Lew Evans Appreciation Thread

#27
#27
Too bad he couldn't have played like a fifth-year senior all season.
We might have made the post-season after all if he had.
 
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#28
#28
Chris4Vols22 said:
Gotta agree with k-town on this one. Lew gets extra love because he's the token white guy. No one is discrediting everything Lew has done for us, but if you go to TBA, Lew hitting a 3 or taking a charge gets the place more riled up than an amazing play by any other player on the team. Same thing happened with McBee and SFP.
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Most people just like the opportunity to chant "Leeeeew". If his name were Frank Johnson, we wouldn't notice the crowd response nearly as much. Fans appreciate players that periodically overachieve relative to their talent. Dane Bradshaw was a more talented version of Lew Evans. Both guys hustled, did the dirty work, and left it all on the floor. Fans appreciate that attitude in a culture where many kids don't appreciate the opportunity they have. Watching kids maximize their potential beats the crap out of watching kids squander an opportunity because they are lazy or entitled.
 
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#29
#29
Special Ed said:
Too bad he couldn't have played like a fifth-year senior all season.
We might have made the post-season after all if he had.
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Do you mean like Swipper Boy at USCw? What grad transfers have been great players? Most really good players would instead play overseas for a paycheck.
 
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#30
#30
cncchris33 said:
Most people just like the opportunity to chant "Leeeeew". If his name were Frank Johnson, we wouldn't notice the crowd response nearly as much. Fans appreciate players that periodically overachieve relative to their talent. Dane Bradshaw was a more talented version of Lew Evans. Both guys hustled, did the dirty work, and left it all on the floor. Fans appreciate that attitude in a culture where many kids don't appreciate the opportunity they have. Watching kids maximize their potential beats the crap out of watching kids squander an opportunity because they are lazy or entitled.
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I don't disagree in the least. I don't see that detracting from my idea though. Would be interested to compare the crowd reaction between one of Lew's more open 3s and Schofield's go-ahead from this last game...
 
#31
#31
cncchris33 said:
Most people just like the opportunity to chant "Leeeeew". If his name were Frank Johnson, we wouldn't notice the crowd response nearly as much. Fans appreciate players that periodically overachieve relative to their talent. Dane Bradshaw was a more talented version of Lew Evans. Both guys hustled, did the dirty work, and left it all on the floor. Fans appreciate that attitude in a culture where many kids don't appreciate the opportunity they have. Watching kids maximize their potential beats the crap out of watching kids squander an opportunity because they are lazy or entitled.
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This sums it nicely.
 
#35
#35
Everyone has a ceiling and each of us generally knows what it is. Lew has heart and I congratulate him for being brave enough to come to TN and push that ceiling. He more than earned his keep this year. I enjoyed watching. Thanks Lew.
 
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#36
#36
Without Lew this year this team is well under .500. Looks like we are NIT bound and a good deal of the credit goes to him.
 
#37
#37
Chris4Vols22 said:
Gotta agree with k-town on this one. Lew gets extra love because he's the token white guy. No one is discrediting everything Lew has done for us, but if you go to TBA, Lew hitting a 3 or taking a charge gets the place more riled up than an amazing play by any other player on the team. Same thing happened with McBee and SFP.
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I seriously doubt that has anything to do with skin color. More so talent level and likability. Underdog type of thing.
 
#38
#38
People cheering on Lew Evans is kinda tonge in cheek. And he's the underdog and people can appreciate that. He's not overly skilled. He's not a great athlete. He's not really good at anything. But he's helped the team this year.

Nobody really thinks he is awesome. How anyone could make this into a "Lew Evans is overrated/overhyped" thing is beyond me. Making it a race thing is even sillier.
 
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#39
#39
BigZiti09 said:
People cheering on Lew Evans is kinda tonge in cheek. And he's the underdog and people can appreciate that. He's not overly skilled. He's not a great athlete. He's not really good at anything. But he's helped the team this year.

Nobody really thinks he is awesome. How anyone could make this into a "Lew Evans is overrated/overhyped" thing is beyond me. Making it a race thing is even sillier.
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Silly yes, but you will have a hard time convincing me that the discrepancies in crowd reactions are purely coincidental. If it were really rainbows and unicorns as you suggest, I don't see how Brian Williams isn't the most beloved Vol since Lofton. 4 year player that lost like 150 lbs, worked his way into starting lineup by senior year, part of UT's greatest teams, went from a body on the bench to an important piece on the floor, etc.
 
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#40
#40
Chris4Vols22 said:
Silly yes, but you will have a hard time convincing me that the discrepancies in crowd reactions are purely coincidental. If it were really rainbows and unicorns as you suggest, I don't see how Brian Williams isn't the most beloved Vol since Lofton. 4 year player that lost like 150 lbs, worked his way into starting lineup by senior year, part of UT's greatest teams, went from a body on the bench to an important piece on the floor, etc.
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And was given a scholarship as a high school senior. Lew Evans has played at 5 different schools and I couldn't name you one and probably have never even watched a basketball game played by most of them.

