SIAP: Best analysis of Barnes I’ve yet seen

#2
#2
I noticed that Cuonzo Martin would frequently become the invisible man on the Tennessee sideline during a game. Unfortunately, the same malady seems to affect Barnes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coach_Z
#3
#3
Caspian said:
I noticed that Cuonzo Martin would frequently become the invisible man on the Tennessee sideline during a game. Unfortunately, the same malady seems to affect Barnes.
Click to expand...

It’s funny you say that. I was at the game down on the floor seats, and I didn’t even notice Barnes until the 2nd half when we started getting murdered during that stretch.. He literally had zero personality or emotion during the game, like it was a scrimmage.

The best coaches show emotion and fire 🔥.
I like Coach Pearl better bc of this. Sometimes the team needs it to get pumped up or motivated..

Barnes on the sidelines is a lamb… he needs to be more like a lion!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: SlyStone, Tnphil, Kungfuman2000 and 3 others
#4
#4
tabrams said:
It’s funny you say that. I was at the game down on the floor seats, and I didn’t even notice Barnes until the 2nd half when we started getting murdered during that stretch.. He literally had zero personality or emotion during the game, like it was a scrimmage.

The best coaches show emotion and fire 🔥.
I like Coach Pearl better bc of this. Sometimes the team needs it to get pumped up or motivated..

Barnes on the sidelines is a lamb… he needs to be more like a lion!!
Click to expand...
I have seen in other threads that Barnes is too tough on the guys causing them to be afraid of making mistakes. Now this thread is about him being too quiet. After ZZ went down, this team lost more than a point guard. ZZ brought a level of emotion that the team needed. If you watched the other Sweet 16 games, you saw we have a huge lack of go-to players. Who on this roster consistently scored 15+? We would have players score 27 on one night and low single digits the next. The lack of an excellent point guard and more consistent scorers was glaring. Our seniors performed poorly in this last game and we didn’t rebound well. I was actually pleased with a Sweet 16 finish after ZZ got injured.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Czarcasm, posivol, tennrich1 and 3 others
#6
#6
tabrams said:
It’s funny you say that. I was at the game down on the floor seats, and I didn’t even notice Barnes until the 2nd half when we started getting murdered during that stretch.. He literally had zero personality or emotion during the game, like it was a scrimmage.

The best coaches show emotion and fire 🔥.
I like Coach Pearl better bc of this. Sometimes the team needs it to get pumped up or motivated..

Barnes on the sidelines is a lamb… he needs to be more like a lion!!
Click to expand...
He’s almost 70. The dude is using us as a comfy cushion making millions until he decides to hang it up
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kungfuman2000 and Hank Bukowski
#9
#9
tabrams said:
It’s funny you say that. I was at the game down on the floor seats, and I didn’t even notice Barnes until the 2nd half when we started getting murdered during that stretch.. He literally had zero personality or emotion during the game, like it was a scrimmage.

The best coaches show emotion and fire 🔥.
I like Coach Pearl better bc of this. Sometimes the team needs it to get pumped up or motivated..

Barnes on the sidelines is a lamb… he needs to be more like a lion!!
Click to expand...

Obviously you haven’t heard of John Wooden.
 
  • Like
Reactions: onthehill71, A.Vol70, aWhiteLoftonChism and 10 others
#10
#10
lynnh said:
Tennessee is not a good tourney team I was watching when Ray Mears was losing tournament games he should have won to Syracuse and VMI with Bernie and Ernie on team...not just CRB......
Click to expand...

Barnes doesn't build or assemble teams for tournament play, he builds a regular season roster that is what it is, it looks essentially the same all season and regrettably, the team does not improve much as the season progresses, his players make most of their improvement in the offseason.

