Roster Construction Doomed This Team

#30
#30
Tennessee has no alpha shooter, no offensive leader but also their inside game is abysmal unless we play a terrible team.

I see us get an offensive rebound and miss and easy putback then get ANOTHER offensive rebound then miss ANOTHER easy putback. it's over and over and over we have no inside dominance even though we have so many tall players.

and don't get me started on the free throws 🙄
 
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#32
#32
zjcvols said:
I was going to save this for after the season, but I'm pretty annoyed with that loss. The roster construction was really bad this year. Honestly, the historic offensive rebounding & Nate Ament turning into a lottery pick the second half of the season is the only reason they were able to be top 25 and get a top 6 seed in the tourney this year.

I don't understand why after having a small ball/stretch 4 the last two years (JJJ, then Milicic) they went after Jaylen Carey with Okpara, Phillips, and Estrella already on the team. Ament is designed to play the 4 in college. I don't get why they thought having an undersized, non-vertical 4 with zero skills and bad defense would be beneficial to the team. Imaging having a ball mover like JJJ or a stretch 4 like Milicic getting his minutes and that's probably worth 3-4 wins. I'm not blaming Carey completely, this was just a bad fit.

And while we make mistakes in recruiting/transfer portal, I don't know what the staff saw that made them think Abram & Burg would be contributors this year (more specifically Abram). Both are 23 year olds and they gave up on Abram in December. Burg finally looked like he can play competent minutes in late February. If they were freshman, I wouldn't worry about it. But they asked way too much offensively of Boswell & Evans this year. That's pretty bad scouting by the staff. Ament and Gillespie had zero space to work with this year and it really hurt both their games, they were not able to fulfill their potential this year IMO. I'm more annoyed by Carey than Abram/Burg, but it still needs to be pointed out.

I hope that the staff understands the value of having more shooting. I know they were surprised by Cameron Carr leaving in the middle of December last year and that put them behind the 8 ball a little bit (God, it's really a shame it didn't work out with him) in terms of their shooting. I know they were outbid for a couple high end shooters in last year's portal, that will happen. But I honestly do not want to watch another offense like this again. And sure, not having Zakai as a steady hand and Gillespie played way too much on the ball, but they did nothing to help him out this year. I'm not worried about the program long-term, I'm actually really excited about what Boswell, Evans, Estrella and Brown can be next year. But they cannot have as many misses as they did this year. They must focus on getting real shooting answers in the portal.
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I hope the coaching staff is able to adjust their approach on navigating the transfer portal this offseason. I understand that there’s caution with overpaying certain players, but if there’s a need to fill a starting position and there’s a strong want for a player, we need to be able to pay and negotiate accordingly. I would like for us to land our top portal targets within a reasonable amount of time instead of wiffing and ending up settling with whoever is left.

The roster construction would’ve been solid (in theory) if we didn’t keep getting outbid in NIL by other schools in the offseason.
 
#33
#33
Chaz-Vol said:
Vols got smacked by Houston and Florida last year so Barnes went after someone like Carey (who had great games against vols) instead of focusing on shooting and ball handling.

Talented bigs although great to have never should take the place of talented guard play in college basketball. If Barnes can go out one season with elite shooters and ball handlers I think the defense will fall in place.
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Carey did have solid games against the Vols and seemed hard to stop. I thought he was a good get. It makes you wonder if it's our offensive system or something else. Maybe he was a bad matchup for our players.
 
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#34
#34
Agree with a lot of your points. 2 bigs in the lane with a lack of 3 point shooting ability makes for some ugly offense at times.

Not only do we have a log jam in the post, but only JP really has any post moves. Cade and okpara are rim runners that we’ve seen work best with guards we can space the floor for the pick n roll game. When JP plays, we rarely throw the ball into JP even though he has some nice post moves and would allow us to play inside out some.

