The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[VolsSportsFan]

I know hindsight is 20/20, but saving them didn’t help us. Honestly, he half acted like he wanted to lose this game with the errant technical and the way he has talked post game.

I’m not saying he was intentionally trying to lose. But I bet some part of him recognized that a loss here might be more valuable than a win.

I thought I saw Rucker tweet sometime in the past 2-3 years that Barnes will lose a regular season game to prove a point to his team. Maybe I dreamed that and/or that was just Rucker's opinion but I swear I've heard/read that before. I think he meant from the standpoint that he wants them to do something and if they don't listen and lose then so be it.

 

[Lankykong]

I thought there were a couple of really bad calls either side of halftime. The foul on Fulkerson at the end of the half and the third foul on Pons were both complete crap IMO. I wasn't watching with the sound on so I wasn't sure what Barnes was all worked up about when he got his technical foul.

That having been said, there wasn't anything wrong with the refs after that and we had ample opportunity to get back into the game. The reason we lost is that we couldn't have thrown the ball into the ocean if we'd been standing on the end of a pier. And that included from the free throw line. Shoot free throws well and that game becomes a toss-up at worst, even with the crap shooting from the field.

I completely agree with this take.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Refs should have to explain things like why they called a tech on Barnes, specifically why the one ref a mile away called it and the dude he was talking to didn't.

 

[Lankykong]

So if Gonzaga manages to lose to San Francisco will that ease the loss?

 

[calban]

I thought I saw Rucker tweet sometime in the past 2-3 years that Barnes will lose a regular season game to prove a point to his team. Maybe I dreamed that and/or that was just Rucker's opinion but I swear I've heard/read that before. I think he meant from the standpoint that he wants them to do something and if they don't listen and lose then so be it.

Yes. He has said that.

 

[omghulkhands]

I thought I saw Rucker tweet sometime in the past 2-3 years that Barnes will lose a regular season game to prove a point to his team. Maybe I dreamed that and/or that was just Rucker's opinion but I swear I've heard/read that before. I think he meant from the standpoint that he wants them to do something and if they don't listen and lose then so be it.

He does it. Cal does it as well.

 

[cncchris33]

I thought he should have stayed in the game instead of Pember/Nkamhoua. Those two cost us a few baskets due to lack of quickness

I'll never understand why Pember played those several possessions at the end of the 1st half. Two terrible possessions in the paint on offense and then got blown by on defense for an easy bucket.

 

[cncchris33]

The game thread is just filled with sky is falling nonsense. Laughable how stupid much of it is.

Yep. My beat advice is to avoid those threads like the plague. That is doubly true after a loss.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I'll never understand why Pember played those several possessions at the end of the 1st half. Two terrible possessions in the paint on offense and then got blown by on defense for an easy bucket.

I think that after Springer was injured and Bama had a plan to take advantage of Fulk, Barnes was sending messages to the regulars. He went 12 deep pretty quickly.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Lol my lord....and now the Pearl talk is already back.

I hate some of these "fans".

 

[ALStateLineVol]

I've watched the last few games and the officiating is Jekyl & Hyde, so maybe that's the new normal. This game, they swallowed the whistle in the first half and left a lot of foul's uncalled. Start the 2nd half and they call 3 fouls in first 30 seconds. I am also getting tired of seeing a player "drive" to the basket and lower their shoulder to clear the defender out and no foul called. Just before halftime, an Alabama player lowered his shoulder and deliberately cleared a TN player out, yet no foul was called. Then JJJ does it at the beginning of the 2nd half and it's called a foul, albeit the correct call. Referee's have to stop letting an offensive player lower their shoulder to get separation.

With that said, that had no bearing on the outcome of the game as we couldn't hit anything. We missed a lot of uncontested shots but those things happen. Don't let one game fester to the next. Good teams move on and learn from this. Will be interesting to see how this team reacts after a bad game.

Go Vols!!

 

[cncchris33]

The ref blaming is the most laughable part of the game thread. We are getting owned in every faze of the game yet it's the ref's fault.

We lost for a lot of reasons related to our own effort and inability to hit shots or defend, but the officiating was pretty bad, especially in the 1st half.

 

[vols 30]

I'll never understand why Pember played those several possessions at the end of the 1st half. Two terrible possessions in the paint on offense and then got blown by on defense for an easy bucket.

Same with Gaines. Why is he playing in the 1st half? Airballed a shot from about 5 FT

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Same with Gaines. Why is he playing in the 1st half? Airballed a shot from about 5 FT

Yeah Gaines was bad too.

 

[ColinS]

I thought there were a couple of really bad calls either side of halftime. The foul on Fulkerson at the end of the half and the third foul on Pons were both complete crap IMO. I wasn't watching with the sound on so I wasn't sure what Barnes was all worked up about when he got his technical foul.