It's not that Barnes is a bad tournament coach, he may be, from my seat the gist of the problem is his roster and player skill sets are the same in March as they were in the previous November, not geared to score in bunches, not prone to make a big run or blow anybody out of the gym, certainly capable of giving up a big run and having a hard time with the speed of a tournament team in the college game, such that the ability to win night in and night out or prep for a next day tournament game is often unattainable. FAU fully demonstrated all those weaknesses and shortcomings in a Barnes coached team Thursday night.

Texas is celebrating their first return to the elite eight since 2008, which is the last time Barnes was there as well and it is no coincidence, aside from last year's SEC tourney title over A&M, that he hasn't fared very well in the tournament game at Tennessee either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SlyStone, Hank Bukowski, CDB and 2 others
#11
#11
My God everyone overeacts to tournament losses. We literally act like the same thing didn't happen to Virginia, Duke, Kentucky, Alabama, Kansas, Purdue, Houston, Arizona, and UCLA. It happens to nearly every team every year. Let it go, we had a bad game and it's not like this team hadn't done that 6-8 times this year. It was always gonna happen after ZZ went down. Just glad we made it as far as we did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Willy14, dillyo51, Ratvol and 13 others
#12
#12
I think anyone would have said at the start of the season a Sweet Sixteen appearance was a successful year. I certainly think so. But there is an understanding that when the games matter more you would like your level of play to rise to the occasion. Losing in the Sweet 16 is no crime. But the frustrating part is how we played and how we lost. It honestly was one of our worst performances of the entire year. We just wilted. Playing well and losing to a better team is one thing but playing like crap and losing. Barnes needs to figure that out as it happens too often to him (not just at UT), so there must be a reason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: posivol, Pennheel and lynnh
#13
#13
Namorto1 said:
I think anyone would have said at the start of the season a Sweet Sixteen appearance was a successful year. I certainly think so. But there is an understanding that when the games matter more you would like your level of play to rise to the occasion. Losing in the Sweet 16 is no crime. But the frustrating part is how we played and how we lost. It honestly was one of our worst performances of the entire year. We just wilted. Playing well and losing to a better team is one thing but playing like crap and losing. Barnes needs to figure that out as it happens too often to him (not just at UT), so there must be a reason.
Click to expand...

It wasn’t one of the worst performances of the year. FAU is a good team. They had a good gameplan and adjusted well to our inside game. If they had hit open shots early, they would’ve beaten us by more. We were a man down, tired and hobbled, and it showed. When ORN had a great game we could overcome a one dimensional offense. Unfortunately he is up and down. They covered Santi well and dropped in tight on Uros after he scored a few. They deserved to win. It wasn’t our night. Beating Duke made the season for me. We were tougher, played harder, and that was probably all we had in us. Not enough pieces to play chess, and barely enough to play checkers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Willy14, Cosmo Kramer, aWhiteLoftonChism and 6 others
#14
#14
Stoerner Fumbles said:
It wasn’t one of the worst performances of the year. FAU is a good team. They had a good gameplan and adjusted well to our inside game. If they had hit open shots early, they would’ve beaten us by more. We were a man down, tired and hobbled, and it showed. When ORN had a great game we could overcome a one dimensional offense. Unfortunately he is up and down. They covered Santi well and dropped in tight on Uros after he scored a few. They deserved to win. It wasn’t our night. Beating Duke made the season for me. We were tougher, played harder, and that was probably all we had in us. Not enough pieces to play chess, and barely enough to play checkers.
Click to expand...
It was a pathetic effort by TN no hustle or energy or sense of playing in sweet 16.
This team has no leaders, seniors didn't take leadership role on team you have to have a player or players you can count on for a basket Tn hasn't had that player since Grant Williams Schofield team...sad
 
  • Like
Reactions: Flovol
#17
#17
lynnh said:
Tennessee is not a good tourney team I was watching when Ray Mears was losing tournament games he should have won to Syracuse and VMI with Bernie and Ernie on team...not just CRB......
Click to expand...
This is true. BB Vols have been breaking our hearts for nearly 50 years in the Tourney. In fairness, Bernard King missed the VMI game (a little bit more of an impact than losing ZZ). Grunfeld went for 36 and he and Johnny Darden both played 40 minutes and Mike Jackson and Austin Clark played 39.
 