We also show no versatility in the lineup. We have ability to play small ball with Gillespie, Boswell, Evans, Nate, okpara/estrellla. Not sure why we haven’t tried it much this year. Maybe coaches don’t think we have the guard depth to play consistent minutes with this lineup? Maybe it’s because Boswell or Evans are always in foul trouble? Dunno.
 
#35
#35
I understand what Barnes was trying to accomplish this past offseason with the roster, with the emphasis on more size but the miss at 2G was just huge. I have no doubt in my mind that we would be a Top 10 team with a competent wing scorer on this roster. We didn't have enough guys who could make buckets. Common theme with Barnes. Boswell had some moments and surprised us early, but the guy should be a backup/role player.

I don't mind playing all the bigs as we can at times punish teams on the glass, but unlike Michigan, Florida, Duke and Arizona (all who have big lineups) and are clearly the best teams in the country, we don't have much skill with our bigs. Estrella has the most skill, but his injuries have hampered him and he still struggles with physicality at times. For much of the season, the best offense was simply our historical high % of offensive rebounding this year. Losing Cade Phillips didn't help either. Without him available, while he has little offense, it limited us against smaller teams who could spread us out. He does have athleticism at the 4 which would have helped our defensive switching moreso than leaving Carey, Brown and Estrella on islands who were repeatedly put in mismatches.

Will be interesting to see what direction he goes next year. With 15 player roster next year, we have more room to build depth and perhaps have different player "types" at multiple positions. We can have post 4's and stretch 4's. A 5 who can post, maybe another who can "pick and pop", or another who is a shot blocker. And ideally more ball handlers and "specialist" perimeter shooters. I would be shocked if any of the following guys hit the portal: Estrella, Brown, Phillips, Evans, and Boswell. Everyone else are question marks (Carey, Massamba, Henderson, Burg). With 3 high school recruits already signed (and all 3 look solid) and 2 more potential (Washington, Peck) we could have anywhere from 2 to 5 portal options depending on who stays/goes.
 
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#36
#36
Namorto1 said:
I understand what Barnes was trying to accomplish this past offseason with the roster, with the emphasis on more size but the miss at 2G was just huge. I have no doubt in my mind that we would be a Top 10 team with a competent wing scorer on this roster. We didn't have enough guys who could make buckets. Common theme with Barnes. Boswell had some moments and surprised us early, but the guy should be a backup/role player.

I don't mind playing all the bigs as we can at times punish teams on the glass, but unlike Michigan, Florida, Duke and Arizona (all who have big lineups) and are clearly the best teams in the country, we don't have much skill with our bigs. Estrella has the most skill, but his injuries have hampered him and he still struggles with physicality at times. For much of the season, the best offense was simply our historical high % of offensive rebounding this year. Losing Cade Phillips didn't help either. Without him available, while he has little offense, it limited us against smaller teams who could spread us out. He does have athleticism at the 4 which would have helped our defensive switching moreso than leaving Carey, Brown and Estrella on islands who were repeatedly put in mismatches.

Will be interesting to see what direction he goes next year. With 15 player roster next year, we have more room to build depth and perhaps have different player "types" at multiple positions. We can have post 4's and stretch 4's. A 5 who can post, maybe another who can "pick and pop", or another who is a shot blocker. And ideally more ball handlers and "specialist" perimeter shooters. I would be shocked if any of the following guys hit the portal: Estrella, Brown, Phillips, Evans, and Boswell. Everyone else are question marks (Carey, Massamba, Henderson, Burg). With 3 high school recruits already signed (and all 3 look solid) and 2 more potential (Washington, Peck) we could have anywhere from 2 to 5 portal options depending on who stays/goes.
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Tennessee's class is not considered highly thought. I guess we'll see.
 
#38
#38
The way to build a roster is having 8 or more experienced players return from the previous year and add 3-5 newcomers each year. We had 4 return, one of those had surgery early on and his season was over. The other 3 only had a year or two on the team and/or court.

Maybe next year will have a few more years of experience returning.

NIL and immediate transfers have changed the landscape. I’m glad that we have the current staff with the track record to manage this mess of NCAA basketball as well as they have been instead of an inexperienced one that just throws **** against the wall and seeing what sticks.
 
