Who can beat us?

In the SEC, no road game is a given. Not everyone is at UT’s level, but no one is terrible.

Along with Tennessee, Kentucky, MSU, Auburn are definitely tournament teams. In fact, the only team I think you can definitely eliminate at this point is SC, maybe Georgia. They just don’t have the talent or coaching. TAMU, Vandy and Florida are doubtful, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked if one of those ended up sneaking in or at the very least getting a win over a team they shouldn’t beat (like Tennessee.)

The SEC is not as good as last year, but we will have some tough matchups, especially on the road, and definitely for as long as Turner is out. WV is going to be tough without Turner too, and we are lucky that game is in Knoxville.

If we went into the tournament with three losses or less...I would say we over performed. 5 or less we are right we’re would should be...more than that...I would be surprised.

Regardless of our record entering the tournament, if we are healthy we will be ready to make a run. The talent is there to beat anyone on any night. The maturity level of this team took a huge step up after Kansas, and we are going to be thankful for that game along with Zags and Louisville in March. These guys have been in battle with good teams and are ready for war.
I expect to lose at least one road game to an unexpected SEC foe. Kind of like how we beat Kansas that year with Skyler McBee and the Woolridge bank three. We will have that target for a lot of teams and it is hard to keep the focus up for the entire SEC grind. Kentucky is looking a lot better and Auburn will be good. I expect 3 SEC losses. Less than three I am very happy.
 
That was last year. Every year is different. Since last year, LSU added 2 pros - one a 1st rounder. Kentucky has 3-4 1st rounders on the roster. Auburn was injured last year and healthy this year. MSU signed a Top 20 class since last year. I've watched all of these teams, and all are capable of beating the Vols.

Not sure how Barnes made Penny look like a HS coach. Vols were favored by 11-12, won by 10. Penny's team, though smaller, competed physically, turned UT over at an alarming rate, and hung 92 on one of the best defensive teams even though the leading scorer was ice cold. All this while inheriting a subpar roster, signing better talent than what was on the roster in 30 days, and being on the job for 7 months. I would think that a "Hall of FAme" coach would be light years better than a coach with less than a year under his belt. The score and in game adjustments simply don't show a huge discrepancy between the coaches.

Barnes is more like Tubby Smith than Cal, Izzo, K, or Self. Have fun with 2 game Rick.
Clown shoes post of the day. Your other posts in this thread finished 2nd and 3rd. Congrats.
 
I don’t think LSU is a great matchup. so I definitely could envision a loss there. And I think the subsequent game could be a trap game at Ole Miss. They’re much better than expected this year and we could be looking ahead to Kentucky - potentially in a revenge match. Other than that there aren’t any obvious poor matchups for us. I think UGA from a matchup perspective might make the game closer than expected but certainly not a loss. If we get ****** refs which put us in foul trouble I could see a couple potential trip ups. But overall I think we finish 14-4 or better in conference play
 
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It's fun to think we're unbeatable but that's just not true. Yes, we can beat ourselves too, but there are some really good teams out there.

Now if the question is who can we not beat. Well then nobody.
 
Duke
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Kansas
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It's fun to think we're unbeatable but that's just not true. Yes, we can beat ourselves too, but there are some really good teams out there.

Now if the question is who can we not beat. Well then nobody.
I think the original question may have been in relation to the rest of our schedule.
 
Kansas just lost again, big. SEC schedule will not be easy. Bama just upset Kentucky. At least we get Bama at home this year, after the beating we took against them last season.
 
OP, from the looks of the game that I just watched the only team that can beat us is us. I know that sounds like coach speech but I really believe that at this point. We are complete team. We do every thing really well. No team is going to make us 1 dimensional and shut us down. We just need to play well and not crap the bed is 2nd round of the big tourney.
 
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Kansas just lost again, big. SEC schedule will not be easy. Bama just upset Kentucky. At least we get Bama at home this year, after the beating we took against them last season.
We rarely seem to play well against Bama for whatever reason. It's strange.
 
We rarely seem to play well against Bama for whatever reason. It's strange.

Oh, there are several teams we can lose to. Several in the SEC yes indeed. If we lose no more than 5 to 7 games I will be surprised and happy. I will feel no different about our team if we lose that many than I do now. I hold to my predictions about having trouble with slicers and the big men who go to the basket. Better protect the baseline. Having said that I take it one game at a time and enjoy every win. Hopefully when one player is a little off one of the others rise to the occasion. The mentality of some of these kids are like men who get up, take their lunch box and go to work. Its paying off in the recognition they are receiving.
 
Oh, there are several teams we can lose to. Several in the SEC yes indeed. If we lose no more than 5 to 7 games I will be surprised and happy. I will feel no different about our team if we lose that many than I do now. I hold to my predictions about having trouble with slicers and the big men who go to the basket. Better protect the baseline. Having said that I take it one game at a time and enjoy every win. Hopefully when one player is a little off one of the others rise to the occasion. The mentality of some of these kids are like men who get up, take their lunch box and go to work. Its paying off in the recognition they are receiving.
RE: Bama, I was speaking from a historical perspective.

