The Official #11 Tennessee vs. Virginia Game Thread, 9:30 PM ET, CBSSN

Wilkerson is around 60 so he’s not going to be a long term replacement. But he’d be perfect for the short term if they don’t find a homerun hire in his 30s or 40s or very early 50s. Maybe split the responsibilities and give Wilkerson basketball with baseball and somebody else for football. I wouldn’t mind to even see them audition several for football next year by rotating candidates week to week. There’s no need to rush into it. But I don’t think they’ll go that route. I think they’ll stick with the traditional combo of football AND basketball. But even John Ward started as basketball only and then added football starting in 1968.

What about Hamer?
 
What about Hamer?

He’d be far from my choice. He’s knowledgeable, but he talks too much. At best I’d want him where he is now. As the alternate color guy.

I wonder if Bert retires with Bob. He’s about 66 or 67 years old. But Wilkerson and Bert for a couple of years doing basketball wouldn’t be bad at all.

I thought that Wilkerson did a great job last night. A few years back I didn’t think that he was all that. I think that his time doing baseball has helped him progress as a basketball play-by-play guy.

Just no DEI hiring please. Beth Mowen is still fingernails on a chalkboard IMO.
 
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He’d be far from my choice. He’s knowledgeable, but he talks too much. At best I’d want him where he is now. As the alternate color guy.

I wonder if Bert retires with Bob. He’s about 66 or 67 years old. But Wilkerson and Bert for a couple of years doing basketball wouldn’t be bad at all.

I thought that Wilkerson did a great job last night. A few years back I didn’t think that he was all that. I think that his time doing baseball has helped him progress as a basketball play-by-play guy.

Just no DEI hiring please. Beth Mowen is still fingernails on a chalkboard IMO.

Give 100% of the NIL budget to this guy lol

 
Nice win over a not very good Virginia team after a sloppy first half. Measuring stick game tonight against a legitimate top 15 Baylor team. We’ll learn a lot more about this team tonight.
 
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He’d be far from my choice. He’s knowledgeable, but he talks too much. At best I’d want him where he is now. As the alternate color guy.

I wonder if Bert retires with Bob. He’s about 66 or 67 years old. But Wilkerson and Bert for a couple of years doing basketball wouldn’t be bad at all.

I thought that Wilkerson did a great job last night. A few years back I didn’t think that he was all that. I think that his time doing baseball has helped him progress as a basketball play-by-play guy.

Just no DEI hiring please. Beth Mowen is still fingernails on a chalkboard IMO.
.......................................................This^💯
 
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Kevin O’Neill was the worst offense ever
Nah. People don't remember how little talent Wade Houston left O'neill.
I'm not gonna call him an offensive genius, but O'neill knew that the only way we could win with the crappy talent he was left was to slow it down, make it ugly, take every possesion to the end of the shot clock, and play good defense. Kept us in games we had no business being in.
 
Thoughts:
1. Dubar impressed. Did not expect him to be solid like that after only 2 practices & being off
2. Igor is really good. Efficient. Contributes everywhere. Surprised at his passing skill.
3. Chaz. My goodness. I really didn't expect to have such a good shooter this year after losing Knecht. Is like to see him tighten up his shot selection (not necessarily less [fewer? Man i can never remember the rule on that] shots, he just rushes a couple shots per game) but hard to complain. Also, he is better defensively than I expected.
4. Okpara. Great defense. Solid rebounding. *sigh* butter hands. I would tell him to go aggressively for a dunk every time he close to the basket - "if you don't have at least 1 offensive foul per game, you're not going hard enough"
5. ZZ. Wierd start to the season. Has been forcing too much. I think it gets better. Silver lining to his 2 worst games being against our best competition: we won those games anyway.
6. Mashack. My man. Best player on the court. I was happy to see him be a little more aggressive offensively tonight. More please.
Bonus: Boswell has looked decent in his minutes. Did not expect that this early. I hope he can earn more playing time.

Interested to see how we do tonight against 1st top 25 team. Wish it wasn't in a converted ballroom that sweats like a freshman at prom.
 
He’d be far from my choice. He’s knowledgeable, but he talks too much. At best I’d want him where he is now. As the alternate color guy.

I wonder if Bert retires with Bob. He’s about 66 or 67 years old. But Wilkerson and Bert for a couple of years doing basketball wouldn’t be bad at all.

I thought that Wilkerson did a great job last night. A few years back I didn’t think that he was all that. I think that his time doing baseball has helped him progress as a basketball play-by-play guy.

Just no DEI hiring please. Beth Mowen is still fingernails on a chalkboard IMO.
Agree with you about Hamer. I thought Wilkerson did okay. I actually think Kesling does a great job on basketball (not so much football). Several times last night Wilkerson paused a half second when shot was up & I wasn’t sure if we made the basket or not. Also, could tell he & Bert weren’t regular duo, pauses, talk overs, etc. Wilkerson def serviceable but not my first choice I haven’t heard him call a football game.
 
