Josh Richardson
Josh Richardson's education continued in Poland and Germany earlier this month. The Tennessee sophomore combo-guard joined Athletes in Action for a six-game exhibition tour.
Beyond the standard cultural contrasts, Richardson learned two vital lessons.
One, gnocchi is his new favorite food.
Two, European basketball has more to offer than exposure to new cuisine.
"The competition was a lot better than I thought it was going to be," Richardson said Monday night before scoring 32 points for R. Larry Smith Insurance in a 124-121 overtime loss to DeRoyal Industries in the Pilot Rocky Top League. "It was deceptive."
Contributing to a perfect 6-0 run overseas, Richardson appreciated the nuances of European basketball.
Every opponent was physically punishing. Teams spread the floor with jump shooters. Multiple ball screens were set at halfcourt before teams went into offensive sets.
It took some time, but the product grew on Richardson.
"All those European players in the (NBA) seem to be doing pretty well," said the Oklahoma native. "I figure it's a style maybe I can pick up. It can help my game. It's another brand."
Richardson's brand led to 34 appearances as a UT freshman, including nine starts. He averaged 2.9 points and 1.4 assists in 16.0 minutes per game. Most importantly, he was a disruptive ballhawk on defense.
"I'm still growing," he acknowledged, "but I've gotten a lot more mature."
On Monday, Richardson aided a 10-0 opening spurt by R. Larry Smith with a driving transition dunk, a backdoor alley-oop and a pull-up 3-pointer.
He finished with five made 3-pointers and a handful of midrange jumpers. That's good news for UT fans. Richardson's perimeter jumper is improving. The elbow stays in. The release is held at the top.
"I need a more consistent jump shot — that's the biggest thing," said Richardson, who's averaging 24.3 points per game through three Rocky Top League contests.
If he does, more minutes in UT coach Cuonzo Martin's rotation might follow.
The 6-foot-6 guard played at the two and three positions last year and even logged some minutes at the four. He said Monday that with an improved handle, he could even slide into the point guard slot.
Richardson began the summer having never left the country. Then he went to Poland and Germany. Now he'll travel with the Vols to Italy for four games in August.
Suddenly he's a worldly traveler.
So is his game. And his appetite.
"Now I'm not as nervous to be traveling and I think I've got a leg-up in Italy because I know how to play over there," Richardson said. "Plus I know the dos and don'ts of food."
In other games:
News Sentinel 123, Campus Lights 94: UT's Yemi Makanjoula powered News Sentinel with 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting, while fellow Vol Brandon Lopez added 21. UT freshman Derek Reese scored 18 for Campus Lights.
Choice Spine 116, Rice Buick GMC 113: Choice Spine outgunned Rice thanks to UT's Jordan McRae (33) and Quinton Chievous (16). Galen Campbell scored a game-high 34 for Rice, while Ricky Taylor and UT's Rob Murphy scored 32 and 30, respectively.
Brendan F. Quinn covers Tennessee men's basketball. Follow him at http://twitter.com/BFQuinn
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Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 16
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
Ah, he's a 3*, sucks, Cuonzo can't recruit, we got Richardson because of Bruce Pearl, we suck, can't coach, can't recruit, bring back Pearl, burn down TBA, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH! Did I miss anything?
Just thought I would go ahead and throw that out there for the trolls. Did you read that trolls? Hopefully that will do and we won't have to hear it 50 more times from the WestKnoxRepo croud.
tovolny writes:
The important thing here is that Quinn did a fantastic job writing this article. Knowing some things about what is going on in a players life tends to enhance the "fan" experience. We crave more information like this. Actually, the familiarity reduces our ire when a player makes a mistake, and enlarges the enjoyment when a player performs above expectations. We need MORE!
VolGrad writes:
Just thought I'd reply so your post would appear again... just in case that wasn't enough for them the first time.
Go Vols!!!
VolzsFan writes:
Did you miss anything? Lets see. Richardson averaged 2.9 pts per game. Seems to have potential yet "it has not happened yet". Martin? Seems to have some potential, "yet it has not happened yet". Pearl, he just took a program considered to be a coaching grave yard, upgraded the facilities when Hammy and Pat could not, made it a top 5 school in attendance, coached in the NCAA Tournament about 8-10 times, several Sweet 16's, and elite 8, winning 20 every year and showed what Tenn COULD be. He was 231-46 in D2 and a National Title, 231-99 in D1, 145-61 at UT and an SEC record of 65-31. 8 of his 10 D1 seasons got a NCAA bid.
The next NCAA tournament game Martin (80-54 as a head coach)coaches in will be his first. Keep some perspective. Some knuckleheads lost that in baseball and football and now in basketball. We just went from having the 3 most successful UT coaches on campus at the same time to perennial doormats. Enjoy the change....but remember some perspective.
VolGrad writes:
O well, Rich, it was a nice thought anyway.
