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Portal
Apr 1, 2024 19:17:32 GMT -5
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Post by bchilds on Apr 1, 2024 19:17:32 GMT -5
This will be the most important portal season for Barnes in the history of the “portal”. With a minimum of 4 departures and only 1 incoming player combined with young talent that is on the NBA radar, managing this will be no easy task.
Keep that in mind.
Sidenote: when I say NBA radar it just means they are guys to keep tabs on. Doesn’t necessarily mean they are sure fire draft picks.
Example. JJJ is on NBA radars but Knecht sits in ranges 4-14.
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Portal
Apr 1, 2024 20:01:54 GMT -5
Post by cherokee04 on Apr 1, 2024 20:01:54 GMT -5
This will be the most important portal season for Barnes in the history of the “portal”. With a minimum of 4 departures and only 1 incoming player combined with young talent that is on the NBA radar, managing this will be no easy task. Keep that in mind. Sidenote: when I say NBA radar it just means they are guys to keep tabs on. Doesn’t necessarily mean they are sure fire draft picks. Example. JJJ is on NBA radars but Knecht sits in ranges 4-14. I feel like Knecht is probably top 7-8 pick, but then you never know about how many guys get drafted from overseas. JMO, but it would surprise me if JJJ is drafted by an NBA team. Aidoo? I doubt it happens this season, but if he can make some significant improvements to his game he still has some upside for being drafted after next season. But he if doesn't develop a pretty good jumper/three point shot, or really get stronger and tougher in the paint, I don't know about him either. I agree we have to get some pretty immediate help from the portal. This is not a season we can get by with the Anosike, Bailey, Powell type of transfers.
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Portal
Apr 1, 2024 20:15:02 GMT -5
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Post by bchilds on Apr 1, 2024 20:15:02 GMT -5
Yup. I won’t get into the who is the nba talk specifically. But Audio is on NBA radars. For many reasons. Does that mean he is ready? Absolutely not, but it is bad scouting to not keep an eye on him.
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Portal
Apr 1, 2024 20:50:34 GMT -5
Post by cherokee04 on Apr 1, 2024 20:50:34 GMT -5
Yup. I won’t get into the who is the nba talk specifically. But Audio is on NBA radars. For many reasons. Does that mean he is ready? Absolutely not, but it is bad scouting to not keep an eye on him. Until shown differently, I see Aidoo as a guy who can have some really good games against guys who aren't bigger and/or more physical than him. He's 6'11 and can protect the rim pretty well, so I'd be surprised if he wasn't at least on the radar. But how seriously he is considered, it's hard to say.
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Portal
Apr 2, 2024 21:03:52 GMT -5
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Post by Stopspopsdrops83 on Apr 2, 2024 21:03:52 GMT -5
The further we go down this transfer portal the more it reminds me of the one and done situation. Yeah we sure got the Big Bang out of Knecht this season and looking for that one special player to fill out your team is a great plan but I really believe once the novelty wears off the key is the NIL and recruiting the guys to fit the program and making sure you compensate them accordingly. Yeah you’re still gonna have guys hit the portal but it should be the guys you don’t worry about hitting the portal. Keep the recruits you want for the program facilitate the removal of the guys not fitting the program as expected. It just seems to myself the best way to look at the portal is no more than a couple of players to fill holes and preferably at least a couple of years of eligibility left. NIL has changed the equation but you still gotta recruit the best fits for your program and hang onto them. I say all this and at the same time we need a couple of big time scorers this year but maybe they are already on the roster we just gotta keep them
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Post by John C. on Apr 2, 2024 22:37:06 GMT -5
This is a very good read. It seems that some of you take Basilio with a grain of salt but he has legitimate connections, and the blog today is full of great basketball info... tclub.team/index.php?page=tony&b=4434
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Portal
Apr 3, 2024 0:09:00 GMT -5
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Post by bchilds on Apr 3, 2024 0:09:00 GMT -5
I have no issue with Basilio. He gets way more right than wrong. He is also really good at entertaining and catering to his fan base.
