The CheckerBoard

37-36 When does the second half begin?

Golden is playing out of position because we don't have a true point guard. Hopefully. next year Hubbs can provide some consistent outside shooting a'la Chris Lofton.

Exactly. The FT shooting was unacceptable. Actually it was bad from two angles: 1) we couldn't make any 2) we didn't get to the line enough because there was no aggressiveness on offense.

I don't know why it is we struggle so much with zones but it is really frustrating I watch. What is the solution to that? Better coaching? Faster and better ball handling guards? I really have no idea. And clearly neither do the Vols.

One other thing is clear is this team misses Maymon badly on offense. When the ball went to Stokes, he was hacked and bumped and had no help. Yemi and Hall seen to freeze up when that happens and don't know what to do. Maymon would be looking for the ball and would demand his own defender anyway which would free Stokes up. I really hope he comes back quick but I'm starting to worry.

I didn't see the game, but sometimes teams just have bad nights. When Cal took Memphis to the NC game against Kansas that team was horrible shooting FT's, too.

That said, it's obvious that our offense should be the obvious thing to worry about with CCM. I chalked last year up to teaching a new standard of defense that none of those guys had ever had to commit themselves to. I'm not saying that makes everything okay at all, but I could understand it. Let's wait until this team gets at least 10 games into the season, though, before we make any real judgements. We all knew when CCM was hired we could expect that low scoring, big banging, old school Big 10 style. You HAVE to be able to do better than last night, though.

I think my biggest worry with CCM on offense thus far has been the lack of ability to set up a good offensive play out of timeouts when you need a bucket. With coach Pearl that was where he was at his best. His ability to make something happen right out of timeouts was always impressive. It seems like at the end of any close game there is never any offensive flow and it ends with some wild shot that doesn't have a prayer. It needs to be fixed, and it's needed to be fixed for a while.

I just never believe in placing all your hope in some kid that hasn't stepped foot on a college floor, and that's what it i going to be the second Hubbs hits the floor. Even if he turns out to be a great shooter right off the bat, what are they going to do when he gets doubled and no one else steps up?

Good post. First, I think the reason CCM has wanted to learn some zone principles was not as much his stated reasons, so we could run some effectively against certain teams or as a change up for a possession or two (although both of those are very good reasons, but so our guys could practice against it. If we never run it ourselves, how can we prepare for it?

And CCM made a point of saying he didn't plan to run many called plays at all last year, since he hadn't gotten all of his offense installed. Since he's trying to do more of that so far this year, we may not see dividends until later in the year. If we're still struggling with play-calling or play-running next year, we'll know that's an issue.

Remember, though, that Pearl teams also struggled against the good zone teams like Louisville, and Izzo's banging, Big 10 style took it to us in the Elite 8. And Pearl's called plays never seemed to work against a defense called during a critical timeout by anyone named Izzo or Patino.

It's also obvious to me why CCM keeps saying we need Trae to score more. He needs to look more to score than to pass, especially when they're doubling and even tripling Stokes. His defense is improved, but still not stellar, and part of that's due to his height, but since he isn't a lockdown defender, we have to have more points out of him on offense. He can create his own shot AND make it.

On offense, those are our only two truly good players, and against the best teams, you usually need three of them. Most teams can take away one guy, but the best teams can take away two.