Tennessee

kg01

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My father in law (Tennessee fan) called me before the game and asked if Tennessee could keep in within 20. I'm not sure where the perception that we are decent came from but I told him we probably have the worst P6 roster in the country. Had several people text me wondering how they beat us that bad even when I told them ahead of time they would. There is faint perception out there that we are a decent program still.

First, why is your FIL calling you directly? You're supposed to have that awkward, tenuous relationship where you don't really ever speak to each other and if he ever wants to say something to you he just calls his daughter to relay the message. Ohhhh, you're saying that's just me and my FIL? :D

Seriously though, GT has brand recognition even still. Our recent, self-imposed basketball death penalty hasn't killed it.

Plus we get that, "of course they're good, they're an ACC team" bump that all the SEC football teams get. Perks of being in the best (real or perceived) conference in the sport.
 

YlJacket

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I didn't get a chance to watch a lot of this one but the parts that I saw had GT doing things/making mistakes I hadn't seen before this year. It wasn't just him but there were guys posting Lammers and getting angles on him to the basket that just didn't happen earlier. Easy baskets on basic mistakes. It didn't look like they were all there so to speak.

No illusion that we were destined to win that game if only ...... happened. We were not. And I don't have a lot of positive vibes in advance of VCU. But I don't think we are as bad at the basics including effort, defensive positioning and other things that we saw against Tenn. At least I hope not :eek:
 

kg01

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I gotta be honest. Although I really love Okogie's aggressiveness, him barreling to the lane is gonna become increasingly less effective in league play. He's been kind of a bull in a china shop a bit. No way they keep letting him get away with that. Against actual bigs he'll have to be smarter. Plus he's got to improve his shooting.

Hate to agree with Jared Dudley but he was dead-on in his critique on Moore. Gonna have to develop that floater.
 

jacketup

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John Wooden couldn't win 5 games in the ACC with this roster.

Could John Wooden have ever won 5 games in the ACC? It's easy to recruit when you have a defacto bye to the Final Four every year like he did at UCLA.

OK, he could have won 5, but he would have been viewed very differently if he had coached at, say, Maryland or Virginia.

I agree with the rest of your post. I can read the box score and tell that Tennessee just packed it in and dared us to shoot--and we can't.

I am disappointed with the defense. Pitino's first team at UK was essentially a bunch of walkons, and they went 14-14 because they played defense. This team doesn't have the skill set to play better on offense, but play with energy on defense and UT doesn't score 81.
 

kg01

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Could John Wooden have ever won 5 games in the ACC? It's easy to recruit when you have a defacto bye to the Final Four every year like he did at UCLA.

OK, he could have won 5, but he would have been viewed very differently if he had coached at, say, Maryland or Virginia.

I agree with the rest of your post. I can read the box score and tell that Tennessee just packed it in and dared us to shoot--and we can't.

I am disappointed with the defense. Pitino's first team at UK was essentially a bunch of walkons, and they went 14-14 because they played defense. This team doesn't have the skill set to play better on offense, but play with energy on defense and UT doesn't score 81.

John Wooden wouldn't have won 5 games anywhere without all his players being bought and given to him. Don't get me started on that fraud.
 

alagold

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Didn't we beat UT last yr? they remember
try this, at some point we may harken back to that world-beating 15-16 team where we shot 3s and terrorized small teams on the boards and played post-season (and still fired the coach, nasty ingrates)
 

mstranahan

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Kentucky finished 14-14 (or something like that) because they play in the SEC. Most years that means there are 3 or 4 teams with talent and the rest are JV level squads that would make BC look fantastic
 

AE 87

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Can you imagine our former coach with this team? Good lord what a nightmare.

He wouldn't have this team. He would've signed more grad transfers who could actually contribute. He could recruit too. His first November, he signed two guys who were invited to try out for the national team.
 

kg01

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Make it whatever you want other than the metaphor it is. I'm not one of hypersensitive lunatic millennials. I'm sure you'll get over it.

Lol, he never gets over anything.

BG with this roster would be .... just .... there are no words.
 

jacketup

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Hewitt didn't recruit shooters because of philosophy. He wanted big guards who could post up. Think Denny Crum and Louisville. The three point line and shot clock made that philosophy obsolete. The result was CTO. Hewitt never got it.

I still don't know why Gregory didn't recruit kids who can shoot. They are out there, and some mid majors make a living with them. They can be a defensive liability, but how is that worse than what we have? Seems like Gregory never had a philosophy.
 

YlJacket

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Tennessee loss looking better today. UT is up over UNC at half by 8. Yea no Berry for UNC but still ....
UT may be a bit better than I was giving them credit.
 
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