A Coherent Rant

#26
#26
We have really enjoyed watching the Vols play this season. They are a fun team to watch even with the warts they may have. It still has a chance to be a real special season. Go Vols!
 
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#28
#28
cncchris33 said:
You can't, but this board goes full on stupid and defeatist following a loss. As if the 24 wins before it didn't matter. If we had managed 3 more points and beaten LSU, we'd hear the same posters banging the table about why we should be ranked #1 again.
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Truth bomb right here.
 
#30
#30
Re "peaking too early," I have mixed thoughts on that. I have seen some teams enter the tournament with what I think everyone would call momentum. Or the reverse, which is bad.

But I've also seen teams that sort of meandered in the closing weeks of the regular season come right back to top form when it counts.

I sense UT is in the latter category. Your experiences players are thinking about the dance, not even "big" games, save maybe Kentucky.

And when you accept that the Kentucky's and the Duke's will always have the best players and are likely to beat you no matter how good you are that day, it becomes a lot more fun to be happily surprised by the run you end up on.

Hope, tempered by realism.
 
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#31
#31
1985Vols said:
You make some good points, however, here is my response to each of them:
1. Maybe we didn't " peak" too early, but something is definitely different with this team the past couple of weeks. Tired , gassed, injured, maybe a mixture of all
2. I'm of the opinion that most officials have large egos and are ruining the game, especially with the replay monitor. This was a 2 hour and 45 minute game.Even Vitale was complaining about the refs going to the monitor too often
3. Without Turner and Bowden contributing, this team is average at best. Bowden is very fragile and when he loses his confidence, it's hard for him to get it back. We've seen this multiple times the past 2 seasons. Turner needs to stop trying to be the hero and learn that Grant and Schofield are our best two options when the game is on the line
4. IMO, no such thing as a loss not being "bad". Good losses are for losers. Is this as bad as losing to Georgia, of course not but they both would count the same in the loss column
5. This team could be a Final Four team, IF they get back to playing smart, sharing the ball and getting contributions from 3 key players that have suddenly disappeared ( Turner, Bowden, Alexander). Without them, we. are an average team at best because we have no bench strength
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Your #2 is a particular factor.:cool:Dick V. did indeed go on a rant about this.
 
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#33
#33
Catbone said:
I want to be clear though, I think this team is still very good just not trending the right direction. Probably the best roster top to bottom in our lifetime which is why this year is so important!
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Depends on how old you are, the 1976-77 roster was probably the best ever with Bernard King ( best player ever to play at UT and top 10 NBA pick), Ernie Grunfeld ( scored over 2,000 points and first round NBA pick), Reggie Johnson ( first round NBA pick) , Mike Jackson ( averaged double figures) , and Johnny Darden ( arguably one of the best pg's in UT history). From a talent perspective, I would argue Bruce Pearls 2008-09 team was better as well.
 
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#35
#35
Great comments. The only thing I would say about the officials is that technically, there aren’t conference officials. However, the SEC contracts the same pool of officials. So, even though they cross over conferences, we see the same group in our games.

Still can’t believe Will Wade cried all game and got make up calls.
 
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#36
#36
Catbone said:
I want to be clear though, I think this team is still very good just not trending the right direction. Probably the best roster top to bottom in our lifetime which is why this year is so important!
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Jerry Green had a stacked team. Pearl had some talented teams. I like this team, but you are too young to assess that.
 
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#37
#37
This is a fan base that turns on the teams from the school they “support” faster than any I have ever seen. All it takes is a setback of any kind after any of the teams show ANY success. If the average “ranter” on this site has the same type of criteria applied to their job evaluations, most would be unemployed many times over.
 
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#38
#38
Kentucky just played a very physical game, it looked like they weren't ready for that. LSU out played them in the end, after some key players got in foul trouble. Having a bullseye on your back steps up your opponents game, not that Kentucky nor LSU needs to step up their game any.
 
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#41
#41
Every season in every sport if you are a high level team, you go through peaks and valleys. Sometimes you hit a wall and you just have to struggle through it. It doesn't seem like alot of you have played sports at a level much above high school. Even individual players go through peaks and valleys. It's really really hard for every player to sustain high level play for a whole season. We have been very fortunate to have played at a frightneningly high level for a very long time this season.

I think this valley will help the team come back together. If it doesn't, they are in trouble. We had much better energy yesterday until late in the second half and it seemed like we gassed a little. They just have to get that mojo back.
 