#18
#18
I'm mostly a lurker to this forum but I had a thought I wanted to share. The difference between our program and programs that are still in the tourney is that we don't have a Kennedy Chandler to drive the ball and either score, get fouled, or kick out for an open 3. All the other teams have aggressive, athletic guards and we don't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dillyo51 and Jhilly05
#19
#19
1Big_Orange_Fan said:
My God everyone overeacts to tournament losses. We literally act like the same thing didn't happen to Virginia, Duke, Kentucky, Alabama, Kansas, Purdue, Houston, Arizona, and UCLA. It happens to nearly every team every year. Let it go, we had a bad game and it's not like this team hadn't done that 6-8 times this year. It was always gonna happen after ZZ went down. Just glad we made it as far as we did.
Click to expand...

Brother, I get your point and we shouldn’t be surprised given our schizo team personality this year. But tournament losses mean everything in college basketball…because they’re not tournament wins. It’s why we play — to win tournaments and hang championship banners.

“…I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
 
#20
#20
DuckInAPen said:
And somehow simultaneously producing some of the best seasons we've ever had . . .
Click to expand...

I think what drives a lot of this is the overachievement in the out of conference in middle of the season game and rankings. We were the home Kentucky "win" away from being ranked number one in the nation on the next Monday.
So, to end up a four seed and then out after the sweet 16 seems like a slap in the face yet again.

But honestly, this team really looks more like a top 15 type team especially after losing our point guard. By the end of the season we had settled into more of a 15 to 25 ranking. So in reality sweet 16 is not too bad of a achievement for the talent which we have. A team which probably has not a single first round draft pick on the entire roster.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EasternVol, Pennheel, posivol and 2 others
#21
#21
We are a football school. Always have been, always will be. Sweet 16 is our annual goal and I’m okay with that. Barnes is a good coach, runs a clean program, and will have us in contention for our annual goal. I’m fine with that
 
  • Like
Reactions: GoVols9800 and Pennheel
#22
#22
livefaith said:
I think what drives a lot of this is the overachievement in the out of conference in middle of the season game and rankings. We were the home Kentucky "win" away from being ranked number one in the nation on the next Monday.
So, to end up a four seed and then out after the sweet 16 seems like a slap in the face yet again.

But honestly, this team really looks more like a top 15 type team especially after losing our point guard. By the end of the season we had settled into more of a 15 to 25 ranking. So in reality sweet 16 is not too bad of a achievement for the talent which we have. A team which probably has not a single first round draft pick on the entire roster.
Click to expand...

You may be right, but I think this is just how some people "fan." I remember sitting in my parents' season-ticket section in Neyland for a game against UAB as they knew some of the regulars weren't going to be there (I had a student ticket). The season-ticket holders in front of us spent the entire game cursing at Fulmer and calling for him to be fired on the grounds that UT wasn't beating UAB badly enough and would be passed in the polls. This was 1998 . . .
 
  • Like
Reactions: livefaith
#24
#24
tabrams said:
It’s funny you say that. I was at the game down on the floor seats, and I didn’t even notice Barnes until the 2nd half when we started getting murdered during that stretch.. He literally had zero personality or emotion during the game, like it was a scrimmage.

The best coaches show emotion and fire 🔥.
I like Coach Pearl better bc of this. Sometimes the team needs it to get pumped up or motivated..

Barnes on the sidelines is a lamb… he needs to be more like a lion!!
Click to expand...
Remember Barnes is 67 years old, he used to have a little more fire back during his prime. That being said I’d take Pearl back tomorrow if it was up to me. He made Tennessee basketball the most exciting that it’s ever been in my lifetime, and I was born in 83.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SDV and Hank Bukowski
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top