The Official Rick Barnes discussion thread

#901
#901
VOLtaism said:
Did Rick Barnes forget how to coach in 6 months? Looks like a lack of talented players to me. Our front line can't put it in the basket from 1 foot away and refuse to dunk, our front line players can't handle ball pressure and make weak passes. Too many mistakes to coach around. Whoever put this team together is at fault. Looks good on paper.
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Plenty of blame to spread all the way around imo.
 
#902
#902
ColtMathis98 said:
This is just me but if Barnes were to retire I would love to see them at least reach out to Jay Wright just to see if he would even consider coming out of retirement. Very unlikely I know, but it's worth the ask in my opinion.
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He’s not leaving his comfy gig to come deal with the NIL and transfer portal.

He hates it.
 
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#904
#904
I find fault with Barnes for not playing the best 5-6 and Ament arguably isn in that group. If you score 20, but turnovers and bad defense/positioning/rebounding leads to 22 on the other end, you gotta sit. Don’t care who you are or $ or potential.
Henderson/Gillespie/Evans (little bigger than Bos)/Brown/Felix is what I want to see more of. Brown is underrated perimeter defender. Gets low and balanced, never leaning. Moves his feet well and isn’t lazy. Good 5 potentially on defense if Henderson can keep up. What could it hurt.
Boswell/Carey/Ament/JP off the bench. Let Ament come fresh off the bench going against the opponents backups.
 
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#905
#905
Skooter said:
I find fault with Barnes for not playing the best 5-6 and Ament arguably isn in that group. If you score 20, but turnovers and bad defense/positioning/rebounding leads to 22 on the other end, you gotta sit. Don’t care who you are or $ or potential.
Henderson/Gillespie/Evans (little bigger than Bos)/Brown/Felix is what I want to see more of. Brown is underrated perimeter defender. Gets low and balanced, never leaning. Moves his feet well and isn’t lazy. Good 5 potentially on defense if Henderson can keep up. What could it hurt.
Boswell/Carey/Ament/JP off the bench. Let Ament come fresh off the bench going against the opponents backups.
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I think Barnes is searching for what works with this team. I think there's talent but he hasn't found a way to harness what he's got yet. At 12-6 (2-3), there is still time. Any lineup has to reduce the TO's.
 
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#906
#906
Skooter said:
I find fault with Barnes for not playing the best 5-6 and Ament arguably isn in that group. If you score 20, but turnovers and bad defense/positioning/rebounding leads to 22 on the other end, you gotta sit. Don’t care who you are or $ or potential.
Henderson/Gillespie/Evans (little bigger than Bos)/Brown/Felix is what I want to see more of. Brown is underrated perimeter defender. Gets low and balanced, never leaning. Moves his feet well and isn’t lazy. Good 5 potentially on defense if Henderson can keep up. What could it hurt.
Boswell/Carey/Ament/JP off the bench. Let Ament come fresh off the bench going against the opponents backups.
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It strikes a nerve for me that some players have to learn through punishment while others learn through coddling. Ament has been coddled.

Not saying Barnes doesn’t know what he’s doing.. It’s just that I was never the front runner for anything and chances were limited. I feel for the guys who get benched after a mistake while it doesn’t apply to everyone on the same team.

When you really want a guy to succeed, you give them unlimited chances. If you are indifferent to their success, you give them tough love.

In some way, Ament seems bigger than the program. Hope it pays off for the Vols.
 
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#907
#907
adam.vol said:
It strikes a nerve for me that some players have to learn through punishment while others learn through coddling. Ament has been coddled.

Not saying Barnes doesn’t know what he’s doing.. It’s just that I was never the front runner for anything and chances were limited. I feel for the guys who get benched after a mistake while it doesn’t apply to everyone on the same team.

When you really want a guy to succeed, you give them unlimited chances. If you are indifferent to their success, you give them tough love.

In some way, Ament seems bigger than the program. Hope it pays off for the Vols.
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And right there is the conflict with team chemistry
 
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#908
#908
adam.vol said:
It strikes a nerve for me that some players have to learn through punishment while others learn through coddling. Ament has been coddled.

Not saying Barnes doesn’t know what he’s doing.. It’s just that I was never the front runner for anything and chances were limited. I feel for the guys who get benched after a mistake while it doesn’t apply to everyone on the same team.

When you really want a guy to succeed, you give them unlimited chances. If you are indifferent to their success, you give them tough love.

In some way, Ament seems bigger than the program. Hope it pays off for the Vols.
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Barnes is asking big things from Ament and benching him when he can't deliver (first half against A&M). He's asking little things from other players and benching them when they can't deliver.

Sure it's frustrating when Barnes benches you for letting your defender blow by you, but that's literally your job and you failed. Ament is defending his player, the passing lane, and help defense in the paint, rebounding, and initiating or finishing transition offense. Not without mistake but as well as or better than his teammates.
 
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#912
#912
I’m sorry but if you think Ament is a good defender, you don’t know much about defense. He’s off balance, bad posture, leaning and slow laterally. Teams force a switch to get him on the perimeter where he can’t guard or down low and post him up. When the ball goes up, he’s ball watching way too much instead of finding a body and/or going to get the ball.
There’s a reason he’s targeted.
 
#913
#913
kckempf said:
Barnes is asking big things from Ament and benching him when he can't deliver (first half against A&M). He's asking little things from other players and benching them when they can't deliver.

Sure it's frustrating when Barnes benches you for letting your defender blow by you, but that's literally your job and you failed. Ament is defending his player, the passing lane, and help defense in the paint, rebounding, and initiating or finishing transition offense. Not without mistake but as well as or better than his teammates.
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That’s a fair assessment about bigger expectations.

