VTTW Board Index

The team we've seen in the last week is the team that KenPom's efficiency metrics have been seeing for much of the year-- we've been hovering around his top 25 for awhile. But after these three wins,

we have risen to 12th in the country. (http://kenpom.com/)  :wtf:

Note that we're 338th out of 351 teams in his "luck" factor. We've basically lost 3 games that we shouldn't have based on our overall quality of play.

All of this suggests that we are one of the more dangerous teams around right now, and if we get into the NCAA tournament we're the sort of team that could make an unexpected run. I always fear that we'll revert to early season form at any moment, but I have to admit we've been awfully fun to watch lately. The guys look like they're having fun.

The success of this team is borne by point guard play and shooting.  This team wins in spite of the dismal in-game coaching (or lack of coaching depending on how you see it) of Martin.  As long as Martin's pre-game plan is working and the other coach cannot make adjustments, the Vols win. If the other side adjusts and draws even, guard play presses too hard, turns the ball over, and the big men never see the ball.  That is this team's MO.  Tell me I am wrong.

A lot of that has to do with the competition as well. Still they are playing better regardless. Barton has finally come on and Maymon is moving better and decided he wanted to be the garbage guy, thats his role on  this team. Our freshman pg played at 50% yesterday.....half the time he would make a horrible play and then come back and make a good one. May have hit the wall. Barton has taken some pressure off of McRae and when did Armani Moore learn to shoot? That came out of left field.

That said if they play with  the effort they gave yesterday they would not be a bubble team. I still think we are limited from a talent standpoint, and if we play a quicker team, or a team with a real post player we will have problems again. We may make the tourney but I don't see over 1 win if we do, depending on brackets, seeding and upsets of course.

That said UF is benefiting from a bad league as well. When they play someone better they may have issues too, although they are the class of the league from coaching to talent.

shoot the ball well, win basketball games. Ultimately that is what it comes down to

The SEC has been down for a few years now, but I don't think it's EVER been this bad.  So it definitely gives me pause that we've made this run against some pretty weak teams.  That said, we're not just squeaking by them anymore- we're hammering them.  When Barton and Richardson are hitting shots from the perimeter, we're a very tough team to defend.  We're pretty reliant on second chance points, too- so if we run into a strong rebounding team, that could mean trouble.

This team is finally playing like we all thought they were capable of coming into the season, when most of us felt a Sweet 16 finish shouldn't be hoped for but expected. I fully expect a crash-and-burn in the postseason. If this team comes out Friday in Atlanta and turns in the same effort they've exhibited the last 10 days at Thompson-Boling Arena, I'll be very pleasantly surprised.

After the last two years, I would hope that this team isn't taking anything for granted.  We may think they're safely in the tourney now, but I'd feel a lot better about it with at least one more win.  And if they go one and done again, they really have no right to complain if they're left out in the cold again next Sunday.

Yep.  Other than the last 4 games or so, they have been very inconsistent.  Martin mentioned consistency during the game yesterday as a factor.  We just have to hope they can keep going.

Another interesting thing that the announcers were saying yesterday, that I didn't realize, is that Barton is not really a PG and only had a couple weeks to prepare to be so.  Have to say it worked.  He has been huge lately.  Really helps us offensively, it's like a whole other team almost.