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Have The Vols Bought Into Cuonzo Ball?
Topic Started: Feb 13 2012, 11:22 AM (150 Views)
*TennesseeTuxedo
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Do you think that the team is buying-in, to Cuonzo Martin?

I questioned this team in December. I doubted that they would win more than 7 or 8 games all season. They were that bad at one time. Sionce then, they have congealed as a team and are buying-in to "Cuonzo Ball"
.

IMO, two of the bst moves that new coach Cuonzo Martin has made has been to bench Tre Golden and Jordan McRae for their lack of effort on the defensive side. McRae has started to play some pretty decent defense and Golden is playing with more focus and purpose than we had been the previous several games.

You can not fault this team's effort. Martin will not allow them to not give of themselves to the team cause. They are battling and starting to believe in themselves. Jerrone Maymon has displayed an unforeseen leadership and toughness that this team needed. Who would have believed that Maymon would have become the player he has, after seeing him last year? I still cringe every time he takes a shot outside of 5 feet. However he is a force underneath and frustrates the hell out of the guy he guards.

Kenny Hall has been playing his best basketball ever, the past month. He is finally "getting it" and not committing as many stupid fouls. He is finally finding some fouls he does not like. He is playing great defense and is cleaning the glass with authority.

Our guard play needs a lot of work and so does our finishing the play abilities. We still turn the ball over an awful lot and we have had a lot of opportunities to finish strong at the rim and fail to do so. That will need to improve for the team to improve.

Still I see this team finishing with a winning record. We could get into the Tourney with a very strong run to finish the season out, but in likelihood, we end up in the NIT. That is not a bad way to finish out a season that looked ugly, with a team devoid of leadership add without the look of a winner.
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*TennesseeTuxedo
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I was watching the team on defense tonight. They were all watching the ball and moving their feet. They do not stand around flat-footed.

On offense they are now attacking the rim, freeing up perimeter shooters to nail the trey.

I read on twitter that Cam Tatum said that he would run through a brick wall for Cuonzo and that it was a very common sentiment in the locker room. If Jordan McRae wants to play defense, you know something good is up.
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Shakearag
The Voice of Al Sharpton
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Clearly this team is playing CCM ball. All you have to do is watch how they play defense and look at the talent he has to work with which is not the best. Coach CCM will be named coach of the year in the SEC.
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douggoss


Damn if I thought I would enjoy watching Tennessee basketball this soon after Bruce left. I'll be the first to admit I was a huge fan of his and did not want to see him go. It was refreshing to me to have a coach come out after a game and give an honest analysis, unlike a certain ex-head football coach. Add to that the tourney wins, all the other wins along the way, and just the fact that to me, he was just a likable guy with a great sense of humor. One of the first things that I saw in Bruce was the 360 that Dane Bradshaw did under his coaching. Very impressive to me and I was one of those guys who really questioned Dane under Buzzzzz.

Enter Cuonzo, the polar opposite of Bruce in terms of personality and, to my eyes, had much the same lackluster resume as our head football coach. I was still not over losing Bruce when they named Cuonzo the new coach so I took a very strong wait and see approach but my enthusiasm was nowhere what it had been.

Fast forward to now: I look at Maymon's emergence much like Dane's and give the new staff full credit for this. And the same could also be said for several others on the team. Fundamentally we are playing better in my opinion. I commented to the wife as we were watching the game last night that I could really tell that these guys were being coached very well, even if I could not name one assistant Cuonzo had on the staff (other than the two Bruce holdovers). The other comment I made was that, even without knowing much about them, I did know that several of them had been standout players and that experience was showing by how they were shaping this team. Not sure I could say that about all of Bruce's staff (though I do not think I have seen many better than Jason Shaw was at breaking down opponents).

Last night, coming off the huge win in Florida last weekend was just fun for me to watch. And I'm not alone. Last night the wife asked if I still had the Florida game on the DVR as she really wanted to see it (realize this is someone who had never been to a college football game until the day after we got married). Even someone like her, who still struggles to know the difference in a 1 and a 5 can see the teamwork, hustle, camaraderie, etc... that is very evident under the new staff. While I will never forget Bruce or what he did for our program (or all the great road trips like Pittsburgh or St Louis, ...) I have a great appreciation for what this new staff has been able to do with this team. And while Hammy did a lot of things wrong, I really think he hired two solid hoops coaches. Time will tell how it plays out but I am really optimistic from what I am seeing at this point.
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ADVOCATE FOR THE FAN * Contents of posts are excessively stupid


Cuonzo will do himself well if he gets this team to postseason.
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*JollyVolly
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The players are all in at this point. Those people who have gotten on Martin for being so stoic while coaching don't have a clue. I can tell that he's got a fire in his belly...just by the way he's handled this team, been patient when needed and tough when needed.

What really bodes well is comments like Cam's.....wait until Stokes gets back to Memphis and tell those kids what kind of coach he's got. Pastner doesn't want anything to do with Cuonzo
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*TennesseeTuxedo
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JV's quote from the South Carolina Game thread, has me going over where our program is at, where is appears to heading, and how the kids are buying in.
Quote:
 
Did I say just how impressed I was with Martin's sideline demeanor? He's just the opposite of what I was seeing on TV. He's engaged and clearly in charge. The only thing I don't quite get is all the timeouts when we're trying to kill clock....but I'm sure there's a good reason......oh yeah...I read somewhere that Golden was in the dog house and didn't start the second half because he tossed a towel on the sidelines when he was frustrated......I really, really like Martin!!!!
http://s1.zetaboards.com/thevolunteeronline/topic/4704837/1/#new

Cuonzo Martin is a teacher. As JV points out, he constantly working on teaching the kids on the team, rather than solely working the officials. The kids seem like how Zo reaches out to them with his tough love and belief in them.

Zo reminds me of his mentor, Gene Keady and Bob Knight. Both taught the game of basketball and tough love. Their players were taught the game of basketball and had an understanding of what was expected from them in games, because of what they were taught in practice. If you ever go back to watch an IU game when Knight coached there, you rarely saw him call a time out in the waning seconds of a tight game. His thoughts were, that a time out would give the other team the advantage to plan against his team and that he had taught his players how to run their offense in practice. He felt like he had the advantage i such situations, because he had prepared his team better than the opposing team. I am beginning to get a similar feeling about Cuonzo Martin.

Our program has a long way to go, but in time, we will have the players that we need to win and we will win big at that time.
Edited by TennesseeTuxedo, Feb 28 2012, 04:41 PM.
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Student Radical


This team has taken on the personality of it's coach. Tough, no excuse , hard-nosed. I agree with Shaky that CCM should be SEC coach of the year. If not for ky jelly's overwhelming talent advantage, we'd have a real shot at the SEC tourney. we are playing our best ball, Stokes is only getting better, Maymon is a differnce maker. We should be able to win the post game against most teams.
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