In help defense: Anyone and everyone on the floor is supposed to be on the line and up the line (to deny the passing lane), if they are one pass away. Halfway between the ball and their man if they are two passes (or a skip pass) away. If you’re defending the ball, you’re supposed to put pressure on the ball.

On a shot, you find your man and box out for the rebound, because you’re supposed to be between your man and the basket.

Defensive expectations are the same for every man on the floor and it’s designed so that if a player gets beat, the next closest man should be able to leave their man to stop the layup and everyone is switching to recover so that they whole unit gets back in help defense. What I see happening when a man gets beat is our players are slow to recognize who they need to pick up the open man and we’re getting mismatched too easily.

That’s the way I was coached.. Barnes is in the position he’s in because he’s better at working with athletes than the guy who coached me. No doubt about it and maybe they’re trying to do things a little differently, but that appears to be TN’s primary defensive scheme.
 
#914
#914
BernardKingGOAT said:
Yeah, but there were other games he sat for defensive mistakes. It's not a surprise you jump on any negative narrative created for those who have never liked him
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what are you talking about a negative narrative created for those who never liked him? I dont have a problem with Ament. I know Ament has sat for defensive mistakes. But he is quoted for saying he chose Tennessee because Barnes would let him play through and make mistakes. He has a longer leash than anyone. If you let one learn from their mistakes you should let them all learn. Thats why i have always said going back multiple years that our guys play somewhat tentative because they know one mistake and its to the bench. A coach has to allow some leeway for a player to learn without being benched.
 
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#915
#915
cwbytruckers said:
what are you talking about a negative narrative created for those who never liked him? I dont have a problem with Ament. I know Ament has sat for defensive mistakes. But he is quoted for saying he chose Tennessee because Barnes would let him play through and make mistakes. He has a longer leash than anyone. If you let one learn from their mistakes you should let them all learn. Thats why i have always said going back multiple years that our guys play somewhat tentative because they know one mistake and its to the bench. A coach has to allow some leeway for a player to learn without being benched.
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I was talking about the false narratives created about Barnes
 
#916
#916
the defense for this team is lacking not just by one guy. we never protect the lane that well on screen and roll. someone is always late or the come over and leave a shooter on the wing. i think that the switch everything is a deficiency this year. our bigs cant cover quicker guards. i liked the lineup with three guards and Ament at the four. it seemed thats where we matched up better. but these guys just need to get mentally tougher. the Kansas and Kentucky collapse were bad. the Syracuse loss was horrible. and the Florida dubbing was what i expected.
 
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#917
#917
BernardKingGOAT said:
I was talking about the false narratives created about Barnes
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I dont pay attention to those. i have my own opinion about Barnes. I think the guy is a great coach. i just think the younger guys are adapting to the new way of playing. you have to have more offense. the narrative with his teams for the last few years is we have only one shooter and one true point guard. he focuses on bigs and defense defense defense. that was fine 15 years ago. but the game is changing and we cant seem to have a game where we have these long scoring lulls. i love what he has meant to the team. and i would love him to stick around another 10 years. but he has to change something. defense is fine. but get another true point guard. and a couple shooters. But i still have hopes this team gels and makes a run.
 
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#918
#918
Sad day whenever Barnes retires. I hope the next coach is either the Vandy coach, Iowa State coach, or Hoiberg at Nebraska. Vandy coach would be top option.
 
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#919
#919
adam.vol said:
It strikes a nerve for me that some players have to learn through punishment while others learn through coddling. Ament has been coddled.

Not saying Barnes doesn’t know what he’s doing.. It’s just that I was never the front runner for anything and chances were limited. I feel for the guys who get benched after a mistake while it doesn’t apply to everyone on the same team.

When you really want a guy to succeed, you give them unlimited chances. If you are indifferent to their success, you give them tough love.

In some way, Ament seems bigger than the program. Hope it pays off for the Vols.
Click to expand...
I would contend a truly good coach knows that different people are motivated in different ways and can adjust their coaching based on the player.
 
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#920
#920
Coach Barnes has given us the best results of any coach in my lifetime. Having said that this year is his worst coaching job since he's been here. I'm not sure it's even close either. From roster construction to just not pushing the right buttons at the end of games it just hasn't been his year. I still trust him to fix it to a degree and at least salvage a decent season though.
 
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#921
#921
ColinS said:
Coach Barnes has given us the best results of any coach in my lifetime. Having said that this year is his worst coaching job since he's been here. I'm not sure it's even close either. From roster construction to just not pushing the right buttons at the end of games it just hasn't been his year. I still trust him to fix it to a degree and at least salvage a decent season though.
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Don’t know if I agree. Guys make their foul shots Tennessee probably wins at least two of the games they lost. Barnes has not all of sudden forgot how to coach. Sometimes you can’t get all of the players you want and you have to play the hand your dealt. Season is not over. Good things are going to happen. Guys are still playing hard.
 
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#922
#922
LibertyVol said:
Don’t know if I agree. Guys make their foul shots Tennessee probably wins at least two of the games they lost. Barnes has not all of sudden forgot how to coach. Sometimes you can’t get all of the players you want and you have to play the hand your dealt. Season is not over. Good things are going to happen. Guys are still playing hard.
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And cut down the turnovers
 
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#923
#923
ColinS said:
Coach Barnes has given us the best results of any coach in my lifetime. Having said that this year is his worst coaching job since he's been here. I'm not sure it's even close either. From roster construction to just not pushing the right buttons at the end of games it just hasn't been his year. I still trust him to fix it to a degree and at least salvage a decent season though.
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Has more to do with turnovers and missed foul shots than roster construction
 
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