Such a Wonderful Sight!

#51
#51
jeff1vol said:
Im not saying he can't do it! I'm saying that a great recruiting class is all well and good, but to call out fans who were "skeptical" with the hire is a little much. The "where are you now?" stuff deserves a little dose of perspective.
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Have to admit I was all in on the Barnes hire but thought the recruits would follow him to TN, despite the dark cloud over the program. when they didn't I did become a skeptic and was as critical of Barnes as many in the ranks. He still has a problem with ranked teams as attested by a 3-6 record last season. personally I think it comes down to his game day approach. I'm hoping that adding a live wire like English to the staff will influence him during games to stop the Wait and See approach in tough match ups. Also hoping F4 caliber players result in F4 results. I am excited for the Future, but still in touch with Reality.
 
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#52
#52
jeff1vol said:
Im not saying he can't do it! I'm saying that a great recruiting class is all well and good, but to call out fans who were "skeptical" with the hire is a little much. The "where are you now?" stuff deserves a little dose of perspective.
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I mean, I guess it depends on your expectations. If you were so down on Barnes when he was hired, expecting him to be a “cruise into retirement” kinda guy, how can you still be skeptical?

Only the people looking for reasons not to like him would still question his drive and ability as a coach, and attempt to discount the SEC Regular Season Title he won.

He’s answered questions about his drive and motivation, his recruiting and roster-building tactics, his ability to win with lower ranked players, his ability to still recruit at a high level, and his ability to compete with the best teams in the country on the court and in the living room.

Extremely high-level tournament success is the only thing eluding him, to this point. Ignoring all the positives and focusing on that singular unattained thing seems like you’re searching for reasons to question him, and you’re running out of answers. We all want to win, but we can still enjoy the journey.
 
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#54
#54
top5vols said:
Tiger high board said Penny will out recruit UT for 2020.
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All 50 of them? But it also depends on how many leave after this season. I’d only bet on Wiseman and Precious. The others from that good class are probably two-three year players, but maybe one surprises and leaves after one year, like Herro at Kentucky.
 
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#55
#55
VolGee4 said:
The Memphis-UT game has been discussed on radio here locally. The radio hosts are cautioning Memphis fans that it’s not an automatic win, and one host read a Twitter reminder that Cal has never beaten Barnes in Knoxville. Gary Parish said good teams lose in Knoxville every year.
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Memphis fans are a little too overconfident. They’re blinded by their hatred of UT and how badly they want to win this game. It won’t be easy for a team full of freshman and a few sophomores to win in a hostile environment of nearly 22,000 fans against them. TBA is a tough place to win on the road. Plus, it will be their first true road game of the season. UT has a few experienced players too. It’ll be closer than Memphis fans think, and I think UT has a great shot to win again.
 
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#56
#56
VolGee4 said:
It's not "much" at all. It was wrong. Where were we when he got hired?

If you were told that he would win the SEC regular season title in year 3 the day he was hired, you would have said, "Sign me up." That's PERSPECTIVE.
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Half a title, to be exact.
 
#57
#57
cncchris33 said:
I mean, I guess it depends on your expectations. If you were so down on Barnes when he was hired, expecting him to be a “cruise into retirement” kinda guy, how can you still be skeptical?

Only the people looking for reasons not to like him would still question his drive and ability as a coach, and attempt to discount the SEC Regular Season Title he won.

He’s answered questions about his drive and motivation, his recruiting and roster-building tactics, his ability to win with lower ranked players, his ability to still recruit at a high level, and his ability to compete with the best teams in the country on the court and in the living room.

Extremely high-level tournament success is the only thing eluding him, to this point. Ignoring all the positives and focusing on that singular unattained thing seems like you’re searching for reasons to question him, and you’re running out of answers. We all want to win, but we can still enjoy the journey.
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You act like that one unattainable thing isn’t the whole point of collegiate and professional sports lol. He needs to win a conference tourney and get to a final four (especially with how committed UT is to basketball).
 
#58
#58
zjcvols said:
You act like that one unattainable thing isn’t the whole point of collegiate and professional sports lol. He needs to win a conference tourney and get to a final four (especially with how committed UT is to basketball).
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I’m not “acting” like anything. 🙄 I’m just unwilling to overlook every successful thing he has done and continue to search for reasons to question his ability as a coach simply because he hasn’t won a conference tourney or made a F4, yet. It’s been 4 years and we are lightyears ahead of where we were when he took over. Hopefully the kind of success you expect is on the horizon. As I said before, there is a lot to celebrate and enjoy along the way if you allow yourself to do it and stop searching for reasons to question the coach who got us to this point. I can promise you it is much more difficult to find reasons not to like Rick Barnes than it is to find reasons to like and appreciate him.

Can he do more? Certainly. Does he have the resources and the backing to improve the program beyond where he has brought it thus far. You bet.
 
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#59
#59
jeff1vol said:
Me too! Im HERE! Barnes is a worker. I didn't think he would be. HOWEVER... the GOAL is championships, correct??? Barnes has exactly ONE HALF an SEC title. A little perspective before we start polishing his taint.
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Yet it still counts as a whole one. So why people like you have to keep being stupid like this is beyond me.
 
