What We Learned Tonight

#52
#52
Why was Chievous held out of the game tonight, he is a scholarship player and looked as if bench was cleared under a minute and he still sat.

NCAA Redshirt rule is you can still redshirt if you have played in exhibition games.

Did he break a team rule?

I listened to CM's post game sounded like he may have addressed this by saying 5,10,15 minutes passed and he didn't feel Chievous was going to be able to get in the flow of the game. Why did we give the kid a scholarship if we don't feel he can get in the flow of the game verus a D2 program?
 
#53
#53
OrangeBalls said:
Positives:

1. If Maymon can play under control a little more on the offensive end, he can be a main contributor this year. Still misses too many FT's.

2. McRae can be a good player offensively if he gets his emotions under control. Defensively will be his liability.

3. Golden will be the key to this team. Actually, him and McRae, but he's the straw that will stir us on offense.

4. I think Makanjuola can develop into a good player one day. Miller has some beef that we'll need inside. Both are raw. Makanjoula had 6 rebounds in 8 minutes and Miller had 5 in 8 minutes. Not bad. Makanjoula also had 3 PF though in only 8 minutes.

Negatives:

1. Took us awhile to get started. I don't know if it was first game jitters or just trying to feel our way into the game since we had to shoot over a zone. We'll have trouble scoring this year. We need to play great defense and rebound offensively so that we can shorten the game and hopefully get some garbage baskets.

2. Free throw shooting. Still needs work.

3. We'll miss that Tyler Smith/Tobias Harris guy we've had for some time now. Someone that can camp out in the middle and hit the midrange jumper. We're missing that.
4. Kenny Hall. Still makes stupid fouls. 15 minutes played and 3 fouls and only 4 points. We need him this year. He needs to perform or it could get ugly this year.

5. 22 turnovers and only 14 assists against a Div II squad. That needs to be better. Much better. Golden only had 1 turnover in 25 minutes of play and 5 assists. Tatum had 4 turnoves in 16 minutes of play.

A decent outing overall, but this team will go stretches without scoring during the season in my opinion. We'll have to rely on defense and offensive rebounding if we're going to win many games. LMU should tell us more about our team.
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It got super obvious at times against that zone how bad it hurt not having one of those kind of players in there
 
#54
#54
KingNick865 said:
He didn't seem to be the yeller all the time like Pearl was, but the players really seem to respect him. He still yells and is intense, but it's not constant like it was with Pearl.
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Yeah, was more of a controlled but active approach. He was still yelling to his players and "coaching" from the bench like he is supposed to do. But agree, there were no antics and running around like Pearl.

I liked how he handled himself and he looked very confident in what he can do as a coach.
 
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#55
#55
Pumpkin18 said:
Why was Chievous held out of the game tonight, he is a scholarship player and looked as if bench was cleared under a minute and he still sat.

NCAA Redshirt rule is you can still redshirt if you have played in exhibition games.

Did he break a team rule?

I listened to CM's post game sounded like he may have addressed this by saying 5,10,15 minutes passed and he didn't feel Chievous was going to be able to get in the flow of the game. Why did we give the kid a scholarship if we don't feel he can get in the flow of the game verus a D2 program?
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Not sure if he broke any rules or not, but if going to redshirt him then no need to put him out there in an exhibition game. If they already know he is redshirting, why risk injury for a game that means nothing.
 
#56
#56
I liked how CM rarely let a player walk to the bench without getting coached up a little. I was also impressed with how he adjusted to the back door cuts Carson-Newman was making. You could hear him loud and clear calling out the how he wanted screens defended
 
#59
#59
Most impressive player last night was Maymon. I was really impressed with his freethrow shooting. He really looks like he's been putting in work this season. Golden really impressed me. You can tell he's worked hard. McBee is still McBrick and I still puke everytime he shoots the ball.
 
#61
#61
My impressions of the game are that we are not going to be a good shooting team. Very unimpressed with the play of Tatum and Hall. Yemi appears to have more potential than Hall in the post. We are going to be very poor in post offense this season. Maymon has improved more than any player on the team based on this game. Golden is solid at the point and will be one of our best players. Waspun is good defensively, but needs a lot of development offensively. Richardson is athletic and appeared very calm for a freshman in his first game. I don't see any post player beyond Maymon who is going to help us based on this game and the fact that we were playing against a very small team. McRae is our best offensive player, but needs to be more selective in his shot selection. McBee is good for a couple of 3's and that's about it. Still very inconsistent in his shooting. This team is certainly not ready for prime time at this point. I suspect the zone defense caused us to struggle offensively in the half court, but ball movement against the zone was much improved from last year despite the lack of work against the zone. I expect this team to struggle early and get better as the season progresses.
 
#62
#62
While watching this game, I kept thinking of the Kentucky and Florida matchups and to be honest, I don't think it will be pretty. That said, I did like the quick feet of most of the players, Hall, will not help this year, most played agressive in your face defense.
 
#63
#63
LawVol13 said:
1) Trae Golden has gotten himself into fantastic physical condition. He plays smart and defends his position well. He also knocked down some threes. He has clearly improved.

Agree with the conditioning. He has really trimmed his body up and looks noticeably thinner and quicker. He did seem to play smarter than he did at times last year. Defense is still going to be a liability against some of the quicker guards in the SEC. Shot looks better for sure. Still playing out of position by necessity.

2) Maymon is an extremely smart basketball player. He rebounds well, and his passing was extremely impressive. He's going to be an asset this year.