It's not the same thing.

Ask fans who they want on their team...Lew Evans or Brian Williams and most fans with a brain would say williams.

Lew also hasn't been arrested in his time here or suspended by the coach.

Also, to whoever brought up Skylar McBee earlier on here let's not forget he was a walkon that earned a scholarship. Once again the underdog role. And Skylar McBee wasn't very good but he did hustle and people pick up on that and appreciate that.
 
#42
#42
I think all of you have some decent points, and it is hard to put an exact reason to the crowd infatuation with Evans, but he is definitely an unlikely hero and an underdog. I think if you would ask the student section, the whole Leeeeeeewwwwww chant probably started off as sarcasm and a joke, but lew has proven his worth on the court and earned the fan base's respect, escpecially after yesterday. I think it also has a little to do with the word play of his name. Leeewwww is pretty catchy as opposed to Graaaaannnnt or Hubbbbsssss. If there was a black guy by the name of Lew who made the same type of contributions, I think he would get the same treatment from crowd as the white Lew. IMO
 
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#43
#43
BigZiti09 said:
And was given a scholarship as a high school senior. Lew Evans has played at 5 different schools and I couldn't name you one and probably have never even watched a basketball game played by most of them.

It's not the same thing.

Ask fans who they want on their team...Lew Evans or Brian Williams and most fans with a brain would say williams.

Lew also hasn't been arrested in his time here or suspended by the coach.

Also, to whoever brought up Skylar McBee earlier on here let's not forget he was a walkon that earned a scholarship. Once again the underdog role. And Skylar McBee wasn't very good but he did hustle and people pick up on that and appreciate that.
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Ok, so your point on Williams doesn't really help your case. Are you saying Lew wasn't offered a scholly out of HS? In any case, he's a 5th year senior who was brought in for just one year, so I think it's fair to expect him to be an instant contributor instead of an instant liability as he was most of the season. He finally gets it together towards the end playing to the original expectations. Williams's story blows Lew's out of the water.

But to my original point, I'm not disagreeing with you guys in the least that people will cheer hard for hustle plays or an amazing play from a very unlikely player, but I fully believe that our tokes get extra cheers. I don't think people deliberately do it, but our white guys have historically received 5 star cheers for 1 star plays, and vise versa over the past ~10 years.

Ultimately, I really don't care about any of it because UT bball is fun as hell, and I love it no matter what. But I had to agree with k-town's assessment as I have observed what he has for a long time now.
 
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#44
#44
Btw, sorry if I touch a nerve with anyone on this topic, it's a volatile discussion. I'm down with respectfully agreeing to disagree. I definitely don't want anyone to think I'm making blanket statements about the fan base, just observing what happens in certain situations.

Thank you everyone for being adults.

As others have said, we lose against Bama without Lew, and he made a very impressive turnaround as the season progressed. I thought some of his antics were silly, but kid laid his heart and body on floor every time he laced up. Thank you Lew, help us win a few more before you go.
 
#45
#45
Who would have thunk that there would be an appreciation thread for Lew. Some on here have trashed and belittled him since he was signed. Yes he lacked the talent to be an everyday player but he most often played hard. JMHO!
 
#46
#46
Johnnyreb#VFL said:
I think all of you have some decent points, and it is hard to put an exact reason to the crowd infatuation with Evans, but he is definitely an unlikely hero and an underdog. I think if you would ask the student section, the whole Leeeeeeewwwwww chant probably started off as sarcasm and a joke, but lew has proven his worth on the court and earned the fan base's respect, escpecially after yesterday. I think it also has a little to do with the word play of his name. Leeewwww is pretty catchy as opposed to Graaaaannnnt or Hubbbbsssss. If there was a black guy by the name of Lew who made the same type of contributions, I think he would get the same treatment from crowd as the white Lew. IMO
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The Neyland crowd used to chant Reggie and Nooonan and Poookie (Puki). A good name for that type of thing supersedes skin color.

Paul Bain ain't a white guy either, although the VN board is a smaller sample size.
 
#47
#47
Chris4Vols22 said:
Btw, sorry if I touch a nerve with anyone on this topic, it's a volatile discussion. I'm down with respectfully agreeing to disagree. I definitely don't want anyone to think I'm making blanket statements about the fan base, just observing what happens in certain situations.

Thank you everyone for being adults.

As others have said, we lose against Bama without Lew, and he made a very impressive turnaround as the season progressed. I thought some of his antics were silly, but kid laid his heart and body on floor every time he laced up. Thank you Lew, help us win a few more before you go.
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And teeth
 
#50
#50
Chris4Vols22 said:
For real? I missed that...
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LSU. Took an elbow in the face and instead of LSU getting a flagrant foul, Lew was called for the foul because he was in the offensive player's "cylinder". I've never heard of such a ridiculous ruling. It might gave been TV Teddy that overruled it in LSU's favor.
 
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