The Official Tennessee vs. Eastern New Mexico Preseason Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, SEC Network+

#326
#326
Granted, it was just an exhibition game... but did Barnes show his hand on the 2019-20 plan? In 4 years his TN teams put up a hundred just 3x. Barnes spent time with Paul Westhead a few years ago and I had expected to see a faster pace the last couple of seasons. Westhead's Loyola-Marymount lead the NCAA in scoring 3 years in a row at the end of the 1980s. With Grant down low the last three years, getting into half court sets made a lot of sense. Now that TN is undersized, especially minus Plavsic, perhaps CRB might could be ready to go full on Westhead style this year. I don't expect the 2020-21 version of Deacon Ball to let off of the throttle when adding Bailey, K Johnson, Springer, and Walker (so far) so a fast pace in 2019-20 also preps the underclassmen to be complementary role players down the road. Plus it helps to have a pair of senior guards being your strength. I don't expect to see TN come close to Loyola-Marymount numbers as much as the Deacon pushes defensive effort, but some UT scoring records could be in play.
 
#328
#328
Dallasbowlin said:
I liked what Kent showed, that turn around towards the end of the game was smooth. ORN has a rough offensive night but the footwork seems to be there.
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I thought he looked to have the most upside of the freshman. He’s runs the floor well and seems to have a good IQ.

Gaines will be a good player, but damn he looks like the poster child for UNICEF.

Pons still looks lost.
 
#329
#329
Roustabout said:
I thought he looked to have the most upside of the freshman. He’s runs the floor well and seems to have a good IQ.

Gaines will be a good player, but damn he looks like the poster child for UNICEF.

Pons still looks lost.
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He'll put on some good weight like Jalen did. Gaines will be a stud for us by the time he's a junior.
 
#330
#330
jmva1 said:
I liked what I saw from Lamonte and Bowden. They both look ready to take on the much bigger roles we need them to this year.

Josiah, to me, looked a little slow like he wasn’t quite 100% coming back to playing speed from his hip injury. I was very impressed with his passing ability, he’s already the best passer on the team. As the season progresses I’d think we’re gonna see a lot more JJJ running point with Lamonte and Bowden off ball. Would like to see Josiah use his size/athleticism a little more to punish the smaller guy and drive to the basket a little more, but it’ll come in time.

I don’t think Kent will be able to see the floor much in SEC play and I think we’re seeing why he hasn’t played yet, yet is already older than Grant Williams. Defensively he such a huge liability both in the low post and would be even worse when SEC teams expose him in the PnR. He has a very lumbering, slow, inefficient running style. He did show good touch around the rim though.

Gonna need more out of Jalen Johnson if this team wants to compete in the SEC.

Pons looks the same as he did last year but I like how the staff seems to be utilizing him differently than last year. Having him play as more of a low post player than a wing offensively and defensively. Still worry about his poor instincts and feel for the game though, doesn’t seem to be getting any better in that regard.

Pember looked good out there. Not as rail thin as I thought and moves pretty well for his size. Like his potential.

Gaines I thought showed some flashes. Jalen johnson better start showing the coaches something or I’d suspect Gaines/Pember are going to start taking more of his minutes.

I’ve never been the biggest Fulky fan but he looks a lot better than last year. Don’t know how healthy he was last year, now that’s he’s fully healthy he looks more than the Fulky we saw early on in his career, but with a little more added strength.
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Good points all-around, however, I felt Fulk played better overall than Alexander in both tourneys so I am optimistic about him headed into this season
 
#331
#331
Shot blocking is probably the biggest concern for me this year. We lose the best two shot blockers in ut history and replace them with Kent and Fulkerson. Fulkerson should be able to do decently, just because of how athletic he is, Kent is going to struggle there. We need Pember to develop quickly as he's our next best shot blocker. Also Plavsic getting eligible should ease those concerns a little more.
 
#332
#332
rdk4121 said:
Shot blocking is probably the biggest concern for me this year. We lose the best two shot blockers in ut history and replace them with Kent and Fulkerson. Fulkerson should be able to do decently, just because of how athletic he is, Kent is going to struggle there. We need Pember to develop quickly as he's our next best shot blocker. Also Plavsic getting eligible should ease those concerns a little more.
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Even though he is more on the shorter side when describing a "shot blocker", I would include Pons in that discussion. His athleticism will give him plenty of opportunities and I could see him getting at least 2 blocks a game. The thing with Pons though, is that he gets lost on rotations and forgets where his man is located trying to make the highlight block. To be such a superior athlete, I noticed that he struggles with the little nuances of the game, like boxing out, posting up, recovering back to his man, and protecting the ball. I'm sure the coaches are working with him on this and he will improve with more playing time. He should be studying film every waking moment and picking the coaches brain when he's not in the gym.
 
#333
#333
tmack50 said:
Even though he is more on the shorter side when describing a "shot blocker", I would include Pons in that discussion. His athleticism will give him plenty of opportunities and I could see him getting at least 2 blocks a game. The thing with Pons though, is that he gets lost on rotations and forgets where his man is located trying to make the highlight block. To be such a superior athlete, I noticed that he struggles with the little nuances of the game, like boxing out, posting up, recovering back to his man, and protecting the ball. I'm sure the coaches are working with him on this and he will improve with more playing time. He should be studying film every waking moment and picking the coaches brain when he's not in the gym.
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The inherent downside of a leaping shotblocker is that he requires greater anticipation to get into position (making him more susceptible to fakes and fouls) and he can be left out of position for the next play while he waits for his feet to return to the court.

But they sure are fun to watch!
 
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#334
#334
tmack50 said:
Even though he is more on the shorter side when describing a "shot blocker", I would include Pons in that discussion. His athleticism will give him plenty of opportunities and I could see him getting at least 2 blocks a game. The thing with Pons though, is that he gets lost on rotations and forgets where his man is located trying to make the highlight block. To be such a superior athlete, I noticed that he struggles with the little nuances of the game, like boxing out, posting up, recovering back to his man, and protecting the ball. I'm sure the coaches are working with him on this and he will improve with more playing time. He should be studying film every waking moment and picking the coaches brain when he's not in the gym.
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He did have a couple in this game as well. He'll certainly help.
 
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