VU vs. UT game thread

[Vandy187187]

It was a good effort. The team always plays hard. But this is the first game all season I question what Stack was thinking sending out certain lineups in the game. He knows we need to beat a team better than us to matter in the post season. We all know we won't win the SEC tourney and we needed to steal a game or two in this stretch. Starters should have played a lot more minutes and I question the reserve players minutes too

[OldDude]

Not calling for anybody's head, but some of the lineups on the floor this game were just plain weird. Stute very hot but lots of time on the bench, why ? Hope CJS continues to learn.

with all due respect, Dude - Stack knows so much more about coaching than anyone on this board that comments like the above are absurd

Likewise with respect. Frank played 14 minutes with 2 reb, 2 points and 2 TO. He cannot be on the floor without some other offense surrounding him . He was forced by the clock, through no fault (IMO) of his own, to make two really bad plays.

Lawrence, Dorsey and Dezonie logged 13 minutes with a total of 1 point, 2 reb and 2 TO between them. Combine this with Frank's numbers you get 4 reb, 3 points and 4 TO with 27 minutes of the available 200. I know they don't have the talent needed to compete against UT, but maybe should have played a little less.

Stute played 24 minutes, had a hot hand with 17 points (.708 ppm ) and 4 rebs. Would like to see more minutes tonight. Would also like to have seen more of Mann for his physicality, UT shoved us around inside. I know starters need breathers but I think more time from Mann and Stute could have helped.

Yes, CJS knows a thousand times more about basketball than I , but that doesn't put him above critique. And we all should never stop learning.

[roanoke]

I think we saw more reserves tonight for several reasons - one was fouls and one was UT is pretty deep.

CJS called a pretty good game. The only thing I question a little is why Mann didn’t play more - but he got banged up this week… so that could be a good reason.

We lost on boards. They crushed us in the first half on second chance points. Refs really were strange - our guys not named Pippen got 10 free throws all night. Wright was getting hammered. QMB and Robbins combined for 0 baskets. Partly our guys got pushed out down low - partly UTs bigs were quicker. Frank played because he was not intimidated. And that is the mindset we seem to be going for. I figure if Mann is 100%, he would have played more. Stute and Chatman are really confident good players. SPJ had a real good game.

Our bigs had an off night. I think a TO and a good play down 4 under 4 might have been in order. I respect the choice to let ‘em run and improve on the 8-0 closeout from game 1. But we basically got the same thing tonight. In retrospect, a TO and a play might have settled us down? Not a bad showing. But we need wins.

I will add, give UT some credit. They are talented and deep. They played a beautiful first half. I was proud we got right back in the game. But they were fast - so we couldn’t press, and dangerous from deep so we didn’t zone. Tough matchup.

[dore74]

fair points old dude. wonder how Stack would address this. I think he bases a lot on practice, and i respect that. we really needed someone to rebound, i'd argue that the second and third chances they got were the difference in the final score. i think he was trying to deal with that with his rotation tonight. And i don't think we even got a solution.

After Auburn we have a bunch of tough but more winnable games. I'm hopeful that this team has a chance to finish strong...we'll see

[Jason94]

Not calling for anybody's head, but some of the lineups on the floor this game were just plain weird. Stute very hot but lots of time on the bench, why ? Hope CJS continues to learn.

with all due respect, Dude - Stack knows so much more about coaching than anyone on this board that comments like the above are absurd

You realize this is an argument that nobody on this board can criticize any CBB coach ever, right, since any coach in CBB is almost certain to have more coaching experience than anyone on this board. It also is a substitute for actually explaining why it is absurd to question the use of Frank for 14 minutes against UT, when it has been established that he isn't a fit for this system based on his previous play this season.

Even good coach has to make decisions based on tradeoffs, and often times those decisions are gut feels on things that could go either way.

[Jason94]

I think we saw more reserves tonight for several reasons - one was fouls and one was UT is pretty deep.

CJS called a pretty good game. The only thing I question a little is why Mann didn’t play more - but he got banged up this week… so that could be a good reason.

We lost on boards. They crushed us in the first half on second chance points. Refs really were strange - our guys not named Pippen got 10 free throws all night. Wright was getting hammered. QMB and Robbins combined for 0 baskets. Partly our guys got pushed out down low - partly UTs bigs were quicker. Frank played because he was not intimidated. And that is the mindset we seem to be going for. I figure if Mann is 100%, he would have played more. Stute and Chatman are really confident good players. SPJ had a real good game.

Our bigs had an off night. I think a TO and a good play down 4 under 4 might have been in order. I respect the choice to let ‘em run and improve on the 8-0 closeout from game 1. But we basically got the same thing tonight. In retrospect, a TO and a play might have settled us down? Not a bad showing. But we need wins.

I will add, give UT some credit. They are talented and deep. They played a beautiful first half. I was proud we got right back in the game. But they were fast - so we couldn’t press, and dangerous from deep so we didn’t zone. Tough matchup.

This is what I'm getting at - UT is better and deeper, and our front line had a bad night. I asked about Mann's absence on Tuesday, and it seemed that Stack made it clear that it wasn't an injury but that Mann wasn't getting it done in practice. If he is injured then his absence makes sense, otherwise he must really be dogging it in practice to be benched in favor of Frank, as Mann has outplayed Frank by about every metric this season.

[charlestonalum]

Even good coach has to make decisions based on tradeoffs, and often times those decisions are gut feels on things that could go either way.

This is true.