Potential Starting Line up and Rotation 2019-2020

[Kosmalski]

Give me
Turner
Bowden
James
Burns
Kent/Plavsic

Uhhh no

 

[TrippieRedd]

It sounds like if Pember does what coach wants him to do he is going to have a big season next year and potentially late this year. Admiral made a big jump after receiving the same challenge a few years ago.

Imagine if he produces like Admiral did....1st round pick with that height and length.

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Tennessee basketball gets a break with 10 days off between games before the Vols face No. 15 Memphis next Saturday in a highly anticipated matchup. There are plenty of storylines in that matchup to be sure, but one of the cooler ones is that it will be a chance for Rick Barnes to get career win No. 700. Though he’ll never come out and say it, it would have to be pretty sweet to pick up that milestone victory against the Tigers after all of the shenanigans following last year’s Tennessee win. Among active coaches, only Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Bob Huggins, Cliff Ellis (yes, him) and John Calipari are members of the 700-win club.

Having this much time off between games will be beneficial for Barnes and this team to kind of get in the bunker and work on some issues after the first eight games. Sitting at 7-1, Tennessee is in great shape with so many new pieces, or old pieces in new roles, but there’s certainly some things to work on. At the top of that list is cutting down on turnovers and in that regard helping Lamonte Turner strike a balance between being aggressive and taking care of the basketball. Turner is doing a great job as a playmaker, averaging over seven assists per game, but he’s got 28 turnovers in just eight games. Last year he had 35 on the season. Certainly being the primary ball handler this year means he has more chances to turn the ball over, but that’s still too many.

One of the bright spots for Barnes in this week’s win over Florida A&M was the manner in which Tennessee got the ball inside to John Fulkerson (15 points), Yves Pons (14) and Olivier Nkamhoua (11). It’s something that Barnes has been harping on all season long and Wednesday’s outing shows that his team is paying attention. It was also a real positive that the freshman outside of Josiah James got so many minutes. Devonte Gaines continues to carve out a bigger role for himself and he looks like he’s on his way to passing Jalen Johnson in the rotation. The coaching staff loves Gaines’ toughness and ability to impact the game in ways other than scoring. Look for Drew Pember to continue to get chances to earn more minutes. Barnes loves his skill set and is pushing him to be better on defense so he can earn more floor time.

-VQ

 

[walkenvol]

Must be one of the harder things as a coach to finally give up on a player who’s been in your program for 3+ years and move on to a freshman. CRB has always been high on Johnson’s ability and by all accounts Johnson has been a good student and teammate. Unfortunately, it appears his ship has sailed at UT. Likely transfer after this season

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Must be one of the harder things as a coach to finally give up on a player who’s been in your program for 3+ years and move on to a freshman. CRB has always been high on Johnson’s ability and by all accounts Johnson has been a good student and teammate. Unfortunately, it appears his ship has sailed at UT. Likely transfer after this season

Agreed. I'd honestly be shocked if he was on the roster next year. If he can't even get minutes this season, his prospects of even getting on the court next year are not great. Honestly, as rude as it sounds, it's fine with me. It opens up another slot for a grad-transfer big man to help out this team in 2020 and doesn't impact the 2021 class at all.

 

[ColinS]

Agreed. I'd honestly be shocked if he was on the roster next year. If he can't even get minutes this season, his prospects of even getting on the court next year are not great. Honestly, as rude as it sounds, it's fine with me. It opens up another slot for a grad-transfer big man to help out this team in 2020 and doesn't impact the 2021 class at all.

It's not rude at all. This is big boy athletics. If your not gonna step up, step aside. He has had his chances.

 

[JoAllan]

-VQ

I feel many people do not understand how important the second statement is.

With the “Barnes motion offense” there is a lot more to it than: passing, cutting and screens.

Post play is really important to what Barnes wants to do on O.......especially post play early in the possession.

