Rick Barnes discussion (merged)

Well, no I was a teen when Bruce was at Tennessee and I didn't know any better. Tony is only on year 5 and has gotten to Omaha which is greater than a Sweet Sixten imo. Plus, he actually tries to improve the roster through the portal and doesn't let personalities deter him. Plus, his teams are actually exciting to watch.

Yeah see that's just 100% bull**** though.

Last year Barnes & staff were swinging for bigger names that chose to go elsewhere, it's never a guarantee that targets are going to come here and even then they added Key who filled a need and also was a player the staff thought would help. He was inconsistent and not a direct replacement to KC, but Key's numbers on the season weren't bad.

The year before they added Justin Powell and no one was complaining about that. Big guard who can score, but he was ultimately a bust for us.

Year before that they added EJ Anosike, he was coming from Sacred Heart averaging a double double and a big body inside player that we all thought could fill the void of Grant...another bust

2019 adding Uros and Bailey = huge win in the portal and although neither really took over and became our best options both were contributors on the team for a few seasons.

I mean I don't think any of those players were added just to take up a scholarship... EJ and Powell were the only 2 that didn't give us any real production in at least someway while here.
 
I agree with much of this. College basketball is a ceiling sport (more so than college football for various reason).

I do think Barnes’s success speaks for itself and wouldn’t personally go so far to use complacent, but the portal adds a huge, new element to roster building that I don’t think meshes with his historic approach. I said last year to get a point guard, any point guard in the portal, and I’m quadruply convinced we need to do that this year because we don’t know what we will have in ZZ as a safety net.

We pursued 2 high level PG’s in the portal last year. I think they thought they had both separately. A tampering allegation caused them to back off one, and the other chose his other option. I just don’t think he’s going to pursue someone just for the heck of it. He wants the right guys, and he wants them to fit within the confines of his program. But he has taken swings at big time players.

Barnes is used to taking one and dones, so turning over a roster is not new to him. But not all transfers have the same motivations our program does.
 
I like Rick Barnes. I like that he gets us to the tournament. But I love Tennessee, and I would love to go farther in the tournament. I don't want to see Barnes replaced; I just want him to adjust to the times. If we go to the Elite 8 or better next year, I'll gladly eat all the crow that anyone wants to serve, but I don't see it happening.
 
I like Rick Barnes. I like that he gets us to the tournament. But I love Tennessee, and I would love to go farther in the tournament. I don't want to see Barnes replaced; I just want him to adjust to the times. If we go to the Elite 8 or better next year, I'll gladly eat all the crow that anyone wants to serve, but I don't see it happening.

It’s okay, we will be back next year complaining about getting a PG, but we will get Nowell. So don’t expect a portal PG next year either.
 
Until Rick Barnes has a season where we aren't a top 15 team and good enough to beat everyone we play like we have been the last 4 to 6 years for the most part I will continue to trust him. He's literally gave us no reason not to. Some of y'all are the whiniest dang people I ever seen in my life. What our program has become under Barnes is nothing short of amazing. Every year we're one of the best teams in the country. Can you really ask for anything more? Yes key was a bad pick up. He never really recovered from his bad shoulder it seemed but even with that of zeigler stayed healthy we were likely a final 4 team. If he thinks ledlum knect and Gainey is what we need I'll trust him because his recruiting has had way more hits then misses.
 
Until Rick Barnes has a season where we aren't a top 15 team and good enough to beat everyone we play like we have been the last 4 to 6 years for the most part I will continue to trust him. He's literally gave us no reason not to. Some of y'all are the whiniest dang people I ever seen in my life. What our program has become under Barnes is nothing short of amazing. Every year we're one of the best teams in the country. Can you really ask for anything more? Yes key was a bad pick up. He never really recovered from his bad shoulder it seemed but even with that of zeigler stayed healthy we were likely a final 4 team. If he thinks ledlum knect and Gainey is what we need I'll trust him because his recruiting has had way more hits then misses.

You're absolutely correct. People have forgotten what a dumpster fire we had become under Tyndall. Have you forgotten that we were looking at sanctions and didn't have any talent coming in. Barnes saved us from total disaster and stabilized the program at a nationally competitive level. I think that earns him the right to coach here as long as he wants.

But OMG can't he develop a couple of offensive plays instead of that motion offense.
 
Barnes is a horrible roster manager. His rosters are always void of something. Pathetic
Horrible roster manager, pathetic, yet still averages 24 wins per year. All college basketball teams are void of something. I swear it seems like some people have only ever seen Tennessee games (which we win the vast majority of...) and still think we're the only team in the country with deficiencies.
 
This is what happens.. Barnes continues to bring in 5 stars/good players and not plays them.. and we lose
 
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I'll be happy with 20 win seasons and sweet 16 appearances, most seem to have forgotten the 90's when we only had 1 appearance the entire decade. What we have to hope is we don't hire some scrub post Barnes like Villanova did post Jay Wright.
 
Don DeVoe made the tournament 6 out of 11 years. Jerry Green made the tourney every year and a Sweet 16 and still got forced out. Barnes is no better than either of those two coaches. Asked on actual results.
Green wasn’t fired. He quit
 
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