I do this a couple times a year for our teams.
This year I wanted to give it a few games due to the 2 week lay off right before the season which was brutal.
For the TLDR crowd- this team is elite. They are set up and built to make a real run in March to a Final 4.
Opening Thoughts and reminders:
1) No basketball team is perfect. Almost everything is a give and take in this sport. If your team is built with shooters you often aren't as good at driving and or defending. If your team is built on athleticism and length you typically aren't a great shooting team (see Kentucky). If your team calling card is nasty defense you probably aren't going to average 90 PPG. If you want to live and die by the 3 and focus on offense there will be games you get drilled because you weren't shooting well and good defensive team made you take tough shots all night. Etc etc etc
2) In basketball you are going to drop some games especially in conference- that Alabama game annoyed me incredibly. Not because we lost but because the game we just couldn't do anything right came against that team. Why couldn't that have been Arkansas or Ole Miss? Regardless this games just happen. Wish they didn't. But they do. To everyone.
Pros:
1) Elite defensively. Against Alabama Pons played like 5 minutes in the first half and we lost Springer early. He is 1 of 2 best on ball defenders and you don't have to help with those guys. Would have made a massive difference on how Alabama was attacking us having him defending the PG. Guard defense is elite. Even a guy like Bailey who only played zone at Oregon does a really nice job. Pons is other worldly at protecting them rim. Fulkerson and Anosike play so hard down low. The guards mindsets and depth allow us to hard deny everything blowing up opposing offenses and getting into guards legs. This will pay off big time late in the year since guys won't have to play 35-36 minutes for a full season.
2) Depth- there is almost no drop off when we go to the bench. The guys bring different skill sets but in terms of producing they all do it. That is rare. When most teams go to the bench you feel it big time.
3) Points in the post- lost art of basketball. Fulky and Pons can get a bucket. That is huge against good defensive teams who make it tough on you. Just dump the ball down to the block and let them get you a good look.
4) Coaching- we just flat out have a big time coach with a great staff. Comparing Tennessee to a Florida or LSU is comical from a coaching persepective. Talent is the only thing that keeps those teams relevant.
5) Talent- we have NBA players on our team. Bottom line.
Areas of concern (again every team has them)
1) Balanced scoring and playing the right way offensively- who is go to guy when we run into lulls? The balance is great but there are times when you need to give the ball to your dude and get out of the way (Grant Williams for example) Keon will continue to grow. Easy to see his mindset and skills. Fulkerson? Bailey? Springer? This pecking order is a goal of me if I am a coach.
2) Young team- may not seem. But working in 2 freshman along with 3 sophomores (Santi very young Soph, JJJ and ORN) and 2 new transfer (Bailey and Anosike) and 2 guys in Pons and Fulkerson who just established themselves has big time players... It takes time to strike the balance as a team. Basketball is all about playing together and off each other. I said before this year that this time will be much better in February and March than they are now due to so much newness. But in the team time this is going to be an area of concern. And it is going to show up. Some games we will boat race good teams because we are just really good. Other games it will be choppy. Just the game of basketball.
3) Can Tennessee win a shoot out?- some teams just have your number even when you are elite defensively. When this happens or some team gets crazy hot from 3 because they jack shots (Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Arkansas to be specific) and they are falling can we adjust and say "Okay cool we are going to drop 100 on you". This takes a slightly different game mindset. I am curious how we do with this.
X-Factor for our season- Jaden Springer
We know about the defense and toughness. Both of which are elite. We know about the winner he is. What really surprised me was how good he was offensively. I knew he could handle the basketball and was physical. But this kid is a straight up bucket getter. He is what good NBA scorers look like. It is really impressive to see him operate like that at such a young age. Guys like that are what you have to have to make a real run. He is perfect for Rick Barnes offense. Our offense doesn't rely on jacking contested 3's. We run offense and then attack off of it. What you run into with this scheme is some teams will do a great job defending you that particular night. When this happens you need a guy who just gets the ball and scores. This is Springer. His offensive game and feel is absolutely sick.
He will be the guy late in the game and late in the clock that we ISO from the perimeter. I see a lot of 2 man game with him and Fulky who can also get a bucket or a foul.
The coaches know what they have in Jaden. I firmly believe this is why he didn't come back in the Alabama game (assuming that ankle didn't get busted up really good) because in basketball you honestly don't worry about January. This is harder for fans which I get but I can promise the coaches weren't losing sleep over dropping that Bama game even if it was frustrating in real time. This team will be in the NCAAT. We need Jaden 100% and they weren't risking the 2nd conference game on him blowing his ankle out.
Without his ISO scoring and playmaking our offense is going to get a little choppy as Keon continues to progress.
Springer is the guy.
Bottom Line IMO- this team will probably end up around 12-6 to 14-4 in conference which won't matter a ton. Will be a top 2-4 seed in the NCAAT and it will come down to bringing it on 1 night against elite teams in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. This is an elite basketball team that will be a blast to watch all year long. Enjoy it because it doesn't always come together like this. Don't look ahead or wonder if Keon and Jaden will come back. Just have fun watching each night. Heaven knows we deserve an awesome team as Vol fans.
