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decades_vol writes:

in response to BigVolinCarolina:

I knew the moment that UT hired Cuonzo Martin that it would be hard for everyone (players and fans) to adjust to his style of play.

I remember watching Cuonzo play in college under Purdue's Gene Keady. Cuonzo runs the same sytem as Keady--focus on defense and run a methodical offense.(Quite a contrast to Pearl's system).

Martin's approach is essentially BuzzBall (remember Buzz Peterson) but with better players. As with any coach at any level, the key is to win games. If you don't win, no one will want to come see you play--and that adage is all-the-more true in a system like Cuonzo's. This system is geared for games in the mid-50's, and it only works if you can impose your defensive will on your opponent.

It was the right thing for Pearl to get the boot. I wish Cuonzo the best, but his teams have little margin for error under his system. Hope we can keep winning! Go Big Orange!!

In "Big" agreement on this one. Martin seems to take a Big-10 type approach to a basketball game, be physical, play good defense, rebound well at both ends, and look for high-percentage scoring opportunities. Nothing wrong with any of this. Martin's pedigree is from Purdue, and it's pretty obvious that he has brought that style with him.

But one thing that several of these like-minded Big-10 teams have that UT doesn't is some decent 3-point shooting (Wisconsin comes to mind). Martin needs to recruit some guys who are offensive threats from the 3-point line, in order to make whatever offense he uses more effective. He may give up something on the defensive end, but he'll gain when Tenn has the ball. Bottom line, I think Martin will win more than his share of games while he's here, but to have a real breakout season, he's going to have to have another Chris Lofton-type scorer or two to take UT to another level.

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