathes hopefully doesnt win it.. i cant stand his hairdoo !!
 
#9
#9
I was at the practice yesterday. Hopson is a beast but he has got to learn to play better defense. I saw him get blown by quite a few times yesterday. I also noticed Pearl and staff consistently telling him to fight over screens and to sprint back on defense. He has incredible talent and once he learns to play defense he will be a key contributor.

The big names (smith, chism, prince, etc.) all played well and put on a show offensively. Brian Williams looked good down low and didn't commit unnecessary fouls.

The biggest surprise to me was Josh Tabb. Everyone knows he plays lock-down defense, but he showed some offensive ability yesterday also. He hit a 3 and had two other baskets and at least 5 assists.

Negyena (spelling?) is going to be a beast and can jump out the roof. Jurrick looked like an awkward player, but he did show some moves down low. Woolridge didn't do much. He had two dunks but other than that didn't stand out much. Stephen Pearl showed he can hit the 3 when open, but he took way too many unnecessary/contested shots.

Saw Childress riding the stationary bike, and Tatum and West sat on the bench during the practice. Tatum looked to have a pretty noticeable limp but it could've been just the way he was walking, not sure. B Maze looked good, dribbled himself into trouble a couple times but didn't turn the ball over much. He also hit some mid-range jumpers, but don't remember him shooting a 3. I felt that he needs to look for a shot more as he drives in the lane, but hopefully that will come with experience.

Overall I was impressed, and thought this team played a little more controlled than previous years. The press they ran caused 3 straight lay-ups and tyler smith knocked down about 4 threes. Can't wait for the season Go vols!!!!
 
#12
#12
sportsnut624 said:
I was at the practice yesterday. Hopson is a beast but he has got to learn to play better defense. I saw him get blown by quite a few times yesterday. I also noticed Pearl and staff consistently telling him to fight over screens and to sprint back on defense. He has incredible talent and once he learns to play defense he will be a key contributor.

The big names (smith, chism, prince, etc.) all played well and put on a show offensively. Brian Williams looked good down low and didn't commit unnecessary fouls.

The biggest surprise to me was Josh Tabb. Everyone knows he plays lock-down defense, but he showed some offensive ability yesterday also. He hit a 3 and had two other baskets and at least 5 assists.

Negyena (spelling?) is going to be a beast and can jump out the roof. Jurrick looked like an awkward player, but he did show some moves down low. Woolridge didn't do much. He had two dunks but other than that didn't stand out much. Stephen Pearl showed he can hit the 3 when open, but he took way too many unnecessary/contested shots.

Saw Childress riding the stationary bike, and Tatum and West sat on the bench during the practice. Tatum looked to have a pretty noticeable limp but it could've been just the way he was walking, not sure. B Maze looked good, dribbled himself into trouble a couple times but didn't turn the ball over much. He also hit some mid-range jumpers, but don't remember him shooting a 3. I felt that he needs to look for a shot more as he drives in the lane, but hopefully that will come with experience.

Overall I was impressed, and thought this team played a little more controlled than previous years. The press they ran caused 3 straight lay-ups and tyler smith knocked down about 4 threes. Can't wait for the season Go vols!!!!
Click to expand...

Great stuff. Thanks! It's Negedu. Did Tyler play forward the whole time?
 
#13
#13
MphsBlues said:
Great stuff. Thanks! It's Negedu. Did Tyler play forward the whole time?
Click to expand...

He mostly played forward, I saw for about two minutes he played down low with Williams, but I think that was so Pearl could teach something to Chism on the sidelines though. I don't remember him not playing forward other than that, but i may have missed it.
 
#14
#14
Well, Don Devoe said on the Sports Reporters that knowing what he know, he doesn't think West will be eligible to play at all this year. Prince will be the back up point.
 
#15
#15
The Bama game was my one game this year. Flew in from Austin, TX. I got to go to the Bball practice and it was fun. Bruce had them scrimmage the whole time switching up the line-ups.

The folks sitting around me said that the practice reminded them of the Rocky Top league... lots of having fun on the part of the players.

I agree with the earlier poster about Negedu. He is stout. He seems to fit in with the team really well. If I remember right, Tab and Woolridge both had alley opps to Negedu that were impressive.

I was also impressed with Jurick. He is BIG. Visibly taller than Williams. He just needs to get a little stronger. He has some big potential.

The 2nd team squad was rotating point guards between a couple of guys I didn't know. I felt bad for one of them... he didn't have the official team shorts, shoes, or jersey. Nobody talked to him much. But he played hard the whole time.

Overall it got me excited about basketball, but it looks like they still need to gel the particular rotations together and make sure they are playing as a team.
 
#18
#18
VolsByNature said:
Can someone give me the lineup?
Click to expand...

I wish I could. I didn't take notes and my memory isn't that good. I noticed that Smith and Prince seemed like the only two that never rotated into the 2nd team... 1st team the entire practice. Not that this info is anything unexpected. The others rotated back and forth between first team and second team (ie White and Orange). One thing I did notice is that for one period Pearl had both Williams and Jurrick on the floor on the same team at the same time. I'm guessing more to give the first team time playing against a big line-up.

Couple of other observations:

Maze has the ability to be fast. He made some impressive moves with the ball. Didn't seem like everything had come together yet for him but he had some flashes.

Williams seems to have lost even more weight since last season and was playing more physical than I recall. He layed someone out with his shoulder at one point and walked away like nothing happened.

Tab seemed like a man on a mission for playing time. He looked good and was playing hard.

Woolridge had some smooth moments. A couple of alley-opps and some nice shots. If I remember right he also had a crazy move with the ball where he split two defenders. None of us could figure out what he did nor how he still had the ball when he came through it.

Pearl (Steven) also seems to have changed a lot. He seemed more bulked up and lean than I remember. I don't know if this can possibly be true, but it seemed like he scored as many points as anyone else during the scrimmages.

I mentioned Negadu in my last post. I'm by no means a basketball expert... just a UT fan. But, I left that practice ready to see more of Negadu. There was something about him and the way he handled himself on the court that stood out more than the other newcomers.

After practice most of the players hung around talking to fans and signing autographs. Pearl (Bruce) spent a lot of time talking to fans. His crowd pleaser moment was after a Bama fan asked if he could get a pic of his kids with Bruce. Bruce was the master showman and spoke to them for a few minutes. After they left, the UT fans jokingly asked what was up with that. Bruce said basically "When we are travelling around it is all about the fans, pictures, autographs, whatever. All until we start playing, then we kick their @#$!"
 
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