Not sure about this evaluation, but I say that based more on what he did last year as opposed to last night, though he did take some VERY ill-advised shots, which is why I question labeling him "smart." That was the knock on him last year too. If he can reel that part of his game in, he could really be useful. He looked like a world-beater last night, but then again, CN didn't start a player over 6-5. Maymon is pretty crafty as a passer and calling for passes on the break, and finishing in transition. Rebounded at a very high level, but how much of it was the opponent? He worked hard on defense and took a couple of charges, which demonstrate his hustle.

3) McRae is going to be our leading scorer. He can score in bunches. However, like I said in an earlier thread, he's got to get more disciplined in his shot selection.

Definitely our most polished offensive player in terms of creating his own offense. Got to the rim several times, but needs to finish better. That inability is probably strength-related. He is still very thin. Outside shot is a bit improved and he hit a couple three's. Defense is still a liability for him, but like Hopson, his offensive ability will outweigh his defensive liability, even moreso because he is going to be one of our sole offensive threats that can create for himself.

4.) We played excellent team defense. We shot less than 40% from the field yet won the game by nearly 30. That's excellent defense.

We won by 21, which is not nearly 30, but the point remains. We beat an outmatched team the way we should and we didn't really play well offensively. We outhustled them, which is a good sign, especially against a team that needed to win the hustle plays to have a chance. If this team hustles against Carson-Newman, you know they will hustle against the better teams they face. We dominated the boards on both ends (again, CN had no size at all), but we should have. The team defense and help defense were excellent, especially in the final 30 minutes (CN scored 20 points in the first ten minutes, and only 32 over the last 30 minutes).

5.) We're not a good offensive team yet. It will be interesting to see how we look when we have a chance to run the motion. We can chalk up some of the disorganization up to not having practiced much against the zone.

Agree about the offense. We are going to struggle in that department because we don't have many players who can create offense. However, if we can defend and rebound at a high level and win the 50/50 balls, we will keep ourselves in some games we shouldn't be in. The zone would have hurt us more if CN had any size and length on the perimeter and in the paint, but against that competition, we competed well against a defense we haven't practiced against.

All in all, this was a solid first game. This is about what everyone should have expected.
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It's a good sign to see us hustling against an inferior opponent. We rebounded and defended at a high level for the majority of the game. Like it was mentioned, we beat an opponent soundly without shooting the ball well. The offense was anemic at times, but that is to be expected in the first game. I do fear that it won't really get much better over the course of the season however due to our lack of offensive playmakers, but defense and rebounding will help to alleviate that at times.
 
#64
#64
Did Coach Martin jam the other teams point guard full court? Did the big men hedge hard on the pick and rolls?
 
#65
#65
drewtigeralum said:
Did Coach Martin jam the other teams point guard full court? Did the big men hedge hard on the pick and rolls?
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The point guards picked up 3/4 court and were wearing down the CN guards in the second half. The D was very effective. The bigs did not do so well the first half, but picked it up defensively in the second half.
 
#66
#66
What's the UT front court rotation going to be?

Maymon starting at the 4, Hall at the 5? Who backs them up?
 
#67
#67
drewtigeralum said:
Did Coach Martin jam the other teams point guard full court? Did the big men hedge hard on the pick and rolls?
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I didn't notice him picking up the PG full court. I did notice that it's very obvious that he teaches our PGs to deny the pass back to the point guard once the opposing guard gives the ball up.

I didn't think we handled ballscreens really well tonight. That was about the only disappointing aspect of the defense. I didn't see any hard hedges, and I saw some guys like Washpun struggling to get through screens.
 
#70
#70
BasketvolsFan said:
The point guards picked up 3/4 court and were wearing down the CN guards in the second half. The D was very effective. The bigs did not do so well the first half, but picked it up defensively in the second half.
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Martin will look to wear out the other teams point guard. He'll make other guys handle the ball and then look to jump in the passing lanes. The main problem the defense will face is if they get beat on the dribble dribble drive because they are too aggressive. This D works best with an eraser in the middle. Who best fills that roll?
 
#71
#71
Chris4Vols22 said:
Miller is in a position to take Hall's starting spot if he doesn't make any fast progress.
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I saw nothing from Miller that makes me think he will challenge for a starting spot. Actually Yemi appears to have more potential, especially considering his lack of experience playing basketball. He posts up strong and appears that he can actually hit free-throws. He is also a stronger physical presence in the post.
 
#74
#74
I'm not a negative person, but due to the terrible schedule this year, lack of depth in the post, lack of shooters and inexperience I will be very, very surprised if we win more than 12-13 games this year. I'll stick behind the team the entire time, but we picked a terrible year to have this horrible schedule. We are 1 great player and 2 solid players away from being an NCAA tournament team again, although I do think McRae, Golden and Maymon are great pieces to build this team around, if only Hall would show up and actually contribute. His development has been a major disappointment.

I did like what I saw from Golden, McRae, Maymon, Washpun and so forth but Martin has to get some solid big men in the post and a legitmate shooter for us to make the tournament again. Defense has vastly improved. Going to be a very long year guys.
 
#75
#75
StlCardinals2618 said:
I didn't get to watch the game, so based on tonight, do you all think the 11th in the SEC was a fair judgement or do you think we will be better than projected?
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I think its fair. We lost our best two players, lost our coach, dont have alot of experienced talent coming back. Now its up to our guys to prove us all wrong. I hope they do.
 
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