Thoughts:
1. Dubar impressed. Did not expect him to be solid like that after only 2 practices & being off
2. Igor is really good. Efficient. Contributes everywhere. Surprised at his passing skill.
3. Chaz. My goodness. I really didn't expect to have such a good shooter this year after losing Knecht. Is like to see him tighten up his shot selection (not necessarily less [fewer? Man i can never remember the rule on that] shots, he just rushes a couple shots per game) but hard to complain. Also, he is better defensively than I expected.
4. Okpara. Great defense. Solid rebounding. *sigh* butter hands. I would tell him to go aggressively for a dunk every time he close to the basket - "if you don't have at least 1 offensive foul per game, you're not going hard enough"
5. ZZ. Wierd start to the season. Has been forcing too much. I think it gets better. Silver lining to his 2 worst games being against our best competition: we won those games anyway.
6. Mashack. My man. Best player on the court. I was happy to see him be a little more aggressive offensively tonight. More please.
Bonus: Boswell has looked decent in his minutes. Did not expect that this early. I hope he can earn more playing time.

Interested to see how we do tonight against 1st top 25 team. Wish it wasn't in a converted ballroom that sweats like a freshman at prom.

Good analysis. Things to clean up:

1) ZZ seems to force it from outside a lot. That’s not his value to the team. When he’s off, he needs to stop chucking.
2) We still miss too many bunnies. Okpara was the main culprit, but Igor and Cade also missed some gimmes. I don’t know how you fix this, as it’s a problem that’s persisted for years, but those guys have ability.

Things that I’m excited about:

1) Dubar looked like a guy with almost no rust. Tremendous rebounder and his defense looked fine.
2) The overall defense looks good, and Igor and Chaz look like good defenders…big, since we had concerns about both on that end.
3) Jamai is a factor on offense and could be a bigger factor. He has that ability.
4) Felix is an absolute eraser.
 
Agree with you about Hamer. I thought Wilkerson did okay. I actually think Kesling does a great job on basketball (not so much football). Several times last night Wilkerson paused a half second when shot was up & I wasn’t sure if we made the basket or not. Also, could tell he & Bert weren’t regular duo, pauses, talk overs, etc. Wilkerson def serviceable but not my first choice I haven’t heard him call a football game.

Wilkerson does radio for Catholic football games. Not horrible, but nothing special either.

I think it’s been a while since Wilkerson called a UT basketball game. He’s certainly not close to John Ward, but at least he has some homerism and enthusiasm. I can’t tell which team just made a great play with Kesling. For some reason he thinks he should be unbiased.
 
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Thoughts:
1. Dubar impressed. Did not expect him to be solid like that after only 2 practices & being off
2. Igor is really good. Efficient. Contributes everywhere. Surprised at his passing skill.
3. Chaz. My goodness. I really didn't expect to have such a good shooter this year after losing Knecht. Is like to see him tighten up his shot selection (not necessarily less [fewer? Man i can never remember the rule on that] shots, he just rushes a couple shots per game) but hard to complain. Also, he is better defensively than I expected.
4. Okpara. Great defense. Solid rebounding. *sigh* butter hands. I would tell him to go aggressively for a dunk every time he close to the basket - "if you don't have at least 1 offensive foul per game, you're not going hard enough"
5. ZZ. Wierd start to the season. Has been forcing too much. I think it gets better. Silver lining to his 2 worst games being against our best competition: we won those games anyway.
6. Mashack. My man. Best player on the court. I was happy to see him be a little more aggressive offensively tonight. More please.
Bonus: Boswell has looked decent in his minutes. Did not expect that this early. I hope he can earn more playing time.

Interested to see how we do tonight against 1st top 25 team. Wish it wasn't in a converted ballroom that sweats like a freshman at prom.
Agree with those comments. Chaz and Igor are really good additions. Love Felix’s abilities on defense and his agressiveness although he is challenged offensively. And it must be really disheartening for the guy that Mashack lines up on every night because he knows he’s in for a long evening. Dude is an absolute terror on defense.
 
Good analysis. Things to clean up:

1) ZZ seems to force it from outside a lot. That’s not his value to the team. When he’s off, he needs to stop chucking.
2) We still miss too many bunnies. Okpara was the main culprit, but Igor and Cade also missed some gimmes. I don’t know how you fix this, as it’s a problem that’s persisted for years, but those guys have ability.

Things that I’m excited about:

1) Dubar looked like a guy with almost no rust. Tremendous rebounder and his defense looked fine.
2) The overall defense looks good, and Igor and Chaz look like good defenders…big, since we had concerns about both on that end.
3) Jamai is a factor on offense and could be a bigger factor. He has that ability.
4) Felix is an absolute eraser.
Shooters shoot...they have to. It's their job.
 
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Shooters shoot...they have to. It's their job.
Agree. Which is why Lanier should keep shooting after misses.

Zeigler is not an elite shooter. He's a great PG. Great distributor and facilitator. Those are his offensive contributions to this team.
 
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