VTTW Board Index

little defense, even less offense.....NC State looks way way way more talented than us.

37-20 at the half. Better players all over the court and more depth off the bench. Their freshmen are killing Stokes and Maymon.

Offensively we are as ugly as a Kevin O'Pottymouth coached team.  Just not happening. 

wow....this is pathetic

BTW, this team lost by 10, at home, to something called North Carolina Central.  So...yeah. :frown:

Sigh. As recently as yesterday I said I still want Cuonzo to succeed. And I still do, of course. But, at the same time . . . can we go ahead and pull the plug now?  :frown:

we just scored 58 points. the entire game//

So depressing

Btw, anyone who still held out hope for an NCAAT bid can kiss that goodbye now. Tennessee would probably have to go about 14-4 in the SEC for that to happen. Which, obviously, isn't gonna happen.

Did anyone catch the official attendance? From the photos I saw being tweeted before the game, it was somewhere between paltry and dismal. Barring a miracle, all the signs are pointing at Cuonzo being dismissed after this season.

Even if you assume two wins over UF (because that's what we do, no matter how bad we suck), I still don't see 14 SEC wins from this team. :frown:

This is just a bad team. Bad coaching is all over the place.

This grind it out style on offense does not fit the offensive talent we have IMHO. Just don't have enough shooters or scorers regardless but at least they get some more lay ups or trash points at a faster pace.

Wonder who the next coach will be? You won't get a big name, so you are going to have to pick out a lower tier guy, just like with Martin. Or does he get another year or 2 due to budget issues?

Define "big name." I'm not 100% convinced that Martin goes; but I think his team's play is leaving Hart & Co. little choice. December attendance this year has averaged 14k, down 20% from Pearl's last December. There were fewer than that there tonight, and I've heard (wasn't there to see for myself) that there was audible booing at times. The Virginia attendance on Dec. 30 will be lucky to crack 10,000.

IF Tennessee fires Cuonzo, I'm gonna guess that Gregg Marshall has as much chance as anybody at being the next coach. Most UT fans didn't consider him a sexy hire when we were trying to replace Pearl, but I'll guarantee you most would consider him a pretty sexy hire right now.

I'm trying to remember-  did Hamilton hire Cuonzo, or was he hired during the period between ADs?  The first mistake Hart needs to avoid is sending boosters a letter saying they're going after big names like Jamie Dixon and Jay Wright, only to sign a mid major guy less than a week later.  Don't get people's hopes up if you can't deliver.  In the fan's eyes, that stacked the deck against Martin before he even coached his first game. :frown:

Hamilton hire.  He is the gift that keeps on giving.   :banghead:

Cuonzo is gone. He won't be able to last not taking this team to the tournament, and this team won't make the tournament. No way.

The question is, who replaces him?

What a disaster Hamilton's presidency over this athletic department proved to be. He was able to ride the coattails of the Bruce Pearl hire and his fundraising abilities for years, but let's face it: Pearl was fired in disgrace and the athletic department's financials are a trainwreck, so . . .

http://volstothewall.com/board/index.php?topic=29677.msg144771#msg144771  :nod:

I'm not convinced of this. He shouldn't last if he fails to make the tourney but I'm not 100% confident that UT will cut him loose.

If they don't, though, next year will be a disaster. The team will have far less talent and the fan apathy will be at Buzz levels if not worse.

CO, Hart will cut him loose.

Hart doesn't have sole power to make that call and there are finances to consider. I don't think this is a slam dunk, though I'd much rather you be right here.

What "talent" are they losing outside of McRae?

Having attended the game the lower bowl was semi full...the upper was a smattering with most of the fans in the middle of the upper levels.  Overall the apathy of the fans was apparent.  I attended the Texas game in Bruce's second year and this was around the same time frame (semester already over) but the fans were still there and the lower bowl was full and the upper bowl was 90% full.  Yeah this was Texas with Durant playing, but UT was enjoying the effects fo the Bruce revitalization project.  Even tho UT got down by 14 early in the second half there was no "ok we are beat lets go home" to the fans.  Last night there was the "ok we are beat lets go home" moment three times in the second half.  The first one was the Vols getting it to 7 and then immediately jacking up a 3 and NCSU creeps back up by 12.  The second and third were when UT gets it to 5 and then can't seem to shoot a bucket in the world.  In the first half btw UT shot 7 out of 26....Yes that is correct.

Overall Coach Martin should have been shouting like hell at the officials in the first half.  The Charge call on Stokes was BOGUS all the way.  The Guard was inside the circle and his foot tips were the only thing outside the circle.  Martin sat like a lump of coal on a log during that sequence.  Pearl would have been at the T in Tennessee in the backcourt giving the REF hell for such a blatant miscall. Frankly BuzzBall II leaves me disinterested in watching the trainwreck.....frankly Pearl may have had a problem with the NCAA but I would rather see Pearl coaching a team with fire and passion than feeling like I just watched Somabulabasketball!!!!!!!      :pin: :pin: :pin:

Maymon and probably Stokes...plus Barton will graduate.

When Hamilton was announced as the Next AD I almost wanted to slit my wrists.  A Clemson Graduate that is an ACCOUNTANT is chosen to run our Athletic Department.  Time to get prepared for being BFed....yep 12 years later we have been.....Hamilton made us the laughingstock of the NCAA due to his lack of backbone to support his coaches.  Haith lied to the NCAA and was giving BOOSTERS money to lie to the NCAA but he got a five game suspension.  NOW THAT IS TOTAL BS compared to Pearl's THREE YEAR SHOW CAUSE.  

Hamilton raised money but he also killed football and was the spineless worm of the AD

Yeah. 4 of 5 starters that do a very high percentage of the team's scoring.

My point exactly. These guys do not fit what we are doing and thus have little impact. Every team that has more size than us shuts down both Stokes and Maymon. If those guys were 6'11" and 6'8" instead of 6'7" and 6'5" we would be a lot better.

That goes back to coaching and trying to run your philosophy regardless of the talent available.

I don't agree that they have little impact, as they score most of our points.

But I agree wholeheartedly about the coaching. Oddly, the guys on this team would be pretty well suited for Bruce's game. When they get into a groove and start running they can score points in bunches, but that runs counter to Cuonzo's philosophy so it never happens by design-- only by accident.

Even when Maymon and Stokes are gone this is not going to get any better, as it's really the guards and wings that drive that. Thompson, Richardson, Moore, Chievous, Hubbs, Davis . . . with guys like that, a full-court press, and a high-tempo offense you'll win some ballgames with a good coach.

You think we're bad now? Take Maymon and Stokes and Barton out of the lineup and see what happens. This wouldn't even be an NIT team. It would be more on the level of Wade Houston's last team at Tennessee.

dickey was a great ad...too bad he didnt help pick a good successor  :frown:

The funny thing is we aren't an NIT team with them either.

Anything's possible, I guess. If UT fails to make the NIT this year, Cuonzo will have accomplished the single worst coaching season in the history of UT basketball, surpassing Buzz Peterson's and Wade Houston's final seasons at UT.