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#44
#44
zjcvols said:
Tennessee’s offensive and defensive efficiency is the same from a month ago. No again we didn’t peak, we are playing better teams. This is what happens when you play better team.

Tennessee won six straight games by double digits before Kentucky. How is that peaking?
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Yeah, maybe it's "who we are". As Parcells says, you are what your record says you are. Margin of error is so tight with all these SEC games, pretty much top to bottom. My wish list is below:
* become tenacious again on offensive boards...showed some signs yesterday.
* stop ball penetration at top of the key with point guard...too many easy points by slashing guards.
* get back to "inside-out" feeding ball to Admiral and Grant first on every possession, and let defense dictate to take it to basket or kick out
* can't afford for Lamonte, Bowden and Bone to all have "off games" from perimeter
 
#45
#45
zjcvols said:
Obviously in typical message border fodder, people are panicking because Tennessee has last two of their last three games. But there have been some fallacies out there & overall things I want to mention.

1. This team did not peak too early. One the season isn't over. How the hell do you peak too early when the season isn't over? What if Tennessee wins the rest of their games? Did they peak too early still? Did they find another peak? It's dumb. Tennessee is playing better teams. Road conference wins against top 25 teams are really hard.

2. There is no such thing as conference officials. They are independent contractors. It's part of the reason officials aren't any good because nobody really governs them. But there are no such thing as SEC officials or Big Ten officials or ACC officials in college basketball.

3. Lamonte Turner has struggled. So has Jordan Bowden. Both have been off the last three games. This does not mean Lamonte coming back was bad for the team. This does not mean Jordan Bowden is mentally weak. There is this thing called slumps. Sometimes you are hot and overperform. Sometimes you struggle and under perform. It's called regressing to the mean. They do not suck. They will be fine. The same people complaining about these two players are the same people whining about how our best three point shooter should play inside more when he struggled (Admiral Schofield) and he's back to hitting perimeter shots. Just calm down.

4. Now, I do not have a problem with people saying this was a bad loss. In terms of resume, it is not. But Tennessee blew a nine point lead late, had two chances to win the game, gave up an offensive rebound late that tied the game in OT and LSU was without their best perimeter player. So if someone wants to say this is a bad loss, I don't have a problem with that.

5. HOWEVER, this does not mean Tennessee sucks or again we peaked too early. I don't believe this team can win a national title because of their rebounding woes and not being an elite defensive team. However, this does not mean the season is over or they won't make noise in the tourney or they can't win the Final Four.

6. Expectations can be a bitch. During the game against Vanderbilt, I did not have fun watching the game. That is a mistake. We beat an instate rival by double digits and all I did was roll my eyes and complain. That's a me problem. In 2016 (just three years ago) Tennessee lost twice to Vandy by a combined 31 points in the regular season. Tennessee has two tough losses in February ON THE ROAD AGAINST RANKED TEAMS. Villanova lost THREE TIMES in February last year. This could be the greatest Tennessee basketball team of all time. Let's relax a little and enjoy this team.

7. We have a lot of new posters to the basketball forum with the success of the basketball team and that is awesome! And there are times when established posters (including myself) can be a little ornery about new posters coming into the forum and I need to do better that regulars are being hospitable to everyone. But please, be considerate and knowledgable. Please use stats to support your opinions. Please don't drive by post and all you do is complain. Please just look at threads and the forum and see if threads have been started. It's always just a good reminder sometimes (plus I've been going on a merger spree, @Freak doesn't pay me, stop making me do mod work please).

8. Overall, Tennessee is 24-3 and has two SEC road losses. This is not a perfect team. No team is. There's a reason nobody has been undefeated in 40+ years. Some posters are overreacting and saying we won't accomplish anything while some posters trying to dismiss that today's loss means little or nothing. Like a lot of things, it's in the middle. I don't think Tennessee is going to win a national title. BUT THAT IS OKAY. This is not an elite basketball program. Go look at our 2020 target list and who is coming to Knoxville on Saturday, the program is being built. Next year's team can be really good too. I'm guilty of this sometimes, but we need to relax and enjoy what is happening. Plus, have you seen how bad the athletic department has been over the last ten years, dear god I am just glad to have a top 10 team in something (and except the Braves none of my pro sports teams are making the playoffs so I need this). We can win 30 games for only the second time in school history. We are in a good place. Trust me.
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Great post! My thoughts align with yours.
 
#46
#46
I know our guy was getting beat but why was Kyle Alexander not leaving his man to stop those layups by Smart at the end. It was bizarre.
 
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