1. Let's sit back and enjoy. Sweet 16 appearances don't grow on trees. That's 3 in 5 years. And people criticize Pearl's teams in March? Quite odd. Pearl is the SEC's best coach this season. The job he has done losing Negedu and then Smith and then Williams, Tatum and Goins for a stretch, and then having Chism and Tatum injured. It is quite amazing. Now we are getting the love -- Digger Phelps and Hubert Davis. Hubert just said we are Final Four capable.
2. It is a real pleasure to hear Bill Rafferty do a game. His comments the other night when Chism was kicking JP Prince on the floor and the comments about Prince and Pearl during the game. It is the most entertaining basketball when that guy is doing it "with a little kiss".
3. That is how a 3 or 4 seed should take down a 7-9 MAC team placed as a 14. I think it is clear now that the Big East was overseeded universally. Georgetown should have been a 5. The interesting thing about the tournament is that the deeper you go, the more your chances of getting a favorable match-up (even though facing better teams) increases. The Committee can't project match-ups 2, 3, 4 games into the tournament. Northern Iowa is giving Kansas all they want and more right now. Keep winning Vols. It's crazy, but we could have to beat Georgia Tech and Michigan State, Maryland, or Northern Iowa to get to the Final Four. Ya never know.
4. Chism came to play and we actually utilized him early. He and JP Prince are the best things we have going for us right now -- two seniors who don't want this run to end. Chism with those two old-fashioned three point plays and the one the new way. The guy had 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists. What a great line. He and Brian Williams were really putting it on Ohio, but Brian had early trouble guarding his guy and although Brian would moan if he beat a guy with a bat and they called a foul, at least 2 of his fouls were BS.
5. JP Prince's defense in the first half was terrible. He let his guy get two wide-open threes and he later failed to follow the simple game plan on Cooper -- make him go right. Led to 8 Ohio points. In a half where Ohio only had 27 points at half-time, that is a lot to give up as a result of mindless defense. But JP was absolute money late in the 2nd half. He can present such a match-up problems for teams. Ohio had no chance of keeping him from getting to the rim whenever he wanted, especially in transition. He closed that team out almost single-handedly and took a great charge that, of course, in the 2nd half was called a block.
6. How nice is it to have a PG that you don't hear from and then look up and see 9 assists against 2 turnovers? Bobby Maze was just as solid today as he could be. He only had 3 points, but my goodness -- 9 assists against 2 turnovers. That is an NCAA point guard. He had a rough day shooting the ball, but 4 big rebounds and he is as solid as they come with the ball late in the 2nd half with a lead. You have to really call Bobby, JP, and Wayne the three amigos for this team. They are bringing it.
7. Have to hand it to Maze, Goins, Tatum, Bone, Hopson and the bigs with the way they played defense in the first half. Ohio was stymied. We played well in the first half, but made some really dumb error (mainly by Goins and Pearl) that kept that from being a 17 point half-time lead). Got to mention Hopson's brain fart with about 4 minutes to go. Why can't he just understand the game of basketball and play it? A smart play there is to pull the ball out and run clock -- he has to dribble himself into a turnover.
8. When you get to this level, it is all about coaching. You could tell that our gameplan was very, very good, offensively and defensively. Ohio's guards had to work so hard offensively, that they looked worn-out with 8 minutes to go in the first half. And when this team gets a lead on a team late, we are one of the best at closing it out that I have seen. It's because of JP's and Wayne's ability to handle the ball and our athleticism. We are a very good 3 point defensive team and we are very good in transition. That means trying to hit 3s late to get back in it or trying to press us is near impossible.
9. Got to hand it to Brian Williams. I thought he played a very good game. I can't hold him at fault for not being quick enough to handle some of those ball screens. On the other side of that coin, his size was important on the boards. He had some key put-backs. 8 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. That is exactly what a 6'10 guy with his beef should get against a team like Ohio. Also, Ohio's big man had 6 points and 3 rebounds in 32 minutes. Way to go Brian.
10. Scotty Hopson? Wow. He quietly gets 17 points and nails 2 of 3 from three point range. He had a very good game, near perfect, but for a FT miss and 3 turnovers, 2 of which are simply because of him not focusing and making bad decisions.
