The Tennessee Vols

Great to see the Vols get a win in Cuonzo’s first game as head game, even though it was an exhibition. I mean, we did blow it against Indianapolis last year in an exhibition and we all know how last season went.

Good synopsis by poster nashvol in Volquest’s Generals Quarters last night:

“Trae Golden is very important to this team. He can handle, score, and his quickness (defense) has improved. One of our only complete players. Smooth player. Needs to shoot the ball any time he gets an open look.

We’ll need Skyler to shoot the rock this year. Very early to say this but he looks more relaxed and confident under Martin. I’m sure Martin is building him up all he can. Of course, maybe it’s just b/c he’s a year older. Get used to the Rutledge Rifle puttin up shots. He has the green light.

Maymon was very solid on the boards tonight. Of course he was last year too, but the previous staff never knew how to weave that into the plan. Cuonzo will. He values rebounding and possessions. It’s the first thing he mentioned in his presser and it should have been. 15 boards requires consistently running the floor and max effort. Nice work.

Richardson has legit, real deal handle. We have a player on our hands for 4 years.

Washpun is scrappy and gives good effort, but at this point his lateral quickness is avg and he has a tendency to play too far up on his man (also known as the “bobby maze disease”). Calm down and stay in front of your man Wes. Hopefully Cuonzo gets this corrected.

McRae has new life. Plays wild but we’ll need his wildness at times this year. We gotta get shots up on the glass and then go rebound it. As long as he’s giving effort defensively, cuonzo will roll with it. If he has a bad game and starts pouting and not playing D, he’ll get yanked. Hopefully he’s mentally tougher than that.

It’s one game but it looks like Ro has accepted his new role. With Martin, he’ll spend a lot more time around the basket than he did in the flex. That’s the piece of the analysis most people were missing. Different offense, different role. He needs to keep giving effort and defending and he’ll be fine. The fresh start will benefit Ro. Not saying he’ll emerge into a force – far from it – but he can definitely can grow into his role and contribute positively. Long solid athlete. Swiper.

Hall will never be a consistent inside scorer for this team in terms of face up or back to the basket moves. No matter what the coaches say or what’s written, it’s just not in the cards. Never has been. He doesn’t have the coordination or the understanding. The key will be to max out his other interior stats – REBOUNDS, trash buckets, setting good picks, consistent movement in the post to get open/easier looks, passing (in and out, swinging the basketball), etc – while getting some scoring from maymon and whoever else can contribute. Success in the post is not always determined by pretty moves and set plays. As long as our rotation plays good D, REBOUNDS, and stays within our motion sets, we can be successful.

Zone offense looked good. Lots of movement. Some high screens, lots of cutters, good penetration. Good to see. I’m sure it was weird for the kids to see that much zone in game 1. But i’m sure we’ll get plenty of it this year so it was good to work on it.

Defense was very solid, not great. I agree with Cuonzo. A few too many busts, some poor decisions by people leaving their man at the wrong time… but overall the effort was good. Gametape will help him teach.

I really enjoyed the game. It looked organized. Like we’re actually trying to get somewhere with our rotation and identity. The motion is SO F’ING REFRESHING. We have more big bodies to develop in the post than we’ve had in a while and Counzo’s style is suited to more big bodies (no more perimeter based flex).

It might take a while, but Richardson is the one who could eventually blossom into something special. Kid has legit game for his size and looks smart.

Cuonzo’s first class was a good save. We have some parts. The cupboard isn’t completely bare. We’ll still get drilled a few times, but we have enough to compete and win some games.”