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Vols Destroy Wake Forest In The Battle of Atlantis
Topic Started: Nov 30 2013, 05:49 PM (165 Views)
*TennesseeTuxedo
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The Vols laid waste to Wake Forest 82-63 in a game that was not as close as the score indicates.

Jarnell Stokes was again a man amongst boys and Darius Thompson elevated his game to another level today.

Points - 82
Field Goals - 25-47
Free Throws - 28-36
3-Pointers - 4-11
Off. Rebounds - 9
Def. Rebounds - 25
Total Rebounds - 34
Assists - 12
Blocks - 4
P. Fouls - 23
T. Fouls - 1
Turnovers - 8
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*JollyVolly
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A Very Manly Man

Wish I could have seen it....I was driving back from Jacksonville with the family. Could we have turned a corner??? Wake and Xavier are pretty decent teams....we flat took them apart. If we can continue to play defense as we have the past two games....and get offensive production WITH our best scorer out of the game.....life could be good....
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Sapientvol
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I watched it, Jolly.

We were just relentless at pounding the ball inside. Once we got the ball to Stokes or Maymon, it was a done deal, they both have moves that Wake just couldn't stop.

Our defense was nothing fancy, just solid man to man, maybe extended a bit more than usual. We were disruptive, stepping into passing lanes and got a lot of deflections and some steals. Wake had a hard time running their offense against us.

We looked good against a good team for the second day in a row. Gives me hope.

Thompson played a heck of a game, he's a special player and played a large role in the game. We surged ahead for the first time with him at the point.

Thompson can get the ball to Stokes and Maymon. And Stokes made some great kick out passes back out to Thompson for open shots.

Inside out is what makes our offense click.





Edited by Sapientvol, Nov 30 2013, 09:22 PM.
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*JollyVolly
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A Very Manly Man

Thompson is already a better point guard than Barton. Not to disparage Barton...who's a good player, but Thompson has the knack for getting the ball where it needs to be in order for the offense to produce points. That's more a gift than something that can be coached..... It gives me a bit of hope for next year, if Cofer and Turman can produce early.....and Hubbs gets things figured out by the end of the year. He shows flashes of McCrea-like talent every now and again and I put the credit for McCrea's surge last year squarely in Martin's lap, so we know it can happen.
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Sapientvol
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JollyVolly
Dec 2 2013, 07:27 AM
Thompson is already a better point guard than Barton. Not to disparage Barton...who's a good player, but Thompson has the knack for getting the ball where it needs to be in order for the offense to produce points. That's more a gift than something that can be coached..... It gives me a bit of hope for next year, if Cofer and Turman can produce early.....and Hubbs gets things figured out by the end of the year. He shows flashes of McCrea-like talent every now and again and I put the credit for McCrea's surge last year squarely in Martin's lap, so we know it can happen.
Thompson is a better passer than Barton. He's so tall he sees the court very well and simply has a knack for knowing where to put the ball so others can score. It's a God given talent, you can't coach it.

Barton is a better shooter and a better defender. And he's more experienced. So he'll continue to start and will be particularly important when we play close conference games and the butt pucker factor becomes huge.

It's just huge to have such a great #2 at the point, when for years we couldn't find a single point guard anywhere. From Pearl to Martin, we've not had a true point guard since CJ Watson.

Now we've got two really good ones. We are blessed, it's extremely hard to win championships without superior guard play particularly at the point.
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*JollyVolly
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A Very Manly Man

You're correct....but It's a little more than that....Thompson is always in the right place....leads Barton in steals, assists, blocks, fewer turnovers, free throw percentage and most importantly seems to be the guard that makes the offense go. All this while averaging seven less minutes a game so far. I don't really care who starts and if it keeps team peace,...Barton can start all season, but I suspect that Barton will either start playing more 2, as he clearly shoots better right now (and that may change as well, once Thompson has more confidence in his shot), or lose some minutes as the season progresses as it's going to be hard to keep Thompson off the floor.
Edited by JollyVolly, Dec 2 2013, 12:41 PM.
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Sapientvol
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JollyVolly
Dec 2 2013, 12:39 PM
You're correct....but It's a little more than that....Thompson is always in the right place....leads Barton in steals, assists, blocks, fewer turnovers, free throw percentage and most importantly seems to be the guard that makes the offense go. All this while averaging seven less minutes a game so far. I don't really care who starts and if it keeps team peace,...Barton can start all season, but I suspect that Barton will either start playing more 2, as he clearly shoots better right now (and that may change as well, once Thompson has more confidence in his shot), or lose some minutes as the season progresses as it's going to be hard to keep Thompson off the floor.
I could see Thompson becoming the starter.

I'm guessing that right now the staff is a bit incredulous about his performance. I'm not sure anybody thought he would be this good this fast. He wasn't even recruited by many D1 teams until Butler got in on him.

I'm thinking they will keep him at #2 in the pg rotation and see if he continues to light it up. At some point you just can't keep him out of the starting line up, if he keeps playing this well.

Barton is valuable for how well he shoots the three, above all else. Teams are gonna try to sag inside on Stokes and Maymon, so hitting threes will be critical.

One way Martin grades players is on +/- team scoring for minutes on the floor. I would love to know how Barton and Thompson compare on that scorecard. I know more than that factor into playing time, especially at pg, but it's a basic calculation of are you helping or hurting the team while on the floor.

Edited by Sapientvol, Dec 2 2013, 06:03 PM.
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*JollyVolly
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I think the Wichita State game will be a good test for how far we've come. They are very good and will be looking for revenge for last year.
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