2020-21 Basketball Season

Good grief... is there ANYTHING we can beat Alabama at??

 

4/21 from 3. Bama 10/20. Ballgame

 

Really sucks that this team can’t play in a full TBA. That could’ve helped too.

 

Tennessee wins at Missouri by 20. Missouri wins at previously unbeaten Arkansas by double digits. Bama wins at Tennessee. Covid protocol is neutralizing home court advantage.

Addendum: Kentucky is about to win at Mississippi State.

 

We got exposed tonight with our lack of "bigs" behind Fulkerson and Pons. We drop off tremendously in the post when we get past those 2. If one of them gets hurt or in foul trouble we'll be screwed when we play good teams, especially Pons.

Springer going down hurt too. That could be a huge loss if he's out any length of time. He may be our best offensive player right now.

 

We didn’t even play a big man down the stretch since they were isolating our big every time.

 

So really it was just missing Pons.

 

Yeah that offense forced us to go small so bigs werent a big factor. Their pg was kinda nasty handling the ball amd herky jerky

 

Right to my point. If he's in foul trouble we'll be screwed.

 

Fulk was overdue a regression to the mean at the FT line. Unfortunately it happened at the worst possible time. No way he’s a legit 90% shooter over a full season.

 

I think he’s like an 80% shooter.

 

This game was a good reality check. There are flaws and some glaring ones. I wondered how good our defense would look when we ran into a decent offense, which we really hadn't yet. I think I got caught up in they moment with IP in calling them "suffocating". They are very good. Elite? I'm not sure on this one. Barnes' teams seem to perpetually have an issues with allowing penetration. Springer and Johnson are two of our best ever at cutting off the drive and one was missing tonight.

Are we a top ten team? Again, I may have got caught in the moment of the Mizzou win. We definitely won't be top 5 on Monday. We haven't played a very tough schedule and just got controlled at home by an ok Alabama team. I don't think we have the credentials for a top ten team, but, as I noted on my ten points post, the ceiling is there.

I kept trying to think of the best word which describes how I see this team and it struck me the term "raw" fits best. They have talent, for sure, but it seems very unpolished. Offensively, there aren't guys with smooth games or nice touch around the basket. Generating offense is more laborious than the fine tuned offense of the 18-19 club. Defensively, they are further along, but tonight was not good and defense really shouldn't take a night off.

So, a lot of question marks remain on this team, but I'm happy to have a team in orange which will make that discovery fun. Arkansas will be a big clue, a must win.

 

Our offense was trash last night even if shots had been falling. We are pretty bad in half court sets and need to push tempo at every chance. I continue to think that Vescovi is a weird shaped piece that doesn’t fit with the way we need to play. He’d be a very good offensive guard at a mid major.

 

Our defense is very good with Pons and not Vescovi in. They drove in the first half when Pons was out. In the second half they bombed from 3. A lot of those were decent looks. Vescovi being slow around the perimeter was a big part of the problem.

 

We should go more clearout pick and roll when teams pressure so far out.
I dont see Vescovi as a defensive liability. Barnes just mentioned hes one of the more sly and better defenders. Hes gonna get beat at times like everybody else when guarding opposing pgs in a clearout situation but hes definitely an SEC player and not mid major. 2nd leading scorer last night as well

 

Sly doesn't cut it when they are swinging the ball around quickly and bombing threes

 

Not trying to get into another big debate, but I’m not sure how you could see last night’s game as us getting “controlled” by Bama.

Our best defender (by far) was on the bench half the night because of garbage foul trouble, and it had a noticeable effect. That would significantly affect any team. We couldn’t buy a bucket for a good portion of the night, and the guy I’d consider our best “get a bucket” player was out injured. That would significantly affect any team.

Change either one, and I’m confident we win that game. Change both and we likely run away with it. I get that injuries and foul trouble happen, but I’m not factoring that stuff into how I rank a team.

I’m not saying we are perfect or a bonafide top 5 team or anything, but top 10 isn’t just about us. I have no idea which 10 teams you’d rank ahead of us, and doing so based on last night’s game, which was an oddity, seems strange.

Our defense will keep us in most any game. Biggest issue I see is the same one I pointed out weeks ago. When shots aren’t falling, I don’t see a guy who can take over and carry us through a slump. We win last night’s game if we had a guy who, for two possessions, could generate his own shot and drain it late when shots weren’t falling. Fulky can sometimes, but he’s limited. Pons isn’t consistent enough. JJJ disappears. Vescovi doesn’t seem to be able to do it by himself (see two out of control, BAD turnovers late). Keon may get there, but he’s inconsistent right now. Bailey seems to have the ability to do it, and Springer seems like he will be the guy. But he was out last night.

 

i do think Bama controlled the game last night and hope we learn/adjust from it. They didn't play with a post and spread us out, then when they wanted, sent a pick from wherever our slowest defender was and kept the floor spread. Seldom in bball can a defender stay in front of a quick ballhandler in space, or NBA teams wouldn't be putting up 100+ points consistently with the same clearouts. Just not a good matchup for us, especially with bs calls on Pons, having to sit Fulk due to them going iso on him with a guard, and Springer hurt, when he is one who can take his man anytime to the paint when pressured.

 

Go figure we cant shoot again

 

Lol at Fulky being intimidated by their 7’3 guy.