2019-2020 Season

I dont really agree with the control freak thing. If anything imo, at times he lets them control the game too much, and we go home with timeouts every game. Thats the nba style of doing things. Prep in practice then the leaders run the game and play ball.
My main concern is PG. Bowden nor Lamonte have the ballhandling skills or ability to draw and dish. Unless we put this Josiah kid at PG and flank him with Bowden and Turner. He can draw and kick or post and kick. Maybe where our offense ends up going thru

 

Can you also admit that Barnes can recruit? Have you done that yet? I may have missed it.

 

I think it's fair to say Barnes' on court coaching isn't exactly his strength.

But sometimes you just get matched up against a random stretch big who can't miss 3s in the tournament.

 

Sorry, I haven’t. Because he’s given me little reason to do so.

In five years, he’s recruited a single 5-star player (some downgraded him to being a 4-star, IIRC), and who assumed the top spot over his previously highest rated recruit at Tennessee...Yves Pons.

Is that good, Indy? That Barnes’ two highest recruits are a single 4-5* and Yves Pons? In five seasons. 1-2-3-4-FIF. Does this support your argument?

And then I look at next year, and see that his replacements for two-time SEC Player of the Year, Grant Williams, are John Fulkerson and a New Mexico State transfer (hopefully).

He could have lost Grant a year before, so he actually had an extra year to solve it....and the solution is about to be John Fulkerson and a transfer from Europe and who didn’t play anywhere last season. Is that how an expert recruiter manages his roster, IYO, Indy?

And then I watched him finally realize that he has no one in the middle, and tried to remedy it - and not two years too soon - by chasing the grad transfer from Blacksburg, only to fail to lure him away from going to our SEC East rival, Florida. Was this an example of his masterful recruiting, Indy? You sure you want to use this one, because it looks to have turned out quite terribly, albeit from my admittedly novice perspective.

Otherwise, I see that he’s got a lot of interest from a lot of bigger named guys. But so does Memphis, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, LSU, etc. So, that’s good. But do Top 5’s and official visits equal players always signing?

Are these the reasons that you’d cite in requiring me to admit Barnes’ masterful recruiting prowess? Think it over and hit me up about it after NSD.

 

I would like to note he has two five stars committed for this year with a likely third coming next week and the transfer is from Arizona State. The kid from Finland is supposed to be quite good, too.

 

I could be wrong, but I believe the 2016 class was his first true recruiting class. He took the job a month before the spring signing period for the 2015. Again, if I’m not mistaken, that means he’s had 4 recruiting classes.

Recruiting was going to be slow in the beginning of his tenure because of where we were as a program. That’s a given. Few coaches in the country could have changed that. And yet he pulled Grant, Bone, and Bowden in the 2016 class. The 2017 class was weaker, but Kent is expected to contribute this year, and though Pons hasn’t developed, he was highly rated.

Burns in 2018 was highly rated as well, though obviously no longer here.

Then you have a very solid class in 2019, followed by what will probably be the best recruiting class in UT history for 2020.

That’s why.

 

He definitely mismanaged the roster leading up to an all or nothing year last year, but I'll forgive a rebuilding year as long as we're reloading.

And it appears the 2020 team will have the following 4/5 stars:

Uros Plavsic
Yves Pons
Olivier Nkamhoua
VJ Bailey
Josiah James (MAYBE)
Jaden Springer
Keon Johnson
Corey Walker
P.J. Hall or Dylan Caldwell

 

Man we had a lead with 5 seconds left, blocked a shot and played good d. Purdue game will sting awhile.

 

Oh, you believe that it was to be expected that a masterful recruiter of Barnes’ ilk would have required more than 3 years to sign a 4-5* recruit, Indy?

Few coaches could have done better? You’re not to be taken seriously.

Grant, Bone and Bowden? As I’ve said, Yves was a higher rated recruit than those three. That shows he’s an awesome recruiter?

And then, by your own admission, his next class was actually worse? Worse, you say? What’s worse than “terribly” underwhelming, Indy?

Which, btw, how is ol’ Yves looking, lately?

And Kent may “contribute” this year? Well, that’s blown my doors off - who could imagine any other coach who was awesome enough to recruit a kid who needs to two years on campus before his apologists dare hope that he “might contribute”, at some point.

And then he ran another highly rated recruit off, likely, when that kid found out that he was going to be cut by Barnes if he had landed the transfer from VATech, and who Barnes somehow lost to Florida, and despite his mighty recruiting prowess. And Burns is the same kid who Barnes talked into graduating and enrolling early, and then never played him, and still chased him off.

This Barnes cat is clearly a magnificent recruiter - not of basketball players - but of sycophantic dipshits like you.

 

oh, look, tenacious d is in the basketball forum again

 

That's what I am getting at. A guard oriented team is generally more flexible.

 

I don't think we go dancing this year. I see about 18 wins.

 

If they had pushed tempo on offense in the tournament they would have beaten Purdue and not struggled against the other two.

 

If we’d only had a lightning quick guard.

 

Yeah like someone with elite athleticism capable of proving it at the NBA combine.

 

He kicked his leg out. I'm still bitter.

 

The end of last season is in my top 3 all time sports disappointments, and I'm a Vols and Braves fan. That includes childhood and disappointments count double when you're a kid.

 

The other two are the 1996 World Series and Manning never beating Florida.

 

We finished last year top 7 or 8 in the country in ppg, assists, and offensive efficiency while matching our allltime W record. "Running" more is a silly notion, especially with nicked up players. Bone was beat up ankle and wrist. We did what we do like when we beat KY and won 2 tourney games with the same approach. Ugliness doesnt matter in March. We were a bullshit foul and 1 fade away 27 foot miss from an elite 8.

 

18 wins with our schedule may be enough to get in. That is about what Florida did last season.