Of Tennessee's Last 5 B-Ball Coaches, Which would you rather have.... (2024)

MikeHamiltonFan said:

Arkansas,
90
94
95....

Do not tell me that on paper these teams are clearly better talent wise than TN will be next year if we have Hopson, Golden, McRae, Selby, Tobias Harris etc.

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MikeHamiltonFan said:

Hat when did those guys win a national championship?

Corliss Williamson the Big Nasty was a super strong college player...would you try to argue that on the roster TN would have with Selby, Harris, McRae and Golden coming in they would be way less talented than the Arkansas team that won the NC?

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Hey Mike, you were the one that brought them up.

Not all coaches have the personnel to press.

When you have the personnel to press, you do better when you press than you do when you do not...Before you press you should have the ability to play halfcourt defense effectively. When you press you may not want to depending on the matchup, ie, great guards.

Arguing that the press cannot win a championship is silly and wrong. Arguing that pressing means a coach is a bad coach who cannot coach halfcourt defense is also stupid (see this year with Pearl).

MikeHamiltonFan said:

Hat when did those guys win a national championship?

Corliss Williamson the Big Nasty was a super strong college player...would you try to argue that on the roster TN would have with Selby, Harris, McRae and Golden coming in they would be way less talented than the Arkansas team that won the NC?

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As it stands, it's a hell of a theoretical to even consider Selby in orange.

emainvol said:

As it stands, it's a hell of a theoretical to even consider Selby in orange.

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I also thought we would get Luc and Ambles...so...

MikeHamiltonFan said:

Not all coaches have the personnel to press.

When you have the personnel to press, you do better when you press than you do when you do not...Before you press you should have the ability to play halfcourt defense effectively. When you press you may not want to depending on the matchup, ie, great guards.

Arguing that the press cannot win a championship is silly and wrong. Arguing that pressing means a coach is a bad coach who cannot coach halfcourt defense is also stupid (see this year with Pearl).

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Or they choose not to because 99% of the teams that win the national title don't press.

MikeHamiltonFan said:

I am a dreamer...

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clearly

MikeHamiltonFan said:

I do not think that even the Arkansas 90 team is significantly more talented than this next squad has the potential to be.

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if that's remotely true, we will all be happy Vol fans. We have some of the pieces, but not the replacement for O. He was massively underrated in anchoring that zone.

BigPapaVol said:

if that's remotely true, we will all be happy Vol fans. We have some of the pieces, but not the replacement for O. He was massively underrated in anchoring that zone.

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Todd Day would scorch Scotty Hopson so bad he'd have to be taken to Erlanger immediately.

hatvol96 said:

Todd Day would scorch Scotty Hopson so bad he'd have to be taken to Erlanger immediately.

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All kinds of players would scorch Scotty Hopson right now.

MikeHamiltonFan said:

Arkansas,
90
94
95....

Do not tell me that on paper these teams are clearly better talent wise than TN will be next year if we have Hopson, Golden, McRae, Selby, Tobias Harris etc.

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I agree. "40 minutes of hell" is the last one I remember before Bruce's first years here. It obviously worked for them. (And yes, Tarkanian's UNLV teams count too.) In order to have that level of success, you have to commit to it completely. When Pearl was hired, he said that was what he was bringing, but when it really came down to it, as in the second Ohio State game in 2007, he called off the dogs. In fact he said that he thought the press wouldn't work because they had seen it before! Could you even imagine Nolan Richardson deciding the press wouldn't work after it had caused 20 turnovers the first time around? (I think it's a little bit like a knuckleball pitcher. Phil Niekro always said that to be successful you had to be willing to throw the knuckle on any pitch.)
Not to mention that because few teams do commit to that style, it's almost impossible to practice against and so becomes even more disruptive to any "normal" team.

hatvol96 said:

Todd Day would scorch Scotty Hopson so bad he'd have to be taken to Erlanger immediately.

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Lee Mayberry would probably have enjoyed the largest talent gap at his position. Dude was a monster PG.