11. I thought the refs made some bad calls in our favor in the first half and then made a stretch of horrible calls in the 2nd half in favor of Ohio. The block call on Chism in the 2nd half was one of the worst calls you'll see. I thought that was a Vandy player driving on us in Memorial. I doubt we'll see that crew in the Sweet 16.
12. Now, where do we need to get better? If we play Ohio State in the Sweet 16, we will need to play a lot better than this to win:
a. Goins and Pearl were two of Ohio's best 5 players in this game. We cannot win in the Sweet 16 if Pearl gets a lot of minutes and if Goins plays like that. I know, if Goins doesn't play well against SDSU we wouldn't have been here today, but this is my thoughts on the game, not my liberal, make everyone happy therapy session. Goins stunk up this game. I'm not sure why we can't have players have back to back good games. Baby Pearl's offense is just terrible. His defense was very good, I thought. But why would you have him inbounding the ball or even touching it late trying to protect a lead?
b. Our SGs and SFs have got to rebound. Too many times Tatum and Prince look for the snowbird dunk and the freaking defensive rebound goes long and would have been in their hands had they simply stood still. Only 5 rebounds among Prince, Tatum, and Hopson. That is pathetic for guys with their athleticism and length. Whether we face Ga. Tech or Ohio State, if we don't get 10 or more rebounds from those three, we are done.
c. Mentally, we have to play smarter. Hopson, especially Goins, and to a lesser extent JP made some above-the-shoulders mistakes today that kept this from being the 20+ plus blow-out it should have been and will keep us from winning in the Sweet 16 game.
d. We need to keep Williams out of foul trouble. We did a good job today of protecting Chism. We are very weak in the post when Chism and Williams are not around.
13. The interesting thing about this team is despite losing two guys we were counting on early in the season (Negedu and Smith) we are so versatile. Gtown couldn't possibly go to a guy like Josh Bone, who hasn't played in forever, or Woolridge, and change itself as a defensive team. Few teams have 5-6 guys who can go-off any night and get 17 points like Chism, JP, Hopson, Tatum, and Maze. Heck, even Goins did it against SDSU. I'm not sure we can beat Ohio State because they are a team that has 4 guys who can hang 20 on you (at one time), but I like this team a lot and I bet they are a hoot to be around. This is a special group. 27 wins. Another Sweet 16. The Chism farewell ride. Go Vols...and Go Northern Iowa....
2. It is a real pleasure to hear Bill Rafferty do a game. His comments the other night when Chism was kicking JP Prince on the floor and the comments about Prince and Pearl during the game. It is the most entertaining basketball when that guy is doing it "with a little kiss".
3. That is how a 3 or 4 seed should take down a 7-9 MAC team placed as a 14. I think it is clear now that the Big East was overseeded universally. Georgetown should have been a 5. The interesting thing about the tournament is that the deeper you go, the more your chances of getting a favorable match-up (even though facing better teams) increases. The Committee can't project match-ups 2, 3, 4 games into the tournament. Northern Iowa is giving Kansas all they want and more right now. Keep winning Vols. It's crazy, but we could have to beat Georgia Tech and Michigan State, Maryland, or Northern Iowa to get to the Final Four. Ya never know.
4. Chism came to play and we actually utilized him early. He and JP Prince are the best things we have going for us right now -- two seniors who don't want this run to end. Chism with those two old-fashioned three point plays and the one the new way. The guy had 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists. What a great line. He and Brian Williams were really putting it on Ohio, but Brian had early trouble guarding his guy and although Brian would moan if he beat a guy with a bat and they called a foul, at least 2 of his fouls were BS.
5. JP Prince's defense in the first half was terrible. He let his guy get two wide-open threes and he later failed to follow the simple game plan on Cooper -- make him go right. Led to 8 Ohio points. In a half where Ohio only had 27 points at half-time, that is a lot to give up as a result of mindless defense. But JP was absolute money late in the 2nd half. He can present such a match-up problems for teams. Ohio had no chance of keeping him from getting to the rim whenever he wanted, especially in transition. He closed that team out almost single-handedly and took a great charge that, of course, in the 2nd half was called a block.