It was a good blog. I’m not willing to spout off recruiting names right now or say which players are leaving or staying. This era of hoops is too volatile. Everyone has the right price and situation.
My lying eyes tell me they want next year’s team to score more and play faster. But they don’t want a single point failure in DK.
My question are the following:
What is this team’s core?
How does this team score more?
How do they create depth?
How do they maximize a huge recruiting effort in the rising soph class?
There is no wrong answer (well actually there are). Consider that in March 8. Guys are going to play 200 minutes. Who is the 8?
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Post by cherokee04 on Apr 3, 2024 8:53:02 GMT -5
This is a very good read. It seems that some of you take Basilio with a grain of salt but he has legitimate connections, and the blog today is full of great basketball info... tclub.team/index.php?page=tony&b=4434Basilio has good info often, and he also throws out some garbage at times. He was hypercritical of AD White on multiple occasions, only to have his nonsense exposed as wrong and dumb. So that’s why people take him with a grain of salt. He has earned it.
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Post by contextmatters on Apr 3, 2024 10:33:08 GMT -5
I have no issue with Basilio. He gets way more right than wrong. He is also really good at entertaining and catering to his fan base. It was a good blog. I’m not willing to spout off recruiting names right now or say which players are leaving or staying. This era of hoops is too volatile. Everyone has the right price and situation. My lying eyes tell me they want next year’s team to score more and play faster. But they don’t want a single point failure in DK. My question are the following: What is this team’s core? How does this team score more? How do they create depth? How do they maximize a huge recruiting effort in the rising soph class? There is no wrong answer (well actually there are). Consider that in March 8. Guys are going to play 200 minutes. Who is the 8?
Lots of good questions, but the portal has mucked up the answers. (Cherokee, get a cup of coffee before reading.)
Preseason, I would have said the Vols had two distinct cores, seniors and sophomores, with Awaka overlapping both. So, next year, you'd be set at what are often the toughest positions to fill, C and PG, with Mashack at least giving you solid wing, maybe better if he can score. Building around them, you'd need to give Awaka heavy minutes (plus some to Estrella) so you are probably playing two bigs about half the time. You have a couple of highly touted wings waiting in the wings (clever, huh?), plus Gainey being a solid backup, maybe a serviceable starter if he regains his 3pt shot. So the only crying needs would be a starter quality 3-4 combo to replace JJJ (since you don't want to go with two bigs more than half the time, I don't think), and getting a point guard ready to replace Z next year. That should be a tournament team, probably a top 25 team, maybe even better depending on how good the young wings are.
Now, things are fuzzier. With the exception of Z, I could see every other player being a flight risk in the right circumstances. Plus, you have to consider the possibility that young wings will not live up to their original hype. As I pointed out last year with Edwards, the best predictor of a freshman's future performance seems to be playing time. All but Estrella got less that 100 minutes, and the list of guys that became stars or even major-conference starters after that kind of start is very tiny (other than guys whose season got cut short by injury). Basically, for the Vols, the list is Jordan McRae. For Barnes's career at Texas, it's basically nobody. For the whole SEC, I've only found a handful of guys over the past quarter century. It's rare. So I think we (and the staff) have to consider the possibility that Dilione and Carr either won't develop like we hoped or will do it in the Big South.
With that said, past history may not be a guide for freshman minutes, since the past quarter century didn't involve super-seniors diluting the minutes pool. So I'm hopeful that Carr and Dilione both hang around and turn into quality starters or at least rotation players. And Barnes has done a great job keeping his teams together in the first few years of the portal era. Hopefully, they'll have a good idea of who's staying or leaving (or who wants to look around, in which case, the staff won't be waiting on them) after exit interviews.
In turn, that should drive the portal decisions. - If you think you've ID'd a future superstar that has interest, a real
game-changer, then you go after him regardless of the possible consequences of running off someone else. But you do it as quietly as possible in case you miss, and no one is better at that than Barnes (sans a misstep or two by Clark, which I wouldn't expect to be repeated). - Whatever else happens, you need at least one 3-4 combo to replace JJJ. That has to be priority number one, I think.
