Vols vs Florida Atlantic? Thoughts?

#276
#276
VolFreakJosh said:
I think it’s downright silly to complain about a basketball team being “too rough.”

Barnes has a system that demands physical defense.

Instead of opposing teams complaining about it, maybe they should spend more time trying to figure out how to stop it.

FAU already made a mistake into thinking they should be treated differently.
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It annoys the crap out of me how the narrative is always against Tennessee. Our football team has success so it must be a gimmick offense. Our basketball team has success and oh it's just because they play too rough and physical.

It's so dumb to me.
 
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#278
#278
FAU is really good. You don’t win 33 games without being consistent, good, and probably a recipient of some good fortune along the way.

Undoubtedly some of our more casual basketball fans are only paying attention to the 9 seed and the conference FAU comes from, leading them to make the mistake of assuming that this will be a cakewalk, but this is a good basketball team we’re matched up against. As good as Duke? Probably not, but there’s also a good chance we don’t play quite as well as we did against Duke. That isn’t to say we will play poorly. That’s just a testament to how well we played against Duke.

All of that to say, this is going to be a tough game and is far from a guaranteed win. I expect we will still be the favorite by tip time, but the point spread will tighten as we close in on game day imo.

If we do a good job of running them off the 3 point line and don’t get called for a hundred fouls around the rim, then we will be happy bunch of Vols come late Thursday night. If FAU is raining in 3s left and right and we don’t take advantage of our size and talent advantage down low, then we will probably go to bed thinking about what could have been. Hopefully our guys understand just how good the opponent is and use some of the media’s bs as extra motivation.
 
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#280
#280
Matt2496 said:
It annoys the crap out of me how the narrative is always against Tennessee. Our football team has success so it must be a gimmick offense. Our basketball team has success and oh it's just because they play too rough and physical.

It's so dumb to me.
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The narrative in this case is exceedingly dumb. The baseline for the whole narrative, and those spewing it know this but will never admit it, is that Tennessee ruined the strong desire that was out there for the red hot Duke Blue Devils to go on a F4 run. We spoiled that, and there are some influential media members out there that are very butt hurt over it.
 
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#283
#283
calban said:
And that UNLESS has resulted in at least 4 of our losses this season. Take anyone lightly in the 16 and think you're walking onto a walk over game and you'll go home more often than not. No gloomers here, just some who were here in 18-19 and the Loyola fiasco.
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Been here since the last second Elite Eight loss to Mich State in 2010... This season wasn't inconsistent but March is different, not taking it lightly. But we are clearly the more athletic, bigger, and just better team. Any team can certainly win but people being scared of this team just like they were saying no way we beat Duke. is funny.
 
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#284
#284
Play them physical and out rebound them. Should be able to dominate down low. This should be a killer game for our post. Uros should go to work and talk all he wants I think they will react
 
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#285
#285
walkenvol said:
Not particularly well tonight. Would need to shoot a much higher percentage against us to win and they will be shooting over way taller defenders than FDU.

We need to make it a half court game by being smart with the ball on offense. We have a tremendous rebounding advantage. Look to the post every possession and only shoot 3’s on inside out passes. We’re the more talented and experienced team and will have to shoot very poorly to lose this game IMO. Every team left is good, but from what I’ve seen we’re playing 1 of the weaker teams left. Obviously no guarantees but I for one sure like our chances! Go VOLS!
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The inside out threes is an excellent point. I would like to see our percentage when we shoot 3’s from a perimeter pass vs inside out. And maybe transitional 3’s🤷‍♂️. Hopefully we’ll establish the inside game early and often though.
 
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#287
#287
LivinginthePast said:
Our defense should stuff their faces. They haven’t lost much In the year though so they think they can win everything. Can be a tough game. We need someone to step up offensively. Of course I’m nervous as always. Of course. Hope we step up.
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Youngest team in the tournament is going to get the same treatment as Duke! Vols by 18
 
#288
#288
kxtop said:
All teams are dangerous at this time of the year. Having said that, Tennessee has so much larger, so much better defensively than anything they have seen, we are better conditioned, so much more big game experience. They have some good three-point makers. We shall see!!
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I'd say we are deeper with more bench strength. Good defense and pushing the tempo may be a big advantage for the Vols.
 