This year I wanted to give it a few games due to the 2 week lay off right before the season which was brutal.
For the TLDR crowd- this team is elite. They are set up and built to make a real run in March to a Final 4.
Opening Thoughts and reminders:
1) No basketball team is perfect. Almost everything is a give and take in this sport. If your team is built with shooters you often aren't as good at driving and or defending. If your team is built on athleticism and length you typically aren't a great shooting team (see Kentucky). If your team calling card is nasty defense you probably aren't going to average 90 PPG. If you want to live and die by the 3 and focus on offense there will be games you get drilled because you weren't shooting well and good defensive team made you take tough shots all night. Etc etc etc
2) In basketball you are going to drop some games especially in conference- that Alabama game annoyed me incredibly. Not because we lost but because the game we just couldn't do anything right came against that team. Why couldn't that have been Arkansas or Ole Miss? Regardless this games just happen. Wish they didn't. But they do. To everyone.
Pros:
1) Elite defensively. Against Alabama Pons played like 5 minutes in the first half and we lost Springer early. He is 1 of 2 best on ball defenders and you don't have to help with those guys. Would have made a massive difference on how Alabama was attacking us having him defending the PG. Guard defense is elite. Even a guy like Bailey who only played zone at Oregon does a really nice job. Pons is other worldly at protecting them rim. Fulkerson and Anosike play so hard down low. The guards mindsets and depth allow us to hard deny everything blowing up opposing offenses and getting into guards legs. This will pay off big time late in the year since guys won't have to play 35-36 minutes for a full season.
2) Depth- there is almost no drop off when we go to the bench. The guys bring different skill sets but in terms of producing they all do it. That is rare. When most teams go to the bench you feel it big time.
3) Points in the post- lost art of basketball. Fulky and Pons can get a bucket. That is huge against good defensive teams who make it tough on you. Just dump the ball down to the block and let them get you a good look.
4) Coaching- we just flat out have a big time coach with a great staff. Comparing Tennessee to a Florida or LSU is comical from a coaching persepective. Talent is the only thing that keeps those teams relevant.
5) Talent- we have NBA players on our team. Bottom line.
Areas of concern (again every team has them)
1) Balanced scoring and playing the right way offensively- who is go to guy when we run into lulls? The balance is great but there are times when you need to give the ball to your dude and get out of the way (Grant Williams for example) Keon will continue to grow. Easy to see his mindset and skills. Fulkerson? Bailey? Springer? This pecking order is a goal of me if I am a coach.
2) Young team- may not seem. But working in 2 freshman along with 3 sophomores (Santi very young Soph, JJJ and ORN) and 2 new transfer (Bailey and Anosike) and 2 guys in Pons and Fulkerson who just established themselves has big time players... It takes time to strike the balance as a team. Basketball is all about playing together and off each other. I said before this year that this time will be much better in February and March than they are now due to so much newness. But in the team time this is going to be an area of concern. And it is going to show up. Some games we will boat race good teams because we are just really good. Other games it will be choppy. Just the game of basketball.
3) Can Tennessee win a shoot out?- some teams just have your number even when you are elite defensively. When this happens or some team gets crazy hot from 3 because they jack shots (Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Arkansas to be specific) and they are falling can we adjust and say "Okay cool we are going to drop 100 on you". This takes a slightly different game mindset. I am curious how we do with this.
X-Factor for our season- Jaden Springer
We know about the defense and toughness. Both of which are elite. We know about the winner he is. What really surprised me was how good he was offensively. I knew he could handle the basketball and was physical. But this kid is a straight up bucket getter. He is what good NBA scorers look like. It is really impressive to see him operate like that at such a young age. Guys like that are what you have to have to make a real run. He is perfect for Rick Barnes offense. Our offense doesn't rely on jacking contested 3's. We run offense and then attack off of it. What you run into with this scheme is some teams will do a great job defending you that particular night. When this happens you need a guy who just gets the ball and scores. This is Springer. His offensive game and feel is absolutely sick.
He will be the guy late in the game and late in the clock that we ISO from the perimeter. I see a lot of 2 man game with him and Fulky who can also get a bucket or a foul.
The coaches know what they have in Jaden. I firmly believe this is why he didn't come back in the Alabama game (assuming that ankle didn't get busted up really good) because in basketball you honestly don't worry about January. This is harder for fans which I get but I can promise the coaches weren't losing sleep over dropping that Bama game even if it was frustrating in real time. This team will be in the NCAAT. We need Jaden 100% and they weren't risking the 2nd conference game on him blowing his ankle out.
Without his ISO scoring and playmaking our offense is going to get a little choppy as Keon continues to progress.
Springer is the guy.
Bottom Line IMO- this team will probably end up around 12-6 to 14-4 in conference which won't matter a ton. Will be a top 2-4 seed in the NCAAT and it will come down to bringing it on 1 night against elite teams in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. This is an elite basketball team that will be a blast to watch all year long. Enjoy it because it doesn't always come together like this. Don't look ahead or wonder if Keon and Jaden will come back. Just have fun watching each night. Heaven knows we deserve an awesome team as Vol fans.