In any case, at this point, I'd be a little surprised if we lost 5 games in conference. I believe 5 was my preseason prediction, but we have been even better than I thought we'd be, too. Obviously, an injury or something can derail that, but the way this team is playing, it's tough to find 5 likely losses. It's possible, but I'd be a little surprised at this point.
 
RE: Bama, I was speaking from a historical perspective.

In any case, at this point, I'd be a little surprised if we lost 5 games in conference. I believe 5 was my preseason prediction, but we have been even better than I thought we'd be, too. Obviously, an injury or something can derail that, but the way this team is playing, it's tough to find 5 likely losses. It's possible, but I'd be a little surprised at this point.

Let me get this right. Your going to be surprised if Auburn, Ky, Ala, LSU, Texas A&M, Miss St. Ark, Mizzou or Fla beat us. Those teams have athletes too. You have your opinion and I hope you are right but I'll be surprised if we don't lose some. I admit the schedule seems to favor us but by the Ala game I think we will know a lot more. It was great to see Turner back on the hardwood today. That bodes well for us.
 
Oh, there are several teams we can lose to. Several in the SEC yes indeed. If we lose no more than 5 to 7 games I will be surprised and happy. I will feel no different about our team if we lose that many than I do now. I hold to my predictions about having trouble with slicers and the big men who go to the basket. Better protect the baseline. Having said that I take it one game at a time and enjoy every win. Hopefully when one player is a little off one of the others rise to the occasion. The mentality of some of these kids are like men who get up, take their lunch box and go to work. Its paying off in the recognition they are receiving.
Zero chance this team loses 5-7 games this year if they stay healthy. Too much experience and too much talent, depth, efficient on both ends and well coached! We are the best offensive team and defensive team in the SEC and will be favorites in every game we play from now until March, and if we make a tournament run we will very likely be favored vs every team minus 1 or 2. We are the old man team that seldom loses at every rec center in the country. This is what an elite team looks like!
 
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Zero chance this team loses 5-7 games this year if they stay healthy. Too much experience and too much talent, depth, efficient on both ends and well coached! We are the best offensive team and defensive team in the SEC and will be favorites in every game we play from now until March, and if we make a tournament run we will very likely be favored vs every team minus 1 or 2. We are the old man team that seldom loses at every rec center in the country. This is what an elite team looks like!

ok
 
Let me get this right. Your going to be surprised if Auburn, Ky, Ala, LSU, Texas A&M, Miss St. Ark, Mizzou or Fla beat us. Those teams have athletes too. You have your opinion and I hope you are right but I'll be surprised if we don't lose some. I admit the schedule seems to favor us but by the Ala game I think we will know a lot more. It was great to see Turner back on the hardwood today. That bodes well for us.
Anybody can beat anybody any given day, it's a proven fact. This Vol bunch is a different animal. Losses to any of those teams other than Ky and Auburn will be considered huge upsets. I'll take a $100 from you for every win we get over those teams and give you $100 for every loss we suffer to same group. Anything more than 4 losses for this team heading into the tournament would surprise me.
 
Let me get this right. Your going to be surprised if Auburn, Ky, Ala, LSU, Texas A&M, Miss St. Ark, Mizzou or Fla beat us. Those teams have athletes too. You have your opinion and I hope you are right but I'll be surprised if we don't lose some. I admit the schedule seems to favor us but by the Ala game I think we will know a lot more. It was great to see Turner back on the hardwood today. That bodes well for us.
I won't be surprised if any one of those teams (or 3 or 4 of them) beat us. I never said we'd go undefeated. I just see a team that came out and flat dominated today. If that same team shows up with even 80% of the effectiveness and efficiency we saw today, I just don't see 5 losses. Now, we won't play with that same intensity and dominance 18 times. We will have a letdown here and there. Of the 9 teams you listed, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, and Mississippi State are the only ones that really concern me for different reasons, and 3 of those are on the road. Florida and Texas A&M are scattershot, Arky and Bama we get at home, Mizzou is coached by Zo.

We could possibly lose 5 or more, but yes, I'd be a little surprised.
 
Anybody can beat anybody any given day, it's a proven fact. This Vol bunch is a different animal. Losses to any of those teams other than Ky and Auburn will be considered huge upsets. I'll take a $100 from you for every win we get over those teams and give you $100 for every loss we suffer to same group. Anything more than 4 losses for this team heading into the tournament would surprise me.

I think with your accepting 4 losses would put you in the very realistic class and maybe right on the nose.
 
Kansas just lost again, big. SEC schedule will not be easy. Bama just upset Kentucky. At least we get Bama at home this year, after the beating we took against them last season.

WE CRUISING through the SEC scrubs.
 
I think with your accepting 4 losses would put you in the very realistic class and maybe right on the nose.
The number is definitely 0-4 more losses I feel with our remaining schedule and I would not be surprised either way. I think Turner is the key as if healthy our 1st 7 is the best in the country, with good supporting role guys like Pons and Fulkerson that bring quality intangibles.
 

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