That having been said, there wasn't anything wrong with the refs after that and we had ample opportunity to get back into the game. The reason we lost is that we couldn't have thrown the ball into the ocean if we'd been standing on the end of a pier. And that included from the free throw line. Shoot free throws well and that game becomes a toss-up at worst, even with the crap shooting from the field.

Pons got a couple of cheepos no doubt but I saw him get away with a couple too. When you allow the other team to drive to the basket every trip your bigs are gonna get in foul trouble.

 

[scvolfan7]

Lost last night because we shot too many 3s and missed free throws. Yves and Fulky need to step up and take over the paint. As soon as they do that, this team will actually start to look “elite”

 

[vols 30]

Lost last night because we shot too many 3s and missed free throws. Yves and Fulky need to step up and take over the paint. As soon as they do that, this team will actually start to look “elite”

We shot too many, and couldn't defend theirs

 

[VolsSportsFan]

There was one stretch where we had gotten it down to 6-7 and Alabama went cold and we went about 5 trips down with 0 points, and then I think Alabama hit a 3. At that point you kind of knew it was going to be an L. In particular one of the trips we missed 2 wide open 3s that would have cut it to 3 and both were bricks. I honestly think had 1 of those gone in and we got it to a 1 score game we probably would have pulled it out. But the 6 point swing killed the momentum.

The missed FTs were also killer plus even taking into account Alabama's defense we just simply missed too many bunnies. It's hard to describe but it seemed like everyone had some sort of depth perception problem going on. Too many of them barely drew the front of the rim. And many of the missed FTs were like that. Just strange really, like a funk everyone caught.

 

[BruinVol]

I'll never understand why Pember played those several possessions at the end of the 1st half. Two terrible possessions in the paint on offense and then got blown by on defense for an easy bucket.

That was during the Barnes “ill show Them moment”.

It was clear to me he was willing to lose the game to make his point.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

That was during the Barnes “ill show Them moment”.

It was clear to me he was willing to lose the game to make his point.

I don’t think that he was trying to lose. I think that he is pushing for one of the 4 or 5 backup post players to elevate their game. There’s not that big of a difference between Anosike, Nkamhoua. Uros, and Pember right now. Unfortunately Walker is in the witness protection program.

 

[BruinVol]

I don’t think that he was trying to lose. I think that he is pushing for one of the 4 or 5 backup post players to elevate their game. There’s not that big of a difference between Anosike, Nkamhoua. Uros, and Pember right now. Unfortunately Walker is in the witness protection program.

Trying to lose is tough to confirm but it is nice to have a coach that is comfortable enough in his own skin that results of a single game isn’t the ultimate goal.


I think it was a move where he was saying “if you won’t, I’ll try someone else”


My son asked after the game if Fulky was hurt. I said no and he was so pissed that Barnes didn’t play him the last 5 minutes of the game. Overall it was a message sending kind of game from Barnes and losing was the price to pay for it I guess although I doubt we win either way .

 

[cardvolfan]

100%

It’s also a bunch of Dunning-Kruger, low information “fans”

They’ve watched two or 3 games this year, see this one and come to all kinds of wild conclusions based off 1 loss.

This is very true.

 

[cardvolfan]

Refs should have to explain things like why they called a tech on Barnes, specifically why the one ref a mile away called it and the dude he was talking to didn't.

Barnes did explain in his post game conference. He had a legitimate beef.

 

[alvinkamara]

No way he was trying to lose to drive home a point.....we lost because we couldn't make a fg or a ft....just that simple. Maybe seeing "bammer"
on the jersey has an affect on our play. I know it shouldn't because we have the superior team, but that "bammer" name has gotten into our players'
heads in every sport.....it has certainly gotten into mine and the only way to expunge it is to consistently kick their azzes. Please send us an AD who
can hire the right staff and get TN athletics back on track

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Trying to lose is tough to confirm but it is nice to have a coach that is comfortable enough in his own skin that results of a single game isn’t the ultimate goal.


I think it was a move where he was saying “if you won’t, I’ll try someone else”


My son asked after the game if Fulky was hurt. I said no and he was so pissed that Barnes didn’t play him the last 5 minutes of the game. Overall it was a message sending kind of game from Barnes and losing was the price to pay for it I guess although I doubt we win either way .

I think that he also knew that Bama had a really good roster and a really good coach and that it was going to be really difficult to pull out a win minus Springer and with the refs intent on fouling out Pons. If Bama had a mediocre coach then I think that he would have played it out differently. Oats knew how to exploit TN without TN’s best offensive and defensive players on the floor. Barnes wasn’t going to find a lineup that could avoid a mismatch when switching on screens. With JJJ, KJ, SV, Bailey, and Fulk on the floor and without Pons to protect the rim there was no way to hide Fulkerson. Without Springer TN wasn’t going to outscore Bama.