Team News (current roster)

[Chris4Vols22]

dear gracious. Saying “we lacked depth” IS admitting that recruiting caused a “suffering of lack of talent in that area”


mercy Me you can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim we lacked depth but didn’t suffer from it. Lol

Just take the L and move on. Happens to the best of us.

 

[BruinVol]

Ok, Bruin. If you can't read my post and determine that I have admitted everything you claimed I haven't, then you're either obtuse or as usual, being argumentative.

Seriously?

You admitted our depth was a issue. So yea that’s saying we suffered from a lack of talent. We didn’t have enough of it. Having kent, walker(late unexpected departure) uros and pember and Olivier was the issue.

Lol

 

[walkenvol]

Please post your zip codes so the closest Waffle House can be determined

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

He sure isn’t a wing...Not a diss either. If he finds his stroke a stretch 4 can be lethal. Just have to play around the weaknesses.

His game in HS was closer to that of a 3. Had to go in and rebound but did not spend a lot fime with his back to the basket. Had a better than average handle as I believe they said began his HS career as a guard.

 

[The Dog]

Vols Player of the Game ? I'm going with Fulk, 18 points and 10 rebounds with Springer a close 2nd, 15 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Anybody else ?

 

[walkenvol]

Pons has to be considered

 

[The Dog]

Pons has to be considered

He was PotG for Bob and Bert. Deserved it. Well, I think he was, might have been Vescovi, was listening, but not really

 

[ColinS]

Pons has to be considered

In fact if you say anyone else you may have watched a different game than I did.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

THIS is why it’s ok to have a couple guys on the end of your bench who maybe don’t play a ton or show elite potential when they act like this...


Which leads to things like this...

 

[StarRaider]

Should be painted on The Rock.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

THIS is why it’s ok to have a couple guys on the end of your bench who maybe don’t play a ton or show elite potential when they act like this...


Which leads to things like this...

I’m no expert, but Gaines has flashed potential a few different times this year imo.

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Tennessee has a crack at a signature non-conference win this weekend against Kansas. With the Jayhawks having lost three straight prior to Thursday night’s win over TCU and Tennessee dropping two last week some of the luster has been removed from this match-up. Tennessee has been out rebounded and has shot 40% from the floor in each of the past three games. Those aren’t numbers that suggest everything is fine and dandy.

From Rick Barnes’ point of view one of the Vols’ biggest problems at the moment is John Fulkerson not performing like the head coach expects. Barnes lit into both his seniors two weeks ago and Yves Pons has responded with two of his best offensive games of the season while continue to play at an elite level on defense. Fulkerson, on the other hand, hasn’t even taken a shot in the first half of either of the last two games and scored 11 combined points against Missouri and Mississippi State. The Vols need more than that if they’re going to beat the best teams on their schedule.

-VQ

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Fulk's UT Story has been a strange one.

Promising freshman>injury>being terrible>big time turnaround>All-SEC caliber>COVID>significantly worse as a SR in '20-21

 

[Dallasbowlin]

.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

.

Been in practice videos and pregame videos, think he was the recent ONWAF dunker as well.

 

[Dallasbowlin]

Been in practice videos and pregame videos, think he was the recent ONWAF dunker as well.

Does he just blend into his seat and Barnes doesn’t see him during games? Lol

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Does he just blend into his seat and Barnes doesn’t see him during games? Lol

No? This has been addressed, he’s not likely to play this year.

 

[Dallasbowlin]

No? This has been addressed, he’s not likely to play this year.

He is really that bad? No disrespect to Pember, he’ll be good, but is Walker not better than him?

 

[bleedingTNorange]

He is really that bad? No disrespect to Pember, he’ll be good, but is Walker not better than him?

He’s not better than Pons/James/Fulky/ORN/Anosike at this stage in terms of conditioning and defense. He will be fine over time imo, staff just wants him to take things to another level.

 

[MoB_MoVols]

Word through the grapevine was that Thursday’s film session and practice were both arduous. Rick Barnes won’t follow that up with a grind session on Friday, he always eases back the day before a game, but Thursday was a rough one by all accounts. Now we’ll see how Tennessee responds against a Kentucky team that has been an utter disappointment but does have some talent.

What Kentucky doesn’t have is solid guard play, which is what has been the common denominator in the Vols’ three SEC losses to Alabama, Missouri and Ole Miss. The most interesting thing to me at this point is whether or not Barnes will pivot and start leaning more on Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson. He should from my perspective, but that remains to be seen.

-Vq

 

[orangemadam]

Agree with the last 2 sentences. For the season to be a success and in order to get a good seed, we simply must rely on Springer and Johnson more than in past games.

We should be able to design more plays for both freshmen and hopefully both will grow with the experience before March.

With Fulky disappearing, we will need to depend more on Pons and the two freshmen to help win the close games. IMO we need to have two of the 3 players on the floor at all times.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

It's clear to me, as @orangemadam said above that we have to give Springer and Johnson more of a role in the offense. We're now 16 games into the season, it's clear John Fulkerson isn't the player he was last year. I'm not sure what has happened, but outside of Pons recent hotstreak we have ZERO threat inside.

Need to design some plays that allow Springer to play to his strengths (literally he is very strong) such as driving to the whole and his mid-range floater. And to get Keon some more off-the-bounce looks as right now it seems like he is forcing to many drives to the hole and then missing a very contested layup. He needs some more misdirection to get him some open looks.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

It's clear to me, as @orangemadam said above that we have to give Springer and Johnson more of a role in the offense. We're now 16 games into the season, it's clear John Fulkerson isn't the player he was last year. I'm not sure what has happened, but outside of Pons recent hotstreak we have ZERO threat inside.

Need to design some plays that allow Springer to play to his strengths (literally he is very strong) such as driving to the whole and his mid-range floater. And to get Keon some more off-the-bounce looks as right now it seems like he is forcing to many drives to the hole and then missing a very contested layup. He needs some more misdirection to get him some open looks.

Johnson and Springer combined to go 3/13 the other night, I’m not sure our problem was them not shooting enough.

 

[Dallasbowlin]

This is going to be a very controversial take, but ORN should start over Fulk Saturday. Send a message.

 

[Vol49er]

This is going to be a very controversial take, but ORN should start over Fulk Saturday. Send a message.

Controversial for a reason Dallas, haha. He's been off but he's given us much better minutes than ON, and Im not assuming this is the kind of game where we can afford to "send messages" without losing. John also hung 26 on them less than a year ago in Lexington