We all know an early guard drive is one aspect of this O. Now the “big” defender can do one of two things, he can stay with his man or he can slide and help. “If” there is no threat from the post (in a more traditional sense) the defender can easily slide over and stop the drive and the nearest defender can move to the post to help cover if there is a dump off..........when Tennessee has a strong inside presence the “drive lane” is wide open many times (because the “big” defender has to stay on his man (or at least he thinks he does).

Also without a strong inside presence (at least the “threat” of it) the “trailer” option (with Fulkerson running) doesn’t even really have to be guarded. We know Fulky isn’t going to spot up on a 3.........and he hasn’t shown much willingness (or ability) to take the trail pass and dribble drive.....therefore all that is left (in the traditional sense....as you could pass out or something) is a switch then pass to Fulk down low.........with this situation Fulk can shoot, dump it off (to a 3 or 4) or pass to the corner. When there isn’t a big threat inside the D doesn’t have to “over react” thus everyone could remain “guarded.” However when there is a sufficient threat, the D will tend to “over correct” (or over help)..........this will lead the corner defender to sink in, and the corner offensive player to move further out........creating a wide open shot......if Fulks shot seems covered.

This is pretty much the same with the inside out. You go inside if you got something great, if you don’t no problem you kick out.......many times the kick out is the actual play.....however without over correction (over help, over reaction, all the same) it is never as effective as it’s intended to be......all of that comes from the threat of the inside presence (also in reverse from the threat of high % shooting and the 3).

These are just a few examples of why the inside game is so important to Barnes’s O......there are many more.

I would look for Tennessee to continue to work hard on this........throughout the entire season.......as Tennessee will be using this same O and these same (post) players next year.

I think they will get better and better as the year goes (don’t get me wrong, there will be down games for these guys).

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Tennessee has been stifling on defense to this point in the season and I’ll be surprised if that defense combined with what should be an absolutely ramped up crowd isn’t too much for a young Memphis team. Tennessee made a few hundred unclaimed student tickets in the upper deck available for sale on Wednesday and those were scooped up in just over 24 hours, so expect a hard sellout on Saturday. On the floor Tennessee has got to get steady play from their senior guards, John Fulkerson and Yves Pons need to continue to play at the level they have on both ends of the floor and it’s imperative that the Vols show some improvement in taking care of the basketball.

As for Turner his shot remains a concern. Turner is shooting just 31% from the floor and 27% from three point range. There is no doubt he’s having problems with his shoulder, that’s not something that Rick Barnes is using to try and make an excuse for Turner. Tennessee is looking at all options to try help him with the issue but it may simply be something he has to deal with all year. We’ve talked about Olivier Nkamhoua a great deal already this year but it’s hard to overstate how big of a steal the Vols may end up with here from a prospect that Rick Barnes never even laid eyes on until February last year. Nkamhoua might have been the best player in the gym during a practice we watched on Tuesday of this week.

-VQ

 

[MoB_MoVols]

The big question on the minds of many, now that Turner is out, is what will Barnes do with incoming freshman Santiago Vescovi who will arrive this weekend. Well, last Friday Barnes had him all but penciled in as a redshirt, calling the chances that he would play ‘highly unlikely.’ That’s the same sentiment that we had been hearing with regularity from multiple people around the program. Based on what we’re now hearing that no longer seems to be the case.

Barnes appears to have decided that with Turner on the shelf Vescovi is going to get a baptism by fire. Based on what I’m hearing this week which is opposite to everything that I was picking up prior to now, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Vescovi play against LSU. That will also depend on how quickly everything goes through the NCAA Clearinghouse as well. I was told today that if all goes perfectly he could be cleared by next Friday, Jan. 3.

-VQ

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Based on how practice looked on Thursday Jalen Johnson probably gets first shot at moving into the starting rotation, but Davonte Gaines is nipping at his heels. No matter what happens on Saturday, I think Gaines will push to get the bulk of the minutes that have suddenly become available on the perimeter. Gaines had a really good practice on Thursday.

-VQ