6. How nice is it to have a PG that you don't hear from and then look up and see 9 assists against 2 turnovers? Bobby Maze was just as solid today as he could be. He only had 3 points, but my goodness -- 9 assists against 2 turnovers. That is an NCAA point guard. He had a rough day shooting the ball, but 4 big rebounds and he is as solid as they come with the ball late in the 2nd half with a lead. You have to really call Bobby, JP, and Wayne the three amigos for this team. They are bringing it.
7. Have to hand it to Maze, Goins, Tatum, Bone, Hopson and the bigs with the way they played defense in the first half. Ohio was stymied. We played well in the first half, but made some really dumb error (mainly by Goins and Pearl) that kept that from being a 17 point half-time lead). Got to mention Hopson's brain fart with about 4 minutes to go. Why can't he just understand the game of basketball and play it? A smart play there is to pull the ball out and run clock -- he has to dribble himself into a turnover.
8. When you get to this level, it is all about coaching. You could tell that our gameplan was very, very good, offensively and defensively. Ohio's guards had to work so hard offensively, that they looked worn-out with 8 minutes to go in the first half. And when this team gets a lead on a team late, we are one of the best at closing it out that I have seen. It's because of JP's and Wayne's ability to handle the ball and our athleticism. We are a very good 3 point defensive team and we are very good in transition. That means trying to hit 3s late to get back in it or trying to press us is near impossible.
9. Got to hand it to Brian Williams. I thought he played a very good game. I can't hold him at fault for not being quick enough to handle some of those ball screens. On the other side of that coin, his size was important on the boards. He had some key put-backs. 8 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. That is exactly what a 6'10 guy with his beef should get against a team like Ohio. Also, Ohio's big man had 6 points and 3 rebounds in 32 minutes. Way to go Brian.
10. Scotty Hopson? Wow. He quietly gets 17 points and nails 2 of 3 from three point range. He had a very good game, near perfect, but for a FT miss and 3 turnovers, 2 of which are simply because of him not focusing and making bad decisions.
11. I thought the refs made some bad calls in our favor in the first half and then made a stretch of horrible calls in the 2nd half in favor of Ohio. The block call on Chism in the 2nd half was one of the worst calls you'll see. I thought that was a Vandy player driving on us in Memorial. I doubt we'll see that crew in the Sweet 16.
12. Now, where do we need to get better? If we play Ohio State in the Sweet 16, we will need to play a lot better than this to win:
a. Goins and Pearl were two of Ohio's best 5 players in this game. We cannot win in the Sweet 16 if Pearl gets a lot of minutes and if Goins plays like that. I know, if Goins doesn't play well against SDSU we wouldn't have been here today, but this is my thoughts on the game, not my liberal, make everyone happy therapy session. Goins stunk up this game. I'm not sure why we can't have players have back to back good games. Baby Pearl's offense is just terrible. His defense was very good, I thought. But why would you have him inbounding the ball or even touching it late trying to protect a lead?
b. Our SGs and SFs have got to rebound. Too many times Tatum and Prince look for the snowbird dunk and the freaking defensive rebound goes long and would have been in their hands had they simply stood still. Only 5 rebounds among Prince, Tatum, and Hopson. That is pathetic for guys with their athleticism and length. Whether we face Ga. Tech or Ohio State, if we don't get 10 or more rebounds from those three, we are done.
c. Mentally, we have to play smarter. Hopson, especially Goins, and to a lesser extent JP made some above-the-shoulders mistakes today that kept this from being the 20+ plus blow-out it should have been and will keep us from winning in the Sweet 16 game.
d. We need to keep Williams out of foul trouble. We did a good job today of protecting Chism. We are very weak in the post when Chism and Williams are not around.
13. The interesting thing about this team is despite losing two guys we were counting on early in the season (Negedu and Smith) we are so versatile. Gtown couldn't possibly go to a guy like Josh Bone, who hasn't played in forever, or Woolridge, and change itself as a defensive team. Few teams have 5-6 guys who can go-off any night and get 17 points like Chism, JP, Hopson, Tatum, and Maze. Heck, even Goins did it against SDSU. I'm not sure we can beat Ohio State because they are a team that has 4 guys who can hang 20 on you (at one time), but I like this team a lot and I bet they are a hoot to be around. This is a special group. 27 wins. Another Sweet 16. The Chism farewell ride. Go Vols...and Go Northern Iowa....
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