#39
#39
Carey, Massamba, and Burg all need to leave and be replaced by outside shooters. Those three aren’t helping you now and will not help you next season. Burg is a walking turnover with a low ceiling, Carey brings nothing to the table other than some offensive rebounds, and Massamba not being able to get on the floor this season speaks volumes as to where he stands.

There is a role for all the other returning players next season. It needs to be a lesser role for a couple of them, but there is still a role they can all play. Gotta add some shooters and a true floor general from the portal. Can’t afford to miss in the portal because like has already been said, we don’t have a lottery pick freshman coming in this time around.
 
#40
#40
Truthfully I think losing Carr and Awaka really hurt this team. Awaka and Okpara would be a dynamic front court. And Carr would have addressed our weakness at SG. He averaged 20 ppg with Baylor.

If we had a starting 5 of:

Gillespie at point
Carr at the 2
Ament at 3
Awaka at 4
Okpara at 5 we would be a final 4 contender.
 
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#43
#43
I think everyone is overreacting on how this team "was built". The bottom line is that we missed out on our guards and along with uncertainty with our bigs. It took Ament some time but he eventually got comfortable. We knew exactly what we were getting with Gillispie.
Everyone is bashing on Carey but we needed a big man in the recruitment process. JP was coming off a season injury, Cade was due some more minutes, Brown was an incoming freshmen, and Felix was returning as a senior as a rim protector. The "offense" was probably always suppose to come off Gillispie, Ament, and "our 2 guard".
Our 2 guards became a mess offensively. There wasn't any consistency.
Bishop had probably been forced to play more minutes because of it.
Burg and Abrams just couldn't find a consistent finding.
 
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#44
#44
zjcvols said:
I was going to save this for after the season, but I'm pretty annoyed with that loss. The roster construction was really bad this year. Honestly, the historic offensive rebounding & Nate Ament turning into a lottery pick the second half of the season is the only reason they were able to be top 25 and get a top 6 seed in the tourney this year.

I don't understand why after having a small ball/stretch 4 the last two years (JJJ, then Milicic) they went after Jaylen Carey with Okpara, Phillips, and Estrella already on the team. Ament is designed to play the 4 in college. I don't get why they thought having an undersized, non-vertical 4 with zero skills and bad defense would be beneficial to the team. Imaging having a ball mover like JJJ or a stretch 4 like Milicic getting his minutes and that's probably worth 3-4 wins. I'm not blaming Carey completely, this was just a bad fit.

And while we make mistakes in recruiting/transfer portal, I don't know what the staff saw that made them think Abram & Burg would be contributors this year (more specifically Abram). Both are 23 year olds and they gave up on Abram in December. Burg finally looked like he can play competent minutes in late February. If they were freshman, I wouldn't worry about it. But they asked way too much offensively of Boswell & Evans this year. That's pretty bad scouting by the staff. Ament and Gillespie had zero space to work with this year and it really hurt both their games, they were not able to fulfill their potential this year IMO. I'm more annoyed by Carey than Abram/Burg, but it still needs to be pointed out.

I hope that the staff understands the value of having more shooting. I know they were surprised by Cameron Carr leaving in the middle of December last year and that put them behind the 8 ball a little bit (God, it's really a shame it didn't work out with him) in terms of their shooting. I know they were outbid for a couple high end shooters in last year's portal, that will happen. But I honestly do not want to watch another offense like this again. And sure, not having Zakai as a steady hand and Gillespie played way too much on the ball, but they did nothing to help him out this year. I'm not worried about the program long-term, I'm actually really excited about what Boswell, Evans, Estrella and Brown can be next year. But they cannot have as many misses as they did this year. They must focus on getting real shooting answers in the portal.
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Gainey would have been a perfect fit for this team.
 
