This TN Hoops Season & Next

Discussion in 'Keith Hatfield Memorial Vols Hoops' started by Tenacious D, Jan 18, 2016.

  1. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    Noting my status as the quintessentially casual hoops fan, this season just doesn't exist, insofar as i'm concerned. I couldn't name more than 2 players on the roster, right now. I have no idea when / who they play, or if they won or lost, unless I just stumble across it while watching / reading something else, entirely.

    I think that Barnes is doing exactly what some feared - running out the string, collecting a check. Where are all of the elite guys he's supposed to be able to land? Have we had any yet? I haven't heard of any, if so. Who are they? Where are they? How many years is this guy going to be here? Three? Five? Is this about what to expect from him, while he's here?

    What am I missing, and what are some reasons why I should care about watching this team this season? Hell, I'd appreciate some reasonable means to get excited about next season, if anyone can give me that, instead.

    Thanks, and I'll hang up and listen to your answer.
     
  2. BigOrangeBeech

    BigOrangeBeech Poster of the Month, July 2014 and recruiting guy!

    I have no doubt he's a great coach. You don't have the success he had in the past and not qualify as such. However, when we hired him, I worried whether he still had enough fire left in him to get us to a good place again in TN hoops. I still do. But the roster he has isn't exactly the best to work with either. A few decent players, but no post presence and no true point guard. When you have neither of those you're going to struggle. The only way to fix any of it is with recruiting. Hopefully he gets it going soon.

    I think he will make the players he has better...Punter is a good example of this. But going back to the most important point, when you have no big guys and your center is no taller than 6'4, that's going to pose a problem, as well as no one to handle the ball, which PG play is probably the most crucial, especially come tournament time when it matters most.
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2016
  3. utvol0427

    utvol0427 Chieftain

    I don't think Barnes is a great coach. He underachieved with some good talent while in Austin. He was there 17 years and only had one outright conference championship (the only one in his head coaching career) and a couple where they were tied for first. He took a team with Kevin Durant and finished 3rd in his conference and didn't make it out of the first weekend in the tournament.

    I hope I'm wrong and he turns everything around for us, but I'm not expecting big things. I think this was another case of making the safe/easy hire by our AD.
     
  4. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    They for whatever reason did usually seem to go out too early in the tournament, but there's something to be said for being basically an annual participant in it from a much better league than the SEC. I think he'll be fine in time.

    Maybe I'm not expecting enough, but being more or less an annual tournament team is what i want from basketball
     
  5. lylsmorr

    lylsmorr Super Moderator

    Those are fairly low expectations considering 68 teams make it each year.
     
  6. utvol0427

    utvol0427 Chieftain

    I want them to be competing for and winning conference championships.
     
  7. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    4 or 5 from the league, if that. i don't mean be a 12 seed and go out in the first round every year either. just play in it and make some noise often enough
     
  8. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    conference titles are nice
     
  9. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    Until Calipari leaves the league, good [dadgum] luck with doing that consistently. The Sainted Bruce Pearl won one league title in six years during the period the sheeple trash act like was some golden era and that was with Kentucky being coached by a guy drinking himself straight out of D-I basketball.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2016
  10. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    I'm going to take a wild guess and say Kansas might have had something to do with those championship totals.
     
  11. emainvol

    emainvol Administrator

    If we hadn't gone to the bargain bin when he hired Cuonzo this was one of those years that the SEC is ripe for the taking. ****ing Hamilton

    Of course then ****ing Hart did the same thing a couple years later.
     
  12. cotton

    cotton Stand-up Philosopher

    I'd say the two are pretty similar. You've got schools like Texas or Florida who on paper should be able to put together all of their built in advantages (and sometimes do,) but UK and KU own their conferences and have for about 100 years. I expect that to change whenever they get put on probation or make a lousy coaching hire, and then it's only temporary.
     
  13. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I'll believe a basketball blue blood could face real NCAA consequences when I see it happen. North Carolina was ****ing making up grades/diplomas.
     
  14. bigpapavol

    bigpapavol Chieftain

    Most ridiculous AA situation I know of.
     
  15. cotton

    cotton Stand-up Philosopher

    Kentucky got tagged as hard as anybody not called SMU under Sutton. Both they and Kansas have been on probation about 85 times each.
     
  16. A-Smith

    A-Smith Chieftain

    My big hope was that Barnes could recruit at Tennessee the way he did at Texas. Not seeing it yet.
     
  17. Volsfan31

    Volsfan31 Member

    Our current class on ESPN has us with 3 4*'s and 2 3*'s. Not sure what the team ranking is.
     
  18. A-Smith

    A-Smith Chieftain

    The 4 stars are marginal. 247 has us 48th.
     
  19. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    ESPN just bumped the three guys up to four stars today. Won't be surprised at all if the other two join them at season's end. This class will be more collectively productive than any Pearl recruited.
     
  20. zehr27

    zehr27 8th's VIP

    I like that.
     

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