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#63
#63
MinisterofDef#92 said:
What was so maddening is how most of those posters totally downplayed and ignored the toxicity of our program at the time and its grossly negative perception
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At the time, I thought it was a good hire to lend stability to a very tenuous situation. Hearing what I heard about Barnes' recruiting in recent years, I feared we would get marginal SEC players and be relegated to median status. Glad to see he still has the fire in his belly.
 
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#64
#64
cncchris33 said:
I mean, I guess it depends on your expectations. If you were so down on Barnes when he was hired, expecting him to be a “cruise into retirement” kinda guy, how can you still be skeptical?

Only the people looking for reasons not to like him would still question his drive and ability as a coach, and attempt to discount the SEC Regular Season Title he won.

He’s answered questions about his drive and motivation, his recruiting and roster-building tactics, his ability to win with lower ranked players, his ability to still recruit at a high level, and his ability to compete with the best teams in the country on the court and in the living room.

Extremely high-level tournament success is the only thing eluding him, to this point. Ignoring all the positives and focusing on that singular unattained thing seems like you’re searching for reasons to question him, and you’re running out of answers. We all want to win, but we can still enjoy the journey.
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Imagine how many great coaches and great players never made it to the Final Four, the World Series, the Super Bowl, etc, much less won it all. Let's face it, weird and unpredictable things happen in the post-season scenario, and in most of those cases, it's about dumb luck or bad luck. Barnes is the real deal based on his body of evidence the last two years. I've said said this my entire life: you have to be good, and you have to be lucky, too. To me, his tournament record has nothing to do with not being a great coach.
 
#66
#66
cardvolfan said:
Imagine how many great coaches and great players never made it to the Final Four, the World Series, the Super Bowl, etc, much less won it all. Let's face it, weird and unpredictable things happen in the post-season scenario, and in most of those cases, it's about dumb luck or bad luck. Barnes is the real deal based on his body of evidence the last two years. I've said said this my entire life: you have to be good, and you have to be lucky, too. To me, his tournament record has nothing to do with not being a great coach.
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...and Barnes has been to one Final Four in 2003. His disappointments are well-documented, but he isn't Gene Keady or Lefty Driesel either. He did have one breakthrough that hardly ever gets mentioned. The best argument either for or against any college basketball coach, is looking at the level of success of their program in the 5 years preceding them and following them.... Look at Texas basketball both from the early to late 90's and also under Shaka Smart. That is just an above average program that he made much better. You could say the same thing about everywhere he has been - including Tennessee.
 
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#68
#68
jeff1vol said:
EXCUUUUUSE me... a SHARED title!!! What the **** difference does it make????

That is a FACT!!! Ya'll have some sand in the Ol Vaginas.
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What the **** difference make if it's shared? We're the mother****ing SEC Champions. YOU are the one who kept making sure to point it out. So if you don't want people jumping your ass over it, stop being one.
 
#69
#69
Shared titles suck. They are for the "new" generation. The SEC should do something like a round robin type schedule so there are NO ties.
 
#71
#71
jeff1vol said:
Shared titles suck. They are for the "new" generation. The SEC should do something like a round robin type schedule so there are NO ties.
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Even when there were only 10 teams in the SEC, and there was an 18 game, round robin, home-and-home schedule, there were still ties. For example, Tennessee and Kentucky tied for the SEC regular season conference championship in the 1981-1982 college basketball season. They both finished with a 13-5 SEC record. As was usually the case back then, Tennessee won the head-to-head match up in Stokely Athletics Center while Kentucky won in Rupp Arena, so there wasn't a tie-breaker either.
 
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#72
#72
BowlBrother85 said:
Even when there were only 10 teams in the SEC, and there was an 18 game, round robin, home-and-home schedule, there were still ties. For example, Tennessee and Kentucky tied for the SEC regular season conference championship in the 1981-1982 college basketball season. They both finished with a 13-5 SEC record. As was usually the case back then, Tennessee won the head-to-head match up in Stokely Athletics Center while Kentucky won in Rupp Arena, so there wasn't a tie-breaker either.
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I'm not saying it hasn't been that way for years. I understand. But I'm SURE there is a way to play all 13 other teams without having ties. It takes all the luster out of winning a post season championship when it's in the record books as "shared". Same with SEC football back in the day. It feels almost illegitimate.
 
#73
#73
jeff1vol said:
I'm not saying it hasn't been that way for years. I understand. But I'm SURE there is a way to play all 13 other teams without having ties. It takes all the luster out of winning a post season championship when it's in the record books as "shared". Same with SEC football back in the day. It feels almost illegitimate.
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Then that makes your "new generation" comment even dumber; I wasn't aware 1935 was the "new generation".

Sounds like you might the one with "sand in the Ol Vagina" buttercup.
 
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#74
#74
jeff1vol said:
Me too! Im HERE! Barnes is a worker. I didn't think he would be. HOWEVER... the GOAL is championships, correct??? Barnes has exactly ONE HALF an SEC title. A little perspective before we start polishing his taint.
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How about we skip plans for that ceremony? Bet he won’t enjoy it as much as you.
 
#75
#75
calban said:
Then there are those who said, Who cares, he never did anything with Talent at Texas anyway.
Will he find the Holy Grail at the other UT?
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We will see...I am optimistic we will given the type of players he is recruiting (which goes beyond just their physical ability) and the development we have seen by him and his staff.
 
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