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#45
#45
WaywardVol said:
All those guys aren’t returning. Carey? Nope/ massamba? Seriously? How can Vandy fine players and we Have to get a Massamba??
Boswell is a 10-12 minute guy on any quality team, no offense to the kid. Burg? Spare me.
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Yeah seriously! Roster management/construction has been atrocious.
I complained all off season that we had no options at 2 guard, and it’s come back to bite us in the ass in the worst way.
Also, no clue what Barnes and staff were thinking having Okpara, Estrella, Carey, Brown, Phillips??? While that looks good on paper, NONE of them can stretch the floor so it’s basically overkill and ruins our spacing. The more I think about how this team was designed I get more and more baffled to be honest.

We lost Chaz/Gainey which I understand is hard to replace but we basically replaced them with Boswell/Burg?? just horrendous man
 
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#46
#46
bleedingTNorange said:
Roster construction wasn’t great at the 2 spot, but their insistence on playing Carey is what doomed them…Estrella out there and things go much better, same with Brown, rather than Carey go small with Evans & Ament…all are better options than Carey. Yes they could have been even better with a 2 guard added like Duke Miles, but even with the roster it’s more about the lineups they play imo
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Yeah I got roasted last week for saying Boswell wasn't a SEC starting 2 guard.Miles would've been great here.Its crazy when you guys say the same as me and you all don't get roasted on this board.
 
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#47
#47
CamVol8 said:
Yeah seriously! Roster management/construction has been atrocious.
I complained all off season that we had no options at 2 guard, and it’s come back to bite us in the ass in the worst way.
Also, no clue what Barnes and staff were thinking having Okpara, Estrella, Carey, Brown, Phillips??? While that looks good on paper, NONE of them can stretch the floor so it’s basically overkill and ruins our spacing. The more I think about how this team was designed I get more and more baffled to be honest.

We lost Chaz/Gainey which I understand is hard to replace but we basically replaced them with Boswell/Burg?? just horrendous man
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It’s called losing out on your fantasy football draft . I think we thought Abrams , Burg , and even Boswell were going to be like Lanier , Vescovi, and Gainey. Ament has shown flashes to be like Knecht. Gillispie can be our ZZ at times too
 
#49
#49
TheMookieMonster said:
I would like to see a roster overhaul in the off-season. I think the only players I would like to see us keep that aren’t graduating or going to the NBA are Amari Evans, JP Estrella, Cade Phillips, and DeWayne Brown.

I don’t see Carey improving. Boswell was a flash in the pan in January with his shooting and he is a walking turnover. Henderson I guess could have potential, but I’m not pressed about keeping him. Burg is going to be 23 next year. He’s peaked.

The high school class doesn’t have a Nate Ament in it so we’re going to need to load up in the portal to compete next year. We need guards in droves. Just give me as many ball handlers and pure shooters for one final season with Barnes and see what happens. Space the floor, chuck it from 3, and try and win every game 101-100.
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I feel like Henderson has a lot of upside. Feel like he showed he can run the point with experience. Feel like he and Evans with time and work this summer can improve a ton. Don’t see Boswell leaving due to his defensive abilities. He’s a Barnes type player like Mashack and some others. I don’t mind a player like Carey, but we had to rely on him too much and his game is so limited. His FT shooting killed us though. Bring in some more SGs and another solid PG and this is different team with good pieces. I never understood Barnes rotation all year. It constantly changes, even now. There was never any flow to it. Kids would sit for weeks. Then all of a sudden they play 20 mins.
 
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#50
#50
Thunder Good-Oil said:
The way to build a roster is having 8 or more experienced players return from the previous year and add 3-5 newcomers each year. We had 4 return, one of those had surgery early on and his season was over. The other 3 only had a year or two on the team and/or court.

Maybe next year will have a few more years of experience returning.

NIL and immediate transfers have changed the landscape. I’m glad that we have the current staff with the track record to manage this mess of NCAA basketball as well as they have been instead of an inexperienced one that just throws **** against the wall and seeing what sticks.
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This isn’t feasibly possible in college basketball anymore. I can’t name one P4 team that returned 8 experienced players from last years team
 
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