Louisville retrospective
Nov 10, 2024 17:33:27 GMT -5
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pdlglm, cherokee04, and 4 more like this
Post by hamiltonvol on Nov 10, 2024 17:33:27 GMT -5
Baseline 3:
1. This guard rotation is pretty good. Mashack and zz are godawful pains in the backside on defense. Those guys plus three random dudes from the Y would probably be in the top 25 defenses on Kenpom. They’re going to make life really tough for a lot of teams.
And then there’s the scoring. Mashack is shooting 50% from 3, but he’s quite selective in his shots (which seems correct relative to his game: hit the open ones, pass up the rest). Zakai is streaky, less selective, but dangerous. Gainey is also over 40% from the arc while being selective. Gainey, we must add, just looks more comfortable this year. He’s under control, he’s taking good shots, and he’s making them. Hasn’t missed from 2, 7-7. And he’s taken some tough ones late in the clock.
Finally, Lanier. He’s averaging 6 3pa per game, hitting over half of them, and somewhat surprisingly is also lapping the team in 2pa with 15 in two games. I didn’t expect him to attack the rim at all, but he has. He also had a dribble step back three against Louisville, which shocked me. Now to be very clear, the dribble step back three is an nba staple nowadays, and you’d nearly call it mandatory, in the sense that most every championship caliber team will have a guy with that tool in his bag. But it’s not at all universal in the college game yet, and it seems odd from a Tennessee guy especially. But there it is, Lanier in a volunteer shirt shooting dribble step back threes (and making). Yes please.
The outside shots won’t always fall—that’s how outside shots are. But all in all, this guard rotation is pretty good—better than I thought a couple weeks ago.
2. The post rotation is also pretty good. We have four post players and I kind of don’t hate any of them? Against Louisville, which had size and a pulse, they combined for 10-14 (71%) from 2, 19 boards, 3 blocks. And it was balanced: the 2pa’s were 4,4,3,3. The boards were 6,6,5,2. The blocks 1,1,1,0.
They all bring something a little unique. Okpara is the shot blocker, the size and athleticism combo. Estrella is more of a post bully, he can back you down and just size his way into position, and he can finish also.
Phillips was the biggest surprise. He’s ahead of what I assumed. Energetic, athletic, and wants to be the next mashack apparently? That’s an interesting goal for a 6-9 forward, but he is pretty smooth and quick. A Cade Phillips that could guard all 5 positions like a mashack would be something, not gonna lie.
3. With no DK, it looks like a top-3 defense and a shield-eyes offense is possible, again. But it’s also possible this could go a different way. Lanier can put the ball in the net, he’s already shown that: dude took 391 FGA last year and hit most of them. Zz can create, gainey is a rich man’s Bowden, and mashack knows who he is. The question is in the paint. Can we generate 2’s when there’s nothing easy? I feel like Grant williams and Dalton Knecht have been the only vols of the Barnes era who could reliably do that. Can Igor or Estrella give us a real post threat? Can Lanier be dangerous enough from three that it opens up driving lanes for him or others? Can zakai penetrate and dish for easy enough shots that a weak post can hit them? These are my questions.
Contested 2:
4. Igor. Listen…I haven’t given up on Igor yet. He’s the stretchiest of the bigs, and the only guy who you’d really call a stretch 4 on offense. I think he’s better than he’s shown so far. I want to see a few more weeks before I give up. He has some tools most post players just don’t have.
5. Zakai had like a hundred turnovers and yet…kind of didn’t really look uncomfortable? Hit a bunch of big shots, had 7 assists and 3 steals, and even when he was racking up 9 turnovers in one half we went up by 20. Not sure what was going on (partly we tried too hard to lob the posts), but somehow zakai managed to be in control of the game while throwing the ball directly to the other team 11 times.
He’s a really unusual player.
Bonus:
6. The lady Vols look like they might be a lot of fun this year.
1. This guard rotation is pretty good. Mashack and zz are godawful pains in the backside on defense. Those guys plus three random dudes from the Y would probably be in the top 25 defenses on Kenpom. They’re going to make life really tough for a lot of teams.
And then there’s the scoring. Mashack is shooting 50% from 3, but he’s quite selective in his shots (which seems correct relative to his game: hit the open ones, pass up the rest). Zakai is streaky, less selective, but dangerous. Gainey is also over 40% from the arc while being selective. Gainey, we must add, just looks more comfortable this year. He’s under control, he’s taking good shots, and he’s making them. Hasn’t missed from 2, 7-7. And he’s taken some tough ones late in the clock.
Finally, Lanier. He’s averaging 6 3pa per game, hitting over half of them, and somewhat surprisingly is also lapping the team in 2pa with 15 in two games. I didn’t expect him to attack the rim at all, but he has. He also had a dribble step back three against Louisville, which shocked me. Now to be very clear, the dribble step back three is an nba staple nowadays, and you’d nearly call it mandatory, in the sense that most every championship caliber team will have a guy with that tool in his bag. But it’s not at all universal in the college game yet, and it seems odd from a Tennessee guy especially. But there it is, Lanier in a volunteer shirt shooting dribble step back threes (and making). Yes please.
The outside shots won’t always fall—that’s how outside shots are. But all in all, this guard rotation is pretty good—better than I thought a couple weeks ago.
2. The post rotation is also pretty good. We have four post players and I kind of don’t hate any of them? Against Louisville, which had size and a pulse, they combined for 10-14 (71%) from 2, 19 boards, 3 blocks. And it was balanced: the 2pa’s were 4,4,3,3. The boards were 6,6,5,2. The blocks 1,1,1,0.
They all bring something a little unique. Okpara is the shot blocker, the size and athleticism combo. Estrella is more of a post bully, he can back you down and just size his way into position, and he can finish also.
Phillips was the biggest surprise. He’s ahead of what I assumed. Energetic, athletic, and wants to be the next mashack apparently? That’s an interesting goal for a 6-9 forward, but he is pretty smooth and quick. A Cade Phillips that could guard all 5 positions like a mashack would be something, not gonna lie.
3. With no DK, it looks like a top-3 defense and a shield-eyes offense is possible, again. But it’s also possible this could go a different way. Lanier can put the ball in the net, he’s already shown that: dude took 391 FGA last year and hit most of them. Zz can create, gainey is a rich man’s Bowden, and mashack knows who he is. The question is in the paint. Can we generate 2’s when there’s nothing easy? I feel like Grant williams and Dalton Knecht have been the only vols of the Barnes era who could reliably do that. Can Igor or Estrella give us a real post threat? Can Lanier be dangerous enough from three that it opens up driving lanes for him or others? Can zakai penetrate and dish for easy enough shots that a weak post can hit them? These are my questions.
Contested 2:
4. Igor. Listen…I haven’t given up on Igor yet. He’s the stretchiest of the bigs, and the only guy who you’d really call a stretch 4 on offense. I think he’s better than he’s shown so far. I want to see a few more weeks before I give up. He has some tools most post players just don’t have.
5. Zakai had like a hundred turnovers and yet…kind of didn’t really look uncomfortable? Hit a bunch of big shots, had 7 assists and 3 steals, and even when he was racking up 9 turnovers in one half we went up by 20. Not sure what was going on (partly we tried too hard to lob the posts), but somehow zakai managed to be in control of the game while throwing the ball directly to the other team 11 times.
He’s a really unusual player.
Bonus:
6. The lady Vols look like they might be a lot of fun this year.