#289
#289
Voltopia said:
I just watched the FAU post-game, and when asked about how they would prepare for Tennessee, their coach said "we're going to study up on Australian rugby rules, and get ready for the Vols."

Screw that noise. They're already setting the stage to pull the officals into calling anything and everything to help them - and ESPN's been laying the groundwork for that nonsense as well. This "Tennessee plays in the mud" narrative is a load of crap, but I've heard several sports journalists use that expression independent of one another. They're all going to work that narrative this week. Expect to hear that "in the mud" business for as long as Tennessee's in the tournament. I hope it doesn't unduly influence the officiating.
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Remember, it was ON who first uttered the "in the mud" comment during his post game interview. The networks just took it and ran with it.

Vols are pretty good defending against the 3-point shot. If they muscle the paint and take away the 3, it should be a convincing win for the guys in Orange. Go Vols.
 
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#293
#293
Reviewing FAU stats. They have a 7 foot player as well as a 6'9" and two 6' 8" players. So they are not small.

Their coach was an assistant at Florida for several years before taking the FAU job. So he knows the SEC.

They are in Conference USA and played a limited number of Power 5 conference teams. They lost to Ole Miss by 13. They beat Flordia at Flordia by 2. They played UAB twice in the regular season winning one and losing the other by 7 points. UAB is important because Andy Kennedy (former Ole Miss coach and SEC Network Analyst) is the coach at UAB. Kennedy has said FAU has all the components of a very good team. He should know.

I watched FAU beat Memphis by one in an improbable win. I say improbable because Memphis had the game won and played undisciplined and out of control down the stretch.

From watching FAU play, it seems they are most comfortable playing very fast. They have very quick guards so that seems like a good stragety for them. I'm sure Coach Barnes will have a game plan to establish and control the pace.

We are favorited by 5.5. Sounds about right to me.
 
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#294
#294
Whole lotta BVS goin’ on around here……

We are going to pound them into oblivion.
You thought Duke game was physical? This is gonna be worse. And the refs aren’t gonna call a whole lot of it all of a sudden either- they can’t.
We are going to block shots, out rebound by a large margin, and stuff them on D. This will be their lowest scoring effort of the season. And their big Russian is going to try and fight back and foul out real early.
And their coach is gonna call us a rugby team in his post mortem. I mean in his post game presser.
 
#295
#295
bleedingTNorange said:
Who said they were? But you don’t think there’s a chance they are better than Colorado, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Missouri, Texas A&M or Florida?
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Chance - sure. They would have to compete against those guys and prove it before I would think it was anything more than a slim chance. FAU’s 2 post guys would get abused in the SEC.
 
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#296
#296
VolBalla2014 said:
Unfortunately for them, Tennessee is statistically the best team in the country at defending the 3.
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I think we force them to drive. Plant our heels on 3 pt line and trust our help defense and size which they will have to shoot over. If we are efficient offensively there is no way they can stop us. They want a shootout from the perimeter. We shouldn’t give it to them.
 
#297
#297
VolBricks said:
I thought the same thing, we cannot get into a run-and-gun game with them. We need to make the game be at our pace which has slowed down without ZZ.
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They may run and gun, but we won't. Geeesh, a team could refuse to run back down court and we'd still set up our ½ court offense so we could get to 3 sides before shooting. 😳
 
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#298
#298
I’m very afraid that the “TN plays dirty” narrative is going to be an influence on the refs…..and NOT in a good way. So STFU, Jay Bilas
 
#299
#299
I have been through this thread several times….
FAU is a decent team. Should be a good game.
We are a physical team not only on defense but also on offense.
The screens and motion offense wears opponents out and leaves opponents drained.
It is constantly moving and when Duke did not move with it, it facilitated for open looks mismatches layups.
The offense wears on teams as well
 
#300
#300
Matt2496 said:
It annoys the crap out of me how the narrative is always against Tennessee. Our football team has success so it must be a gimmick offense. Our basketball team has success and oh it's just because they play too rough and physical.

It's so dumb to me.
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Well, at least we're a part of the narrative. Folks are talking about us. If we sucked, no one would mention our name. As they say, the wind is strongest at the top of the flag pole. I'll take it and be quite content.
 
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