- Next in line would be a multi-year point guard. Unless you are just looking at a truly dynamic guy (see bullet 1) that could pair with Z in the same backcourt, I'm not interested in a senior. Rather, I'm more interested in finding someone to take over full time after Z leaves. I do not want a brand new pg in 2025-2026. So either a multi-year transfer or a 2025 reclass would be my preferred option for the second open scholarship.
- If you think Aidoo, Awaka, and Estrella are in the fold, then you don't go after any true big men. If any are going to test the portal (or you think Aidoo will go pro even if he gets a not-great draft grade), then you jump on Chinyelu with both feet. Failing that, I'm not sure there are any other true 5s of that quality that will be interested in the Vols, and I don't want to go after a lesser guy at the position. Instead, I'd try to go with another 3-4, which would give depth but still leave the door open if the portal-tester wants to come back.
- At wing, it all depends on who you think is leaving. I'm guessing they probably take one wing without running anyone extra off. If they are taking two, it probably means you have an exodus that position. And if that's occurring, I'd like at least one to be an incoming sophomore. I do not want to turn into Arkansas, with a revolving door each year.
Bchilds, are the interviews today?
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Post by bchilds on Apr 3, 2024 11:01:18 GMT -5
Great post context.
I think they should be done today. That was goal but this is wild territory with the portal.
I think if you get a chance at a jumbo wing that is 6’7-6’9 you attack that.
ZZ can’t play 40 minutes a game. He needs another point. Do they believe that player is on the roster? I do not know.
Another HS or freshman developmental transfer is needed. 13 guys aren’t playing.
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Portal
Apr 4, 2024 10:53:05 GMT -5
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Post by graingermater23 on Apr 4, 2024 10:53:05 GMT -5
Great post context. I think they should be done today. That was goal but this is wild territory with the portal. I think if you get a chance at a jumbo wing that is 6’7-6’9 you attack that. ZZ can’t play 40 minutes a game. He needs another point. Do they believe that player is on the roster? I do not know. Another HS or freshman developmental transfer is needed. 13 guys aren’t playing. So you’re saying we’ve got guys in the boat just not announced yet?
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Portal
Apr 4, 2024 11:13:23 GMT -5
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Post by bchilds on Apr 4, 2024 11:13:23 GMT -5
Great post context. I think they should be done today. That was goal but this is wild territory with the portal. I think if you get a chance at a jumbo wing that is 6’7-6’9 you attack that. ZZ can’t play 40 minutes a game. He needs another point. Do they believe that player is on the roster? I do not know. Another HS or freshman developmental transfer is needed. 13 guys aren’t playing. So you’re saying we’ve got guys in the boat just not announced yet? I am saying there are players on this team who are ready for bigger roles.
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Portal
Apr 4, 2024 13:29:24 GMT -5
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Post by graingermater23 on Apr 4, 2024 13:29:24 GMT -5
So you’re saying we’ve got guys in the boat just not announced yet? I am saying there are players on this team who are ready for bigger roles. Oh I gotcha. Should’ve read context’s post to the end. Thanks
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Portal
Apr 4, 2024 13:36:58 GMT -5
Post by smyrnavol on Apr 4, 2024 13:36:58 GMT -5
I think we need two wing shooters. Ideally one with some size to play the James role on defense. If someone leaves because of that, then so be it. The days of having a guard group that can't shoot have to be over right now. Go get two guys who shot it 40% from three last year and we're in decent shape next season if you keep Aidoo and teach him how to not get scared.
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Portal
Apr 4, 2024 14:34:47 GMT -5
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Post by gvt11 on Apr 4, 2024 14:34:47 GMT -5
I think we need two wing shooters. Ideally one with some size to play the James role on defense. If someone leaves because of that, then so be it. The days of having a guard group that can't shoot have to be over right now. Go get two guys who shot it 40% from three last year and we're in decent shape next season if you keep Aidoo and teach him how to not get scared. I don’t think you can teach a kid “mentality”. Would love to see them make a run at Avila at Indiana State.
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