1. Can we now declare JP Prince to possess the lowest basketball IQ of anyone ever to wear the Orange and White? A career sub-25% three point shooter decides to jack a 3 with the game close and under 3 minutes to go. What happens? Brick followed by UGA fast break and easy bucket. Then, when we finally get in the bonus, the career sub-60% FT shooter gets a rebound and decides to ignore Chism (77% FT shooter) and more importantly, Maze (85% FT shooter) and actually keep the ball and force UGA to foul him. If there is a dumber BB player in college basketball, I wish he played for KY.
2. Melvin Goins almost challenged JP, but Pearl got him on the bench quick after his boneheaded 1 on 4 move with under 3 minutes to go. Curiously, what was Pearl doing while Goins was driving down the sideline in front of the UT bench? I was yelling at the TV "pull it back". Was Pearl yelling that at Goins? One wonders.
3. We are going to lose a lot of games between now and the March tournaments if Steven Pearl continues to get as many minutes as he did tonight. Yeah he an run the floor and hit open layups (well, at least tonight he did; it isn't someting he does consistently), but he is in way over his head on the glass and on defense. Kenny Hall is in over his head on defense as well, but at least he is athletic and 6'10.
4. I've decided that Scotty Hopson isn't soft -- he's just smart. Why drive the lane and let Tony Greene and his f#@$-up pals watch you get raped while they suck on their whistles? I've never seen two players get beaten and battered like Hopson and Chism do while SEC refs watch like they are a member of the opposing team's staff. Skylar McBee got hit on an illegal pick by Thompkins harder than any opponent taking one from Eric Berry and the dumbass ref motions for him to get up as if he flopped. I'm surprised he was able to get up. When will someone at the University of Tennessee demand integrity from the Southeastern Conference when it comes to officiating? Let me get this straight -- in the KY game, Tony Greene and the other two stooges call 42 fouls. Against UGA, a much more physical team, with under 40 seconds to go in the game, they have to foul us 3 times before we shoot FTs because the refs have called 4 fouls on UGA the entire 2nd half.
5. I would take either Price or Thompkins in a heart-beat. Man what a team we'd be with one of them at Center and Chism playing PF.
6. Pearl's substitution patters are utterly insane. Teams constantly zone us and Pearl typically has only 1 three point shooter on the court. And, when he has Chism out there, he puts him in the low post and Pearl or Williams on the perimeter. So, with Goins, McBee, Prince, Chism, and Williams or Pearl, we have 1 three point shooter (McBee) on the perimeter and I use that term very lightly with him because he is shooting less than 32% and is 2 of 7 in the last 5 games. Then you have Hopson who has a very good percentage, but is 4 of 17 in the last 5 games. Thankfully we finally went with Williams (who is a very good passer for a big man) and started attacking the zone in the second half. In any other conference, with any other officials, Chism and Hopson would have had 15 FT attempts between them in the 2nd half with that strategy.
7. I don't think we are a very good basketball team for several reasons, but primarily because we have too many players (I exclude Maze, McBee, Chism, Hall, Williams, and Hopson) who don't know their role. JP Prince thinks he is a 3 point shooter and PG; Goins thinks he's LeBron James; SwiperBoy thinks he's Chris Lofton; and Steven Pearl thinks he's a Division 1 player, but that is his Dad's fault, not his. You can't criticize a kid for giving his all. Josh Bone is the guy who should be pissed. Maybe he should change his last name to Pearl.
8. Teams I don't want to see in the SEC Tournament -- KY (because they get to play 8), MSU (because of Vanardo), and UGA (because of their size and athleticism).
9. I hope .500 in conference gets us in the NCAA tourney, because I have a feeling we may have to find out.
2. Melvin Goins almost challenged JP, but Pearl got him on the bench quick after his boneheaded 1 on 4 move with under 3 minutes to go. Curiously, what was Pearl doing while Goins was driving down the sideline in front of the UT bench? I was yelling at the TV "pull it back". Was Pearl yelling that at Goins? One wonders.
3. We are going to lose a lot of games between now and the March tournaments if Steven Pearl continues to get as many minutes as he did tonight. Yeah he an run the floor and hit open layups (well, at least tonight he did; it isn't someting he does consistently), but he is in way over his head on the glass and on defense. Kenny Hall is in over his head on defense as well, but at least he is athletic and 6'10.
4. I've decided that Scotty Hopson isn't soft -- he's just smart. Why drive the lane and let Tony Greene and his f#@$-up pals watch you get raped while they suck on their whistles? I've never seen two players get beaten and battered like Hopson and Chism do while SEC refs watch like they are a member of the opposing team's staff. Skylar McBee got hit on an illegal pick by Thompkins harder than any opponent taking one from Eric Berry and the dumbass ref motions for him to get up as if he flopped. I'm surprised he was able to get up. When will someone at the University of Tennessee demand integrity from the Southeastern Conference when it comes to officiating? Let me get this straight -- in the KY game, Tony Greene and the other two stooges call 42 fouls. Against UGA, a much more physical team, with under 40 seconds to go in the game, they have to foul us 3 times before we shoot FTs because the refs have called 4 fouls on UGA the entire 2nd half.
5. I would take either Price or Thompkins in a heart-beat. Man what a team we'd be with one of them at Center and Chism playing PF.
6. Pearl's substitution patters are utterly insane. Teams constantly zone us and Pearl typically has only 1 three point shooter on the court. And, when he has Chism out there, he puts him in the low post and Pearl or Williams on the perimeter. So, with Goins, McBee, Prince, Chism, and Williams or Pearl, we have 1 three point shooter (McBee) on the perimeter and I use that term very lightly with him because he is shooting less than 32% and is 2 of 7 in the last 5 games. Then you have Hopson who has a very good percentage, but is 4 of 17 in the last 5 games. Thankfully we finally went with Williams (who is a very good passer for a big man) and started attacking the zone in the second half. In any other conference, with any other officials, Chism and Hopson would have had 15 FT attempts between them in the 2nd half with that strategy.
7. I don't think we are a very good basketball team for several reasons, but primarily because we have too many players (I exclude Maze, McBee, Chism, Hall, Williams, and Hopson) who don't know their role. JP Prince thinks he is a 3 point shooter and PG; Goins thinks he's LeBron James; SwiperBoy thinks he's Chris Lofton; and Steven Pearl thinks he's a Division 1 player, but that is his Dad's fault, not his. You can't criticize a kid for giving his all. Josh Bone is the guy who should be pissed. Maybe he should change his last name to Pearl.
8. Teams I don't want to see in the SEC Tournament -- KY (because they get to play 8), MSU (because of Vanardo), and UGA (because of their size and athleticism).
9. I hope .500 in conference gets us in the NCAA tourney, because I have a feeling we may have to find out.
