Rick Barnes discussion (merged)

Hes proven it over and over, as long as you defend, he doesnt care how you are on the other side of the court.
With Grant and Admiral we had one of the most efficient offenses in the country if memory serves me correctly. Defensively we were pretty good but not great. It was just the personality of this group. Nkamhoua and James have historically been inconsistent on offense. Vescovi is solid and a very good perimeter shooter but he isn't a creator and needed help from teammates. Plavsic...well, was disappointing on the court. He was better teammate off the court. Key was a late add on and often was over matched against better talent and too often played a bit timid.

Frankly I was not enthusiastic about how we played offensively all year. We had very good depth but never used it to our advantage often enough, and never tried to find easier buckets off turnovers and defensive boards. That was disappointing. I understand all the arguments on why we didn't do this, but we should have tried. When our defense let us down (much like today), it really hurt our chances to succeed. And our rotation was all over the map (to a certain extent due to injuries). Lack of an offensive identity really hindered us all year. Not sure what Barnes did to mitigate it. It just could have been the personnel and who we were.

I suspect Barnes half court offense really needs a post presence and a very good point guard to be effective.
 
The problem with this team is too much talent and not enough team. We need some hungry 3 stars who want to make a name for themselves like Grant and Admiral. or JuJaun Smith and Chris Lofton. Even Fulkerson would be an improvement over what we have now.
 
Before Barnes benched Uros while he was starting and playing a key roll the team was 17-2 and since being demoted the team was 6-8. The team feeds off his energy, right or wrong the team just had a tough edge to them the first half of the season and now they are soft.
 
Barnes offensive style and philosophy isnt/doesn't work in today's game... Too slow and 0 transition... Defense is great but that offense puts a cap on what you can do no matter the talent
 
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Sure… but you didn’t answer my question at all. There’s no one of Barnes’ pedigree that will ever come here again. You can feel how you want to about the tourney, but the excitement went out the door for most fans with ZZ’s injury, not anything to do with Barnes.

Why do you think we can't hire a top notch coach? We have everything you need to be successful. We wouldnt be guaranteed to get that kind of coach but it's very possible. The financial commitment, fanbase, and facilities are all there now unlike before.
 
Why do you think we can't hire a top notch coach? We have everything you need to be successful. We wouldnt be guaranteed to get that kind of coach but it's very possible. The financial commitment, fanbase, and facilities are all there now unlike before.
We don’t have a history of hiring that kind of coach. We also do not have the longevity of success of the places that coaches like that typically go to. Can we hire a top notch coach away from a good program? Maybe. Can I win the lottery? Maybe. Both seem very unlikely, which is the reason moving on from Barnes would be beyond asinine.
 
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We don’t have a history of hiring that kind of coach. We also do not have the longevity of success of the places that coaches like that typically go to. Can we hire a top notch coach away from a good program? Maybe. Can I win the lottery? Maybe. Both seem very unlikely, which is the reason moving on from Barnes would be beyond asinine.

Honestly, the only “elite” coach without a job right now is Jay Wright but he personally retired because he didn’t want to deal with the NIL aspect of college basketball.

Unless Danny White pulls off some crazy miracle, most likely we’ll be hiring a mid major or promoting within.
 
Honestly, the only “elite” coach without a job right now is Jay Wright but he personally retired because he didn’t want to deal with the NIL aspect of college basketball.

Unless Danny White pulls off some crazy miracle, most likely we’ll be hiring a mid major or promoting within.
Wright and Beard. Wright wouldn’t come to Tennessee for any amount of money. DW wouldn’t touch Beard with a ten foot pole, whether or not we agree with it. Some have floated Oats in here in the past, but why would he make a lateral move at this point of his career? There’s currently no one that doesn’t come with a degree of risk.
 
He took advantage of an idiot, Fulmer. I just believe it results in expectations of a coach being paid that salary. Should salary not dictate some level of expectation?

Yes...the Man who had just been selected by his peers as the National Coach of the year clearly pulled the wool over Coach Fulmer's eyes. It apparenly also escaped your attention that UCLA ( a true blue blood) had just offered Coach Barnes $5 million a year to be their head coach.

If Coach Fulmer had not matched UCLA's offer, Tennessee basketball would still be a hot mess.

AD White's stated policy is you must compete for championships at least every four years. Since the over paid Barnes won the SEC Tournament last year and has made the NCAA Tournament five consecutive years in a row (minus the COVID-19 year), he is probably underpaid. When you are a Hall of Fame Coach and are not driven by money, having to tolerate nonsense from fans might just be enough to cause you to retire. I am hopeful that does not happen.
 
At the end of the day, the past couple months have had me the most uninterested in basketball I’ve been since you know who. It’s flat out disgraceful. Next year is gonna be a big year for Barnes most likely
 
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