Go Vols!
VolGrad writes:
Speaking of keeping some "perspective:"
Martin finished his first year here taking a team picked to finish 11th to a 2nd place finish. They didn't have what it took to grind it out in the tournament last year, but none of that diminishes the season's accomplishments for the first year coach.
So "remember some perspective."
Go Vols!!!
johnlg00 writes:
Strongly agree that Quinn is a welcome addition to the KNS stable. Delighted to see that Josh has apparently gotten his shooting stroke straightened out. That will no doubt help his confidence on the court as well as boost the confidence of CCM and his teammates in him. I look for Josh to make great strides on the court this year.
volvann writes:
Seriously folks.. JR was a freshman with 2.9 pts. New year with experience, might be pretty darn cool. Kid has talent, coach took what everyone thought was a bad team and won. CBP lost by 40 in embarrassing loss to MI. Team will be good this year no matter how many posts try to make it bad.......
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Why are we still comparing Martin to Pearl? BECAUSE we're trolls!!
Besides the article is about Richardson. I too like him and agree with John that if he improves his perimeter shots he'll really help us this year.I hope his foul shots improve too.
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
Rich, do you or John know anything about the Rob Murphy kid that is a walk-on? I keep reading more about him. Any potential for helping this year?
ButlerGuy writes:
Why are we comparing Coach Pearl to Coach Martin? It's not like UT sit down and decided 'let's get rid of CBP for this young Coach ah.. what's his name? Oh Cunzo Martin.' I loved CBP but "he" caused his own demise. We had to have someone coaching this team. Stop making this a CBP vs. CM contest. CM did a fine job year one. Now we need to grade him against his own performance looking for continuous improvement.
johnlg00 writes:
If you were asking me, I'm afraid that name doesn't ring a bell. Now you've got me wondering, too. Hope somebody who knows will tell us all something.
johnlg00 writes:
Most of the comparing is coming from those who apparently will never get over Pearl. We all cheered for him at least until the recent unpleasantness, and I would say nearly all of us still wish him well. As for the ones who can't get over him, I can only imagine that they have never had their hearts broken before, the kind who still pine for the high school cheerleader who smiled at him once. Most people not suffering from that particular syndrome, however much we celebrate the good days with Pearl, are more than happy to have a man and a coach like CCM now. If Pearl was the "cheerleader" everybody wanted to date, CCM is the good but quiet one who one is thankful to marry, not to be sappy about it. Each has an individual right to our gratitude for them being among us.
MothershipChip writes:
Rob Murphy walked onto the team last year, I believe he will be a senior this coming season. He is more or less a practice body so if he plays it will be late in blowouts.
HtownVol writes:
I met JR last season at the LSU game and he is the nicest player on the team. His parents were so nice also.
I really like JR but like he said his shot has to get better. He had as bad a jupmer as anyone last season so all he was good for was defense and an occasional dunk.
If JR can develope a jump shot he can be a major difference in UT being a top 25 team or not.
I wish we could count on Trae and Jordan being consistant scorers but I dont think that will happen any time soon.
It stinks cuz I think Jordan is easily the most talented scorer on the team. He (in my opinion) really lacks the desire to be great. If he pushed as hard as he could he could be one of the top scorers in the SEC.
As for Trae he is a scorer but he is streaky. It is either 20 points or 7 points, it seems. I can only hope that he learns how to manage the ball in late game situations. I am so tired of seeing UT down late and Trae walks the ball up the court, not knowing that he has to push the ball and attempt to score.
I have been saying it for a while now but UT is still one player away from being a top team. They need someone who can create a shot when no one else can. I do not see that player on the roster.
Maybe they will teach the Guards how to feed the two monsters we have in Maymon and Stokes. Last season they just didnt feed them enough. And those two also need to know how to hit the open man when they are doubled.
GO VOLS
johnlg00 writes:
Good post. Not much anybody who both knows basketball and supports the Vols could object to. I would only say that it may be too early to say that there is no one on the squad who can create his own shot. Golden and McRae can create shots, although, especially in the case of the latter, they aren't always GOOD shots.
In Golden's case, we have to remember that he was battling chronic foot and knee injuries since at least the Mississippi State game last season. If his knee is good after his post-season surgery, he should be quicker and more decisive next season. As for McRae, I would say that he oscillates between being too assertive and too passive. He doesn't need to speed up so much as he needs to better recognize what is needed at a given time. Some of that may be due to an inability so far to feel the rhythm of a game and let it come to him rather than acting on impulse. Both of them can and should be better at all of this with last year's experience under their belts.
Agree completely with the idea that the perimeter players need to get better at delivering the ball to the posts in good position. The posts need to do a better job of positioning themselves to get the ball where they can do something with it, being more assertive in demanding the ball, and getting a better feel for how and when to pass it back out. Again, more experience and familiarity with each other could well lead to improvement in those areas.
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