Michigan - Louisville game

[ITSGR82BATNVOL]

Just finished watching that game. WOW, really puts in perspective where we are as a program. We aren't even in the same stratosphere as those teams, and it's just the second round of play!

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

TN isn't that far away from beating a Jacksonville State and losing the next game.

There are a bunch of really good coaches that aren't getting past the first weekend. This board would be roasting those coaches for not making the Sweet 16.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Cool story bro.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Next year we're an 2nd round or Sweet Sixteen team at "best" if Barnes can get the most out of our team. All the pieces are there if we can just stay healthy.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Next year we're an 2nd round or Sweet Sixteen team at "best" if Barnes can get the most out of our team. All the pieces are there if we can just stay healthy.

All of the pieces EXCEPT for a high level starting PG and a 6'9" or bigger low post that weighs more than a deuce and a quarter that can walk and chew gum simultaneously. They are inching forward however. They have top 10 potential in 3 years when Williams, Bone, Bowden, Turner, and (possibly) Parker are seniors with Fulkerson, Johnson, Kent, Pons, and Walker as the juniors. They might be top 25 in two years. I'm not expecting a lot next year... except for the Legions of the Miserable to ***** louder.

 

[05_never_again]

Just finished watching that game. WOW, really puts in perspective where we are as a program. We aren't even in the same stratosphere as those teams, and it's just the second round of play!

Tennessee is not and never will be a basketball school. Good seasons are aberrations, not glimpses of what the program might be.

 

[golfballs]

.

 

[Titans4Vols]

Tennessee is not and never will be a basketball school. Good seasons are aberrations, not glimpses of what the program might be.

Pretty much.

When the NCAA took Pearl from us, they took our best shot in our basketball program's history to stay a consistently good program.

It's funny though, even when looking at a basketball program like Michigan State with Tom Izzo, a legendary head coach, he "only" has one championship to his name, and that was 17 years ago.

College basketball is a ***** to win in.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Tennessee is not and never will be a basketball school. Good seasons are aberrations, not glimpses of what the program might be.

Doesn't have to be; Michigan isn't a "basketball school" either, it's most definitely a football school but they do just fine on the hardwood. Same with Wisconsin. Same with Florida.

You don't have to be a "basketball school" to be sucessful in both, as plenty of teams have shown. Texas used to be on that list, now they pretty much suck at both.

 

[05_never_again]

Doesn't have to be; Michigan isn't a "basketball school" either, it's most definitely a football school but they do just fine on the hardwood. Same with Wisconsin. Same with Florida.

You don't have to be a "basketball school" to be sucessful in both, as plenty of teams have shown. Texas used to be on that list, now they pretty much suck at both.

But when you aren't a basketball school to begin with, and you had to unceremoniously fire the best coach in school history, it is very difficult to come back from that.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

But when you aren't a basketball school to begin with, and you had to unceremoniously fire the best coach in school history, it is very difficult to come back from that.

Lesser schools have come back from much worse.

Florida traditionally was much worse than us, prior to the 90s they did almost nothing, and even the NCAAT appearances in the 80s had to be vacated.

27 years later they've had 2 National Championhips and 5 Final Fours, the stars may be aligning that a 3rd different coach will lead them to their 6th Final Four in just his second season.

UT's problem is A) Had an AD for a long time that didn't give a crap about men's basketball (Dickey) and B) other than Pearl and the jury is out on Barnes, ADs that made bad to terrible hires.

 

[05_never_again]

Lesser schools have come back from much worse.

Florida traditionally was much worse than us, prior to the 90s they did almost nothing, and even the NCAAT appearances in the 80s had to be vacated.

27 years later they've had 2 National Championhips and 5 Final Fours, the stars may be aligning that a 3rd different coach will lead them to their 6th Final Four in just his second season.

Not sure I'd call Florida a lesser school relative to Tennessee. Their football program was also largely non-existent until the early 90s, and they have passed Tennessee in that regard too.

Demographic trends have helped them and all of the Florida schools out since the 1980s and early 90s, and they will always have recruiting advantages over non-Florida schools no matter the sport.

Generally speaking, our fanbase (not you specifically) underestimates the difficulty in recruiting to Tennessee. It isn't particularly difficult to recruit here, but relatively speaking, it is more difficult to recruit to Tennessee than to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, or LSU, for example. And that's just the SEC schools. Matters more in football than basketball, but it is still relatively more difficult.